AFC NORTH ROUNDUP: The beginning of the end for Willie Parker?

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In the Hood: The AFC North - AFC NORTH ROUNDUP: The beginning of the end for Willie Parker?

Recaps, quotes and predictions for Week 5 in the AFC North

Posted On: 10/10/09

Written By:

Eric Buckner

AFC NORTH ROUNDUP: The beginning of the end for Willie Parker?

Baltimore Ravens

"It's embarrassing to even keep the momentum going like that when we go three and out and then we stop them and then you look back and see a flag for a personal foul and Tom Brady is laughing. It wasn't no (sic) personal foul if he's still smiling." Ravens LB Ray Lewis on 1 of 2 questionable roughing the passer calls in the Ravens match-up with the Patriots.

Mark Clayton got open and waited for the fourth-down pass that could keep the Ravens' chances alive. Joe Flacco reached his target inside the Patriots 10-yard line and beyond the first-down marker, but Clayton didn't hold on with 28 seconds left. "Flat out drop," Clayton said. "It was a perfect ball. Joe put it on the money. To not come up with it is tough. It cost us the game." Phil Simms’ favorite team then ran out the clock as they kept their unbeaten record against the Ravens with their fifth win.

The Ravens lost left tackle Jared Gaither after a collision that put him on his back for about 10 minutes before he was taken off the field on a stretcher midway through the second quarter. X-rays at Massachusetts General Hospital, where he had tests on his neck and shoulder, were negative. Flacco fell onto Gaither's back as the quarterback was shoved by defensive end Ty Warren.

The Ravens failed on another fourth-down play on their next-to-last series as they tried to overcome the first scoring pass of the season from Tom Brady to Randy Moss and a 1-yard touchdown sneak by the quarterback. On that fourth-and-1 at the Ravens 45-yard line, Warren stopped Willis McGahee for no gain with 5:09 remaining. But Ravens players thought McGahee had made the first down. After failing on the succeeding series, the Patriots punted and the Ravens got the ball back with 3:32 left and advanced it to a fourth-and-4 at the 14.

Trailing 17-7 at halftime, the Ravens made it 17-14 when Terrell Suggs hit Brady for a sack and knocked the ball out of his right hand. Dwan Edwards recovered in the end zone for a touchdown with 6:19 left in the third quarter. But Tom Brady led the Patriots on their next possession, a 79-yard drive ending with his 14-yard touchdown pass to Randy Moss. The Ravens responded with an 80-yard drive, 50 on a run by Ray Rice, who finished with 103 yards on 11 carries, and the final 13 on the pass to McGahee.

Cincinnati Bengals

“Our offense never flinches,” Bengals QB Carson Palmer said after the overtime victory versus the Browns. “We expect and we believe in each other. We believe in winning and kind of a never say die attitude.”

After Carson Palmer and his teammates convinced their coach to gamble on fourth-and-11 with just over one minute left, Palmer scrambled for 15 yards to set up Shayne Graham's 31-yard field goal on the final play of overtime, giving Cincinnati a 23-20 victory over the winless Cleveland Browns on Sunday. The last-minute Bengals, whose four games this season have all gone down to the wire, faced a fourth-and 11 at Cleveland's 41 with 1:04 left in overtime. Marvin Lewis was content to play for the tie, but when the Browns called a timeout, it gave the Bengals a chance to lobby their coach. They made a persuasive argument.

Palmer dropped back to pass, and seeing that his receivers were covered downfield, tucked away the ball and ran up the middle for the first down. Cincinnati then ran two plays to get Graham in position, and the kicker, who had an extra-point attempt and a field-goal try blocked by nose tackle Shaun Rogers, booted the winner. "Marvin was saying we're going to punt," Palmer said of his sideline negotiation with Lewis. "I said, 'I think we can get this.' That's why Marvin's great. He listens to people around him. Most coaches, once they make up their mind, they make up their mind. "That's why you love playing for a guy like Marvin. Your opinion does matter."

Defensive end Robert Geathers returned a fumble 75 yards for a touchdown for Cincinnati. Palmer finished 23 of 44 for 230 yards. He threw two TD passes to Chad Ochocinco, who had just three catches but made the most of them. Palmer completed two third-and-10 passes on Cincinnati's final drive, hooking up on a 20-yarder to Chris Henry over the middle and then another one to Laveranues Coles. But it was Palmer's decision to take off and run for the game's biggest first down that will be remembered.

The Bengals did nothing on offense for three quarters and then suddenly awakened with a possible loss looming. After gaining 156 yards in the first quarter, Cincinnati went seven consecutive possessions without picking up a first down and found itself trailing 20-14. Palmer then drove for what looked to be a go-ahead score when he hit Ochocinco from 2 yards with 1:55 left to tie the score at 20. The Bengals were seemingly on the verge of another dramatic win, but Graham's extra point was blocked by Rogers, who deflected a 23-yard field-goal attempt in the first quarter.

Cleveland Browns

"There's no sugarcoating it," former Browns wide receiver Braylon Edwards said after the game. "You can say it's something to build on, but it hurts. To have the wind knocked out of you at the end, it definitely hurts."

"Nobody's happy," said Browns quarterback Derek Anderson, who provided a huge spark in his first start this season. "We lost. Nobody's happy we went to overtime and played it to the last 10 seconds. That's not what we're here for." Browns running back Jerome Harrison, filling in for the injured Jamal Lewis, had 121 yards on 29 carries. Joshua Cribbs had 223 return yards but couldn't do enough to end Cleveland's slide. Anderson, making his first start since Mangini benched Brady Quinn, completed 26 of 48 passes for 269 yards, threw a 2-yard TD pass to Steve Heiden and ran for a score. Rookie Mohamed Massaquoi had eight catches for 148 yards.

As usual, Anderson had some bad moments. He threw an interception in the end zone with the Browns down 14-7, but he later atoned for it with his TD run that tied the score at 14. "I was really happy with him," Browns Head Coach Eric Mangini said of Anderson. "He made a lot of nice throws."

Browns WR Mike Furrey played both ways, including safety in certain defensive packages. ... Braylon Edwards didn't have a reception for the first time in 62 career games.

Pittsburgh Steelers

"I wanted people to see me and (see) who I am," Steelers RB Rashard Mendenhall said after his 165 yard rushing effort in their win versus the Chargers. "This was a time that I was able to do that, play a full game for the first time in my career."

Until now, the Pittsburgh Steelers couldn't get Rashard Mendenhall going. The San Diego Chargers couldn't get him stopped. Mendenhall helped the Steelers run up a big lead; then made certain they didn't give it away with another fumbled fourth quarter. Mendenhall surpassed his previous career totals with 165 yards rushing and two touchdowns, Ben Roethlisberger got fast-starting Pittsburgh going with his throwing and the Steelers opened a 28-point lead before holding on to beat the San Diego Chargers 38-28 on Sunday night.

Running back Mewelde Moore caught a touchdown pass and threw for another to Heath Miller on a goal-line play as the Steelers, beaten in the closing seconds by Chicago and Cincinnati the previous two weeks, built such a big lead that this bad fourth quarter didn't matter. Jeff Reed finished it off with a 46-yard field goal in the final minute.

The first three plays showed how the AFC playoff rematch from a year ago would play out. Roethlisberger hit Santonio Holmes and Hines Ward for 15 yards each and rookie Mike Wallace for 35. Mendenhall then needed three carries to cover the final 14 yards for his first career touchdown with only 3:11 gone. After San Diego went three and out, the Steelers put together a 75-yard drive that began with three Mendenhall runs but ended with Roethlisberger finding Ward for 15, Holmes for 11 and Moore twice for 23 yards, with the touchdown covering 19 yards. Roethlisberger was 26 of 33 for 333 yards and Ward had eight catches for 113 yards. Roethlisberger had the Steelers moving so well early, Tomlin allowed him to sneak for a first down on a fourth-and-1 from the Steelers' 30 on the drive that ended in Pittsburgh's third touchdown, on Mendenhall's 2-yard run.

Pittsburgh has won its last eight home games, counting the postseason. ... Pittsburgh is 8-1 against San Diego since an AFC championship game loss in January 1995.

AFC North
Team	W	L	T	PCT	PF	PA	Home	Road	DIV	PCT	AFC	PCT	NFC	Streak
Baltimore	3	1	0	.750	124	80	2-0	1-1	1-0	1.000	3-1	.750	0-0	Lost 1
Cincinnati	3	1	0	.750	84	76	1-1	2-0	2-0	1.000	2-1	.667	1-0	Won 3
Pittsburgh	2	2	0	.500	85	78	2-0	0-2	0-1	.000	2-1	.667	0-1	Won 1
Cleveland	0	4	0	.000	49	118	0-2	0-2	0-2	.000	0-3	.000	0-1	Lost 4

Week #4 Scores

New England 27 Baltimore 21

Cincinnati 23 Cleveland 20 OT

Pittsburgh 38 San Diego 28

Week #5 Match-ups and ITH Predictions

Baltimore (3–1) vs. Cincinnati (3–1)

The Bengals have racked up 2 division wins and now make the trek to Baltimore in pursuit of a third straight win and their third division win. All 4 games that Cincinnati has played so far have been decided in the games’ waning moments. This one should be decided early. The Ravens return home from a tough loss in New England and handle their business at M&T Bank Stadium

Baltimore 28 Cincinnati 14

Cleveland (0–4) at Buffalo (1–3)

Buffalo returns home after being ambushed by the Dolphins in Miami. The Browns were ever so close in winning the Battle of Ohio by extending their game with the Bengals into overtime. The Bills weren’t able to get their hands on the ball as they had no answer for the Dolphins rush attack; they couldn’t get on the field to have a chance. That shouldn’t happen versus the Browns. Look for the Bills to react from the embarrassment versus Miami to take down the Browns.

Buffalo 23 Cleveland 17

Pittsburgh (2 - 2) at Detroit (1 - 3)

Lions Coach Jim Schwartz had some alarming comments about his team’s performance after their lopsided loss to the Bears on Sunday. "We were poor on special teams, we were poor on offense, we were poor on defense, we were out-coached, we were outplayed, their trainers were probably better than ours in the second half," he said. Throw in Matthew Stafford’s twisted right knee and the game looks like a lopsided affair. Note that a healthy Stafford could keep the Lions close early with a strong passing attack, but the Steelers looked like a team on a mission against the Chargers. A third straight road loss doesn’t appear to be in the cards.

Pittsburgh 33 Detroit 10

Record Week #4 and YTD: 2 – 1/ 8 - 5