Hungry Bills Feast on Raven Turnovers

Timothy T. Ludwig-USA TODAY Sports

Football’s a funny game. What you think should or will happen during a game doesn’t always work out that way. Look at the Ravens loss to the Bills.

On paper, where games are never played, Baltimore should have taught young E.J. Manuel and company a lesson on how to win in the NFL. In reality, the Ravens looked unprepared and full – as in the opposite of hungry. To say they looked past Buffalo may be an understatement.

Sure, the last flag on Suggs was a joke. Along with the many flags that were not thrown against the Bills for pass interference and holding. But we can’t hang our loss on these plays. The hard truth is we lack a consistent, hungry offense.  And it starts with Jim Caldwell.

I’m beginning to wonder if he is actually in the stadium during the first 20 minutes of each game. His vanilla play-calling is only outdone by his backward play-calling. And if it isn’t Caldwell calling these plays, whoever is should be relieved of their duties.

Next guilty party: Joe Flacco. No, it’s not his fault he only has one true target to throw to. And no, it’s not his fault we have no running game. But slow starts are Joe’s “thing” and he needs a new “thing,” quickly. Show some fire, Joe. Show some passion, Joe. Joe…are you awake? I won’t even mention the five picks against the Bills.

And we can’t forget our wonderful running game. Granted, it’s tough to amass yards on the ground when the play calling was more off-balance than the Costa Concordia was. But enough is enough. We canned Cam for these same things.

We travel to sunny south Florida next week to take on a team much like the Bills – hungry with talent. Maybe the Ravens need to skip a meal or two to remember what it feels like to be hungry.

And to ice the cake, the 0-4 Steelers are still very much in the race for the AFC North crown.

Not a good week.