Lanschaften » The Ravens no longer look like the immovable object o

Two straight losses and back to .500. n defense many expected. They also aren’t hitting their stride on offense. The power rankings have noticed this and the Ravens are quickly dropping heading into Week 9 of the NFL season.Completely agree with this from The Washington Post. Baltimore must sweep the Steelers and figure out how to stop the Bengals. They’re getting an extra week to prepare; hopefully Don Martindale can scheme to stop A.J. Green.Painful and to the point. The Ravens are still a talented team Color Rush Hayden Hurst Jersey , but clearly don’t belong in the upper echelon when on the receiving end of two big losses.These are rather painful to read one after another. Another website hits it right on the money, the offense felt 2012 playoff-esque. The team was on a roll with big catches across the field. Now, they’re missing throws, dropping passes and on their last life in the healthy offensive line department.This is a big point to how bad the Ravens have looked. The number one defense in the NFL collapsed in on themselves and they’re not the main focus of the loss to the Panthers. What happened to the trio of receivers capable of creating separation? What happened to Flacco’s passing?Shout out to Jamison for dropping the numbers. This team has one of the best burners in the league, yet John Brown can’t complete the catches himself. Joe needs to get it together in November if the Ravens want to break their missed playoff streak. OWINGS MILLS, Md. (AP)Though he’s pretty adept at flinging the football, Sam Koch is far more valuable to the Baltimore Ravens when using his right foot. Koch leads the NFL with 37 punts inside the 20 yard-line, including 16 inside the 10. He received a game ball last Sunday – a rarity for a punter – after he pinned Cleveland inside the 20 on four of his five kicks, three of which were downed within 5 yards of the goal line. Through years of experimentation and practice Hayden Hurst Jersey Boys , Koch has found a way to seemingly defy the laws of physics by making a football pop straight up after making contact with the ground. ”Sam is probably more precise than any punter I have seen – not just been around, but seen,” coach John Harbaugh said. ”They say the ball takes funny bounces for a reason: It is oblong. Sam Koch seems like he has perfected that oblong somehow, some way, because it rarely takes off into the end zone. That is the measuring stick.” Of Koch’s 74 punts this season, only three have resulted in touchbacks. Depending on the distance and weather conditions, Koch will either put up a pooch-kick or slice one out of bounds in the shadow of the goal line. ”He’s got excellent ball control,” special teams coach Jerry Rosburg said. ”He can hit it right, he can hit it left Cheap Hayden Hurst Jersey , he can get it wide, and he can hit narrow.” It’s not by accident. Koch has 13 different kinds of punts, each of which he works on repeatedly during the week. Then, come Sunday, he selects one or another from his expansive repertoire. ”A lot of it is wind-related and depends on the returner,” he said. OK, but how the heck does Koch send a football 50 yards downfield with backspin on it? ”Exactly how he does it? I have no idea,” Harbaugh said. ”They have their techniques they work on. He would be the right guy to ask, but he probably won’t tell you. I can’t tell you Custom Hayden Hurst Jersey , so I guess people aren’t going to know. But it is amazing.” Koch insists there’s no secret to his success. ”It’s a 50-50 shot. The ball’s going end over end, and it can either go forward or backward,” Koch said. ”Now, the ball’s spinning backward, so you’re hoping it goes backward.” It does indeed, more often than not. Koch is the holder for placekicker Justin Tucker, who had all sorts of good things to say about his teammate Tuesday after Baltimore (8-6) finished practice in preparation for Saturday’s game against Indianapolis (3-11). ”What makes Sam so good? It’s a combination of a lot of things that he does incredibly well,” Tucker said. ”If I had to point to one thing, it would be his attention to detail. And anybody in this locker room will tell you Hayden Hurst Jersey Discount , Sam is one of the best athletes on this team.” Since joining the NFL in 2006, the 35-year-old Koch has never missed a game. His run of 190 straight is a team record, as is his 45.2-yard career gross average and 39.6 net. He has punted 936 times in the regular season (with only 72 touchbacks) and had only three kicks blocked. And that’s not all. Everyone once in a while, the Ravens ask Koch to throw the ball out of punt formation on a fake. His career passing numbers: 4 for 4 for 48 yards and a solid 116.7 quarterback rating. Koch put all his talents on display during a Monday night game against Houston on Nov. 27. He placed five punts inside the 20, averaged 51.3 yards on six kicks and tossed a fourth-down, 22-yard pass to Chris Moore to set up a touchdown. ”We go out there and execute the way we practice it,” Koch said of the successful fake punts. ”I wouldn’t expect it to be any other way.” —