Printed in FD October 25^th 2001

Title: The official line on Ravens’ woes

Sir – Firstly I must give respect to the Browns – who outplayed my Ravens last week. They executed their game plan well and deserved to win.

In winning, the Browns pressured and sacked frequently, forced mistakes, and connected well on offence.

As for the Ravens, I find it difficult not to be downhearted at our current woes. We have been consistently bad on offence, turning the ball over at crucial times and in the wrong places. The reason is quite simple: the offensive line is not good enough.

Baltimore won the Super Bowl last season by control of the ball and clock, thus keeping our defence fresh and the rest is history. The previous year we went 8-8 ( and look set to return to that level this year). We lost matches then for the same reasons as we are this year.

Of course the Ravens O-line has never been at full strength this season. Edwin Mulitalo was missing against the Browns, and was injured against the Packers. Pro Bowler Leon Searcy has not played a down yet. With Jeff Mitchell moving to the Panthers in the closed-season, the line is not what worked for us last year – even though we still let Trent Dilfer get pressured too often.

This year Elvis Grebac is getting pummelled. The reason Randall Cunningham did better - was he manages to roll-out more.

Letting Mitchell go was unhelpful – but hindsight is a wonderful thing. Singing Searcy was a gamble, he missed the entire season last year, but was a Pro Bowler the season before. We may find out which player we signed next week against the Jags.

I know this sounds like crying in my beer, and that other play-off teams from last year also seen to be in freefall. There is still hope, we have an easier second half of the season to the first. Not least as we get some home games. (Remember that all three of our losses have been away).

We still have a great ‘D’, we look vulnerable to the four/five receiver sets – but everyone does at the moment.

Elvis can slash opposition – given time in the pocket, and we look like we are running and catching the ball better.

Any Ravens fans not already in touch can email or write to me.

Dave Cressey