“It’s high time to send Ray Lewis into retirement as a loser!” - Mark Kiszla, Denver Post, p. 1C, 1/6/13
“The Baltimore Denver
“Advice to Broncos: Take the football, give it to Peyton Manning and let Manning shove it down the throat of linebacker Ray Lewis and that over-the-hill Baltimore Denver
“I feel like (the Broncos) went into this game overconfident. Did that hinder us from winning today? This is terrible for us." - Caller to KOA Radio “Gridiron Group.
“I thought we were supposed to be in the Super Bowl!” – shocked Bronco fan quoted in today’s Denver Post.
All week long Baltimore Ravens' fans like wifey had to listen and endure the putdowns, trash talk and general disrespect to her team. Not only meted out by passersby in Bronco getup, but in the newspapers from hacks like Mark Kiszla (Denver Post) and Paul Klee (COS Gazette). Yesterday, the Ravens came to roost at Denver's Sports Authority Field ....and took the Broncos' hopes of a Super Bowl crashing down with them. Yet even to read today's sports pages, from the Denver Post and Colorado Springs Gazette, you'd think the Ravens didn't so much win the game as have it handed to them on a platter. To quote wifey: "Not by a damned longshot!" Paul Klee, a sports hack on the local rag (Gazette) said before the game “Baltimore will be no hurdle” After (this morning's paper) he spouted this crap:
““
Huh? I don’t think so, from what I saw! The Ravens’ D, (dismissed as “over the hill” by the likes of played out hacks like the Denver Post’s Mike Kiszla), held Manning to only three TDs and 21 pts., but intercepted him 3x for 17 pts. resulting in a net 4 points offensive gain. THE RAVENS DEFENSE CAME PREPARED TO PLAY! GET IT, DUMMY? Still the Broncomaniac fans inhabit a cosseted world of their own delusions. As one was quoted after the game: “I thought we were supposed to be going to the Super Bowl”.
No, sonny. See, your team has to play the game first, then if they win, they move on. But they needed to get through this game then the AFC Championship next W/E first! There are no guarantees! It doesn't matter what some blow-dried hack on ESPN or the NFL channel says, or that his comments are colored by a bias to see New England v. Denver in the AFC championship! All that matters is the end result on the field! The December Ravens you beat 34-17 were a wounded, injured group also in disarray after a coach’s firing. They had four missing on D, and three playmakers on O. Yet you bought into the Denver writers’ insipid claptrap that it was the same team. How f*ckin dumb is that? That's like asking for a slapdown with iced cold water splashed on top of it.
Even some of the Broncos' moron players were living in delusion after the game. According to DT Kevin Vickerson (quoted in today's Gazette): "I didn't see nothin' different in this team from last time! They didn't do nothin! We beat ourselves"
I'd suggest you best stop use of that high (?) grade dope, dope!
But never mind, the Broncos and their fans are loaded with made-up excuses none of which offers an ounce of acknowledgement to the Baltimore Ravens. Among the most regurgitated:
- It was the refs fault for making too many bad calls against the poor Broncos (no word about all the poor calls the Ravens had to overcome, including a nonsense "defenseless receiver" call that ought to have one zebra up on charges for undermining the game!)
- It was John Fox's fault for punking out and not letting Manning have the ball with 31 secs left in regulation. He'd have surely gotten the Broncs within FG distance with 2 timeouts!
- It was Rahim Moore's fault for letting the 70 yard pass play by Flacco get completed with only a minute left and the Broncos ahead 35-28.
These excuses would be funny if they werent' so pathetic! Then there was this remark quoted from Broncomaniac Geoff Lydon, who said he paid $250 for his ticket, and was visibly upset afterward. "I think the team played scared, I think they were too conservative with their play calling," he said. "Maybe we just weren't as good as we thought we were."
Uh, yeppers! Yuh don't think? Maybe you all bought into too much bullshit all week and really thought the Ravens you blistered one month ago in Charm City were the same bunch that you faced yesterday!
Your team failed, deal with it! You all bought into the recycled baloney that you would pound the Ravens like a month ago, not realizing – despite being told over and over – that this was not the same team. But you chose not to believe it. You accepted instead the delusion that the team you beat was a whole team as opposed to one analogous to a fighter with one arm tied behind his back.
Recall The Broncos entered the AFC divisional playoff game riding an 11-game winning streak. They were the No. 1 seed in the conference playoffs. They had home-field advantage throughout. Meanwhile, the Ravens had difficulty, losing 4 of the last 6 games. This "swoon" was taken to mean the Ravens were spent, tapped out....but none of the hacks or pundits acknowledged the team was dealing with key missing players, also they WOULD return for the big playoff games. This laid the foundation for the myth and point spread - awarding the Denver team 9 1/2 points over Baltimore.
But now, after the revenge served cold to the Broncos and their delusional fans, it's the Ravens who advance to the conference championship game to play the winner of Sunday's New England-Houston divisional contest.
For Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning, his magical comeback season ended with a gigantic mistake. Toward the end of the first overtime, with the Broncos driving, he rolled to his right and threw an off-target pass back across the middle toward Brandon Stokley. The misfire was intercepted by the Ravens' Corey Graham, setting up the game-winning score.
Btw, to see a Broncos' fan 'screaming Mimi' losing it over the tying Raven TD at the end of regulation, check out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOeL1D8vMiI
The final score didn't even show the degree to which the Ravens' D dominated Manning and the ponies, allowing only 21 pts. (The other two TDs were a result of special teams breakdowns allowing two run backs for TDs by a bantam -flyweight dwarf named Trindon Holliday. Worse, for Denver, the Ravens got three picks against Manning for 17 pts. - the last one in the 2nd OT- finally ending his charmed nine-W run (though I pointed out over and over to wifey those were with the Colts, with different RBs, WRs, etc.)
Sadly, Manning himself bought into the hype and the "Peyton Manning as God" meme that threaded through the CBS broadcast, see e.g. http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/tv/z-on-tv-blog/bal-ravens-broncos-cbs-telecast--20130112,0,2049639.story
He said afterward: "I wasn’t quite as good as I wanted to be,”
NO! You weren't as good because the Ravens D didn't want you to be!
Footnote on the Packers loss: Well, Justin Smith did play for the 49'ers so that threw my forecast of a Pack win into the dumpster. The Niners D was simply too remorseless to allow Aaron Rodgers to make the type of plays he usually does. Also, two critical turnovers didn't help. In the end, it pains me to say this, but the better team won. Also, it looks to me that this Niners team is likely going to win the Super Bowl. Unless wifey's Ravens can stop them!
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