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As it turns out...Saturday is Joe Flacco's Birthday...AS WELL AS...Jim Caldwell's , head coach of the Indianapolis Colts...so - the BIG questions is...who is going to truly celebrate late Saturday night!!!???
Well...lets break it down...
Ravens
* last meeting vs the Colts on Nov. 22nd...only lost by 2 points (17-15)...but if WE only had Matt Stover!
* On Nov. 22nd...Joe Flacco threw for 256 yards - very different from the 34 yards he put up vs the Pats last Sunday
* In 2 meetings vs the Colts...Ray Rice has 26 carries for a total of 94 yards
* Ravens have failed to rush for 100 yards vs the Colts defense in their last 5 games...they average 3.3 yards per carry
* are 0-4 vs the Colts since 2006
* Ravens defense has only given up 29 TD's in 17 games this season - second to the Jets with 28
* This will be the Ravens 4th road trip (Pittsburgh, Oakland, New England, and now Indy)
* Injuries = Jared Gaither - ankle and Todd Heap - back
Colts:
* have not played a MEANINGFUL game in nearly a month
* have NEVER won a playoff game coming off a first round bye
* are 2nd in the NFL in passing offense...averaging 282.2 yards per game
* Peyton Manning won his 4th MVP award this season...he passed for 4500 yards and threw 33 TDs
* the Offensive line has only allowed 10 sacs in 16 games this season and Peyton has only been sac' d 3 times in 6 meetings vs the Ravens
* Peyton is 7-2 all time vs the Ravens
* are the WORST in the NFL in rushing...only averaging 80.9 yards per game with Joseph Addai and Donald Brown
* pass defense starts two rookie corners and have allowed 212.7 yards per game this season
* rush defense ranks 24th in the NFL allowing 126.5 yards per game and their total defense is ranked 18th
* defense has 34 total sacs this season and Dwight Freeney has 13.5 of those 34
* No injuries
Match ups:
Joe Flacco vs Colts rookie corners
Ravens Offensive line vs Freeney and Mathis
Ray Rice vs Colts rushing defense
Peyton Manning vs Chris Carr and Frank Walker
Reggie Wayne vs Dominique Foxworth
Ray Lewis vs Dallas Clark
Matt Stover vs Billy Cundiff
Anita's prediction...
Colts 27 Ravens 24
I believe this will be a high scoring game...Ray Rice and Joe Flacco will be able to put points on the board vs this Colts defense...but I also see Peyton Manning having the time to pick this Ravens secondary apart...I envision a last minute drive - engineered by Peyton Manning - setting up Matt Stover for a 39 yard - game winning field goal with 3 seconds left on the clock...game over! Colts move on to take on San Diego and Ravens fans spend a week calling into sports talk radio shows - complaining on what a horrible decision it was to let Matt Stover go.