No Stover? Ravens should kick selves

Team made a mistake by not keeping proven kicker

Mike Preston

October 19, 2009

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INNEAPOLIS —

In the past, with two seconds left in the game, most Ravens fans would have gone to the refrigerator, popped a brew and gone outside to celebrate victory.

Instead, the Ravens are coming off one of their most demoralizing losses ever, falling to the Minnesota Vikings, 33-31, Sunday, as Steve Hauschka's44-yard field goal with no time remaining went wide left.

Deep down inside, it was one of our worst nightmares. Where was Matt Stover? Answer: Probably depositing his Indianapolis Colts paycheck into the bank.

It was wrong not to bring Stover back during the offseason, and the Ravens paid for it Sunday. When you have Super Bowl aspirations, then you bring back clutch performers, especially one of the most accurate kickers in NFL history.

There is no proof that Stover would have made the field goal Sunday, but you like the percentages. It was within Stover's range, and indoors. The game was on the line, and Stover has always been Mr. Automatic.

Game over, Ravens win.

That's where the Ravens messed up. Instead of worrying about occupying two roster spots by re-signing Stover, they didn't bring back a player who wins two or three games a year and turns a 3-3 team into a 4-2 team. It's like having a good quarterback.

Instead, they went with Hauschka, who missed his first possible game-winning field goal. There are now a lot of head games going on with that young man.

"I just have to gain the confidence of my teammates and let them know that I will make the next one," Hauschka said.

Trouble at cornerback

With a steady diet of quality quarterbacks on the schedule, including Peyton Manning, Ben Roethlisberger, Carson Palmer and Aaron Rodgers, look for the Ravens to play several more games the way they played Sunday.

Because of poor cornerback play, the Ravens can't contain a quality quarterback. The Vikings' Brett Favre passed for 278 yards and could have thrown for more if coach Brad Childress hadn't been conservative after getting the big lead.

In fact, Favre could have named his own score if the Vikings had kept throwing. At times, the Ravens benched cornerbacks Fabian Washington and nickel back Chris Carr. They would have benched Frank Walker, Washington's replacement, but there was no one else to throw into the game.

Concerning Carr

Carr can't play nickel, and he can't return punts or kickoffs. At this point, we're not exactly sure what he does to earn a spot on the game-day roster.

For the past two weeks, we've been asking Ravens coach John Harbaugh to get rookie Lardarius Webb into the game either as the nickel back or return specialist. Webb returned seven kickoffs for 165 yards, including one for 40.

Now, if only Harbaugh would tell Ed Reed not to be selfish and to stop doing stupid things when returning punts. He can tell him the same thing about his freelancing in the secondary, which is just as big a problem as the cornerback play.

Credit for Cameron

Offensive coordinator Cam Cameron has drawn criticism for being too conservative and running the ball too much in the first half, but the Ravens' first seven possessions began at their 23, 13, 8, 32, 7, 18 and 10.

Give Cameron credit for making some adjustments with the pass-blocking schemes in the second half and going after Minnesota replacements for injured cornerbacks Antoine Winfield (foot injury) and Benny Sapp (mild concussion) in the second half.

It dampens the Ravens' comeback because the Vikings became easy pickings for the Ravens and quarterback Joe Flacco.

Flacco exposed

Speaking of Flacco, he owes Minnesota defensive end Jared Allen for not planting a helmet in his back when Allen ran by left offensive tackle Michael Oher untouched early in the fourth quarter. Allen let up on Flacco, but Flacco's blind side was completely exposed.

One thing that could help Flacco get the ball off sooner would be to stop patting the ball. This is the NFL, not the University of Delaware. But it was nice seeing Flacco take some risk and throw passes over the middle.

Rice is MVP

Running back Ray Rice has become the Ravens' Most Valuable Player. He had 10 catches for 117 yards and rushed 10 times for 77 yards, including one for a 33-yard touchdown.

You feel bad for Rice and Flacco because they take beatings, and then the defense gives up so many points. It has to be like what the defensive players felt for years.

Reading the Ravens after loss

You expected to run into some angry players, but that wasn't the case. There wasn't a lot of tension; maybe that's good because the Ravens fought hard.

Maybe that's bad because they've lost three in a row.

"About our team, I couldn't be more proud of our team," Harbaugh said. "There are many things that we can and have to get better at. But the essential element is in place - our guys have the heart of a lion. That's what they are."