carolina panthers

Sun staff picks: Conference championship games

Ravens coach John Harbaugh isn't in the playoffs, but he is uniquely qualified to judge the coaches overseeing the four teams still standing.

All of the favorites won this past weekend, but every game showed why the NFL playoffs rule

Either Tom Brady, Peyton Manning or Ben Roethlisberger have been featured in 12 of the past 13 Super Bowls. The one exception? Joe Flacco in 2012.

The AFC wild-card games will be Saturday, with the NFC games on Sunday. Steelers could meet Bengals with Andy Dalton on the sidelines because of thumb injury.

Ravens wide receiver Steve Smith Sr., who previously planned to retire after this season, said Wednesday he will return in 2016.

Boys' Latin took a one-point lead at the half Tuesday over No. 8 Oakland Mills in boys basketball, but the host Scorpions (7-1) regrouped and pulled away in the second half to win, 66-57, at their Holiday Tournament.

The Ravens need to be concerned with getting one more victory, not moving up several spots in the NFL draft.

Ravens wide receiver Steve Smith Sr. made a Christmas Eve appearance on SiriusXM NFL Radio Thursday, and provided an update on his torn Achilles plus his opinions on the game-long scrap between New York Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. and Carolina Panthers cornerback Josh Norman.

This week's five stats that stand out focus heavily on the Pittsburgh Steelers passing game, the Ravens' ability to stop them, and of course, the injuries that have hampered the Ravens this season but haven't slowed Pittsburgh.

Many area basketball teams will take to the road and the air over the holiday season to play in tournaments all over the country, seeking quality competition and an opportunity to bond.

The Pittsburgh Steelers are on a roll and might embarrass the Ravens Sunday, but the New England Patriots are the team to beat in the AFC.

The Ravens signing of backup quarterback Ryan Mallett includes up to $1 million in available incentives, but no guaranteed money.

Jimmy Clausen will start against the Chicago Bears, the latest turn in a bizarre Ravens' season.

Breaking down the Ravens and Seahawks offense, defense, special teams and intangibles.

Where the Ravens stand compared to the other NFL teams that have four wins or fewer.

It doesn't make sense to expect the Ravens to lose just to help their NFL draft standing. It does make sense to work out Ryan Mallett.

There are far too many teams struggling to get a good read on where the Ravens will end up picking in the NFL draft.

No doubt, there are a lot of people in the NFL offices and at ESPN who are wondering what the schedule makers were thinking when they decided to put the Ravens and Cleveland Browns together on Monday Night Football in late November.

Barring a dramatic turnaround in Baltimore and total collapses elsewhere, the Ravens aren't likely to be a serious player in the AFC postseason picture over the final six weeks of this season. That might knock them out of two primetime games at M&T Bank Stadium.

Former Chicago Bears quarterback Jimmy Clausen, who played for Ravens offensive coordinator Marc Trestman in last season in Chicago, was claimed by the Ravens on waivers to back up new starter Matt Schaub.

It took Cassius Vaughn several months to find a job, but he returns to the Ravens with a better perspective on his career

Under Armour wants to accompany its products with stories about the histories and traits of the athletes or teams they were created for. So it is that Bryce Harper's black Camaro, Stephen Curry's beloved sour candy and Cam Newton's favorite college football rivalry.

When the Ravens defense takes the field for the first time Sunday against the Jaguars, it will be burdened by a streak of five consecutive games without a takeaway

Carlton Bailey (Woodlawn) has three conference championship rings and the memory of that AFC title game in 1992, when he intercepted a pass by the Denver Broncos' John Elway and ran for a touchdown in a 10-7 victory that sent the Buffalo Bills to the Super Bowl.

Star-less defense continues to work wonders for Towson football

Of the Ravens' eight remaining opponents, only one has a winning record and five of those eight games are at M&T Bank Stadium, where the Ravens were once nearly unbeatable.

Two protesters rappelled from the upper deck of Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte during Monday night's game between the Carolina Panthers and Indianapolis Colts — the latest action in a bitter campaign waged against a proposed natural gas export terminal and liquefaction plant in Southern Maryland.

Steve Smith Sr., 35, had announced before the start of the season that this year would be his last, but there seemed to be momentum in recent weeks for him to return for another year. The Ravens, who have plenty of question marks at the wide receiver position both in the present and future, need and want him to return.

Players from both teams surrounded Steve Smith Sr. and knelt in prayer when he went down with a season-ending Achilles injury.

The Ravens are 45-13 at M&T Bank Stadium under coach John Harbaugh. With the rest of the schedule heavy with home games, can the Ravens get on a roll?

San Diego Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers has hurt the Ravens several times before.

There's seemingly no surefire recipe for success in building an NFL secondary, but one thing could become abundantly clear when the Ravens face the Arizona Cardinals. The Cardinals have found a formula that works for them, while the Ravens haven't.

The MetLife blimp, spotted everywhere from Gettsyburg, Pa., Hanover and the Inner Harbor over the past two days, is in Baltimore ahead of a Ravens home game Sunday.

The Lawrence Timmons' hit on Steve Smith Sr. might not have been intentional. But was it within the rules?

Ravens wide receiver Steve Smith Sr. and Steelers safety Mike Mitchell were teammates in Carolina. Now it appears that Mitchell is on Smith's lifetime hit list.

Fans are salivating over the possibility of adding Chicago Bears wide receiver Alshon Jeffery but the move wouldn't make a lot of sense unless the Ravens start reeling off wins.

Since 1990, only 24 of 205 teams to start the season 0-2 have made the playoffs. The Bengals come into the game winners of three straight against the Ravens and four of the past five.

It's a position coach John Harbaugh has never been in as a head coach. The history for 0-2 teams in the NFL is gloomy, and the Ravens' path will get no easier as they prepare to host the AFC North-rival Cincinnati Bengals in their home opener on Sunday.

For a second straight game, Ravens wide receiver Steve Smith Sr. found himself lamenting a late-game touchdown opportunity that could have helped prevent the team's disheartening 0-2 start to the season.

Ravens special teams coordinator Jerry Rosburg confirmed on Thursday that Steve Smith Sr. will remain the Ravens' primary punt returner, maintaining that the wide receiver is the team's best option in that role.

Ravens' decision to use top receiver Steve Smith Sr. as their primary punt returner wasn't a one-game deal. Ravens special teams coordinator and associate head coach Jerry Rosburg said Thursday that Smith will continue to be used in that role, believing that the 36-year-old remains the team's best option.

Cornerback Jimmy Smith's presence gives this year's team a leg up on the team that limped through the postseason last season with a porous pass defense after it lost Smith during what seemed like a surefire Pro Bowl season.

As he enters his 15th and final season, the Ravens wide receiver's legacy appears secure. He has a hard-earned reputation as one of the most intense competitors to play in the NFL and one of the best pass catchers of his era. An undersized receiver who was initially labeled a return specialist, Steve Smith Sr. has 915 career catches, 13,262 receiving yards and 73 receiving touchdowns.

The fourth preseason game in the NFL's bloated August schedule is reserved for reserves like them, with a few dozen players vying for a handful of spots on the back end of the Ravens roster entering a game that has meaning only to them.

Former Illinois standout gave up promising boxing career, had tryout with Redskins before answering the call to coach

Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco said he's paying attention to the other quarterback contracts being passed out around the NFL.

As the Ravens begin three days of joint practices with the Philadelphia Eagles Wednesday morning, it bears watching how the teams interact with each other.