nick fairley

Five Ravens and Ravems stats that stand out, including notes on the Rams defense against tight ends, the lack of returns allowed by the Ravens and more.

With playoff stakes and family bragging rights on the line Sunday, it has been an extremely quiet week between the two brothers on opposing sides of the growing rivalry between the Ravens and the New England Patriots.

This would have sounded crazy a month ago, but as of this morning, the Ravens are two wins away from their third straight AFC North title.

ESPN's "Countdown" spend an hour saying how Ravens were going to get beat, but game analysis was on point

Breaking down who has the edge, and where, in Monday night's Baltimore Ravens-Detroit Lions matchup.

Ravens running back Ray Rice was diplomatic when asked about the Detroit Lions' reputation for being dirty, a charge most often leveled at defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh.

Like the cars driving through the slippery streets of Baltimore, the players on the snow-covered turf at M&T Bank Stadium on Sunday had trouble gaining traction and traveled slower to avoid spinning out. The sluggish speed of the game in the first half was apparently a detriment to Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco, who completed just nine of his 22 attempts for 82 yards with one touchdown and one interception.

Heavy snowfall forced the Lions to alter their game plan Sunday, as the pass-happy offense tried to use its big offensive line to pound the Eagles with the running game.

The Ravens' offensive focus following last week's preseason opener was on sustaining drives. They'll spend this week talking about finishing them. The first-team defense has a host of topics to discuss from generating a pass rush to providing tighter coverage to tackling better.

There are very few slam-dunk picks in fantasy football. For years owning LaDainian Tomlinson guaranteed you a spot in the playoffs. Peyton Manning has been an elite fantasy QB for more than a decade. And though he's now in the twilight of his career, Terrell Owens used to be good for 1,000 yards and 10 TDs a season. Chargers tight end Antonio Gates falls into this category.

NFL fan mock draft

The scouting combine and most pro day workouts have been completed, and with the NFL draft just a few weeks away, there has been a significant amount of shuffling in my third NFL mock draft of the offseason. So who will the Ravens pick?

The 2010 NFL season is over and it's unclear if and when the 2011 season will start, but I have good news for Ravens fans (well, besides the Steelers losing to the Packers in the Super Bowl). That's right, it's mock draft season.