Ravens coach refuses to look past the lowly Bengals
Ravens safety Ed Reed doesn’t expect to have an easy time today against the Bengals at Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati.
That’s because he’s facing the Bengals’ T.J. Houshmandzadeh.
“He’s one of the best receivers in the league,” Reed said. “He’s proven that week in and week out with his consistent play.”
Houshmandzadeh has 492 catches and 37 touchdowns in his eight-year career, and is third in the league this season with 77 catches that have amassed 746 yards and four touchdowns.
He is one of the lone bright spots on the Bengals (1-9-1), who will miss the postseason for the third straight season.
On the surface, the game appears to be an easy win for the Ravens (7-4), who would be the sixth — and final — seed in the AFC if the playoffs started today. The Bengals have the worst offense in the NFL, averaging just 239.5 yards per game. The Ravens, who have won five of their past six games, have the league’s second-ranked defense (262.3 ypg) and forced five turnovers in a 36-7 win over the Philadelphia Eagles last week.
But the Bengals have won six of their past eight games against the Ravens and Baltimore has not won in Cincinnati since 2004.
“They’re going to play their hearts out just like they always do,” Ravens coach John Harbaugh said of the Bengals. “They’ve got a bunch of competitive players, tremendous coaches, and they’re a strong football team — a tremendously talented team. We know what we’re in for.”
The Bengals, however, are is a state of flux — and it all begins with Houshmandzadeh. The Pro Bowler is in the final season of a four-year, $13 million contract, and he’s contemplating leaving Cincinnati to play for a better team, which may mean trying to come to Baltimore.
“I’m open to everything because I figure I want to win,” Houshmandzadeh said. “I think Cincinnati can win here, but it’s just a tough situation. It just gets to the point [where] I haven’t signed a contract, and so when you haven’t signed a contract up until that point, your own mindset tells you — and it’s sad to think like this — that you’re going to leave because you haven’t signed a deal.”
Houshmandzadeh didn’t expect the Bengals to be in this situation. The long-suffering franchise had not made the playoffs since 1991 before going 11-5 and winning the AFC North title in 2005. But for the Bengals, it was an aberration, as they enter today’s game having won just 16 of their past 43 games.
“After 2005, if you looked at all of our guys, we were all young, we were just getting into the prime or the middle of our careers, and for me, it was just starting,” Houshmandzadeh said. “You would have thought that for the next four or five or six years, we would have been someone like Indianapolis, and it hasn’t been that way.”
The team’s struggles can be blamed on six starters — highlighted by Pro Bowl quarterback Carson Palmer — suffering season-ending injuries. Still, the team is one of the league’s most underachieving franchises, which could prompt owner Mike Brown to make drastic changes during the offseason, starting with deciding whether to retain Coach Marvin Lewis.
Lewis, who was the Ravens’ defensive coordinator from 1996-01, had gone 42-38 before losing eight straight to open the season. The Bengals were 2-14 the year before he arrived in Queen City.
“I can’t worry about [being fired],” said Lewis, who is signed through 2010. “That’s really nothing that bothers me, nor is it in my hands or whatever. So, there’s really no reason for me to worry about it or spend any time thinking about it.”
One factor in Lewis’ inability to win can be traced to a consistently fielding an abysmal defense, which is surprising considering he was once regarded as one of the league’s best defensive coordinators. In Baltimore, he ran one of the best defenses in NFL history during the Ravens’ run toward the Super Bowl XXXV in 2001.
The Bengals have the 21st-ranked defense in the NFL, allowing 340.1 yards per game, and Cincinnati has ranked 27th or worst in total defense in four of Lewis’ six seasons.
“We’ve had some injuries, but I think that happens to every team,” he said. “You’ve got to find a way to overcome it.”
Note: The Ravens’ game against Pittsburgh on Dec. 14 at M&T Bank Stadium will begin at 4:15 p.m. instead of 1 p.m., its original starting time.
