CINCINNATI – Derrick Mason is just fine playing under a veil of anonymity.
“We’re not looking to be in the spotlight,” he said following the Ravens’ dominating victory against the Bengals. “We’re looking to go out there and work hard and play physical football and let our play speak for itself. We’re going to go out there and play hard.”
But the Ravens won’t be able to hide for much longer. After leaving Cincinnati with a 34-3 victory — their sixth in the past seven games — the rest of the country will get the chance to see just how good the Ravens (8-4) are when they host the Washington Redskins (7-5) on Sunday night at 8:15 p.m.
“We’re right where we want to be,” Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco said. “We’ve put ourselves in the hunt and we’ve got four games left and we need to go out there and continue doing what we’ve been doing and it starts with Washington.”
The Ravens proved Sunday they could rough up a downtrodden franchise like the Bengals (1-10-1) with very few outside of the rain-soaked crowd of 63,871 watching. There were thousands of empty seats at Paul Brown Stadium at kickoff and the facility was nearly empty by the fourth quarter when the Ravens were putting an exclamation point on their first victory in Queen City since 2004.
The Ravens essentially scored how ever they wanted.
How about quarterback Joe Flacco handing off to Mark Clayton, who throws a 32-yard touchdown pass to a wide open Mason? Check.
How about Flacco throwing a long pass down the sideline to Clayton, who catches it with one hand and jogs into the end zone? Check.
How about Flacco tossing a short pass to tight end Todd Heap in the end zone or safety Jim Leonhard intercepting a pass and returning it 35 yards for a score?
Check and check and checkmate.
When it was over, the Ravens had amassed 451 yards to the Bengals’ 155 and possessed the ball for 38 minutes, 58 seconds.
“They had the chance to run a lot of plays,” Bengals defensive tackle John Thornton said. “They dialed up everything that they had. I think we got to see their whole playbook, we were out there so much.”
For the Ravens to reach the playoffs, it comes down to their final four games. After playing the Redskins, the Ravens host the Pittsburgh Steelers (9-3) in a game that could decide the AFC North Division on Dec. 14. And it’s a game the NFL deems so attractive, it moved the game from 1 p.m. to 4:15 so it can seize the national spotlight on CBS. The Ravens also face the Cowboys on Dec. 20 in a nationally televised game on the NFL Network.
“We don’t care if it’s national or not,” linebacker Ray Lewis said. “All we care about is getting the ‘W.’ The bottom line is we’re back home now and have three of the next four in Baltimore and that’s where our backbone is. For us to be going home and facing the Redskins and Pittsburgh, that’s huge for us.”
But it’s also grounds for concern. The Ravens have not fared well in recent years when playing on the national stage. Baltimore has lost its past nine of it’s last 11 games in prime time, including seven in an row and a 23-20 defeat on Monday Night Football in Pittsburgh on Sept. 29.
“I think we just need to go about and prepare like we have for every other game this season long,” Heap said. “When it comes down to the day you just need to go into the game with the same focus as you have for every other game. It will be exciting to play on that stage, but even more exciting if we take care of business.”
Ron Snyder covers the Ravens for The Examiner. He can be reached at [email protected]
