Heading to Miami for a Porpoise!

Ravens & Dolphins both come in 2-3 on the season

Well I am no marine biologist but actually a Dolphin is not a porpoise but how many people really know that or care?

Like most football degenerates I take a look at the NFL season schedule and right away go down the list. That's a win, win, uh-oh there's a loss. You know the drill. And even with all the question marks on the Ravens roster mixed with a new head coach and his staff, I had week 7 marked as a win in Miami.

In part, of course, because the Dolphins were an embarrassing 1 and 15 last season. But also they have a new head coach and staff. They too had no proven quarterback, a weed head running back and a young promising back coming off a bad injury last season. And a defense that got old and had no sign of improving this year.

Then things got a little interesting. The Brett Favre domino effect sent a steady Chad Pennington to Miami. Now Chad is not what he once was as a young Jets QB. Now his long passes look like he catapults down field. High arching lobs that don't cut it in the NFL. And he can't throw the ball to he outside with any confidence either. But guess what anything he can do is way more than they have had from the QB in awhile. Because the things he does do, he does pretty well. And he can manage an offense.

This has resulted in back to back Miami wins against New England and San Diego. So this game is no longer looking like an mismatch.

Both teams are coming off losses and want to regain a winning formula. Miami was competitive against Houston but Baltimore was malodorous in Indianapolis. Now maybe I got a little crazy thinking the Ravens would win in Indy but they looked horrible.

Are other teams getting too familiar with Joe Flacco now that he has played more? What happened to the Ravens power rushing game? And who scores 33 points against the Ravens?

All these questions need to be answered this week. And...here we go again...predict that they will be answered in a positive way.

The NFL odds makers agree. Usually if teams are deemed pretty evenly matched the home team gets 1 to 3 points for playing at home. Baltimore is a +3 in this game as visitors.

> Find Baltimore Ravens jerseys & apparel online through Pro Football Fans and check out the 2008 NFL scoreboard!

And that is about what I expect. I anticipate the Ravens to run more efficiently and Flacco to throw the ball to his receivers instead of Miami defenders. Remember last week turnovers did them in. Hopefully we will see better 3rd down conversion.

Miami has the 18th overall ranked defense. #5 against the run and #18 against the pass.

Baltimore is still #1 across the board in defense. This week I would like to see more evidence of that. I think we will.

Baltimore 17 - Miami 9

By Andy Natalie
ProFootball-fans.com Baltimore Ravens Correspondent