CINCINNATI -- He is the king of smack, both verbal and physical. That is what Ray Lewis brings.
He called Cedric Benson's 120-yard rushing day last month against the big-time, big-mouth Ravens defense a fluke. And Benson said Lewis brought an extra assortment of jive here on Sunday.
"He started telling me how he was going to be there all day, on every play,'' Benson said. "I laughed and kind of smiled. Then he says, 'We are the team to go through, man!'
"So, I told him we'd just go through them to the playoffs and the Super Bowl.''
With attention spans dwindling, we forgo full game-by-game previews to give you the essentials you need to know about every contest this glorious NFL weekend. We call it The Once-Over.
The Early Games
New York Giants (5-2) at Philadelphia (4-2): The Giants are supposed to have one of the best pass rushes in the league, but they just haven't shown up in the past two games, with zero sacks over that time. They must get pressure on Donovan McNabb to have a chance on Sunday. Eli Manning also must figure out how to rebound from his four interceptions over the past two games.
With attention spans dwindling, we forego full game-by-game previews to give you the essentials you need to know about every contest this glorious NFL weekend. We call it The Once-Over.
The Early Games
Tampa Bay (0-3) at Washington (1-2): With the Buccaneers winless this season and looking back at their final four losses to end last season, Tampa Bay hasn't won a regular season game since November 30, 2008. Add to that the fact that a new quarterback, Josh Johnson, is taking over for the Bucs and Antonio Bryant still isn't positive he'll play, and the horizon is bleak in Tampa.
Jim Zorn's days seem numbered in Washington. He lost to Detroit last week, which hadn't won since 2007. It might be the kiss of death if he drops a home game to Tampa Bay on Sunday. Pick: Washington
Training camps have wrapped up, the NFL season is right around the corner, and it's still hot as sin outside. But instead of cooling you off with a warm island song, FanHouse break out ye old heat check for our 2009 NFL Season Previews. " We'll rate each club in 5 categories on a scale of 1 to 10, high score wins.
Up and down, up and down, up and down. In 2004, the Ravens went 9-7, then followed up with a 6-10 mark in 2005. Then in 2006, a 13-3 record, trailed by a 5-11 finish in 2007. So last year's 11-5 effort could be concerning, if you believe in trends. On the other hand, it could just be the start of something special -- if Baltimore can just get over the hurdle presented by the defending AFC North and Super Bowl champion Steelers.
Earlier this week, EA Sports released the player ratings for Madden 10. And now, with the NFL Draft in the rearview, and nothing else to do between now and training camps, we'll ponder the important questions. Like: How is [Player who is obviously rated too high] rated above [Player who is obviously rated too low]?
Who moved to the head of the NFL class during the draft? Find out with FanHouse's team-by-team 2009 Draft Grades.
Jonathan Ogden retired last summer, leaving the Ravens with a young but deep group of offensive linemen to protect rookie quarterback Joe Flacco. Not surprisingly, Ogden's replacement, Jared Gaither (a former supplementary draft pick) was inconsistent, but occasionally flashed glimpses of big-play potential.
Everyone makes mistakes. But when those mistakes are magnified by intense scrutiny of the NFL draft, well, they become much more embarrassing than, say, my typical Friday morning, mustard-stain-on-khakis incident.
Which is why the NFL FanHouse braintrust got together to determine who is the biggest bust for each NFL team. They're not listed in terms of stupidity -- they're all stupid relative to a team's total draft performance. Meaning, of course, some teams "bust" is much different than another organization's; we did it this way to avoid just linking you to DetroitLions.com.
Instead, we're putting it in current draft order, sans trades, and allowing this list to serve as a reminder of each's team's ability to properly execute a fail. The "bust factor" was based primarily on three things: statistical production (or lack thereof), position in the draft and other available options during that year's draft.
There will be no retired player on the cover of EA Sports' Madden NFL 10. Instead, EA Sports will return to its custom of jinxing an active player picking one of the NFL's biggest stars for the cover of their best-selling annual game.
The game itself won't be released until August, but the process of choosing this year's cover boy is well underway. The company has narrowed its choices down to nine finalists. If you think we're due for a defensive player on the cover, this may be your year.
On Friday, the Oakland Raiders released safety Gibril Wilson, defensive end Kalimba Edwards and wide receiver Ronald Curry, saving the team about $6 million against the 2009 salary cap.
Think back to last offseason when owner Al Davis, in an effort to return his once proud franchise to glory, was signing blank checks with a stamp and passing them out to second-tier free agents like it was the fashionable thing to do. A year later, it's becoming obvious as to how much of a total failure the offseason was.
Because the NFL season never ends, we present our 2009 Offseason Roadmaps for front offices to navigate through the summer.
It was improbable. The Baltimore Ravens made another playoff run in 2008 based on a defense that used the art of suffocation (oh, and Ed Reed) and an offense that improved dramatically over the previous years. John Harbaugh was impressive as coach, putting a rookie quarterback out to toss the ball around and sticking with him through thick (17-29, 248 yards, 2 TDs in Week 9) and thin (11-28, 115 yards, 2 INTs in Week 15).
Now the team has to figure out what to do about a superstar in Ray Lewis, and how they should handle other important positional players (hello Mr. Stover) in order to return to (and move past) the AFC Championship game without their defensive coordinator.
CINCINNATI -- He is the king of smack, both verbal and physical. That is what Ray Lewis brings.
With attention spans dwindling, we forgo full game-by-game previews to give you the essentials you need to know about every contest this glorious 
With attention spans dwindling, we forego full game-by-game previews to give you the essentials you need to know about every contest this glorious 
Training camps have wrapped up, the 
Who moved to the head of the NFL class during the draft? Find out with FanHouse's team-by-team 
There will be no retired player on the cover of EA Sports' Madden NFL 10. Instead, EA Sports will return to its custom of 
On Friday, the Oakland Raiders released safety 
Because the NFL season never ends, we present our 
