It could be argued that the Cardinals possess the most complete team in the National Football League.
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The 1996 debut team lost 12 games, and the 2007 squad dropped 11, while the 1998 and 2005 squads were on the short end of 10 games apiece.
Neither Schaub or Clausen seem capable of suddenly leading the Ravens to victory, much less against the red-hot Kansas City Chiefs.
Kansas City, a team that lost five consecutive games after a Week 1 win over the Houston Texans – a game in which Mallett saw playing time before he was released by Houston – is faring quite a bit better than the Ravens this year.
“You look around the league, [and] everybody goes through it, too”, Pees said. “We have pride, and nobody wants to go out this way”. “I think, I question some of you, but I won’t ask any questions”.
The Ravens used to fit into that category. Smith has thrown for multiple TD passes in just four games this season, but he has done it in two of his last three. Most thought that was the nail in the coffin on their season.
On the other end of the spectrum are Detroit and Cleveland, who have had 12 seasons of double-digit losses since 1996. “The mentality there is to have a bully mentality, so know they’re going to come out and play hard”.
Harbaugh, of course, spent nine seasons as a special teams coordinator and secondary/safeties coach under Reid in Philadelphia (1999-07).
He said, “If you’re going to be a good football team, you have to win games like this”. It’s to make us better.
The Ravens defeated the Chiefs, 9-6, in Week 5 of the 2012 season at Arrowhead Stadium.
Kicking the Ravens when they’re down would be a satisfying way to do it. Chiefs QB Alex Smith’s streak of 312 passes without INT ended last week. Twenty-two of them came in 2014 in the midst of a record-breaking season for Houston. They expected them to be in playoff contention at this time of the season.
The Chiefs are looking to breakthrough in a tight AFC Playoff race, and with just three weeks of the season remaining, Kansas City will fancy their chances of making the postseason.
Now, consider the seven teams that Kansas City has beaten in successive weeks.
The Ravens were still playing competitively, but couldn’t do enough to win. Kansas City is only visiting Baltimore for the second time since John Harbaugh took over the coaching duties. “We’re putting our best players out there….” This year, he is without INT and Ravens have only four….
Reid was a third-round draft pick of the Baltimore Ravens in 2011 and never developed. Eleven starters have missed a total of 46 games, and the Ravens now have 18 players on injured reserve.
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The Chiefs’ rendezvous with history waits for the outcome. The Baltimore Ravens ground game is averaging 92.7 yards per game, and Allen leads the way with 381 yards on 101 attempts. (See 20-6, 10-6 and 24-6 wins in November).
