Bengals riding offensive momentum to season finale in Baltimore

The Cincinatti Bengals' offense has been reinvigorated since both Chad Ochocinco and Terrell Owens have been hurt.

Without a "star" receiver, this offense has played better than anyone expected. Quarterback Carson Palmer threw four touchdowns and no interceptions against the Chargers' number one ranked defense in the league and appears to making better decisions. Third year receiver Jerome Simpson caught six passes for 124 yards. Even though he was virtually shut down last week, running back Cedric Benson gained 150 rushing yards against the Cleveland Browns two weeks ago, showing he is still capable of frustrating a subpar run defense.

In recent history, the Bengals have had the Ravens' proverbial number. Under Marvin Lewis' leadership, the team has gone 10-5 against their purple-clad division rivals.

Carson Palmer has orchestrated quite a few fourth quarter comebacks against the Ravens during his time as the Bengals starting quarterback, most notably on Dec. 5, 2004 when Palmer led a 24 point comeback to give the Bengals a 27-26 win.

Since Cedric Benson has sporting the orange and black stripped uniform, he has put forth impressive, "streak-breaking" efforts against the Ravens. Last season, Benson broke the Ravens' streak of 39 games without allowing a 100 yard rusher, gaining 120 and 117 rushing yards in both game against the Ravens. This season, he has not been nearly has extraordinary but continues to do a decent job running out of the backfield.

On the other side, Joe Flacco is the key to the victory for both teams on Sunday. In week two, these two teams met in Cincinnati where obnoxious orange colors and loud crowd noises surrounded the him. He threw four interceptions, making scoring a very difficult task for his offense and much easier for his opponent.
Don't expect that to reoccur. Since the embarrassing 15-10 loss that motivated fans to request Marc Bulger  replace him, Flacco has thrown only four interceptions. The Bengals did not replicate their 2009 playoff season, in fact, have fallen for first to worst in the AFC North.

Ball security has been a crucial part in keeping the Ravens close in every game, win or loss. The Ravens are coming into this game with the hopes of setting a new franchise low for turnovers in a single season (21 turnovers, 2008).


This game is a mismatch on paper but when two division rivals such as these battle, the result is always brutal and unpredictable.

Rhymefest- Super Guy featuring Mike Bigga

Rhymefest and Mike Bigga, two of hip hop's most aggressive rappers, join together to trade lines laced with superhero references. Unfortunately the audio quality is poor but nothing an increase in volume can't improve.

My favorite hip hop albums of 2010

If you dig through my troves of 2010 posts, you may encounter a list of the hip hop albums released in the earlier part of the year I enjoyed the most. As this eventful year comes to a close, I want to present an updated list of four more hip hop albums I have cherished this year.

Kanye West- Monster featuring Rick Ross, Jay-Z, Nicki Minaj (Official Video)

Above is the dark, sick, gruesome but still unfinished video for the most successful single from Kanye West's My Beautiful, Dark, Twisted Fantasy album. All the rappers are present, each with their own unique preference of dress.

Let me just warn you. There is blood galore, a headless woman and many seconds of Kanye West's chest, this video isn't for the faint of heart.

Tity Boi- LO Boots featuring Vado

What do you get when two unlikely collaborators like Harlem rapper Vado and ATlien Tity Boi, one half of Disturbing the Peace duo Playaz Circle, come together? A club beat with a lot of braggadocio. When it comes to this one, I am a fan with reason.

"LO Boots" is the first single from Tity Boi's mixtape #2ChainTuesdays set for release in the near but indefinite future (aka no time soon).

Where have I been?

Give me this opportunity to apologize for the low volume of posts as of late. My computer recently got hit with a virus, thus making blogging very hard to do. In the next day or so I will post my list of favorite hip hop albums from 2010. Keep an eye out for that!

Ravens defense cashed in check Lewis wrote

Ray Lewis publicly stated last week that Browns running back Peyton Hillis would not run for more than 100 rushing yards like he did back in September, the last time these two teams met.

On September 26, Hillis ran for 144 yards on 22 carries, one of which was a 44 yarder off the left tackle, through the right side of the defense.

Yesterday was a totally different story. From the very beginning, the Ravens had Hillis snooped out, keeping him from breaking a run longer than seven yards. His measly 2.9 yard per carry average was outdone by teammate Mike Bell who was somewhat more productive, getting 27 yards with nine carries.

Once the Browns running backs were shut down, rookie quarterback Colt McCoy was left to scramble and force erratic throws in an attempt to keep his team in the game. The result was a three interception outing, two caught by Ed Reed and one by Lardarius Webb, giving them six and two interceptions respectively on the season.

This game marks the second consecutive game the Ravens opposing leading rusher was held to less than 40 rushing yards. If the run defense can maintain their stiff performances, they could cause upcoming opponents lots of trouble.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to my readers all around the world and a "season's greetings" to those who practice a different customs than I this time of year.

David Reed out this Sunday. Who is the next man up?

David Reed has officially been ruled out of Sunday's contest between the Ravens and the Browns due to the concussion he suffered a week before against the New Orleans Saints. His efforts as kick returner and kick coverage team member have rejuvenated the entire special teams unit.

He is averaging 29.3 yards per return and his 103 yard touchdown return is the Ravens' only kick returned for a touchdown this season. His special teams tackles rank in the top 3 on the team.

In his absence, Jalen Parmele is most likely to succeed him as main kick returner. This is not necessarily a downgrade as Parmele's bruising, forward running has proved effective enough to earn him a 25.8 return average during his career.

Considering a weather forecast of now and temperatures in the mid 20's, the field position will be crucial in this game. A shorter, manageable fields for Flacco and the offense will make scoring much more achievable.

Rick Ross' mixtape released today

Rick Ross's new mixtape Ashes to Ashes has been released to the public today via internet and is already being compared to his previous underground mixtape Albert Anastasia EP.

This project boasts features from Ludacris, Wiz Khalifa, Wale, T.I and more.

The mixtape can be heard in its entirety below:

Download Mixtape | Free Mixtapes Provided by DatPiff.com

Todd Heap's return makes offense even more dangerous.

The (10-4) Baltimore Ravens travel this Saturday to Cleveland for a divisional game against the (5-9) Browns likely with the services of a returning Todd Heap.

Heap has missed the past two games due to a hamstring injury. He was injured on the first offensive play of the Steelers-Ravens game as he attempted to catch a deep pass from quarterback Joe Flacco.

His presence in the starting line-up will give the run game a better blocking tight end and Flacco another legitimate threat across the middle in passing situations. Heap has 546 receiving yards and 37 catches (fourth on the team in both categories) so far this year despite be unable to perform in the past three games. His 65 yard touchdown reception is the team's second longest reception of the year (Dante Stallworth's 67 yard reception is the longest).

In his absence, rookie Ed Dickson has been a more-than-serviceable solution. Last week he ran 34 yards, breaking through several arm tackles, to get his first career touchdown. He accumulated six catches for 61 yards during his time as the starter. Although he is a gifted receiver, he is not yet ready to overthrow Heap as the starting tight end in this offense.

Sunday, expect Heap to receive at least one touchdown catch on his return as he is three weeks overdue. The Browns have played decent defense against only sub-par competition. None of their last four opponents (Cincinatti, Buffalo, Miami and Carolina) have quarterbacks playing at a level comparable to Joe Flacco. Flacco will have a fine day. With Ray Rice emerging last week against the New Orleans Saints, the Browns focus on stopping the run will open up plays down field.

Vado- Large on the Streets & We All Up in Here (Official Video)

Above is a video for two of Vado's more recent singles, "Large on the Streets" and "We all Up in here", neither of which is featured on his solo debut, Slime Flu. Large on the Streets can be found on a mixtape of the same name and We all Up in here is the latest single from Cam'ron and Vado made available on iTunes last week.

One half of the video is "Large on the Streets" full of punchline ridden bars by Vado over a cold, slow-tempo Big L sample. The second half is "We All Up in Here", a more party oriented cut, reminiscent of early Swizz Beatz material.

T.I - Salute (Prod. by Jake One)

 

T.I uses a Jake One beat to demand a salutation of respect from his peers and listeners

What's the deal with Sergio Kindle?

kllk
I dream of the day the Ravens have two fierce pass rushers anchoring opposing sides of the defense.The thought of blocking both Terrell Suggs on the right side and Sergio Kindle on the left would make coaches cringe. The potential Kindle possess makes me so optimistic about future of the Ravens defense.

Unfortunately, Kindle is reported to be uncertain about his health status for next season. After a meeting with an anonymous doctor, Kindle took to his twitter account to update his followers on his return.

"Dr's up here make'n me nervous bout my chances of come'n back next yr!!" said Sergio Kindle yesterday. Minutes later he added,"n yal know its a business so if i cant play next yr, dey aint gon keep me here!! But F*CK IT i gota keep grind'n so i can ball out next yr!!"

His latter statement is pretty accurate. As the Ravens' first of two second round draft picks this year, he is expected to contribute sooner rather than later. If he is unable to play for physical reasons, the Ravens will have little choice but to release him.

I hope his recovery continues to go well so we can see Sergio Kindle in back next year.

Big Sean- Ambigious featuring Mike Posner and Clinton Sparks

This video for Big Sean's "Ambigious" is silly and simple but if you're a fan of Mike Posner, Big Sean or even Clinton Sparks (doubt it), you should check it out. Far East Side Movement is featured in the video but they don't actually sing or rap. This track can be found on Big Sean's Finally Famous Vol. 3 mixtape.

Ways to shut down the Ravens offense

After Sunday's dominating rushing performance against the New Orleans Saints, teams in the league have to develop a strategy for stopping both facets of the Ravens offense or be buried under insurmountable deficits.


Ray Rice displayed his best game of the season against the Saints with over 150 rushing yards and 80 receiving yards. Joe Flacco threw two touchdowns, one to Rice and another to rookie tight end Ed Dickson.

From a defensive coordinator's perspective, these stats would reveal how integral the run is  in Baltimore's offense and shutting it down would make it much more difficult for them to score points.

Joell Ortiz- Roman's Revenge freestyle

Joell Ortiz has been absent from this blog for a while but is making his return with a short but lyrical freestyle over Swizz Beatz's "Roman's Revenge" instrumental originally used by Nicki Minaj.

Rick Ross- 9 Piece featuring T.I

 Rick Ross f. T.I.- 9 Piece

Rick Ross' new mixtape Ashes to Ashes will be released this week on Christmas Eve. One of the tracks features Ross and T.I flexing their rapping muscles over a Lex Luger beat. The track itself is nothing innovative but the collaboration of two of raps most relevant rappers makes it worth at least one listen.

Ray Rice energizes Ravens offense.

Ray Rice rose from the ashes of a season full of poor performances to finish the day at home with 233 total yards, 153 rushing yards and 80 receiving yards.

Much credit is due to the offensive line, who unlike last week, opened up visible holes for running backs Rice and Mcgahee to dash through. Rice's longest run of 50 yards showed how dangerous he can be when running through secondary. The problem is reaching that level.

Rice hasn't broken a run longer than 25 yards since his week two performance against the Cincinnati Bengals. The majority of the season has consisted of runs stopped instantly at the line of scrimmage, hence his unimpressive 3.9 yards per run average. Today, Rice averaged 4.9 yards and teammate, Willis Mcgahee, averaged 7.9 yards.

In the passing game, he provided that dump off option Joe Flacco needs difficult situations. However, his touchdown catch was the result was an extremely accurate pass by Flacco placed perfectly into the end zone for Rice to grab. This and four of catches helped Rice cover up the minimal contribution of Boldin and the rest of the receivers.

Rice's rushing yard total so far this season is 1051, making 2010 season his second consecutive with over 1000 rushing yards. His next game, in Cleveland versus the Browns, presents another opportunity to put up dynamic numbers but only if the offensive line has found a definitive method of blocking for him.

David Banner & 9th Wonder- Be With You featuring Ludacris

David Banner - New Music - More Music Videos

Rappers David Banner and Ludacris and producer 9th Wonder travel with us back to the 70's. Vocals by Marsha Ambrosius featured on the chorus.

Ravens vs Saints. What will happen when the Saints march in?

Be glad the Ravens can still get in the playoffs with an 11-5 record because the likelihood of them winning tomorrow afternoon appears to be somewhat slim. Sunday at 1:00pm, the (9-4) Ravens will host the (10-3) New Orleans Saints in a late season game with big playoff implications.

Quarterback Drew Brees is arguably the best in his position right now and is headed to the Pro Bowl for a. He has thrown 28 touchdowns this season, has a passer rating on 93.6, and effectively orchestrates the number three offense in the league on a weekly basis. The matchup he must be concerned with lies at the opposing free safety position. Ed Reed, who started his season in week 7, had four interceptions in his first four games but since week 11 has yet to grab another. Offenses are beginning to avoid Reed, hence the increase in passing yards allowed by the Ravens as of late.

As of now, the Ravens have no dependable running game. Ray Rice and Willis Mcgahee have failed season expectations and are getting first downs rather infrequently (76 this season), forcing Joe Flacco pick up the slack.

Despite Flacco's fairly consistent play, he has been under constant pressure as of late because pass protection has been horrendous, making him the fourth most sacked quarterback in the league this season. Both the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Houston Texans disturbed Flacco in the pocket with the safety blitz. The Saints, with Roman Harper, are fully capable of doing the same.

The return of Reggie Bush and Pierre Thomas will only make the Saints rushing attack more potent. Chris Ivory has done a good job of running aggressively between the tackles. The combination of these three backs will create a manageable challenge for the Ravens defense.

Roman Harper, Malcolm Jenkins and Jonathan Vilma have all forced turnovers from their respective positions all season long and must be monitored individually when Baltimore's offense is on the field.

Let's be practical for a moment. The Ravens' biggest struggles play into the hands of the Saints. Their secondary is struggling to covering for an entire game, Rice and Mcgahee is aren't finding rhythm in the run game and the offensive line is easily manipulated. I predict the Saints to create more big plays in the form of interceptions, forced fumbles and touchdown passes and to disable the Ravens ability to combat. The Ravens will leave the field with five losses on the season and a much tighter playoff race to compete in.

Lil' Wayne- 6' 7" featuring Cory Gunz

If it sounds like "A-Milli", that's because it was born of the same DNA. The Bangladesh production is supposedly the next single from the Carter IV.

 Best part of the song is the reunion between Lil' Wayne and Cory Gunz, two former partners in rhyme.

T.I tops hip hop charts from the jail cell.

T.I's No Mercy album was the highest selling hip hop album of the week with 159,000 copies sold, reaching number four on the Billboard 200. Without a hit single from the album, T.I managed to sell this album using his reputation and popular feature names.

The incarcerated rapper's album has a extensive list of A-list features including Kanye West, Kid Cudi, Eminem, Trey Songz, Christina Aguliera and more.

The most popular single from this album is the Chris Brown assisted "Get Back Up", in it T.I attempts to uses humanity to inspire listeners to not give up. The slower tempo song does not have a chance of becoming a hit and will soon faze out of radio rotations.

Due to T.I's incarceration, we may see this album become an afterthought similar to Lil' Wayne's I'm Not A Human Being. He is not available to tour, make appearances on various talk shows and radio shows or album signings. This fact does not mean the album isn't worth purchasing.

Below is the video for T.I - Get Back up featuring Chris Brown

Who is wearing purple and black these days?

The main issue in question is not the Ravens' toughness but their identity. What is this team's specialty?

Directing outrage toward the Ravens for their poor second half play is understandable but recognize that the Texans comeback on teams all the time. In the past, if the Ravens got ahead of a team, that was that. Ray Lewis and co. would feed of their momentum and keep their opponent from getting back into the game. Obviously that is no longer the case as the Ravens have ruined eight fourth quarter leads, including the one they had on the Houston Texans last night.

After the kick returner David Reed ran back the second half opening kickoff 103 yards into the end zone, the score was 28-7 favoring the Ravens.

From that point the offense went sterile and didn't produce anymore points, leaving the defense to tire out while chasing after one of the top offenses in the league. The passing game that was supposed to dissect one of the worse pass defenses in the league became

During a fourth quarter, first down run by Matt Schaub, an exhausted Jarret Johnson chased in pursuit but couldn't catch him. Not only did that play extend the drive but it revealed how tired the Ravens defense, front seven in particular, was.

Now that the game has been won, what do we think of the Ravens now? Are they a flimsy team that can jump ahead with a quick touchdown drive and seven point lead only to lose it? Are they an injured team playing without a few key unsung players? Are they a lucky team that finds a way to win some of their close games?

Whoever they are, they can hold their head high knowing they leave Houston with a 9-4 record and a good chance of making the playoffs as a Wildcard team.

Fabolous- You Be Killin Em' (Official Video)

Lots of things going on in Fabolous' latest black and white video. Fab compliments his woman friend while a car explosion, bedroom scene with Fabolous and Amber Rose all take place. Watch here.

Swizz Beatz- We Keep It Rockin' featuring Maino, Jim Jones, Jadakiss and Joell Ortiz

Swizz Beatz Ft. Maino, Jadakiss, Joell Ortiz & Jim Jones - We Keep It Rockin by RWDmag


This collaboration of New York rappers has the makings of a underground city anthem. The beat is a remake of Tupac's California Love, originally produced by Dr. Dre. This song is the latest addition to Swizz Beatz' "Monster Monday" series.

Rushing through the Texans.

With a game against the Houston Texans offense that's capable of running the ball well but chooses to throw, what kind of game will Terrell Suggs have?

The Texans pass the ball very efficiently as they are currently ranked 10th in league averaging 242.5 passing yard a game and 7th in total offense. Quarterback Matt Schaub has done a good job of pushing the ball down the field without tossing frivolous interceptions.

Dr. Dre - Kush featuring Snoop Dogg and Akon

Dr. Dre has a different ghostwriter, nicer car and a more wrinkles on his face but has kept the formula for making his masterful beats about the same. In this video, he puts the scene on freeze similar to how the rap game has been for the past 11 years since the release of his last album, 2001.

Snoop Dogg and Akon play their usual roles as weed smoker and chorus man respectively. The beat makes this song so refreshing and worth listening to, which shouldn't be surprise since it's a Dr. Dre song.

Ravens and Steelers throw accusations along with fists.

Both teams of Sunday Night Football's slugfest are accusing their opponents of purposely trying to injure their teammates.

Two days ago, Ed Reed claimed in an interview that Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward attempted to deliver a few brutal hits to defenseless players on the Ravens defense. The statement was likely contemptuously driven by news that the league fined fellow teammates Haloti Ngata and Jameel McClain $15,000 and $40,000 respectively.

McClain gave tight end Heath Miller a concussion with a neck-wrenching hit on a play in which Miller never actually had the ball in his possession. Haloti Ngata came screaming through the offensive line to sack Ben Roethilisberger, breaking his nose in the process.

The Steelers believe Ravens guard Chris Chester tried to injure their linebacker James Harrison on a false start penalty against the Ravens that led to a scuffle between players of both teams.

All this publicized bickering between the two organizations proves the physical game we witnessed last Sunday ran deeper than just jerseys and pads. These men put their hearts and souls out on the field and this week their emotions are erupting in a volcanic fashion for the media to capture and broadcast.

However, both teams need to move past what occured five days ago. Baltimore, specifically, must travel to Houston to play the underachieving (5-7) Texans and could be unpleasantly shocked if distracted.

In Houston's two most recent losses to the Jets and Philadelphia (two of the league's better teams), the loss margins did not exceed 10 points.

Yelawolf- Swagga killer

 

Superb storytelling by Catfish Billy over a high-pitched sample. Track is unfortunately not included on his mixtape/album Trunk Musik 0-60 in stores now.

Injuries hurt more than expected.

The lack of healthy blockers in last night's game versus the Steelers came back to haunt the Ravens.

On the first offensive play of the game, Joe Flacco throws a pass to the right-middle of the field for Todd Heap. Heap didn't catch the pass but caught a pulled hamstring, making him absent from the rest of the game.

Heap is an unheralded all-around tight end who is a receiving threat but can also anchor either side of the end of the offensive line to block so losing him crippled the Ravens' quality of blocking.

Someone must go down. I hope it's not the Ravens.

An exhibition between the league's most verocious rivals will be staged primetime tonight so the entire country can witness.

When two aggressive blitzing, hard hitting, mentally tough teams meet on Sunday Night Football, you football fans nationwide cringe at the jaw-cracking hits.

At some point, linebacker Ray Lewis and running back Rashard Mendenhall will make contact with one another. The impact from that collision will make one of those players fall to the ground in shame as the other motions forward in triumph.

Possiblities the battle between Lewis and Mendenhall present are analogous to those of this game. The winner of this game will very likely win the AFC North division, leaving the loser to fight for a wildcard spot and hope the "number one" team in the slips up in the final games of their season.

Let's just hope the Ravens arent the ones lying on the ground in shame when this is all over.

Clipse- Life Change featuring Pharrell and Kenna (Official Video)

This video for the final track on Clipse's 2009 release, Til the Casket Drops, illustrates the pain associated with the incarceration of a family member.

Diddy-Dirty Money- Strobe lights featuring Lil' Wayne

The mastered version of this eclectic dance track is one of the first new Lil' Wayne feature since his release from jail. Diddy-Dirty Money is still promoting Last Train to Paris , their first complete album together, with appearances on Saturday Night Live this weekend and WWE's "Tribute to the Troops" last this month .

Does Mike Wallace scare you?

Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Mike Wallace substantially leads the team in receiving yards with 792, second . He will be counted on to catch a few deep passes Ben Roethlisberger will lob behind the Ravens' porous pass defense.

Don't mistake his low catch numbers for unproductivity. Wallace leads the league with 22 yards per catch (YAC); every time he gets the ball in his hands he makes outstanding plays. This explains why Wallace vs. the Ravens secondary is Sunday night's biggest match up.

Playing with a mobile quarterback that keeps plays alive by shifting in and out of the pocket, allots Wallace numerous opportunities to get wide open for exhilarating big plays. He will make a couple of those plays Sunday night when he matches up with one of Baltimore's corners.

No corner on the Ravens has consistently played well this year. Almost every starter has given up inexplicable big plays on different afternoons.

Steve Johnson maneuvered around Fabian Washington for two touchdown passes and simply ran past Lardarius Webb for his third of the day in the week 7 game; Johnson finished that day with 158 receiving yards. Josh Wilson allowed an 88 yard touchdown pass from Brian St. Pierre to David Gettis, putting the Panthers win seven points of tying the game.

Running back Rashard Mendenhall poses a threat for any defense but the Ravens in particular have inconsistently defended the run. In the week ten game with the Atlanta Falcons, the Ravens matched up poorly against Michael Turner, who was coming off of two consecutive 100 rushing yard games, but only allowed him to run for 39 yards with 17 carries. The next week they let second year running back Mike Goodson run for 120 yards.

A double move by Wallace and play action pass by Roethlisberger is certain to be lying in the Steelers' toolbox just in case they need an immediate big play.

Greg Mattison will have to gameplan to keep Wallace contained. Wallace can serve as the “game breaker”; evident in the Steelers’ 37-14 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Wallace caught three balls for 100 yards, two of them for touchdowns.

Mike Bigga- Ready Set Go featuring T.I (Official Video)

Killer Mike - New Music - More Music Videos

The long-delayed, black and white music video for "Ready, Get, Go", a T.I/Mike Bigga collaboration found on T.I's F*ck A Mixtape.

Joell Ortiz and the Lox- Put Some money on It

Joell Ortiz f. The Lox

 

Joell Ortiz and the LOX use their verses to persuade people to "Put Some Money on It".