Redskins-Ravens Preview

SCOUTING REPORT

Both first-year head coaches have their work cut outThis should be an extremely competitive contest between two clubs whose cities are less than 40 miles apart. The Redskins have lost three of their past four games, while the Ravens have won six of their past seven, and another Washington defeat will all but end its chances of getting to the postseason. Both Washington and Baltimore are surprise teams in the league under the new leadership of first-year head coaches. This contest should have lots of hard hitting with two of the better defenses in the league, while both offenses are led by young quarterbacks who have shown signs of excellence during the year.

· Full Scouting Report

Matchup
	W-L	PF	PA	HOME	ROAD	DIV	CONF
WAS	8-8	265	296	4-4	4-4	3-3	7-5
BAL	11-5	385	244	6-2	5-3	4-2	8-4
· Complete Standings

Individual Leaders

Washington Passing   CMP% YDS TD INT Campbe... 66.0 2126 10 9 Collin... 52.6 87 0 0

Baltimore Passing   CMP% YDS TD INT Flacco 65.4 2455 12 8 Smith 50.0 4 0 0

Washington Rushing   CAR YDS AVG TD Portis 124 494 4.0 1 Betts 56 210 3.8 2

Baltimore Rushing   CAR YDS AVG TD Rice 148 733 5.0 6 McGahe... 66 261 4.0 5

Washington Receiving   REC YDS AVG TD Moss 40 546 13.7 2 Randle... 34 366 10.8 0

Baltimore Receiving   REC YDS AVG TD Mason 45 672 14.9 4 Rice 56 515 9.2 1

Full Player Stats: Washington | Baltimore

TEAM AVERAGES & NFL RANKS
TEAM OFFENSE	TEAM	PER GAME AVERAGE
Total Yards	WAS	320.0
	BAL	324.0
Yards Passing	WAS	189.1
	BAL	175.5
Yards Rushing	WAS	130.9
	BAL	148.5
TEAM DEFENSE	TEAM	PER GAME AVERAGE
Yards Allowed	WAS	288.8
	BAL	261.1
Pass Yds Allowed	WAS	193.4
	BAL	179.7
Rush Yds Allowed	WAS	95.4
	BAL	81.4

HEAD TO HEAD MATCHUPS (SINCE 2001)
Baltimore leads 2-0
Oct 10, 2004	WAS 10, @BAL 17

Though they've struggled against the league's top teams, the Baltimore Ravens have feasted on lesser competition to put themselves in the thick of the AFC playoff hunt. Their first game in a make-or-break December pits them against a team that's followed a similar pattern lately.

The Ravens go for their seventh win in eight games on Sunday night when they open a challenging stretch by visiting the mercurial Washington Redskins.

Despite playing for a rookie coach, employing a first-year quarterback and playing with much the same roster that went 5-11 last season, Baltimore (8-4) is only one game behind Pittsburgh in the AFC North and currently in position to make the postseason as a wild-card team.

The Ravens' favorable position entering the last month of the season is largely due to their success against teams they've been expected to beat. They're 6-0 against teams with losing records, including a combined 4-0 against division rivals Cleveland and Cincinnati.

But Baltimore is just 2-4 against teams with winning records. That includes a 31-3 loss to Indianapolis and a 30-10 defeat against the defending Super Bowl champion New York Giants.

While that doesn't bode well for a three-week stretch that features matchups with Washington (7-5), Pittsburgh and Dallas, Ravens coach John Harbaugh insists that his team has nothing to prove.

"Our guys have earned the right to be playing meaningful football games in December," he said Monday, one day after the Ravens routed the Bengals 34-3 in Cincinnati. "That's all we care about."

Harbaugh's club has outscored opponents 70-10 in back-to-back victories, and while that kind of dominant defense has become the standard in Baltimore under coordinator Rex Ryan, the offense has been delivering nearly as consistently lately. After averaging 15.6 points during their 2-3 start, the Ravens have surpassed that mark in all but one game during their 6-1 run, averaging 30.6 points overall in that stretch.

Rookie quarterback Joe Flacco has keyed the surge. The first-round pick from Delaware has thrown 11 touchdowns with only two interceptions in the last seven games, and is getting comfortable taking more chances with his receivers.

"I think you see they're starting to come alive and make all the plays, not just one out of so many" Flacco said after completing 19-of-29 for 280 yards and two touchdowns last Sunday. "I'm starting to trust them more, so I'm putting the ball where they're going to get it."

While the Ravens have begun to thrive in their first year with Harbaugh and Flacco, the Redskins (7-5) have slowed down after a hot start in their first season under coach Jim Zorn.

Jason Campbell got a lot of the credit after posting three straight games with a 100-plus passer rating as part of Washington's 4-1 start, but now he's the focal point of criticism after throwing just four touchdown passes in his last seven games. The Redskins are 3-4 in that stretch.

"We started out so fast," Campbell said. "We got on such a streak that we were scoring so fast that expectations and everything on our team went through the roof, and people forgot we were still in this thing in its first year."

Washington's recent struggles are partially due to the team's inability to hang with tough opponents. The Redskins were considered contenders after notching back-to-back road wins over highly touted division rivals Dallas and Philadelphia on Sept. 28 and Oct. 5, respectively. Since then, however, they're 0-3 against teams with winning records.

The Redskins, whose lone win in November was over lowly Seattle, gave up a season-high 404 total yards in a 23-7 home loss to the Giants last Sunday.

"There's still a long road ahead of us," said running back Clinton Portis, who entered the game as the league's leading rusher before getting held to a season-low 22 yards on 11 carries.

"We're not out of the playoffs. Back two weeks ago, everybody was crucifying the Cowboys. Now they're back to America's greatest team. Now we're in the same situation."

Though he says it's too early to count the Redskins out, Portis could have a hard time bouncing back against the Ravens, who haven't allowed a 100-yard rusher in 31 games, the longest current streak in the NFL. They're holding opponents to an average of 78.3 yards on the ground, third-fewest in the league.

Portis is expected to play despite being bothered by neck, knee and rib cage injuries.

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