Colts Reclaim Baltimore as Their Turf

The Baltimore Ravens kept the country on edge deep into the night on Monday as they ventured closer to a win against the Patriots than anyone else this season. They didn't make tonight's game with the Colts quite that suspenseful. There won't be any bags under the eyes or spirited conversations around the water cooler for those who watched tonight's game, a 44-20 slaughter that wasn't even as close as the final score indicates.

The first quarter was equally divided between Colt touchdowns and Raven mistakes. A Reggie Wayne touchdown, a Willis McGahee fumble and two Joseph Addai scores sandwiched around a Kyle Boller pick pretty much ended the game before everyone had stumbled in from the extended tailgating. When Michael Coe blocked a Sam Koch punt through the end zone to make it 23-0, people started streaming back out to finish the cases of beer and grilled sausages they'd left behind.

Somehow, things got even worse from there for the Ravens. Addai scored again, Boller was intercepted twice more and added a fumble for good measure and the Colt starters were on the bench after Peyton Manning found Anthony Gonzalez for a touchdown two plays into the second half. Those of us that stayed up for the whole thing got to update our scouting reports on Jim Sorgi, Clifton Dawson and Devin Aromashodu. Good fun.

There were some bright spots for the Ravens. Yamon Figurs returned a kickoff 94 yards for a touchdown to briefly make it look like this wouldn't be a complete whitewashing. Boller led the Raven starters to a touchdown against a Colt defense made up of backups, extras from The Wire and Tony Dungy's hairstylist. Troy Smith made his NFL debut and scrambled for the final score. Brian Billick looked dapper in his puffy jacket. Steve McNair didn't break anything.

Overall, though, it was a new low in a seaon full of them for the Ravens who were in this game for all of five minutes. It may be time to play Smith because there's no more reason to continue with Boller. As good as he may have looked against the Pats for three quarters, the Boller we saw tonight is the one we've seen more often than not and he isn't the answer for the future. They play Miami next week, no better way to break a rookie's cherry,

The Colts are over their brief midseason slump. They scored with the ease of George Clooney at happy hour and defended like Jessica Alba at the same happy hour. The extended rest was welcome for a team that was already without Marvin Harrison, Ryan Diem and Raheem Brock and it's always nice to get some playing time for the guys that usually just make sure Peyton's endorsement checks don't get wet.