NFL Baltimore

We noted this morning that longtime NFL quarterback Trent Dilfer had an Achilles injury that would likely end his playing career, and this afternoon Dilfer made it official.

It's pretty common to see a college team using a live animal as their mascot. Ralphie the Buffalo leads Colorado's football team onto the field, for example, and a succession of bulldogs named Uga have inspired Georgia. It's not quite as common in the NFL, though. Most of the time NFL players and animals meet up, the consequences aren't that great for either side.

The Ravens are trying to change that, however, by using a pair of actual ravens as part of pre-game festivities. That caught the eye of PETA who are urging the team to rethink their plan.

"[The] bright lights, screaming fans, and loud noises - such as air horns, bands, and amplified sound systems - are terrifying for animals who can't possibly understand what is going on. Regardless of how these birds are trained, they are likely to be severely distressed by the overwhelming confusion of the situation."

Peter Schmuck of the Baltimore Sun asks a good question: Why should they be treated any differently than Kyle Boller?

I'm all for treating animals with respect but judging from the amount of birds that seem to make their homes in stadiums, this seems a bit overblown. They might lack understanding of what's going on but that doesn't seem to affect them enough to steer clear of loud, bright places. The Ravens appear to agree and indicated that they won't be changing their plans.

Baltimore Ravens cornerback Derrick Martin was arrested over the weekend for marijuana possession. Since Martin isn't a big name, that's the kind of story that usually gets reported and then forgotten.

But Martin lied about it, and the Baltimore Sun showed absolutely no skepticism at all about that lie, so here we are, still talking about it.

To review: As soon as Martin claimed that he hadn't been arrested, the Baltimore Sun put up a headline reading, "Ravens' Martin Mistakenly Linked to Drug Arrest: Initial media reports implicated cornerback for Cleveland airport stop, but clarification revealed man had same name, birth date."

Hell of a coincidence, huh? Two guys with the exact same name and exact same birth date, both listing addresses in Owings Mills, Maryland, the city where the Ravens' headquarters are located.

Now the Sun has finally caught on that no, it wasn't another guy named Derrick Martin who was born on the same day as the Derrick Martin who plays for the Ravens and lives in the city where the Ravens are based. It was the Ravens' Derrick Martin who was arrested. Glad we've cleared that up.

Yesterday's news that Ravens cornerback Derrick Martin got arrested in the Cleveland airport for marijuana possession didn't raise much of an eyebrow. Sadly, we're all to accustomed to NFL players running afoul of the law and TSA agents finding weed in a travel bag is all too believably routine to elicit surprise. Martin denying it was him, though, is a new twist.

The Baltimore Sun apparently believes Martin's story, since they are running a story about the case under the headline "Ravens Martin mistakenly linked to drug arrest." A click on the link, however, finds an AP story which merely says that a man with the same name and date of birth as Martin was arrested in the Cleveland airport.

A Ravens spokesman, Kevin Byrne, says that Martin denies the incident ever happened. According to the Carroll County Times, the Derrick Martin who was arrested listed his hometown as Owings Mills, Maryland. Raven watchers know that's where the team's headquarters are located, which makes it a pretty plausible address for a player on the team.

That all adds up to one helluva coincidence. There are eight Derrick Martins living in Maryland listed on Whitepages.com, though none of those men live in Owings Mills. If Martin is telling the truth, great, but if he isn't he may be making things much worse for himself. The marijuana charge carries a $100 fine as penalty but the NFL frowns upon players trying to cover up arrests.

(H/T PFT)

Baltimore Ravens cornerback Derrick Martin was cited for drug possession at Cleveland Hopkins Airport Saturday, WKYC in Cleveland is reporting.

According to a police spokesman, TSA screeners discovered Martin with three bags of marijuana. It is not clear exactly what crime he's accused of or how much marijuana he had on him.

Martin was the Ravens' sixth-round draft pick out of Wyoming in 2006. He played eight games as a rookie and all 16 in 2007, including three starts at cornerback.

Via PFT.

For a long time it looked like the post-football life of Michael McCrary was doomed to be an unhappy one. The injuries that brought an end to his 10-year NFL career left him racked with pain and hooked on a variety of painkillers just to make it through each day. Then, adding insult to injury, Hurricane Katrina damaged a building he'd bought and hoped to turn into condominiums in New Orleans.

His partners told him that their insurance claim was denied and then sold the building at a loss, costing McCrary more than a million bucks. Thing is, the insurance claim wasn't denied and McCrary's partners had simply pocketed the $12 million their policy paid out. McCrary sued them and, yesterday, finally had a break go his way. He was awarded $33.6 million in damages.

"I've been dealing with this for about a year and a half and to have the court see through all the fog and the smoke that was put up ... was gratifying," he said. "It makes a strong statement to my ex-partners that they can't get away from this and hopefully will prevent them from defrauding anybody in the future."

McCrary's former partners weren't in court because they'd either been held in contempt or precluded from participating because of their disrespect for the process. Their sketchy history makes it questionable if he'll see all the money owed to him but .

There may not be any more chilling words to connect than Ray Lewis, legal trouble and Super Bowl. In 2000, it meant a murder charge for Lewis that eventually became a guilty plea to obstruction of justice when he testified against two other people.

Things aren't quite so dire this time around, however. TMZ has court documents filed by a company called Professional Events which allege that Lewis owes them $5,780 to satisfy their debt. Lewis and the other defendants hired the company to provide hostesses for a Super Bowl party this February.

A closer examination of the documents seem to place another defendant, Sharon Turner, at the forefront of the dealings with Professional Events. Lewis hosted the party but doesn't seem to have had any direct involvement with the company, which doesn't mean that he isn't liable, the company alleges his agent made a promise to pay them for their services, just that it may not be something that was really on his radar screen. The agent didn't return calls about the case.

The only other possibility I can think of to explain the non-payment is that Lewis may need that new contract more than any of us thought.

Mike Anderson was the best story in football in 2000, a 27-year-old rookie and Marine Corps veteran who came out of nowhere to rush for 1,487 yards and win the league's rookie of the year award with the Denver Broncos.

Anderson spent five more seasons with the Broncos and then the last two with the Baltimore Ravens, but he never matched that level of success, and he's not currently under contract to any NFL team. And now no team could play him in 2008, even if they wanted to.

Howard Balzer of Sports XChange is reporting (via PFT) that Anderson has been suspended for one year, apparently for a violation of the league's substance-abuse policy. He was previously suspended four games in 2003 for a violation of the substance-abuse policy.

Realistically, this suspension means his career is over no one is going to sign a 35-year-old running back coming off a yearlong suspension. It's a disappointing end for a career that had such a great beginning.

When Xavier Lee enrolled at Florida State, he was coming off a high school career in which he set Florida's all-time record for passing yards, and he was supposed to be the kind of player who would compete for Heisman Trophies and national championships.

It didn't work out that way, and Lee is now working out with the Baltimore Ravens in the hopes of catching on as a tight end. Coach John Harbaugh tells the Baltimore Sun about Lee's progress:

"He is starting to look a little bit like a tight end," Harbaugh said. "He's running routes somewhat like what a tight end looks like. He's blocking in some fashion, not unlike a quarterback."

Describing a player's blocking as "not unlike a quarterback" isn't exactly a ringing endorsement, but Lee has the athletic ability to make this transition. Several college quarterbacks play other positions in the NFL, including Brad Smith, Matt Jones, Antwaan Randle El, Ronald Curry and Drew Bennett.

Lee is a long shot to make the roster, but I'd love to see him do it. His college career was such a big disappointment that it would be nice to see his pro career become a pleasant surprise.

Remember the 1996 NFL Draft? The Jets had the first pick and took Keyshawn Johnson, then the Jaguars took Kevin Hardy and the Cardinals took Simeon Rice. No Surprises there.

And then the big question came with the first pick: Would the Baltimore Ravens, whose leading rusher the previous year gained just 547 yards, address their need at running back and take Lawrence Phillips? Many fans thought they should, but instead, they took Jonathan Ogden.

As it turned out, Ogden, who announced his retirement this week, will end up in the Hall of Fame. Phillips ended up in prison. At his retirement press conference, Ogden recalled that draft-day decision:

"Another man I want to thank, (Ravens GM) Ozzie Newsome, for bringing me in here over Lawrence Phillips. I think that was a good decision, still to this day."

Yeah, I think that was a good decision, too.