Breakin It Down: Baltimore Ravens vs. Pittsburgh Steelers

Breakin it down is 5 key stories plus a pick for each postseason game this season.

Will Fast Willie Hit the Edge?
Chris Johnson exposed the outside of the Ravens defense as slow and in the first half of their matchup he was abusing them on each carry. Fast Willie is nicknamed 'Fast' so one would imagine that he is 'Fast', will he be able to have the same success outside the hash marks as did 'Dash' Johnson.

Big Ben No Get Head Ache?
The Cheeseburger actually played well last week. "Look ma no turnovers". And he was only sacked one team meaning he didn't get a ridiculous concussion and have to get stretchered off the field with his thumb raised. So against a better defense, what are the chances the Steelers keep dirt off their Cheeseburger?

Who Collects the 'Hit' Money?
The Ravens have a hit on Hines Ward. They may say they don't in public, but come on the Defensosaurus Rex is obviously fine with injuring the other teams players. So who plays the role of a little extra contact after the whistle is called for that extra ankle tweek?

Does Flacco Have Three Good Throws In Him?
Like I pointed out earlier, Joe Flacco is essentially putting up the same numbers Trent Dilfer did in 2001, which essentially means he isn't doing much. Last week Flacco made three big plays. He hit a wideopen Derrick Mason for the deep td. He got lucky with the odds of his Arm Punt to Clayton. And finally he made a big throw to Todd Heap on the non-Delay of Game call. So does Flacco have those three throws in him again? Without them, the Ravens offense has no chance of scoring enough points to win this game.

And Finally When Does Ed Reed Get a Pick 6?
No pick 6 last week Ed? Hell not even one interception? You think you're offense can afford you not putting up points two weeks in a row? Ya that's not gonna work out well. You need to get on your horse, pick off Big Ben. Fly to the end zone while taunting him on the sidelines. Run back and chest bump the Defensosaurus. You'll need that to win this weekend.

The Pick
An All Pennsylvania Super Bowl. Ok, so I think I may or may not have picked all of the Vegas favorites so far this postseason which makes me feel gross inside.

Numbers On Steroids: Mickey Mantle

Numbers on Steroids is a look at baseball players during the 90s to see if anything screams out at you. This week it's throwing a curve ball and looking at All Time Great Yankees. Players that we know did not take steroids to see if this gives a defense to any of the players 'convicted' by Numbers on Steroids. Time to look at my dad's favorite athlete of all time, Mickey Mantle. Averages Say: What's with the mysterious dip at 27 and then the uptick? At Bats Per Home Run Says: That's a mighty jump from 22 to 24 Explaining As If It Was the 90s If you take a look at the numbers there are two time frames which in the 1990s would be questioned. First would be the incredible leap he took from his first year in the big leagues to his first MVP season in 1956. His batting average jumped 50 points. His slugging percentage jumped 90 points and he hit 15 more homers than his previous high. This wouldn't merrit a conviction nowadays though because the young age he...

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This Is Why the New York Mets Can't Win Anymore

It's pretty simple why the Mets can't win games anymore and are morphing into the second worst team in the National League, they can't score runs. The below chart shows exactly whats happenned to their offensive output since each of the major devastating injuries. The blue line shows runs scored for each game through out the season. The pink line shows the average runs the Mets scored when they had everyone, the yellow when they were missing Delgado, the light blue when they were missing Delgado and Reyes, and finally the purple when they were missing Delgado, Reyes and Beltran. In the abscence of Reyes, Delgado and Beltran the Mets are averaging barely over 3 runs per game. In stark contrast, with everyone on the roster the Mets were scoring just over 5 runs per game. That's a wholesale difference and why their roster now equals a lot of losses and a day by day progression further out of a playoff spot.

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