Kim Klement- USA TODAY Sports
You know how you always hear people in the media say that professional sports teams don’t read the newspaper? Or professional sports teams don’t hear the chatter at all on the outside, and how everything that happens within the team’s facility is the only focus? Yeah, they lied. The Baltimore Ravens are proof of that.
Ravens’ players, coaches and even the front office have heard all about the changes the Ravens made during the offseason, and how the team will suffer greatly for it. Mind you, some of these same people who think the Ravens will suffer greatly are the same people who gave the Ravens a snowball’s shot in hell of winning the Super Bowl last year.
Newly-signed Ravens’ defensive end Chris Canty certainly has heard the chatter, and even though he wasn’t on the Ravens’ Super Bowl team in the 2012 season, he feels just as offended of the doubts people have on the team, as if he was on the roster the whole time.
“I absolutely think this team is disrespected,” Canty said earlier this week via NFL Network. “When you start talking about the turnover that this team has had in the offseason – the retirement of Ray Lewis and the departure of several other players – a lot of people didn’t give us the opportunity to have a successful season this coming year. So, I definitely think the disrespect card is the appropriate card to play.”
The Ravens over the years probably rely on emotions more than any other team in the league. It probably explains why the team plays so well during the regular season at home, but not so much on the road.
They hear the chatter, and even though the loss against the Denver Broncos might make some people feel vindicated in their doubts of the Ravens, don’t kid yourself. The Ravens are the same team who lost 43-13 against the Houston Texans in week seven last year, and like the Broncos this year, the Texans were noted as the best team in the AFC at the time. We saw how all that turned out.
At the end of the day, it isn’t about how you start, but how you finish.
Wola Odeniran is a writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on twitter at WolaOdeniran52, like him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.
