NOTEBOOK: RAVENS' SEASON-LONG OVER/UNDER NUMBERS

By Joe Platania

OWINGS MILLS -- Around the NFL in Week One, 791 total points were scored, a record for openers and the second-most for any weekend (837 points, Week 12, 2008).

"Sounds like a good story," Ravens head coach John Harbaugh said Tuesday afternoon. "But you won't get a quote about it from me."

The coach may be reluctant to acknowledge it, but Baltimore's evolving offense seems to have come to fruition in the nick of time to participate in the pass-happy, high-scoring trend.

And it's an upward tick that has been building for quite a while.

The Ravens' 27-point unanswered burst Monday night during the team's season-opening 44-13 win against the Cincinnati Bengals was reminiscent of some of the same kind of scoring runs that took place in 2008, Harbaugh's first year at the helm.

Baltimore benefited from having seven different players run the ball against the Bengals and eight different pass receivers, all of whom were targeted at least twice. Six of the Ravens' 10 drives gained 50 or more yards and touchdowns resulted from all three red-zone opportunities.

If such trends continue, the Ravens could well be on their way to their first-ever 400-plus-point season, breaking the team record of 391, set in both 2003 and 2009, the latter being Harbaugh's second season at Baltimore.

In 2008, the Ravens scored 385 points, with roughly two-thirds of them coming in basketball-type spurts that often sapped the fourth-quarter suspense right out of several games that year.

There was the 21-point run that salted away a September home win against Cleveland, the 19 straight points that easily put away a victory against Oakland during the team's 100th home game, a late 22-point spurt that brought home the Hurricane Ike makeup game in Houston and a 26-point blitzkrieg that salted away a November home win against Philadelphia.

It is the Eagles -- Harbaugh's former employers for 10 years before he came to Charm City -- that the Ravens must face this week (1 p.m., Sunday; WJZ-TV; WIYY-FM).

Even though Philadelphia struggled to get a road win at Cleveland, 17-16, the coach pointed out that its offense is as explosive as anybody's in this pass-happy era.

"They're as explosive offensively as any team in the league," Harbaugh said. "They had about 500 yards of total offense and had four plays of 20 or more yards called back (by penalties). They're scary good."

But the Ravens could also fit that description, having been one of five teams around the league to have scored 40 or more points in Week One. The 44 points also represented the most the team has ever scored during a game in September, historically the franchise's most successful month, with a 33-21 record.

Quarterbacks Joe Flacco and Tyrod Taylor dropped back a combined 32 times, while the team had to run the ball on only 23 occasions, a bit below the leaguewide pass-first rate of 71 percent.

But that also prevented Flacco from contributing to the higher-than-normal interception total of 35, one that admittedly came from having 10 first- and second-year quarterbacks starting for their respective teams.

In the end, the only stat that would seemingly matter to Harbaugh is this: eventual Super Bowl winners usually win during Week One, sporting a record of 37-8-1.

That's something the coach won't mind talking about ... if it happens, that is.

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JOEY P'S TRIVIA TIME: Today's question:

With Tuesday marking the 10th anniversary of the death of Colts Hall of Fame quarterback John Unitas, and in the wake of Joe Flacco's spectacular 128.4 passer rating against Cincinnati, we ask:

Against which team did Unitas post his only career single-game perfect passer rating (158.3) in a substantial starting role?

The answer will be revealed at the bottom of this entry.

***

FOR THE BETTOR: Our friends at Bovada issued a few season-long statistical propositions for some of your favorite players. It may seem imprudent to mention them now that one game has already been played, but you might find the numbers interesting anyway.

Even though quarterback Joe Flacco has consistently thrown for more than 3,600 yards during each of his four full seasons, Bovada has his over/under for this year at 3,500. The site also has his interception number at 12.5 and his touchdown pass over/under at 22.5, a total he has surpassed only once, in 2010.

As for running back Ray Rice, his rushing yards number is projected to be 1,250.5 and his receiving output is speculated at 625.5 with 67.5 catches to boot.

Wideout Anquan Boldin is thought to be getting 850.5 receving yards and 5.5 touchdowns, numbers we think are low. As for Torrey Smith, Bovada feels he will get 900.5 yards and seven touchdowns; the latter figure matches his 2011 output.

Rookie linebacker Courtney Upshaw is projected to get 3.5 sacks and defensive tackle Haloti Ngata is set for five. But because Ngata had two against the Bengals, that figure may have to be revised.

The same can be said of Ed Reed's speculated interception total (4.5), in light of his 34-yard pickoff and score versus Cincinnati.

***

SEMANTICS: One of former Ravens head coach Brian Billick's favorite words to use was "verbiage," that is, the way things are said. Given his extensive vocabulary, Billick has a flexible grasp of verbiage.

As we head into a new season, here are a few examples of misused verbiage that we frankly wish would stop:

"Pick-Six" -- Commonly used whenever a player runs back an interception for a touchdown: a pickoff for six points. But the term is used in horse racing, so it's already been taken. There's nothing wrong with "interception return for a touchdown."

"Pro Bowler" -- Used to describe a player that has either made at least one Pro Bowl or has shown the capability to do the same. To us, it means "professional bowler," and we wouldn't put Dick Weber or Nelson Burton Jr. in the same breath as Ray Lewis. "Pro Bowl honoree" or "Pro Bowl berth" are examples of more proper usage.

"Back in the day" -- Regular readers of this blog know that we value and treasure the history of the game, but it's a phrase that seems borne out of hip-hop music, which doesn't exactly scream "retro" to us. "Way back when" is more fitting.

"At the end of the day" -- Whenever a player or coach goes off on a random point and wants to sum it up, this is a phrase that comes up often. We've gotten by just fine for years with "when all is said and done."

Random abbreviations -- The annoying habit most fans and media have of shortening a player's name to just initials or derivations of same, such as "RGIII," "A-Rod" and the like. How would Brooks Robinson have felt if people called him "B-Rob," as they do with Brian Roberts? And "Sugar Ray," a commonly used one for Ray Lewis, was first used for boxer Sugar Ray Robinson, and that's where it should have stopped.

***

QUOTE OF THE DAY: This postgame quote is revealing, as it shows why Harbaugh doesn't do comparisons:

"[Joe Flacco] is the best quarterback I've been around," Harbaugh said. "What does that say? Probably not much, I haven't been around a lot of quarterbacks. I am a special teams coach."

***

JOEY P'S TRIVIA TIME ANSWER: Here's the question we asked you earlier in this entry:

With Tuesday marking the 10th anniversary of the death of Colts Hall of Fame quarterback John Unitas, and in the wake of Joe Flacco's spectacular 128.4 passer rating against Cincinnati, we ask:

Against which team did Unitas post his only career single-game perfect passer rating (158.3) in a substantial starting role?

ANSWER:

In 1972, toward the end of his career, Unitas went 2-for-2 for 64 yards against the Buffalo Bills at Memorial Stadium.

One of the passes was a long touchdown pass to Eddie Hinton, the last of his Colts career. Just as the play ended, a plane hovered over the stadium carrying a message that said "Unitas We Stand."

But Unitas had to come off the bench to make that play during the 35-7 win, so as spectacular as that moment was, it does not count as a substantial start.

Unitas' only full-game perfect passer rating took place at Atlanta/Fulton County Stadium on Nov. 12, 1967, against the expansion Falcons.

The "Golden Arm" completed 17 of 20 passes for 370 yards and four touchdowns that day, two of them to Willie Richardson and one each to John Mackey and Tom Matte, who also scored on 3- and 9-yard runs.

The defense easily smothered the fledgling Falcons, holding them to nine first downs -- the Colts had 30 -- and 177 total yards.

Posted Sept. 11, 2012