Le'Ron McLain is a beast

Football is back. And so is beer at ten in the morning. Great game today from the Baltimore Ravens, which picked apart Cincy en route to a 17-10 victory. Also, I have NFL Sunday ticket this season. So no more watching the games without sound at the bar.

Baltimore's D/ST: Haloti Ngata, Bart Scott and Ray Lewis stuffed a crucial 4th-and-1 with less than eight minutes to go. And it wasn't the only crucial fourth-down stop. With three minutes to go in the third quarter, Baltimore put the breaks on a fourth-down Cincy pass play. Overall, the run defense was way too solid. So was the pass defense. First five Cincy possessions = four punts and one INT. Baltimore held Carson Palmer to a career-low passer rating. Yamon Figurs had a punt-return TD called back due to a penalty, but sloppy blocking reared its ugly head early and often last year. Today it was nearly non-existent. And although the penalty was legit, it wasn't a total mental collapse. That call could have gone either way.

Baltimore's O: Cam Cameron didn't play scared. He incorporated a no-huddle offense, which Jim Zorn and Jason Campbell were unable to do in Washington's opener against the Giants, and he also incorporated a diverse running game, including a double-reverse and a heavy dose of fullbacks, mostly Le'Ron McLain. I suppose there could have been better clock management. Three timeouts burned early in the second half, although you've got to give him and the team the benefit of the doubt. With a rookie under center, you can't expect everything to go smoothly, and frankly you should be happy if anything goes smoothly. With more than 20 minutes T.O.P. in the second half, there wasn't much about which to complain.

Chris McAlister: He had one pick and one fumble recovery, but two pass-interference penalties on the same drive near the end of the first half eventually translated into three points for Cincy.

Joe Flacco: The rookie laid down not one but two blocks on Mark Clayton's double-reverse 42-yard TD run, and Flacco himself had a 38-yard TD run of his own. His numbers weren't great, but there is no doubt that he played well, and he almost certainly outperformed everyone's expectations. I certainly didn't expect much from Joe Flacco.

Ray Rice: You can't fumble the ball when you're supposed to be chewing up the clock. Up 14 points, Rice's fumble was picked up and returned for a TD. All of a sudden it's a ballgame again. Overall he played well, but no better than FB Le'Ron McLain, who turned in the most surprising performance of the day. Even more surprising than Joe Flacco.

Le'Ron McLain: Wow. The Bengals today got a heavy dose of fullback Le'Ron McLain, who had 86 yards on less than 20 carries. Amazing, gutty performance. He had 21 more rushing yards than the entire Bengals offense. Key third-and-one conversion with less than six minutes to go in the 4th. Cam Cameron really does know what he's doing. Baltimore was able to capitalize on plenty of thirds-and-short instead of thirds-and-long, which had become the calling card of the Billick regime.

Marshall Yanda: Great job by the second-year right guard.

Terrell Suggs: Two mental mistakes worth mentioning: Sizzle lined up in the neutral zone early in the first quarter, and he dropped an easy INT on the last play of the third quarter. With the Ravens up 14 and the defense looking great, that play had the potential to be the icing on the cake.

Todd Heap: Second play of the season. Fumble. Dropped pass in the endzone. Dropped passes all over the field. He looked timid and pedestrian. And then he got hurt. He returned to the game, but will he next time? The guy is a guaranteed injury.