Patriots prez gloats over winless Ravens: John Harbaugh a ‘sweetheart’

The former coach of the Eagles has quarterback Alex Smith to lean on, who has been solid throughout his career, and the potent trio of tight end Travis Kelce, running back Jamaal Charles, and wide receiver Jeremy Maclin that any fan wishes they had on their team’s roster. Over the past three games, Smith caught 25 passes – more than twice as many as the other receivers Kamar Aiken and Marlon Brown. We have all the confidence in the world. Although the national analysts will call for a Chiefs loss I think they get up for this game and pull out a win.

CINCINNATI (AP) – The Bengals are in rare territory for them: Unbeaten after three games with an early chance to take control of their division.

“To see everything that they’re going through, especially being a dad [myself] now, seeing the struggle of the kid and what they have to go through – I mean, it’s hard to see”.

The prized pupil so far is Dalton, who is off to the best start of his career.

“I’ve just got to be a little bit smarter in situational football, and I guess in a couple of those I kind of relied on my ability and not my smarts”, he said. “It’s like playing in the playoffs – all the time”. 16 games breaks down neatly into four, four games blocks that can ultimately define a season. “It’s easy to get caught up in the moment of it all”.

It’s not an answer to all of the Ravens’ woes, but the return of last year’s run game would presumably lead to longer possessions, improvement on third down, less time on the field for a beleaguered defense and better opportunities to close out games in the fourth quarter.

Baltimore Ravens cornerback Jimmy Smith (22) intercepts a pass in the end zone intended for Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver A.J. Green (18) during the second half of an NFL football game in Baltimore, Sunday, September 27, 2015.

After the Cincinnati game, Smith was too upset to speak with the media. “I don’t care if it was my first year”, he says, “It doesn’t matter”. The onus is largely on the offensive line to play better, to start opening up holes and to stop committing so many penalties. What you talk about is the trade.

The Ravens signed Smith to a new deal with the expectation for him to anchor in the secondary.

“That seems to be a regular occurrence with him”, Harbaugh said with a shrug. But is there any reason that Dalton, who has had hot streaks before, can maintain this level of play? So we’ve been fortunate to do a lot of really cool things and touch a lot of people’s lives …

“The momentum definitely slid our way”, Mosley said. One play later, the Ravens turned the ball over on downs. Both sides of the ball must contribute in order for a team to be successful. He’s not retiring because he has lost that fire – Smith said he doesn’t want to miss out on his kids growing up – that clearly still burns.

When Dalton got to the line for the winning 7-yard pass, he smiled, changed the play and got the one-on-one matchup with Green that he wanted. Harbaugh said that is an area where his teams need to improve against Pittsburgh. “We like where we are right now”. As he enters his physical prime, and with one of the best supporting casts in the National Football League, the stars are aligned for Dalton to no longer be synonymous with average.

BY THE NUMBERS: 15 – Number of victories the Ravens and Steelers have against one another since 2000. There will be an increased sense of urgency for the Thursday game in Pittsburgh. Of course the Chiefs are coming off an incredibly bad performance where they were unmotivated, outplayed, and ultimately embarrassed on national television. “We’re going to have our hands full chasing that jackrabbit around”. In addition, the Chiefs are healthy and getting Sean Smith back from suspension this week. The Steelers have nine sacks so far, including 2 1/2 by second-year defensive end Stephon Tuitt, who is thriving in Butler’s scheme that frees up the defensive linemen to go get the ball rather than just absorb space so the linebackers can go to work.