Don Banks and Ashley Fox appear to be angry at the Ravens
 

Two "professional" writers sound more like insecure teenagers, instantly penning articles that the Ravens have no chance and will be blown out by Denver. It was almost like they were simultaneously having wet dreams about Peyton Manning when the phone rang, telling them the Ravens won, causing both to furiously light up cigarettes and slam open their laptops.

Fox takes a buzz quote by Pollard, where he called Manning a MacBook, and uses the quote about 47 different times to describe Manning's amazing awesome greatness while explaining why the Ravens should not even travel to Denver because of the impossibility of bearing this Manning squad. She then reminds us that Manning may very well be a 5x league MVP and 2x SB MVP in just a few weeks. In fact, it seems more like a sworn confession than a stab in the dark. Read the last paragraph for a real laugh. She may actually believe that Manning is superhuman and must have missed the earlier 15 years of his postseason career.

No-win situation for Baltimore Ravens - ESPN

Banks is slightly less crazy. He existentially ponders the meaning of life for an inevitably losing team who will get slaughtered next week by Peyton Manning. The best quote is this:

Lewis, playing with a brace on his injured right triceps area, wasn't exactly instrumental in the Baltimore defensive effort, but he did get credit for a team-best 13 tackles

Yeah, the scorekeeper just gave him credit for those tackles, but in reality, he was on the sidelines. The whole tone of the article is to dump water on faces of anyone who thinks Manning can be beaten by the Ravens. The Ravens are frauds and their emotional ride is about to come to an end (Baltimore's emotion has a one week expiration date, while Denver's Manning SuperEmotion) will last for eternity.

The article seems angry in its tone, how dare the Ravens celebrate when they are about to play the mighty Peyton Manning? This article is also hilarious for its one-sided fanboy chest thumping for Manning.

NFL Playoffs -- Ray Lewis, Ravens win to set up tough matchup vs. Broncos - NFL - Don Banks - SI.com

Over the last few years, much better teams have flopped in the driver's seat, including the 14-2 Patriots, 13-3 Falcons, and 15-1 Packers. All three of those teams lost to teams they'd already beaten late in the year. The Ravens clearly showed today that they turned the corner and are back to playing their type of football. If I were a betting man, I'd take the Broncos, but I would not be surprises if the Ravens came in and made the MacBook pee his pants for the 11th time in 20 chances. It's amazing how obviously emotional (and apparently scared) these two writers are at the thought of a team spoiling their annual Peyton Manning worship-fest yet again.

Re: Don Banks and Ashley Fox appear to be angry at the Ravens
 

The first article says that for the Ravens, stopping Manning is difficult but necessary. What's so wrong about that?

It further predicts they'll fail.

Second article is similar.

Re: Don Banks and Ashley Fox appear to be angry at the Ravens
 

It assures us they'll fail.

Re: Don Banks and Ashley Fox appear to be angry at the Ravens
 

The first article is poorly done, and it was probably stolen off one of the Broncos forums.

Re: Don Banks and Ashley Fox appear to be angry at the Ravens
 

Speaking of pieces of writing that are "angry in tone"...

Re: Don Banks and Ashley Fox appear to be angry at the Ravens
 

How do I say this without sounding sexist? Ah screw it. Ashley Fox only got a job as a writer at ESPN because ESPN needed more female writers. She is yet to produce anything worth reading. It's ironic that her column is titled "Between The Tackles" and she almost never talks about anything happening on the actual field.

Re: Don Banks and Ashley Fox appear to be angry at the Ravens
 

both articles were pretty useless

but the 1st one simply repeated the authors opinion over and over again


the hatred talk the OP mentions i only spot in the 2nd article, that does deserve ridiculing

Re: Don Banks and Ashley Fox appear to be angry at the Ravens
 

I don't know enough about the writers to comment on what appears to be an example of mediot hot air. But I disagree with your wrap up paragraph. One win against a rookie QB that plays for a team that is arguably just as much in rebuilding mode as playoff caliber confirms what the Ravens are? Not in my book. One performance is far too small a sample to declare the old Ravens are back.....

Re: Don Banks and Ashley Fox appear to be angry at the Ravens
 

Key to the game will be the Ravens offense. Manning will get his points but the Ravens D will hit 'em and hard. Key will be the running game/no TO's for the Ravens. Ray Rice fumbled twice yesterday. That's not happening again.
Ball control/clock control/no TO's = Ravens win.
John Harbaugh should find the old film on the Patriot/Colt games of 2001 - 2004.
When you don't have a high powered offense the key to beating Manning is to limit his touches. The Ravens can do that with a smart gameplan.
Despite some of the mediot spin, the Denver Broncos are not the second coming of the Greatest Show on Turf. They can and will be beaten. Only question is will it be the Ravens or the Patriots that take care of business.

Re: Don Banks and Ashley Fox appear to be angry at the Ravens
 

Ashley Fox should be a cute girl's name.....