Recent stories by Ken Murray
10:07 PM EDT, October 16, 2011
Ravens defense roars in second half thanks to Pagano's adjustments
The carnage from the second half of last December's game in Houston came back to the Ravens in bold relief last week. It was so bad they didn't bother to watch the tape.
6:28 PM EDT, October 14, 2011
Stopping Texans' Foster is top priority for the Ravens
When Houston Texans running back Arian Foster takes the ball behind the line of scrimmage, he's looking for an opening in the defense — even a small one — through which he can propel himself. With a cavalcade of rolling blockers in front of him, he usually finds it.
6:23 PM EDT, October 11, 2011
Ravens recall uncomfortable second half against Texans last year
When the Ravens left Reliant Stadium in the early morning hours of Dec. 14 last year, they celebrated a Houdini-like escape from the Houston Texans that was their most improbable win of the season.
7:35 PM EDT, October 8, 2011
Southern Miss sends Navy to third straight defeat, 63-35
Southern Mississippi’s no-huddle, spread offense met Navy’s triple option Saturday, and the result was a 14-touchdown show that flirted with the extinction of defense.
6:50 PM EDT, October 5, 2011
Flacco finding his way with new receivers, more downfield passes
Of all the numbers that create a promising profile of the Ravens after four games this season, there is one that stands out like a cautionary beacon.
12:12 AM EDT, October 3, 2011
After solid first quarter, Flacco flounders vs. Jets
As great as the Ravens' defense was Sunday night and it was magnificent in a 34-17 rout of the New York Jets it was the resourcefulness of quarterback Joe Flacco on third down that helped Baltimore land critical early blows in this bare-knuckle fight.
8:53 PM EDT, September 30, 2011
Ravens respect Revis, but say they won't necessarily avoid his Island
In his day, it was said that Deion Sanders would take away half his opponents' passing field, so daunting was the task of completing a pass on his side.
6:45 PM EDT, September 22, 2011
Ravens young receivers still learning on the run
The Ravens got younger and faster at wide receiver this year, but three weeks into the season, they are mostly young and still learning on the run.
9:01 PM EDT, September 18, 2011
Ravens again troubled by 4-3 defensive alignment
Like a bad headache that had returned, running back Ray Rice identified at least part of the Ravens' offensive dilemma Sunday. It was Tennessee's tenacious 4-3 defense.
8:41 PM EDT, September 18, 2011
Palmer's play calls, Hasselbeck's heady play give Ravens fits
Between Chris Palmer's masterful play calls and Matt Hasselbeck's perfectly-timed throws, the Ravens found no safe haven at LP Field Sunday. A week after forcing seven turnovers, their defense was taken apart in a methodical, precise assault.
7:17 PM EDT, September 15, 2011
Ravens offensive line erases doubts while learning new scheme
As remarkable as the demolition of Pittsburgh's proud defense was, the Ravens' offensive success on opening day was noteworthy for another reason: It marked the debut of their new zone blocking scheme.
8:40 PM EDT, September 11, 2011
Ravens' Rice made Steelers pay on third down
Ray Rice lives for third down. First and second down are good, mind you, but third down is what Rice does best.
3:12 PM EDT, September 10, 2011
Ravens punter Sam Koch revels in the small details
Sam Koch is master of the mundane. Give the Ravens punter a tedious chore and he will excel at it. Give him a boring, repetitive task and he will turn it into his own form of artwork.
6:03 PM EDT, September 8, 2011
Pagano, next in a long line, has a hybrid approach as defensive coordinator
The Ravens don't pick a defensive coordinator.
10:45 PM EDT, September 9, 2011
Ravens counting on Dickson, Pitta to fill void left by Heap
Separated by just 44 picks in the 2010 draft, Ed Dickson and Dennis Pitta still bring a tag-team dimension to the Ravens a year later.
8:49 PM EDT, September 2, 2011
Ravens have difficult decisions to make as they finalize the roster
Preliminaries behind them and last-minute roster surgery ahead, the Ravens settled in for the long haul Friday, content they had made the most of this strange preseason.
7:25 PM EDT, August 26, 2011
Lee Evans and Joe Flacco find same page quickly
Lee Evans gives the Ravens what they've been missing through the Joe Flacco years — a speed receiver who can get behind the defense and catch the ball.
4:39 PM EDT, August 17, 2011
For Ravens, so much depends on Reid's development
The education of right tackle-in-waiting Jah Reid has turned into a frenetic crash course just four months after he was drafted by the Ravens.
7:15 PM EDT, August 22, 2011
Ravens notebook: Foxworth's knee improving
Domonique Foxworth worked with the Ravens' starting defense for the first time in a couple of weeks, a sign that his surgically repaired knee is improving.
8:24 PM EDT, August 28, 2011
Speedy Ravens wide receiver Torrey Smith looking to put slow start behind him
Torrey Smith's mind is moving faster than his fleet feet can take the Ravens rookie wide receiver this summer, and that's causing some discomfort both inside and outside the team.
9:42 PM EDT, August 14, 2011
Ravens hope Kindle's debut was sign of things to come
If he is not quite the man the Ravens drafted a year ago, Sergio Kindle at least gave a pretty good imitation at his formal unveiling last week in Philadelphia.
8:14 PM EDT, August 21, 2011
Ravens showing sharper corners this season
The biggest answer that came out of Friday's preseason game for the Ravens is that they are better this season at cornerback — perhaps much better.
7:54 PM EDT, August 9, 2011
Older and wiser, Williams ready to chase Super Bowl
The mystery of Ricky Williams turned out not to be a mystery at all.
10:15 PM EDT, August 4, 2011
Ravens notes: Safety Bernard Pollard giddy to be joining team
Almost 24 hours after Bernard Pollard pointed himself toward Baltimore on a red-eye flight from the west coast — and three hours after jumping into his first Ravens practice — the veteran safety was still giddy about his new team.
9:21 PM EDT, August 5, 2011
Ravens have healthy competition at safety
It was a throw-away line at the end of Tom Zbikowski's six-minute session with the media Friday, but it said everything you need to know about the camaraderie inside the Ravens locker room.
3:25 PM EDT, August 5, 2011
Hardy's hardscrabble upbringing leads to opportunity with Ravens
James Hardy came by his independence early in life. At 12, he says, he moved out of his mother's house in Fort Wayne, Ind.
8:55 PM EDT, August 2, 2011
Ravens notebook: Center Casey Rabach returns to team
The Ravens signed center Casey Rabach to a two-year contract Tuesday, gaining insurance in case Matt Birk's balky left knee leaves them short at the position.
3:17 PM EDT, June 11, 2011
When NFL lockout ends, will Ravens players be ready?
Left to their own devices when the NFL lockout took hold in March, the Ravens dispersed in every direction.
7:19 PM EDT, July 28, 2011
Lockout leaves NFL players facing greater risk of injury
NFL players won their bid for enhanced safety measures this summer, but large numbers of them could suffer short- or long-term setbacks in the manic rush to the 2011 season.
8:31 PM EDT, July 25, 2011
Foxworth's focus was on improving player safety
From the beginning of the labor fight with NFL owners, the rallying cry for Domonique Foxworth focused on health and safety issues — protecting players from the inherent violence of the game.
6:09 PM EDT, July 9, 2011
Lardarius Webb excited about — not upset at — Jimmy Smith's arrival
For a playoff game lost with three wrenching third-quarter turnovers by the offense, Lardarius Webb took an inordinate amount of blame in January.
9:38 PM EDT, August 1, 2011
Cody steps in as Ravens' starting nose guard
Longtime run stopper Kelly Gregg is officially gone and Terrence Cody is undeniably the man in the middle, latest in a line of nose guards who play traffic cop for the Ravens.
10:29 PM EDT, July 24, 2011
Towson's Will Adams beating worst enemy yet
Will Adams, freshman basketball player at Towson University, could be mad at the world about all the misfortune life dumped at his Philadelphia doorstep.
7:17 PM EDT, May 24, 2011
Ravens give young teammates a taste of NFL life
Formal introductions were in order Tuesday when 27 Ravens — new and old — convened at overcast Johnny Unitas Stadium for the purpose of getting a handful of rookies up to NFL speed.
8:15 AM EDT, June 21, 2011
U2 gives M&T Bank Stadium a boost
Three years in the making, Wednesday's U2 concert at M&T Bank Stadium could attract a record crowd — along with gridlock in the streets — at a time when uncertainty over the NFL season leaves Baltimore looking for more ways to fill the stadium.
9:04 PM EDT, May 23, 2011
Ravens launch their own passing camp at Towson
A select group of Ravens — primarily offensive skill players — will gather at Towson University on Tuesday for the first of three straight days of closed conditioning drills.
4:32 PM EDT, June 25, 2011
Slimmer Jah Reid may be Ravens' answer at right tackle
Jah Reid grew up hungry in his mother's three-bedroom, one-story home in an old neighborhood of Haines City, Fla. Not that Lucinda Stratton didn't put food on the table. She did. Plenty of it, in fact.
6:40 PM EDT, June 22, 2011
Ravens won't hold training camp in Westminster
Westminster, the Carroll County town that dresses up in purple each August, became one of the early casualties of the NFL lockout Wednesday when the Ravens cancelled this year's training camp at McDaniel College.
10:25 PM EDT, July 4, 2011
Pat Skerry has quickly remade Towson's basketball roster
Pat Skerry is in a perpetual rush these days at Towson University. If he isn't recruiting a prospect who can make the basketball team better, he's interviewing a strength-and-conditioning coach who can make it stronger.
8:36 PM EDT, May 7, 2011
With Maryland job comes many challenges — and much opportunity
There is that marvelous recruiting base that runs the length of the Baltimore-Washington corridor. There is the stunning arena, the Comcast Center, where kids — young men — get to play in a pro setting.
8:20 PM EDT, May 10, 2011
As Towson breaks ground, Skerry reshapes his roster
With a special visit from alumnus Gary Neal and a phalanx of local politicans, Towson University performed a ceremonial groundbreaking Tuesday for $68 million Tiger Arena, due to open in 2013.
9:25 PM EDT, April 29, 2011
Ravens have brief return to work before lockout restored Friday
When six Ravens tested the NFL's tenuous labor peace early Friday, they found an open door and a sense of normalcy. But before night fell, the peace was shattered and the door closed.
7:47 AM EDT, May 4, 2011
Fang Mitchell gets three more years with Coppin
At 5 o'clock on a fall morning in 2009, Coppin State University basketball coach Fang Mitchell drove then-sophomore Michael Harper to the hospital for surgery on his wrist. Harper, from Milwaukee, appreciated the show of support — then and now.
6:54 PM EDT, April 14, 2011
Ex-John Carroll star Isaiah Philmore is leaving Towson
Ten days after the launch of the Pat Skerry era at Towson University, rising sophomore Isaiah Philmore said Thursday he has asked for his release.
9:50 PM EDT, May 21, 2011
Strong showing by Astrology no surprise to his connections
All week, George Bolton told anyone who would listen that Astrology was better than a 14-1 long shot in the 136th Preakness, even if he had run only two races as a 3-year-old, and even if he smashed his head on the starting gate last time out.
9:33 PM EDT, May 10, 2011
Turgeon hire gets high marks from national analysts
By all accounts, Mark Turgeon is a skilled recruiter, a demanding coach and a valued leader. Four NCAA tournament appearances in four years at Texas A&M — football country — endorse that profile of Maryland's new basketball coach.
7:36 PM EDT, April 25, 2011
Will Ravens go for McAlister look-alike at cornerback?
In consecutive drafts in 1998 and 1999, the Ravens found two starting Super Bowl cornerbacks. One was smallish Duane Starks; the other was prototypical big cornerback Chris McAlister. In each case, the price was the 10th overall pick.
7:35 PM EDT, April 29, 2011
Former Terps guard Duane Simpkins joins Towson's staff
Duane Simpkins, who played point guard at Maryland from 1992 through 1995, will join Pat Skerry's new staff at Towson University as director of basketball operations.
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