Baltimore Ravens take on the Phildelphia Eagles on 9/16/12

Sunday the Baltimore Ravens head north to the City of Brotherly Love to face the Philadelphia Eagles. The Ravens are considered the underdog in this bird battle.

Luckily most of their players will be suited up with the exception of tackle Jah Reid, sidelined with a strained right calf and ruled out for Sunday’s game.

Head coach John Harbaugh is keeping mum on the game-day status of the players listed as questionable or probable for Sunday:

“I don’t really have any thought on it other than the busses will pull up at 1 o’clock, all of our guys will be there, they will get out of the bus and then we’ll see what happens,” Harbaugh said.

Safety Ed Reed is listed as probable. He tweaked his ankle in the Monday Night game. After limited practice this week, he was a full participant on Friday. He should be ready to play Sunday.

Center Matt Birk is also listed as probable (thigh). He was also limited in practice this week, but was a full participant on Friday.

Outside linebacker Paul Kruger is questionable (back); he practiced for the first time on Friday. He feels good about playing Sunday:

“I was able to run around today, felt a lot more comfortable,” Kruger said. “I’m hoping it loosens up even more before the game and I’ve got a couple days left. “It’s getting better, so I think I’ll be full speed by Sunday.”

Finally defensive end Pernell McPhee is listed as questionable; dealing with a knee issue. He had offseason knee surgery and missed the Ravens’ OTAs and mini-camps. He played Monday night, had a ½ sack. He didn’t practice Wednesday or Thursday and was limited on Friday.

The Eagles have been dealing with injuries to their wide receivers. DeSean Jackson and Jeremy Maclin were originally listed as questionable, but now they are expected to play, though Maclin is officially a game-time decision.

NFL.com said of this game:

“Baltimore Ravens at Philadelphia Eagles is arguably the top contest of the weekend.”

They went on to say that a key match-up will be between Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis and Eagles running back LeSean McCoy.

Both were impressive in week one. Lewis had a league high 14 tackles and McCoy ran 110 yards on 20 carries. It will be interesting to see how a 37 year-old linebacker fares against a 24 year-old running back.

The Ravens are likely to use running back Ray Rice more. They need to find multiple ways to attack the Eagles’ defense.

The offense will continue to use the no-huddle and quarterback Joe Flacco is likely to throw more short passes to his tight ends Dennis Pitta and Ed Dickson.

I don’t mind being the underdog; it makes the Ravens fight that much harder. I have faith in their ability to contain Eagles’ quarterback Michael Vick. Flacco was impressive in week one, I am curious to see how he does against the Eagles’ defense.