With a sharpie he wrote ldquoPay Me Rickrdquo on his shoes

It’s his job to get these guys fired up and ready for the season opener, but he didn’t do that. Instead, he took the blame for the bad play saying, “It’s on me.”A good coach would be all over those guys at Half-time and turn things around, not take the blame. Kubiak has shown flashes of being a good coach, but he needs to show some fire or he will completely lose support from the fans, the players and the Bob McNair. Then…it’s his job.What is more sickening than the actual play of the game, is what happened with Dunta Robinson. With a sharpie, he wrote “Pay Me, Rick” on his shoes.

Then, when asked about it after the game, he said that he was only in it to “Get Paid.” That type of ridiculous, selfish attitude has no place on a football team. It is a locker room disrupter and can help a team self destruct. Let’s give them 5 games before we write them off completely…. ) The first week of the 2009-2010 NFL season is almost in the books, in a fast-paced, high-energy weekend of football action here's what stood out. Ben Roethlisberger is one of the elite quarterback in the NFL, you can’t deny it anymore. They may finally have a defense good enough to go with their potent offense. Tony Romo and the Cowboys offense didn’t look like they missed Terrell Owens too much; Romo threw for a career-high 353 yards and 3 touchdowns (to three different receivers) in the win over Tampa Bay. Was it just me or did Arizona’s offense look dysfunctional and out-of-sync without Todd Haley calling the plays You have to feel for Cincinnati, that’s a tough way to lose a football game. I don’t know what was more surprising: how rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez showed poise and controlled the game or how everyone’s pre-season darling the Houston Texans played in week one With McNabb hurt and possibly out a few weeks, will this give Michael Vick the opportunity he’s been waiting for The New York Giants have the best defensive line in the NFL.

What was already a dominating defensive front got even deeper in the off season with the addition of defensive end Chris Canty. Has the NFC West dominating Seattle Seahawks that we grew accustomed too finally returned Fred Jackson and Terrence McGee might be the two best players you’ve never heard of or seen play. Veteran Tony Gonzalez looked right at home in Atlanta, leading the team in receptions in his debut for the Falcons. With a running back like Adrian Peterson, Brett Favre’s job is made a lot easier, especially when Peterson rushes for 180 yards and 3 touchdowns.. ) Originally published at WNST .Over 71,000 fans were amazed with the new Ferrari in the neighborhood on Sunday, and nobody could blame them.Joe Flacco was throwing passes all over the field, and the Ravens’ traditional run-first offense that so many expect and often complain about had suddenly transformed into a 171-yard aerial assault in one half of football.Undoubtedly, it was exciting to watch the second-year quarterback show off thelaser arm like Brady or Manning does every Sunday.But then it happened. An ill-advised pass by the second-year quarterback was intercepted by linebacker Derrick Johnson and returned all the way to the Ravens’ 6, setting up the go-ahead touchdown early in the third quarter.Suddenly, the exciting vibes from that shiny new sports car had vanished, and the Ravens trailed the inferior (or thought to be, anyway) Kansas City Chiefs.What the heck was going on, and how would Cam Cameron, Flacco, and the offense respond Would we see panic or the continuation of the throw-first offense used in the first halfOf course, the answer was simple. It was time to call upon that old friend that led them to an improbable 11-5 season a year ago. It lacked the bells and whistles of the new passing attack, but its reliable four-wheel drive could pull the Ravens out of a very muddy situation.Of course, that friend was the running game, forgotten in the first half but badly needed to stabilize a game suddenly spiraling out of control for the Ravens.Following Dwayne Bowe’s two-yard touchdown reception that put the Chiefs up 14-10, the Ravens’ offense took the ball and suddenly reverted back into the three-headed monster.It was clear on the first play of the drive when Le’Ron McClain pounded the ball straight ahead for a gain of eight yards.That looked familiar.Then, after two pedestrian carries by Ray Rice for six more yards and a 10-yard completion to Todd Heap, it was time for Willis McGahee to attack, breaking off runs of 16 and 9 yards.Bruising shots to the body.It’s not always pretty, as McClain and McGahee only gained six yards on the next two plays, but two plays later, Flacco found Heap over the middle for a nine-yard touchdown.It wasn’t the decisive blow, but the Ravens were going to be okay after that. And the reason why is they got back to what they do best running the football.It would be a stretch to criticize an offense that produced 215 total yards in the first half, but two statistics just didn’t look right at halftime 10 points and 44 rushing yards.An offense that led the NFL in rushing attempts a season ago had turned its back on its biggest strength. But when the Ravens desperately needed it, that old identity resurfaced. Everything else including the passing game fell into place after that.Make no mistake, the Ravens absolutely need more production out of their passing game if they hope to reach the Super Bowl; however, 25 passing attempts and only 13 running plays in a half probably isn’t the Ravens’ best formula for success every week.The second half was a different story as the Baltimore offense ran the ball 28 times for a whopping 154 yards.

And, oh yeah, Flacco still managed to throw 18 more times for another 132 yards and two more touchdown passes.Balance.John Harbaugh admitted the team planned to come out throwing against a vulnerable Kansas City secondary and it’s hard to argue with the results in terms of yardage but the offense got greedy after its early success.Perhaps it took a disastrous interception to remind the Ravens that having a good passing game does not mean you should use it exclusively. Regardless of how much Flacco and the passing game has improved from last season, the combination of running the football and playing great defense what the Ravens do best is still the surest way to win consistently in the NFL.“This is a new year, a new offense, a new mentality, everything starts over,” Mark Clayton said after Sunday’s game. “And we are kind of reformed or remaking ourselves and to be able to throw the ball down the field, it’s fun, one, and it puts points on the board, two The last time I checked, the team with the most points wins. On top of all the good passing today, you can look at our running game and say we did pretty good.”Pretty good, indeed.Just don’t forget about it.Luke Jones is a Baltimore Ravens and Maryland football correspondent for WNST . Read his blog here..