Quick Thoughts on Ravens game; Practice squad move

Here's a few of the main points that I took out of Sunday's game against the Ravens:

• Jason Ferguson is the most important player on defense, bar none. While Will Allen is the second most important player, but even if he completely shuts down his guy, the opposing QB still has the whole other half of the field to throw to. Ferguson is the only true nose tackle this team has, and he is a very good one. The 3-4 defense simply does not work without a strong nose tackle. After he went down with injury, we all saw how easy it was for the Ravens to simply run right up the gut against the Dolphins. Even though he'll never rack up huge conventional statistics, Ferguson does more to help this defense work on any given play than any other defender. Missing him for any time at all could be disastrous. Hopefully, Paul Soliai gets his act together quick and shows he can step up in Ferguson's absence.
• Yes, Chad Pennington made a stupid throw that got returned for a TD. Are we really going to crucify him for what is really his first big mistake of the season? When is the last time Miami has gone so far into a season without its QBs making multiple bone-headed plays every game. Plays like that are going to happen. Luckily, with Pennington, we know they won't become commonplace.
• Having Ted Ginn return kicks was clearly the right decision, and there's absolutely no reason why it should have taken this long to see it happen. After just one big return the Ravens started to kick it short and away from him. That is good news for this team's starting field position.
• The secondary has been downright pitiful when it comes to tackling. It's one thing to give up big pass plays, but to then simply let the receivers burn downfield for another huge chunk of yardage because of poor angles and poor tackling is unacceptable.
• Like I said when I wrote about the Wildcat last week, it's a hit-or-miss proposition. It's either going to get the team a huge play or its going to get stuffed. More and more, it's been getting stuffed. I don't think the team needs to put it on the backburners yet, but they need to figure out how to get it working more consistently.

In other news, the team has once again switched out CB Will Billingsley on the practice squad for DT Anthony Toribio. That may be a sign that the team is bracing for the loss of Ferguson for at least a game.

Here is what the team's practice squad looks like now:

1. RB Lex Hilliard
2. TE Matthew Mulligan
3. WR Anthony Armstrong
4. LB Rob Ninkovich
5. G Matt McChesney
6. RB Jalen Parmele
7. LB Will Kershaw
8. DT Anthony Toribio