We posted a story Friday about Bernard Pollard and the Baltimore Ravens closing the book on last season's disappointing loss in the AFC Championship Game.
Coach John Harbaugh spoke carefully this week about going "back to work" while quarterback Joe Flacco pounded out robotic soliloquies on the topic of "moving forward." Even kicker Billy Cundiff seems to have data-wiped his ill-fated field goal attempt from memory.
Not everyone on the roster is this dispassionate. That loss to the New England Patriots -- Cundiff's botched kick, the whole messy, dreamlike affair -- still rests heavy on Marshal Yanda, the team's Pro Bowl guard.
"It's still in the back of our minds. That was a tough loss," Yanda told Comcast SportsNet Baltimore this week. "That was the toughest loss I've ever had to deal with, tenfold. I've never lost a game like that, so it was really tough. It's one of those ones where you'll never forget."
The Ravens are banking on returning to the conference title game this season -- and winning it -- but just ask Rex Ryan how elusive that can be. Nobody wants to see the Ravens sitting on their hands; glassy-eyed; viewing the tape of that loss on repeat, deep into the night. With that said, Yanda's honesty is refreshing.
