The mood at The Castle Wednesday seemed as gray as the skies overhead, with one Raven after another stepping up to the microphone to say, well, not much.
John Harbaugh didn't want to talk about playing the 0-12 Indianapolis Colts Sunday without Peyton Manning. ("We just play the team that's in front of us.")
Terrell Suggs didn't want to talk about how far the Colts had fallen with the injured Manning on the sidelines. ("That's not for me to comment on. They got their issues and we got ours.")
It got so bad I was reduced to chasing down Joe Flacco to talk about his Fu Manchu mustache, which, after a shaky start, is beginning to look good, in a dark, movie-villain sort of way.
The Ravens quarterback said he grew the Fu last week as a fun thing the team could adopt and the community could rally behind.
But so far, the only other Ravens rocking a Fu are tight end Dennis Pitta, punter Sam Koch and long-snapper Morgan Cox.
Four guys with Fu Manchus, of course, do not exactly constitute a trend sweeping through the Ravens locker room.
In fact, if the whole Occupy movement were limited to four people, at some point all of them would have looked at their watches and thought: "OK, that's enough of that. Might as well go home."
But Flacco and Pitta aren't discouraged. And they say that, like solar-panel salesmen, they'll try to convert a few teammates each week to the cause. Although at this rate, the Ravens' Fu Manchu wearers would be able to hold their meetings in a broom closet even if the team gets to the Super Bowl.
If you're an especially sharp reader, you'll notice there are no members of the Ravens defense sporting a Fu Manchu.
And according to Suggs, it'll stay that way, at least for now.
"It seems like it's kind of an offense thing — and it seems like it's been working," said the outside linebacker. "So we're going to let them do them. We're going to stay with being a little uneasy, you know, not all there. That's what the defense is, mainly."
So that's the kind of day it was for your AFC North-leading Ravens — at least before they took the field for practice.
I don't want to say they looked bored and unfocused. But The Castle did not exactly seem to be crackling with anticipation over this Sunday's matchup, which finds the Ravens a 16 1/2-point favorite over a Colts team that's been in a death-spiral without Manning.
If Harbaugh is looking for something to motivate his team, he could dust off this stat: the Colts have won the last eight meetings between these two teams — including two playoff games — dating back to 2002.
But that was with a certain legendary quarterback — possibly the greatest in history — running their offense.
"Obviously, Peyton's been a big part of the organization ever since I can remember," Flacco said Wednesday. "To have a guy like that hurt, you can see why it would be a little bit of a struggle."
A little bit of a struggle?
This is why you gotta love Flacco. If Flacco had captained the Titanic, he would have looked at that gaping hole in the ship's hull and said: "This might put us a little behind schedule."
Now the raging debate in Indianapolis centers around what the Colts should do when Manning comes back and Stanford's Andrew Luck is in the fold, courtesy of the No. 1 draft pick the Colts will get for this train-wreck of a season.
Keep Manning and trade Luck, who's being touted as a sure-fire superstar quarterback in the NFL?
Keep Luck and show Manning the door?
Keep them both and pray they don't stab each other with a fork?
But that's something for Indy fans to obsess on all winter.
Against the Ravens, the Colts quarterback will be the immortal Dan Orlovsky, otherwise known as Dan Who? to most NFL fans and maybe even to his mom.
Sure, Orlovsky looked good last week in Indy's 31-24 loss to the New England Patriots. He was 30 of 37 passing for 353 yards and two touchdowns in his first start for the Colts. He threw only one pick. And his quarterback rating, if you care about these things, was a respectable 113.2.
But if the Ravens get any kind of pressure on Orlovsky, it'll be a long day for him Sunday at M&T Bank Stadium. A long day for the Colts, too.
Which is something they're definitely used to this season.
Listen to Kevin Cowherd Tuesdays at 7:20 a.m. on 105.7 The Fan's "Norris and Davis Show."
