Oakland Raiders

A week ago, Ravens coach John Harbaugh said there were no easy or homecoming games in the National Football League. But the Ravens' game against the Oakland Raiders at M&T Bank Stadium had the same festive, homecoming atmosphere, the only things missing were a parade, people parachuting out of airplanes and a king and queen. Like most host teams on this special day, the Ravens scored every way possible and they did exactly what good teams do to poor ones. After Sunday's horrible, embarrassing and disgraceful performance, the Raiders have to be the worst team in the NFL, maybe in league history including some of those ugly teams in Cleveland, Cincinnati and Detroit.

Darrius Heyward-Bey likes a challenge. Or perhaps more appropriately, he enjoys being challenged. From adolescence to McDonogh to Maryland, Heyward-Bey has encountered doubts and at each turn, he has overcome those obstacles. Now a starting wide receiver for the Oakland Raiders, who will visit M&T Bank Stadium on Sunday to meet the Ravens, Heyward-Bey can look back at those challenges and credit them for aiding his development. "It's just my personality. I've always been that way," he said Wednesday night after a Raiders practice.

Every morning, Monday through Friday, blogger Matt Vensel will hook you up with reading material -- mostly on the Ravens but with some other Baltimore sports stuff, too -- to skim through as you slug down coffee and slack off at the start of your workday. That way he'll have an excuse to do the same to start his workday, too. RUNNING IT BACK On Sunday, the Ravens face a familiar foe in Oakland Raiders quarterback Carson Palmer, who tormented them when he was with the Cincinnati Bengals.

Hardly anyone could blame Ray Rice if he got a little excited after learning Tampa Bay Buccaneers rookie Doug Martin had rushed for 251 yards and scored four touchdowns in last Sunday's 42-32 win against the Oakland Raiders - who are the Ravens' opponent this Sunday. But Rice said he fully expects Oakland to spend this week of preparation fixing the run defense and containing Rice and rookie Bernard Pierce. “That's a prideful bunch,” Rice said Wednesday. “I'm sure they are going to come in here with a high motor.

Carson Palmer is a couple of years older and is no longer throwing to Chad Johnson and T.J. Houshmandzadeh in their prime. But as the Ravens prepare for Sunday's game against Palmer and the Oakland Raiders, the bad memories have come rushing back for some Ravens. "I remember vividly games that I thought we had won and Carson Palmer got into a groove and torched us," Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs said. "But he's a really good quarterback and he knows us pretty well, too. So he's going to come planning on having a good game.

Every week, I hope to bring you a quick Q&A with someone who covers the Ravens' opponent that week. On Sunday, the Ravens play the Oakland Raiders at M&T Bank Stadium. Thanks to Jerry McDonald, the Raiders beat writer for the Oakland Tribune and the Bay Area Newspaper Group, for giving us the lowdown this week. MV: I'm not sure how much our readers pay attention to what's going on out in Oakland, but with a new coach, a new general manager, and the late, great Al Davis rocking a white sweat suit up in heaven, how is the Raiders organization different than it was a couple of years ago?

One guy was among the greatest losers in the history of politics, the other, one of the biggest winners in all of sports. They were unalike men who shared little except recent headlines. But there was, in that brief juxtaposition, an object lesson for those who cared to see it. The loser -- George McGovern -- made headlines by dying at age 90. He is famous for having been on the rump end of one of the most thorough election shellackings in history, cobbling together a measly 17 electoral votes in 1972 to Richard Nixon's 520. But there was more to him than that epic loss.

To some Ravens fans, the thought of Billy Cundiff continuing to be the team's kicker - after he hooked wide left a 32-yard attempt in January's 23-20 loss to the New England Patriots in the AFCchampionship game - was an unappealing possibility that demanded action. So Sunday's news that the organization had terminated Cundiff's contract was a satisfying outcome to those same fans. And history shows that Cundiff isn't the first kicker to lose his job after faltering in the postseason.