By Mark Curnutte
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Jeff Blake's stats at NFL.com

Jeff Blake's former Bengals teammates say the quarterback always played better when he had something to prove.

Blake, who will start his third game Sunday for the Baltimore Ravens, will never have more to prove than he will when facing his former team for the first time.

Blake, doing his best to be politically correct, downplayed his start against the Bengals.

"I'm just happy for the opportunity to play," Blake said Wednesday. "I don't take anybody lightly."

But people who know Blake say the game will be extra important to the 11th-year pro.

BETTER DAYS WITH BLAKE?

Jeff Blake, who on Sunday will make his first start against the Bengals, was the most productive Bengals quarterback since Boomer Esiason: Era Years Record Pct. TDP Int. Blake 1994-99 25-41 .379 93 62 Post-Blake 2000-02 11-29 .275 26 53

• The 25-41 record is for games started by Blake. • Since Blake left before the 2000 season, the Bengals have started quarterbacks Akili Smith, Scott Mitchell, Jon Kitna and Gus Frerotte. • One of the interceptions thrown after Blake's tenure was by tailback Corey Dillon, on an option pass in the 2001 season.

"He has persevered through a lot of stuff," said Akili Smith, the quarterback drafted in 1999 to replace Blake. "If I had the opportunity to play against my old team, I'd really be jacked up. He'll be fired up."

Blake left the Bengals after his contract was up, following the 1999 season, and signed with the Saints.

The starting quarterback job was handed to Smith for the 2000 season, and Blake went to New Orleans, started the first 11 games and won seven. The Bengals have been searching desperately for a quarterback since letting Blake go.

The Bengals have thrown 26 touchdowns and 53 interceptions in the 40 games since Blake left Cincinnati. The Bengals' record is 11-29.

Blake started 66 games for the Bengals from 1994-99 and threw 93 touchdown passes against 62 interceptions.

In other words, Blake's ratio of touchdown passes to interceptions was 3-to-2, or three times better than the 1-to-2 ratio achieved by the four quarterbacks who have replaced him.

"I remember when he was here, and he did a lot of things that were very good," Bengals president Mike Brown said. "He was unique in how he could throw the ball way down field. We had success with that."

But apparently not enough.

Blake's Pro Bowl season of 1995, 28 touchdown passes and 3,822 passing yards, was quickly forgotten.

"I kind of felt like I gave them two good years, for them to just cancel me out in just half a season, for them not to give me the opportunity to come out of (a slump) in '97, I think that wasn't fair," he said. "But life isn't fair. You just have to deal with it."

Blake lost his job in New Orleans in 2000 because of an injury, and he played in just one game behind the Saints' Aaron Brooks in 2001.

Blake signed a one-year contract with the Ravens this past spring for the league minimum of $750,000 for a 10-year veteran.

He started the last two games after starter Chris Redman injured his back.

Ravens coach Brian Billick has not said what he will do when Redman is healthy. "There's no question the difference he has made for us," Billick said of Blake.

Blake is 43-for-77 passing for 527 yards, two touchdowns and four interceptions with the Ravens.

Billick said he expects Blake to have extra motivation for the Bengals. The game, Billick said, could have the emotional pitch that the Ravens-Broncos game did Sept.30 when former Ravens tight end Shannon Sharpe returned to Baltimore.

"You're always going to be playing somebody that somebody on your team has an agenda with because they were with that team, particularly when you're talking about a Jeff Blake, who has as much history with the Bengals as he does," Billick said.

Bengals right tackle Willie Anderson, who played four seasons with Blake, knows his former teammate will be ready.

"That's Jeff's personality," Anderson said. "His whole stance in life is he's been the underdog. It helps him sometimes, and it hurts him.

"I'm 100 percent positive he's going to try to have a big game against us. It's going to be a neat game. He's not going to come out and say it publicly, but that's going to be his MO this week."

E-mail mcurnutte@enquirer.com

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