Well, its been a while but what better time to jot down some thoughts than to do so after a win at Heinz. This may be my favourite win since that absolute dismantling we gave them in...06? i think, 8 sacks and that time where Ngata put the fear of, well, ngata in to mendenhall i think it was. Ill start with the ravens. What i liked pretty much everything but lets break it down. Joe flacco had a great game, i haven't seen joe possess that level of touch on deep balls for a long time, im sure you can all remember the last time. If it wasn't for Haden's great coverage he would have connected on another deep ball to Brown. He avoided mistakes and controlled the pocket incredibly well. The O line did much better, Hurst dealt with his business and Stanley straight up bullrushed his man on more than one occasion which was great to see. The call on yanda was horseshit. Wr's continue to show that hands matter more than physical attributes. They caught the ball even though Crabtree had a couple concentration issues that you could see he was visibily pissed off by. Brown is a revelation. TE- Williams is showing us why we picked him so high and with Hurst coming back and Boyle doing work, this is an exciting unit. RB- honestly, they did fine but this may be the weakest part of our O which is just odd to say given our recent rosters. Overall the Offence was great, I liked the wrinkles with Jackson. Even if they telegraph the run because people will analyse this tape and see how much we used them and think its likely he just keeps running. It just adds another consideration for the DC ( most of which are utterly moronic). He could very easily start using PA's and a couple times he made some decent ground with a chance at breaking for more which i hope will come. The best tihng was the balance of our play calling. Although im not sure this is the game to assess our O which i will get to late. Defence was everything we love. It was not overly flashy but they are sound. Our D line will get stronger next week but what we have is plenty good. The most important thing was discipline, they did NOT over -pursue and that is pretty much the most important thing for me. They stayed on their gaps and didnt get sucked to fakes or looks- also they are doing a great job at invading the throwing lanes whenever possible. mosely is a welcome return, i have seen posts on here suggesting we let him walk...you are all insane if you think that. he is a stone cold leader and a tackling machine. The man's instincts are great and when we lose him, we lose that cohesion upfront, he is easily one of the first names on my team sheet every week. The depth we have is great but CJ has to stay. Sizzle is unreal to be doing this at his age. Secondary. These guys just make me hard. Humphrey had a PHENOMENAL night, i do not care what people said, He kept the best route runner and overall WR in the league to around 60 yards on 5 catches. He made one real error and it was an error of "inches" if you will as he didnt turn his head to track the ball and got beat- which btw we saw haden do later in the game for PIT. This kid is legit and carr played well too. Our safeties are coming in to their own after what i thought was a poor showing last year. Also even on the TD pass, he was with his man, he has fantastic feet and hips, he just needs to work on the hardest part of the game as a CB that was a huge game for him. Justin Tucker is a god. Lastly, i just felt like saying this on PIT. As an organisation i think they are losing or have lost their identity. They were always a class act that carried themselves the right way and maintained a great locker-room atmosphere that was above the bravoda and nonsense. They played the right way if you will. Ever since tomlin came you have seen that be slowly eroded and its been on show in recent years with nonsensical platitudes and poor showings. Ben is passed it. I dont need to pile on to that mountain of horseshit. AB is stellar but he is showing he cant do it on his own and Bell is a drama queen and incredibly short sighted, he needs to simply fuck off, no matter how good he is. This may be one of the worst PIT teams i have seen and their recent years are worse considering the absolute treasure trove of riches that they had- ESPECIALLY on that O, hell fuck the skill positions, that O line is legit as fuck specifically the interior. This win feels good, i love our new DC, im excited. I know i missed a lot but im just going sign off here and sleep well. 2k
We all know who's played great, and I don't want to take any credit/shine away from the obvious players (Joe, J.Brown, Humphrey, damn near everybody, etc) but let's talk about a few people specifically. James Hurst - This guy has gotten flack for years due to one season at LT. He played LG fairly well for the team last season, nothing spectacular but fairly well, and he's actually been a better RT than people have given him credit for lately. Anybody remember Von Miller's name being called last week? How about TJ Watt this week? Didn't Watt have a 4 sack game or something this season?? Exactly. Hurst has bee quietly doing his job and he deserves more accolades for it. Wink Martindale - My god, we've wondered for years why the defense was trash, and it's now easy to confirm that Pees was a problem. Wink does something that I can't recall Pees doing much of.......SECOND HALF ADJUSTMENTS!! There is a reason no team has scored a second half TD on us, and in 4 games the Ravens have only allowed 9 total points in the second half of the first four games. We didn't add much new talent from last season. Urban is playing, but Henry was named starter and he's been out. Rookie Kenny Young is playing and we got Tavon Young back, but that's about it. This team just went 3-1 and is the #1 rated defense in the league WITHOUT Jimmy Smith. That's unheard of in the Pees era. Brandon Carr - The two above were for the season, but Carr is for this game specifically. This is normally the whipping boy for the opposing offense, but he actually had a very, very, good game against the Steelers. The depth at CB is about to be ridiculous with Jimmy back and Averett set to return eventually. Brandon Carr played his ass off today. I hope they still put him on the field for the first defensive snap to continue his starting streak. For all the hate he gets, it'd be a shame to see that end because of a teammate (I hated seeing Eli benched for one game and ending his streak)
Ok, I had to come back and give Flacco credit. The man is on fire and throwing the ball like a top end QB. I think he hit every available pass catcher at some point yesterday, even down to the 3rd string back. Something like 11 players caught a pass, with Tim Williams and Chris Moore even getting in on the action. I was waiting on him to throw to Yanda near the end.
The good, the bad and the ugly: The Good: Joe Flacco Smokey Brown Maxx Williams & Buck Allen are beasts Willie Snead (IMHO the best FA pickup this year) Justin Tucker The entire secondary Throwing the ball downfield (and more importantly having a receiver(s) who can actually get separation AND catch the ball) The pass protection of OL especially Hurst Marty Mornhinweg's creativity using Maxx Williams and Lamar Jackson in different sets and alignments (the play where Williams lined up next to the center and relesed from the line for a 20+ yd reception was genius. Just not sure if it was actually legal) Wink Martindale's adjustments The pass rush was in Ben's face most of the game. I'd like to see more of DeLance Turner. He could be this year's Alex Collins. Tim White protecting the ball on PR and calling for fair catches when needed. The Bad: Marty Mornhinweg's creativity using Lamar Jackson and some other trick plays for a "simple" 3rd & 1 (or 2 or 3). The running game especially the left side of the OL. The Ugly: Alex Collins' fumble. He seems to be reverting to his habit of not protecting the ball. He is doing too much "dancing" when a straight ahead single cut run run would do. Part of that could be the OL not being able to open holes. Michael Crabtree's drops All-in-all this was one of the best all around games I've seen the Ravens play in years. The offense is clicking with all the receivers & TE's in sync with Joe, including both Chris Moore and Tim White. I can't wait to see Hurst come back. 4 TE sets with Boyle blocking and Williams, Hurst, and Andrews all in WR sets? A distinct possibility and a nightmare for defenses. Both the offense and defense seem to be having a lot of fun with Marty's creativity and Wink's new/old defensive schemes. Not quite the organized chaos of Rex and Pagano, but close. And thank god no sign of anything to do with Dean Pees.
On wink, the adjustments are great but the other thing i really like is that he has more understanding of what works match ups wise, he knows how talented Brown was and gave the kid help over top just incase, but still managed to let his confidence grow but really only providing a deep cover for him and let him be responsible for the short to intermediate routes which was great to see. He calls far more exotic blitz's than pees which are getting home. i do think our increased strength on the D line and the absurdly talented secondary that we have helps this situation. Carr did well, but without trying to steal thunder away from carr here, the steelers really did not look good. As you mentioned in the other thread, this was a stupid fumble away from being a thrashing and not just comfortable. Plus there was that great coverage by haden. This really was a very poor TEAM that we faced and it showed a lot. They need to smack some heads over there because there is no reason such a talented team should suck- then again they have tomlin and something about unleashing hell or whatever film that man is watching on netflix this week. I am very excited to see Hurst play because his hands are absurd- but the way williams is playing, i dont know how many snaps or looks he gets. The wr core is just a solid core all around, nothing flashy but just the fundementals. A week always starts of pretty well after a steeler's win at heinz. 2k
A couple of things I noted in this excellent road win. 1. I heard on one of the talk shows on NFL network that the Ravens are only blitzing 20% of the time? Is that accurate? I see lots of pressure (aside from the Bengals game) being applied but does that sound right to you? I would think we were blitzing a lot more than that. If we really are only blitzing 20% of the time and getting that pressure without bringing extra people, then I am super stoked about the remainder of the season getting Jimmy back to cover the back end and us getting pressure with just 3 or 4 people. 2. The Lamar Jackson "trick" plays have to stop or be reworked. Joe steps out as a receiver and when the ball is snapped he does not even move or flinch. Pretty clear that he is not into it at all and has removed himself from the play. Even I could cover him when he does that. They are not fooling anyone. 3. I hope they do not get too creative and start to overthink this process. There are some times we need to play power running football and I have seen them get away from that in critical moments. I agree with (maybe Faulk) whoever said why was Ricard not in on the short yardage stuff or at the end of the game as a blocker when we needed to slam the ball forward to try to drive in the dagger touchdown? Let's not get too cute here. 4. If we can see Wink start to make the adjustments he makes at halftime a bit earlier, then we could really see the defense hit a second gear. I would love to see them start to make changes on the fly and not just after halftime. I feel like if we had adjusted the defense on the fly in the Cincy game we could have kept it much closer that it was.
Only commenting on this, but I don't think it's a sign that Joe isn't into it. In fact, I think he's said he enjoys the plays (although it could be PC talk). The thing is though, if he runs a route a defender can hit/jam him. QBs aren't trained to avoid that so it's basically a free hit on your QB. If he doesn't move, he can't be touched. Whereas it's obvious he's not going anywhere, defenders still have to watch him. Leave him uncovered and it'll probably be the first time we see him run a route. In terms of the plays themselves, every single one seemed to gain 5 yards or more yesterday. One play forced Pittsburgh to waste a time out and another forced a wasted challenge, and thus another time out. I'm okay with the plays, but feel they need to let him throw at some point. Give him safe throws, just so the defenses don't always know it's a guaranteed run
When they keep it simple on offense they push the ball downfield pretty well. The only time it stalls seems to be mental errors like pass drops or poor blocking. We have the talent so it's all about execution. The defense looks so good right now that I think we are going to sneak up on a couple teams before the halfway mark. I haven't felt this good about the start of the season in a long time.
I said this above but the trick plays, if that is what we want to call them, are important. They have to respect the look and keep it under consideration and it often will lead to a moment of over pursuit which for a guy like jackson, or hell, anyone- will lead to yards. Eventually it will provide a big play but its nice to use all tools. I dont think flacco cares; he knows he is the primary signal caller and thus far he has played well. Again,the most impressive thing i have seen from Joe thus far is his touch on deep balls, he has to keep that open because it stretches the field and once more will just add to the things the DC has to consider. We dont have god tier talent on that O but we do have wrinkles and weapons. 2k
I mean, just look at this. he barely had to adjust ( barely being a relative term for a long 50+ yard bomb Someone said this on an earlier thread in the season ( yes, i lurk a lot), but they (i think it was R1) called it earlier that the brown connection with joe was looking strong and it really is. Difference is, he also has other reliable outlets in Williams, Snead and Crabtree and hopefully hurst will just strengthen that list of options. 2k
Those are fair points. Perhaps just doing something different is what I really should have pointed out. It seems t be the same thing every time. Direct snap and a keeper for Jackson to run with. They do gain some yards each time, but variety will make that look differently.
This is basically what I was saying above. I love the creativity and the confusion it sometimes creates, but sometimes you just need to pick up that 1 or 2 yards to keep the drive alive. I mentioned a few times during the game either Ricard or Boyle or Williams should've been in the backfield as a blocker or even give the ball to Ricard like they did last year for a yard or so to get the 1st down. Get that going and the play action becomes even more valuable as all three of those players can also release from their blocks and catch a short pass.
I agree. Even something like I mentioned above with Ricard, Williams, or Boyle in the backfield as the FB with a play action to Collins or Allen and have the FB release and catch a short safe screen pass as part of the RPO.
Nothing feels as good as hearing Steelers fans booing their team and leaving early. Conan said it best:
Just wait until they get the right look in a pressure situation. I'm sure there are a couple of plays he IS involved in, but lulling the team prep to sleep will help when those looks actually come up in a game. If the wrong defense is present, why fake something that could give another play away in the future?
1) I heard the same thing and couldn't believe that was accurate. If so, Wink is doing one helluva job disguising packages and the players being efficient in getting to/near the QB in limited attempts. 2) I think the ones out of the wildcat are the ones that have the best impact. Joe lining up out wide is not drawing double coverage and might even be ignored in a blitz that will have LJ scramblin for his life. The OL isn't that good. Also, if Joe has checked out (doesn't seem like that's in his nature tho') then Marty is going to have simply scrap the plays. Joe has more pull with the team than he, even if LJ is slated to be the starter in '19. Still, he's come up with some great surprise plays. 3) yeah, that was me talking up Ricard for more offensive snaps. Not sure why he isn't used more at FB/HB especially to the left where they had so much trouble running the ball this year. I don't pretend to know my X's and O's like Marty, but this seems like an easy one - power run game with a 310lb FB will do a LOT to wear down defenses and make room for Collins/Allen. 4) I think that they did start that more already. It seems like the D is adjusting better and they fairly well shut down a 3rd ranked offense last week. Still not TDs in the 2nd half this season. Wonder if they try to retain that record even in blow outs?
