Well, this was about what I expected from this week. Not a lot of effort to get to a victory. It seemed that the Ravens were on cruise control yesterday and got to where they were through some good plays on the offence as well as some good plays on defense. If I had some take-aways it would be these: 1. the defense is still giving up way too much in the passing game and we are still mystified as to how to stop a good rb screen. 2. Our QB pressure/pass rush is pretty much non-existent 3. Our offense still seems to be forcing the passing game and trying too hard with deep shots 4. Our run game is odd to me. We are trying to run plays that don't seem to be to the strength of the Oline or the offensive philosophy. 5. I still think we need more roll outs and bootlegs to take advantage of Lamars greatest gift. I hope we start to round into shape soon. If we played a decent team we would have really struggled and potentially lost yesterday. I know it took a few weeks to figure that out last year and I hope this one is the same where we really start to click on both sides of the ball.
My thoughts are as follows..... Offense 1. The offensive line is the weak spot of the offense. No Stanley, No Yanda, Skura is still a turnstile in the middle. The only bright spot is Zeus Jr held up well on the left side yesterday. Fluker is showing why he has been cut several times already and should not be starting but is forced to due to the youth on the line as it is and inexperience. Boseman is a decent rush blocker but sucks in Pass protection. 2. RB by committee worked well last season when Lamar was running the RPO offense. This season as the Ravens have transitioned back to the more traditional Pro-set offense that is preferred by Harbaugh, this has become more of a liability than a strength. They need to decide who to get the rock 20 times a game and who will be the primary 3rd down pass catching back. 3. WR needs to step up their game, a lack of separation at the line is killing a lot of the plays that Lamar is trying to connect on. 4. TE - The bright spot of the team as usual, but the lack of depth behind our top 2 guys will surely come into play if either of them gets injured. Defense 1. The outside LB didn't learn a thing from Suggs when he was here, as none of them can sniff out a screen to save their lives. On top of that, they telegraph their blitzes way too early and the QB has plenty of time to adjust his line blocking schemes and/or audibles to counter them. 2. Patrick Queen is an absolute beast and has proven to be the reliable force in the middle. LJ Fort is a steady presence as well on the inside and they have made the ILB position the strength of the front 7. 3. The DL still sucks at the point of attack as teams are rushing on them at nearly a 4.5 clip so far this year. Too many gaps that are allowing OL to move into the 2nd level and getting blocks on our LB/DB's for my liking. Not enough pass rush either, this unit needs to STEP the hell up in the next few games and improve at defeating 1 on 1's. Campbell is exempt from this because at least he is getting his hands up and deflecting passes at a decent clip. 4. The secondary is taking a few too many chances and not playing close enough to their men so chunk pass plays are happening too often. Tighten up on the receivers and this should improve. No one on this team can cover a TE though, that hasn't changed in years so I guess I can forget about that ever improving lol. Special Teams 1. Excellent as per usual here, and Koch executing fake punts to perfection tops the cake. Well done Koch and Tucker.
