Well I had us winning them all. So far I'm correct.
In all seriousness, I had us winning the first three.
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The Good, the Bad, and the Browns: Week 2 Edition
- Thread starter Oldfaithful
- Start date
In all seriousness, I had us winning the first three.
Oldfaithful
Hall of Famer
Then why is Williams taken off the field on so many passing downs? Over the years he hasnt been great. Not going to deny that's a good run stuffer, he is. But he's very one dimensional and wasn't worth resetting the market for. Wagner would play every down and keep Flacco upright. Howard is gonna have a tough time. Our defensive line, given our depth, WOULD HAVE FINE. Pierce looks really good himself and he's playing NT. David and Urban both look good. The defense would be slightly worse, but it would still be really good. Our oline is suffering right now, especially with yanda being gone and we clearly had resources to go get someone else but we chose the one dimensional dude over the RT. Which will bite us in the ass. And no, Williams isn't that good of a pass rusher. If he was so good, he wouldn't be taken out nearly as frequently as he is on passing downs.
We picked the wrong guy, and it's gonna hurt us.
And Jefferson was a good signing even if it was expensive. He adds a lot of versatility to the defense. But make no mistake. Williams was overpaid, and we should've used that money to go get another oline men instead. We are so deep on the dline that I'm not too worried.
TheCity5
MVP
M
There were plenty of plays that Perriman/Wallace where open but Joe was to hesistant because of the lack of communication, it's tough to throw it to a receivers when you can't trust where he's going. I wouldn't say Perriman is a bust is he just has not had the opportunity to play at his full potential. He's just been robbed of that opportunity and it makes sense because Wallace has been struggling with it as well. Maclin himself, while made some good contributions isn't lighting it on fire either.
There were plenty of plays that Perriman/Wallace where open but Joe was to hesistant because of the lack of communication, it's tough to throw it to a receivers when you can't trust where he's going. I wouldn't say Perriman is a bust is he just has not had the opportunity to play at his full potential. He's just been robbed of that opportunity and it makes sense because Wallace has been struggling with it as well. Maclin himself, while made some good contributions isn't lighting it on fire either.
Militant X 1
Ravens Ring of Honor
And, I had us winning the first 4 to go to 4-0. We're 2-0 now...so far....so good!
First off lets note that he has taken massive strides as a pass rusher this year which seemingly are justifying that contract. Secondly, If you stuff the run on 1st and 2nd down and force 3rd and longs, I am good if that is all you can do. The team that forces those 3rd and longs will always finish better than the team that is always trying to stop 3rd and shorts.
Oldfaithful
Hall of Famer
He's improved sure, but he hasn't made these "massive strides". It appears that way but there's a reason Davis, urban, and Pierce are in on passing downs. Sure, Williams can help push the pocket, but those three apply more pressure and are good run stuffers in their own right. We would have been fine. We either should have kept Wagner(and yes, with the NFL is trending towards, he's worth the $10 million) or should have picked up a guard.
Hell, we could have gotten fucking Warford for cheaper than both, still have signed Howard, and the both lines would still be very good, if not great given our depth on the dline. Brandon Williams is a good player, but he isn't Haloti Ngata. He's not a freak of nature who's a "must keep around at all costs" type. He's very good, but we had options on the roster to replace Bwill if he had walked. We didn't have any to replace Wagner.
Hey all- I just posted a sort of wrap up article up in the news section if you all could be so kind as to check it out.
DeVito52
Ravens Ring of Honor
@Lost_In_Translation you need to take a freaking chill pill bro. At least let everything play out before immediately determining all hope is lost. Yanda's loss is obviously gonna have an impact but don't freak out too soon, you never know what will happen. And in terms of Williams being taken out on a good amount of passing downs, its called keeping fresh legs on the field. Williams has been playing very well, getting good pressure up the middle. But if he's working hard drawing double teams and stopping the run on 1st and 2nd, of course I want someone else like Davis in there on 3rd down because hes fresh. Gotta keep a good rotation or we are never gonna get any pressure.
Oldfaithful
Hall of Famer
How can I be calm? We lost our best player at our weakest unit. We did nothing to try to fix the weakest unit. And btw. It's our only unit that's a weakness. If we had a good oline, we'd be a contender. Now our franchise QB is likely to get hurt. We're in a bad situation.
Sure, we'll likely be a wild card team if everything works out. But we should be better. We should have done things differently this offseason and I've been saying that since March.
I swear to god if Ozzie doesn't retool the oline in the offseason...
Oldfaithful
Hall of Famer
On the bright side, next season when Tavon comes back. This defense will be even better. We can actually rush the passer this year and have a compentent secondary.
"But Lost the yardage sucks and we gave up long turnovers".
Because of the rule's and how they're enforced, it's a hell of a lot harder nowadays, and borderline impossible, to have a true shutdown defense that can negate yardage and points. If you breathe on a WR the wrong you, you called for PI which is killer despite you honestly doing nothing wrong(refs suck). The yardage matters a hell of a lot less when you give up only ten points in two weeks, with ten turnovers, and can apply good pressure on the QB. And yes, we did that. Against a good oline. "But the Hogan drive". His TD was on the money(nothing the DB can do. And give me a break, even if he's a backup, he's a PROFESSIONAL. He's going to have plays where he wins. This ain't Madden). And yes, Webb struggled but his game clearly isn't one of a corner's anymore. We need Jaylen Hill back and Young have proven to be a big loss. You're gonna give up yards in today's league even if you have a great defense.
And yes, we have a great defense. Oh no, we let up a field goal. That measly 3 points is going to be a dagger.....
A bend but don't break defense needs to be able to do 3 things. Three things we couldn't do in the past.
1. Consistently stop the run. Thanks to CJ Mosley, Suggs, and Williams, running on us is very difficult. We'll occasionally let a big one slip, but most defenses do, and it ends up not being overly catastrophic.
2. Bring pressure on the QB. Suggs has turned back the clock, and we have Bowser(who can fucking fly), Williams, and Judon along the edges along with Pierce and Urban who are solid at bringing pressure up the middle. Combine this pass rush with a good secondary(that played well btw) and you have yourself a great passsing defense.
3. Generate turnovers. Which we have proven we can do in spades. Our defense is clearly well coached. Going for the tips near the line of scrimmage, CJ is one the smartest players in the game. And no, turnovers do not "cover a lot of ills". They make the ills entirely irrelevant and let you get into the offense's head. Kizer clearly had a rough time with us today. Dalton was fucked against us because of the pressure we brought and the turnovers we forced. We shot their confidences down, and made their lives a hell of a lot harder. Yardage be damned. We couldn't do 2/3 things last year which is why I'm excited.
Scary thing: the defense will be even better next year. Only real person who has a chance of utterly falling off a cliff is Suggs(and at this point. His decline might be minimal since he's turned the clock back). The defense is full of talented young pieces who have a metric fuckload of potential(Young, Henry, Kaufausi, Davis, Humphrey, Bowser, Williams, Judon, Hill) that they haven't achieved yet. By virtue of not having any huge free agents on that side of the ball, the defense should get better via coaching. And yes, our defense is very well coached and it's showing. This defense has its share of veterans, but there's a ton of young pieces that should only get better within the next two seasons.
Now Pees has his problems, he's actually a middle of the road DC in my eyes. He does things that are stupid(he doesn't shadow Jimmy for example. Which is beyond dumb). But he's clearly not the main issue.
So yeah. Did the defense still dominate? Yes. We generated five turnovers and put consistent pressure on the QB. The defense did It's damn job. It's legit. Did we have bad moments? Yes, but it's the NFL. There are going to be plays where the opposing offense just wins(hell, The Jets scored yesterday and they're interionally tanking and terrible). A great defense will force more mistakes and make less mistakes. Which is what we did.
We let up ten points in two weeks and force 10 turnovers and put much more pressure on the QB than we ever did last season and people are complaining about the damn defense. God help us all.
"But Lost the yardage sucks and we gave up long turnovers".
Because of the rule's and how they're enforced, it's a hell of a lot harder nowadays, and borderline impossible, to have a true shutdown defense that can negate yardage and points. If you breathe on a WR the wrong you, you called for PI which is killer despite you honestly doing nothing wrong(refs suck). The yardage matters a hell of a lot less when you give up only ten points in two weeks, with ten turnovers, and can apply good pressure on the QB. And yes, we did that. Against a good oline. "But the Hogan drive". His TD was on the money(nothing the DB can do. And give me a break, even if he's a backup, he's a PROFESSIONAL. He's going to have plays where he wins. This ain't Madden). And yes, Webb struggled but his game clearly isn't one of a corner's anymore. We need Jaylen Hill back and Young have proven to be a big loss. You're gonna give up yards in today's league even if you have a great defense.
And yes, we have a great defense. Oh no, we let up a field goal. That measly 3 points is going to be a dagger.....
A bend but don't break defense needs to be able to do 3 things. Three things we couldn't do in the past.
1. Consistently stop the run. Thanks to CJ Mosley, Suggs, and Williams, running on us is very difficult. We'll occasionally let a big one slip, but most defenses do, and it ends up not being overly catastrophic.
2. Bring pressure on the QB. Suggs has turned back the clock, and we have Bowser(who can fucking fly), Williams, and Judon along the edges along with Pierce and Urban who are solid at bringing pressure up the middle. Combine this pass rush with a good secondary(that played well btw) and you have yourself a great passsing defense.
3. Generate turnovers. Which we have proven we can do in spades. Our defense is clearly well coached. Going for the tips near the line of scrimmage, CJ is one the smartest players in the game. And no, turnovers do not "cover a lot of ills". They make the ills entirely irrelevant and let you get into the offense's head. Kizer clearly had a rough time with us today. Dalton was fucked against us because of the pressure we brought and the turnovers we forced. We shot their confidences down, and made their lives a hell of a lot harder. Yardage be damned. We couldn't do 2/3 things last year which is why I'm excited.
Scary thing: the defense will be even better next year. Only real person who has a chance of utterly falling off a cliff is Suggs(and at this point. His decline might be minimal since he's turned the clock back). The defense is full of talented young pieces who have a metric fuckload of potential(Young, Henry, Kaufausi, Davis, Humphrey, Bowser, Williams, Judon, Hill) that they haven't achieved yet. By virtue of not having any huge free agents on that side of the ball, the defense should get better via coaching. And yes, our defense is very well coached and it's showing. This defense has its share of veterans, but there's a ton of young pieces that should only get better within the next two seasons.
Now Pees has his problems, he's actually a middle of the road DC in my eyes. He does things that are stupid(he doesn't shadow Jimmy for example. Which is beyond dumb). But he's clearly not the main issue.
So yeah. Did the defense still dominate? Yes. We generated five turnovers and put consistent pressure on the QB. The defense did It's damn job. It's legit. Did we have bad moments? Yes, but it's the NFL. There are going to be plays where the opposing offense just wins(hell, The Jets scored yesterday and they're interionally tanking and terrible). A great defense will force more mistakes and make less mistakes. Which is what we did.
We let up ten points in two weeks and force 10 turnovers and put much more pressure on the QB than we ever did last season and people are complaining about the damn defense. God help us all.
jdynamite
Ravens Ring of Honor
Once Perriman went down for the entire Preseason and then Flacco too I figured it would be similar to last year's start offensively.
It irritated me when Flacco said something about chemistry is overblown because last year we saw first hand WRs running routes and Flacco throwing to different places.
I need to re-watch it but I really don't remember Wallace being targeted outside of the one catch.
Tank
Hall of Famer
I think Perriman has flat out dropped the last 4 or 5 balls thrown to him. Right? While I agree it's too soon to truly label him a bust he surely isn't headed in the right direction. And Wallace just pulling up on routes is getting old, he did it last year as well. Just seems like he's not going 100% and often not aware of what is going on. While his big play potential remains, I would expect more from him. Maclin seems to have quickly fallen right into place.
cobrajet
Hall of Famer
I have to agree with you, I was not at all happy with the moves we made on the oline. I was not impressed with Lewis at LG and I thought Urshel was undersized. I knew losing Wagner was going to be a blow, but I understand why Ozzie did not want to overpay. We did nothing for the oline in free agency and we did not make it a top priority in the draft this year. I knew our depth was not good and I was worried about injuries.
Why was I so worried, I'll tell you, three reasons. First, Joe is coming off an injury and still looks stiff to me. I am talking the knee injury and his mobility. He just don't look like his old self still. Next, we have three receivers who are speed guys, not precision route runners, and they need time to get open. You can see this in our first two games, against teams that did not have some of their starting corners. Last, Joe holds the ball really long when he stands in the pocket and does not roll out in play action. It seems like he has zero awareness of what is coming up behind him. So far he has taken some hits and held onto the ball, but some of these defenses we have coming up scare the hell out of me. The oline was barely holding up when Yanda was in on passing plays, what a difference in the second half.
The two biggest needs on this team was secondary and oline. Ozzie went out and got Weddle Jefferson and Carr in free agency and made it priority #1 by drafting Humphrey. Thank God because we took a big hit in the injury department with Young and Canady. However, we lost Wagner and KO in free agency and Ozzie did zero in free agency, but he did pick up Stanley, for an oline that had serious questions marks at LG, Center, and RT, and no quality depth. To say I am disappointed with how Ozzie addressed our oline in the off season is an understatement. Now these injuries, which are mind blowingly upsetting, have created a nightmare. I am happy to be 2-0 but it feels to me that right now our offense is not good enough for us to win a playoff game, due to a mediocre oline, and I want to do more than just get there. This is what has me so bummed right now.
jdynamite
Ravens Ring of Honor
The good:
Moderate improvement in the offensive production. It was nice to see B.Watson make an impact and a glimpse of Maxx too.
*Buck Allen was solid week one and he had a solid outing yesterday as well.
*Alex Collins may have had a fumble but he ran with determination and looked explosive.
Suggs is on a mission this year, he's all over the field on every play!
Bowser notched his first Sack & INT today.
The Bad :
Lack of receptions by WRs, Perriman had the two drops, both were catchable passes, although the second one was most likely due to having his head a swivel trying to brace for the incoming hit.
Not sure wth Perriman was doing when he ran that out route and Flacco loafed a deep one, that one ticked me off because they never use him deep, at least give him a couple shots down field a game like T.Smith maybe heck could get a Defensive Pass Interfence or a big catch.
The Ugly :
Injuries continue to mount on this team Yanda is a huge loss for an Oline that was a question coming into the season before losing multiple players to injury and retirement.
B.Bradley also went down with an ACL not as big as Yanda but that is another blow to ST unit.
T.West the least effective RB on the day is the actual starter. Did he get benched?
Moderate improvement in the offensive production. It was nice to see B.Watson make an impact and a glimpse of Maxx too.
*Buck Allen was solid week one and he had a solid outing yesterday as well.
*Alex Collins may have had a fumble but he ran with determination and looked explosive.
Suggs is on a mission this year, he's all over the field on every play!
Bowser notched his first Sack & INT today.
The Bad :
Lack of receptions by WRs, Perriman had the two drops, both were catchable passes, although the second one was most likely due to having his head a swivel trying to brace for the incoming hit.
Not sure wth Perriman was doing when he ran that out route and Flacco loafed a deep one, that one ticked me off because they never use him deep, at least give him a couple shots down field a game like T.Smith maybe heck could get a Defensive Pass Interfence or a big catch.
The Ugly :
Injuries continue to mount on this team Yanda is a huge loss for an Oline that was a question coming into the season before losing multiple players to injury and retirement.
B.Bradley also went down with an ACL not as big as Yanda but that is another blow to ST unit.
T.West the least effective RB on the day is the actual starter. Did he get benched?
Hats off to Marty on this one. For all the blame he's taken, the offense is showing plenty of reasons to be optimistic right now. We have good balance, Flacco's job is a lot easier and he responds well, we're doing a good job of moving the ball. Just the fact that we have 130yds rushing makes me happy.
Also, good contribution from our rookies, just leaves you to want to see them more.