Well I had us winning them all. So far I'm correct.When the schedule was released, I had us at 1-1 at this point , so I am feeling pretty good myself.
In all seriousness, I had us winning the first three.
Well I had us winning them all. So far I'm correct.When the schedule was released, I had us at 1-1 at this point , so I am feeling pretty good myself.
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.Im pushing a true narrative. Williams is an okay pass rusher (though seems to have gotten better so far this year in that regard) but his principle purpose is to take away the run. That makes him the most important piece of the front 7. If Pierce grows maybe the Ravens can have 2 anchors on the DLine but being a team that you cannot run on while at the same time sporting a top tier secondary is a recipe for success (honestly the only 2 problems on defense today in coverage were Mosley and Webb).
The Ravens defense does not work without someone like Williams taking away the run. The Ravens defense has always had that big dude to stuff the middle and let our linebackers look like all pro players.
It seems like Perriman is shaping up to be a true bust. And Wallace is looking like he either doesn't know WTF he is doing or is just giving up at times. Our "crack WR" group is shaping up to be our WR crew on crack lol, save for Maclin.
Well I had us winning them all. So far I'm correct.
In all seriousness, I had us winning the first three.
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.
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.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.
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.@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.
Joe admitted after the game that he missed plenty of times downfield and was very upset about it. I don't think he was happy at all with how he played today. I think the chemistry and timing between Joe and Perriman/Wallace is as bad as its ever been and they're going to need more time to improve.
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.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.
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.Oh don't give me that shit Ludy. Lewis sucked at LG last season and upgrading him should have been a massive priority and then we'd likely have some depth. We could have easily let Williams go(look. The dline still played relatively well without him against a really good offensive line) and have signed Leary, and/or Warford, two above average guards who went for a reasonable price, and are scheme fits, instead of overloading on the defense. we'd be fucked still with Yanda gone, but less so. We should have never been this position anyway with regards to depth. Sure, we can't control the injuries, but we still should have addressed the damn problem earlier in the offseason. Even with Urschel, Siragusa, and Lewis, the depth was still very questionable along the interior. ESPECIALLY with Jensen becoming a starter. Not to mention, there's a solid option on the FA market in Greco, who we haven't even taken a look at. The oline has been a massive problem 3/4 seasons, and the only damn thing we did to fix the problem was draft Stanley(which admittedly was great). So don't give me the shit of "we should have prepared better" and be smug and sarcastic. This has been a problem for 3/4 years. We had an opportunity to get a solid option this season to help out, and WE DID NOTHING. The entire plan is the invest on defense this offseason, and likely invest on offense next season. WHICH IS STUPID. Without Yanda, Flacco is far more likley to get hurt. This two year plan immediate fails the moment he goes down with an injury. Which I apparently am the only one who sees this OBVIOUS FLAW. Things are suddenly made a hell of a lot worse when he's coming off of a back injury, and has to play the likes of James Harrison, JJ Watt, Clowney, Campbell, Atikins, Merculis, Garrett(eventually), Mack, Orakpo, Morgan, and others. This is NOT going to be easy on Joe's back at all. We have to play some really good defenses, and we KNEW that we were going to play most of these teams, just not the order because the NFL follows a pattern schedule wise. (Next season we play the Saints, Falcons, Bucs, Panthers, Chargers, Denver, Oakland, Kansas City, and the Chargers plus our division if my memory serves me correct). Yet, we were complacent and did nothing.
Not happy. We should have not only been fixing this problem this offseason, but have done more in off seasons prior.
This is inexcusable.
Hope Yanda doesn't fall off a cliff next offseason.