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The Forty, the Fumble, and the Fucking Déjà Vu

Looks like it went right between both hands
Would have been such an unreal way to win after that debacle but of course we get nothing. I guess we won those Bengal games last year, but the last crazy game I can remember going our way was the Browns Lamar stomach issue game. It just feels like we never win these games anymore
 
If there's one thing I've never been more confident in my life, it's that John Harbaugh, in the history of mankind, will never give zero fucks about "public pressure". Especially when it comes from fans.
Its been a lot of media outlets too. My bros have sent me atleast 3 of em
 
There were a couple of unbelievably bad calls in this game. The one where the Bills DB grabbed Bate by his collar could have been 3 penalties, holding, a horse collar and PI.
The other crazy one was where Allen slid, and was well past the first down marker and they marked the ball back a yard before the marker.
I just can’t wrap my head around screwing up calls that badly. Like WTF are they looking at?

the slide was fine
it's where you start the slide and he started giving himself up behind the line to gain
 
Last year. He looked fat and slow then and still does. He's still worth a place in the team for his knowledge and instincts, even though he's coasting, but he isn't worth his contract and we should look to get out of that deal as soon as we can.

You can get out and save 11.2m by cutting him next offseason
Probably have to do something about his deal regardless next offseason anyway because his cap number in the final 2 years balloons to 28.7m
 
Some other random notes on a very quick film study...

- Zaire Mitchell-Paden was a nice elevation and did extremely well playing a role

- ST units looked iffy and I'd expect to see JT Gray soon

- Tylan Wallace on the field kind of telegraphs run

- Broderick Washington looked a bit more like the guy that got the contract a few years back

- I'd keep rolling with the Simpson-Buchanan rotation

- Stout was consistent all game

this is why i dont get the JAD and beau brade cuts
these guys will give you good special teams snaps and cover at DB

i dont rate Tampa on special teams at all and Lowery doesn't play special teams

Higgins played 60% of special teams snaps last night but wasnt during training camp or preseason - i think that's a problem
 
I feel like the “we don’t wanna throw but we need 10 yards” jet sweep has been used way too often. I could be imagining things, but I feel like it’s been a trend that it’s used in that exact situation often

and not sure there's any "safe" play that gets you a good chance at 10 yards more than a Lamar keeper on zone read and that does seem to not really be in the playbook anymore
 
I feel like the “we don’t wanna throw but we need 10 yards” jet sweep has been used way too often. I could be imagining things, but I feel like it’s been a trend that it’s used in that exact situation often

a bit like Greg Roman and the half-field rollouts on 3rd/4th downs in key situations
 
this is why i dont get the JAD and beau brade cuts
these guys will give you good special teams snaps and cover at DB

i dont rate Tampa on special teams at all and Lowery doesn't play special teams

Higgins played 60% of special teams snaps last night but wasnt during training camp or preseason - i think that's a problem
Feels like a rare year where ST did not impact the last few spots. And now we’re already at the stage where you probably need a better body or two on those units. Keyon Martin at least looks like a guy there.
 
If the defense is going to get gashed at times then they need to produce turnovers. This defense last year took a massive step back in that department.

Ravens had a total of 17 takeaways last year. Steelers and Bills had 34 and 33 respectively.

This includes playoffs which we all know we don't create in those games.

exactly this

need to either be a boa constrictor and create negative plays with pressure or opportunistic and take the ball away
the ravens can be a great defence in the regular season but don't do either of the above which always means there's a chance they'll falter in a 1 game series
 
the slide was fine
it's where you start the slide and he started giving himself up behind the line to gain
Incorrect, that’s a college rule. NFL rule is it’s where the ball is when a body part other than a hand or foot touches the ground.
 
I feel like I've gotten pretty good at evaluating ST units, so here are my thoughts on game 1...


High quality:
Hummel, Kane, Wallace, Buchanan (already)

Showing signs:
Higgins, Martin, Walker, Ali

Lack discipline and patience:
Simpson, Tampa

Probably shouldn't take a ST snap again:
Green

Other quality guys that will seemingly take reps but they'll be limited based on role:
Kolar, Robinson


So we're not far from a good unit, but we need guys at the lower rungs to graduate to the one above them fast for the whole thing to come together. That's why I see them prioritizing a guy like JT Gray sooner rather than later.
 
Would have been such an unreal way to win after that debacle but of course we get nothing. I guess we won those Bengal games last year, but the last crazy game I can remember going our way was the Browns Lamar stomach issue game. It just feels like we never win these games anymore

we win big games in primetime
but not close big games

Let me check:

Close/Crazy games:

2025 Wk 1 @ Bills - Lost
2024 Divisional Round @ Bills - Lost
2024 Wk 11 @ Steelers - Lost
2024 Wk 10 vs Bengals - Won
2024 Wk 5 @ Bengals - Won
2024 Wk 3 @ Cowboys - Won (idk if this one fits the criteria, was nearly an embarrassing loss but wasn't really a close game, just a crazy ending)
2024 Wk 2 vs Raiders - Lost
2024 Wk 1 @ Chiefs - Lost
2023 Championship Round vs Chiefs - Lost
2023 Wk 14 vs Rams - Won
2023 Wk 10 vs Browns - Lost
2023 Wk 5 @ Steelers - Lost
2023 Wk 3 vs Colts - Lost
2023 Wk 2 vs Bengals - Won (i think this one counts but not completely sure)
(not going to include non-Lamar games in 2022 or 2021)
2022 Wk 12 @ Jags - Lost
2022 Wk 7 vs Browns - Won
2022 Wk 6 @ Giants - Lost
2022 Wk 5 vs Bengals - Won
2022 Wk 4 vs Bills - Lost
2022 Wk 2 vs Dolphins - Lost
2021 Wk 13 @ Steelers - Lost
2021 Wk 12 vs Browns - Won
2021 Wk 9 vs Vikings - Won
2021 Wk 5 vs Colts - Won
2021 Wk 3 @ Lions - Won
2021 Wk 2 vs Chiefs - Won
2021 Wk 1 @ Raiders - Lost

all this is reminding me how ridiculous the 2021 season was lol so many comebacks and crazy games

42% win rate over this whole period, 44% if we include the Cowboys game
If we exclude the crazy 2021 year though, the win rates drop to 32% and 35% respectively

that's abysmal for a team that you'd expect to be favourites in most of these games - you should expect generally this to average out a lot closer to 50% at worst, and actually you'd expect a good team like the ravens to be winning more of these games than they lose

obviously this doesn't show the full picture, the part that's missing is that there are a lot of wins missing because they were never close at all which is good, the problem is that when it gets close (either because it was always close or because a comeback's on) the ravens seem to shrink
 
Feels like a rare year where ST did not impact the last few spots. And now we’re already at the stage where you probably need a better body or two on those units. Keyon Martin at least looks like a guy there.

he was playing special teams most of the preseason
this is where it seems weird to me that you prioritise a guy like jay higgins over beau brade, JAD, keith kirkwood etc.

but yeah, good that they've got Gray to add soon
 
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