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The Injuries, the Defense and the Offense (and the Special Teams)

I didn't love most of our short yardage play calls. That being said... Henry is not a good short yardage back. Never has been. I think people just look at the size and think he's good without actually looking at the data or realizing what it means.

same reason the running game has been boom or bust behind this OL
Henry's a game wrecker but he's always needed a runway
 
I don’t see anything wrong with this rep. He was going to take one of the guys to the right before one backed off in coverage. Recognized the pressure was coming from the other side and chipped in.

He’s had bad plays but there’s nothing wrong with this one.

a lot of people showing they shouldn't have access to the coaches film
don't actually know what they're watching...
 
same reason the running game has been boom or bust behind this OL
Henry's a game wrecker but he's always needed a runway
He also does better with opportunity. Get him in a groove and he’s hard to stop.

But either way, all of the on field offensive failures are revolving around the OL not doing well enough.
 
DeCosta is at no risk. He's built some of the best teams in the league the last few years and this one year isn't going to trump that.

It could be so, so, so much worse than DeCosta.
Here's a fair question-

How much of the talent deficiency on the team is covered for by Lamar?

Here's an example I don't think would be brought up too often:

The Ravens last year had 54 sacks, good for second in the league. I truly do not believe a single Ravens fan would look at the defense and how they played and gone, "Yeah, that was a top three pass rushing unit in the NFL."

The fact of the matter is the Ravens were a *really* good offense and were putting up a lot of points. The Ravens, naturally, faced a lot of passes on defense- the third most in the NFL, in fact.

The fact that Lamar and the offense were so good meant teams needed to pass and play catch up. It meant the Ravens were able to pin their ears back and just rush more freely because they had the cushion and ability to do so.

Contrast that to a team like Denver that didn't have an amazing offense, but finished first in sacks. That's a defense I'd say that won by being an actually talented pass rushing unit.

I'm not here to say the Ravens were a talentless, bottom feeder team (I'm not a Bills fan, after all), but I do question how much Lamar influences some of these decisions that are being made and how much he masks talent deficiencies.
 
Here's a fair question-

How much of the talent deficiency on the team is covered for by Lamar?

Here's an example I don't think would be brought up too often:

The Ravens last year had 54 sacks, good for second in the league. I truly do not believe a single Ravens fan would look at the defense and how they played and gone, "Yeah, that was a top three pass rushing unit in the NFL."

The fact of the matter is the Ravens were a *really* good offense and were putting up a lot of points. The Ravens, naturally, faced a lot of passes on defense- the third most in the NFL, in fact.

The fact that Lamar and the offense were so good meant teams needed to pass and play catch up. It meant the Ravens were able to pin their ears back and just rush more freely because they had the cushion and ability to do so.

Contrast that to a team like Denver that didn't have an amazing offense, but finished first in sacks. That's a defense I'd say that won by being an actually talented pass rushing unit.

I'm not here to say the Ravens were a talentless, bottom feeder team (I'm not a Bills fan, after all), but I do question how much Lamar influences some of these decisions that are being made and how much he masks talent deficiencies.

if that's the reality that we're accepting...

then it makes the DL and EDGE group even more important because if your defence isn't actually good but you expect to play with leads then you need to be able to force teams into bad plays and other than an INT, the best way to negatively impact an offence is with pass rush (and TFLs)

makes the back-to-front team building a little odd on defence in that scenario - feels like defensively we're still trying to build for the paradigm of 3-4 years ago rather than what's around now
 
if that's the reality that we're accepting...

then it makes the DL and EDGE group even more important because if your defence isn't actually good but you expect to play with leads then you need to be able to force teams into bad plays and other than an INT, the best way to negatively impact an offence is with pass rush (and TFLs)

makes the back-to-front team building a little odd on defence in that scenario - feels like defensively we're still trying to build for the paradigm of 3-4 years ago rather than what's around now
The reason that I heard with regards to why DeCosta chooses to prioritize the secondary over the pass rush is because pass rush tends to be more volatile year to year and the secondary tends to have a pretty steady and consistent grade.

But, that in and of itself is a self fulfilling prophecy with the way the Ravens address it.

Yes, if you're continually going for the Ojabo's and Isaac's of the world, your pass rush is probably going to be fairly volatile year to year compared to consistently drafting a Hamilton or Wiggins.

If you can land yourself a Parsons, Watt (either brother), Garrett, you're not going to see the same volatility.

The issue is, of course, landing a player of that level because they're so hard to get (unless Jerry Jones drafts them.)

But at the same time, you should expect a lot of consistency from a secondary where every starter is a first round pick and should expect volatility from recycled, aging pass rushers and third rounders.

And to the point about needing great pass rushers if you're planning to play ahead a lot, I think it actually lends itself well to lesser talent. Just let those guys do nothing but try to get upfield and rush. You can afford to send an extra man or two. You get gashed for a forty yard pass? Hey, at least you're still up 17 with Derrick Henry and Lamar on the side line to run the game out.

It's tough because the Ravens are always good enough that a pass rusher of the level that we're all wanting isn't going to (usually) fall to the Ravens. TJ Watt was an exception, not a reality. But, I'd like to see the Ravens be more aggressive when opportunities like Parsons present themselves (not saying that Parsons is someone the Ravens should have tried for necessarily, just saying they need to be aggressive when opportunities do show) or they need to get really good at wheeling and dealing like the Eagles and end up with a top 10 pick despite being a perpetual playoff team.
 
Didnt think not addressing the trenches would affect the team this much but I think they will figure it out eventually. It's sucks to be 1-3 but I think the coaching staff will figure something out. Monken is a pretty good play caller but I think he panic due to how the defense was playing which atleast we can say played a little better than they did against the Lions.
 
I don’t see anything wrong with this rep. He was going to take one of the guys to the right before one backed off in coverage. Recognized the pressure was coming from the other side and chipped in.

He’s had bad plays but there’s nothing wrong with this one.
Bullshit, he crashed into linderbaum instead of the defender, took both of them out of the play.
 
The Faalele rep, I don't know it's a rep I'd highlight as an outright negative rep. Does he come in and put his head down a little too soon? Sure, it's a trait that has cost him before. More a seal at the side would've been helpful in comparison. But he's not planning to specifically aid for a Lamar Jackson scramble to the far corner, giving the defender the only angle to catch up to his stride. Even then, Nick Bolton immediately comes into the frame. It gets Jackson maybe an extra 2 yards and he still just gets a 1st and goes out of bounds. As far as OL reps, this should not be an attention getter. The worst examples of OL play are significantly worse than this.
 
Faalele is the fun guy to hate but that rep ain’t the one
He could have hit the defender, couldn’t ask for an easier block, he whiffed entirely and then that man made the play. He wasn’t doing anything wrong until he totally missed the block. Terrible execution.
 
you could argue that the 2023 and 2024 rosters were top 3 (if not top 1) in the league
I will say, for as much flak as I give EDC that at least moving on from Harbaugh first allows us to see that it is a coaching issue before we even begin to talk further about EDC's job security. It is 100% a coaching issue that is wrong with us, so a new coach coming in and say we win the Super Bowl in the first year with them or we finally play up to hype this team gets would be telling. We just can't keep ignoring the trenches any further.... after this year our draft picks need to be focused on the OL & DL. Same with free agent signings.
 
The Faalele rep, I don't know it's a rep I'd highlight as an outright negative rep. Does he come in and put his head down a little too soon? Sure, it's a trait that has cost him before. More a seal at the side would've been helpful in comparison. But he's not planning to specifically aid for a Lamar Jackson scramble to the far corner, giving the defender the only angle to catch up to his stride. Even then, Nick Bolton immediately comes into the frame. It gets Jackson maybe an extra 2 yards and he still just gets a 1st and goes out of bounds. As far as OL reps, this should not be an attention getter. The worst examples of OL play are significantly worse than this.
This is probably more detailed... it wasn't a perfect rep by any means but if we're clowning on Faalele, that ain't the one.

No one posting Vorhees clips I see though and there are a lot worse from him
 
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Why is this dude flaming Monken but giving Orr a pass?
 
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Why is this dude flaming Monken but giving Orr a pass?
Has Harbaugh ever done something like this before? Like it feels like this is the first time I have ever seen him go off on the Offensive Coordinator like this. Yeah, it's stupid to give Orr a pass but he never roasted Greg Roman this hard and Roman deserved to be called out like this way worse than Monken. Harbaugh knows this is it for him, this just sounds like a coach who knows his fate and is just trying to throw everyone else under the bus.
 
Has Harbaugh ever done something like this before? Like it feels like this is the first time I have ever seen him go off on the Offensive Coordinator like this. Yeah, it's stupid to give Orr a pass but he never roasted Greg Roman this hard and Roman deserved to be called out like this way worse than Monken. Harbaugh knows this is it for him, this just sounds like a coach who knows his fate and is just trying to throw everyone else under the bus.

He knows Monken is a bigger threat to him than Orr. He’s a female dog.
 
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