The Defense, the Turnovers, and the Redzone

[Dom McRaven]

Like most of our team, the offensive line seems to crumble in the crucial moments. The totality of their effort today wasn't bad. The running game had a resurgence. But when it came to red zone touches and a drive in the 4th that could have made this a competitive game, they sucked ass.

But make no mistake, the QB play was abysmal today. Offensive line could have been perfect and we still aren't winning with what Rush put on film. I don't have much question that we win this game with Lamar at the helm.

It just irks me (well........US) that players on a then 1-4 football is being out "wanted" by a then 3-win team.

 

[Rusfan]

You know people give the “rah rah” coach archetype shit but you just have to look at Dan Campbell to see what it looks like when it works.

And it does come with advantages. No offensive or defensive coordinator gets as much out of depth guys as a coach who gets all 53 guys to buy in.

Of course when it doesn’t work it’s obnoxious as hell

 

[Truth]

That’s my issue with it. If it was a design I can’t imagine they drew it up that way. If they did what a horrible design that is. I don’t hate the idea but the execution and design seem awful. I’m hoping it was just really bad player execution

I'm with you. I'd take the standard halfback dive over this, if this was the intended design.

 

[UPennChem]

It just irks me (well........US) that players on a then 1-4 football is being out "wanted" by a then 3-win team.

I take this stuff a bit differently. There is a way if taking it literally where it's a total admission our guys aren't bought in and trying hard enough. But I also think when you see stuff like this and the dumb shit Marlon and odafe and Kyle and now Tyler are saying... I think it's just these guys are forced to speak and have no idea what to say. And that's why it constantly is contradicting shit but all of it is dumb as fuck. I think they're legit dumbfounded at how bad they are.

 

[JoeyFlex5]

Like most of our team, the offensive line seems to crumble in the crucial moments. The totality of their effort today wasn't bad. The running game had a resurgence. But when it came to red zone touches and a drive in the 4th that could have made this a competitive game, they sucked ass.

But make no mistake, the QB play was abysmal today. Offensive line could have been perfect and we still aren't winning with what Rush put on film. I don't have much question that we win this game with Lamar at the helm.

Rush sailed so many open out routes way out of bounds

 

[airconteka]

Rush was so terrible that when Huntley came on was Lamar for a second such was the improvement.

Also noticed Faalele had a samoan flag on his helmet instead of an Aussie one. He's officially trash and can be cut.

 

[Bama Ravens]

Defense did do pretty well imo.

Just an anomaly.

 

[Raven Forever]

Playoffs. 7 teams make it. 9 are eliminated. That's pretty good odds. No bye this year...OK. Biggest hurdle Lamar has to come back healthy and stay healthy or play dinged up. If he can't it won't happen. Let's see when he practices. 2nd hurdle the defense has to improve...see Houston game with Lamar. If the D doesn't improve it won't happen even with a healed Lamar. The good news 1-0 in division and only team that is a concern is Pittsburgh. Go 6-0 in division and the odds are there

 

[Simba]

Feel like this is a good illustration of our zone problems. Starks bit when he shouldn’t have, yes. But you also have Gilman who theoretically should have the other half of the end zone pulled to the outside.

But the biggest problem is that you have 3 guys that sat in zone for the underneath route despite only one guy being an option there.

It’s simple film work. Rams ran a decoy route to open up the look they wanted because it’s consistently a problem. I’m not half as smart as these football lifers and I can pick up on the same issues over and over again.

With that being said, these issues seem to be much less prevalent this week compared to previous ones.

 

[redrum52]

@Simba how does the team feel about our position coaches. Even going back to Judon and Smith we never got the production we should have from them. Any chance scheme asks them to do too much and takes away from they're good at? We draft guys knowing what they seem to excel at and don't just let them do that.

People are trying to lump EDC into the rest of the coaching malpractice but I think he's done a great job outside of addressing guard. And the truth is the defense might be a top 5 unit had players been used properly. Whatever Orr is calling, Reed might have looked like Elam out there. You shouldn't have have to be in the perfect situation personnel wise to get even middling def performances. Way too much invested for this quality.

 

[Simba]

@Simba how does the team feel about our position coaches. Even going back to Judon and Smith we never got the production we should have from them. Any chance scheme asks them to do too much and takes away from they're good at? We draft guys knowing what they seem to excel at and don't just let them do that.

People are trying to lump EDC into the rest of the coaching malpractice but I think he's done a great job outside of addressing guard. And the truth is the defense might be a top 5 unit had players been used properly. Whatever Orr is calling, Reed might have looked like Elam out there. You shouldn't have have to be in the perfect situation personnel wise to get even middling def performances. Way too much invested for this quality.

I had mentioned back at the beginning of the season that they finally felt they got it right with their positional coaches this year. They knew they stitched something together last year because they got ransacked so heavy and so late, so a lot of their targets had already accepted other roles. There were a number of guys that are conveniently no longer here that players and the rest of the staff just did not see eye to eye with. They felt they were able to attack those jobs in the offseason and loved who they were able to reel in. Players were also raving over the guys they have in place heading into the season though. Whether that is still the case... who knows.

 

[JoeyFlex5]

Feel like this is a good illustration of our zone problems. Starks bit when he shouldn’t have, yes. But you also have Gilman who theoretically should have the other half of the end zone pulled to the outside.

But the biggest problem is that you have 3 guys that sat in zone for the underneath route despite only one guy being an option there.

It’s simple film work. Rams ran a decoy route to open up the look they wanted because it’s consistently a problem. I’m not half as smart as these football lifers and I can pick up on the same issues over and over again.

With that being said, these issues seem to be much less prevalent this week compared to previous ones.

This is the kinda shit I was worried about with starks. One could argue he looked more consistent playing slot man than he did playing safety. He bit many times at Georgia and got cooked for it. Had great ball skills but as a deep safety you only get to flex that so often.

Not gonna write him off yet but I haven’t been super impressed with him so far. The fact that starks and green were touted as these slam dunk day one plug and play guys, has me annoyed as shit.

 

[Simba]

This is the kinda shit I was worried about with starks. One could argue he looked more consistent playing slot man than he did playing safety. He bit many times at Georgia and got cooked for it. Had great ball skills but as a deep safety you only get to flex that so often.

Not gonna write him off yet but I haven’t been super impressed with him so far. The fact that starks and green were touted as these slam dunk day one plug and play guys, has me annoyed as shit.

I don’t think he’s played well, especially in recent weeks. I also don’t see anything that makes me feel like anyone on that defense has been put in a position to excel though. Holistically, I’ve been having a lot of trouble determining who fucked up vs. who just has an absurd responsibility vs. who is covering for someone else’s fuck up. There are just so many possibilities in the mess of the tape.

 

[rossihunter2]

again cherry picking plays for an agenda
yes it's bad that he's on the floor
also had 3 key blocks in a row on the first drive to get the running game going (and more after that)

 

[allblackraven]

again cherry picking plays for an agenda
yes it's bad that he's on the floor
also had 3 key blocks in a row on the first drive to get the running game going (and more after that)

Here's some more cherry picking

 

[rossihunter2]

The OL was guilty of our initial stalled momentum IIRC. Those penalties really killed us. One of our greatest issues this year is early success resulting in FG due to inability to capitalise in the red zone. If my memory serves me right, a lot of that comes from these holding, false start, or other bone head OL presnap penalties. The fumbles and turnovers aside.

We won’t talk about Rush or Huntley. It is what it is there

they actually havent been penalised that much until this game
also the stanley hold was bullshit too

 

[Grim]

they actually havent been penalised that much until this game
also the stanley hold was bullshit too

Really? I must have misremembered then. I could’ve sworn we had OL penalties before that killed what looked like good drives. If I ever get time I’ll go look.

Yeah the Stanley call was bad. It’s still a penalty even if not necessarily valid.

 

[Simba]

Defensive film was significantly better this week.

Pass rush is still non-existent but the secondary and linebackers looked a lot more comfortable.

Kyle Hamilton with no deep S reps. Gilman took that role and ran with it. He and Starks were probably the weakest links but they put some really good reps together as well.

John Jenkins, CJ Okoye, and yes, Trenton Simpson looked like the best guys on the field.



Offensive film was worse, but that's largely QB play.

OL had a solid day until they got into the red zone.

Turnovers obviously killed us.

Rush missed some wide open down field opportunities. Likely was wide open heading into the end zone on one play where Rush panicked and hit the check down with plenty of time to go through his progressions still.

Vorhees looked like what we thought we were getting week 18 last year, so hopefully he keeps that up. Pulls and overall movement were beautiful this game.

 

[JAAM]

This is the kinda shit I was worried about with starks. One could argue he looked more consistent playing slot man than he did playing safety. He bit many times at Georgia and got cooked for it. Had great ball skills but as a deep safety you only get to flex that so often.

Not gonna write him off yet but I haven’t been super impressed with him so far. The fact that starks and green were touted as these slam dunk day one plug and play guys, has me annoyed as shit.

Criticism of Starks ain’t allowed around these parts, amigo. I’ve tried.

 

[JoeyFlex5]

Criticism of Starks ain’t allowed around these parts, amigo. I’ve tried.

I was critical of him right before the draft, I criticized taking him over Simmons on draft night.

I’m no expert, I don’t watch film after they hit the pros, I see clips and live games and that’s it, but I see some of what concerned me in college.

He has been a pretty nice tackler I’ll say, I think I recall one miss but overall he’s come downhill fast and decisive and makes strong tackles at times