The Good, The Better and The Best vs NE

[Ellicottraven]

I kinda thought the same thing rmcjacket did in that it looked like he avoided contact to me. Then again, who knows if we told him to do that to avoid getting hurt. That’s a possibility.

One guy not getting talked about is Jimmy Smith. He had a great game imo. Made some great plays and tackles

He may have received instructions not to initiate contact if he can avoid it....

 

[RL52TheGreatest]

Maybe in real time it looked that way, but if that's the case, he was sorely mistaken. He got back into the field

I mean its not the kind of thing you would see on a practice field mostly, and he simply hasn't played that much.

It just caught my eye a bit. It might be nothing, and its possible that he just realizes that he doesn't have to take contact in those spots. Just something I would watch for if its a big spot where he needs additional yardage for a first down, or even additional yardage for a FG or something similar. I mean I've seen him make contested catches in key spots before, so its not like he's terrified of it.

Its kind of similar to the whole "hey all the TE's try to jump over everybody" thing. Like take what the defense gives you and push forward.

I have no doubts that if Hollywood needs additional yardage for a first down then he'll give up his body and take the punishment; the dude has been battling injuries all year and still goes out there to make plays. I'm guessing though that he's going to do his best to avoid punishment if it's not a critical situation.

 

[allblackraven]

I kinda thought the same thing rmcjacket did in that it looked like he avoided contact to me. Then again, who knows if we told him to do that to avoid getting hurt. That’s a possibility.

One guy not getting talked about is Jimmy Smith. He had a great game imo. Made some great plays and tackles

Yeah, I realised yesterday how much I missed #22

 

[D1City55]

Two SPECIAL shout outs. Offensive Line, Peanut and Earl Thomas. OL blocked well and honestly dominated the game. Boyle, is basically another lineman and easily the best blocking TE.

Earl played his best game of the year. He played like a man possessed. Covered ground, made stops, made a crucial pick. He also prevented a what could be TD to Edelman. Carr had good coverage and might have made a play, but Earl completely removed that out of the equation by breaking on the ball. He can only go up from here.

I already gave Peanut a shutout but damn it I'll do it again. What a game he had.

 

[Tank]

On the end around Brown went out of bounds in what could be considered a normal way, defender had the angle on him and he wasn’t getting further down field by staying in. The other play that I think is being discussed was really odd looking. He actually cut backwards losing a couple of yards to head out where it didn’t look like that was needed to avoid the hit. I hope this is a short term situation and he isn’t really that fragile. That would suck.

 

[RavensFan419]

On the end around Brown went out of bounds in what could be considered a normal way, defender had the angle on him and he wasn’t getting further down field by staying in. The other play that I think is being discussed was really odd looking. He actually cut backwards losing a couple of yards to head out where it didn’t look like that was needed to avoid the hit. I hope this is a short term situation and he isn’t really that fragile. That would suck.

He might be being told to get out of bounds if possible by coaches to keep his health he is a little guy

 

[JoeyFlex5]

I'll go through my "bad" list. Full caveat... its a bit "picky" and these are all problems I can live with I think, especially after a game like last night...

1. TURNOVERS, TURNOVERS, TURNOVERS. There is no scenario I see where we can be an actual SB contender if you're going to be coughing up the football. Muffed punt in your own territory is unacceptable, and so is your veteran RB fumbling. It cost us 10 points last night, and on nights where the Patriots aren't making similar mistakes and other teams capitalize better of those, they're the kinds of things that cost you games.
Sounds harsh, but I could see Cyrus Jones finding himself unemployed this week. He's not playing on defense, the return game in general has been very disappointing all year long, and now you're fumbling in the biggest game of the year. Especially as players are getting healthy, its getting harder to justify a roster spot there in my eyes.
2. I love Hollywood Brown, and he's definitely a playmaker out there... BUT... am I the only one a little put off by how he avoids contact like the plague? I get it... he's small, and you don't want him taking big hits. But there's one play where he literally lost yardage in an attempt to run out of bounds, just so he doesn't get tackled. Its still football. You don't have to be Mark Ingram trying to run over people, but I'm not sure if running out of bounds or losing yardage to avoid contact is smart, both short term and long term. In certain spots, every yard matters.
3. I like the improvement I saw from the intermediate passing game this week, but we still aren't really stretching the field much in the passing game. I know its hard to replicate what we did to like Miami or even Arizona, but we're really not even taking shots at this point. Its only going to open up the offense that much more if we start attacking deeper in the passing game.

That wasn’t an effort to get out of bounds, at least not at first. He has made a few plays by cutting back and just buying himself space to run, he covers a lot of ground with one back cut and I believe he was trying to buy himself space to turn the corner on that LB who had committed downhill, but he had the angle to the sideline already so he just went out.

If that LB wasn’t taking the smart approach and taking the outside angle, Hollywood could’ve busted that one with that back cut

 

[Grim]

Two SPECIAL shout outs. Offensive Line, Peanut and Earl Thomas. OL blocked well and honestly dominated the game. Boyle, is basically another lineman and easily the best blocking TE.

Earl played his best game of the year. He played like a man possessed. Covered ground, made stops, made a crucial pick. He also prevented a what could be TD to Edelman. Carr had good coverage and might have made a play, but Earl completely removed that out of the equation by breaking on the ball. He can only go up from here.

I already gave Peanut a shutout but damn it I'll do it again. What a game he had.

The one blemish I saw from Thomas was I believe when he gave up a long deep reception to James White I believe right near the endzone. I could be wrong but I’m pretty sure a long reception was thrown to White right at the goal line practically.

 

[JoeyFlex5]

I kinda thought the same thing rmcjacket did in that it looked like he avoided contact to me. Then again, who knows if we told him to do that to avoid getting hurt. That’s a possibility.

One guy not getting talked about is Jimmy Smith. He had a great game imo. Made some great plays and tackles

Goddamn I missed jimmy smith.

 

[RL52TheGreatest]

The one blemish I saw from Thomas was I believe when he gave up a long deep reception to James White I believe right near the endzone. I could be wrong but I’m pretty sure a long reception was thrown to White right at the goal line practically.

Thomas even said in a post-game interview that he "got Moss'ed" lol

 

[rmcjacket23]

The one blemish I saw from Thomas was I believe when he gave up a long deep reception to James White I believe right near the endzone. I could be wrong but I’m pretty sure a long reception was thrown to White right at the goal line practically.

Yes that was him. He played it poorly. Collinsworth even called him out for saying that he rarely just lines up and plays man to man on receivers, and he was forced to do that on that play.

He should be breaking that pass up. Its not like he's matched up with Julio Jones who's much bigger. Its James White.

 

[rmcjacket23]

Goddamn I missed jimmy smith.

Long term (meaning beyond 2019), this is concerning to me.
Like there's no way they're going to pay everybody in the secondary what it would take to keep everybody around. Even if they move on from Jefferson, which I think they will, I don't see them committing to paying Jimmy again, keeping Carr to play Safety perhaps, and then paying both Peters and Marlon.

And its not even that the secondary falls off that badly anymore. Its that it completely changes what we do from a pass rush perspective. Its night and day. We can comfortably play man coverage with our secondary now, and we can blitz or not-blitz as we want.

I obviously think the better long term options are to just improve the pass rush, rather than paying a fortune to an aging secondary in the hopes of keeping the band together.

 

[Grim]

Thomas even said in a post-game interview that he "got Moss'ed" lol

Yes that was him. He played it poorly. Collinsworth even called him out for saying that he rarely just lines up and plays man to man on receivers, and he was forced to do that on that play.

He should be breaking that pass up. Its not like he's matched up with Julio Jones who's much bigger. Its James White.

Yeah I didn’t hear the commentary since I was at the game, thank God since I hate Collinhsworthless, but I recall watching and wondering who let James White a RB beat them for a long reception that was nearly a TD. I thought it was Thomas because I remembered seeing 29 but sometimes watching live then numbers get a bit fuzzy when you’re watching the field and screen. Thanks for clarifying for me guys. Still can’t believe he let himself get beat on that one. That was shamefully bad

 

[JoeyFlex5]

Long term (meaning beyond 2019), this is concerning to me.
Like there's no way they're going to pay everybody in the secondary what it would take to keep everybody around. Even if they move on from Jefferson, which I think they will, I don't see them committing to paying Jimmy again, keeping Carr to play Safety perhaps, and then paying both Peters and Marlon.

And its not even that the secondary falls off that badly anymore. Its that it completely changes what we do from a pass rush perspective. Its night and day. We can comfortably play man coverage with our secondary now, and we can blitz or not-blitz as we want.

I obviously think the better long term options are to just improve the pass rush, rather than paying a fortune to an aging secondary in the hopes of keeping the band together.

Agree, but can we fix the pass rush? Because we suck shit at anything involving obtaining pass rushers

 

[Grim]

Long term (meaning beyond 2019), this is concerning to me.
Like there's no way they're going to pay everybody in the secondary what it would take to keep everybody around. Even if they move on from Jefferson, which I think they will, I don't see them committing to paying Jimmy again, keeping Carr to play Safety perhaps, and then paying both Peters and Marlon.

And its not even that the secondary falls off that badly anymore. Its that it completely changes what we do from a pass rush perspective. Its night and day. We can comfortably play man coverage with our secondary now, and we can blitz or not-blitz as we want.

I obviously think the better long term options are to just improve the pass rush, rather than paying a fortune to an aging secondary in the hopes of keeping the band together.

I would like to keep the secondary together because injuries can derail a season and I think we will need the stability. We can draft a pass rusher high but it would be best to make it easier as the pass rusher acclimates. Just my thinking though

 

[rmcjacket23]

Agree, but can we fix the pass rush? Because we suck shit at anything involving obtaining pass rushers

Quality draft picks and volume, volume, and more volume. They can't just take one and be done with it. And it'll take a couple years to "fix" too, especially if they let Judon walk.

 

[allblackraven]

I know Lamar is an artist when it comes to handing the ball off or faking a handoff but two he did yesterday just blew my mind - fake to Hill before the last TD and absolutely insane flick to Hollywood on a jet sweep. On that one I think only Lamar and Hollywood knew where the football is. I'm including NE and the Ravens players, both sidelines, 70K + people in the Bank and few million watching at home. After watching that over and over again, I'm still not sure where the football is.

 

[mc_red23]

I know Lamar is an artist when it comes to handing the ball off or faking a handoff but two he did yesterday just blew my mind - fake to Hill before the last TD and absolutely insane flick to Hollywood on a jet sweep. On that one I think only Lamar and Hollywood knew where the football is. I'm including NE and the Ravens players, both sidelines, 70K + people in the Bank and few million watching at home. After watching that over and over again, I'm still not sure where the football is.

I've seen that Brown jet sweep play so many times already and it still amazes me how effortless the handoff looks.

 

[Grim]

I know Lamar is an artist when it comes to handing the ball off or faking a handoff but two he did yesterday just blew my mind - fake to Hill before the last TD and absolutely insane flick to Hollywood on a jet sweep. On that one I think only Lamar and Hollywood knew where the football is. I'm including NE and the Ravens players, both sidelines, 70K + people in the Bank and few million watching at home. After watching that over and over again, I'm still not sure where the football is.

He fooled me at the stadium and everyone around me. Totally didn’t see that one.

 

[allblackraven]

He fooled me at the stadium and everyone around me. Totally didn’t see that one.

Lawrence Guy wasn't intercepting that one, for sure