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The Random Thought Thread
- Thread starter The Greek
- Start date
Regardless it wouldve been the same outcome.. hollywood is open alot, we just cant get him the ball. We would likely struggle to get dk the ball in our system even more imo. Now aj brown is a good one, idk about that one..
Sooky
Pro Bowler
Hollywood gets open. I really like the potential we have in the guy. I think he plays like his cousin and he can be dangerous at every level of the defense. Right now I would say AJ Brown who I loved during the draft you could argue about him. But DK I don’t think fits the mold that the Ravens would succeed with tbh.
UPennChem
Hall of Famer
Just a thought. I feel like there is so much more parity in the NFL this year. Like we've seen top heavy teams the past few years and I truly feel outside of maybe KC and that's still a maybe, every team is more pretender than bona-fide contender. The NFC seems awful. Maybe the Packers are the top, maybe Seattle but they're both not scary in my opinion. On the AFC side, KC, Buffalo, Tenn, Pitt. Literally none of those teams scare me outside of KC. Seems like a very weak year for the cream of the crop in the league. Should be interesting to see what we can do.
I agree.. its always like that for me. However, i think steelers are legit. Bucs are legit also. Its gonna be tough for any team to beat them. That front 7 and offense is nasty
I was fine with either one of them. I came around on AJ Brown closer to the draft, but at first Metcalf was my top choice. I always liked Hollywood.
Although I liked Deebo as a 2nd round pick, he's had some major issues with hamstring issues in the past and had another one yesterday.
cdp
Ravens Ring of Honor
My Metcalf evaluation was 100% wrong. However I think neither AJ Brown nor Metcalf would be playing on the same level if we drafted them.
Look no further than Duvernay and Hollywood.
Yep Bowser was my guy. I'm not always a blame the coaches guy but I think they tried to mold him into too much off the bat. His strengths are zone coverage and rushing the passer and we spent the better portion of 2 years trying to make him this full, all-around guy. You started to see shades of them getting him back into a more natural role last year and now we're really letting him do what he does best. Never thought he'd be a 10+ sack guy but think he can push 8 while also being dominant in coverage.
We tend to do that with a lot of defensive players and it does tend to slow their development down.
I think even with preseason we still would like bad.. our playcalling is terrible. Its been 6 games and nothing changed. If it takes a bye week to notice that your playcalling is bad, something is wrong.
rmcjacket23
Ravens Ring of Honor
While I don't think our playcalling has been great, I do have to ask the question...
What specifically about it is bad? Like I hear people say this a lot, but I'm watching this years games compared to last years, and I'm really not seeing many things that are dramatically different in terms of play calling.
I'm seeing significantly less designed runs by Lamar, which may have an impact, but I'm also seeing vastly inferior execution, especially on the offensive line, in the running game.
cdp
Ravens Ring of Honor
Metcalf and AJ were starters last season. The Titans and Seahawks immediately incorporated them into their offenses. If I was in charge of the offense, I'd start Duvernay and Proche (11 personnel). They can catch and run decent routes. Boykin and Snead are ok, but blocking is only a secondary skill for WRs.
I agree with you, it's mainly execution and that's largely due to the loss of Yanda and possibly Skura not being full strength. However, if you are saying that the playcalling is the same, outside of less designed runs for Lamar, than that isn't good. It is well known that offenses to stay successful should change atleast 30% per season. I've heard that from many top offensive coordinators through the years, from Joe Gibbs to Bill Walsh to Andy Reid, etc...
rmcjacket23
Ravens Ring of Honor
And I agree. I think I'm mostly just trying to steer some fans down a certain path.
As you mentioned, offenses SHOULD change. I think a lot of people on here would just like to see the Ravens run the exact same offense they ran last season again. I think there's no possible scenario where that happens and the Ravens are anywhere near as good as they were last season. I think through lack of execution, the Ravens literally can't run the ball like they ran it last season. They simply don't have the horses to do it.
It's definitely mostly in the execution but I do think Roman has tried to be too cute multiple times this year. Maybe it's just because the failures stick out, but I feel like we've had numerous occasions where in key moments we've tried to move the back sideline to sideline instead of just pumping it down the field.
But no, it's not too different. Slight changes but when the offensive line and the running game aren't going, it's going to look a lot worse than it actually is.
I'd actually like to see how they would do with less RPO as many of our longer runs haven't been and do a better job with running back screens, slants and deep crossers.
Charm City
Pro Bowler
I don't see as much presnap motion as I did last year. Teams are really afraid of Holywood and Duvernay getting the ball on sweeps and screens and we tend to get the defense moving the wrong way when we fake one of those to one side and run to the opposite. There were a couple of fake screen draws that I remember from the Eagles game where we easily gained yards. I also want to see us intentionally move the pocket more so teams can stop playing blitz contain when they know we are going to pass, we may even be able to get a LB or two to bite if they think its a designed run.
rmcjacket23
Ravens Ring of Honor
1. Agree with the presnap motion, though I will say that I generally only find that to be effective with teams who have outstanding speed that needs to be covered. Brown forces that action, and Duvernay to an extent, but like motioning somebody like Boykin or Snead isn't really going to force much manipulation on defense.
2. I'm generally not a fan of moving the pocket that often. For starter, I don't think it benefits Lamar's skill sets in particular, and by definition, it cuts the field at least in half, if not more so. Lamar is at his best when he's attacking the middle of the field, with multiple options, and from the pocket (in my eyes). One of my critiques of him this year, at least in my eyes, is he's fleeing the pocket too quickly, scrambling after merely a second or two, and not always allowing the play to develop.
I do like RavensMania ideas with RB screens. We do so little of that its comical.
Sandtown
Pro Bowler
Speed is definitely helpful but also Boykins and Snead aren't feature nearly enough in the passing game to give defenses anything to fear. If a guy like Snead made plays like he did against The Eagles on regular basis then him motioning would definitely keep defenses on their toes. The same goes for Boykins as well.