Dom McRaven
Hall of Famer
Which leaves me with the one unit that matters the most: the OL. It's not a surprise that our OL's performance damn near directly correlates with how many points we score.
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The Random Thought Thread
- Thread starter The Greek
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rmcjacket23
Ravens Ring of Honor
Well it also drives depth. Depth is super critical in the NFL. There's a lot of teams that have high-end starters at a lot of positions, but when those guys get hurt, they can't function.
Our Oline depth is solid. Mekari is a very-high end swing tackle. There's teams that start Tackles that are on the level or below the level of Faalele, and he's our 4th tackle.
Coming into the year, Geno Stone was supposed to be a depth/rotational player. Now he's solid. We can lose Marcus Williams for a month and not be dead as a defense. We can lose Marlon Humphrey for a month and not be dead as a defense.
That's a testament to depth. That's how you want to construct a roster. You don't need 8 high-end playmakers everywhere. You need a stud QB, who gets good-enough pass protection, and a defense that doesn't suck. Those three things will put you in the playoffs every single year.
In 2023, the only single injury that can derail this team is Lamar. Other players are important, but he's critical. I'd argue Hamilton is #2 at this point. But we've played games without Stanley, Marlon, Andrews, etc., and not looked like ass. Won most of them in fact. That's EXACTLY what you want from a team.
GodIsGreat
Veteran
zay gets a lot of screen when its time for a off script play or a big play, who's his go to? its andrews , the film says the clear #1 is andrews
rmcjacket23
Ravens Ring of Honor
Yeah, that's not at all what the film says.
And even if Andrews is the #1, he's not differentiating himself significantly from other pass-catchers on this team. If he was, he'd be dominating targets over those guys a lot more, but he's not.
Highly recommend you watch other games instead of the Ravens and get a feel for what a #1, high target pass catcher looks like in other offenses compared to what it looks like on the Ravens. They're not the same thing.
Keaton made the team before JK was injured. The Ravens new what they had with him during training camp, so no way they would have let him go with JK and Gus free agents at the end of the season. JK played well last season, he just didn't have the same speed. I think another year removed from injury and he would have been better than last year. I'm also hoping the team gives him an incentive laden contract, as long as they don't bring him in as the number 1 RB next season.
GodIsGreat
Veteran
That spreading the ball out, andrews was the one getting doubled team, which let others eat
remember this?
OURavensFan
Ravens Ring of Honor
Unfortunately I think the steelers get a win tomorrow night against the lowly patriots
Tank
Hall of Famer
Forgot we put him on IR.
Tank
Hall of Famer
No question Mark is a great player and had a key role in the offense, but given the depth we have at TE and WR they've been able to adjust. In fact, it may have been a blessing in disguise as it's forced Lamar to look in all directions and not focus on Mark.That spreading the ball out, andrews was the one getting doubled team, which let others eat
remember this?
Militant X 1
Hall of Famer
Now that's the truth. I've noticed that what I've oftentimes considered to be a #1wr was not that across the NFL. Interesting.
GodIsGreat
Veteran
He's been doing that this season. Yes depth but inexperienced guys, also what mark brought was a rz threat and defenses doubling him which would help others, wonder how todd and lamar will adjust
rmcjacket23
Ravens Ring of Honor
Andrews isn't getting double-teamed all the time. If he was, he'd never have any catches.That spreading the ball out, andrews was the one getting doubled team, which let others eat
remember this?
And what you're describing is happening to literally every other guy who's actually seeing #1 targets. Except they're getting it exponentially more frequently, not just in the red-zone.
Teams literally can't play man coverage because of Tyreke Hill, and teams are putting Corners on Kelce regularly.
GodIsGreat
Veteran
andrews is the one who would get doubled, also a top 3 te, zay not even top 10 yet, but would you rather keep andrews or zay if one had to go?
rmcjacket23
Ravens Ring of Honor
Today, Zay. By a gigantic margin. Andrews has probably 2-3 good years left in him.
I'm sure he would get doubled over Zay. Zay is a rookie, and Andrews is a veteran. If Tyreek Hill was on this team, Andrews doesn't get doubled. Nor would he with any of about 10-15 other stud WRs league wide.
He gets doubled, in part, because of his peers on this team. And when the peers on this team improve, like they have this year, he gets doubled less. And when the peers on his team improve, like they have this year, he becomes less critical to the offense's success.
Although I wouldn't put an age on TE as plenty of tight ends have done very well into their 30s, I'd consider a slightly larger range of 2 to 4 due to his type 1 diabetes.
andrews is good enough to where he will always be critical to the teams success..he isnt some guy you can just leave out the game plan. You have to watch for him on those 3rd downs or even 2nd and longs. He has been getting open all these years running that same route lol. For a team that leads the lg in rushing year every year, his productivity is great
BoredMarine13
Ravens Ring of Honor
The patriot offense is setting the wrong kind of records
and we are all loving it
We were all joking he was gonna slip in the tunnel as the broadcasters are saying “and thankfully he is okay walking around”
Then eats shit on the concrete and actually get hurt
rmcjacket23
Ravens Ring of Honor
OK, we have vastly different definitions of critical.
Critical, in my world, pretty much literally means "can't win without him". Like we're a .500 team or worse if he's not on the field.
Most teams have one player on their roster that fits that mold, and its the QB. Everybody else is largely "expendable" to the extent that a team can still be wildly successful from a W/L perspective without them.
I feel extremely confident in saying that if the Ravens don't win the SB this year, I will at zero point in time say its because we didn't have Mark Andrews.
I would be shocked to see the Ravens have a material drop-off in points scored, or yardage gained, without Andrews, long term. I think if we do, it will be for factors that don't relate to Andrews. Namely, pass protection. My point in other posts is that if I took Tyreek Hill off the Dolphins, and replaced them with a depth player, they'd see a significant drop off in yardage and PPG scored. I think that's extremely true for Travis Kelce and a handful of other high-end receivers in this league. Andrews is not near that list for me.
And this isn't necessarily a knock on Andrews. I think the overwhelming majority of players on this roster fit this category.
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