Edgar
Ravens Ring of Honor
I apparently missed those snaps. I saw him three times on an island and he was a wall in pass protection.
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Preseason Game One Recap Thread
- Thread starter Oldfaithful
- Start date
Edgar
Ravens Ring of Honor
I'd be in favor of releasing McClellan over an eighth young and very promising defensive tackle.
Looks like Woodrum has been elevated to the 2nd team due to his outing on Thursday night.
Willbacker
Ravens Ring of Honor
Don't nessasarily disagree with you but McClellan is criminally underrated for what he provides to the team in depth (all LB positions) and spteams acumen.
There's no way I'd be Okay for trading a guy that is the cornerstone of our ST and can provide depth at any LB position in any occasion. We're just too thin at LB right now.
K-Dog
MVP
McClellan is as much a lock as virtually anyone on the team because of special teams where an 8th dt doesn't really offer much versatility either
SepticeyePoe
Hall of Famer
We signed him shortly after Flacco got hurt to replace David Olson (who was also signed after that). He was an UDFA last year and he was with the Giants, Colts, Bears, and Bills before coming here.
Edgar
Ravens Ring of Honor
I realize he's a lock. Unfortunately he's no more than serviceable at either linebacker position.
Sledge Hammer
Pro Bowler
He is more of a penetrator that happens to have NT weight and skill to take on double teams. He plays much like Billings and Grady Jarrett. Grady is a penetrator as well who happened to have the power and skills to play NT. Ravens have 2 players that can put pressure on QBs as well as play NT in Pierce and Henry.
Henry was crazy explosive into his blocker and showed some very heavy hands that is gonna strike fear in a lot of opponents. He needs some coaching practice and refinement on how to use his power explosion and flexibility. His raw skills remind me of Kawaan Short. He only needs to put it all together now but showed he can and should with coaching and practice.
Pierce is a monster. A penetrator with the power and skill to play nose. He could maybe better serve himself playing at 305-310 lbs and be more of a penetrator. He would hang onto all his power and gain some explosion and flexibility. Them dudes could very well be double digit sack producers. Only negative on Henry and Pierce is the threat of failing a PED test. Especially Pierce!! He is a monster and always strong. But even his college coach said y didn't he show this power and dominance while playing for him. Even his weighroom numbers have seriously spiked. Especially for one year of training. No judgement but don't need him getting caught. I don't know Henry's current workout numbers but going by how he is swatting lineman around like mice. His workout numbers are probably substantially better than college. Brent Urban to looks really jacked and played really strong. But I think he was jacked in college as well. And was only a sleeper cuz he was in a deep rotation.
I mean all those dudes play with unusual power and run sub 5.0 40s. Henry was very very disappointed with his 5.0 at the combine cuz he was consistently in the 4.8s pre draft. And felt not running his best dropped him several rounds. But it worked out for us!! lol Urban is 6'6 300lbs and runs in the 4.85 range. Ravens investments on the DLine could pay off all at once and build suddenly a very dominant defensive line. If the offense can hold up. The ravens are one team that can challenge the patriots. With pressure and sacks up the middle. There's nothing like it slowing down a dynamic offense.
Probably have to run a lot of 4-3 sets to get everybody playing Urban and Henry although very strong players, can play defensive end as well. Especially base end. And speaking of trading a defensive lineman. If Pierce comes out hot. He could maybe fetch us round1 pick. Maybe even a young promising offensive tackle in a straight trade.
Boldnpurpblack
Practice Squad
It's incredible to me that he went undrafted. Not gonna pretend like I knew who he was or anything, but with the info and tape these scouting dept's have... and even a team who really liked him, in us, didnt feel he was worth one of our picks.
Hes one of the most powerful players ive ever seen, and is incredibly agile for his size. AND he's compact which gives him leverage advantage on every play and makes it hard to get into him. Not a big strike zone.
Our starting trio - BWill, Pierce and Urban could be absolute game wreckers. They could honestly occupy the entire 5 OL themselves, with both BWill and Pierce capable of beating a double team, Urban looking like he's going to feast if you leave him 1on1..... not to even mention that would leave Suggs/Judon/Bowser/TWill 1on1 with a TE/FB/RB.
I mean - i was expecting an upgrade in the secondary. But after losing Guy, Jernigan, and Orr i didnt think there was any way we'd be as steller in the Front 7, let alone potentially be improved. And i know it was only a little taste, and potentially getting ahead of myself.... but this is a BIG, BAD DL. With hungry, talented, explosive, big and strong depth across the board. Davis and Ricard looked good. Henry and Kaufusi flashed their athleticism and relentless motors... if they can reign it in, they're both dangerous.
And then theres Wormley, who now has no pressure at all to really perform right away when most of us thought he might be needed to start. Great problem to have.
Factor in what should be a MUCH better secondary to boot?? This could be our best Defense since '06. Definitely one of our youngest and fastest.
Boldnpurpblack
Practice Squad
I know you mention he was always jacked... but he was known for his incredible power even in college.
He had a couple semi-viral videos of him cleaning and squatting ridiculous weight while in college. I dont know that he's putting up a lot more weight now.... but even if he is, im sure an nfl strength program could very well explain that as opposed to it being PED's. He was a monster on the field in college too, just at a very small school.
Some guys just burst onto the scene when finally exposed to quality coaching.... and we def have had a lineage of some of the best DL coaches in the league. Add to that, having BWill here who came from a similar background, and very similar in their freak strength/athleticism combo that was largely untapped before joining the Ravens; he had a great team mate to model himself after.
Im sure with the crazy lifting videos Pierce has made very public that the NFL has tested him. While the process is supposed to be random, they find ways to get the guys they want tested. And when youre publicly flaunting squatting so much weight that the bar is about to snap - the NFL def takes notice.
Gonna say with about 90%+ certainty hes not juicing. That weight/strength/athleticism coupled with a very stout/compact frame - hes perfectly built to put up crazy weight.
RL52TheGreatest
Ravens Ring of Honor
Here's some random thoughts after finally watching the game over the weekend:
- O-line looked pretty solid. There were multiple plays where Mallett had literally all day to sit back in the pocket and decide where to go with the football. Also, it was nice to see the team actually get some decent yardage on the ground for once. Hiring Greg Roman as the run-game coordinator was a great move. Granted, this was just a preseason game so you have to take all of this with a grain of salt, but if the O-line can continue this throughout the rest of the preseason games then I'll feel pretty comfortable going into the regular season.
- West, Allen, and Mizzell all flashed at times. West showed that he should be a solid lead back and that he has 1,000 yd potential. Allen seems to be running with more decisiveness and was also making some nice plays as a pass-catcher as well. Mizzell didn't have a lot of yardage, but he showed some nice toughness and had at least 2 or 3 plays where he almost broke out for a huge gain. It could actually be fun to watch the Ravens' run-game again this season and that's a beautiful thing.
- Bowser was impressive overall, but especially in coverage. Any time a pass was thrown to his guy, he was able to wrap up immediately and prevent any YAC. He also nearly missed out on a sack on one of the plays. I think he has the potential to be a secret weapon on defense depending on how much we use him.
- Our whole D-line is nuts. It wouldn't surprise me to see a trade, but I would be perfectly fine if we kept everybody instead. With the amount of depth that we currently have on D-line, we could literally rotate whoever we want and keep all the players fresh for the entire game. I was a bit irritated when we traded Jernigan, but now I can completely understand why he was expendable.
- Correa looks like he should be able to grab the other ILB spot next to Mosley. He's definitely playing a lot faster and with more confidence. He still needs to work on getting off blocks better, but he looks pretty solid, otherwise.
- Did Tim Williams even get a chance to just rush the passer? I barely noticed him and when I did, they had him trying to set the edge on running plays. I get that they want to see him improve in that area of his game, but at least set him loose on some of the plays.
- O-line looked pretty solid. There were multiple plays where Mallett had literally all day to sit back in the pocket and decide where to go with the football. Also, it was nice to see the team actually get some decent yardage on the ground for once. Hiring Greg Roman as the run-game coordinator was a great move. Granted, this was just a preseason game so you have to take all of this with a grain of salt, but if the O-line can continue this throughout the rest of the preseason games then I'll feel pretty comfortable going into the regular season.
- West, Allen, and Mizzell all flashed at times. West showed that he should be a solid lead back and that he has 1,000 yd potential. Allen seems to be running with more decisiveness and was also making some nice plays as a pass-catcher as well. Mizzell didn't have a lot of yardage, but he showed some nice toughness and had at least 2 or 3 plays where he almost broke out for a huge gain. It could actually be fun to watch the Ravens' run-game again this season and that's a beautiful thing.
- Bowser was impressive overall, but especially in coverage. Any time a pass was thrown to his guy, he was able to wrap up immediately and prevent any YAC. He also nearly missed out on a sack on one of the plays. I think he has the potential to be a secret weapon on defense depending on how much we use him.
- Our whole D-line is nuts. It wouldn't surprise me to see a trade, but I would be perfectly fine if we kept everybody instead. With the amount of depth that we currently have on D-line, we could literally rotate whoever we want and keep all the players fresh for the entire game. I was a bit irritated when we traded Jernigan, but now I can completely understand why he was expendable.
- Correa looks like he should be able to grab the other ILB spot next to Mosley. He's definitely playing a lot faster and with more confidence. He still needs to work on getting off blocks better, but he looks pretty solid, otherwise.
- Did Tim Williams even get a chance to just rush the passer? I barely noticed him and when I did, they had him trying to set the edge on running plays. I get that they want to see him improve in that area of his game, but at least set him loose on some of the plays.
Oh yeah, about Tim Williams. He was badly used, wasn't he? I mean, why would you try to make him a 3down LB, covering and setting the edge, when all you really want him to do is rush on passing downs?
Boldnpurpblack
Practice Squad
My guess - their philosophy that the more you can do, the more you can play.
As of now, while he can probably be an effective 3rd down pass rush specialist.... if thats all he can do at an NFL level and opponents know it they can just overplay the edge, chip him, w/e and limit his effectiveness at that one thing.
I mean if we have injuries and hes forced in to play some on regular downs, and all he does is rush... they can just run the ball right at him. Make him work on it and put on tape that he can set an edge and that may not be such a good idea. Show that he could drop and cover while Correa/Bowser/Mosley/whoever blitzes.... you force the offense to think more and prepare for more.
Make him prove he can win inside without having to dominate the blocker around the edge first, and he's that much more effective right from the get go.
If hes already showing in practice with any consistency that he can beat NFL caliber tackles around the edge with his get off, bend, etc... A) why put it on tape repeatedly.... and B) why train the guy to settle for just being that? Focus on at least not being a liability at everything else and you can get him on the field much more. And if he really is that dangerous of a pass rusher, the more you can get him on the field the better.
Having a 3rd down rush specialist is good enough. But if you can bring him in any situation, he gets more pass rush reps. And the Offense doesnt know - ok Tim Williams is on the field, sell out protecting the edge bc thats all hes gonna do. Bc he may go inside as his primary rush move. He may drop and the rush comes from elsewhere. Etc....etc....etc....
Plus someone's gotta play 1st and 2nd down with the 3rd/4th unit Defenses. We only have so many OLB's... and if they're only putting TWill in as a situational pass rusher then youre going to have at least 1 of your OLB's playing almost the entire game. This early in the preseason, thats just asking for an injury.
Sledge Hammer
Pro Bowler
I'm gonna say 50/50 he is juicing. His own college coach said he wished he showed that dominance and power while playing for him. He got a lot stronger suddenly as well as muscle definition for such a big dude that was already lifting.
Somebody like Ronnie Stanley can be explained where his muscle came from suddenly. He wasn't hitting the weight room very hard in college. He was a real student at an academic college getting a real degree complete with internships.All while playing games and practicing. Didn't leave much in his schedule for hitting the weight room. As matter of fact he was very excited about hitting the weights hard after graduating. It's the first thing he wanted to see at ravens complex. Where he is going to be lifting weights. His run blocking dominance in the NFL that he didn't show in college could be explained.
A dude already lifting who spikes in power like that brings some suspicion. There are ways of getting around the tests as well. Not to mention there are different levels of juicing. Some players settle for weaker brands that clear the system pretty fast. While older players leaving their prime have to get more aggressive to remain relevant. A prime example is Robert Mathis slowing down then came the best season of his career right b4 being suspended for PEDs. Waaay b4 he was suspended I said it was ludicrous he was more dominant at that age. He was slowing down and went more aggressive for brands that take longer to clear for the testing.
BloodRaven
MVP
It must be some really crap steroids to make him slower and fat