The Brutal, The Bad and The Ugly

[ndub]

Okay so I took time to marinade on this some and think about it rather than making a knee jerk reaction. Here are my thoughts:

QB: Lamar regressed and it is painfully obvious. Could be COVID, could be something else. He needs work and must get better. He isn’t in the same tier as Allen, Rodgers, Mahomes, and maybe not even Mayfield. Yes all those guys have in some ways more help but Lamar has to work with what he has and he still makes bad decisions and bad throws. All of these guys do but Lamar is a little bit more. Lamar knows how to be mobile but dude is standing back there at times like Joe Flacco.

OC: Roman is a problem. There’s little doubt the players are failing to execute like Lamar and the OL but this guy doesn’t call the best passing plays either. He is only capable of using maybe 1 WR and TEs and it’s really hurting the offense. He’s also super predictable. It’s hard to justify to an extent because the players are definitely not executing but three years of failing in big moments is enough of a sample size. I also think Roman has lost the faith of his offense too. I’m not convinced they believe in him as my guess on why they are so inconsistent with execution. It’s like we play at times very hesitant and without confidence which sounds like coaching to me.

OL: if you told me we would’ve gone this far after losing Stanley I wouldn’t have believed it. I didn’t trust our interior but they held up except for when it mattered most. I think you have to roll with Bozeman & Powers at this point with Phillips, Mekari, & Colon-Castillo as interior OL backups and competing for C. Speaking of that, we need to draft an IOL high, preferably one who can play C at an elite level.

WR/TE: I’m going to be real and say the only WR we have worth a damn is Brown. Snead is good but he is a #4 overachieving here. Boykin is a #5 at best. Duvernay & Proche jury is out on atm but you cannot depend on those guys. We literally need 2 WR. We need guys who can actually catch a football. I think losing Boyle hurt because as much as we all love Andrews he’s constantly showed he has unreliable hands. I’m sorry man but that’s a problem—a big problem. We need a WR & TE who can reliably catch a football.

DEFENSE: I’m not worried here. We have the personnel. We just need like a CB to take slot duties. Edge defender & rusher is important but we’re losing games because we cannot score enough points not because the defense sucks.

Agreed on all accounts here. I'd even say a C who can, oh I don't know, SNAP the ball would be a fantastic start. Basic as hell

 

[Grim]

Agreed on all accounts here. I'd even say a C who can, oh I don't know, SNAP the ball would be a fantastic start. Basic as hell

We need a C. I actually like Colon-Castillo & Mekari but you cannot go into next season with those guys as your top options. We need to get a top talent at the position Imho or make a real effort to draft a true C not some interior guard who may be able to play it or some late round dude. That isn’t to say those guys aren’t excellent centers because they have shown to be but there is an obvious disconnect here.

 

[RavensMania]

The emphasis of his post is on his statement....

"THE PAST 3 YEARS, THE RAVENS PLAYOFF EXITS HAVE BEEN NOTHING SHY OF UTTER EMBARRASSMENTS!"

it is very true that we need to change something, but we have made the playoffs 3 straight years also.

 

[Militant X 1]

The last part of his statement says "Something's gotta change." Which goes back to @QuothTheRaven 's point: what?

I know what the last part of the statement says and @QuothTheRaven's point.....EVERYTHING HAS TO CHANGE!!!!

 

[ndub]

it is very true that we need to change something, but we have made the playoffs 3 straight years also.

It's sad that we've become a fan base that settles for making the playoffs, no matter how bad we do in said playoffs.

 

[ndub]

We need a C. I actually like Colon-Castillo & Mekari but you cannot go into next season with those guys as your top options. We need to get a top talent at the position Imho or make a real effort to draft a true C not some interior guard who may be able to play it or some late round dude. That isn’t to say those guys aren’t excellent centers because they have shown to be but there is an obvious disconnect here.

I agree. Especially when most of the time Lamar is just trying to guess where the snap is going. Isn't snapping something that is taught in PeeWee leagues??

 

[JoeyFlex5]

So we as ravens fans know Lamar is a capable passer, the problem that we see is that in the playoffs we face a defense that is well coached and prepared for our run attack, but what we saw from the bills was absolutely insane, I have never seen such a crowded box, and we had no answer for it.

we HAVE TO make teams pay for playing defense like that, and we didn’t. Protection was trash, and the wind makes it hard to execute, and Lamar was about as sharp as a marble last night, but where were the concepts? We began running them and then the drive ended in a red zone pick six, then an injury happened, maybe we were getting the game plan together and shit unraveled, idk, but we absolutely cannot keep letting these playoff teams game plan for us like this.

simply put, if Lamar, Roman, and the OL can’t put together plays to pass against fucking 9 man boxes then we won’t win a super bowl with this iteration of the ravens, if there was ever a defense that needed to be spread out, it was last night, where were the seams? Daggers? Rb flats? Screens? Holy shit man they dialed up a defensive gameplan that you should’ve been able to counter with elementary shit, but Lamar was shook and rightfully so, because the OL apparently wanted him to end up in the goddamn ER last night the way they played

 

[Matt]

Have to say I did not expect the game to go the way it did in terms of defense and being very low scoring but the wind was wreaking havoc as it can do sometimes there. The wind has a nickname and it is called "The Hawk" for a reason.

Initially most people thought that would favor the Ravens if the Bills air attack couldn't be consistent but it ended up actually favoring the Bills because the Bills D which didn't respect the Raven pass game much even in good conditions and was planing to load up against the run anyway even respected it less because they didn't have to really worry about deep completions because the ball was either going to get hung up in the wind or get pushed by the wind and way overshoot the target.

Bills D used a similar plan to last year to shoot the gaps before the blockers could get there to get into the backfield and make plays before the runners could get going a lot of times.

It wasn't always perfect but it worked pretty well and held the 3 headed monster to around a 4.0 YPC and set up a bunch of 2nd and 3rd and longs.

Bills offense was having some issues of their own with the wind and the Ravens D played pretty tough too at times. A few key drops didn't help either but overall it was a struggle to get anything going.

But the game turned on the pick 6 and more so than a bad read on Jackson's part it was a great read on Johnson's part because that wasn't his zone...technically he should have been in the zone to the flat where Snead was wide open but he was reading Jackson's eyes and basically went right to the spot where he was going to throw it...key play on all of that is the very small piece Milano got on Andrews which looks like it may have been just enough to cause Andrews to not get enough on the diving tackle attempt that let Johnson get out of traffic. If he doesn't get that piece of Andrews it was possible he makes a shoestring tackle and the Bills have it on their 2 or 3 yardline.

Either way it was a hard fought game that was hampered by the wind but I think to really be effective in the playoffs in the future the Ravens are going to need to upgrade their options at the WR position because teams don't respect their ability to beat them through the air.

Wish you all well, it was fun interacting with you over the last week.

 

[JoeyFlex5]

I don't know, this one is still not there in terms of bad playoff losses when it comes to 06 Ravens/Colts, or last year's Titans game. Elite teams that choked

This team wasn’t elite

 

[Dom McRaven]

This team wasn’t elite

We'd miss the playoffs if the Colts didn't choke the game away against the Steelers.

 

[The Last Great Raven]

Fitzpatrick was number 6 on that list?...I don't know about all that then.

Is there a knot in your throat each and every time Action Jackson goes to throw? Are you always wondering how he'll mess the toss up? Side arm, wrist flick, tumbleball, sinker? He's got more action than Shawn Armstrong. Thats what I'm talking about. Is he an NFL quarterback that wins championships? Thats not a question that seeks an answer. This defense is finite. Be a shame not to give them a real chance.

Who do you think we can get who is better considering Lamar ended up 7th on the NFL QB list in QBR ratings,better than both Wilson,Mayfield and Brady I think??
You let me know. You are delusional.

Here is the top 15 per ESPN in QBR ratings:

1
Aaron RodgersGB
2
Patrick MahomesKC
3
Josh AllenBUF
4
Ryan TannehillTEN
5
Ryan FitzpatrickMIA
6
Drew BreesNO
7
Lamar JacksonBAL
8
Russell WilsonSEA
9
Tom BradyTB
10
Baker MayfieldCLE
11
Derek CarrLV
12
Deshaun WatsonHOU
13
Justin HerbertLAC
14
Kyler MurrayARI
15
Matthew Stafford

 

[ndub]

This team wasn’t elite

That's what I'm saying lol. Last year's team and 06 were both elite, which makes those playoff losses sting much more

 

[rossihunter2]

Let’s just hope Stanley is ready week 1. Zeus goes back to RT. And we draft a swing tackle to back them up. Leave philips inside because he has no right to play tackle again.

it's tough for a rookie to move inside then back outside in the same season - but yeah these sorts of mental errors have been all over his tackle tape and also showed up a bit on his RG tape too

he needs the offseason and he's probably a backup anyway given the way Ben Powers has played having taken over from him

Phillips has got a lot to work on but we need to do him a favour this offseason and keep him at one position

 

[rossihunter2]

I’m going to rank this ahead of the Cundiff fiasco as the worst playoff loss in Ravens history . We played tight,listless and without purpose .It did seem like we had a Titans hangover in this game.
The entire offensive coaching staff needs to be scrutinized. Wink on the other hand did a good job . I have no problems overall with the D .
If we play a normal game we would have beat the Bills but we played far from normal .

the defence in the 2 playoff games facing 2 of the most explosive offences in the league this year gave up only 13 and 10 points respectively - that's outrageous in this era - that the offence couldn't do it is ridiculously frustrating given that they beat buffalo in every single offensive statistic except for turnovers and points

 

[ndub]

Fitzpatrick was number 6 on that list?...I don't know about all that then.

Is there a knot in your throat each and every time Action Jackson goes to throw? Are you always wondering how he'll mess the toss up? Side arm, wrist flick, tumbleball, sinker? He's got more action than Shawn Armstrong. Thats what I'm talking about. Is he an NFL quarterback that wins championships? Thats not a question that seeks an answer. This defense is finite. Be a shame not to give them a real chance.

Fitzpatrick was number 5, not number 6, but yes I agree with this

 

[rossihunter2]

So what happened to our OL last night? We’re talking about Lamar and Roman and that’s fine and all, but clearly the OL was the biggest hindrance last night, they absolutely melted on what seemed like every play, can’t get too mad at Roman considering Allen couldn’t even push the ball well last night, what it boils down to is the Bills had a horrible run defense and we have a historical run offense, and our run offense shit the fucking bed because our OL couldn’t block worth a fuck.

our OL has been great down the stretch because of it's size and power - it is not a good pass protecting OL (as we saw earlier in the year even with Ronnie) - getting negative plays because of bad snaps or just too much penetration inside put us in poor positions too often and the line just could not hold up - tyre phillips and mekari were both particularly awful but at first glance i think powers had one of his worst games too

 

[RavensMania]

It's sad that we've become a fan base that settles for making the playoffs, no matter how bad we do in said playoffs.

not that we have settled for it as that isn't the case. We all want to win it all and know we need to improve to get there, but the playoffs are better than the 18 other franchises that don't make the playoffs. You're pretty new in this community to actually assume that's who we are as a fan base, because that is totally untrue. We all are disappointed.

 

[rossihunter2]

Oh and Orlando brown jr better be getting fucking WORKED by the coaches at film study. He wants big money but he was possibly the worst player with the lowest effort on the field. The pick six happened because of him, one when he didn’t block AT ALL on the play prior and resulted in Lamar not being able to deliver a TD pass that was there, then he stood and watched the db run right by him and made zero effort to put an angle on him, and the angle was there.

he was a lazy ass sack of shit and he needs his dick kicked in after that sorry ass performance.

idk what you were watching on the play before the pick 6 but that pressure came unblocked from the other side of the line - Tyre Phillips completely missed his assignment and then JK missed the block in the backfield... nothing to do with Orlando

give him shit for not futilely trying to catch the DB sure... i guess go for it

but i think you're letting that 1 image of him stopping on that run back completely muddy your opinion of him

 

[Grim]

our OL has been great down the stretch because of it's size and power - it is not a good pass protecting OL (as we saw earlier in the year even with Ronnie) - getting negative plays because of bad snaps or just too much penetration inside put us in poor positions too often and the line just could not hold up - tyre phillips and mekari were both particularly awful but at first glance i think powers had one of his worst games too

I think the whole OL had a bad day. Dudes were slipping through way too easily at first glance. Could be wrong, would need to watch again but it definitely looked like guys got through way too quickly. Some was definitely scheme while others were simply guys getting beat.

 

[Grim]

idk what you were watching on the play before the pick 6 but that pressure came unblocked from the other side of the line - Tyre Phillips completely missed his assignment and then JK missed the block in the backfield... nothing to do with Orlando

give him shit for not futilely trying to catch the DB sure... i guess go for it

but i think you're letting that 1 image of him stopping on that run back completely muddy your opinion of him

Nobody but Lamar could’ve got Johnson there. He was gone.