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Preseason Week 1 Postgame Discussion Thread

rossihunter2 said:
i mean im not convinced welch isnt ILB3... welch isnt going anywhere as one of the best special teamers on the roster
the question for me would be does josh ross have a chance to unseat malik harrison or make the roster as LB5 off the back of his own special teams prowess (was one of the noted positives about him coming out of michigan)

that said it's notable that a lot of the guys who got the highest grades were the guys playing against the lowest competition
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Agreed about the grades stuff. I don't think Welch is ILB3. He is a great STer but actually played defense pretty poorly yesterday. Didn't do anything of note to the eye and scored poorly. Harrison has his issues, but I don't think for a second Welch is ahead of him. You really don't want to see Welch play defense. So if Ross were to make the roster he'd have to show he is a very good STer.
 
Some thoughts from watching the game again on the OL

I feel so much more comfortable and confident about this OL now that we've seen these guys - it's a deep unit at basically all 5 positions:

- Ja'Wuan James has eased all my anxieties about Ronnie's health and whether he'll be ready for week 1. If he's ready then great, but if he's not Ja'Wuan James is a high-level backup to tide us over until Ronnie is ready - he showed excellent mobility and hand usage and veteran nouse.

- Ben Cleveland had a great game. I think it's clear that he's more comfortable on the right side at RG and that's somewhat frustrating given where the vacancy is in the OL but from wondering a week or so ago whether he'd be in danger of missing the roster entirely, I think it's pretty clear he's not going to be in danger of missing out on a roster spot. What was really encouraging were the pancakes and finishes in this game... something that was notably lacking in his game in 2021.

- Tyre Phillips also had a good game. Taking all the 1st half reps at LG and he looked comfortable, moved better than I've seen him move and just looked super assured especially in pass protection. Good work as a puller which is so important at LG in this right-handed running scheme. I think a couple more weeks like this and he's taking the starting job off Powers who did have a few notable whiffs in pass pro.

- Ben Powers getting some veteran treatment which is understandable but importantly didn't take any reps at LG. Hard to parse why exactly unless they're so confident he's won the job that they just wanted to focus on his versatility in this game. Still would have expected him to play the 1st series at LG if that was the case. A massive plus for him no matter what the snap counts mean was the work he put in at C.

- Faalele had an up-and-down game but that did nothing to hide the incredible positives we saw in terms of his development. Some pretty clean vertical sets with no false steps and decent balance through the reps. Technique was so much better than the senior bowl where he was first trying it out. Was able to get his pad level down enough to get leverage in the running game and frequently had nice plays washing down with Cleveland on that right side to create space for pullers behind. I wonder if we just got a first look at the future of the right side of the ravens offensive line with Cleveland and Faalele.

Just generally, feels so different to last year's OL situation. So much depth. The fact that in the worst case scenario only 2 of these 5 guys will even be starting against the Jets and in the best case only 1 is pretty outrageous. A lot to be pleasantly optimistic about and maybe even be genuinely excited about.
 
rossihunter2 said:
- Ben Cleveland had a great game. I think it's clear that he's more comfortable on the right side at RG and that's somewhat frustrating given where the vacancy is in the OL but from wondering a week or so ago whether he'd be in danger of missing the roster entirely, I think it's pretty clear he's not going to be in danger of missing out on a roster spot. What was really encouraging were the pancakes and finishes in this game... something that was notably lacking in his game in 2021.
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This is why I was never worried about him. Give him time and he'll prove himself worthy. I didn't think a change of scenery would help, but here we are.
 
Dom McRaven said:
This is why I was never worried about him. Give him time and he'll prove himself worthy. I didn't think a change of scenery would help, but here we are.
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it's a little worrying/frustrating that he's seemingly so one-sided but he's only in year 2 and if he really does kick on and progress at RG then maybe he's the starter there in 2023 and we save 6.5m bidding adieu to zeitler...

it just doesnt seem like he's even really in the competition at LG right now
 
rossihunter2 said:
it's a little worrying/frustrating that he's seemingly so one-sided but he's only in year 2 and if he really does kick on and progress at RG then maybe he's the starter there in 2023 and we save 6.5m bidding adieu to zeitler...

it just doesnt seem like he's even really in the competition at LG right now
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Is there any world where Zeitler at LG makes sense? I wouldn't think so
 
UPennChem said:
Is there any world where Zeitler at LG makes sense? I wouldn't think so
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there might have been if this had been the project since March but it's not been - and no point moving him after the great season he had last year despite the dumpster fire surrounding him
 
rossihunter2 said:
there might have been if this had been the project since March but it's not been - and no point moving him after the great season he had last year despite the dumpster fire surrounding him
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Agreed. I think I'd feel pretty damn good about an OL of Stanley, Tyree, Linderbaum, Zeitler, Moses.
 
UPennChem said:
Agreed. I think I'd feel pretty damn good about an OL of Stanley, Tyree, Linderbaum, Zeitler, Moses.
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Yeah I feel pretty great about that lineup
but what's also great is that i feel pretty great about the backup 5 too...
James, Powers, Mekari, Cleveland, Faalele

we've got 4 guys who've started NFL games at their respective positions as backups... that's pretty insane... even if you switch tyre and powers that's still a majorly impressive 10 man group
 
rossihunter2 said:
it's a little worrying/frustrating that he's seemingly so one-sided but he's only in year 2 and if he really does kick on and progress at RG then maybe he's the starter there in 2023 and we save 6.5m bidding adieu to zeitler...

it just doesnt seem like he's even really in the competition at LG right now
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Seems like Yanda was never a LG either
 
Sizzle said:
Oh gee, it’s almost like Filmstudy agrees with me on the Cleveland-Phillips competition. Imagine that
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Cleveland was better at right guard and left guard was going against the back half of the roster. Phillips at this point is the better left guard, but I could absolutely see him at right guard in the future.
 
I came away very impressed with how the Ravens played. That Likely kid from Coastal Carolina looks like a real player. Honestly, when I see the Ravens I see a team that's loaded to bear with talent. It must be nice to see that? As a Jets fan I've never experienced such a thing. I think Joe is building something special in NY but it certainly isn't right now. Just a question though, how did Ben Mason work out for you guys. That's the guy I wanted so badly last year. I thought he'd make an excellent Fullback. That's something the Jets haven't had for years. I am so upset the Ravens got him. Now I know he must be a good player and that my eyes were definitely not deceiving me. I don't think the Jets have much of a chance on opening day. The Ravens are too talented from top to bottom. I'm quite surprised actually that the Ravens have only won 2 superbowls since the turn of the century? Given how talent you guys have had come through the door over the years you would think that would have equated to more superbowl wins.
 
Mainejet said:
I came away very impressed with how the Ravens played. That Likely kid from Coastal Carolina looks like a real player. Honestly, when I see the Ravens I see a team that's loaded to bear with talent. It must be nice to see that? As a Jets fan I've never experienced such a thing. I think Joe is building something special in NY but it certainly isn't right now. Just a question though, how did Ben Mason work out for you guys. That's the guy I wanted so badly last year. I thought he'd make an excellent Fullback. That's something the Jets haven't had for years. I am so upset the Ravens got him. Now I know he must be a good player and that my eyes were definitely not deceiving me. I don't think the Jets have much of a chance on opening day. The Ravens are too talented from top to bottom. I'm quite surprised actually that the Ravens have only won 2 superbowls since the turn of the century? Given how talent you guys have had come through the door over the years you would think that would have equated to more superbowl wins.
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Ben Mason was drafted in 2021 for the future, especially not knowing if we would be able to extend Ricard. When we cut him at the end of training camp we were expecting to resign him to the PS. Instead he signed with the Patriots, whom never elevated him to the active roster. He was cut on November 8th and signed to the Bears PS. We signed him to a reserve futures contract at the end of the season. I don't think he is going to make the team, but I'm sure we will try to put him on the PS again. We are just too deep to keep him on the 53.
 
Holy shit

 
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