Preseason Week 2 Postgame Discussion Thread

[UPennChem]

Overall this game was super fun and also really informative about our young players. Here are my thoughts starting with the defense.

The DL
Travis Jones is a monster, Broderick Washington is solid. The starting group and depth should be pretty elite this year. Wishing Jones a speedy recovery.

OLBs
Oweh looked good. He was definitely disruptive. I still think he is a tad late off the ball and he couldn't quite finish in his limited opportunities. Really hoping that an entire first team defense including a Houston on the other side really makes him even more effective.

I only saw Hayes have one really good rush which he didn't finish. Means had a substantially worse game that PS1. We need Ojabo.

ILBs
No blown tackles by Harrison that I recall. Ross seems to be better than everyone else at ILB.

CBs
Pepe had a really great game, all over the field. Got a nice pick and really on negative play was one 50/50 PI. Fuller with an early drive stopping interception. Stephens had a really tough matchup versus Isabella and I believe he really improved over the course of the game. Showed he really has some speed. Ardarius with the game winning play.

S
Didn't see much from stone neither good nor bad. Hamilton also pretty quiet. He had one missed tackle and lost his man in the endzone on a scramble drill. His one big play was a pass deflection at the goaline that saved a TD. TJ still doesn't really know how to tackle. He just launches himself at people and often times he doesn't make the tackle. Saw those on both defense and STs.

Offense

QBs
Huntley is a limited QB but he's a strong backup in this offense. Brown is a great PS QB.

RB
Really not loving the RB room. Davis has for me looked incredibly average in both games so far with maybe a strength being in pass pro. Hill has some juice but hasn't really been able to put it to good use yet. He did show a ton of effort though in PS2. Badie was the RB of the night and yet his YPC was atrocious. McCrary always makes plays but got hurt on his first one. The running game is going to be essential for this offense and I do t have the hugest confidence if JK isn't normal JK this year.

FB
Ricard got a catch. Mason was fine, had one holding penalty.

WR
The receivers were awful. Polk made one good play improvising. Gaither had two ordinary catches. Bridges had a single unspectacular catch. Moore and Victor didn't register a single catch. It was actually Webb who had two really nice catches including the beautiful TD. It's clear that none of there guys should be on the 53. We should try and keep a couple of Bridges, Polk, and Webb on the PS.

TEs
All I need to say is Isiah Likely.

OL
Powers with one bad snap. Faalele hurt but able to come back in and finish. Tyre Phillips with 3 penalties. Cleveland looked pretty good. Not exactly sure here. My guess is your starting 5 are Stanley, Powers, Linderbaum, Zeitler, Moses.

Concluding tboughts

Game was much sloppier in terms of play and penalties. I don't think it would be unfair to say that all three phases didn't play quite as well as against TE. With that being said, this team has a lot of young talent and got the win!

 

[Simba]

QB:
Huntley didn't do anything amazing, but was super efficient and in control. Perfect backup. Anthony Brown's mechanics have come a long way in a short period. He's a fun PS project.

RB:
No one has been overly impressive but the OL wasn't giving much room last night either. Davis looks like Latavius Murray 2.0. Badie started to show some signs last night. Hill was decently active as well and dispelled the "go down when he gets hit" myth. McCrary looked the best on his one run but promptly got hurt.

WR:
No one stood out here. Likely took all of the action from them, but you still expect more. Webb had the highlight day of the young guys and he's still pretty distant in the race. He's a good PS candidate along with all of the others.

TE:
I don't think we need to say too much about Likely here. We all know what we saw.

OL:
An uneven day. The Ts (particularly James) struggled heavily out of the gate but started to settle in. Interior OL wasn't getting too much push. None of the guys were particularly leaky but no one helped their case either.

DL:
What a deep group. Jones was a beast and than god his injury seems minor compared to what it could have been. But Isaiah Mack was the standout. He was living in the backfield. Going to be hard to leave him off. Crawford pulled in another good game and might be out because of the numbers, but should play in this league.

ILB:
Harrison stepped up in a good way. Ross is the standout here. He's still entering late which doesn't bode well for his chances, but have to think he's going to be on the 53 at some point with how well he's done. McClain was victimized over and over.

OLB:
Oweh was active in his short stint. Otherwise, not much to write home about. Means looked to be doing more dirty work last night which isn't bad, but was hoping for more. Hayes was quiet. Harrison got a little run in SAM role so could be the Biegel replacement/Bowser insurance policy.

CB:
Stephens had a rough night as he always seemed 1 second too late. Very correctable though so no major concerns. Pepe all over the place again. Fuller showed some nice things in his limited run. Washington getting some action and looking like he did last year, but probably too little too late for him to enter the battle.

S:
Not a great night for anyone here. Hamilton seems to be overthinking a bit right now. You can see the potential there though and I'm not really worried. Jefferson had a really rough night of tackling.

ST:
Stout looks really good. Leg is significantly stronger than Koch's and it's apparent. Still clearly working on some directional stuff but he's doing damn well.

ST Coverage Units:
Not too much to say here other than the units were much more normal than PS game 1. I think Worley was the only "surprise" on the 1st team units but we're still missing a couple of guys that will be playing there so nothing too much to glean from his usage. Gunner was the only position that rotated heavily. None of the UDFAs featured prominently until half 2.

 

[Simba]

Isaiah Likely:
15 snaps
8 catches
100 yards
1 TD

That's insane for only 15 snaps

 

[UPennChem]

Isaiah Likely:
15 snaps
8 catches
100 yards
1 TD

That's insane for only 15 snaps

He's also across the 2 games, 12 targets - 12 receptions, 12 YPC

 

[rossihunter2]

RB
Really not loving the RB room. Davis has for me looked incredibly average in both games so far with maybe a strength being in pass pro. Hill has some juice but hasn't really been able to put it to good use yet. He did show a ton of effort though in PS2. Badie was the RB of the night and yet his YPC was atrocious. McCrary always makes plays but got hurt on his first one. The running game is going to be essential for this offense and I do t have the hugest confidence if JK isn't normal JK this year.

i think to be somewhat fair to the running backs, the scheme is so vanilla in the preseason and the ravens running game is traditionally super right-handed so it's so easy for defences to key on where the ball's going and you add in the fact that we're not running many designed qb runs or option plays - i dont think we need to be worried about the effectiveness of this running game with lamar in the backfield (or even huntley if we opened the playbook up)

all hill and badie both have qualities that improve our running game vs what we had last year and davis is a better runner than all the vets we had last year (not a fan of his particularly but he's much more likely to break tackles and he's also an asset out of the backfield) - it's not exciting but those 3 give us a much better baseline than last year's running game already

 

[rossihunter2]

DL:
What a deep group. Jones was a beast and than god his injury seems minor compared to what it could have been. But Isaiah Mack was the standout. He was living in the backfield. Going to be hard to leave him off. Crawford pulled in another good game and might be out because of the numbers, but should play in this league.

what's interesting about crawford is that i think he got the start last night (or at least was one of the first guys to rotate in) - now maybe that's a "veteran" privilege to get nose tackle snaps ahead of the rookie but he played well

calais campbell wasnt lying in his presser the other day when he said we've got 9 legitimate professional NFL DL in this group

if teams pro personnel scouts are paying attention, mack will not be making it through waivers and crawford might not either

 

[rossihunter2]

ILB:
Harrison stepped up in a good way. Ross is the standout here. He's still entering late which doesn't bode well for his chances, but have to think he's going to be on the 53 at some point with how well he's done. McClain was victimized over and over.

think it's become pretty clear at this point that if any UDFAs are making it, it's going to be Ross on the back of his special teams play and his promise as a LB - and unlike some of our traditional udfa LB finds, he seems to have a nice feel for zone coverage

 

[rossihunter2]

 

[marklar]

My takes without having read what everyone else said.
The huge draft steals: Likely, Stout. Highway robbery in both cases

The good:
* Both QBs. That Brown dude intrigues me, I thought he would be a steaming pile of camp arm (not ready for the 53, but if we keep him a year on the PS, he may replace Huntley).
* The pass rush. Didn't get home often enough, but put a lot of pressure
* The UDFA that makes the roster has to be Ross. Sure, it's against bad competition, but what a playmaker! I'm adding him to my 53 now
* The pass blocking

The bad:
* Run blocking in the first half. No room for the RBs to run.
* The ST coverage unit. Really bad for the 2nd game in a row. Perhaps it will come at a cost that we dropped most of the key STers? OTOH, preseason players on there....
* The penalties. Far too many, no matter if some might have been questionable
* Is Andy Isabella impossible to cover? I don't think so, but he had his way with our entire team

The "please cut me" award:
* Penalty $ANYTHING, Number 74, offense

Random:
* I'm still a McSorley fan
* The RBs showed a bit more today compared to last week when everyone looked like Latavious "3 yards and a pile of dust" Murray. Some tackle-breaking
* Webb should have made the practice squad with this. The rest of the WRs showed a lot less than last week

 

[Simba]

what's interesting about crawford is that i think he got the start last night (or at least was one of the first guys to rotate in) - now maybe that's a "veteran" privilege to get nose tackle snaps ahead of the rookie but he played well

calais campbell wasnt lying in his presser the other day when he said we've got 9 legitimate professional NFL DL in this group

if teams pro personnel scouts are paying attention, mack will not be making it through waivers and crawford might not either

Noticed that as well. You can't keep them all but it's clear Crawford and Mack are both firmly in the mix right now. I mentioned it my 53 man prediction in the offseason thread, but I think they're going to find a way to keep 1 of those guys around.

 

[Simba]

think it's become pretty clear at this point that if any UDFAs are making it, it's going to be Ross on the back of his special teams play and his promise as a LB - and unlike some of our traditional udfa LB finds, he seems to have a nice feel for zone coverage

It's just interesting that he's not out there sooner - wasn't with the ST units in the 1st half for the most part, didn't get defensive time in the 1st half. I very well could be misremembering but I feel like all of these UDFA LBs that did crack it were out there on the ST units at a minimum. I know Orr and Welch both were for sure.

 

[gtalk12]

Am I getting a Likely jersey?

 

[rossihunter2]

Noticed that as well. You can't keep them all but it's clear Crawford and Mack are both firmly in the mix right now. I mentioned it my 53 man prediction in the offseason thread, but I think they're going to find a way to keep 1 of those guys around.

it would be great to keep mack - he's already shown in the bengals game that this pass rush 1v1 ability he has can translate to reps vs starters in actual games and he's only got better since - that interior rush value is huge

and i wonder if the travis jones injury is all the excuse the coaches need to find a way to keep mack or crawford - crawford would positionally make more sense given he's a backup nose but i also think that makes him more likely to make it through waivers

also could go heavy at DL (with interior rush options) to help alleviate some of the lack of depth at OLB... not sure where we find the roster spot to keep one of these guys but would love it if we could

 

[rossihunter2]

It's just interesting that he's not out there sooner - wasn't with the ST units in the 1st half for the most part, didn't get defensive time in the 1st half. I very well could be misremembering but I feel like all of these UDFA LBs that did crack it were out there on the ST units at a minimum. I know Orr and Welch both were for sure.

you're right that's probably not a good sign
and also probably overthinking it in the sense that he's almost certainly a guy who makes it through waivers and can be PS stashed

 

[ndub]

My takes without having read what everyone else said.
The huge draft steals: Likely, Stout. Highway robbery in both cases

The good:
* Both QBs. That Brown dude intrigues me, I thought he would be a steaming pile of camp arm (not ready for the 53, but if we keep him a year on the PS, he may replace Huntley).
* The pass rush. Didn't get home often enough, but put a lot of pressure
* The UDFA that makes the roster has to be Ross. Sure, it's against bad competition, but what a playmaker! I'm adding him to my 53 now
* The pass blocking

The bad:
* Run blocking in the first half. No room for the RBs to run.
* The ST coverage unit. Really bad for the 2nd game in a row. Perhaps it will come at a cost that we dropped most of the key STers? OTOH, preseason players on there....
* The penalties. Far too many, no matter if some might have been questionable
* Is Andy Isabella impossible to cover? I don't think so, but he had his way with our entire team

The "please cut me" award:
* Penalty $ANYTHING, Number 74, offense

Random:
* I'm still a McSorley fan
* The RBs showed a bit more today compared to last week when everyone looked like Latavious "3 yards and a pile of dust" Murray. Some tackle-breaking
* Webb should have made the practice squad with this. The rest of the WRs showed a lot less than last week

Easy on 74, Phillips, now... some here swore he was the next big thing at LG...

 

[RavensMania]

Easy on 74, Phillips, now... some here swore he was the next big thing at LG...

none of us said that. We thought he was the better option at left guard, but currently it looks like Powers is going to win the job at left guard.

 

[rossihunter2]

Some additional notes - will get to OL performance at a later time/day after ive had a chance to go over it more in detail:

Offence:
- Huntley's release looks tighter
- Ben Mason much improved but also just not going to factor into roster discussions
- I don't understand the OL rotation right now... if powers is the starter then why isnt he playing any preseason LG snaps, if tyre is the starter then why is powers getting the vast majority of the 1s reps in camp and why is tyre playing LT in the 2nd half, if cleveland is the starter then why isnt he playing LG at all until the 2nd half
- there's a reason we signed demarcus robinson... polk is the only guy who i think might have a chance because he's flashed, is positionally versatile and played a ton of special teams snaps

Defence:
- DL is 9 players deep - i really hope travis jones can come back soon and be healthy
- Hayes quiet although had a couple of nice rushes but was lost in coverage a couple of times too, Means did very little before the hamstring... might be more of a case of guys at this position playing themselves onto the wrong side of the bubble and just going light at the position with the understanding that you've got calais campbell and malik harrison in a pinch until bowser's ready
- I wonder if we at least see the ravens put Ross in with Harrison in preseason 3 just to see if he can translate his play level vs 3rd stringers to the backups and even starters - just to see if he truly offers more than welch at LB
- Stephens gave up the penalties - the first was dumb, the second was unfortunate - thought it was a largely positive game for him - similar for ardarius... coming back into active play straight off the injury was impressive... unfortunately for ardarius, the 2 guys ahead of him in the slot both had picks and generally had positive nights too
- Pepe is consistently entering the game early and consistently making plays on the ball - should have had 2 picks in 2 weeks in those underneath areas - he's a really great fit if we're gonna play more cover-3 and coverages like that
- Hamilton is flashing both good and bad - think he's hesitating a little but is also maybe being challenged by the coaches who are putting him in tough situations to see how he deals with them
- Geno came back down to earth a little - entered the game earlier than in preseason 1 and didnt the way he probably would have liked to - then again the safeties all struggled at different times

if some of these performances hold... this draft class is starting to look insane even with an up-and-down camp/preseason from Hamilton and the injuries to Linderbaum, Ojabo, JAD and Kolar... and now Jones too...
- Travis Jones looks dominant already especially as a rotational lineman
- Daniel Faalele is developing well and probably faster than many expected - a few nuances Joe D can help him with that will help him take his game up a notch
- Jordan Stout is as advertised
- Isaiah Likely is a revelation and looks like a freak - the suddenness he appears to have is outrageous and with the long frame and great hands combined with a good feel has served him so well - he's winning vs man, he's winning vs zone, he's creating YAC both in space and also in the contact, he's dominating at the catch-point
- Pepe has quickly become a fan favourite and is now backing those feelings up with excellent preseason play in a variety of roles
- Badie is starting to progress with some nice burst, decent cuts and more importantly good base on some of his pass blocks

this class is already impactful and that's with 4 of the top 7 picks not playing in preseason

 

[Corvus Purpura]

If Stout was aiming that last punt to go out of bounds, and I think he was, it was perfection. 58 yards and very nearly hitting the sideline. Unreal. Plus the two inside the 5, though I'll thank the soon-to-be-cut Arizona special teamer for the fair catch on the second one.

 

[rossihunter2]

If Stout was aiming that last punt to go out of bounds, and I think he was, it was perfection. 58 yards and very nearly hitting the sideline. Unreal. Plus the two inside the 5, though I'll thank the soon-to-be-cut Arizona special teamer for the fair catch on the second one.

if he'd got it to land just in bounds it would have been even better - had the spin perfect to make it bounce downfield

 

[rossihunter2]

DL (6):
In: Calais Campbell, Michael Pierce, Justin Madubuike, Travais Jones, Broderick Washington, Isaiah Mack
Just Missed: Brent Urban, Aaron Crawford
Out: Rayshad Nichols

The first big shakeup here is Mack over Urban. I know Urban is a more stylistic fit behind Campbell but Mack has just been too impressive for me to leave off. Urban could be one of your vet PS additions that sits there for 2-3 weeks and comes back up when a roster spot opens.

i can definitely see this happening - that said, i think urban's value on special teams is pretty crucial to our ability to retain 6 DL in the first place
but maybe urban can be a handshake guy and can be retained via that mechanism especially if travis jones could miss some time...