• Welcome to PurpleFlock! Be sure to sign up here so that you can chat with your fellow Ravens fans.

Lamar, The Running Game and The Defensive Collapse

The Ravens became first NFL team in 12 years to lose a game in which they led by 21 or more points in the 4th quarter.

From 2011-22, teams were 711-0 when leading by 21 or more points in the 4th quarter, according to @ESPNStatsInfo

Ravens still breaking records lol smh.
 

UPennChem

Hall of Famer
at T he's done great - not only did we have james, we also had mekari and brought in faalele and moses...
TE is just weird - not sure what's going on with nick boyle at all

he's expended a bunch of resources at various positions - like what else is he supposed to have done with the resources we had available?
only really obvious thing that could have been done differently was picking someone other than kyle hamilton at 14... but then who do we pick instead of him who makes a dramatic difference here? the only other thing maybe is zadarius smith... but he walked away from that deal to sign basically the same deal with the vikings not EDC
I'm not crucifying him by any means. But at RB we knew we had an issue and didn't really do anything. At TE we knew we had an issue with Boyle and didn't do anything. You don't need Andrews, Likely, Kolar, and Oliver. That's super redundant when Boyle is your problem. He tried with Zadarius, but that was an awful ending to that situation. That one still stings. We only drafted Ojabo (who we know has a chance to miss the whole year, we're hoping for some second half games) and never really reacted to Jaylons passing, Biegels injury, and Hayes showing nothing.

So idk my man. Maybe we should have tried to draft a RB earlier? Maybe there was a better free agent? Maybe there was a trade?

We probably could've called up Tomlinson at bare minimum right?

Could've drafted Ebiketie, Mafe, Jermaine Johnson instead of Ojabo. Could've signed JPP. Could've sweetened the deal for Zadarius although I understand why we didn't. Maybe we should've sold out for Miller or Mack?

It's above my pay grade and I'm not qualified. So that's why I'm going to abstain from actually criticizing. I'm more just pointing out what I've seen so far. Fortunately I think there are probably still moves that can be made. Or maybe we just need to weather the storm early season
 

Simba

Staff Member
Moderator
it's also tough to have 3 rookies on the backend all at the same time communication-wise - and surprise, surprise it was miscommunication that killed us more than a couple of times in the secondary
That’s what I’m gonna hang my hat on to some extent. Not that miscommunication was the only issue by any means, but that all became magnified of course.

Like, I thought Hamilton was as impressive as we’ve seen him in half 1 and I feel like that’s now being overshadowed by miscommunication. Not like he was out there getting beat like a drum consistently.
 

UPennChem

Hall of Famer
felt like he got aggressive in the 2nd half today because we werent getting pressure...
think we dropped more guys into coverage in the 1st half
I think this is true in the 4th, but I think a lot of the third quarter he was sending 2, 3, or 4 guys.
 

UPennChem

Hall of Famer
Agreed. I thought all of the guys did some impressive things (including all of the rookies that are currently being shit on) but it all just fell apart.
I don't think any of the rookies are being shit on. I think everyone agrees that they played pretty well given the horrible situation they were in (Waddle and Hill, zero pass rush, injuries). The shitting on is the DL and OLBs did nothing and never established a good game plan to shut them down.
 

Michael M.

Pro Bowler
There is zero route to improved run blocking on this team. Stanley for Mekari is maybe a plus but we are super right handed so not sure it's hugely important. Powers is probably still better than Cleveland and if he's not I can't imagine it's the difference. You're not swapping Linderbaum for Colon. You're not swapping Zeitler for Cleveland. You're not swapping Moses for Faalele. Where's it coming from?

You're best option is replacing Oliver with Boyle. But is Boyle cooked????
Is Boyle cooked? I think so, as is Stanley
 

Simba

Staff Member
Moderator
I don't think any of the rookies are being shit on. I think everyone agrees that they played pretty well given the horrible situation they were in (Waddle and Hill, zero pass rush, injuries). The shitting on is the DL and OLBs did nothing and never established a good game plan to shut them down.
I see a whole hell of a lot of people saying Kyle Hamilton is a bust
 

Davesta

Ravens Ring of Honor
It’s one thing having a Josh Allen or Mahomes put up those numbers but Tua ?!?!?! You gotta be kidding me !
660FAD41-DA25-4475-9E28-3F280BD121F1.jpeg


He is ELITE.
 

Simba

Staff Member
Moderator
Dude had a great game overall. Was sneakily good honestly.
But he (or someone else) blew a coverage and now he’s bad. And it goes for a lot of other guys on D too. You don’t just accidentally give up 10,000 yards but it’s also not like these dudes were just getting burned over and over. Marred by much bigger issues but thought most of the guys in the secondary actually played fairly well at times which feels weird to say on a day we blew a huge lead and gave up big play after big play.
 

UPennChem

Hall of Famer
2019-2022 might be a big enough sample size to tell you the hypothesis of pouring money in the secondary at the sacrifice of the pass rush is not as effective as the reverse. I've brought up this idea since the 2019 playoff loss.
 

UPennChem

Hall of Famer
But he (or someone else) blew a coverage and now he’s bad. And it goes for a lot of other guys on D too. You don’t just accidentally give up 10,000 yards but it’s also not like these dudes were just getting burned over and over. Marred by much bigger issues but thought most of the guys in the secondary actually played fairly well at times which feels weird to say on a day we blew a huge lead and gave up big play after big play.
Totally agree. One of the hardest matchup for a secondary was had today. And they were given no favors by injuries and the pass rush.
 
Top