The Lamar, the Receivers, and the Pass Defence

[Sandtown]

I'm sure! It just seems so weird that we had crazy turnover and did very little to help the incumbent

Honestly losing your defensive coordinator,defensive back coach and defensive line coach is a challenge to replace . Not often does one team get poached that much in one year. It's also a challenge for the new coaching staff to try to live up to the standard of what the defense did in 2023. I think the coaching staff will eventually figure it out and things will get better

 

[Deebo813]

Will say that Todd has been really good on calling plays the last 2 weeks. I think he is finally understanding our identity and is conducting the orchestra.

All he has to do is stop cutesy BS and call a balance of run and pass. That's fucking it. Lamar and this offense are just too good

Ive always like his play calling minus the afc ship game.. its so much you can do with lamar, i feel it just gets hard at times and probably will continue to be difficult. We have a guy at qb who can throw for 300 but also run for 100.. it has to be difficult at times to choose what you wanna do

 

[UPennChem]

Ive always like his play calling minus the afc ship game.. its so much you can do with lamar, i feel it just gets hard at times and probably will continue to be difficult. We have a guy at qb who can throw for 300 but also run for 100.. it has to be difficult at times to choose what you wanna do

Nah should be easy. It let's you just take what the defense gives you. Lamar is a fucking luxury if luxuries

 

[D1City55]

The andrews from 19-22, he was basically the only pass catcher on the team that stayed healthy.. we have a lot of games now and also a crazy run game still. Its hard to feed him the ball alot like how we used to do.

Given his level of productions those years, I find it hard to justify not getting him the ball. Kolar has been taking a good amount of reps, that doesn't happen if Andrew's is the guy we all know him to be. Not saying his a bum, but I think the injury from last year has robbed him of a lot. Honestly, who knows though, it may be one of those types of injuries that need another year before you feel like yourself again, that and the fact that he was involved in a car accident.

 

[D1City55]

Nah should be easy. It let's you just take what the defense gives you. Lamar is a fucking luxury if luxuries

If you're facing an 8 man front in man coverage and have the talent to beat man coverage, then it should be pretty easy to throw the Football. Monken started to get more aggressive with throwing the ball and its paid off, I think Harbaugh mentioned needing to throw it successfully against 8 man fronts too. It should get even easier if Derrick Henry continues to play like this, it's only going to be more difficult for defenses to defend. This offense is on fire. We also did very well against the blitz today so that was great to see. This offense is lethal, we just need the defense to be solid, doesn't even have to be great.

 

[redrum52]

I don't think the pass rush was a problem. They had to play a certain way to contain Daniel's and did. Held him to his season low rushing.

 

[RavensMania]

Given his level of productions those years, I find it hard to justify not getting him the ball. Kolar has been taking a good amount of reps, that doesn't happen if Andrew's is the guy we all know him to be. Not saying his a bum, but I think the injury from last year has robbed him of a lot. Honestly, who knows though, it may be one of those types of injuries that need another year before you feel like yourself again, that and the fact that he was involved in a car accident.

i think type 1 diabetes on top of the injury is having an affect. Not sure about the accident though.

 

[rossihunter2]

If you add in the loss of Weaver, Wilson and actually Orr himself as LB coach, that's a lot of new pieces and not just Zach replacing Mikey Mac.

I heard on the radio pre game that Pees is spending the bulk of his time working with the DBs, trying to fix communication issues.

which is wild because the only other long-serving defensive coach is from that part of the defence - chris hewitt's been in charge of the secondary and is now the pass game coordinator

maybe some of our complaints need to be placed at hewitt's feet and not at Orr's?

must be said that hewitt's had multiple opportunities where he should have been the heir apparent to take over this defence and has been passed over twice but has also not got a job elsewhere... mike macdonald left and then became our first outside hire instead of hewitt and then weaver, wilson and orr all jumped him in priority and got DC jobs before him

 

[rossihunter2]

Lost?

think it might have been this tweet

 

[rossihunter2]

I don't know if there's a direct correlation, but the OL has been a lot better with Mekari at LG instead of Vorhees (and simultaneously, Roger at RT). Still think Vorhees can be a starter level guy in time, but he wasn't off to a great start and I don't see any reason to go back to him right now as long as we stay healthy.

and the coaches agree

mekari is unspectacular but reliable and with josh johnson on the roster you can feel more comfortable having mekari play LG and RR play RT without worrying about your swing tackle in case of injury

faalele has got better with each week - still fundamentally flawed with certain parts of his game (moving in space in the running game) but in the pass game and as a people mover off the ball at the point of attack he's been improving weekly - that being said he was great on the move for Lamar's 30 yard run

RR looks like a potential gem at RT - had a few struggles this week on a few snaps but for a rookie he's been undeniably fantastic

ironically, Linderbaum's actually had a bit of a rough stretch the last couple of weeks (not even including the botched snap) but he's still playing solidly well (just not as in form as he was last year)

stanley looks like he's close to being back to his all-pro best which is not something id thought id see ever again

this OL is improving weekly and has a chance to get even better which is nice - and it's also pretty well set up to account for injury also - we've got Vorhees we can throw in at LG, we've got Cleveland we can throw in at RG, we've got Josh Johnson who we can happily put at either OT spot and mekari's a decent backup C (and T)

 

[rossihunter2]

ILB was a full on power duo. Roquan was making a case he was LB1. Queen was a sideline to sideline force. I have no memory of Roquan playing a ton of coverage snaps let alone giving up huge plays.

Roquan played a ton in coverage last year - this is just confirmation bias
Ro also looked fine in coverage yesterday

 

[rossihunter2]

Couple Thoughts:
1. Lamar Jackson was on the money today. It only took him 26 attempts to get to 323 yards passing completing 76.9% of his passes. He's been magnificent. He's a special player and quiet honestly, he's on pace for his best season ever. Dude just keeps getting better and honestly is proving, to me at least that he is indeed the best player in all of Football.

2. Zay Flowers is blossoming, and we may have finally found that #1 WR we've been clamoring for. I was really questioning his usage against the Bills and Cowboys, and the idea of "That's just how the game went" isn't good enough for me. This guy has all the tools to be an Elite WR. You can't leave him 1v1, he's too difficult to cover for ANY CB. His route running, release, YAC ability, separation, speed and acceleration is too much for any CB. He's going to be very important for this offense going forward.

3. FEED BATEMAN MORE! Dude is balling with the opportunities he's given and has been getting consistent separation. He's due for a massive performance.

4. It was nice to see Mark Andrews have a bounce back performance. I'm still concerned about where he is at the moment but given the Bengals game and this game, it seems that he's going to at least be a piece, unfortunately I don't think the Mark Andrews we saw from 2019-2022 is there anymore, I really hope i'm wrong there.

5. Derrick Henry has made me eat crow. I didn't think he would be a fit here when we first signed him, and after the first two games I overreacted and had concerned about his ability to play here. Boy has he proved me wrong. That was one hell of a signing by EDC and may get us to a Super Bowl.

6. The defense as not impressive today. I thought they played a pretty underwhelming game. Thank God we didn't let them get the ball back after that FG because I would've been nervous seeing the defense out there with 2 minutes left in the game. There were still miscommunication issues, big plays, poor discipline in shell coverage, and guys out of their zone. I'm not too confident in this unit, I think they're in trouble next week in Tampa.

The fact that we've got Zay and Bate locked up for 3 years at least as a foundational pair at WR is awesome
Justice Hill is extended for another 2 years
We'll have to see what we do with the TEs this offseason or the next but we're going to have at least 1 of Andrews/Likely around for a while longer

but this skill position group has a nice basis in the passing game to build around for the future

 

[rossihunter2]

Already seen a bunch of media harping on about how the commanders only lost by a TD and "passed the test" completely ignoring the fact that this was a 2 score game the whole 2nd half and the ravens were driving to end the game and use up the clock at the end and finished with the ball

they were pretty much dominated, idk that i would describe them as having been blow for blow - id say they showed some promising signs but so far this has been the quietest 300+yd Lamar performance ever if you judge the Monday morning reactions lol - apparently it was Derrick Henry all day

 

[JoeyFlex5]

Will say that Todd has been really good on calling plays the last 2 weeks. I think he is finally understanding our identity and is conducting the orchestra.

All he has to do is stop cutesy BS and call a balance of run and pass. That's fucking it. Lamar and this offense are just too good

The run game with Henry, and the OL improvements, have been a revelation. That’s been the difference that makes the rest of it work.

That and zay being used for more than just screens, that boy has been spectacular this year

 

[JoeyFlex5]

I don't think the pass rush was a problem. They had to play a certain way to contain Daniel's and did. Held him to his season low rushing.

Pass rush has looked good for the most part. Some bullshit roughing the passers and facemasks that should NOT have been called have really affected how we see our pass rush because they’ve stopped drives and had the refs giftwrap first downs, and it’s led to losses that probably shouldn’t have been.

My issue is with the blitz packages, they aren’t working. They aren’t getting home, they aren’t knocking at the door, they are getting destroyed and it’s obvious why, they are madden level blitzes, crowd the line and send em, no plans to help the coverage, no plans to get a free rusher, just all go.

That shit DOES NOT WORK and it hasn’t worked in a very long time. This ain’t the early 2000s

 

[JoeyFlex5]

Already seen a bunch of media harping on about how the commanders only lost by a TD and "passed the test" completely ignoring the fact that this was a 2 score game the whole 2nd half and the ravens were driving to end the game and use up the clock at the end and finished with the ball

they were pretty much dominated, idk that i would describe them as having been blow for blow - id say they showed some promising signs but so far this has been the quietest 300+yd Lamar performance ever if you judge the Monday morning reactions lol - apparently it was Derrick Henry all day

6 to 10 point swing to open the game with a fluke ass pick on the opening drive let them stay in this game. It’s a near blowout if andrews catches that ball. If linderbaum snaps on the next drive and we convert and get it in for 6 then it’a a complete blowout. Flukey first quarter let them hang around.

 

[JoeyFlex5]

Roquan played a ton in coverage last year - this is just confirmation bias
Ro also looked fine in coverage yesterday

Ro got cooked a few times yesterday

 

[JoeyFlex5]

I know we’ve all wanted to see Zay be used more on traditional routes and as a traditional receiver, but I think it’s definitely worth shouting out his YAC ability and what a difference that has made. This offense doesn’t catch fire the way it does if Zay isn’t absolutely cooking guys out there with the ball in his hands, he is SPECIAL in that regard, probably the best YAC receiver in the league right now, he makes so many plays that frankly shouldn’t be made, and move the chains ahead of schedule and he gives us so many extra opportunities as a result.

 

[rossihunter2]

Pass rush has looked good for the most part. Some bullshit roughing the passers and facemasks that should NOT have been called have really affected how we see our pass rush because they’ve stopped drives and had the refs giftwrap first downs, and it’s led to losses that probably shouldn’t have been.

My issue is with the blitz packages, they aren’t working. They aren’t getting home, they aren’t knocking at the door, they are getting destroyed and it’s obvious why, they are madden level blitzes, crowd the line and send em, no plans to help the coverage, no plans to get a free rusher, just all go.

That shit DOES NOT WORK and it hasn’t worked in a very long time. This ain’t the early 2000s

i do also think it's the one area where we miss PQ - he was just such a good blitzer especially when you combined it with a stunt

 

[rossihunter2]

i'm getting a little worried about Ojabo - he's only played 20% of the snaps the last 2 weeks and Ngakoue outsnapped him (albeit by 1 snap) this week

if he's not gonna be a guy we can rely on then we might be in trouble because we lose some of oweh's impact if we force him to be in on every early down because we definitely dont want ngakoue in the game on 1st down (unless it's obvious passing situations)