The Defence, the Turnovers, and the Tucker

[RavensMania]

Very first thing I thought of after the game was over. That was basically Pittsburgh's best punch, and it was our worst punch. And they beat us by two. At home.

I felt worse about our SB chances after both of the Bengals wins than I do today after a Steelers loss.

agree 100% and welcome back.

 

[Tank]

I agree, and if we keep doing it and failing then it also becomes a Monken issue for calling a risky play that the offense doesn’t always execute without a flag.

Don’t think you can shrink the playbook like that, RPOs are a major part of Lamar’s game. Just have to execute better.

 

[rmcjacket23]

I agree, and if we keep doing it and failing then it also becomes a Monken issue for calling a risky play that the offense doesn’t always execute without a flag.

Perhaps. Or they need to practice it more and the players need to execute it better. I think it should be at least a decent part of our offense with the personnel we have. When executed properly, its brutal to defend. It's also absolutely a way to neutralize Watt in spots.

 

[Deebo813]

Very first thing I thought of after the game was over. That was basically Pittsburgh's best punch, and it was our worst punch. And they beat us by two. At home.

I felt worse about our SB chances after both of the Bengals wins than I do today after a Steelers loss.

There he go!!!!!

 

[OURavensFan]

I know we love our wheel routes to Hill but that ball was slightly underthrown which enabled the fortunate interception for the Steelers. I’d need to see if it was intentional to fit the ball there but Lamar was off all day with his throws. Of course just like the last game against Steelers with failed 2 point Lamar got us the TD at the end. Maybe our defense spared Tucker the shame of missing a 3rd FG

 

[rmcjacket23]

I know we love our wheel routes to Hill but that ball was slightly underthrown which enabled the fortunate interception for the Steelers. I’d need to see if it was intentional to fit the ball there but Lamar was off all day with his throws. Of course just like the last game against Steelers with failed 2 point Lamar got us the TD at the end. Maybe our defense spared Tucker the shame of missing a 3rd FG

Correct. It was not a great throw. Wasn't a bad one, but if that ball is a couple more feet out in front, its either a catch or an incompletion. Underthrowing a RB wheel route is a disaster waiting to happen.

 

[Baltimorican]

Have you watched Steelers games regularly this year?

Idk where this sentiment comes from that the Steelers are this overachieving shit team who’s just scrappy. They’ve been an excellent team all year. We are in no way in better shape to make a run than them. They are a complete team, physically and mentally tough, maybe toughest in the league, very well coached, and disciplined. We are one player steering a clown car on 3 tires through a minefield.

Steelers will beat us again. And if we manage to see them a third time, they’ll beat us then too.

We do not have the mental fortitude to play against their defense. Tj watt and cam heyward don’t just make our offense shit their pants, they pull our pants down and shit in them for us.

I have all the respect they deserve for that defense, it's the offense that has limited their ceiling and I'm not buying they are much better this year. we gifted them 2 fumbles deep in our territory + 2 short fields after long FG misses and they still got all of 6 FG's. The lack of explosive plays in the offense is still there, the OLine is ok and I just don't see how Russ moonballs his way through KC/Buffalo/Balt come crunch time.

 

[Baltimorican]

Correct. It was not a great throw. Wasn't a bad one, but if that ball is a couple more feet out in front, its either a catch or an incompletion. Underthrowing a RB wheel route is a disaster waiting to happen.

That was just a great defensive play. Move on, I wouldn't assign a lick of blame to any raven for that one. Also a great strip by PQ, the Hnery one was really the only unforced error of the 3.

 

[Simba]

That was just a great defensive play. Move on, I wouldn't assign a lick of blame to any raven for that one. Also a great strip by PQ, the Hnery one was really the only unforced error of the 3.

I’m going to agree. It’s always easy to point the finger but sometimes good players just make good plays. It is what it is.

 

[All_black_everything]

I knew this place would have this pessimistic attitude about the season after the loss but I’m honestly not too down about this loss.

Barring the injuries to Hamilton and Ro, I’m optimistic about the defensive changes we’ve made. Our performance on that side of the ball have me feeling better about our chances this season. Hamilton and Ar’darius is our best safety duo and if they can minimize on the blown coverages like we did this game, I like our chances. Tre White played solid, I liked his ability to play the ball at the catch point. Pass rush was solid most of the game.

We lost because the offense let us down and I don’t see that occurring too often. Henry fumbled for the first time in 5 years and a freak interception on the wheel route held us back. Let’s hope we keep the defensive line up that we played yesterday and let them gel. There is still plenty of football left to play.

 

[QtR Nevermore]

I'd also say... Zach Orr deserves a glorious handjob today from the fanbase. He's been criticized a lot, and rightfully so. Yesterday, he, and most of the defense, was outstanding.
Roquan looked like a new guy.
He did what many of us have been asking to do for about a month... benched Williams and Jackson, and played Hamilton and Washington in the traditional safety roles. One game sample, but it was easily our best alignment and absolutely helped to take away big plays for a team that loves to throw down field.
Oweh was a savage game wrecker, and Van Noy was in the back field all day. Got a lot of pressure with 4 and 5 man fronts, which is great.
Even Stephens (still that one blunder) looked better.
Appeared to me like we played a lot more man coverages, which a lot of us asked for as well.

Again, one game sample, but it was an outstanding effort.

That's a coaching win.

Agreed, and I nominate you to give him that handjob and say it's from all of us.

It's probably better for our prospects to come out of this game with a defensive turnaround and a loss than to come out of this with another high scoring win (on both sides of the ball).

 

[rmcjacket23]

Agreed, and I nominate you to give him that handjob and say it's from all of us.

It's probably better for our prospects to come out of this game with a defensive turnaround and a loss than to come out of this with another high scoring win (on both sides of the ball).

Yup. The only question is whether its real or not. Wilson has a deathly fear of throwing in the middle of the field, which is where the Ravens weakness is. So it's tough to say whether he's the measuring stick for a defense fixing its issues.

 

[Simba]

I knew this place would have this pessimistic attitude about the season after the loss but I’m honestly not too down about this loss.

Barring the injuries to Hamilton and Ro, I’m optimistic about the defensive changes we’ve made. Our performance on that side of the ball have me feeling better about our chances this season. Hamilton and Ar’darius is our best safety duo and if they can minimize on the blown coverages like we did this game, I like our chances. Tre White played solid, I liked his ability to play the ball at the catch point. Pass rush was solid most of the game.

We lost because the offense let us down and I don’t see that occurring too often. Henry fumbled for the first time in 5 years and a freak interception on the wheel route held us back. Let’s hope we keep the defensive line up that we played yesterday and let them gel. There is still plenty of football left to play.

The offense was shit but they’ve carried us all season. I’m not gonna be mad at them unless this is a continuing trend. They’ve earned the benefit of the doubt.

 

[rossihunter2]

And poor Odafe, his big game will be forgotten because of all the other bullshit

poor defence as a collective

massive bounceback game in a big spot - completely wasted

conceded zero TDs including on 2 short fields, got 4 sacks, 1 turnover, a couple of 4th down stops... all in vain

 

[rossihunter2]

And a huge part of kicking is mental. If he's distracted... the math maths. Hopefully it all works out, but obviously have no idea what he's dealing with.

i guess i dont understand why all the misses are wide left

 

[rossihunter2]

We can barely run block. And maybe 4 times a good Henry run was negated by penalties.

yeah the henry stats in this game hide what actually happened in the game

multiple good carries that were called back due to a penalty - the other side effect being that you then take henry off the field on 1st or 2nd and 20 for good reason

and the 4th quarter stats about henry are also silly... we only had 2 drives the whole quarter... 1 was an INT, the other was a TD - only argument you could have is ask why henry wasnt in on the 2pt try

 

[rossihunter2]

No

he played exactly 1 snap
it was a penalty by someone

it was only for the 1 play hamilton had to leave the field for

 

[gtalk12]

I can't even contain my excitement anymore

 

[rossihunter2]

Very first thing I thought of after the game was over. That was basically Pittsburgh's best punch, and it was our worst punch. And they beat us by two. At home.

I felt worse about our SB chances after both of the Bengals wins than I do today after a Steelers loss.

the key reason im not devastated is that the defence showed some things that at least showed signs they might finally not be the 32nd best pass defence in the league

and this offence we've seen in almost every other game be outrageous

 

[JoeyFlex5]

I have. Steelers are the same team they've been for five years, only with a QB who turns it over a little less.
They're going to score 20 points a week. No more, no less. They don't have a lot of talent on offense, they don't have a good play caller, and their entire offense is focused on "force turnovers so we can get short fields".

In most cases, that works. Nobody thinks that when they go play a road game in KC, or Buffalo, or even in Baltimore, that they're going to be able to always get short fields and force 3-4 turnovers to stay in games.

I would gladly, gladly, gladly rather play Pittsburgh in the playoffs than Buffalo or KC. In anyone's building. I think the obvious "set up" for Pittsburgh is they're going to get thumped by a Chargers team that is better than them, in their own building, in mid-January.

WHERE TF HAVE YOU BEEN