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Post by Evil Yoda on Sept 29, 2019 15:44:24 GMT -5
Outplayed on both sides of the ball by the Cleveland Browns. They should be poised to win the division; with Ben down their only competition was likely to be the Ravens, and as we saw, the Ravens have systemic problems Harbaugh and his team cannot seem to correct: poor tackling, communication miscues in the secondary, no one except Marlon Humphrey can cover. Lamar has a mediocre with flashes of good game today; nice to see Hayden as a target. Hollywood a non-factor.
Roman needs to fix the problem the Chiefs and now the Browns have exploited: if they cannot keep speed guys off Lamar, he fails. Meanwhile Wink needs to figure out what's wrong with his secondary. I mean, past "they can't cover and they can't tackle".
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Post by Deleted on Sept 29, 2019 17:22:01 GMT -5
Not sure what is happening with the Ravens? Good summary EY.
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Post by stevez51 on Sept 29, 2019 17:50:11 GMT -5
Humphrey was the only one who came to play.
My son said the play with the 4 personal fouls was started by Beckham punching Humphrey, then Humphrey got him on the ground and started choking him. Beckham was getting frustrated with no catches at that point.
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Post by Evil Yoda on Sept 29, 2019 18:05:10 GMT -5
If Humphrey gets suspended for choking (I don't think it is too likely for a couple of reasons), then Pittsburgh will run roughshod over that inept secondary. Earl Thomas III really owes the team a refund of at least part of his paycheck. He contributed some today but for most of the year he has been a non-factor.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 29, 2019 20:14:27 GMT -5
Outplayed on both sides of the ball by the Cleveland Browns. They should be poised to win the division; with Ben down their only competition was likely to be the Ravens, and as we saw, the Ravens have systemic problems Harbaugh and his team cannot seem to correct: poor tackling, communication miscues in the secondary, no one except Marlon Humphrey can cover. Lamar has a mediocre with flashes of good game today; nice to see Hayden as a target. Hollywood a non-factor. Roman needs to fix the problem the Chiefs and now the Browns have exploited: if they cannot keep speed guys off Lamar, he fails. Meanwhile Wink needs to figure out what's wrong with his secondary. I mean, past "they can't cover and they can't tackle". *cough*redskins*cough*
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Post by pickle20 on Sept 30, 2019 8:45:11 GMT -5
The Mark Ingraham fumble was the killer. Had we scored on that drive it would have been a tied game and anything could have happened going forward but the defense is very flawed. Earl Thomas is looking like a bad signing and the injuries to Smith and Young have significantly weakened the secondary. Oh, and we can't pass rush either. Looks like losing Moseley, ZDS, Suggs and Weddle will be too much to overcome.
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Post by Evil Yoda on Sept 30, 2019 11:48:11 GMT -5
Earl Thomas is looking like a bad signing and the injuries to Smith and Young have significantly weakened the secondary. The Browns had several starters out with injuries, but their replacements were capable. In the last couple of years the drop-off between a Ravens starter and the next man up isn't just noticeable, it's a cliff. I don't know why that is true, but Harbaugh better fix it. Unfortunately, he got a couple of year contract out of Bisciotti, when he probably should have been replaced when the new quarterback era began. Coaches and managers all have expiration dates, and for a couple of years now the Harbaugh brand milk has smelled a little sour.
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Post by pickle20 on Sept 30, 2019 13:58:08 GMT -5
Earl Thomas is looking like a bad signing and the injuries to Smith and Young have significantly weakened the secondary. The Browns had several starters out with injuries, but their replacements were capable. In the last couple of years the drop-off between a Ravens starter and the next man up isn't just noticeable, it's a cliff. I don't know why that is true, but Harbaugh better fix it. Unfortunately, he got a couple of year contract out of Bisciotti, when he probably should have been replaced when the new quarterback era began. Coaches and managers all have expiration dates, and for a couple of years now the Harbaugh brand milk has smelled a little sour. I'm not going to freak out just yet. This team usually does learn from their mistakes. Harbaugh is not perfect, but he usually does make necessary adjustments over the course of a season. They should win the next 2 games. But then the schedule gets difficult. I still think my projected record of 10-6 is achievable.
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Post by Evil Yoda on Sept 30, 2019 14:36:51 GMT -5
I'm not going to freak out just yet. This team usually does learn from their mistakes. Harbaugh is not perfect, but he usually does make necessary adjustments over the course of a season. They should win the next 2 games. But then the schedule gets difficult. I still think my projected record of 10-6 is achievable. They did not show that they learned from week 3 in week 4, at all, as far as I could see. In my opinion: Probable wins: Bengals (H), Jets Possible win: Steelers (H) Unsure: Texans Possible loss: Steelers (A), Bengals (A), Bills, Browns Probable loss: Patriots, Seahawks, 49ers, Rams My best case scenario: 8-8. It assumes they win probable, possible, and unsure cases, split possible losses and lose probable losses. My worst case scenario: 4-12. It assumes they win probables and lose all others. I speculate that 7-9 is likely, but 6-10 or 5-11 wouldn't surprise me, depending on: - How fast key men can return from injuries
- Whether they can figure out their depth problem (doubtful - I suspect this is a coaching flaw)
- Fixing the defense/secondary (doubtful - it looks like the mass talent exodus was fatal to this unit)
- Figuring out what to do about teams who will copy Kansas City's strategy for neutralizing Lamar as Cleveland did (so far 0-1 on this)
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Post by pickle20 on Sept 30, 2019 14:42:34 GMT -5
I'm not going to freak out just yet. This team usually does learn from their mistakes. Harbaugh is not perfect, but he usually does make necessary adjustments over the course of a season. They should win the next 2 games. But then the schedule gets difficult. I still think my projected record of 10-6 is achievable. They did not show that they learned from week 3 in week 4, at all, as far as I could see. In my opinion: Probable wins: Bengals (H), Jets Possible win: Steelers (H) Unsure: Texans Possible loss: Steelers (A), Bengals (A), Bills, Browns Probable loss: Patriots, Seahawks, 49ers, Rams My best case scenario: 8-8. It assumes they win probable, possible, and unsure cases, split possible losses and lose probable losses. My worst case scenario: 4-12. It assumes they win probables and lose all others. I speculate that 7-9 is likely, but 6-10 or 5-11 wouldn't surprise me, depending on: - How fast key men can return from injuries
- Whether they can figure out their depth problem (doubtful - I suspect this is a coaching flaw)
- Fixing the defense/secondary (doubtful - it looks like the mass talent exodus was fatal to this unit)
- Figuring out what to do about teams who will copy Kansas City's strategy for neutralizing Lamar as Cleveland did (so far 0-1 on this)
You're being very pessimistic. I've got them beating the Texans, which is at home, winning both Steelers and Bengals games, beating the Bills (A) and Niners (H). That's 9 wins right there. I don't think it's crazy to thing the Ravens can steal another win from Browns (A) or Seahawks (A). Even the Rams were thrashed at home by the Bucs. There are no perfect teams in the NFL outside from the Patriots. Everyone is capable of being beaten...and even the Pats are known to lose!
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Post by Evil Yoda on Sept 30, 2019 14:57:35 GMT -5
You're being very pessimistic. I've got them beating the Texans, which is at home, winning both Steelers and Bengals games, beating the Bills (A) and Niners (H). That's 9 wins right there. I don't think it's crazy to thing the Ravens can steal another win from Browns (A) or Seahawks (A). Even the Rams were thrashed at home by the Bucs. There are no perfect teams in the NFL outside from the Patriots. Everyone is capable of being beaten...and even the Pats are known to lose! I don't deny it. It is possible the Browns really are that good, in which case the Ravens aren't that bad. But in my gut I don't think so. Anyone who can pass successfully is going to pick that secondary apart. Except maybe a team who only has one good receiver they can cover with Marlon Humphrey, the only competent DB they have. How many teams is that? Few. Onwuasor and Judon looked good against bad teams but the defensive scheming has either been figured out (and the Ravens failed to anticipate this) or those two are only good against bad teams. I see two main ways to beat a passing offense: excellent receiver coverage or a pass rush that keeps the quarterback off-balance all game. Right now, the Ravens have neither. Recall that last year after beating the Chargers they tried to beat the Chargers the exact same way in the post season. That might have been what cost Mornhinweg his job, but Harbaugh should not have okayed that strategy: nothing works twice in a row. Taken with their lack of defensive corrections between week 3 and week 4, it suggests a strategic inflexibility which opponents will exploit. In the post superbowl era, there have been a lot of games where one unit (offense or defense) or sometimes the entire team, takes a quarter or a half off. Yesterday the defense took most of the game off, and the offense wasn't far behind them. That's a coaching problem. So my pessimism is, I feel, born of observation.
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Post by pickle20 on Sept 30, 2019 15:06:07 GMT -5
The defense looks like a mess...no debating that. They've allowed more than 1,400 yards of offense in the last 3 games, 2 of which were home. They've got some things to work on for sure.
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Post by Evil Yoda on Oct 1, 2019 11:35:06 GMT -5
The defense looks like a mess...no debating that. They've allowed more than 1,400 yards of offense in the last 3 games, 2 of which were home. They've got some things to work on for sure. Any future path to victory will involve putting a lot of points on the board - and Harbaugh has said as much. The Bengals O-line looked bad against the Steelers, but that was said of the Browns O-line and they gave Mayfield every second he could have wanted. Steelers might have trouble tackling; there were some bad efforts in the highlight reel. I don't think the Ravens can beat the Steelers on the road. They might manage a victory against Dalton, but he has given them fits when they had a good defense, so 2-5 going into the bye is a real possibility. (Zero chance they can beat the Seahawks on the road.)
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Post by pickle20 on Oct 1, 2019 11:36:21 GMT -5
The defense looks like a mess...no debating that. They've allowed more than 1,400 yards of offense in the last 3 games, 2 of which were home. They've got some things to work on for sure. Any future path to victory will involve putting a lot of points on the board - and Harbaugh has said as much. The Bengals O-line looked bad against the Steelers, but that was said of the Browns O-line and they gave Mayfield every second he could have wanted. Steelers might have trouble tackling; there were some bad efforts in the highlight reel. I don't think the Ravens can beat the Steelers on the road. They might manage a victory against Dalton, but he has given them fits when they had a good defense, so 2-5 going into the bye is a real possibility. (Zero chance they can beat the Seahawks on the road.) I'll bet you a 6-pack they don't go 2-5.
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Post by guido2 on Oct 1, 2019 12:40:23 GMT -5
As Yogi said; Deja vu all over again.
Or somebody said; If you hear a lot of hype...it is just that hype.
Having come from the NY area sports/reporting and coming here I noticed one thing. In the NY area if something is reported..like this team will be tough defensively or this receiver is really good...for the most part you could take it to the bank.
I noticed down here ….like in the case of pop-warner secondary....if they say they are great....they are just the opposite. Same with the O's....for years we have heard...the defense is great and they suck...the pitching is great...and they suck and so on.
These next few games are going to be really telling of that there is no doubt. But I gottah bad feeling that the Ravens are in for an O's 2018 season.
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Post by Evil Yoda on Oct 1, 2019 18:41:27 GMT -5
But I gottah bad feeling that the Ravens are in for an O's 2018 season. Yeah. They look mediocre on offense and horrendous on defense and it does not appear that Harbaugh and his team know how to fix it. And maybe they just lost too much talent. Supposedly, DaCosta wants to rearrange things so that in the future it is easier for them to keep young talents than it has been. They've got a few years to do that before they have to pay Lamar.
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Post by guido2 on Oct 1, 2019 18:53:05 GMT -5
But I gottah bad feeling that the Ravens are in for an O's 2018 season. Yeah. They look mediocre on offense and horrendous on defense and it does not appear that Harbaugh and his team know how to fix it. And maybe they just lost too much talent. Supposedly, DaCosta wants to rearrange things so that in the future it is easier for them to keep young talents than it has been. They've got a few years to do that before they have to pay Lamar. The next 2 games are going to be interesting on a number of levels.
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Post by pickle20 on Oct 1, 2019 21:36:51 GMT -5
I didn’t take EY for a Debbie Downer.
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Post by Evil Yoda on Oct 2, 2019 16:15:44 GMT -5
I didn’t take EY for a Debbie Downer. Usually, I am not. But that game Sunday... they basically put a Pop Warner defense out there. And they know it, based on the restructuring taking place this week. I do not see a path to victory unless they can fix those problems. The Browns did the same thing the Chiefs did, and it worked. In other words, Harbaugh and Roman did not anticipate a team copying another team's successful tactic, and make appropriate changes. I expect the Steelers to basically do the same thing, and Rudolph will pass successfully, and they will leave Pittsburgh losers. The Bengals are quite bad, but even in years when they have been good Dalton has been able to pass successfully. Against this defense, with no ability to cover and no ability to pass rush or run block? Another loss. And the Seahawks, after a cross-country plane ride, and with the 12th man going? That will be ugly. Hence, 2-5. If I had more confidence in Harbaugh, I would be more optimistic.
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Post by Hoot on Oct 6, 2019 9:44:41 GMT -5
I hope Wink taught the defensive line how to finish tackles this week. The offense was okay, Jackson needs a little more protection. Sure wish I was allowed to have alcohol for this one..
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Post by Evil Yoda on Oct 6, 2019 10:14:09 GMT -5
To win the game, Roman has to alter the offense to cope with defenses sending speed guys to harass Jackson. That means the O-line needs to step up. At the same time, Wink has to fix the defenses many, many flaws. This is not a coaching staff that seems to able to change - the Browns beat the Ravens using a lot of the tactics that worked for the Chiefs in week 3. The coaching staff failed to prepare for that. Similar to how it though it could beat the Charges the *exact same way* twice in under a month last year. We saw how that worked; even the Chargers were shocked that they knew exactly what was coming.
Today's game will give us a good idea how the rest of the season will shape up. Changes for more effectiveness will be reason for guarded optimism. More of what we saw in weeks 3 and 4 will mean we can expect very few wins.
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Post by Hoot on Oct 6, 2019 16:06:11 GMT -5
It took awhile but I'm finally breathing again..
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Post by Evil Yoda on Oct 6, 2019 16:14:37 GMT -5
It was a road win against a division rival; those are all good. But that's about all that can be said for it.
Second and third string quarterbacks gave that defense everything it could handle. Jefferson is down for the rest of the season and (if the rumors about his LCL are also true) perhaps much of next as well. For the third week in a row teams successfully pass rushed and harassed Jackson, suggesting Roman doesn't know how to stop it or they lack sufficient talent on offense to stop it. The defense was much better against the run. It was statistically better against the pass but looked bad, with Rudolph and third-string hitting guys no defender was anywhere near. Their pass rush is inconsistent, mostly poor. They have many problems and coaching seems mystified by these.
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Post by Rael on Oct 6, 2019 16:50:12 GMT -5
It was a road win against a division rival; those are all good. But that's about all that can be said for it. Second and third string quarterbacks gave that defense everything it could handle. Jefferson is down for the rest of the season and (if the rumors about his LCL are also true) perhaps much of next as well. For the third week in a row teams successfully pass rushed and harassed Jackson, suggesting Roman doesn't know how to stop it or they lack sufficient talent on offense to stop it. The defense was much better against the run. It was statistically better against the pass but looked bad, with Rudolph and third-string hitting guys no defender was anywhere near. Their pass rush is inconsistent, mostly poor. They have many problems and coaching seems mystified by these. Nothing you say is incorrect but in a down year for the division it can still be won by the Ravens. They may trade for Ramsey and that would help the defense significantly. Remember 2012. We backed into the playoffs and sure looked like a one and done playoff team. In this parity league, just need to tread water enough so if you get hot at the end it still matters.
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Post by Evil Yoda on Oct 6, 2019 17:20:49 GMT -5
Nothing you say is incorrect but in a down year for the division it can still be won by the Ravens. They may trade for Ramsey and that would help the defense significantly. Remember 2012. We backed into the playoffs and sure looked like a one and done playoff team. In this parity league, just need to tread water enough so if you get hot at the end it still matters. They can win, if they can harness a road victory against a division opponent to create some momentum. They could back into the division win with as poor a record as 9-7, if they can manage that.
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Post by Rael on Oct 6, 2019 17:42:21 GMT -5
Nothing you say is incorrect but in a down year for the division it can still be won by the Ravens. They may trade for Ramsey and that would help the defense significantly. Remember 2012. We backed into the playoffs and sure looked like a one and done playoff team. In this parity league, just need to tread water enough so if you get hot at the end it still matters. They can win, if they can harness a road victory against a division opponent to create some momentum. They could back into the division win with as poor a record as 9-7, if they can manage that. I break it down to 9-7 as an almost best case as well unless we sneak one by the Rams who can throw in a real clunker now and then or the 49'ers fade and have trouble with the East coast trip. If we get Ramsey for the second half of the season we could surprise some people. Probably not. Our defense is highly flawed but a shutdown corner opposite Humphrey could fix a lot of what ails us.
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Post by pickle20 on Oct 7, 2019 8:18:15 GMT -5
Just win baby.
Our defense obviously sucks and is a major issue moving forward.
Still have to hope that they can mitigate the disaster on that side of the ball while Lamar and Co. can get rolling to the point where they can win shootouts.
I think they can, get to 10-6 and have a home game in the playoffs.
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Post by Evil Yoda on Oct 8, 2019 13:06:44 GMT -5
The Bengals always play them hard even when they are down, as they are this year. Let's say they split that series, lose to the Seahawks, Patriots, Rams, 49ers and Bills. That's six more losses. They should beat the Jets, I don't know about the Texans. They might be able to split with the Browns, if they are very lucky and figure out how to shut down Mayfield. They ought to be able to handle the Steelers here. That's three wins and one dunno. That ends the season 6-10 or 7-9. If they manage to steal one from one of the likely losses they could manage 8-8, and that *might* get them into the post season depending on what the Browns manage - they got waxed by the Niners yesterday. They might be inconsistent.
But they will be bounced early. The Patriots will probably represent the division in the Superbowl again, although there are cracks showing in their offense. I'd bet Brady doesn't have that much longer before he can't do it any longer, at which point I expect Belichick (who is 67) will retire and they can spend a few years being bad. This year might be their year like the Ravens in '12, where (I believe) Lewis' impending retirement pulled from every player's deepest reserves to bring them a Superbowl victory. Certainly Joe never played at that level again.
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Post by pickle20 on Oct 8, 2019 13:19:50 GMT -5
Here's how I have the remaining schedule:
CIN - W @ SEA - L NE - L (everyone is on their tip as always but they've beaten one good team and annihilated 4 absolutely horrible ones) @ CIN - W HOU - W (giving Ravens home advantage here) @ LAR - L SF - W (HFA again) @ BUF - W NYJ - W @ CLE - W PIT - W
That's 11-5. I think 9-7 will win the division so if we lose to both HOU and SF at home, that gets us 9-7. I still say 10-6. I think they'll figure something out on defense and become at least average there.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 8, 2019 14:46:25 GMT -5
Here's how I have the remaining schedule: CIN - W @ SEA - L NE - L (everyone is on their tip as always but they've beaten one good team and annihilated 4 absolutely horrible ones) @ CIN - W HOU - W (giving Ravens home advantage here) @ LAR - L SF - W (HFA again) @ BUF - W NYJ - W @ CLE - W PIT - W That's 11-5. I think 9-7 will win the division so if we lose to both HOU and SF at home, that gets us 9-7. I still say 10-6. I think they'll figure something out on defense and become at least average there. I cannot really disagree with all of that. I could also envision them knocking off NE and losing again to the Browns, or maybe knocking off the Rams and losing to the Texans. Overall 10-6 seems about right to me, which would easily win the division this year. The only thing that concerns me is that the Browns back end of schedule is pretty easy, but they might be at 8 losses by then. Injuries are a factor - SF, if Juscyck(sp) is out they are going to struggle against the Ravens, though their front 7 could keep it close. I think the Buffalo game will also be close and low scoring, their defense is for real(but their offense is beyond putrid). They should sweep Cincy and Pittsburgh. Cincy is horrible on both sides of the ball. I think the offense (ranked #1 currently) is potent, and can score on anyone. Nobody has really stopped them yet - they've stopped themselves a bit at times, but for the most part they move the ball very well. LJ is the engine that drives this thing, and teams are scared of him - it shows in the game plans. We haven't had that at QB in Baltimore, well, ever, really. Flacco at times could get red hot and slice a defense apart, but they weren't game planning him - they were constantly taking away the run and making us one dimensional, daring us to beat them with Flacco's arm. Luckily Joe was just good enough to get that done more often than not during the first 7 years. Now we have a serious weapon, maybe a once-in-a-generation type weapon in LJ. People forget he's only played less than a full season's worth of games - he's going to make mistakes at times, but even in a game where he threw 3 picks, let's review: 1. Though it was a forced throw, there was very clear pass interference that absolutely should have been confirmed on review, that caused the interception. I'm starting to wonder why they even have the reviews for this if the officials in New York don't want to overturn anything(thinking it's NFL politics involved). 2. The long pass to Boyle was perfectly thrown to where only he could catch it, and it went through Boyle's hands. It wasn't an easy catch, and the defender looked to disrupt that slightly, but I digress - the ball was again clearly trapped and not caught - as stated by Mike Pereira. How this isn't overturned was ridiculous. 3. The other interception was both a terrible play call and Lamar's fault, he telegraphed the throw and didn't see the defender breaking off of his man and stepping in. Can't make that throw young man! He'll learn. He's a fast learner. I have a lot of confidence in Lamar when the game's on the line. He's got that look about him. The defense on the otherhand has some problems. Some of it's correctable, such as missed reads and blown coverages. Getting Jimmy Smith back should help. Signing Jalen Ramsey on the otherhand would REALLY help, and probably change their trajectory. The other major issue is the pass rush. There could be some sellers in the next couple of weeks, so the Ravens might have some opportunity there.
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