Cowboy fan! I read these boards prior to this game and actually tried to sign up Saturday to respond to some posts. Now when I got home from work last night my email had the confirmation so this morning I decided to post some enemy thoughts/insights.
Pretty disappointed to see a lot of Raven fans (actually most) blaming officiating for the loss. I do agree that Carr (CB #39) did hold interfere/hold in the EZ. Totally not called/missed. There are phantom holding calls every game and holding can be called every play. Last week against the Stealers we had consecutive play calls on the O-line and a phantom call on a long run by Elliot. And yes, sometimes I feel we are targeted by the zebras. Can almost guarantee when we play the NY Gnats(in NJ) on Dec 11 our team will have to overcome such. On the PF against Zuttah(sp?) the runner was locked up by 3 other tacklers and replacement SS Wilcox had stopped and was not engaging the pile when the O-Linemen drilled him. I absolutely thought there coulda been a personal foul on the Cow's 1st TD to Beasley when Prescott was contacted 2-3 steps after releasing the ball and then driven out of bounds and driven into the ground by one of the Baltimore LB's. Pretty dirty play on our star player and no flag. That's the game though. Long and short of it the game wasn't stolen from your team and its weak say so, 99% of the time, to blame officiating for a loss. Once in the while there is one call that directly takes away from the game. Also we , as fans, always see things from a different and many time jilted perspective.
Now, my take on the ebb and flow of the game. As I posted on the game time board I was engaged in I thought Baltimore brought the wood on both sides of the ball. Dallas adjustment shut down the Raven run game making Flacco throw which I thought he did well. Was really impressed with Wallace, #17, as far as speed and run after the catch. I think 2nd half adjustments made the Cow's offense start to click. Many on here blame your D but I think they just got out-schemed. Not necessarily a talent thing, maybe a depth thing though as your D wore down towards the end of the game.
Dallas' coaching staff has shown the propensity to play it conservative in the 1st half and change things/open it up more in the 2nd. Most of our games we've been behind or tied at the half then we distance ourselves from the opposition. This tactic prevents the other team from making effective 2nd half adjustments, One adjustment that allowed Elliot to become more effective in the 2nd half was he started breaking outside (especially on the offensive right side) with the O-line congesting the middle, setting the edge, and Zeke breaking outside making the safeties make the play. Your safeties are good tacklers. Another new twist was the use of Witten (TE) in the 2nd half. I don't remember him being targeted in the 1st half.
I also read lot of lamentations on CB Smith being out of the game being an outcome changer. You guys were aware our best CB , Mo Claiborne, and 5 year starting SS Barry Church both missed the game with injuries. Injuries are part of the game, it sucks as far as us fans are concerned because we want our teams to have their best shot at winning but that's not the way the game goes. Our starting left guard( La'el Collins ) and his backup(Chaz Green) are out for the O-line. I see Baltimore winning the AFC North if Flacco continues to perform like he did against us. I think the Stealers are not as strong of a team ... hell, we played both on back to back Sundays and the Ravens seemed tougher. Stealer defense is suspect and one of their TD's against us was pretty cheesey on the fake grounding play! Our 1st game with our patched up secondary too.
Good luck to the Raven team and fans
