balfan23

Yeah - I'm not a huge fan of the hysterics after a good play is made ... but at the same time, I understand guys trying to get the fans and the rest of the team whipped up after a good play. The taunting call in and of itself is an absolute joke and is so freaking arbitrary. I mean, we're down to now flagging words between players. Really? Just stop it, NFL. Nonetheless, I understand that, if that's what the league is doing, then players need to toe the line no matter how stupid the rule is. Still - I don't want to put too much negative on Timmy. He was one of the top Ravens going into this year that I said needed to live up to his hype. This was supposedly a 1st round talent we got in the 2nd and I had yet to see it. The guy has been a force to be reckoned with this year and I think the fact that he has emerged bears more notice than a relatively weak taunting call.

At least I hope that is the case. I am sometimes stunned that there are guys who play the whole game who end up out the next week because something they played through on adrenaline catches up with them. No doubt - Brady is going to want to stomp us. We don't like each other, at all. I think Brady hears people say things like, we're one of the only teams that can play with them in their house and some have called us their "kryptonite" and he's dying to reaffirm that they are the only true elite team in this conference. It is going to be tough, but as you say ... if we're healthy and we can continue to play well, we've certainly got a shot.

@BigUgly did at least say, "you can't argue with the results".

Not all passes are created equal. The pass game we incorporated today ... so many of them were really like runs. Short over the middle ... tackled in the field of play, clock keeps ticking. A really high percentage pass can effectively work like a run. It gets the ball into the hands of a play maker in space. Many of our drives were still at least somewhat time consuming, so we were still keeping the opposition's offense on the bench quite a bit. But yeah ... if I agree I don't think going hurry up through the game and having Joe live in the shotgun isn't a recipe for a win in Foxboro.

I know that has been the conventional wisdom, but DEN only has a 1 game lead on us and MIA is now behind us due to head-to-head. I suppose you can point to our difficult schedule, but DEN doesn't exactly have a cake-walk to finish the season. MIA finishes at BUF and hosts NE. A 9-7 team can still make this thing and it isn't that far-fetched. Time to start working that ESPN playoff machine!

They've been saying there is no way that the AFC North is getting more than 1 team in. I'm not so sure. If both these teams keep up their current level of play, it could be that the one that doesn't take the division could still land a WC. Broncos up only one game on us and NE, KC and OAK remain on their schedule. If we win enough games to close this out to be in the hunt, we'll be in a good position with respect to tie breakers, as we'll likely have a better conference record than DEN and now have the head to head vs. MIA. .

... and now that you mention Stanley ... wow, he was perfect today. It was kind of fun to watch him at LT and Tunsil at LG and just see who would outshine whom. But absolutely to be getting that kind of play out of a 4th round rookie? That's insane. 1st round rookie CBs usually struggle. Young is just playing with such confidence. What an absolute steal.

I think we need to work on more plays that are specifically designed to get him the ball in space. Today's play was a glimpse of what he can do and why we drafted him.

The Good: The list is too long. Flacco looked like a different QB and the D was clicking too. In the spirit of having to pick a single standout ... I'm going with Pitta. Dang ... I'll be the first to admit I was ready to pronounce him dead. He wasn't having enough of an impact in the pass game to warrant being the blocking liability that he is. But man, what a game he had. You have to feel good for him. The dedication, hard work and the pain he had to endure to make a comeback is something few people can fathom. He's got to be on cloud 9 right now. Feel really good for him. The Bad: Well, it was too bad the D didn't get the shutout they deserved. The one black mark on Pitta's otherwise fantastic game cost us the 0, but what a game by the D. Timmy is Bad *** so perhaps that can qualify as an entry in this category. The Ugly: No winning ugly today ... I've got nothing for this category. Absolutely nothing.

Man, I'm just dying for this guy to break out and show he can be a play maker.

2 of the 4 items that were related to health. I'd throw in a 3rd. Doom. Suggs can't do it all. We really need a pass rush to complement the excellent run D and the solid, but not great, secondary. That allows us to pick up wins, without the offense setting the world on fire. We can say that the offense needs to progress, but I'm not holding out hope that there is going to be a sudden light going on. We need a dominating defense to get to the postseason and to make noise there. Really, with a healthy Jimmy, Doom and O line, we can become road warriors. Without them, I don't see it happening. Expecting all your key players to stay healthy through the season is a lot to ask for, I know. But for us it is the only path to success. We just don't have the depth required to weather through any key injuries.

Nope. Said it was a bad call to decline that penalty 2 seconds after the decision was made. Didn't need to wait until Monday morning to say it. If I remember correctly, the one that Harbaugh accepted moved the ball from the 20 to the 30 (or thereabouts). I just remembered thinking they were still in FG range even after the penalty. I'm pretty sure these were 2 different scenarios.

Fair enough ... I probably should not have cited that one in my response. However, you must admit - that one penalty that Lewis declined has been the type that has cost us 3 points on numerous occasions this season and they drive me nuts. And the penalties at the end of the game very nearly sunk us. It took an impressive final series by our defensive front swatting down balls and Doom strip sacking the QB to get the win, where a clean finish we would very likely have had a comfortable win rather than a nail-biter.

Well, I know if I were coaching the Bengals, it wouldn't have even been a thought. And it is not just me ...We've had that same scenario more than once this season. The opponent took the penalty and we've punted. Yeah, maybe we put it inside the 10, maybe we don't. I'm not going give my opponent 3 points and with the way Tucker is playing, I was confident that he was going to make that kick. If I'm holding a lead - sure ... I'll let them settle for 3 ... but I'm already behind against a team that struggles to get points and their best way to get points is on the foot of their kicker.

Great: Forget good ... let's talk about GREAT ... which is what Justin was. But then, do you really need to be told that? Another "great" was our run D. They've been just that in most games this year. Good: Pass rush ... at least toward the end of the game. That needs to be a little more consistent and hopefully will be as Doom gets his legs under him. I guess you could say the secondary was good, considering the loss of Jimmy. O line was also good ... nice to see them have the same group on the field for 2 consecutive games for a change. Bad: Offensive rhythm. Not sure why we abandoned the no huddle. It worked so well to start. I understand you can't do it every possession, or you may end up looking like the 2015 Eagles. But once they got stagnant ... go back to it. Ugly: Penalties ... sigh ... SSS puts us out of FG range if we have anyone not named Justin. Then we have a penalty that should have put him out of range (Thanks Marvin). Then we finish the game with a pass interference that kills our drive before it gets started, get an illegal hands to the face on D that cost us 3 points and then a block in the back on the kickoff that puts us inside our 10. Without those, there is no nail biting. I'd say we need to stop it, but at this juncture, it seems like we'll have to continue to overcome it, because it is become like death and taxes.

Yeah - he definitely did us a couple favors. I couldn't believe he declined the penalty that would take us out of Tucker's range. When he called TO, I thought they were stopping play because we threw the challenge flag. Nope, he just was giving us an opportunity to get a better look. I'm sure Bengals fans were not pleased with Marvin in that game. Not sure he'll be gone, but that was not good.

Yeah - perhaps I was a bit dismissive of Aiken. What I really needed to say is, that if we're going to be using SSS and Wallace so heavily, I don't want to see Aiken taking a lot of snaps from Perriman. I think developing (or at least trying to develop) Perriman is a high priority. Since we are a contending team, though, we have to also do whatever it takes to get the W. SSS has been a spark plug and I can't see sitting him down until the playoffs, because if we do that I don't think there will be any playoffs. He definitely did not have a good game this past Sunday and I think it will be good for us to take some of the focus away from him, but not sit him.

I'm not going to make any statements on exactly who we should draft in 2017 for the O line, just that we need to draft for the O line as one of our key positions to build on. We have to be out of this mode where, if any one of key guys gets hurt, we've got big problems.

So, Marvin explained why he declined the penalty ... because it was 57 yard FG that barely got across. Barely? Not sure what kick he was looking at. When we committed the penalty, I was livid ... here we go again, neutralizing our best scoring weapon with another penalty ... feels like we've been doing it all year. Then I saw he declined it. I said to my son, "Declined? Are you kidding? Doesn't he have any idea who he's dealing with?". Apparently not. Eisenberg said in a previous article that it was time we stopped treating Tucker like a normal kicker. Glad that Marvin decided to treat him like a normal kicker in that situation.

... and there is no way he was in total game shape yesterday. I think as the weeks go on, as long as he doesn't suffer a set-back or other limiting injury, he will start getting his timing and stamina back up and could be fresh to finish out the season. Judon has been a nice surprise for us, but we need Doom now to get this pass rush up to what it needs to be.

I'm going with Stanley. Just from the standpoint of the drop off between him and his substitute. I know it is tempting to pick Young - and I'd say he was the best value pick of our draft. If we have Jimmy, but Tavon is out, the secondary will take a bit of a hit ... but our O line was a wreck without Stanley. I'd say he's the 4th most irreplaceable player on the team, behind Joe, Siz and Jimmy. You could even argue 3rd over Jimmy.

Another of the many items we need going in our favor if we want to make it to the postseason this year. Doom needs to return AND be effective. Lack of pass rush - or at least the inconsistency in that part of our game - has been a big issue.

Barring injury, I think this is the o line configuration we will see for the remainder of the season. As we've seen through the year, we simply don't have the backups to sustain injury on that front and not suffer significantly. If this season is to be a success, I just don't think we have a chance if we can't keep this group together on the field.

I've been of the mind that the penalty problem hasn't been about "mistakes". It has been about overmatched players on the o line who couldn't handle their assignments, got worked and held out of desperation. Now, I know we killed a drive vs. the Cowboys with an unnecessary roughness penalty, but that was simply a guy blocking a defender who was still engaged in trying to bring down the ball carrier. I guess he blocked him too hard .... but I have a hard time calling that a mistake. So - the hope is that the o line is going to stay in its current configuration and simply play better, because of having better personnel. That alone may take care of the penalty issue.

IMO, it wouldn't hurt my feelings if Aiken never saw the field. We need SSS and Wallace out there as our experienced wide outs, but Aiken is not our future. Perriman - well, he may not be our future either - but there is only one way to find out. He needs more reps and we need to work in plays to get him in space. If nothing else, it is clear he is a dangerous weapon and we need to develop that.