law215

I want to put this out there for all the Harbs and “In OZ We Trust” blind loyalist. 1. Pass rusher was, according to Steve, the biggest need. a. However, they pass on Noah Spence, home grown kid Yannick Ngakoue, and don’t make a move for Irvin. b. Meanwhile Correa is drafted in the 2nd round, but can’t get on the field. c. He relys on guys north of 33 years old to run down QBs in the 4th quarter. Not smart. 2. The secondary has needed improvement for the last 4 years. What have they done? a. Cut Pollard who was an intimidator and knock out artist. Not every safety is the next Reed. You still need guys that can force fumbles and tackle. b. Offer Wright to a contract. Are you kidding me? The guy is a bum. c. Release Stewart, who is ballin for the Broncos. d. Cut Brooks who was their most physical safety. These pass weeks you can see Weddle is too small to get down guys. How can’t he knock down boney Antonio Brown? e. Waiting until the 4th round to draft a CB f. How is Elam on the team? Too arrogant to concede that his 1st round pick is terrible 3. Poor use of Cap and Talent a. Pass few seasons drafted Gilmore, Williams, Boyle. Already have Pitta, converted Waller and Brown to TE. Yet spend money on 35 year Ben Watson. Not a long-term plan. Sometimes I wonder if He and Harbs are on the same page. b. The Devin Hester experiment was a disaster c. Draft Perriman in the 1st round because he has speed. How many deep balls was he thrown? Slants, Screens, end arounds. If Campanero can get 39 yards, maybe Perriman with 4.3 speed get a TD. How many times he is on the field? I get that he is not consistent, but he will never be without opportunities. Can’t have a 1st rounder not part of the weekly game plan. d. I know Marty is the OC, but Harbs is the HEAD coach. Shouldn’t he walk over to Marty and say “Run the Ball!” e. I can go on all day about drafting receivers that can’t catch. 4. Identity Crisis, devaluing players a. I have never seen a GM that wins a super bowl then immediately blows up a team the way OZ does. Cut Dilfer for Gerbac. Didn’t learn from that and then cut Boldin, who is really a big part of Flacco playoff success. SMH b. Ravens use to be a power running team. Harbs hires his buddy Castillo, and the Offense line and run game have been terrible since. Flacco is an average QB (9 years of stats proves it), yet they lean on him instead of what has been successful for Ravens championship teams, the run game and paly action.

I agree with your point. The problem is that's not how OZ does business. Right now he is probably looking at other teams depth chart trying to predict which 30+ year old receiver is going to be cut. Ravens never have a home grown playmaking receiver. The guys they drafted high are Torrey, Mark Clayton, Perriman, Travis Taylor. What the Ravens need is the return of a power run game. The zone system with Castillo is not working. When Ravens were a championship contender 2008-2012 (even with 2000 Jamal Lewis), they had a Sam Gash, O Neal, and Vonta Leach paving the way for Rice or Lewis. Inside the ten yard line, they scored touchdowns, they pounded out first downs in the 4th quarter, rested the defense, and setup play action cause the defense FEARED the run game. This team does not run the well and not enough when Joe is just a good QB.

Five Thoughts have nothing to do with the players on the field because I think those guys play and try as hard as they can to win games. It’s the front office and coaching that’s the real issue with this team 1. Playmakers: Steelers have a HOF QB in Big Ben and perennial pro bowlers and superstars in Bell and Brown in their prime. What does Ravens brass do a. Rely on 37 year old Smith Sr to be a number one receiver. Even if he’s good, you have a limited window to be successful with him. b. Bring in 35 year Ben Watson when they have 4 drafted and 2 converted TEs on the roster. c. Have 3 young RBs and only run the ball 35% of the time. This is with a top 5 defense. No wonder they are worn out by the 4th quarter d. As I watch ball bounce off Perriman hands, watch Pitta being unable to make the spectacular on-handed grab, or Waller to complete the play in the endzone. It reminded me that these guys are good, but not the consistent pro bowl players to take them to the next level. Gronk, Brown, AJ Green, Graham, makes those plays 2. OC Coordination: a. Refusing to run the ball ultimately cost this team. Not only tonight but throughout the season. When Ravens were competing for championships, they had a respectable run game. They ran the ball as their bread and butter. Kubiak brought back the emphasis on the run and Joe had his best efficient year. Now it is just to trick the defense b. A 4th quarter lead on the road demands running the ball effectively. 3. OZ/DeCosta: a. Long list of draft picks not working b. Inability to keep young players in their prime. c. They let guys go to get more compensatory picks d. Draft for quantity not quality 4. Coaches: a. Would not be in this situation if not for head scratching decision in earlier games. It came back to bite the Ravens b. Pees prevent style will not slow down top teams. They have playmakers and will not make mistakes. He needs to improve. But I give him credit for having a top?? defense given the talent he has c. Marty. Where were the deep shots, crossing routes, red zone scoring. gotta go 5. Front Office: a. Last year mention missing the playoffs was a blip. But now that blip is 3 out of the last 4 seasons. Is this the consistency needed? b. Time to shake things up starting with scouts and draft philosophy and OC c. Call Norv or one of these assistants that know to bring back the run game. 28th will not get it done when Joe is your QB.

Ravens have a better run game than the Broncos and how about that Broncos QB. Kubiak is a good coach but not a wizard it takes players and coaches. Joe's may have had stat but he still was not a 4,000 yard passer. He was effective because Ravens leaned on the run game and not passing 45+ times a game. This season Joe passed 4,000 yards and Smith Sr. moved up on all time receptions list. But guess what, Ravens are not in the playoffs and Joe is not winning games. Ravens need to get back to the smash mouth identity. Then maybe they could score in the red zone and close out a 4th quarter lead.

Pees went into prevent defense mode in the 4th quarter and the defense got shredded. I think he over compensated for the lost of J. Smith. Wright can not give up the inside position on that play. 21 4th quarter points is unacceptable. Ravens have to do a better job scoring in the Redzone. Too many dropped passes. Bottom line is this team can play with anybody, but they do not have the impact players to close out game anymore. Suggs and Dumervil are older players who don't have the burst to be elite pass rushers anymore and the secondary is not good with Jimmy and very vulnerable without him.

Five Things to Watch 1. Game plan. Rivalry games are often determine by which coaching staff has the best plan to take advantage of tendencies, weaknesses, exploit their strengths. X-factor Pees. Take away Bell. He controls down and distance for Steelers. We know where Ben is going in big situations so we can scheme for Brown on those plays 2. Trenches: Bottom line is this is where Ravens/Steelers games are won. Can Stanley handle Harrison, Will the o-line play well. Can Sizzle, Doom, Judon, Jernigan heat up Big Ben, Can Mosley and Orr contain Bell. x-factors: Williams and Pierce can control the middle and Doom has fresh legs x-factor: Dixon Marty must keep them honest with running the ball. If he does , I think Dixon pops a big one todays 3. Miscues. Ravens must protect the football and don't beat themselves with penalties. Eliminate drops, bad throws, missed tackles, don't give up big play x-factor Joe. He should test their secondary deep. We can get big plays and PI calls with Wallace or Perriman 4. Field position: Ravens need to avoid too many 3 and outs. SPT need to kick and cover well x-factor: Tucker can make longer field goals than Steelers kicker 5. Situation. Ravens need to win 3rd down and redzone on both sides of the ball. The Ravens offense needs to stay on schedule and extend drive with TD. FGs won't win this game. X-factor Harbs. Just kick the darn ball or settle for the punt. no stupid calls today x-factor - Joe to Pitta or Juice to move the chains

I am really disappointed at the lack of bold confidence fans and media have for the Ravens. We beat those clowns 4 in row. No wonder the NFL serves them up on X-mas day figuring let home field and the old 70s team (which no doubt will be there waving the towel) . Here are reason why Ravens can win 1. Steelers secondary stinks and we love to pass the ball. 2. Ravens have more weapons. Yes Brown and Bell are big time, but then what? We have Pitta playing as good as he has since 2012, Smith Sr., Wallace, West , Dixon, Perriman is good for one big play. Joe is playing better than the start of the season. I have not seen the off the back foot throws. He plays best against the Steelers. O-line is healthy and consistent line-up 3. Healthy pass rushers for Ravens 4. Smith is out but so is Bryant for Steelers 5. The best defense and special teams win these games. We have Tucker and a solid coverage unit

That was earlier in the season. I say run screens his way and take advantage of his aggressive play. Run the ball at him, go hurry up. Wear the old man down.

Marty is not helping his case at all. The was is bad because no one trust the $120 QB, to protect the football. If it's was incomplete, it would have been a non issue. Joe must protect the ball no matter the call. He's turning into an OC killer.

Steelers and the arrogance of even their beat writers make me sick. Instead of giving the Ravens respect for winning 4 times in a row, they say Steelers were conservative. Keys Defense must stop run with front 7 and provide pressure with 4 or disguise blitzing. Last time Ravens plays Steelers the way Pats played us. Drop guys into coverage. The problem is Ben is smart enough to run against a 3 man front. limit them to FGs. Play great defense from 30 yards in. Offense: It's on Joe to win this game. Steelers are decent against the run especially if you are predictable. Offense must have protect football and move the chains. They need to prevent Harrison from finding the fountain of youth and give Joe time. Joe can't dink and dunk on this team. That what they want you to do . Hit middle, slants , and deep. Their safeties are terrible. Potential X-factors Campanero - return game/slot/end arounds Aiken/Perriman - 3rd receiver spot Dixon - catching out of backfield Waller - red zone Young - playing slot Orr - contain Bell Webb - deep zone Young and Orr are playing well on defense. Webb has been solid. He was placed at safety to prevent big plays over the top. They need his A game with Smith out. Steelers will test them deep. Smith Sr and Wallace will draw coverage. Aiken or Perriman could be huge. Steelers safeties aren't good at all.

1. On Joe: It’s time to start thinking about the Ravens future QB. Joe is not accurate, he does not read defense very well, and he is turning over the football. He needs everything around him to be in place in order for him to be successful (A good O-line, a good run game, a good OC, good receivers, vets to provide emotional spark, and a great defense to minimize the impact of his mistakes). The issue is his salary prevents the front office from having all of that in place at the same time. Either through draft or free agency, bring someone in to push him and look to the future. 9 years, 5 OCs, 0 excuses left. 2. On Coaching: I think Marty play called his way out of being the OC for next season. When your coach goes in front of the press and says ‘worst call ever’, then you are going to lose your job. I don’t give John credit for taking responsibility because he threw Marty under the bus while doing it. He talked about vetoing the play call. His staff should be smart, aware of the situation, and in sync with the game plan. 3. Defense: Eagles front man-handled the Ravens defense in the run game. That’s our strength and they shredded us on the ground. Williams, Guy, Jernigan did not make a case for breaking the bank to keep them after that butt whipping. It had nothing to do with play calling. Eagle’s offensive line just pushed them around. They need to turn it around. Teams that break the bank on DT do not do well (JJ Watt- Texans, Haynesworth-Skins, Suh-Dolphins). None of them managed to be a perennial playoff team or win a Superbowl. I hope we keep at least Williams, but Front office is already overpaying too many guys. 4. Front office: Too many 1st and 2nd round guys not making an impact on this team. OZ always rely on vets to keep team competitive to cover-up the poor drafts by him and DeCosta. First it was injuries, then lacking playmakers. This season makes me believe it has been the coaching all along. If the Ravens miss the playoffs, what will they say? 5. Ravens vs Steelers doesn’t get any better with playoffs on the line. Better coaching and QB play would have prevented this situation, but it is what it is.

If there is any silver lining in the way we struggled today against a sub 500 team, it's that we will go into Pittsburgh on edge. What worries me is that nearly the whole team would be playing with a chip on its shoulder except the QB. I thought they were "cranky" this week. So why did the defense fail to stop the run? Flacco's turnovers ruined at least a 13-point victory.

It's not an excuse, it's a search for an explanation on a ball that had no chance of being anything other than an interception. And if you were to think honestly and look back at history, you'd have to acknowledge that this not a typical Joe Flacco type of interception. He'll throw interceptions where a route got jumped, or he'll have an over/under/behind/in-front of off-target throw, right? But this throw was none of those things. It was just completely targeted to a spot where no receiver was running a route to. These are typically what we call "miscommunications" so that's the most obvious explanation, right? If you re-watch the play, you can see how if Waller ran a horizontal cut on that route instead of diagonal, then the throw actually starts to make sense. So, that's *a possibility* for what happened on that play. Rather than just calling it an "underachieving QB" why don't you watch the play and come back at me and explain how there is no possibility that this was anyone's fault but Flacco's, for X/Y/Z reason(s)? I'd love an actual discussion, rather than dismissal with no actual argument. I think that's fair. I appreciate your view. On the replay it appeared that he had made up his mind that he was going to Steve Smith. The problem was that that route that Steve smith ran was sniffed out pretty early and he had no chance, and yet Flacco threw it. SSS slipped on his break, otherwise he was open in the endzone. Timing play that would have been a TD but Joe should have seen the LB falling back. It's a hard read for any QB in under 2 seconds. Oh stop it! I see 3 defenders converging on the route. Joe is a dumb QB. Just because it was a bad call does not excuses his poor execution. Marty did call interception as the play. Joe is dumb and only looked good with vets surrounding him. He's the same guy that on 4th and 29 with the playoffs on the line, he threw a 6 yard pass to Rice. Same guy that consistently saw Polamalu line up on the outside and did not adjust protection. After 9 nine years and 5 OCs he's run out of people to blame.

This team absolutely refuses to run the darn ball. Almost a 3rd game lost by stupid decision. Then Peterson going for 2 and the Bungles blowing a huge lead at home. Its like I said before. The Ravens are flawed from coaching to front office and players, but so are the other teams in the NFL. Now it on the Steelers with everything on the line. Merry X-mas

Ravens will not lose the final home game. The x-mas day game will determine the playoffs and division. Ravens are a flawed team from the front office to coaches to players but somehow, someway find themselves in one score games. Can they make a play or two to be on the other side for the next 3 games? I am choosing to believe they will. Screw logic.

I heard on sports talk radio that receivers , when targeted, are 68% successful against Powers and 72% successful against Wright. I think the Ravens best chance for wins will be playing keep away by running the football. If there continue to be pass happy , the defense could be exposed.

Cause Kubiak understood the importance of committing to the run game. the run game was emphasized in practice and on the field. Big play came out of play action and the bootleg. Neither Harbs, Marty, or Trestman understand that or are capable of scheming it effectively.

1. Will the Ravens commit to running the football? Since the Pats defense dominated the Ravens by playing zone, Ravens will need to prove they will run the ball. 2. Can Ravens slow down Philly offense? Without Smith, I think any QB can give that secondary a hard time. 3. What will Campanero provide? 4. Which Flacco shows up this week? 5. Will the Ravens play smart? Dumb penalties, missed opportunities, and poor decision cost the Ravens at least 2 games this season. Fake FGs, accepting untimely penalties, blown coverages, are things Ravens did to beat themselves.

Considering how inconsistent the Ravens have played, they are fortunate to even be in the playoff discussion. The Ravens have 3 major issues. First, they have no identity on offense. They play like a team in preseason mode just trying plays without a game plan or the ability to adjust. They do not focus on the run which you should only do if you have a very good QB. Joe is an average that lacks accuracy and ability to read coverages. He will have a great game then a terrible game. That’s been him for 9 years. Another Offensive coordinator will not change that. The second issue is they don’t play smart football. They have a top 5 defense and a bottom tier offense. Yet they pass ball 70 percent of the time even when the RB are averaging 4-5 yards per carry. Harbs in-game decisions cost them a games against the Skins and Raiders. If they won one of those games, they would be in good shape for the playoff run. Last, OZ and Harbs has had some bad drafts and contract decisions. For example, Steve emphasizes the need for pass rushers and OZ pass on Noah Spence, to get Correa (an ILB) who can’t outplay Orr to get on the field. Why keep Campanero at all if you going to waste money on Hester? Maybe o-line or CB depth would have been better. Why not start Perriman to develop him instead of feeding Smith who playing his last year. They overpay Webb and J Smith who are inconsistent either due to play or injury. Yet, never have enough for young studs like McPhee, KO, and most likely Brandon Williams. Cut Brooks, who looked like he was improving during preseason, then bring in bum a safety to play special team. Steve needs to shake things up.. I sell. Too many other teams win 10 wins and Steelers easier schedule means Ravens come up short.

The fact that the Ravens played as poorly as they did and still only lost by 7 points gets overlooked. In fact, almost every game is close. Brady exploited a depleted secondary and Pats defense dropped 7-8 into coverage to force Flacco to make reads and accurate throws which are not his strengths. If Ravens can add playmakers to the secondary and rediscovered the importance of a power run game they are back in the hunt next season. This season, without J. Smith, Ravens will struggle against Steelers and Bengals on the road.

Hester's departure is long overdue. Waste of time. OZ needs ti stop trying to build a team with old men. By the time some of these young players develop, their contract is up and will get more money elsewhere. Campanero or Reynolds could have provided the same or better.

Five Thoughts 1. I Don't think the Ravens are that far away from being a contender. The Pats exploited their weaknesses (ie the secondary and Flacco). The secondary lacks true cover guys (especially when Smith went down). Also, they need a rangy safety. Brady diagnosed their coverage and shredded them. They adjusted coverages and front and had Flacco confused. 2. Flacco has to study more. This offense can not run through him. He does not read the coverage and adjust. This is probably the biggest reason for 3 and outs. After 9 years and 5 OCs, he still can't read a defense. Calls whatever play was called. Ravens have the pieces to shred Pats. Get a vet to push him 3, Where is the run game? Ravens carry 4 backs and rarely use them. SMH 4. Poor execution and penalties. Can't happen on the road against this team and expect a win. 5. Offseason priorities: Fix secondary, push Flacco and force him to study film and exploited coverages, add depth to o-line, and commit to the run.

Agreed. Dude looks like he wanted one more season of pay before he hangs it up. OZ gotta quit with this one player away mentality and getting vets instead of developing young guys. Campanero, Asa, Reynolds, could be on the field watching the ball bounce.

I think the game showed weaknesses of the team. Weddle w\is a good pick-up, but this defense still gives up big plays. Ravens need a safety with range. Lack of depth in secondary. We need another CB. J. Smith can't go an entire season without injury. CB,S should be offseason priority. Lack of commitment to the run game. Pats did what I thought they would do. Try to take Pitta away and cover up their poor secondary with dropping back. They rushed 3 a lot. Should have been easy to run against then get big plays out of play action. The problem is Ravens do not commit to the run. Flacco is a poor pre-snap QB. For example, when Pats d-line shifted, he should have checked out of the play, but he runs right into the strength of the defense and the result was a safety. If Pats only rushing three, then he should have time to do more than dump offs.

I think this game is a good test for the Ravens now and near future. How good are the Ravens? Where do they need improvement? What young stars are future keepers? Keys Win LOS on both sides of the ball Execute - no turnovers, penalties, missed opportunities Pressure/hit Brady Exploit average secondary and slow LBs? I assume Pats will try to take Pitta away. Butler will most likely be on Smith. So Wallace, Perriman, Boyle, or Dixon could be x-factors in the passing game. I would have cut Hester and promoted Campanero off practice squad. He is just the type of shifty receiver that can exploit a slow Pats defense. Hester has shown nothing to this point.