RavensBaltimore

There literally is not a single professional analyst who thinks Jimmy shouldn't be 1st string. He is by far our top corner, and there is a major drop off without him. Did you read the LWF article today? Our defense ranks #1 in the NFL when he's on the field, and #27 without him. Our pass defense is dead last without him.

Smith has said in the past, without being asked about it, that he prefers "calm", and that he loves playing with a qb with Joe's demeanor. He referenced a play in his first game here, where he dropped a pass, and came back to the huddle expecting to get chewed out, and Flacco simply called the next play. He also mentioned a time in his first training camp where he was yelling at Joe for not getting the ball, and Flacco simply responded, "get your depth." He raved about Flacco's leadership style and calm confidence, and again, he wasn't asked about it. He completely brought that up on his own. Sometimes an emotional outburst is just that - an emotional outburst. It doesn't mean Steve Smith has any issues with Flacco.

I don't think the Dolphins game was an aberration. You're overlooking a lot of factors. Since the bye, our line has been better and healthier, SSS is healthier, Perriman is starting to develop into a weapon, and Dixon is making plays. On Monday, we just got outschemed and failed to make adjustments. The offense hasn't scored consistently, but they have been moving the ball much more consistently. We have had very few 3-and-outs recently, which is a major improvement from the beginning of the season. With a healthier, more aggressive offense, I think the offense is capable of playing well against anyone. The biggest question is if our coaches can make adjustments faster than they did in NE. Remember, the Dolphins game was the first one where it looked like our offense had an identity, so the coaching staff is still getting used to the adjustments other teams are going to make against us, and the pats are the best in the league at scheming for teams.

I'm not acting like anything. I'm saying, with almost undeniable factual evidence, that the location of the game is an absolute gigantic factor into whether we have a realistic chance to win. The home/road splits in the Harbaugh era lean drastically in one direction. If it was semantics that the location of the game doesn't matter, then said home/road split differential wouldn't exist, because there isn't a particular lean in the direction of quality of opponents in home vs road games... that's relatively flat over time. And for the record, when you say "The fact is that, almost every year, including this year, we beat the Steelers and lose to a sub .500 team the week before or after", you clearly didn't bother to fact check this, because its not accurate even a little bit. It happened this year and last year, and there's obviously some added context to both of those situations. This year, we beat Pittsburgh at home. That was coming off a bye week, and we dominated Cleveland the following week. We lost to the Jets on the road two weeks prior (which I'm sure you will somehow attempt to argue is semantics, though its clearly not, since it again fits the mold of exactly what I've been saying). In 2015, we beat Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, sandwiched between home losses to the Bengals and Browns. That's great, except for the added context that it was an OT win against a Pittsburgh team led by Michael Vick, which is kind of a big difference. When we beat them at home later in the year, it was sandwiched between losses to two playoff teams. What you said happens "almost every year" didn't happen in 2014, 2013, 2012 or 2011... and then I stopped looking for obvious reasons. This team hasn't been the kind of team that plays bad at home and then plays well on the road week-to-week. That's the major difference here. One of the key reasons why a team like Baltimore or Pittsburgh looks different week-to-week is a ton based on whether they are playing at home or on the road. Pittsburgh is an unbelievably different team at home than on the road, and frankly, so are the Ravens. Since 2011, our record against the Steelers at home and on the road is about the same. If we can dominate them at home(it was 21-0 before we played prevent defense) after losing to the Jets, regardless of where it was, it's not "unrealistic" to think we could lose to phi and beat Pitts at their place, where we have won our last 2, and most of our losses have been extremely close. I never said Home/Road games don't matter. I said they aren't the end all/be all. And yes, you are arguing semantics. Overall, we are a better home team than road team, but most of the games against Pitts and Cin have been so close that we had a REALISTIC chance to win or lose the vast majority of them, home or road, no matter how well or poorly we played the week before. You can look that up, and you'll see that it's true.

In the NFL there's no such thing as separation, only separation you get is from a busted coverage. How many times Thursday night did you see Brady throw the ball with the corner or safety all over them? The touchdown pass when he zipped between 2 defenders come to mind, with about 20 more passes along with that. You throw your WR open, it's the NFL not college. Brady completed a lot more passes to open receivers than he did to well covered ones. The 2 biggest plays, the 79 yd TD, and the 61 yard catch and run, where they had a RB one on one with Mosely, were easy throws to WIDE OPEN receivers. The pats use their scheme to get receivers wide open all the time. There's a reason their backups are so successful when Brady goes down. Their receivers get consistent separation.

You just described losing a ROAD game to a bad team and then winning a HOME game against a good team the next week. In this case, we would be losing a HOME game to a bad team and then winning a ROAD game against a good team. 2012 isn't a very good example of this, because there's like 4-5 weeks between those two games. We don't have 4-5 weeks to right the ship from a home loss to an inferior team... we have 7 days. I looked back a few years and don't really see any instances where we lost a home game to a team viewed as inferior, and then subsequently went on to beat a better road team the next week. You're arguing semantics. The fact is that, almost every year, including this year, we beat the Steelers and lose to a sub .500 team the week before or after. Some of those wins against pits were on the road. You're acting like where the game is played is the end all, be all. It isn't. The Jets are a horrible team no matter where you play them. And the 2012 example is legit despite there being 4 weeks between games, because we have often seen a drastic difference from one week to the next with this team. The specific details you picked out don't change the overall point that this team can look horrible one week and great the next, and vice versa, and the same is true for Pitts.

I mean technically yes. The issue is that if you can't beat Philly at home, there's really no rational reason to think you're going to beat Pittsburgh and Cincinnati on the road. I'm not saying we will technically be eliminated from playoff contention, because I don't believe we can be eliminated even if we lose and Pittsburgh wins. Its more of a "realistic elimination" in the form of we're not a good enough team to do what we need to do to make up the ground. In regards to your first paragraph, that's not how it works. We lost to the Jets, and we beat the Steelers in our very next game. In years past, we have beaten a very good Steelers team, then lost to a sub .500 team the next week. In 2012, we got blown out by Den at home, in Dec, and we beat them at their place in Jan. So, if we lost to phi, that doesn't mean we can't turn around and beat pits the next week. I think it's a moot point though, because i think we'll beat the Eagles.

Are you aware that our only 2 losses since the bye were to the top 2 teams in the league, on the road, by 10 and 7 points? A couple of our wins since then were against 8-5 teams. Yet you act like it's so irrational to think this team is capable of beating the Eagles, Steelers, and Bengals. Fans are seriously overreacting to a loss.

Wow...pretty harsh about someone who won a Superbowl. That was Then, This is Now. Joe looks like he could give a crap when he plays now. Besides so did Trent and what happen to him? Fans were saying the same things then. In December of 2012, fans were bashing Flacco, saying he's terrible, should be benched, can't win a SB, etc. I bet you were one of them.

Wow...pretty harsh about someone who won a Superbowl. he was elite for 4 games and that was 4 years ago. since the big $$ he has been a tad better than kyle boller and with that money you need to carry a team on your back like brady and the other top dogs do. i still believe we should see what we can get for him in a trade and free ourselves from that contract. brady showed fire and passion last night and the team responded. joe and the offense play with no fire or passion until it is too late. Flacco didn't get his contract because he was elite for 4 games. He was offered a big contract before that SB run, and he was once again the best qb in the postseason in 2014, and he would have been in consecutive SBs if Lee Evans would have held on to a perfect pass. Flacco has been elite the whole time. You can give Brady credit for carrying a team on his back, but his team wins without him. They went 11-5 without him and had one of the best offense's in the league in 2008, and they were 3-1 without him this year. The Ravens were 5-11 in their last full season without Flacco, and last yer, we were 2-4, and we averaged just over 12 points/game without Joe, which was easily dead last in the league. Flacco does carry the offense. We have no run game, wrs who struggle to get separation and drop too many passes, horrible pass protection, and an OC who doesn't make adjustments very well. Without Flacco, we would struggle to win any games, even with a great defense. Before Joe got here, Baltimore was a place where a qb's career came to die. We hadn't won a playoff game in 7 years. Flacco and the team as a whole have had a ton of success since then. Saying he was elite for 4 games is nonsense.

But it's so much easier to just blame the qb.

And for 6 of those 8 years, you watched Flacco lead the Ravens in the play-offs including winning a SB. SMH....Some people are just miserable pessimists ... and others still see the playoff Flacco of years ago when he utterly obviously isn't the same player now... Do you think that's closer to reality? I don't. Flacco looks the same to me. Neither his arm strength nor his accuracy have diminished. People like to bash the qb when the offense struggles, but the reality is that the there are too many drops and penalties, no run game, and we have never had an OC that makes good adjustments. Despite that, we still have a chance to make the playoffs. Our only 2 losses in the last 6 games have been to the 2 best teams in the league, on the road, by 10 and 7 points.

Is it possible they're throwing to Perriman less to avoid having to pay him? Giving Osemele the opportunity to thrive last year proved to be a major loss for us. No, it isn't. Perriman is not in a contract year. If you try to limit your players' production to avoid paying them, you're not going to have any good players.

I totally get your frustration and feel it too but that has everything to do with receivers not gaining separation, and not Flacco sucking... It's QB 101 -- if no one is open down field and the pass rush is in your face, hit the check down, scramble, or throw away. The problem is you cant get a first down with three check down passes in a row -_- and that's on the OC because it's an offensive design flaw or it's on the WR coach b/c the receivers are not running routes well. Also, here was Flacco's stat line, given there was no run game and the Pats were dropping 6-8 guys into coverage, he actually did pretty well. 37/52 (71%), 324 yds, 2TD, 1INT (laziness by Wallace and questionable no PI call), 92.1 QBR. Oh Joe was sucking despite what the misleading stat line says. Had it not been for the gifted TOs he would not have had the 2 tds. Offense could not stay on the field for more than 4 minutes. There were receivers open on some plays. Plus with a zone you can hang in the pocket and wait for the soft spots. Remember Mattison???? Joe is too anxious and is hurting us. There was no running game because coach hardhead neglects to run. And have you seen a two minute offense from Joe? It's like watching grass grow. My frustration is that the same problems occur and that we are not getting better even 14 weeks later. Pats have less skilled players than we do yet they contend every year due to exceptional coaching. You say the statline is misleading because of the TOs, but you completely ignore the fact that the int was a pass that should have been caught for a 1st down in NE territory, and Wallace dropped another deep pass after that. Had the receivers not dropped so many passes, we would have had scoring opportunities without those TOs, and Joe wouldn't have had any ints. I agree we had too many dump off passes, but that's better than forcing it into coverage when no one is open, and when Joe did throw down field, he was accurate. Also, NE has a good redzone D, so converting those TOs into TDs shouldn't be taken for granted. The offense was given great field position, but nobody let them in the end zone.

When we convert our turnovers into TDs, we were given a "gift" that we didn't earn. When the Patriots turn a blown coverage into an easy, uncontested TD, with a guy running down the middle of the field without anyone near him, then Brady is "carving up the league's best defense." The Patriots helped us out with mistakes, but we gave them a lot of help as well. Hester killed our offense multiple times by not fielding a punt, which resulted in a safety. The int went right through Wallace's arms, and we had several uncontested drops. We had a bunch of pre-snap penalties.

The interception literally went right through Wallace's arms. Wallace also had another deep pass go through his arms and bounce off his chest. We had way too many check downs in this game, but when we did throw it down the field, plays were there to be made. We just had too many drops. I think we should throw deep to Wallace less and Perriman more. Perriman goes up and gets the ball with his hands. Wallace does not.

I'm very skeptical of Harbaugh's claim that Hogan wasn't Elam's responsibility in coverage. Elam was lined up directly across from him. What else would his responsibility have been on that play if he wasn't supposed to cover Hogan?

That looks like the most likely scenario. Hopefully we can get them at our place in the postseason for once.

The opposite is true. All this means absolutely nothing if the Ravens DO take care of their own business. The only way any of this will matter is if the Ravens don't take care of their own business.

A wildcard seems unlikely since the Ravens are still 2/3 games behind the 3 AFC West teams. Gotta beat Pittsburgh or they're done. Unless Rex makes something happen today. The Ravens are only 1 game behind Denver, who's final 3 games are against teams that are all 9-3 or better, so while I'd strongly prefer to win the division, we'd have a great chance to get a wild card spot if we lose to Pitts and go 10-6, and possibly even 9-7.

As many accolades as he's received, I still think Suggs is underrated. Not many pass rushers get to 100 sacks. Sizzle not only did that, but he is great at stopping the run as well. Plus, we've seen him jump into passing lanes and make plays. Look at how much the entire defense drops off when Suggs isn't on the field(last year), or when he didn't have his explosiveness in 2012.

I think a wet field can actually favor the pass game. It's easier for a receiver to keep his footing because he knows where he's going. A defender doesn't know the route and has to quickly react, which makes him more likely to slip. Plus, Joe has the arm to zip passes through any weather conditions. I don't think we'll have to rely on the run, but if we did, I have no doubt that our RBs are good enough. They have both showed good burst and power. It's the run blocking that I'd be concerned with. The O-line has shown recently that they can pass protect for an entire game, at least when we speed up the tempo and get rid of the ball quickly, but they haven't been able to consistently open up holes in the run game all year.

In the postseason matchups, Joe has 9 TDs and 3 ints, and Brady has 6 TDs and 8 ints.

Amazing. Even when we score 38, Ravens fans still want to run the ball more. Other then a few drives, running the ball has been holding this offense back and killing drives all year. I said before the game that we need to stop trying to run the ball and put Flacco in a hurry up offense out of the shotgun, and I was obviously right. During the game, the announcer said our offense was among the league's best in the last 2 mins of halves this year. I wonder why? Now that the pass protection has improved and the receivers are healthy, the offense could be very good if they continue being aggressive and avoid getting conservative. Are you serious? Running the ball would keep Brady on the bench and wear down their defense. Whats killing the offense is bad blocking and penalties. Nobody in their right mind wants to get in a shoot out with Brady the best QB this generation has seen. Did you watch the last game we won in NE? We tried running on every 1st down in the first half, and we were down 13-7 at halftime. In the 2nd half, we stopped running, put the game in Joe's hands, and we blew them out. We got into a shootout with Brady and dominated. Also, we have not kept other QBs on the bench by running the ball. Running the ball has kept OUR offense on the bench. Passing it has kept us on the field recently.

What I don't understand is... why did Miami not adjust!? Curious to see what BB does this week, can't imagine he will just allow the middle of the field to get gashed like that. Why not force Wallace and Perriman to make the downfield sideline catches, no?? challenge them that way rather than running free across the field I think the first half against Miami was similar to the second half of the 2012 AFC Championship game. After Flacco had completed 3 deep TD passes down the sideline in Den, NE had their safeties playing back and Flacco carved them up with intermediate passes to Boldin and Pitta. As far as not making adjustments, in both scenarios, we scored 3 quick TDs, so by the time they started thinking about adjustments, we were already way ahead. Just my guess.