RailBird

For me, this is the game in which Flacco has to prove he hasn't completely lost it. If he continues to struggle against one of the worst defenses in the league he's obviously not in good enough shape to play.
I know that our O-line is playing bad and that our running game is struggling, but the number of under/overthrown passes to wide open receivers and the number of ill-advised passes is killing this offense more than anything.
If this once again continues this week, by all means, give the ball to Mallett. Just give it a try.. If that doesn't work either, fine, but at least you've tried everything to spark this offense.

Jeez, it's his 4th ever NFL game. Most Left Tackles barely see the field in their first season. Let alone be the starting LT from day one. He'll get better. I'm just hoping this foot problem won't become a lingering issue..

I have a lot of respect for this defense and they played a really good game. But let's be honest, those final 10 minutes were scary. Those 2 TD drives were way too easy for the Steelers. In that first TD drive the Steelers were pinned back inside their own 15 on 3rd and 21 and managed to get the first down. That's the kind of play that you just can't let happen.

Joe actually has one of the better sliding techniques I've seen from QBs.. I think most fans immediately knew this had something to do with his knee brace.

Elam's speed alone should make him the better choice at safety over Webb. The way he played in the preseason before getting injured was very promising. And don't forget, we have Weddle back there as well now to provide veteran leadership. Something we didn't have when we drafted Elam.

Let's just wait and see how we look after our bye week before making these kinds of predictions. If we can somehow destroy the Steelers, maybe that I'll buy into it then. For now, ending 7-5 after the next 5 games would be a dream come true.

The fact that a kicker is our mid-season MVP pretty much sums up what's wrong with this team (and in particular, the offense). Don't get me wrong, I like Justin Tucker and I'm glad that we have him, but your kicker should not be the (mid-)season MVP.

Let's just hope he can continue to play like he did in the preseason. After struggling early in his career he actually showed improvement during the preseason. He obviously won't be the new Ed Reed, but it's almost impossible to be worse than the way Webb is playing at the moment.

Flacco is playing scared and uncomfortable. He's holding on to the football way too long (which can also be blamed on wide receivers not getting open, ever) and seems to have lost whatever was left of his pocket presence. The amount of under or overthrown balls is just insane, especially to wide open receivers.
Like I said in an other article. Maybe just try a start Mallett after the bye and see how that works out. It's close to impossible to make things even worse and you can get a good look on where the problem really lies. If he can somehow get this offense going it's clear that Flacco is not healthy enough to play and if he doesn't we at least know it can't all be blamed on Flacco's mediocre play.

I think we need to start Mallett after the bye just to see what he's capable of with this team. Nothing bad against Flacco but he looks extremely uncomfortable. Whether this has something to do with last year's injury, this year's injury, or the team itself, don't know, but it's hurting the team. I've never seen him throw this many inaccurate passes to wide open receivers before. He also seems to have last whatever pocket presence he had left.

Just for the team's sake, start Mallett. He can't be any worse than the way Flacco is playing at the moment. If it doesn't work, great, now we know it isn't on the quarterback. If it does work, great, now we know how we can win games.

I just hope Flacco doesn't start feeling some pressure after his mediocre start and force himself to play in Sunday's game when he shouldn't. The last thing he wants to see right now is Mallett putting up big numbers.

Elam hasn't impressed anyone so far in his time on the field, but neither has any of our current safeties other than Weddle. Elam at least showed some improvement in the pre-season before he went down with the knee injury.

We don't need a playmaker like OBJ, we need a secondary that's able to prevent players like him to make such plays. Other than Weddle and Smith, we have no one back there who's even remotely capable of covering someone.

The most important thing that needs to happen is getting our running game going and sticking with it (something that Trestman repeatedly refused to do). It will get the pressure off the O-line, it will give Flacco more time to throw and will improve the offense as a whole.
Don't look any further than the opening drive against the Redskins. Perfect combination of running and passing and the result was one of the most promising TD drives I've seen all season.

So I guess the whole world will know that we're planning to run the ball more and pass down the field on Sunday.

If Flacco can't stay in the pocket because of our pitiful O-line, how are the receivers going to have time to get down the field? And what's going to guarantee that they catch the ball once they do?

Actually making use of the running game will give Flacco the time he needs to find an open receiver. He had more than enough time to pass during the first offensive drive last sunday because the Redskins had to be aware of the running game.
The reason why Flacco was pressured so much and why our WRs couldn't get open is because the Redskins defense didn't have to worry about a running game anymore.

You can want to throw deep but if your o-line can't keep you upright for more than a second, it's not gonna work. Seems like the Redskins went man-to-man yesterday and none of the Ravens WRs could get open (during that 1 second before the pocket collapsed), so that's got to be sorted out too.

Part of this problem was abandoning the run. Everything went smooth during that first offensive drive. We made it very easy for the Redskins' defense by passing on pretty much every play. It's a lot easier to defend against the pass when you can blitz on every play and not worry about a running game at all.

It's the playcalling that is slowly destroying Flacco. They had an amazing first drive with a combination of running and passing the ball. Then suddenly they just decide to abandon the run and it all goes downhill from there.
We have all these speedy WRs on the roster but all they do is run some dumb routes that are too easy to cover resulting in short passes for maybe 3 yards or screen passes for loss.

Just because we haven't heard of these guys doesn't mean they suck. Scouts have been watching these guys for ages, studying tape and what not. I'm pretty sure they know what they're doing.
If they really think someone like Myles Jack or Noah Spence would've been a better choice they would've picked them when they had the chance.

He played surprisingly well during the second half of the season. Looking at our other options currently on the roster I think it would be a good idea to keep him and look for another CB early in the draft.

His close friendship with Smith could create some friendly rivalry that motivates them both to perform well.

Just let Clausen start the final 3 games. He looked really comfortable considering the circumstances and played a surprisingly solid game. He showed good pocket awareness, made adjustments and completed some difficult passes against a very good defense. Sure, he threw an interception, but also stayed cool while setting up a field goal before time expired in the first half. Might as well use the next 3 games against some of the better teams to evaluate his possibilities as a backup for next season. He definitely didn't look worse than Schaub.

Considering he's only been here for 3 weeks, the offense he's thrown into and the opposing defense I'd say he did a really good job.

Something needs to be done about these officials. Not only did they take away our win against Jacksonville but this is once again a game with a very questionable outcome. The fantom PI call, not flagging the late hit on West, and spotting the ball completely wrong are just a couple of things that denied us another win.

Oh well.. just throw it on the seemingly endless pile of disappointments this season.

I hate how we could've been 6-6 if it weren't for these godawful refs.

I guess one of the "positive" things about losing this many key players is that you can get a good look at a lot of different players and how they can keep up in a regular season game. Great opportunity for guys like Clay and West to prove that they deserve a spot on this team heading into next season.