Weave

The problem is defense. Offense has issues (like not enough speed.....hello Perriman)...but the dominate one is giving up too many leads due to defense. We don't have enough of a pass rush w/ Suggs out. They were counting on Suggs & Dumervil to provide that. Elvis cannot do it all himself & the loss of Suggs decimated the pass rush. W/ no pass rush - the opposing QB's have all the time in the world most plays and our secondary stinks. Its just flat out poor. They didn't have any cap so they went out and got who they could afford vs what they need to bolster the secondary. It hasn't worked. The secondary for the most part has been an issue for years. I trust Ozzie - EXCEPT when it comes to secondary personal. CB's are notoriously hard to find and groom from the draft.....and the veterans want big $$. My suggestion going forward is to clear the cap space and go for the veterans - because w/ the sole brilliant top notch exception of Ed Reed (who pretty much ran the secondary for years) - our draft history w/ secondary stinks. Go for the vets going forward. As for this season - it will be long and painful. And next season will be a rebuilding one. We're in the rebuilding phase boys & girls - just like in the late 90's when we gave up so many leads due to defense.....we are there again. Have to rebuild it. Sucks.

Unfortunately the salary cap prevented us from upgrading the secondary as much as needed - instead opting for what we could afford. With no pass rush - the QB's have too much time and with our secondary - they are lighting us up. Apparently Suggs was the entire pass rush. Our line is good defending the run - but w/o a decent pass rush it isn't given much credit. I can remember the early years when Vinny Testaverde was QB - the offense was putting up a very healthy # of points - just to lose the game in the end. That forced Ozzie to go on an almost exclusive defense building binge in the draft. This year reminds me a LOT of those times. Ozzie had to concentrate on defense w/ the draft for 2-3 years to change that......and that's probably what we're looking at now...2-3 years of struggle while we rebuild the defense. Frustrating - but after so many years winning I knew eventually the fall apart & rebuild phase would probably hit us. I guess it starts now.

I'll wait another couple of games before passing judgement - but at this point my initial impressions are: 1) I'm not impressed with Trestman's play calling or schemes. I thought we were supposed to continue w/ the running game and build on Kubiak's success. We have the same O line - yet we're not getting the run production. That = poor play schemes. Something is amiss there. Pass plays will improve over time as Flacco gets comfortable more w/ new receivers. Right now their timing is blatantly off. 2) I trust in Ozzie except when it comes to defensive secondary. With the exception of Ed Reed who is top notch HOF caliber - the Ravens secondary has historically been average at best and typically poor. This year is no different. Without Suggs and a decent pass rush - that will = opening up opponents passing game and therefore put more pressure on the secondary which Oakland epitomized. I'm sorry to say that w/o some secondary improvement - there may be quite a few more Oakland games this year and we may be A) losing games w/ our defense (something not seen in a LONG time) and in the early stages of a dramatic defensive overhaul going forward. Time will tell....