Filmstudy

I wouldn't say he disrupted the play, but he did what he was supposed to do in zone coverage and demonstrated awareness. 1. He covered the crossing route. 2. Passed his man to Orr in zone coverage 3. Found the QB's eyes 4. Leaped, but came up short on the ball. I don't think you can honestly say he altered the throw. However, we certainly know how much that sort of lane awareness can be valuable from watching Ray's career here and he's shown that skill at OLB the pass that he either batted or altered to the right sideline in PS2. But if you're pointing out that I forgot a good coverage play from ILB, you're right.

Correa has been solid at OLB. He had a good edge hold that allowed Jimmy Smith to come up and make a tackle in game 3 and turned a play inside to Henry in game 1. He had a QH in game 1 that went unrecorded in the Gamebook and altered 2 passes (at least 1 a PD) in game 2. He's done less playmaking than Judon, clearly, but his progress is in line with expectations. One thing we haven't seen much is him dropping to coverage. I'll be looking for that in game 4, when he should get plenty of snaps. Correa hasn't played many snaps at ILB. In each game, he's played perhaps 3-5 without checking by play. I can't recall a play he made from ILB. An oddity is that Correa may be competing with Levine/Orr for snaps. Why? Because Pees must make a passing-down choice between the nickel and dime. If the Ravens play more dime, it means CJ Mosley will be the only ILB on the field lined up next to Levine and the front 4 gets very crowded and competitive for snaps. Orr will also play some passing downs in the nickel which makes it more unlikely Correa will see time there. The best 4-man PR front is probably Suggs, Jernigan, (ZSmith or Judon), Dumervil, but that's also a situation when Urban can wreak havoc with his height or Willie Henry could be disruptive. I'm sure they will find a way to get Correa on the field in more than a special teams role, but don't be shocked if he is inactive some weeks. Correa's best chance to get on the field is to focus on his edge-setting skills, because the Ravens can use help there: --Suggs was a HoF run defender when he was last playing regularly, but even in great shape I don't see him playing more than 70% of snaps. --Dumervil needs to return to a pure situational PR role to maximize value. --Judon's edge-setting has been mixed in PS. --ZSmith was supposed to be a good edge setter, but he undershot the mark as a rookie. --McClellan is the next best after Suggs, but he may occasionally be inactive as he was 3 times last year. So Correa's best chance for snaps as a rookie may be in a 2-down role.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say "neither". Reynolds has a very slim chance to make the team, but he's going to need an injury to another receiver, IMO. I don't see any reason the Ravens would want Asa back unless they thought he can play corner. If he couldn't the last time they had him, I doubt they'll find anything on tape indicating he can now. The Ravens have the cap space to sign a high-profile player, but they also need to think about signing players like BWilliams, Wagner, and Juice who will be UFA after the season.

I agree. They have 2 decent length projects on the outside, Price and Canady. One of those needs to become a useful CB by next season.

Davis is clearly no worse than "1st man up" with an injury to any corner spot. I hope he's not the extent of the Ravens useful depth. As to starting over Wright, I don't see it happening for several weeks if it's due solely to ineffectiveness. If Davis were to replace Jimmy Smith for 2 games and light it up, Shareece could be out of a job when Jimmy returns.

I need to go back to my notes for all 3 games to give you a grounded opinion. Will probably be later tonight.

Yes. I'm most surprised by his mobility and ability to combo. That's much less in a tackle's job description. Also, watching Hurst try to pull from LG was painful (see 3/1 and 4/1 in PS1 vs. Panthers if you have the video still), but Lewis moved well and got a piece of a block on both pulls vs. Lions.

I've posted notes for the offense if you are interested: http://russellstreetreport.com/2016/08/29/filmstudy/ravens-lions-offensive-line-grades/ Of particular note was the play of 3 offensive linemen: --Stanley had his 3rd straight outstanding game despite 2 partial pressures. He's now allowed 1.33 pressures, 0 QHs, 0 sacks, and not been penalized in 80 PS snaps (approx 1.3 games). It's no wonder he's PFFs top rated rookie so far. --Jensen was nearly flawless with 4 highlight blocks and just 1 negative event. --Lewis had some terrific highlight blocks (6!) and showed good mobility, but had another tough night in pass protection.

The great Ravens defenses have all had big contributions from a dime. Under Marvin Lewis, with the legendary 2000 front 7, they still managed to run 34.5% of the snaps with 6 or 7 DBs on the field. The last 3 years under Pees, that number is just 2.3%. Why is that important? Because vanilla nickel has made this team one of the easiest defenses to game plan against in the entire league. Levine has been practicing for the dime role this summer, but in 3 PS games to date: --Panthers: He played 18 dime snaps as anticipated --Colts: The Ravens were short at nickel, so he played SCB and the Ravens didn't play any dime --Lions: The team was down 3 safeties with Webb and Lewis sitting and Elam's injury, so Levine played exclusively safety and the team again didn't play any snaps with 6+ DBs. His aggregate contributions have been outstanding this preseason, but the last 2 games, he's been in roles dictated by emergency. While he has the talent to fill in at other positions, I hope he'll be able to stay as the dime for the entire season, because that is where the team needs him most schematically and they don't at present have another player who fits the position well (Elam was the backup, Onwuasor might be the next most logical).

If everyone is healthy, I think we'll see one of Z Smith or Judon move inside on passing downs, so the 4-man front might be Suggs/Jernigan/(ZSmith or Judon)/Dumervil. Whoever can best command a double team with a big first step (like McPhee) should move inside, because getting multiple sets of shoulders turned will create a mess of opportunities for other one-on-one matchups and stunts/free runners/green dogs. Sam Adams, Rob Burnett, Trevor Pryce, and Pernell McPhee are the 4 Ravens players who did that best.

This is a cool way to do this, but it looks like you want to cut more than 15 (I count 27, including IR). Part of the issue with these cuts is the team needs to figure out who to keep in order to get through Thursday's game with minimal chance of injury. Houston, some of the backup OL, Wilson, and others are more likely to be kept now to help accomplish. I expect the Ravens will play Thursday with somehwere between 38 and 50 players (of 75) seeing action.

Boldin was effectively released due to his cap number when he and the Ravens were unable to agree on a lower salary. The 6th round pick was a small amount of salvage value from the 49ers. If memory serves, the Ravens used the selection to take Kapron Lewis-Moore.

I left Smith off the list, because he's a sure starter. Here's what I noted: 1. The DPI (Q1, 9:38) was a little ticky-tack, but costly. It looked worse at the stadium than it did on the TV replay angles, because he clearly did not look back for the ball and made contact with the receiver. 2. I liked his gamble for the PD/INT (Q1, 0:43), but the throw was perfect and the receiver made the toe tap in bounds. Good play, bad result. 3. He made the first contact on the 1-yard FB screen L to Burton (-5 + 6 YAC, Q2, 12:58) and got primary tackle credit. Good play, but I look at good run defense more than a play on a pass. 4. He took advantage of the edge set by Correa to make a tackle for no gain (Q2, 2:48). Again, good play versus the run is not why Smith is so well paid. He wasn't tested often in 32 snaps (that's good news), so combined with the above I still have trouble giving an unqualified positive to it. Smith's performance in 2016 is a little like Pascal's wager (on the existence of God). We have to hope he'll be there, because there simply is not another option.

Here's how I scored Ronnie Stanley vs the Lions: 33 Plays 29 Blocks 2 Missed 5/6 pressure (1/2 + 1/3) 0 QH 0 Sacks 0 Penalties 27.33 points Raw score: .83 Adjusted score: .89 (In this case only adjustment is .06 for difference between Ansah/other assignments and replacement level) Grade: A (.87 is A- at tackle) He was backed up by Ansah (Q1, 12:15) for a pressure shared 3 ways with Wagner and Lewis. On the following drive, he and Lewis failed to negotiate a stunt and were both backed into Flacco causing a hurried throw (Q1, 8:02). On both pressures he stayed between Flacco and his assignment while giving ground. As I have it scored, he now has 3 partial pressures allowed (1.33 total) in 80 scored snaps and has not allowed either a sack or QH. That's more than 1 full game and an A overall. He didn't have a highlight run block, but that's about the worst thing I can say about him. My piece on the offensive players will post tomorrow on RSR. The piece on the defense is up now if you are interested: http://russellstreetreport.com/2016/08/28/filmstudy/preseason-game-3/

My notes on the defense will post this morning on RSR, but I want to highlight a couple of players who don't seem to be getting any love for their pressure. Brent Urban had a big game using his height in the pass rush. He flushed Stafford once with a hand up in his face. He knocked a pass back to him that doesn't count as a PD, because the pass was completed to Stafford for a loss of 9. He also had a PD/QH combo which fell incomplete and was signaled as tipped by the official, but did not get recorded that way in the Gamebook. He played 26 snaps total. Henry also had 2 pressures and 1 QH as I scored it in just 16 snaps. The Ravens had Webb and Lewis sit, so Brooks played the entire game at safety and looked pretty bad with 2 missed tackles (31 extra yards). Levine, the ultimate utility player, did not play any dime, but moved to safety to plug a hole after moving to nickel for a similar emergency last week. During the regular season, I expect he'll play dime, which I think best matches his skill set. However, I am fearful that since Elam's injury, the Ravens don't have an obvious replacement for him at dime if he gets hurt or Pees decides he needs Levine more at another position.

I agree with this comment. Offensive line play in particular is all about minimizing failure rate over a lot of individual trials. A punt returner, by juxtaposition, can be cut for fumbling once, because there are many fewer trials. Unfortunately for Jensen, he made other mistakes Saturday among 37 total snaps (a little less than 65% of a normal game).

I looked back over my scoring to see how exceptional it is to have not allowed a pressure in 47 graded snaps (a little more than 2/3 of a typical game). In the past 3 seasons, Ravens tackles have had 7 such full games with less than 1 full pressure as I scored it: Monroe (2013 Pit W7, 2014 Ten W10, 2014 Jax W15, 2016 SF W6) Wagner (2014 NO W12) Hurst (2014 TB W6, 2014 Cle W17) The results have been terrific and I'm really excited about his future, but it's pretty clear from the data above we'll need more snaps to be convinced he's a Pro Bowl talent THIS season.

I'm guessing you saw the same thing I did at practice last week when Thomas Hammock lit into Dixon for poor pass blocking in one of the 11-on-11 drills. I don't think you get that kind of reaction unless you give the coach some flak or show a lack of interest/attention. The "coachable moment" went on for more than a minute.

I don't see it exactly this way. 1. In the year Pitta is cut, the Ravens are going to take a cap hit. 2. He's 31 and the chance of him being productive in a future year of this contract is low 3. Keeping him on the roster costs a spot for someone else 4. The Ravens have the cap space to cut him now. Those dollars can be pushed forward to next year, but keeping Pitta eats this year's cap charge plus next year's dead money if you keep him. After Bmore-Ravor checked my math, he reminded me of restructure for Pitta which lowered 2016 salary to $1M , so the 2016-17 cap hits for Pitta under each permutation: Cut in 2016: charge of $6.6M dead money over 2016-17 Keep in 2016, Cut in 2017: Cap charge of $3.2M this season + $4.4M dead money = $7.6M Keep 2016, 2016: full cap charges of 3.2M + $7.7M = $10.9M (However, Brian points out 2017 salary might be renegotiated down to trim this number). So even if you look at this as a 2-year cap issue (since they have money this year they can roll forward), there isn't a ton of savings for a cut, it's really about the roster spot and/or desire not to waste the one IR/DTR trigger.

I thought I'd share my comments on the 2 QBs now that Harbaugh has stated there is a backup QB competition. Johnson, Josh: What’s not to like? The ball came out quickly and accurately. He was a threat to run and converted two long 3rd downs with runs for 18 and 11. He threw a ball under extreme blind-side pressure for a gain of 17 and took a big hit to do so. On the 2-minute drive, he eschewed the run and passed the Ravens up the field efficiently finishing with the gorgeous touch pass to Butler for the TD. He was the Ravens offensive MVP. Mallett: He had 6 completions for a modest 47 yards, but that included 45 yards after the catch (YAC). However, he threw an on-target deep ball for Aiken that helped generate a 41-yard DPI (Q2, 13:01) which should be included among Ryan’s successes. He was knocked down twice in 8 non-penalty drop backs. After watching Josh get 1 or 0 reps per practice segment day after day at camp, I have to say it's amazing he could orchestrate a drive like he did in the 2-minute drill then come back and run the offense differently (with his legs as a major threat) when he returned in the 2nd half.

Me too. Perhaps they can alternate series or quarters for the last preseason game so one guy doesn't play exclusively with or against 2's or 3's

Looking at Powers' combination of: 1. Most recent injury (no idea on type or severity) 2. His play in both preseason games 3. The failed conditioning tests to start camp, which are regularly coupled with increased injury risk 4. The flashes from Davis (game) and Young (practice only) at SCB I think it would be quite possible the Ravens cut Powers if his contract does not make that difficult. Looking at Brian McFarland's outstanding contract details, however, I don't see Powers listed. Does anyone know term and signing bonus details? ***Edit***: NM, I found the contract, it's a 1-year deal for $1.75 million with $750,000 guaranteed, so the Ravens will eat $750,000 if they cut him unless that guarantee is conditional upon him making the roster.

Reading on Twitter that Perriman is still not cleared for practice and must pass his conditioning test.

Very cool change to the IR rule. That will be very helpful for this team, with several injuries pending. I also like the idea of releasing Pitta under injury settlement and resigning him after week 1. That used to be done routinely for veteran players with no real market (I'm thinking T Erik Williams a few years back). I don't think any other team would sign Pitta, nor do I believe he would want to sign elsewhere. Are there cap considerations?

I'll be interested if they use the "short term" IR slot on him. You only get one unless they have changed the rule.