Minionhunter

Hester is just plain afraid now. If he has room he can be dangerous but his fear on close ones is compromising his judgement on easier ones and he is pressing and screwing that up when nothing is there. A little better than Jacoby at the end.

Dixon is a rookie and too fluky right now to be the feature back. Thinking otherwise is a big mistake. This was morearwig trying to prove his dominance over Joe. The safety was pure ignorance in knowing who your power running back is.

Yes, I noticed that too. Wallace should have caught that ball instead of letting it flush through his arms to the defender. Very frustrating game to watch. I'm glad others are seeing this. A lot was on the receiving corps and backs letting Joe down. Also giving up on West to force things through Dixon has been stupid. Dixon had a bad night despite a stronger second half. The first half Dixon had is not forgivable in that type of game. West must have done something to get in the doghouse.

I don't believe either of them. Yes Eric had to get back on him, but Elam blew the initial coverage causing The Whole thing in the first place. I just don't know why they keep covering for Elam.

Even if Harbs isn't lying about Elam and I think he is covering for him, he was still the reason that TD happend, if he wasn't responsible his slip made someone else have to cover his guy and opened up the play. Also, how many games must Hester cost us before they cut him? Finally, what did West do to land in the doghouse? He has proven his ability, Dixon is still fluky and should not be the feature back yet. That safety happend because it was Dixon and not West.

The Steelers looked good because the Bills are a bad team with lots of injuries on defense. While Rex knows the game plan for the Steelers, the Bills don't have to face them two times a year, every year. Plus it was a snow game and those can get freaky, fast. I'm not worried about Christmas, I'm focused on tonight.

Every broadcaster seems to be a Pittsburgh cheerleader.

Both teams are going to need their passing game to work in order to win because that's were the flaws lie in both defenses. If Joe is throwing like he did against Miami, then the Ravens should win. Ask anyone who has studied this from both ends.

Actually their defense isn't doing too well since they got rid of a couple key players seemingly for spurious reasons. They have played crappy teams the past three weeks (jets gave up 17 points, 49ers gave up 17 points, rams gave up 10 points in Goff's first game as a rookie). On offense TB, Bennet, Amendola all injured, and Gronk is gone.

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. Also, the Partiots defense is the worst against the pass. When teams come gunning for them trying to be balanced, they loose. When they open it up against them, then the Patriots suffer. You are totally right about the weather and what works. The Viks Ravens game was a textbook for that, defense suffers trying to cover and adujst to speed guys. Watchout for Kraft manipulating the TV timeouts again....

Weather report for the game, current forecast says Snow with rain and ice late. They seemed to have decreased the amount of snow they are predicting from yesterday, but still bad conditions.

The weather for Monday currently is forecast for 38 with Snow and rain in the pm with ice late. It can change on a dime up here, but it should be interesting.

I just meant that we ought to focus on improving the offense as opposed to trying to squeeze a few extra points out of long kickoffs. I'm totally with you there. I just like the potential new twist, gimmick or not. At one time the 2-point conversion was a gimmick.

Umm, I'm all for getting more points from TD, but please enlighten me as to when the Ravens have been known for having a high scoring offensive identity.

I've seen other kickers do it, not often, but I haven't seen Tucker do it but a few times either. Again, I think Denver and dome teams would benefit more than us (after that Mexico games due to extreme elevation, and warm weather teams after October would then have the advantage), I think Baltimore would be one of the worst places to try this due to the stadium being at or slightly below sea level.

The defense is allowing goal tending (currently illegal on FG and PAT) on the kickoff point try, and you get the ball at the 25. You could even say you get the ball at the 35 if you successfully goal-tend the ball. The shots will likely be low due to the distance. Also you apply any penalties on the previous score (FG or TD) which would make them mean something instead of being virtually meaningless now. There is a lot to this than initially meets the eye if you think about it.

I don't think it is soft at all, unless you are pretending the current NFL game is what it was 20 years ago. I don't even think the Ravens would benefit the most, that would likely be Denver, dome teams, and whoever plays in Mexico.

Yeah, I think most people noticed Elam out there, not looking too good. Notice Weddle is praising Webb and not Elam. I've often thought that you should get a point for kicking off through the uprights, mostly since I've seen Tucker do it a few times over the years but I never thought anyone would suggest it and I was just wishing. PFF had an article on it yesterday, it would add more excitement and more gamesmanship than "just a point". Add in allowing goal-tending on the possible kick and it is now a competitive play and likely would lead to fewer injuries. http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2016/11/29/ravens-propose-a-bonus-point-for-kickoffs-through-the-uprights/ This game is not the game played in 2000 anymore, I don't think anyone pretends it is, so I'm in favor of trying it out and seeing how it goes for a year. I really like it. Now if we could still see great defensive games with lots of big crushing hits in every game, I might think otherwise, but that won't ever happen again so I'm in favor of seeing what happens.

Thank you to all the positive comments, I think we have a real shot still and would rather be in this situation than Cincinnati's situation.

I would hazard a guess that they are trying to see what they have in Elam before the end of the year. But yeah, Elam does not look good. Elam hasn't looked good in a while. Never clearly made the transition to the NFL. Another wasted first round pick... Better it is a wasted Mr #32 than Mr #6...

I would hazard a guess that they are trying to see what they have in Elam before the end of the year. But yeah, Elam does not look good.

The commentators up here are looking at this game of Ravens vs. Patriots as their toughest left on the regular season. The Pats defense is falling apart, Gostkowski has missed kicks in at least 7 games this year, and based on the their play vs the Jets this week where they barely squeaked out a win (vs. the lowly Jets) Bill does not trust either his kicker or his defense. Plus Brady is hurt and that is significantly effecting his play and he is afraid that Garapolo will take his place. The patriots game is very winnable for us and I like our chances.

Omar, it wasn't horrible blocking, that demeans horrible blockers, it was more watching while someone runs by you while not touching him. lol

We weren't down two scores until 11 minutes left in the game. And yes, you definitely abandon the run at that point. Running the ball accomplishes literally nothing. I've grown weary of explaining this Jacket, I'm glad you can keep at it, I fear most are lost on this point. Sunday was the litmus test for intelligent analysis of games. I think that some people either are just looking at the most superficial stat lines or they don't understand how truly debilitating the penalties were in crippling our ability to use the run. Some games they have abandoned the run, mostly under Trestman, but not this past Sunday. The exception might be for those who think running the ball should take place on all downs and distances. If that's the case, then I guess they are right, we didn't commit to running the ball to the exclusion of everything else.

You forgot Pitta's recent pass rusher blindness syndrome in the TE corps injuries.