billiejean

Yea, the guy I was responding to was saying something about bringing in a third back. I was just reminding him about Buck. I agree that he doesn't bring anything to the table that KD or TW cant do but if one goes down he will do in a pinch. Its way to early to tell about Dixon and Young. I think Stanley. Pierce. and Judon are also going to be great Ravens. And hopefully KC will get in the weight room during the off season and live up to his draft status. But there have been plenty of players in the NFL that have had Pro Bowl rookie years that were never able to get back to that level. Its due to a lot of things but a big part of it is injuries. Im not sure if you want to bring Camp in just to do reverses or trick plays. He would have trouble getting any playing time as a receiver. You only are going to be able to do a reverse once a game anyway. The only way that we should bring him up is if he is going to take over return duties, which I wouldn't be apposed to.

Bucks hungry. He did well when we got rid of Forsett and KD was still healing. You can tell hes grinding though and is trying to contribute where he can. Sometimes hes a healthy scratch but he is a solid special team guy. He blocked a kick a few weeks ago.

You nailed it. I wasn't going to bring up Miamis zone until after the Patriots game, and only if our offense struggled during the game. Sometimes ignorance is bliss. But I am worried about the same thing, especially because it was such an anomaly. I have never seen our offense be so successful and at the same time be so unbalanced, and Miamis zone (extremely soft zone at that) had something to do with it. I am not taking anything away from Joe or the receivers because they were all on the same page and you could tell. Joe knew where the weak spots in the zone were (as did the receivers) and he was extremely accurate in leading the receivers to those spots, so they could gain yards after the catch. The TD to Perriman was a great example of that, and really almost every completion was a great example of that, even the check downs. The offensive line had the best game that it has played all season, which also contributed to the success of the offense. That said I still think the Ravens offense can and will be successful against the Patriots, but if people are expecting the same type of game plan that was implemented last week they are going to be disappointed. The offense is going to have to be a lot more balanced than what it was a week ago in order to be successful. And it just so happens that are OL is pretty darn good at run blocking, and we have two fine young running backs that will be up for the task. So when Joe isn't throwing it on every down don't think its because somehow the offense has regressed from last week. We took what the Dolphins gave us last week and we will do the same thing to the Patriots this week.

When you are the Defensive coordinator you have a "say" in the secondary. The secondary isn't autonomous.

i think a big part of the improved defense aside from health has been the addition of leslie frazier. i am sure he has had some involvement in the game plan and schemes I think it has more to do with the upgrade in both the players and player performance from last year. But, when things go well its because of Frazier and when things don't go well its Peas, Right? We have been a top 10 defense in every year that he has been here except for one. Interestingly enough that was the SB year. The guy is a good coach. The calls to have him fired last year came from people that clearly have very little understanding of the Xs and Os of football. There were even calls to fire him in the beginning of this year which is even more ridiculous. Last year we didn't have a consistent pass rush, and our ILBs, safeties and corners (even Jimmy) had fits trying to cover guys. Even with all of those weaknesses and injuries we still ended the season as the 8th ranked defense league, and thats pretty impressive.

There are times where PFF grading scale makes no sense and that would be the curious case of Jermey Zuttah.. Zuttah spent 6 of the first 8 games looking completely lost at times. When the oline was in shambles starting Hurst, Jensen and Zuttah there was plenty of times where neither Zuttah or Jensen touched a DL or LB , but hey if Zuttah managed to get a positive grade, I guess he blocked the air well. During multiple games we've seen Zuttah drive so far back off the ball that Flacco was stepped on by Zuttah. I'm sure he's had some good moments in there, but a consistently high level all year is an overstatement imo. If Zuttah's play at oline is consistently high, then players that have performed consistently high : T.Young, J.Smith, Jernigan, Wagner must be at an All Pro level then. You're right "consistently high" was an exaggeration. But the PFF grades for for all of Zuttahs games are a pretty accurate representation of his performance. The first thing is that the grades which I referenced are not cumulative. They are based on a players performance for that particular game. He definitely had a rough four games at the beginning of the year, and its not an excuse, but as you mentioned above, the Oline was a revolving door during the first half of the year. There are going to be mishaps when an OL hasn't had time to gel. Not to mention the fact that the replacement players are going to be a down grade from the starters, which also effects OL performances. The grades aren't based on just a handful of plays "Zuttah or Jensen touched a DL or LB , but hey if Zuttah managed to get a positive grade, I guess he blocked the air well". Every single play that a player is in the game for is graded. So "blocking air" for one play during a game doesn't mean that his overall grade will be poor. That said I would be willing to bet that he got a negative grade for the game that you referenced (blocking air). But I cant be sure because I dont have a PFF subscription. The key to PFF is that it is about every single play. It is unlikely that anyone focuses on Zuttah or any other O lineman for an entire game. But in order to evaluate a players performance, that is what you would have to do for the entire game. There are certainty flaws though. Each play is graded on a scale from -2 to 2. The two being the best and the negative two being the worst. I would argue that numbers don't accurately represent the damage that is done to a team when a player commits a penalty because the scale only goes down so far. Zuttah played really well in the Dallas Cowboys game. The only guy on offense that got a higher grade was Marshall. That said JZ committed 3 costly penalties that arent accurately represented in his PFF grade. I would argue that two of the penalties were unfounded, but they were penalties none the less and ended up being drive killers. The link below goes into greater detail of how PFF comes up with the grades. https://www.profootballfocus.com/about/how-we-grade/

Well you really don't want to do it too often. If you have 7 players blocking and Joe sitting in the pocket, that leaves only 3 players running routes. And if they only rush with 4 than there are 7 guys that are able to cover your 3 receivers. Very rarely are you going to want keep 7 players protecting the QB

When the Ravens keep 7 players at the line to block, and Miami only rushes 4, there darn well better be a nice pocket for Joe to settle into.

Zuttah has been tearing it up this whole season contrary to what many people on here say. He has been graded as one of the top 5 Ravens offensive players in 5 games. This included having the best grade of all Ravens offensive players against the Giants. So I really wouldn't say its his "best game of the season by far" because he has played at a consistently high level for the ENTIRE year.

I thought your premise regarding Joe went a little like this, "Joe is atrocious, I hate to sound like a broken record but the guys mechanics, footwork, release, etc.. are trash." That was only ten days ago and now your premise is, and has been all along, that he is still healing?

Fusuymada when will you get over this Urschel stuff. He is ranked as the 49th best gaurd in the league. He is a turnstile, and yes this is nuts, especially because Zuttah has been playing so well. He has graded out multiple times this season including the last THREE games. It is not like Urschel is a total unknown. He has had a chance to play both this year and last and he has been TERRIBLE !!!! I am not sure why you think that your prediction before the game would be considered nuts by anybody. You pretty much stated the obvious (Jay Ajai is going to have a tough time against our D line), which is what I am doing when I say Zuttah is killing it out there and Urschel has done nothing to make anyone think he should be in there. Even Jensen is better than Urschel but since he only plays gaurd they deactivate him sometimes.

I could be wrong but I don't think you can "inactivate" Moore unless he goes to IR. Otherwise inactivating him would mean adding him to the practice squad where other teams would be able to pick him up.

thanks OU I completely forgot about that.

The Ray thing happened like 3 weeks ago before the Cowboys game, I am not sure how much of a connection there is between the two events but It would have been nice if this offense showed up 3 weeks ago.

That may be true but he has not been a liability this season which is why your comments are off the mark. The fact that you didn't know he was playing safety and that he had an interception is troubling. Did you even watch the games? Or do you just copy and paste things that analysts were saying about Webb at the end of last year.

thanks, totally forgot about that rule

I am not trying to nitpick but has anyone questioned Harbaugh about the decision not to challenge the Pitta fumble? It obviously didn't change the outcome but I thought it was a no brainer. If we didn't win the challenge it wouldn't be a huge deal as there was no reason to try to save time outs. He looked a bit befuddled on the sideline after the play.

i very much agree. Big time players must make big time plays. When 30 players do it, this is what it looks like! The defense showed their butts and rightfully so they were a healthy starting cast! Our D is starting to become deep with young players. One stand out to mention would be Tavon Young! For a second I held my breath as I thought the injury bug was attacking us again! What a relief to see him in the second half. I strongly confess our D goes how Tavon goes? That's not to say he is our best D player but he makes it easy for our safeties to cover else where? Example (Webb covering behind Powers?) the results? Joe reading the I pad? the results? Joe talking to Wallace about mistake?I was impressed to see this and this is how you do it!. OC has added flavor to our O! Good job really want to believe history repeats it self from latter years and December brings us tidings of great JOY!!!!! Joe "reads" his ipad every game it just doesn't always make it to tv. You only see three minutes of sideline footage during a three hour game. To think that Joe doesn't talk to receivers about mistakes (among other things) that they have made is a bit short sited.

Good observation! Powers is a weakness. When they see him in they attack! But this can be a good thing because Webb should now know what to do always help over the top on Powers side? Never leave him one on one! wright is the same way! Now my little gem Young! Beasty Boy! I was scared when I saw him go down? Webb has been clueless for years now. And good corners are as hard to find as good quarter backs. Kinda like in base ball everyone needs starting pitching and in the NFL everyone needs starting corners. Very few teams have them. Hot commodity, better nail one in the first round or just get plain out lucky. Webb has been playing really well this season. He has a better coverage grade than Weddle. He has also been one the top five rated players on our defense for many games, including the last two. Did you not see that interception? It seems that you're not even aware that Webb isn't playing corner anymore. He is playing FS. There are plenty of good starting cornerbacks in the NFL that haven't been selected in the first round and even one who was undrafted (Chris Harris) who is considered to be one of the best in the game.

im not sure where you saw that but it must have been a typo. He measured in at 6'4 at the combine

I would love to see Marshall Yanda or any other offensive lineman celebrate a pancake block like a sack. I cant remember seeing an offensive lineman celebrate anything by busting a move, unless they pick up a fumble or catch a pass for a TD.

While I dislike Brady more than anyone, saying he isn't that good without Gronk is crazy talk. He was great before Gronk got there and he didn't miss a beat while Gronk was out due to injury. Are they better w/Gronk, no doubt. Thinking they're easy to beat w/out Gronk, is fool's gold. That being said, If anyone can beat them in Foxborougn, it's the Ravens. yea... and Martellus Bennett is pretty darn good too

maybe even for the first time in two season

Getting "hyped and raging" is a place you don't want to be before or during the game. Maybe after a loss. The boost in adrenaline will only be temporary and you will burn yourself out. All of that adrenaline will also make you loose your concentration and become twitchy, over pursue, or bite on the play action/ double move. I think Ray Lewis did those speeches before every game, but what happens when you are on defense and your team is set to return. There is no way you are going to be able sustain that "hyped" feeling until it is your turn to get on the field (RL speeches were more about creating unity (all for one and one for all if you will). Don't get me wrong . Most guys actually get anxious until they make that first hit. Some players like to bang pads with a teammate or a coach right before they go out but most keep an even keel. You can't control that adrenaline rush all of the the time though. Not even Ray Lewis could make a player get as pumped up as a player gets when the team makes a big play, even if it wasn't him that made the play. The sense of accomplishment is shared and the excitement is palpable its hard not to let it all out but, some guys really have to remind themselves not to get to high especially if there is another play that you are supposed to be a part of in the next 30 seconds. The bigger guys can really get winded if they are moving around and celebrating too much. It also can cause you to loose focus a la Khalil Mack and Justin.

Jack my friend you are totally missing the point. This is what you said " Not sure why Tunsil would be upset "., and there is nothing in this article that would lead you to believe he was upset. Just another off base tirade by our friend fusuyumada