polynesian15

I remember watching Crock's performance this Sunday and thinking: "That's Gronk-esque!" I'm looking forward to see how he plays throughout the season, Oakland was a nice teaser (supposedly).

At the very least make some noticable adjustments when the usual stuff clearly doesn't work. But yeah, the defense looked good vs. Denver when it played aggresively. And the CB's can't let the WR's go past them like they did all the time against Oakland *cough* Jimmy *cough* Webb. Inexcusable.

Coverage can only hold for so long, 2nd year Carr put up 37 without much hassle. If you give Ben, Brady and Rodgers this amount of time they'll easily go for 50+ points.

Finding a defensive leader is all good, but we NEED pass rush! If not through personel then through schemes, Pees needs to be more intense than anyone else on the defense. He looked like he was about to fall asleep in the pressbox against Oakland - sack up Dean!

Sure, but the likeliness of going 0-5/6 and then winning 10-11 straight games is close to zero. We need wins now, not only for confidence purposes but also to have a "loss buffer" for the rest of the season. Realistically we probably should have been 1-1 by now, so we're only one behind that. Sweeping the division during the next three weeks would nullify the early season blunders imo. We need to at least be 2-3 after Cleveland. If we're 1-4 in three weeks time...

Besides his early fumble I think Aiken played a decent game considering it was his first time in a bigger role. He was under thrown for what would have been a TD and he had that huge slant and YAC, maybe I'm forgetting other plays. This game was lost due to horrible defense, ZERO pass rush and lots of busted coverages. Even the great Jimmy Smith was manhandled by a rookie WR. Something has to happen, we've got a tough stretch vs CIN + PIT. If we go 0-4 it looks kinda bleak!

Great news to help ease the Sunday hangover. I said he'd debut between week 4-8 a long time ago, it looks like it might be in the early portion of that window - week 4-5. Let's get it Perriman!

So what's up? They need more time to gel due to few preseason snaps? Last year's performance was a fluke? Is Kubiak's absence is to blame? What's the dealio?

The conventional way with a rifle, or just a knife between his teeth? That would be legit. I hope he can be a pestilence to (effective against) other teams, like James Harrison has been lately despite his age.

Sure, I would love to have those big names on offense as well but I also appreciate a great defense. Offensive powerhouses sometime struggle to make the playoffs, let alone get to the SB. The offense was very good last year with the same cast pretty much - I believe the missing piece against Denver was the abonimable O-line. They were very good for much of last year, against Denver they were nonexistent. We saw plenty of big plays last year (Forsett, Smitty ..), I think you're gonna see similar plays this year imo - when the O-line man's up that is.

Let's trade CJ Mosley, Brandon Williams, Will Hill and Jimmy Smith for Julio Jones, Marshawn Lynch and Gronkowski. It's very difficult to be top 3 in both offense and defense, the cap kinda limits your options in that regard. Baltimore has always been known for defense, and when you invest heavily there your offense will suffer (a bit) as a result. If the O-line sacks up, I have no doubt we'll have a respectable offense (top 10-12). Combine that with a top 5 defense and a QB that goes nuts in January, and you have a good shot at the big dance.

Not really, but it would suck to start 0-3. O-line is the sticking point atm, we need to see some urgency from them this Sunday. If the O-line gets up to speed I say 5-3 into the bye; win @ OAK, split with CIN & PIT, win vs. CLE + @ SF, split with ARI & SD. Our defense shut down a talented Broncos offense, and should continue to improve even without Suggs.

I will prefice by saying I'm a newbie when it comes to football insight/strategy/x's & o's, but besides knowing another position you also have to perform that other role physically and technically. Some players have an instinctual knack to get after the quarterback and the physical tools to support that ability. Others are more geared towards the run game - I guess that's why it beneficial to be long as a pass rusher and perhaps more stocky as a run defender. Just my five cents. I'm glad we signed a veteran presence on the outside while Za'darius hopefully gets up to speed. Only question now is how much they paid him for the year (are we capless the rest of the year)?

Trestman could have experimentet with more adjustments just like you're saying. Quick screens and dump-off's could also have been mixed in to get the ball out quicker. No huddle could maybe have gassed there rush to the point where it would be more manageable. But I'm no X's and O's guy, I'd like to think they hired Marc because they wanted to and because they think he's the man for the job.

That's a pretty scary defense. What do we do differently, if we have to face them again in January?

I'm with you, defense looked good. If they can continue to improve and gel throughout the season that side of the ball is in great condition. With regards to the deep threat, Flacco needs time for those routes to develop - time he didn't have against Denver so that was kind of a mute point in that game imo. O-line has to ball out like we expect them to - that get's the run game going which in turn opens up the passing game. I believe Smitty and Gillmore will have good years + Camp and Marlon also showed a little Sunday evening. It all starts with protection for Flacco, it wasn't due to a lack of offensive playmakers this game imo.

Sort of like Baltimore hanging onto Elam... and starting him in stubborn fashion?

I understand the frustration, but no one could've predicted such an unfortunate injury on the first day of camp. If it hadn't happened, and the O-line didn't disintegrate against Denver, he could potentially have burned Denver deep all day. However, I do enjoy your commentaries on Breshad's "blessed"-attitude regarding his injury - pretty funny in an ironic way. There's nothing blessed about it though. Some time ago I said I expected him back between week 4-8. Despite being criticized for the prediction then, it's looking more and more likely by the day. Bit of a bummer, but let's hope for an OBJ'ish cinderella story!

Defense is not the question, except for maybe a few mistakes here and there. The offense showing up however, that is the question - I really HOPE it was opening day jitters + mishaps due to lack of pre season reps together combined with going against what is the leagues best pass rush. Offense was pitiful the entire game until that last drive. Someone mentioned in another thread if the O-line and running game from last year was all due to Kubiak. Interesting point imo. It's still early though, let's play 4 more games and see how the offense looks then.

True, and Flacco's impressive streak of consecutive starts won't continue (god forbid!) with putrid performances like last night. I sincerely hope there's a feeling of embarrassment and urgency in the O-line room.

Definitely, he looked lost out there on multiple occasions. Wagner wasn't doing all that well either, tough day on the job - has to get better though. Hopefully we can get a confidence boost by stampeding the Raiders, so we'll face the CIN and PIT more even keeled. We have to be 5-3 come bye week: split the games with CIN/PIT, beat CLE and SF and split between AZ/SD. (Beat JAX, STL, CLE and MIA, split between SEA/KC and split between PIT/CIN = 11-5... is what I'd like see - lol)

IMO our O-line was the culprit for the offensive woes last night. They HAVE to sack up! We all know Steve is a playmaker (despite that one drop near the end zone last night ) but when Flacco has less than a second to get the ball out that makes it problematic. Together with the run being shut down, that sealed our offensive fate. Yanda & Co. need to get it straight, otherwise I think the offense will be dreadful like it was in 2013!!! I don't think Perriman/Waller would have been of much use as deep threats last night, with the way the O-line played. Joe needs 2-3 seconds for a 9 route to develop - he didn't have anywhere near that against Ware and Von Miller. Marc should have gotten the ball out quicker on short stuff to the running backs and TE's if anything.

Who do you see as a possible candidate if they were to go that route, and what would we possibly give up in that scenario?

Hate to see Suggs go down, this forces our defense a bit out of their comfort zone. They might need to be more aggresive and creative, which could result in a less conservative defense. Might be for the better, might be for the worse - we'll have to wait and see. It should be interesting to how things get shaked up. Also, what would a 1 year rental with Freeney cost us? Here's to a speedy recovery for Terrell, go Ravens!

Smitty also has to catch that, the offense as a whole was just off. Buck showed a little bit though imo We need to steer the ship in the right direction and slaughter some pirates next week in Oakland.