EdTheMythicalOne

Hill can disagree all he wants, but he clearly put his hands on the guy well past 5 yards and that is a penalty. The officials had been calling close stuff all day so why wouldn't they call something in that situation. The defense looked atrocious all day long. Jimmy Smith is clearly not 100% and is susceptible to anything deep and caused him to have to turn his hips right now. Normally he would be a lot better than he is right now, so I know the foot is still a problem. Webb looked okay, but he's far from the form when he looked like the #1 CB on the team a few years ago. The safeties as a whole played miserable. They blew coverage all day long and it looked like the secondary was never on the same page. Of course the D-Line got absolutely no pressure. Dumervil can be game planned against when Suggs isn't on the field. Upshaw did nothing as a rusher, Jernigan wasn't a force, Carl Davis I don't even think was mentioned, and Z. Smith was a non-factor. I don't know what the problem is when you have some maulers up front like we do in Williams and Canty who is adept at taking on blocks. This should free up the other guys, but they aren't stepping up. I am not really expecting much out of Babin, but he can't be worse than what I've been seeing so far.

I've been saying it all along since the Ravens drafted this guy that he would be much better than anyone gave him credit for. His whole, "I'm just a blocker" mentality is a great approach for a team like the Ravens, but I knew better and anyone paying attention to what I've been saying should've known better. The guy lettered in 4 sports in high school (wrestling, basketball, track and field, football), and has played WR before. He also switched back and forth between DE & TE in college. Sure he's not exactly blazing, but he's just fast enough and after the catch he's a load to bring down. At 6'7'' he's a great target and he busted his butt all off season to get stronger. Hard worker. The only thing that stopped him is when they doubled him and that left Steve Smith Sr. open and also paved the way for Aiken to get some catches. "Maxximum Overdrive" Williams seemed to suffer from turbo lag against the Raiders.

Myers has an opportunity in the near future with the Ravens trying to sign both Osemele and Yanda and with the thought that they might not be able to get both of them. Time for him to put in the hard work. Size will only get you so far and I don't recall him being that spectacular in pre-season work.

Steve Smith, Crockett Gilmore, and Kamar Aiken all had pretty good days. I give credit to the O-Line keeping Flacco upright and giving him time to find his receivers. Forsett; when the team did run, also had a pretty good day. It just goes to show you how good the offense can be even without our #1 pick on the field as long as the line can protect Flacco.

We're not the only team losing key players in the pre season. Green Bay just lost Jordy Nelson for the whole season. The Steelers lost Pouncey to a broken ankle and will probably miss quite a bit of time. Injuires are a part of the game and let's just be thankful that these injuries for the most part have been more of the "nicks and bangs" than of the IR type. It is worrisome for sure, but these guys need some reps to knock off the off season rust and get used to game speed again. I think 4 pre season games is just right. You have to remember that you have a roster of about 90 guys that trims down to 75, and then down to your final 53. Practice only tells you so much. There have been guys the Ravens are jazzing about in practice but I have yet to seen show up in any game time. This is a time for those guys that normally wouldn't get the reps to get them, get a chance to make the team, and then get a chance to make a living. I just don't see how they get that opportunity in only two games.

Suggs hit the QB as a RB on the play like he should have and if you look Suggs actually hits him at the waist, not at the knee. His helmet goes right into Bradford's hips. The wrap up of his arms is around the knees and people, that is just anatomy. Your arms are lower on your body than your head. It isn't like he launched himself helmet first into Bradford's knees. Then I would call that a dirty play. I mentioned in another thread that MaGee and Toussaint are in a battle for the 3rd RB slot. Since they both aren't really serious running threats (at least haven't shown to be so far) the deciding factor might be special teams. Toussaint had a couple of tackles against the Eagles on the coverage unit. If I am Magee I am trying to tell the coaches I can return kicks because also in another thread I have suggested that Carter won't make the roster and Jackson isn't really showing much and he's had durability issues in the past too. I think they need to look outside of the organization and perhaps some decent options become available after first cuts. Daniel Brown made a nice play but he will need more opportunities. I think Tom Nelson has had some pretty solid games so far and should be in the mix for the last WR spot. When I was making up a roster I was doing it just to see how the Ravens could stack certain positions. If they want, they can carry 7 WRs. Steve Smith, Perriman, Aiken, Brown, Campanaro (if healthy), then for 6 & 7 you have Waller/Butler/Carter/Nelson/ Daniel Brown. I think Waller makes it and that last spot may come down to WR/ST player and Nelson is a former safety so could be on the coverage unit. To me Arthur Brown hasn't been tremendously impressive. He's made two flash plays and then disappears. Nobody on defense really looked that good except Melvin. I am surprised Carl Davis didn't get a mention for stock falling as he was non existent in this game. The tight ends as a whole didn't do much. Williams had a couple catches and I think Crockett has one and they were solid plays. I don't think Boyle had any touches.

I think Tom Nelson should get a mention here. As a converted SS to WR he is showing he can be a steady and reliable target. Almost every time a pass went to another WR and they didn't make a play, the next pass went to Nelson and he did make the catch. He might now wow, but the first thing you want in your WR is the ability to actually catch the ball. Also, as a safety you have to think he'd be a ST guy. Didn't really get a chance on the returns, but I think he will play on the coverage unit. Deandre Carter is showing he doesn't belong on this team. The only returns he's had a chance on he's messed up and as soon as there is a body near him he can't make a catch. Renner looks like he is the PS QB and possibly the emergency 3rd QB. If Flacco does go down for a long period of time Schaub would get the call and perhaps the Ravens look for a veteran back up at that point. At RB I see Forsett and Taliafero...after that it is between Toussaint and McGee. I have seen nothing from Toussaint that makes me think he should be handed the job so it really is a battle for that 3rd RB spot. The only thing I did see from Toussaint was that he was making tackles on ST. I could see that swinging the pendulum in his favor. I am surprised to see Carl Davis not getting a mention here. He was raved about in the first game, but as I pointed out, his name wasn't getting called until he was going up against the backups on the Saints. I don't think he was mentioned at all against the Eagles. Then again, most of our D-line was not a factor. Bilukidi made a couple plays. Pre season is what it is. You can't really take too much from it other than just how guys are playing. Right now we got a lot of guys that really just aren't playing well on a fundamental level.

James Hurst has a concussion in camp and now he gets one the first time he plays in a pre season game...that's not looking good. Joe was really off. The first INT he threw was a deep pass try to Kamar Aiken who really didn't play the ball, one DB tipped it and there was a second DB back there to catch it. Stuff happens. The second INT was all on Joe. Wide open guy and he just threw it to some point on the field where nobody but an Eagles player was. Whatever the reason for that play, this is the time to make those mistakes and clean them up. Flacco has a track record and you can count on him for the regular season. Schaub has a track record too, but because of his most recent history you like to see him performing better. He was great in the first game, not so much this time around...but I don't really blame him for all of that. Patchwork O-line and receivers with questionable hands. One things I am seeing is that our special teams right now looks absolutely terrible on both sides. Nothing in the return game and our coverage units are shaky. Now, that might clear up a little bit once you get some bubble players off the roster and get your better talent on the coverage units...but I think we need to look for at least a back up returner to Asa Jackson. Between Campanaro and Carter I just don't think that #2 returner is on our team...and Asa may not even be a good #1 option.

I am hearing a number of excuses...which is not something I typically hear from the Ravens. The radio had nothing to do with the team failing to tackle. There is no game plan that can save you when you simply can't cover people or tackle them. And while some of the penalties were ridiculous, there were some pretty clear ones like when Suggs essentially clotheslined the TE coming over the middle. I don't know how you think you will get away with that one. The Ravens came out flat on offense and defense. I have a feeling if this was a regular season game the outcome would be different because there would be a game plan in effect and guys would have shaken off the pre-season rust. But yeah, the Ravens were just simply outplayed. It happens. Time to learn what you can from it and move on. What I saw: Injuries decimated O-line and could have accounted for poor pass protection and inconsistent results on offense. Guys that normally would be sitting are playing and playing out of position. This is the NFL though and you got to be ready to seize your moments. Nobody did that against the Eagles. The front three on defense were virtually invisible all night. Flashes from some players but overall inconsistent play. Cassius Vaughn at least is in position to make plays, but isn't a playmaker. Deandre Carter is JAG. Can't make crucial catches and isn't making a name for himself as a returner. Asa Jackson looks to be winning the starting returner job...and after him I think we better be looking for outside help. Tom Nelson probably won't make the team and he was 3rd string? Probably would have seen Camp if he was playing.

I am not one to make excuses, but there is a simple fact to point out here. In the pre-season you run vanilla offenses and defenses because you don't want to give anything away. That's all fine and good when your base vanilla plays are in a traditional offense, but the Eagles run a read option offense as their base. We were constantly getting fooled and gashed on the option run plays. Part of that was because of simply not game planning specifically to stop that. More critically, and the important thing and probably the more worrying thing is; failure to execute. Okay, so you aren't specifically playing against this style of offense. That doesn't excuse the lack of fundamentals in tackling and just playing football. I also won't say the refs cost us that game, but they were terrible. You still have to line up and play football and tackle and cover and execute on offense.

I was talking about how many yards the play earned from the pass from Schaub. I was merely pointing out that he gets credit for a 45 yard TD pass, but about half of that was YAC from Camp. You don't factor into the stats how many yards behind the line of scrimmage he got or that he was throwing it across the field. That's not how football works. I "THOUGHT" most people would understand this but I see I have to spell everything out for some people. It shouldn't be news to anyone that Matt Schaub's arm strength wasn't exactly elite even in his prime. It isn't beyond believable that at age 34 he's probably lost a little bit on his ball too. Case in point was a deep ball attempt he actually tried in the same game and it looked bad. He didn't attempt and long throws against the Eagles either. Flacco looked bad too. Renner was the only one who looked decent, but he was going up against 3rd string and bubble roster players. Everything with a grain of salt. I am not actually looking at pure statistics in the pre-season, but just at how guys play. Schaub so far looks like he is making some pretty good decisisons with the ball and that is what you really want in a back up. His arm looks like it can still play in the NFL, but I still want Joe Flacco for the whole season.

I'm sure Perriman isn't happy about missing time as well. At this point I think we all know this isn't a bruise and there was a report at one time that said it was a bruise/strain. I know from personal experience that strains can bruise and depending on how bad they are; grade 1 minor, grade 2 intermediate, and grade 3 severe, they can take a long time to heal. Grade 3 is about as bad as you can get before you tear something. I was unfortunate enough to get a grade 2 strain of my left quad and my entire thigh turned Ravens colors and it took me about two months to get back to running again. I certainly hope it isn't anything serious for him. I am just curious though, does anybody look at him and think he looks much older than what he should? They said the same thing about the NBA player Greg Oden. Guy was 21 and people said he looked 41 and then he promptly blows out a knee.

I wish I could link up the post I made about a potential 53 man roster. I was curious to see just how many the Ravens could carry at any position and if the Ravens want to construct their roster the way I did, there is room to carry 7 wide outs. You can see who I picked: 1 QB1: Joe Flacco 2 QB2: Matt Schaub 3 HB1: Justin Forsett 4 HB2: Lorenzo Taliafero 5 HB3: Buck Allen 6 FB: Kyle Jusczyzck 7 WR1: Steve Smith 8 WR2: Breshad Perriman 9 WR3: Kamar Aiken 10 WR4: Marlon Brown 11 WR5: Jeremy Butler 12 WR6: Micheal Campanaro 13 TE1: Crockett Gilmore 14 TE2: Maxx Williams 15 TE3: Nick Boyle 16 LT: Eugene Monroe 17 LG: Kelechi Osemele 18 C: Jeremy Zuttah 19 RG: Marshal Yanda 20 RT: Ricky Wagner 21 OL: John Urschel 22 OL: James Hurst 23 LS: Morgan Cox 24 K: Justin Tucker 25 P: Sam Koch 26 DL1: Brandon Williams 27 DL2: Timmy Jernigan 28 DL3: Chris Canty 29 DL4: Carl Davis 30 DL5: Lawrence Guy 31 DL6: Steven Means/Kapron Lewis-Moore/Christo Bilukidi 32 OLB1: Terrell Suggs 33 OLB2: Elvis Dumervil 34 OLB3: Courtney Upshaw 35 OLB4: Za'Darius Smith 36 MLB1: Darryl Smith 37 MLB2: C.J. Mosley 38 MLB3: Zach Orr 39 MLB4: Albert McClellan 40 CB1: Jimmy Smith 41 CB2: Lardarius Webb 42 CB3: Kyle Arrington 43 CB4: Asa Jackson 44 CB5: Cassius Vaughn/Rashan Melvin/Tray Walker/Quinton Pointer 45 S1: Kendrick Lewis 46 S2: Will Hill 47 S3: Anthony Levine 48 S4: Brynden Trawick 49 OPEN SLOT EXTRA DL? I think it goes to Bilukidi over Lewis-Moore as Bilukidi plays NT and KLM is an end 50 OPEN SLOT EXTRA DB? Lot of guys fighting for that 5th CB slot, I put Quinton Pointer here if they take 6. 51 OPEN SLOT EXTRA WR? Darren Waller 52 OPEN SLOT EXTRA OL? I am pretty certain the Ravens will keep at least 8 OL and I give it to Jensen as a C. 53 OPEN SLOT could be anything...but it goes to whomever actually shows up between Kapron Lewis-Moore (DL), Arthur Brown (MLB), Brennen Beyer (OLB), or Robert Myers (OG) or even Nick Perry (S).

Flacco isn't blazing fast, but some people might forget a 60 yard scramble he had in his rookie year in the pre season. Flacco himself said he could run more, but he makes it a conscious effort not to because he knows it is his arm that wins games and not his legs. It is also how a lot of QB's get injured and take more shots than they need to. Smart man.

I am not really sure which Arthur Brown you guys are talking about, but he looked pretty bad for most of the game. He was blowing coverage all night long and only looked good on the one running play where the offensive line forgot to block him. The guy has been a Raven for two years now (this is his third season), was a second round draft choice, and still isn't out of the dog house. I am not sure how he is going to be the best defensive Raven in two or three more years because his rookie contract will run out before that. Zach Orr is actually ahead in the depth chart and he's primarily a special teamer, but he had a better game than Brown did.

I was never concerned about the TE situation. In fact, I have made posts on here telling people they should be high on Crockett Gilmore as the starter because he isn't "...just a blocker." The guy is an all around athlete who is a much better receiver than anyone thinks. We expected Williams to be able to catch but perhaps not block so well. We expected Boyle to be able to block...but his catches were all impressive to me because they were all tough catches that a QB would need his go to guy to make for him. 5 yards may not look all that impressive unless you are 3rd and 4 with only a few minutes to go in a game when you're losing. We also can't forget we've got a secret weapon and 4th TE on the field with Kyle Jusczyzck. He was a TE in college and was a very good receiver. He also proved he is a darn good blocker. He isn't too fast either, but you can't sleep on him and the Ravens actually had plays designed with him to be the first option. The guy knows how to run routes. Suggs razzing Schaub is actually a good thing I think. Schaub is going to hear a lot worse on the field from opponents. If Schaub can take it from Suggs and have success it will give him even more confidence. Schaub has a lot to prove IMO and he took a really good first step in his first pre season game as a Raven. I hope to see that continue. No offense to him, but I hope we never have to see him in a regular season game unless it is to get some snaps in late in the 4th quarter and we're up by 30.

Wait, what? When did I move the goal posts? I haven't changed the discussion at all. It was you who assumed I meant something that I didn't. When you calculate yards for football, you don't count the yards behind the line of scrimmage or the horizontal yards. If we did that then you are saying what was a 45 yard TD pass should have been +3 yards for behind the line of scrimmage and then another 11 from it going from the hash to the numbers. Schaub threw a 59 yard TD pass then and the NFL has it all wrong. You go ahead and put a feather in your own cap if you want to, but nobody else is going to buy your extra yardage. So what is indisputable is the pass was about 50/50 Schaub's arm (24 yards through the air past the LOS and no, hashmark to numbers yards don't count. Only vertical yardage counts in the NFL) and Camp's legs (21 yards YAC). It was a broken coverage and it was only a TD because Camp made somebody miss him down field. It took vision from Schaub to see the broken coverage, the ability to deliver the ball to Camp and he did well on that. It also took good work from Camp. I am happy to see that Schaub can still capitalize on broken coverages and that his short to mid range game looks pretty good. That's what he's always been known for.

Right, so you can toss out about 1/3 of the yardage you are using because the NFL doesn't measure yards behind the line of scrimmage or horizontal yards. Those aren't my rules, that's how the stats are kept. When you say a QB doesn't throw the ball more than 20 yards down the field...that is exactly what you mean. Vertically, down the field. Whenever anyone says that a point I am making is irrelevant, I know the conversation is over. The points is, Schaub didn't throw a 45 yard bomb. It was a 20-25 yard pass and the rest was YAC. Just because he can complete a pass to a wide open WR in blown coverage doesn't mean he got the zip back on his arm...as I had mentioned the only really deep pass he tried to Butler down the sideline in another post. It looked like it hit some rain clouds along the way. He had a good night on moslty short to mid range passing. His biggest play came on a broken assignment from a linebacker in zone coverage to let Camp get wide open. An NFL QB should be able to hit a pass like that. Schaub did and he had a good game. Even the announcers said he is a Jekyl and Hyde performer. When he's on he's great, when he's off it is really bad....and these were our homer announcers saying this. Bottom line is, Schaub has A LOT to prove after his two pretty awful seasons. One good pre season game against backups isn't quite enough for me to feel confident in him. I hope he is good to go and has something in the tank just in case we need him. I'm a Ravens fan and I want my team to win.

I started to look at what the 53 man roster would look like just to figure out how many at each position the Ravens could potentially keep. I put down who I knew for sure would make it, then filled in the rest with who I thought would make it, and then had some spots left over for a question mark...that spot is up for grabs really. I wanted to look at it on paper to see just how many at each position could potentiall be on the roster. I'll list it and see what you guys think. 1 QB1: Joe Flacco 2 QB2: Matt Schaub 3 HB1: Justin Forsett 4 HB2: Lorenzo Taliafero 5 HB3: Buck Allen 6 FB: Kyle Jusczyzck 7 WR1: Steve Smith 8 WR2: Breshad Perriman 9 WR3: Kamar Aiken 10 WR4: Marlon Brown 11 WR5: Jeremy Butler 12 WR6: Micheal Campanaro 13 TE1: Crockett Gilmore 14 TE2: Maxx Williams 15 TE3: Nick Boyle 16 LT: Eugene Monroe 17 LG: Kelechi Osemele 18 C: Jeremy Zuttah 19 RG: Marshal Yanda 20 RT: Ricky Wagner 21 OL: John Urschel 22 OL: James Hurst 23 LS: Morgan Cox 24 K: Justin Tucker 25 P: Sam Koch 26 DL1: Brandon Williams 27 DL2: Timmy Jernigan 28 DL3: Chris Canty 29 DL4: Carl Davis 30 DL5: Lawrence Guy 31 DL6: Steven Means/Kapron Lewis-Moore/Christo Bilukidi 32 OLB1: Terrell Suggs 33 OLB2: Elvis Dumervil 34 OLB3: Courtney Upshaw 35 OLB4: Za'Darius Smith 36 MLB1: Darryl Smith 37 MLB2: C.J. Mosley 38 MLB3: Zach Orr 39 MLB4: Albert McClellan 40 CB1: Jimmy Smith 41 CB2: Lardarius Webb 42 CB3: Kyle Arrington 43 CB4: Asa Jackson 44 CB5: Cassius Vaughn/Rashan Melvin/Tray Walker/Quinton Pointer 45 S1: Kendrick Lewis 46 S2: Will Hill 47 S3: Anthony Levine 48 S4: Brynden Trawick 49 OPEN SLOT EXTRA DL? I think it goes to Bilukidi over Lewis-Moore as Bilukidi plays NT and KLM is an end 50 OPEN SLOT EXTRA DB? Lot of guys fighting for that 5th CB slot, I put Quinton Pointer here if they take 6. 51 OPEN SLOT EXTRA WR? Darren Waller 52 OPEN SLOT EXTRA OL? I am pretty certain the Ravens will keep at least 8 OL and I give it to Jensen as a C. 53 OPEN SLOT could be anything...but it goes to whomever actually shows up between Kapron Lewis-Moore (DL), Arthur Brown (MLB), Brennen Beyer (OLB), or Robert Myers (OG) or even Nick Perry (S). I think the team is getting sick of Jah Reid and he's a goner, he makes the team if one of the others ahead of him gets hurt. This also assumes all these guys are healthy to go for the season. Most teams go with 2 QB slots because the 3rd can stay on the roster as an emergency slot and not take up a roster spot. 3 HB is pretty standard. 1FB, 6 WR (7 potential), 3 TE, 8 OL (potential 9), 6 DL (potential 8), 4 OLB (potential 5), 4 MLB (potential 5), 5 CB (potential 6), 4 S (potential 5), 1K & 1P.

I watched the replay and the LOS was the 45. Schaub did a long drop back and then crow hopped back towards the LOS to around the 49/50 ish. If Camp catches it at the 21....how does 49-21= 31? To me, that is 28 yards. But in the NFL, you don't get credit for the yards the ball is in the air behind the LOS. Nor do you get credit for horizontal yards. So with actual football statistics he had 24 yards through the air (45 to the 21) and then there was 21 YAC by Camp. It was a completely blown coverage by a line backer that really had no business being in coverage of Camp anyway. Schaub saw Camp get behind the backer and there was no over the top help. So I give credit to Schaub for seeing it and reacting to it properly and throwing a pass to a wide open receiver who then used his legs and a nifty cut move to get the TD.

I will be pulling for Schaub because he is a Raven, but I am not going to let that cloud my judgement. Yes, he was a pro bowl QB...but he wasn't one the last couple of years. He got benched in Houston and couldn't even get the #2 job in Oakland. The scoop on him was that he lost zip on his arm and would check down all the time rather than try to stretch the field. He became predictable and that's why he threw all those INT's and the pick sixes. Like another poster said, it was only on pre season game against backups. That 45 yard TD pass was about maybe 20 yards in the air and 25 Campanaro's legs. Schaub only attempted one other deep pass which was a HUGE arcing rainbow that Butler had to dive for and it went out of bounds even if he had held onto it. That pass had nothing on it and looked like a punt or a grenade toss. Even so, it was a good try because it shows the defense that you are willing to throw deep. I am glad he had a great game and that has got to give him a lot of confidence. Confidence is very important and it can really make a big difference in how you perform. Somebody lacking confidence would second guess himself and maybe not throw the pass on time. It was a good first step. He plays like this throughout the pre season and then I will be more confident in believing there is still a little magic left in the hat.

I don't want to be a downer here, but Carl Davis didn't actually show up until the Saints took their starters out of the game. He was disrupting the backfield against the Saints #2 and #3 linemen. I still have confidence that he will be a good player, but there is a reason why he dropped in the draft. His consistency/motor was questioned, the fact that he's built like a NT but plays more like an undersized lineman...like Jernigan he's not a block eater and guy that was known for consistently pushing the pile. His pass rushing skills were also questioned. Now, scouting reports aren't always right and the scouting report on Ngata said he got lazy and times and took plays off. But when you start seeing possible question marks...potentially lazy, takes plays off, doesn't play up to his size, might not be able to pass rush against better talented blockers, and the fact that it took him three years to get into the shape he's in now and is still working on it...that makes you an extremely risky 1st round pick or even second round. You draft a guy that high and they have to be at the very least starters. The guy that I liked was Beyer. He was constantly showing up in plays. If he wasn't the one making the tackle, he was the one setting the edge for somebody else to tackle. Zach Orr had a pretty good game. Schaub had himself a nice game too. Just want to see if he can do that consistently.

It is hard for a receiver to impress when he's getting interfered with on every pass in his direction. That alone is valuable and gave us a lot of yards. I would love to see him catch a pass and see him show off that speed, but you have to take what you can get. To me, those pass interferences came because that corner knew he couldn't hang with Waller's speed or size. Other draft picks haven't lived up? Brandon Williams, Kyle Jusczyczk, Kelechi Osemele, Rick Wagner. I think this year we see Crockett Gilmore contribute a lot. Jimmy Smith and Ladarius Webb play well when they aren't hurt...but that has been the issue with them. The speed is at RB with Forsett, WR with Perriman, Waller, and Campanaro has tricky speed. CB is Asa Jackson. When Perriman comes back it isn't like you are going to see him running back kicks. That's a job for at most your #3 WR and your 4th or 5th CB.

I think the Juszcyczk Machina is going to have a nice season catching the ball out of the back field this year. I thought he would get more looks last year, but it was pretty telling that he would sometimes split out and line up as a wide receiver on some plays. The guy was a pretty accomplished TE and if he was 6'4" he wouldn't be a FB. He's smart, he's a great blocker, and the guy knows how to run routes and has soft hands. He might not be the fastest guy on the field, but he's still a weapon. That is what I like about our offense this year. We can attack you in so many ways now. You can't sleep on anyone on the field. You have to respect the fact that Kyle will come out of the back field and catch a ball. Our running backs can all catch. We've got some good targets at TE and we still have Steve Smith. If Perriman is anything close to what is expected out of him that will be amazing....and then we have guys like Marlon Brown who can be a redzone weapon and over the middle/underneath guy, Camp if he can stay on the field can be a pesky 3rd or 4th and cause damage from the slot. Waller used his speed and size very well to get a lot of penalties called. I liked seeing that. I wasn't impressed with Butler and we didn't get to see a lot of Aiken. The safety turned WR Tom Nelson caught a pass.

I was very pleased with the TE group as a whole. Crokett missed a block or two, but made some tough over the middle catches. Maxx dropped that pass in the endzone, but came up with a big play late in the game on the game winning drive. Nick Boyle made some really tough catches, I think all of them were contested. Did we see some Maxximum Overdrive? I still thing Gilmore is going to be a beast and have a great season. He's a lot more of a receiver and athlete than he's letting on. 4 sport letter man in high school (Football, Wrestling, Basketball, Track), played WR & TE, played TE and DE in college. He's going to make a lot of tough catches and he'll be a redzone weapon. Maxx is going to do some serious damage in twin TE formations. It is a great 1-2 punch we have there. If Boyle keeps showing up as a receiver...man...that's a good bunch. I liked Taliafero when we drafted him. I like him more now. I call him BLT because almost every time he runs the ball my inner John Madden comes out and I just say "Boom, Lorenzo Taliafero." B...L...T....it could also stand for; Baltimore Loves Taliafero. The second string O-line was garbage. They didn't open any holes in the ground game at all. They did okay in pass protection. Right after the first or second play from scrimmage I saw Jah Reid huffing and puffing away in the huddle...he was the only one winded. Back up defense looked very shaky. Horrible tackling, blown coverages. For some reason none of our back up middle linebackers can cover passes. Orr looked pretty good at times, Brown flashed but also flopped in coverage quite a bit. Didn't see much from Z. Smith. Carl Davis was quiet for like the first quarter and a half, then he came on strong later in the game...was that because backups were in for the Saints? Special Teams coverage needs some work. Kapron Lewis-Moore, the much hyped and oft injured end showed me nothing. He got free runs on the QB a couple of times and bit on stupid fakes and never made the play. I liked what I saw from Beyer. He was doing his best Jarret Johnson impression. Schaub had a good game. I was impressed with what I saw. He did try to go down field and when he saw an open guy he was trying to hit them. He looked calm in the pocket save for one throw...not the one that was picked off. Blame Butler if you want for not coming back to the ball, but that was pretty tight coverage and I think that's a pass you don't try. He's not throwing to Steve Smith or Anquan Boldin. Renner...well, he's about what I expected out of an undrafted rookie free agent. He was skittish, bad foot work when he senses pressure, missed some open guys, threw the pick. But, when it was all on the line he made some good plays and he made a great decision to run it in for the TD. Hopefully we never have to have that scenario play out in a regular season game because I want Joe Flacco in for all 16 the playoffs.