Game Day -10/7/07

[buckeyewayne]

currently I am still a Ravens fan and I am a transplanted person originally

from Ohio, so I know a lot about hanging with your home town team when

the going gets tough. Remember, your Ravens used to be our old Browns.

ALthough only one member remains (Mr. Stover) I guess I just get real

frustrated with the vanilla offense we have had since I've been here (now

going on 4 years) There is no imagination to the play calling at all. You

see other teams score 30 to 40 points a game and we have trouble scoring

1 or 2 touchdowns a game and get stalled many times in the red zone.

If Brian B. was such a offensive "genius", then he would figure this out.

But, he is no more that, than Marv Lewis is defensive dynamo (which is

teh missing piece of the puzzle in Cincy. This "prevent" defense we get

into every time we have a lead is worthless. We play not to lose instead

of going for the jugular like we should and like most good teams do......

ie: Patriots, Colts. At this point we are not a playoff caliber team,

no pass rush, a porous secondary, and a QB that is on his last legs from

may previous injuries. In baseball, if your starting pitcher is faltering,

you put a relief guy in........should be the same in football.... if Mr. McNair

is not getting the job done,(for health reasons or just a bad day) put your

"closer" in.......You resigned Kyle for a reason.........use him, that's what

he's there for.......he has a great arm and is almost 10 years younger so

on any given day.... he should be able to step in and win a game for you.

that's my take......... please draft some shutdown corners next year,

that is our big weakness right now. Chris McAlister looked so bad against

the Browns, he may as well been waiting for a bus when Edwards blew

past him. My grandson (who is 8) could have covered the man better.

Good luck on Sunday........we need to win the next 3 or we can kiss

the playoffs good by for this year.

[Mista T]

Wayne: In one paragraph, you have summed up the discussions of most Ravens message boards and radio call-in shows.

Yes, we need to open up the vanilla offense and improve upon the prevent defense. Yes, we need to see Kyle Boller. Yes, we need to draft CBs.

[Raven07]

i agree with you, i do feel as though the Defense is coming along and this week will be the first test in the Improved Defense....i feel like this game, they've got something to prove and show everyone that they are indeed a force to be reckon with, the Reason why teams are posting up 30-40 points a game right now is because there is Poor Defense on BOTH teams against the pass, resulting in Wide open receivers and TD's very very often. After each game and each week, (i think on Monday if my remembering correctly) Billick said that after each game and weekly performance, All the coaching staff (HC, OC, DC, STC, Ozzie, the whole deal) sits down and talks about a gameplan for the upcoming opponent, its not just Billick making the decisions on what plays to run, there are other people involved in the process....Billick and staff will get this whole thing straightened out, starting with this week

[Ravens549]

Yes, I have to completely agree.

THIS week will show what Baltimore has.

I am not greedy. But, I will be very disappointed in this year's team and their ability to battle through tough times with anything less than a good old beating from The Ravens D!

[ray019]

I agree all above and as far as Ravens offense it is either the Coaching staff is not getting thru to the players concerning playbook ect because to compared them with many other teams especially with no huddle offenses that the Ravens don't even come close to performing on that level. If isn't the Coaches then you have to say some players just can't handle complicated offenses.

[Raven07]

ok so i was on nfl.com and was looking at the "playBook" with Sterling Sharpe and Brian Gumble and cam across this video of them breaking down, this weekends matchup between the Baltimore Ravens and the San Fransico 49ers.....should explaim some things....

http://www.nfl.com/videos?videoId=09000d5d802fe06a

thoughts?

[ravenmaniac1223]

Currently you are a Ravens fan?!?!! Either you are or you aren't. I have no time, or patience for fair weather fans. Go support the Steelers if you wanna jump ship when the waters get a litle rough.

Furthermore I know the Ravens transported their team from Cleveland. I hear about it every time we play from some smug TV reporter. Of course they forget all the other teams that moved.

I was tired of reading your post by the time I got through those few sentences. Even if your points were valid I don't respect your opinion. Please quit wasting my time.

[dsizzle007]

Raven07 , thanks for that link. I saw it on NFL network the other day, and ive been meaning to look for it on NFL.com just havent had time. I have to agree with sterling, Mcnair is definantly rushing himself, and isnt showing any patience in the redzone. Ontop of that, i think the areant handing the ball to willis enough. Willis , has amazing talent, its showing more and more every week. Keep him in on 3rd down, dont bring Musa in unless Willis needs a break. Willis has good talent out of the backfield and can catch the ball and make people miss. BTW, he has a sick stiffarm lol. Let him get some more touches in the redzone, sooner then later, he'll be making his own touchdown dance.

Defensivly, minus a few key mistakes, and "guesses" from secondary where we have been burnt. Our defense has actually been the most dominate team in the NFL. Take away the 78 yarder from Anderson last week, the Browns had 115 yards passing. In week 1 against the Bengals, take away the 40 yard touchdown from Chad, that laundry got burnt on. Carson would have had 150 yds passing. They are one of the top offensive teams in the league. In week 2 vs the Jets. Take away 2 plays where we missed multiple tackles in the 4th quarter and gave up a play of 50 , and 34, we would have held them to 160 yds passing. Cardinals game, take away the one play that Reed and Laundry missed that tackle on Bolden when he scored, thats 40+ yards. Realistically if we can tighten up these couple of mistakes, we are still the most dominate defense in the league, and still holding teams under 100 yds rushing. Have we let a team run for 100 yet? i know the browns were close, jamal had 60+ and the backup had like 30 ish.

Again, we tighten up on tackling, get trevor and rolle back and can create some pass rush and put samari out there on an island to do what he does. we'll be dominate again and get rid of some of these mistakes. With all these injuries, players like "reed, Cmac, even cory ivy " feel like they have to do some magic to makeup for key losses. They need to relax and just do what they do.

[Slick]

Raven07 , thanks for that link. I saw it on NFL network the other day, and ive been meaning to look for it on NFL.com just havent had time. I have to agree with sterling, Mcnair is definantly rushing himself, and isnt showing any patience in the redzone. Ontop of that, i think the areant handing the ball to willis enough. Willis , has amazing talent, its showing more and more every week. Keep him in on 3rd down, dont bring Musa in unless Willis needs a break. Willis has good talent out of the backfield and can catch the ball and make people miss. BTW, he has a sick stiffarm lol. Let him get some more touches in the redzone, sooner then later, he'll be making his own touchdown dance.

Defensivly, minus a few key mistakes, and "guesses" from secondary where we have been burnt. Our defense has actually been the most dominate team in the NFL. Take away the 78 yarder from Anderson last week, the Browns had 115 yards passing. In week 1 against the Bengals, take away the 40 yard touchdown from Chad, that laundry got burnt on. Carson would have had 150 yds passing. They are one of the top offensive teams in the league. In week 2 vs the Jets. Take away 2 plays where we missed multiple tackles in the 4th quarter and gave up a play of 50 , and 34, we would have held them to 160 yds passing. Cardinals game, take away the one play that Reed and Laundry missed that tackle on Bolden when he scored, thats 40+ yards. Realistically if we can tighten up these couple of mistakes, we are still the most dominate defense in the league, and still holding teams under 100 yds rushing. Have we let a team run for 100 yet? i know the browns were close, jamal had 60+ and the backup had like 30 ish.

Again, we tighten up on tackling, get trevor and rolle back and can create some pass rush and put samari out there on an island to do what he does. we'll be dominate again and get rid of some of these mistakes. With all these injuries, players like "reed, Cmac, even cory ivy " feel like they have to do some magic to makeup for key losses. They need to relax and just do what they do.

yeah I think the link covered the most crucial problemwith our team, the red zone d, but thats not the only one. Mcnair does seem rushed once he gets close, which is kinda scary because thats how he looked against the colts in the playoffs. if he continues to be ancy I really REALLY would like to see Boller get a shot. McGahee definately needs more carries, and our starts need to get healthy (heap, rolle, pryce, etc).

As for if we've let over 100 yards total rushing? no. the Browns got 99 total rushing yards (from all of their players who attempted a run), Bengals got 55, Jets got 69, and Arizona got 61. Our run D is sick, and I think that video pointed out why we do so well against it.

Once our secondary gets back Rolle there will be less pressure on the defense because less recievers (if any) will be able to get open. Once Pryce is back in, our defense will get more sacks because offenses will have to gameplan against him again, which will open up lanes for our backers.

Our offense is doing good at moving the ball downfield and if we can get it in the damn endzone we'd be a major contender for a playoff spot. As Sterling pointed out, once our red zone offense is fixed, our entire offense will be fixed because thats really tyhe only major problem *we don't desperately need a deep ball threat because we ARE moving the ball VERY effectively with our current scheme*

Like I've been saying all year long: The RAVENS HAVE the TALENT, the WILLPOWER, AND THE OPPORTUNITY to REACH a SUPER BOWL THIS YEAR provided everything clicks as I was talking about above. Anyone who wants to quit on this team this early into the season, fine, i dont care. I for one, however, will stand by this team no matter what happens. This is the NFL, nothing is ever perfectly clear cut. This season so far has proven that time and time again. Just look at the standings, nobody thought we'd be 2-2 but here we are, nobody thought new orleans would be 0-4 and im damn sure nobody thought the Pack would be undefeated through 4 games. It's how the NFL works people, every win is earned and each game hard fought. And most definately: no team is unbeatable

[buckeyewayne]

Currently you are a Ravens fan?!?!! Either you are or you aren't. I have no time, or patience for fair weather fans. Go support the Steelers if you wanna jump ship when the waters get a litle rough.

Furthermore I know the Ravens transported their team from Cleveland. I hear about it every time we play from some smug TV reporter. Of course they forget all the other teams that moved.

I was tired of reading your post by the time I got through those few sentences. Even if your points were valid I don't respect your opinion. Please quit wasting my time.

my meaning was only that "currently" I am a Ravens fan and have been since I moved

here 3 1/2 years ago. I have never been a Steelers fan. You do not know me so you

have no reason to comment about who I have or have not supported in the past, basically

it is none of your business. The last time I checked, it still was a free country. (of course

that may change with the next election) If you did not like reading my post, then skip it

and go on to the next, who asked you to read it anyway. You know my points were valid,

but you are just like a lot of others, the truth hurts so you tend to ignore it. I'm not

wasting your time, but at this point the Ravens are wasting mine. When they start acting

like contenders instead of pretenders, they'll get more support overall. Have a great

weekend my man and don't get your blood pressure up.