Should We Be Worried?

[Dan The Man Ravens #1 Fan]

[quote name='whaven' date='18 October 2009 - 07:06 PM' timestamp='1255907208' post='261377']
Should we worry? Yes, I have been a fan for a very long time and this is the best offense and the best QB the Ravens ever had (including McNair..RIP), the one missing piece of the puzzle is the one we never worried about in past seasons..Defense...specially the secondary. Given the last four games and the lackluster performance from the once fear Ravens defense( with the exceptions of Lewis, Reed, Suggs & Ngata) I think fans should start worrying about the teams chances for a playoff spot this season.
[/quote]

Must be nice to see into the future. A lot of people have been fans for a long time and what we have learned is to not give up. Continue believing in your team. Im not ready to close shop and start watching basketball yet.

[Steelerkillers]

[quote name='Dan The Man Ravens #1 Fan' date='18 October 2009 - 07:40 PM' timestamp='1255909206' post='261435']
Must be nice to see into the future. A lot of people have been fans for a long time and what we have learned is to not give up. Continue believing in your team. Im not ready to close shop and start watching basketball yet.
[/quote]
You misinterpreted his post. The truth is-If in the event that somethin doesnt change soon, its a fair assessment to predict a playoff-less season. If someone could explain why we Will make the playoffs if losing persists..please tell me how. Its nuthin wrong with havin faith. People have been promoting the "lets have faith in our team" since we lost to the Pats. Thats cool. But your faith dont change the outcome of the games. Its nuthin wrong with exposing the negatives about our team.

[FerrariFan87]

If our D keeps playing like this, then yes, we have a lot to worry about because Pitt beat us twice last year thanks to lapses in our D late in games, and now it's happening week in and week out. We will be fortunate to go 7-3 the rest of the way. I don't know if we can make the playoffs with this Defense, as hard as that is to say. We have a lot of work to do if we want any shot at beating Denver.

[Steelerkillers]

[quote name='FerrariFan87' date='18 October 2009 - 07:57 PM' timestamp='1255910251' post='261465']
If our D keeps playing like this, then yes, we have a lot to worry about because Pitt beat us twice last year thanks to lapses in our D late in games, and now it's happening week in and week out. We will be fortunate to go 7-3 the rest of the way. I don't know if we can make the playoffs with this Defense, as hard as that is to say. We have a lot of work to do if we want any shot at beating Denver.
[/quote]
We've had issues with closing games since last season. Now, its the same'ol story this year. The difference is-this year...we have more issues than last. If we go 7-3 the rest of the way, we Wont be a participant in the post season.

[Dan The Man Ravens #1 Fan]

[quote name='Steelerkillers' date='18 October 2009 - 07:53 PM' timestamp='1255910034' post='261458']
You misinterpreted his post. The truth is-If in the event that somethin doesnt change soon, its a fair assessment to predict a playoff-less season. If someone could explain why we Will make the playoffs if losing persists..please tell me how. Its nuthin wrong with havin faith. People have been promoting the "lets have faith in our team" since we lost to the Pats. Thats cool. But your faith dont change the outcome of the games. Its nuthin wrong with exposing the negatives about our team.
[/quote]

Even if we continue to play the way were playing, we will be in every game to the end. Its almost simple. Eliminate one or two plays here and there and we win. I dont care how pretty they are. Its a win. Im sure they can make the neccessary adjustments over the bye and who knows, we all might be suprised. Im just saying, Im not ready to fold tent. K

[Moderator 2]

Fast fact Since the 2000 season, the Ravens are 18-21 in the month of October. Under Harbaugh, Baltimore is 2-5 in the 10th month

[Steelerkillers]

[quote name='Dan The Man Ravens #1 Fan' date='18 October 2009 - 08:06 PM' timestamp='1255910788' post='261474']
[b]Even if we continue to play the way were playing, we will be in every game to the end. Its almost simple. Eliminate one or two plays here and there and we win. I dont care how pretty they are. Its a win. [/b]Im sure they can make the neccessary adjustments over the bye and who knows, we all might be suprised. Im just saying, Im not ready to fold tent. K
[/quote]
I agree with the "not ready to fold the tent thing"! However, everything i have in bold in your post explains everything that we're doin.....Except actually finishing or being disciplined enuff to close games. With that monkey on our backs, winning isnt possible

[whaven]

[quote name='Dan The Man Ravens #1 Fan' date='18 October 2009 - 04:40 PM' timestamp='1255909206' post='261435']
Must be nice to see into the future. A lot of people have been fans for a long time and what we have learned is to not give up. Continue believing in your team. Im not ready to close shop and start watching basketball yet.
[/quote]

Don't get me wrong Dan, I will be wearing the purple even if they are 3-13, but the frustrating thing here is that, this is a playoff quality team losing critical games by inches. The problems the Ravens have can be fixed, but Harbaugh is going to have admit some mistake was made on the roster and make the changes need in the secondary, to go to the playoffs. Faith is a great thing, but what the Ravens need now is honest, thoughtout roster changes.

[FerrariFan87]

[quote name='Dan The Man Ravens #1 Fan' date='18 October 2009 - 08:06 PM' timestamp='1255910788' post='261474']
Even if we continue to play the way were playing, we will be in every game to the end. Its almost simple. Eliminate one or two plays here and there and we win. I dont care how pretty they are. Its a win. Im sure they can make the neccessary adjustments over the bye and who knows, we all might be suprised. Im just saying, Im not ready to fold tent. K
[/quote]

Me neither, but I am also not going to get my hopes too high... our D is in shambles. Mattison is getting outfoxed every week; he seems lost.

[Steelerkillers]

[quote name='FerrariFan87' date='18 October 2009 - 08:11 PM' timestamp='1255911097' post='261485']
Me neither, but I am also not going to get my hopes too high... our D is in shambles. [b]Mattison [/b]is getting outfoxed every week; he [b]seems lost.[/b]
[/quote]
There it is! Thats the word i've been looking for...(Lost)! I've been calling him inconsistent. But Lost is a more accurate term. We cant stop teams from scoring, and we're not sure how we wanna go about scoring. How can we expect to visit the playoffs? its crazy!

[PIG 20]

[quote name='reed20' date='18 October 2009 - 06:24 PM' timestamp='1255904659' post='261266']
This is my first full year of being a Ravens fan and not very happy with the D but Flacco is still gunning it against every team hes faced so far but we're on a 3 game losing streak and in 3rd place in the division.


Should we be worried? Can this team still make it to the playoffs in the state that its in?
[/quote]

I think we should be worried. We are a game behind in the division and may fall back further with having a bye week coming up. 3-3 is not a great place to be right now.

Is it the end of the season? Not by a long shot. But we need to fix our defensive struggles here. We lead the league in 20+ yard plays against our defense. Thats a really big problem.

Our offense is doing what they need to do to win football games. Sure we laid an egg against Cincy but the defense is just giving up way too much on a consistant basis.

Our secondary looks totally lost. We keep rushing Reed but get zero pressure and our corners end up getting burned. We need our safety to play safety. Hang back and wait for the ball. Thats what Ed does best. I'm not sure whats going on out there right now.

3-3 isn't the end of the world but it could be close if we don't fix some issues. We need to try and coax Nmandi out of Oakland.

[Dan The Man Ravens #1 Fan]

[quote name='FerrariFan87' date='18 October 2009 - 08:11 PM' timestamp='1255911097' post='261485']
Me neither, but I am also not going to get my hopes too high... our D is in shambles. Mattison is getting outfoxed every week; he seems lost.
[/quote]

Im not getting my hopes too high either but I dont think the playoffs are out of reach. Changing everything we have done to this point puts us back at square one. That would be worse than anything. Thats admitting defeat. All they need to do is make adjustments, crack a couple heads, game plan just a little better and we are on our way.

[PuRock]

[quote name='Moderator 2' date='18 October 2009 - 08:10 PM' timestamp='1255911044' post='261481']
Fast fact Since the 2000 season, the Ravens are 18-21 in the month of October. Under Harbaugh, Baltimore is 2-5 in the 10th month
[/quote]

I love fun facts. So this isn't too un-characteristic.

[jschultz]

Our losses have been heartbreaking and we obviously have more holes in our defense than in the past, but on the other hand our offense is stepping up their game.

Think about this:
1) We were driving to defeat the Patriots. If Clayton had made that catch, then we likely beat Brady & Co.
2) The Cincy game was awful, but again that is another game we should have won but for one bad play here or there.
3) Today, we had an excellent shot at winning that game even though the Vikings were scoring on us without much issue.

Our record could easily be anywhere between 3-3 and 6-0 right now. [b]We have been in each of these games right up to the very end!!![/b] My concern is that we aren't finishing games that we should be winning. Winners find a way to win in such situations and the fact that we are losing those close call games doesn't sit well with me.

Another very positive upshot is that the offense has shown up and (eventually) done its job for 5 out of its 6 games. That's a big and positive change over years past where if we fell behind by more than 7 points, the game seemed far out of reach. Flacco is for real. Rice is for real. If we could get our receivers' to step up just a little bit more, then we really have a very nasty offense. If we could somehow improve our secondary and pass rush a bit more, then we have a pretty balanced team that will be dangerous for anyone to face.

GO RAVENS!!!

PS - I still think our play calling on both sides of the ball is suspect. Cam doesn't seem to adjust to the defenses we are facing until very late. The defense is having problems adjusting and covering up its weaknesses.

[TSizzle00]

[quote name='Magnusmd' date='18 October 2009 - 06:31 PM' timestamp='1255905083' post='261296']
but last year we were not giving up plays like we are now. No turnovers, stupid penalties, giving up back to back 100 yard rushers, 300 + yards of offense to the opposing teams, etc. None of this happened last year at least to the point it is happening now. Wait until we play the Colts!!
[/quote]
Colts are going to destroy the Ravens secondary, but I think our offense can hand with their D

[uamaukeeaokaainaikapono]

[quote name='Shawn`' date='18 October 2009 - 04:48 PM' timestamp='1255906121' post='261334']
Should we be worried? Absolutely not. We've lost to good teams in the clutch.

You know who should be worried? Denver.
[/quote]


hell yeah man. and it's going down in B-town

[Ed_Reed_Pick_Six]

[quote name='jschultz' date='19 October 2009 - 03:50 PM' timestamp='1255924210' post='261902']
Our losses have been heartbreaking and we obviously have more holes in our defense than in the past, but on the other hand our offense is stepping up their game.

Think about this:
1) We were driving to defeat the Patriots. If Clayton had made that catch, then we likely beat Brady & Co.
2) The Cincy game was awful, but again that is another game we should have won but for one bad play here or there.
3) Today, we had an excellent shot at winning that game even though the Vikings were scoring on us without much issue.

Our record could easily be anywhere between 3-3 and 6-0 right now. [b]We have been in each of these games right up to the very end!!![/b] My concern is that we aren't finishing games that we should be winning. Winners find a way to win in such situations and the fact that we are losing those close call games doesn't sit well with me.

Another very positive upshot is that the offense has shown up and (eventually) done its job for 5 out of its 6 games. That's a big and positive change over years past where if we fell behind by more than 7 points, the game seemed far out of reach. Flacco is for real. Rice is for real. If we could get our receivers' to step up just a little bit more, then we really have a very nasty offense. If we could somehow improve our secondary and pass rush a bit more, then we have a pretty balanced team that will be dangerous for anyone to face.

GO RAVENS!!!

PS - I still think our play calling on both sides of the ball is suspect. Cam doesn't seem to adjust to the defenses we are facing until very late. The defense is having problems adjusting and covering up its weaknesses.
[/quote]
Great post, good points raised.

[Sixbrgh]

[quote name='Sizzle' date='18 October 2009 - 06:48 PM' timestamp='1255906115' post='261332']
I think this game gave confidence to our whole team especially our offense making that late come back.
[/quote]

I don't know that many people take confidence away from a game they lost, but maybe they can learn from it.

As far as worried...hmm, the near loss to KC and the last 3 weeks sure don't look like a team headed to the playoffs. The defense has clearly lost a few steps from last season and while the offense is doing well, it's still too early to tell if they can maintain it all season. I can see them ending up 7-9 and that usually isn't good enough for the post season.

[Andrew Smith]

We got some serious K00L AID drinkers floating around in here. Should you be worried about us being 3-13 NO... Should you be worried about us going to the playoffs... umm news flash we haven't beaten one team with a winning record yet this year!

The offense is going to be fun to watch all year but the 2006 and 2008 Ravens were a lot closer to being a SB team than the 2009 Ravens... and that's because of the defense. If the Ravens can somehow find themselves on defense during the bye, they can be a playoff team. If not, they will struggle, no matter how good Flacco and Rice play. The chances they find themselves with Mattison are about as good as me winning the lottery. Mattison is a total bust!

Losing close games is a very bad sign. This is the NFL and the gap between a playoff team and a 8-8 team is very narrow. It comes down to a team's record in close games. Right now the Ravens are 1-3 in close games. It all comes down to how a team performs in the final minutes of a game. Stover was as cool as ice. You better be sure about a rookie when you replace a proven clutch kicker like Stover. The worst part about this bye week is we have 2 entire weeks to be depressed and watch the famous clutch choke of the week on NFL . I saw someone else make this comparison and I agree that we are a spitting image of the 8-8 2008 Texans... such a great offense and always so close to winning but just couldn't finish the job. This year I think the Texans are a lot stronger then the Ravens with Mattison as a head Defensive Coach at least!

[theblackdog]

I'm mostly worried about our D because they are not playing like they have in years past. They haven't been collapsing the pocket and putting pressure on the QB's like before. How many plays in the past few games have we watched where the opposing QB got all the time in the world to throw the ball. If we don't fix it, we're dead meat when we go up against Pittsburgh.

Still, I think we have a shot at the playoffs because we were down like this last year and we didn't have our bye week at the right time. That was a tough schedule we played and we stepped forward. That being said though, I'd rather see us go to the playoffs as a division leader, and not have to claw our way through the wildcard game again.