MERGED: We Need To Stop The Blame Game

[Perfekt]

It was a poor team effort yesterday. Mattison was a idiot for all the 3rd and long blitz that he sent. Cam couldnt coach his way out of a wet paper bag. ST was the biggest let down of all tho with the Oline following right behind.


Truth is were a good team but we had a short week an we always have trouble in domes.

[Purple Punishment]

Truth is, we didnt even get off the plane in Atlanta for the first half.

[757RavensFan]

I frequently visit other teams forums and one of the their biggest gripes about Ravens fans' is we blame the refs entirely too much for our losses. It pained me more than anyone to watch us take the lead in the 4th qtr just to lose it 40 seconds later. But enough w/ the blaming the refs. We've given up 4th qtr leads in at least 3 games this season. 10 to the Pats, 10 to the Bills and last night. There's no conspiracy against us, the refs don't have a personal vendetta against us. You ALWAYS have to look internally to fix any and all inadequacies.

Have a great Friday.

[Marc2k6]

If you can just go back and think of all of the close games we lose, we always want to blame the refs for not winning the game for us as fans. Make a play, Win the game!

[Rinbee]

In the end, the turnovers killed us in terms of points, TOP, and defensive fatigue. My observation - we don't play within ourselves. Flacco's pass should never have been thrown and Webb had no chance on the return and should have secured posession. I put a lot of this on Harbs. He has been barking about the return game and I believe he has created an atmosphere of "you better make a big play or you are out." From waht I have seen over 9 games most of the punts we receive have good hang time and are well covered. It's hard for anyone to get a good return in those circumstances. Why risk a turnover or a penalty (both of which occurred on Webb's fumble). Why risk an interception throwing into double coverage when you can play for field position. We lack good fundamental skills and this falls largely on the coaching staff. I am tired of losing to good teams because of stupidity and tyring to be something you are not. Webb is not Cribbs adn Flacco is not Manning. Accept that, secure the ball and grind it out. That's how we won a SB. Not to say we can't more of a big play team, but youhave to be smarter especially on the road against a good team.

[Marc2k6]

Making plays wins championships! FACT!

[BKeyser]

Stop the blame game? I'm assuming we're talking about refs?

Well, no. I do blame the refs, at least partially. Why is it we, as fans, can blame Flacco for throwing a pick? Webb for fumbling a punt? The defense in general for not making enough plays? But not the referees for constantly extending drives for the other team with bad calls penalty calls on 3rd down?

The Suggs facemask call was horrendous. Another penalty against the Ravens after they had the other offense stopped on 3rd down - with an official's conference involved. How many times does this happen to the Ravens? We stop them on a crucial third down, a flag is thrown mid-play, and the officials sort it out only to find it's against the Ravens- first and ten, other team. The odds are astronomical and yet this has occurred over and over on us- and rarely if ever, does the call go the other way. When was the last time we benefited from a questionable penalty to extend one of our drives or kill one of theirs?

And the pass interference? You can't miss that. That's one guys entire job- to watch that play and report on the contact. No call? Remember, these referees are paid to do a job- these aren't local fathers volunteering at their kids' game. The guy missed the call, or worse, let the play continue out of bias or influence, and the fact that Ron Winter was the crew chief should be a glaring indication that it was probably the later and not the former.

Yeah, I'm blaming the refs and I don't care how it's perceived. We can't expect to go into Atlanta and dominate a good team on their field in a short week. Everything was stacked against the Ravens from a schedule standpoint- and yet we hung around and hung around, got back into the game and took the lead. GOOD teams do that, not bad ones. Had Pittsburgh played that game exactly how the Ravens did, and the same call was made (which wouldn't happen against Pitt and everybody who pays attention knows this) the media would be decrying the call and saying how great Big Ben did getting them back in the game. The Ravens played tough in tough circumstances and when they managed to claw back in front, the refs took it away from them. Had the penalty been rightfully called, 10 yards assessed, and Ryan still managed to get a score, I wouldn't say this. But that's not what happened.

Ron Winter's crew.

[Perfekt]

It was a team lost now lets learn from it an move on. The refs didnt lose us that game we did.

We are a good team. No were not the best right now but if we can turn it around now we can still make it to the ship/

[Rinbee]

[quote name='BKeyser' timestamp='1289570241' post='538383']
Stop the blame game? I'm assuming we're talking about refs?

Well, no. I do blame the refs, at least partially. [b]Why is it we, as fans, can blame Flacco for throwing a pick? Webb for fumbling a punt? The defense in general for not making enough plays?[/b] But not the referees for constantly extending drives for the other team with bad calls penalty calls on 3rd down?

The Suggs facemask call was horrendous. Another penalty against the Ravens after they had the other offense stopped on 3rd down - with an official's conference involved. How many times does this happen to the Ravens? We stop them on a crucial third down, a flag is thrown mid-play, and the officials sort it out only to find it's against the Ravens- first and ten, other team. The odds are astronomical and yet this has occurred over and over on us- and rarely if ever, does the call go the other way. When was the last time we benefited from a questionable penalty to extend one of our drives or kill one of theirs?

And the pass interference? You can't miss that. That's one guys entire job- to watch that play and report on the contact. No call? Remember, these referees are paid to do a job- these aren't local fathers volunteering at their kids' game. The guy missed the call, or worse, let the play continue out of bias or influence, and the fact that Ron Winter was the crew chief should be a glaring indication that it was probably the later and not the former.

Yeah, I'm blaming the refs and I don't care how it's perceived. We can't expect to go into Atlanta and dominate a good team on their field in a short week. Everything was stacked against the Ravens from a schedule standpoint- and yet we hung around and hung around, got back into the game and took the lead. GOOD teams do that, not bad ones. Had Pittsburgh played that game exactly how the Ravens did, and the same call was made (which wouldn't happen against Pitt and everybody who pays attention knows this) the media would be decrying the call and saying how great Big Ben did getting them back in the game. The Ravens played tough in tough circumstances and when they managed to claw back in front, the refs took it away from them. Had the penalty been rightfully called, 10 yards assessed, and Ryan still managed to get a score, I wouldn't say this. But that's not what happened.

Ron Winter's crew.
[/quote]


Sure the officiating sucks in general, but if we take care of what we can control directly we can neutralize bad calls.

[jdynamite]

Although there should be a certain accountability placed on (let's say the defense for giving up the lead last night).
I think asking for some consistency from the Refs is reasonable, 1) nothing the refs could about the Jenkins catch because it was ruled a catch it wasn't going to be reversed (although this is first "questionable call" 2) the last 2 plays of the game is where the issue of consistency comes into play because Gooden gets P.I. on Gonzalez which on Replays appears to show both players diving for the ball, then on the very next play Wilson is "stiff armed" down to the ground 10 yds down field..

So if Gooden play was P.I. resulting in a new set of downs, White's play could have also been a P.I. if Atlanta still gets a FG to win the game after that so be it, but to have back to back plays in which the foul on one is obvious with the call occurring is just a punch to gut..

But I'm not sure why in the 4th qtr of games we began to play a weak man to man (almost prevent defense) every week.. I mean we were up by only 1pt and it was like a cover 2 we give u the underneath play type defense as if a 50yd fg would not have clinched the game lol...

[thrash5]

[quote name='jdynamite' timestamp='1289571112' post='538403']
Although there should be a certain accountability placed on (let's say the defense for giving up the lead last night).
I think asking for some consistency from the Refs is reasonable, 1) nothing the refs could about the Jenkins catch because it was ruled a catch it wasn't going to be reversed (although this is first "questionable call" 2) the last 2 plays of the game is where the issue of consistency comes into play because Gooden gets P.I. on Gonzalez which on Replays appears to show both players diving for the ball, then on the very next play Wilson is "stiff armed" down to the ground 10 yds down field..

So if Gooden play was P.I. resulting in a new set of downs, White's play could have also been a P.I. if Atlanta still gets a FG to win the game after that so be it, but to have back to back plays in which the foul on one is obvious with the call occurring is just a punch to gut..All the reason why gregg mattison should be fired.

But I'm not sure why in the 4th qtr of games we began to play a weak man to man (almost prevent defense) every week.. I mean we were up by only 1pt and it was like a cover 2 we give u the underneath play type defense as if a 50yd fg would not have clinched the game lol...
[/quote]All the reason gregg mattison should be fired

[RivenHale]

Keep your head up, boys. We took it on the chin, but take it like a man. We lost, plain and simple. Doesn't matter how. We did everything everyone said we had to do: We forced them to beat us in the air by shutting down Michael Turner, we kept putting them in third-and-longs, we came back hard near the end for the go-ahead ... we just didn't finish the game out the way we wanted to. This is a team sport, so place the blame on the team. I didn't see any refs out there in purple and black, did you?

We've still got a very good football team. Atlanta just had a better one yesterday.

[BKeyser]

[quote]Sure the officiating sucks in general, but if we take care of what we can control directly we can neutralize bad calls. [/quote]

But see, that's my point. It's a football game and both sides are trying to win it. We can't "control" the Falcons any more than they can "control" us. We can't make every play a success; no team can. But when you fight and claw and scratch your way back into a game -without having the refs hand it to you through poor officiating- then you've essentially done your job. The Ravens did their job. Not the way we'd all like to see it done, but had they won that game, we'd all be talking about how masterful the comeback was. That's part of being a championship team; you have to win the tough games on the road on a short week. We managed to do that -almost- and the outcome was most certainly effected by guys on the field that should not effect the outcome.

It was a bad call. It was a game-changing call. It was something we could not control. And it cost us a win when every win is essential for home-field advantage in the playoffs.

I don't consider it whining either. Had it just been a blown coverage, we'd be busting Wilson's chops for it. Why can't we bust the Side Judge's chops? Just my take.

[dagwood32]

Yes the refs missed two blatant offensive pass interference calls on the Falcon's final drive, however it should have never come to that. When is someone going to pull Cam Cameron aside and teach him the meaning of clock management. 1:10 left in the game, 2 and 8 on the 9 yard line. You have been running the ball almost at will, 5.5 yds avg. Falcons with one time out and you with three. Why would you even consider throwing the ball for a touchdown and leaving the Falcons with 1:05 left on the clock. You run the ball on 2nd down and force the Falcons to use their last time out. Depending on the yards gained, you run the ball to kill more time and control the clock with your time outs. We had three attempts for a 1st down at a minimum. You now have four more tries for touchdown. You don't leave them with any time what so ever or time outs. There was a one point lead. The best way to keep the other team from winning is to keep their offense on the bench. The Defense even though Ryan moved the ball held his offense to 14 points. 6 points were from short field turnovers. Was he not watching the same game we were? Was he in the locker room when the Defense was on the field? I love the D as much as anyone. The Falcons had their number tonight and moved the ball too well to leave that much time on the clock. Another game given away. Another game that should have been won. The game was ours for the taking, and was lost because of poor clock management. Everything up to that point was mute. This one moment was the deciding factor that we controlled.

[Purple Punishment]

I put the blame on Jared Gaither! Malingering like hell and putting as much woe on our O Line as possible

[ATLBirdzEyeView]

[quote name='BKeyser' timestamp='1289570241' post='538383']
Stop the blame game? I'm assuming we're talking about refs?

Well, no. I do blame the refs, at least partially. Why is it we, as fans, can blame Flacco for throwing a pick? Webb for fumbling a punt? The defense in general for not making enough plays? But not the referees for constantly extending drives for the other team with bad calls penalty calls on 3rd down?

The Suggs facemask call was horrendous. Another penalty against the Ravens after they had the other offense stopped on 3rd down - with an official's conference involved. How many times does this happen to the Ravens? We stop them on a crucial third down, a flag is thrown mid-play, and the officials sort it out only to find it's against the Ravens- first and ten, other team. The odds are astronomical and yet this has occurred over and over on us- and rarely if ever, does the call go the other way. When was the last time we benefited from a questionable penalty to extend one of our drives or kill one of theirs?

And the pass interference? You can't miss that. That's one guys entire job- to watch that play and report on the contact. No call? Remember, these referees are paid to do a job- these aren't local fathers volunteering at their kids' game. The guy missed the call, or worse, let the play continue out of bias or influence, and the fact that Ron Winter was the crew chief should be a glaring indication that it was probably the later and not the former.

Yeah, I'm blaming the refs and I don't care how it's perceived. We can't expect to go into Atlanta and dominate a good team on their field in a short week. Everything was stacked against the Ravens from a schedule standpoint- and yet we hung around and hung around, got back into the game and took the lead. GOOD teams do that, not bad ones. Had Pittsburgh played that game exactly how the Ravens did, and the same call was made (which wouldn't happen against Pitt and everybody who pays attention knows this) the media would be decrying the call and saying how great Big Ben did getting them back in the game. The Ravens played tough in tough circumstances and when they managed to claw back in front, the refs took it away from them. Had the penalty been rightfully called, 10 yards assessed, and Ryan still managed to get a score, I wouldn't say this. But that's not what happened.

Ron Winter's crew.
[/quote]


WOW! So, are you implying that the Falcons did absolutely NOTHING on the field to win that game last night MINUS the refs??

[PuRock]

[quote name='ATLBirdzEyeView' timestamp='1289575354' post='538543']
WOW! So, are you implying that the Falcons did absolutely NOTHING on the field to win that game last night MINUS the refs??
[/quote]

Seems to be a common theme with us (as well as most NFL fans) not giving credit to the other team for what they accomplished. Instead fans would rather point the fingers at their own team and other external forces (i.e. Refs).

Falcons put together one hell of a game. They did not look like they were playing on a short week. Looked like they snuck in an extra three days of practice between Monday and Tuesday. Falcons O-Line played solid, D-line played great. Passing D still needs some help. Ryan really made the difference. Audibling out of blitzes making great throws.

Falcons are the real deal.

[Rinbee]

[quote name='PuRock' timestamp='1289575633' post='538549']
Seems to be a common theme with us (as well as most NFL fans) not giving credit to the other team for what they accomplished. Instead fans would rather point the fingers at their own team and other external forces (i.e. Refs).

Falcons put together one hell of a game. They did not look like they were playing on a short week. Looked like they snuck in an extra three days of practice between Monday and Tuesday. Falcons O-Line played solid, D-line played great. Passing D still needs some help. Ryan really made the difference. Audibling out of blitzes making great throws.

[b]Falcons are the real deal.[/b][/quote]

Yes, and we did not protect the ball and gave Ryan too much time and opporrtunity to work with.

[Perfekt]

Cam needs to take a page from the Falcons gameplan they did look amazing.

[JoeCool#5]

[quote name='BKeyser' timestamp='1289570241' post='538383']
Stop the blame game? I'm assuming we're talking about refs?

Well, no. I do blame the refs, at least partially. Why is it we, as fans, can blame Flacco for throwing a pick? Webb for fumbling a punt? The defense in general for not making enough plays? But not the referees for constantly extending drives for the other team with bad calls penalty calls on 3rd down?

[b]The Suggs facemask call was horrendous.[/b] Another penalty against the Ravens after they had the other offense stopped on 3rd down - with an official's conference involved. How many times does this happen to the Ravens? We stop them on a crucial third down, a flag is thrown mid-play, and the officials sort it out only to find it's against the Ravens- first and ten, other team. The odds are astronomical and yet this has occurred over and over on us- and rarely if ever, does the call go the other way. When was the last time we benefited from a questionable penalty to extend one of our drives or kill one of theirs?

And the pass interference? You can't miss that. That's one guys entire job- to watch that play and report on the contact. No call? Remember, these referees are paid to do a job- these aren't local fathers volunteering at their kids' game. The guy missed the call, or worse, let the play continue out of bias or influence, and the fact that Ron Winter was the crew chief should be a glaring indication that it was probably the later and not the former.

Yeah, I'm blaming the refs and I don't care how it's perceived. We can't expect to go into Atlanta and dominate a good team on their field in a short week. Everything was stacked against the Ravens from a schedule standpoint- and yet we hung around and hung around, got back into the game and took the lead. GOOD teams do that, not bad ones. Had Pittsburgh played that game exactly how the Ravens did, and the same call was made (which wouldn't happen against Pitt and everybody who pays attention knows this) the media would be decrying the call and saying how great Big Ben did getting them back in the game. The Ravens played tough in tough circumstances and when they managed to claw back in front, the refs took it away from them. Had the penalty been rightfully called, 10 yards assessed, and Ryan still managed to get a score, I wouldn't say this. But that's not what happened.

Ron Winter's crew.
[/quote]
That missed call resulted in a fresh set of downs and 7 pts on the board. The refs surely didnt have their "A" game today but the Defense didnt either. 80 yards in 40 seconds for the win. Is flat out embarassing.

[Corvus]

This is the best thread I have ever seen after a loss, kudos to the OP. It is what it is: the Falcons were more prepared for us than we were for them. Bad execution, especially on defense. Bad coaching calls, everyone on the team and in the staff is at fault here so there is no point in pinning the blame on certain players, coaches, or even refs. Here's hoping the 10 days off give them more time to play to their max potential in Charlotte, I'll be there rooting for it to happen.

[ATLBirdzEyeView]

[quote name='PuRock' timestamp='1289575633' post='538549']
Seems to be a common theme with us (as well as most NFL fans) not giving credit to the other team for what they accomplished. Instead fans would rather point the fingers at their own team and other external forces (i.e. Refs).

Falcons put together one hell of a game. They did not look like they were playing on a short week. Looked like they snuck in an extra three days of practice between Monday and Tuesday. Falcons O-Line played solid, D-line played great. Passing D still needs some help. Ryan really made the difference. Audibling out of blitzes making great throws.

Falcons are the real deal.
[/quote]


PuRock, I appreciate the feedback. I completely understand the "emotional" rationale and responses after a tough loss. You should have seen me when you guys took the lead in the 4th...My wife thought she was gonna have to commit me to a mental health institution...LOL!

At the end of the day, we were just able to execute our game plan a little bit better than you guys last night. The 1st half won the game for us last night. Roddy White, no doubt, was the main difference for us...He almost didn't play due to a knee injury last week. I'm obviously glad he was able to play, otherwise I honestly believe it would have been a different result last night.

Good luck the rest of the way!

[Perfekt]

your correct our horrible play in the first half an no attempt going into the half time to score crippled us.

[hawkprey]

[quote name='PuRock' timestamp='1289575633' post='538549']
Seems to be a common theme with us (as well as most NFL fans) not giving credit to the other team for what they accomplished. Instead fans would rather point the fingers at their own team and other external forces (i.e. Refs).

Falcons put together one hell of a game. They did not look like they were playing on a short week. Looked like they snuck in an extra three days of practice between Monday and Tuesday. Falcons O-Line played solid, D-line played great. Passing D still needs some help. Ryan really made the difference. Audibling out of blitzes making great throws.

Falcons are the real deal.
[/quote]

The amount of fans who root for a team is too large a sample size for them to all coincidentally blame the refs. If there are only 6 NFL fans in the world and the two Ravens fans blame the refs, that is a coincidence. To say so many Ravens fans blame the refs and so many fans who blame the refs are Ravens fans is not a coincidence. There has to be some legitimacy, even if only some, to the claim.

The Ravens were not perfect. But they were good enough to the point where they "should have" won.

Say you're about to place first in a marathon. 10 seconds before you reach the finish line, a man runs over and cuts your legs off. Is it your fault you weren't 10 seconds faster or is there some unfairness that can still be attributed to the loss?

[BKeyser]

Addressing a couple of earlier comments:

No- I don't think the ref's were entirely responsible for the Ravens' loss, or that the Falcons didn't play well enough to win. But look at it in the reverse. Had we dominated the game for the entire first half, and the Falcons got back in it the same way we did, would we be saying our defense blew it? I haven't seen one comment about how poorly the Falcons played defense in the second half. Did we not come back and take the lead with less than two minutes to go? Fact is, the Falcons didn't play poor on defense, we just turned up our offense and outplayed them on a couple of drives. Same can be said in the reverse. We gave up 13 points through 3 quarters, 6 of those off of turnovers in Ravens territory.

What I'm saying is that both teams -at differing times- played their hearts out; the Ravens on offense in the fourth quarter especially. How many times did we see this during the 2000 season -bend and don't break? Yeah, we gave up some yards. And yeah, our DLine push was not -and has not been- what it should be. But we took the lead with less than two minutes remaining after being down by 13 in the 3rd quarter in an away game on short rest. That's character and a desire to win. Nobody gave up. Joe had a bad throw, and yet he came back and threw 3 TD's. Sometimes you have games like this -and this one was winnable- had the referees been fair. They weren't and we took the loss. And with Ron Winter's crew, it always seems to happen at critical junctures.

To sum: Yes, the Falcons won. Yes, they played well. Yes, Matt Ryan is one helluva QB (though the man crush from the booth was tough to listen to...) But all that being said, they surrendered the lead to the road team in the fourth quarter and without benefit of a blatant missed call, they still would have had to drive another 25-30 yards beginning on 3rd down with 35 seconds left to get the winning score. I'll take the Ravens' D in that situation any day. Maybe they would have held; maybe not, but Ron Winter's crew made that a moot point, not the play of the Falcons.

[Edit] [url="http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/recap?gid=20101111001"]From AP's Recap:[/url] [i]Ryan rolled to his left to get away from the pressure, and White shoved off Josh Wilson(notes) with his right hand to get free, sending the cornerback tumbling to the turf. Ryan delivered the ball perfectly, White caught it with no one around and cruised into the end zone.

Wilson hopped up, screaming for a penalty. But the official kept the yellow flag in his back pocket and held up both arms. Touchdown.

White knew he got away with one.

“Yeah, you’ve got to do whatever you’ve got to do to win,” he said. “It was one-on-one coverage with one guy. But he was kind of flat-footed, and he tried to grab me, so I just pushed him down.”[/i]

[flynismo]

[quote name='BKeyser' timestamp='1289570241' post='538383']
Stop the blame game? I'm assuming we're talking about refs?

Well, no. I do blame the refs, at least partially. Why is it we, as fans, can blame Flacco for throwing a pick? Webb for fumbling a punt? The defense in general for not making enough plays? But not the referees for constantly extending drives for the other team with bad calls penalty calls on 3rd down?

The Suggs facemask call was horrendous. Another penalty against the Ravens after they had the other offense stopped on 3rd down - with an official's conference involved. How many times does this happen to the Ravens? We stop them on a crucial third down, a flag is thrown mid-play, and the officials sort it out only to find it's against the Ravens- first and ten, other team. The odds are astronomical and yet this has occurred over and over on us- and rarely if ever, does the call go the other way. When was the last time we benefited from a questionable penalty to extend one of our drives or kill one of theirs?

And the pass interference? You can't miss that. That's one guys entire job- to watch that play and report on the contact. No call? Remember, these referees are paid to do a job- these aren't local fathers volunteering at their kids' game. The guy missed the call, or worse, let the play continue out of bias or influence, and the fact that Ron Winter was the crew chief should be a glaring indication that it was probably the later and not the former.

Yeah, I'm blaming the refs and I don't care how it's perceived. We can't expect to go into Atlanta and dominate a good team on their field in a short week. Everything was stacked against the Ravens from a schedule standpoint- and yet we hung around and hung around, got back into the game and took the lead. GOOD teams do that, not bad ones. Had Pittsburgh played that game exactly how the Ravens did, and the same call was made (which wouldn't happen against Pitt and everybody who pays attention knows this) the media would be decrying the call and saying how great Big Ben did getting them back in the game. The Ravens played tough in tough circumstances and when they managed to claw back in front, the refs took it away from them. Had the penalty been rightfully called, 10 yards assessed, and Ryan still managed to get a score, I wouldn't say this. But that's not what happened.

Ron Winter's crew.
[/quote]


I hate blaming the refs. I absolutely hate it.
But you speak the truth. No one here can deny what you said, we rarely benefit from these questionable judgement calls. The only time in recent memory that I can even think of is in week one of this year, we got that call against Braylon for roughing the kicker. Other than that, time after time, we see BS penalties called on us on third down, extending drives against us. It is mind boggling how often it occurs when Winters' crew is presiding, especially.

Is it an excuse for losing? Well, when we have the lead with 20 seconds left in the game and ATL is in mid-field, and blatant offensive PI goes uncalled 20 yards downfield and results in the go ahead score (and leaves us with 10 secs to score a TD to make up for the non call), you tell me..is it reasonable to be fuming and blame the refs?

[Gtown Purple]

The fact is there are many reasons for the raven's loss last night.

1. 0 points in the first half.
2. 2 turnovers which lead to 6 falcon's points and killed 2 drives for us.
3. 0 turnovers from our defense.
4. Third down conversions on both sides of the ball.
5. poor pass protection in the first half and sporadically in the 2nd half.
6. Untimely bad throw from Joe in the second half on the drive following our touchdown. he missed a wide open TJ on a 3rd down pass. The falcons took the subsequent possession for a td.
7. Poor pass rush at times.
8. Ineffectiveness of our secondary for most of the game.


It's convenient to blame the refs as it's obvious that had the call been made the ravens stand a much better chance of winning but let's be perfectly honest here, we left alot of opportunity on the table. To be a playoff team and go deep in the playoffs we need to be much better overall. It's probably going to take 11 or 12 wins just to make the afc playoffs and we are 3 losses in the hole with some tough games coming up. I don't think it's panic time as the ravens have sown they can bounce back from losses but the way we are losing games is becoming a bit of a trend this season.

[Rinbee]

[quote name='Gtown Purple' timestamp='1289594854' post='539140']
The fact is there are many reasons for the raven's loss last night.

1. 0 points in the first half.
2. 2 turnovers which lead to 6 falcon's points and killed 2 drives for us.
3. 0 turnovers from our defense.
4. Third down conversions on both sides of the ball.
5. poor pass protection in the first half and sporadically in the 2nd half.
6. Untimely bad throw from Joe in the second half on the drive following our touchdown. he missed a wide open TJ on a 3rd down pass. The falcons took the subsequent possession for a td.
7. Poor pass rush at times.
8. Ineffectiveness of our secondary for most of the game.


It's convenient to blame the refs as it's obvious that had the call been made the ravens stand a much better chance of winning but let's be perfectly honest here, we left alot of opportunity on the table. To be a playoff team and go deep in the playoffs we need to be much better overall. It's probably going to take 11 or 12 wins just to make the afc playoffs and we are 3 losses in the hole with some tough games coming up. I don't think it's panic time as the ravens have sown they can bounce back from losses but the way we are losing games is becoming a bit of a trend this season.
[/quote]

Well put. I know refs are not perfect. Maybe there is some deliberate or unconscious bias and their mistakes do tend to stand out more than the player's mistakes. But, with a few exceptions, bad calls do not decide winners. If we avoid the two turnovers, probably a differrent outcome. If we play an absolutely perfect game and see the other team win because of bad calls, then it's fair to get on the refs. Until we fix the things under our control (play calling, turnovers, O-line, etc...) we should stop pointing fingers, man up and admit we blew it ourselves.

[flynismo]

[quote name='Gtown Purple' timestamp='1289594854' post='539140']
The fact is there are many reasons for the raven's loss last night.

1. 0 points in the first half.
2. 2 turnovers which lead to 6 falcon's points and killed 2 drives for us.
3. 0 turnovers from our defense.
4. Third down conversions on both sides of the ball.
5. poor pass protection in the first half and sporadically in the 2nd half.
6. Untimely bad throw from Joe in the second half on the drive following our touchdown. he missed a wide open TJ on a 3rd down pass. The falcons took the subsequent possession for a td.
7. Poor pass rush at times.
8. Ineffectiveness of our secondary for most of the game.


It's convenient to blame the refs as it's obvious that had the call been made the ravens stand a much better chance of winning but let's be perfectly honest here, we left alot of opportunity on the table. To be a playoff team and go deep in the playoffs we need to be much better overall. It's probably going to take 11 or 12 wins just to make the afc playoffs and we are 3 losses in the hole with some tough games coming up. I don't think it's panic time as the ravens have sown they can bounce back from losses but the way we are losing games is becoming a bit of a trend this season.
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All those things are very true, and why I hate blaming officials.
But it does not negate the fact that we did what we had to do to win, which is take the lead when it matters-with a minute left on the clock, and victory was taken away from us by the officials, not because ATL outplayed us when it truly mattered.

[Gtown Purple]

No, the refs aren't perfect. This year has been a bad year for refs on a whole. That's why they had a conference call a week or 2 ago with all the crews to try and get them to be more consistent across the board. I guess Ron Winter's crew missed that call. I just read a note on nfl.com saying that the nfl apologized to the steelers for 2 blown calls in their game against cincy. I won't be surprised if something similar happens for us within the next few days. I'm sure Harbs is going to be sending film and/or a letter to the league office to get some clarification on things.

You mention the "perfect game". That's something we haven't done yet this year. The closest we've come is probably the Denver game with the only real blemishes being those 2 long tds we gave up. We made way to many mistakes in this game and if we don't make as many we are probably celebrating a win rather than gnashing our teeth.

Suggs said something about they don't want to feel this way again. Well, they probably felt sorta like this after losing the way they did to the bengals and pats. My question is, if you really want to do something about then why haven't you done so already?



[quote name='Rinbee' timestamp='1289595313' post='539157']
Well put. I know refs are not perfect. Maybe there is some deliberate or unconscious bias and their mistakes do tend to stand out more than the player's mistakes. But, with a few exceptions, bad calls do not decide winners. If we avoid the two turnovers, probably a differrent outcome. If we play an absolutely perfect game and see the other team win because of bad calls, then it's fair to get on the refs. Until we fix the things under our control (play calling, turnovers, O-line, etc...) we should stop pointing fingers, man up and admit we blew it ourselves.
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