What Was The Biggest Surprise Of Game 1?

[PuRock]

Let me know what you think.

I voted for the Offensive Line. No sacks allowed. They held their own. Flacco had time to be comfortable, even when Bengals blitzed. I was also very impressed with our "old" defensive. They looked solid against the Bengals.

Flacco definitley deserves mention, not great numbers. But he managed the game. No turnovers, picked up the blitzes. Made the plays when they counted. That was a great TD run!

[RoflDogs]

Flacco's 34(?) yd Td run!!!

lols, i was cracking up while i was watching it (donno why)

[CARavensFan]

I was impressed with our O-line how it kept the defense out of the backfield for the most part (granted it was against the Bengals, but still).

I'd also like to nominate Flacco's feet for the BIGGEST surprise with that 38-yard run for a TD . . . I though I heard around the draft time that he wasn't very mobile as one of the big knocks against him another case of the "experts" eating their words

[Lets_Go_Joe]

i voted flacco's consistant play because even though his nubers didnt look great, many of the incompletions were the recievers fault. He did overthrow and underthrow some throws, but for a division 1-AA qb in his first real game, i think he did great at managing the game. We have always preached that if we can get a guy who manages the game and limits turnovers, we will have a shot at winning every game bc of our defense. For now, this is great play from him. Hopefully he can eventually turn into a ben roethlesburger type qb who can take over a game. Until then let the defense play and avoid mistakes on O.


P.S. The run was amazing, made me LOL.

[BloodRaven]

Flacco managed the game well but I like how the o-line held up.

[purplebandana]

the o-line played like true pro's im gonna have to go with them as the biggest surprise

[#1 D]

[quote name='PuRock' post='63889' date='Sep 7 2008, 05:58 PM']Let me know what you think.

I voted for the Offensive Line. No sacks allowed. They held their own. Flacco had time to be comfortable, even when Bengals blitzed. I was also very impressed with our "old" defensive. They looked solid against the Bengals.

Flacco definitley deserves mention, not great numbers. But he managed the game. No turnovers, picked up the blitzes. Made the plays when they counted. That was a great TD run![/quote]
if there was an "other", i picked that.
Heap with all those dropped catches. this is very un Heap-like, and there will be a huge improvement next game. i can just see the dissapointment in heap.

[Ravensman5220]

The biggest suprise was how many drops we had by sure handed recievers like mason and heap. But that will improve with reps.

[K-Dog]

TOUGH to pick one, but I picked Flacco.

Not that I am a Flacco hater or doubter, but for a rookie I was pretty surprised.

[POE]

I think this answer has to be the O-line. They never let their QB get sacked and gave Flacco so much time to go through his reads. It helped Flacco to not get rattled and start making bad decisions, turning him into a calm and collective young QB with tremendous confidence. I think it was the game changer by far and hope they can build on what they did further in the season.

The Defense was amazing and I loved every bit of it, but we have seen that before. Not that I want it to go away or down play it because Baltimore is defense and they proved all the experts wrong again, but it wasn't surprising because we have been used to this type of play from that side of the ball.

Flacco and the running game were amazing as well but without the determination and awesome play from our O-line neither have a good day and we are all not so happy right now. I can't wait for next week hoping that Joe will build on his solid performance today and hope we have a three headed monster next week in the running game with MacGahee, Rice and McClain leading the way!

[PuRock]

It's pretty apparent overall that the O-Line really surprised us. Hopefully they will continue to impress.

I just hope it wasn't the Bengals D that was just horrible. I like to think they were slightly bad, we were slightly good.

[die_hard_raven]

The Flacco TD run by far. Other than that how good was it to see Ed Reed on the field?

[BAL_Hawk]

[url="http://www.baltimoreravens.com/media_library/Videos/NFL_Network/2008/09/Clayton_2x_Reverse.aspx"]One of the coolest plays in Raven's history.[/url]

The thing that impressed me the most was our offense and the team-work overall. Yes, our O-line was amazing. Yes, Flacco was solid. However, none of that would have mattered if the coaching wasn't up to par. In fact, it was the hard coaching that prepared our players. You could just see it in their eyes. Jason Brown was almost in tears as he talked about the "team coming together" and "all the hard work paying off."

My favorite play of the game was the reverse to Clayton. The discipline, execution and timing of that play was outstanding. The way that Mason just popped the ball up in the air and how the ball seemed to just float as Clayon hit it at [i]full speed[/i] was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen the Ravens pull off. Do you have any idea how much practice that takes? It just gives me chills to think about it.

I think that we have alot of things to look forward too, and all the people that were criticizing Harbaugh about the injuries and the hard camp look pretty stupid right now.

[BAL_Hawk]

[quote name='PuRock' post='64265' date='Sep 8 2008, 09:59 AM']It's pretty apparent overall that the O-Line really surprised us. Hopefully they will continue to impress.

I just hope it wasn't the Bengals D that was just horrible. I like to think they were slightly bad, we were slightly good.[/quote]
I wouldn't worry about that. The fact is that the Bengals are an NFL team with NFL players. They were blitzing like crazy and putting 8-9 guys in the box on every play. Even with all of that, our O-line just plowed right through them. That says something no matter who we play.

They may have some tougher match-ups, but a tough match-up just means that Cameron with have to game-plan a little harder. After yesterday, I have alot of confidence in Cameron's game-plan.

[sporaven]

flacco playing consistent should have been a given, he was a 1st round pick for a reason and you know cam wasn't going to have him doing dangerous things on his first game

offensive line wasnt a suprise considering it was vs a horrible defensive line

and whoever thought we would have a bad running game vs the browns knows nothing about football

so, what was the biggest for me? our defense DOMINATING the bengals top tier passing offense. if you had told me flacco played consistent, the oline played well, and we ran all over them i wouldnt have been suprised. if you told me we would hold the bengals offense to 0 touchdowns i would tell you youve gone crazy with optimism.

[carlostelevida]

well, about overthrows and under throws, isnt payton manning a pro bowl QB and Does he do it ?
and what about tom brady, we just need to fix our receivers corp and we will be fine.

and last what about carson palmer, isnt he a Pro bowl QB, he had the wors outing of his career yesterday, it happen even to the best in the bussines it is nothing to panic about.

a win is a win and better in the opening.

any doubt, ask to the colts, in their new stadium.

jejeje just dominican fun
[url="http://boards.baltimoreravens.com/style_images/ravens/folder_post_icons/icon1.gif"]http://boards.baltimoreravens.com/style_im...icons/icon1.gif[/url]

[FerrariFan87]

I was mainly surprised about the Defense completely dominating the Bungles in the passing game, we ALL know nobody can run on us.... I was most surprised to see REEEEEEEEEEEED back there as our QB of the Defense, and his presence made the difference shutting down TJ "Who's Your Momma" and Chad Javon Johnson-Ocho Cinco. We got great pressure on Carson and stuffed the run, as usual, even without Buddy Lee! I can't wait to get him back...

P.S. Fabian Washington and Derrick Martin should be back next week too! Wow, we are loaded

[carlostelevida]

flacco consistent play and o line solid play all day long.

so flacco looked like hes been in the league for years,
i think hes one of the fews QB mistake free the past sunday

[ravensgirlx88]

The offensive line is something I really felt would struggle this year, I'm stuck eating my words because I'm not sure what helped pay off more.. I mean is is Cam's outlook that brought out this amazing offensive line? Is it that they have faith in Flacco or that they really like Coach harbaugh as coach? I'm not really sure what it was but I'm very pleased with the way things turned out!!! So glad I went to the game!!!!=]

[ravensgirlx88]

Oh and about HEAP!.. i dont think hes 100% heathly but I also dont think he had proper time to practice.. I have a feeling we may see the real todd heap in houston next week.. @ least I hope so!!!

[PurpleTalon]

[quote name='PuRock' post='63889' date='Sep 7 2008, 05:58 PM']Let me know what you think.

I voted for the Offensive Line. No sacks allowed. They held their own. Flacco had time to be comfortable, even when Bengals blitzed. I was also very impressed with our "old" defensive. They looked solid against the Bengals.

Flacco definitley deserves mention, not great numbers. But he managed the game. No turnovers, picked up the blitzes. Made the plays when they counted. That was a great TD run![/quote]
i say the offensive line also due to the fact that they were flawless this game. they held back the defense which gave Flacco pleny of time to run the play. We all know that Flacco needed a confidence boost in order to perform well. I agree too that Flacco deserves a mention because that man was on point. Other than a few bad passes, there were dropped passes and i believe there was a pass that would've been on target if it wasn't for the receiver not running the route right. Flacco with a touchdown? who would've thought.

way to go Ravens, great game.

[itscbm5042]

Yeah the OL will only continue to gel even more and showed some very cool formations (2 LT blocking for McClain with O'Neal leading) and if Joe has time to survey the field then he showed great decision making ability. Not one ball yesterday thrown was even close to an interception he put it only where his man could catch it or nobody at all when he missed. As we've stated the completion percentage is misleading and he should be 20/29 with 1 TD and 1 rushing TD. And that is where the biggest surprise comes. Joe can run. He isn't a scrambling QB by any means but when there is open field in front of him he can RUN and he is extremly powerful (running through tackles, making great blocks etc) and that is something Smith would never be able to do. We have a man here who has had 30 reps a practice with the 1st team offense throughout the preseason going into his very first game and becoming a field general, he was making audibles and sound decisions. Flacco's toughness both physically and mentally was the biggest surprise.