Do We Really Have A Superbowl Team? Or Just Posing As One?

[gabefergy]

[quote name='Blex64' timestamp='1321325841' post='871819']
This is pathetic. I'm embarrassed to be grouped together with you people.

Seriously, you're acting like Pittsburgh fans or something. I've never seen people jump a ship so fast. People are even questioning Ed Reed. ED REED. Name a team that wouldn't start Ed Reed over whoever the hell they're starting at FS currently. What's that? You can't do it?

This loss was not NEARLY as bad as Jacksonville. Our Defense as a whole played OK. Not what we expected of them in terms of turnovers and sacks, and they let us down at the end of the game, but they held 3 turnovers that started IN FIELD GOAL RANGE to Field Goals.

Our Offense moved the ball OK, again not really as well as we'd have expected, but they weren't terrible. If the D had stopped them at the end we likely would have won.

We lost this game because David Reed fumbled twice. It started and ended there.

All that being said:

1. This is a fixable problem.
2. OUR SEASON IS NOT OVER.

We are tied at the top of the AFC with the Texans, Steelers, Bengals, and Patriots. ALL OF US are 3-loss teams, and after next week everyone will have had their bye and have even footing.

Matt Schaub is out for the season, and we have the tie-breaker on the Texans.
We have the tie-breaker on the Steelers.
We don't play the Patriots.

We have the Bengals coming up next week. Let's beat them. Let's sweep the division. We're still entirely in control of our own fates. Even if the Patriots, Steelers, Texans, and us ALL win out, we'll get the first or second seed (not sure) which). That's a first round bye and home field advantage.

Stop acting like were the Eagles. This is so sad. Yea, Cam is awful. Yeah, our pass rush didn't show up. Yeah, our special teams were ATROCIOUS. Everything but Cam is fixable right this second, and we've proven we can beat the best teams in the league in spite of him. The Ravens are still in position for a Super Bowl run. Have faith in your team.

We get the Colts at home. We're not going to lose to them, because they won't score on Offense and I think its fairly safe to assume we won't give them 2 fumbles at our own 30. Look ahead instead of crying about things that can't be changed. These are fixable issues, lets be productive here.
[/quote]
Amen

[lowrider]

Peaking at week 9 or 10 is not where we want to peak. We are going to learn from this. But seriously, what are we supposed to do as a team now? Give up? Say oo no we lost to the Seahawks our season is over? Are you kidding me?

Listen, we just beat the Steelers at Heinz field. So what does that say about us? That we can beat elite teams on the road but we can't beat bad teams? Sure we make it hard on ourselves, but how does it make any logical sense to declare our team to be a pretender after we just beat the Steelers on the road. Now I know that this loss hurts, and it makes this game against the Bengals far more important, but every team in the AFC has 3 losses. We are right in the mix of everything. A couple things happen differently and we win this game. A couple things happen the right way the next couple games, and we get a bye the first week in the playoffs. And we have proven we can beat ANYONE, so obviously we are a super bowl contender if we can beat everyone

[jdynamite]

I think the NFL Season is a long one and we could start clicking and be the worst nightmare of any team. At this time last year the Patriots looked as good as the Packers are currently looking and they got bounced out the playoffs quickly. Meanwhile the Packers barely beat the Bears to get into the Playoffs then coasted through the playoffs to a title....

Bottom line anything can happen on any given day, and I believe the Ravens can beat any team the problems seems to lie in when the Ravens have expectations thrust upon them pressure appears to get to them.... ( I'll call it the Cowboy Effect, or Charger Effect )

[jdynamite]

First of all, I just want to. State that the Titans are not a "losing team" the only time they had a "losing record was after WK 1" so yes they technically had a losing record when we played them but at that time they also had top 5 defense. The dust has settled on that Titans are now 5-4 with good defense. Jags have a top 5 defense with poor QB play ( they won because they believed in stinking with the Run Game aka Cameron doesn't call their plays ), Seahawks game was purely special teams

It happens ....

Problem is too many people in these forums are extremely negative pessimist, if the team wins a close game to lesser opponent ( Cards game this yr = Buffalo game last yr ) fans complain awww we should have blown that team out we are so sorry etc rather than realizing ( We Won )

It's too many emotional reactions, too high from Wins, too low from Losses..... Lol

[Thates2002]

we are tied with the steelers for the afc north division and its still early what are you ppl talking about

[wayne]

[quote name='T3hRaven' timestamp='1321329694' post='871943']

Not even close. They were 10-6, losing to the 13-3 Cowboys twice, 16-0 Patriots, 9-7 Redskins, 8-8 Vikings, and 13-3 Packers. Our losses are to losing teams, they at least lost to winning ones and redeemed themselves by beating the Packers, Cowboys, and Pats in the playoffs.
[/quote]
At the end of the day, all that matters is your wins and losses, don't matter where those losses has come from to an extent. But if the value of losing was valued, I would rather lose to the bad teams and beat the good teams b/c majority of the teams that will be in the playoffs will be good teams.

[The King]

I don't understand the panic. The Ravens have consistently shown that they play to the level of the competition, and I believe that this is a team that can play up to the level of any team in the NFL. As long as we make it to the playoffs then the level of competition will spur the team on.

Obviously that's an overstatement. Though it's not entirely without merit as an argument, it is not worth truly considering. However, the Ravens beat the good teams on the schedule, and it's not like there's an invincible team in the AFC. The Patriots are as inconsistent in their way as the Ravens, with the league's most porous pass defense. They looked sharp against the Jets, but they've folded to other good teams this season. Although Belichick-Brady may be the best combo in NFL history, it's not one that can win the Super Bowl this season. The Texans, whom we beat, just lost Schaub, we beat the Steelers twice, and we beat the Jets.

The other likely playoff team, the Bengals, is coming at us next week. If we lose that game then I'll maybe buy the Ravens as pretenders. But until then I still see this team as a true contender.

[jj2020]

[quote name='scrock' timestamp='1321316945' post='871517']

if u watched the game you'd know who to blame, but once again this is like some sick disease people have...if a team loses the QB gets too much blame, if the team wins he gets too much praise

Flacco wasnt at fault for yesterdays performance and I honestly dont see how u could blame him...
[/quote]

Did not watch the game that is cute I WAS AT THE GAME Flacco showed no enthusiasm no push no drive? He had it last week I think he had a good final drive last week why can not do that two weeks in a row? Why is it the same sad story every year why is this so repedative? I tell ya what we may get to the play offs hell we could win a superbowl but it will not be du eto Flacco, look we did it with dilfer nd he was worse than Flacco I think? I just do not know why thy keep trying to push Flacco to win the game like he is a brady or brees. He aint, he is average at best and now and again he gets a big game. We are done if we get away from the run game and no I am not buying we can run on the steelers, texans, and jets but not the seahawks. Last word Flacco sucks and we are stuck with him. We better just hand the ball off and hope Ray and the D hold on.

[BenDufusberger]

I still think the Ravens have as good a shot as anybody to get to the SB , but after watching GB tonite , I'd also have to say they're going to be very tough for anybody to beat. Now , even their D is looking good. I'll be interested to see if Detroit can stop Rodgers on Thanksgiving day. They've been pretty good against the pass.

I heard Rodgers in the postgame , and he gave credit to his QB coach who he says " gets him ready each week". Imagine that - a coach for the QB - wonder why the Ravens don't have one of those. (sigh)

[Radinho84]

[quote name='BenDufusberger' timestamp='1321340692' post='872075']
I still think the Ravens have as good a shot as anybody to get to the SB , but after watching GB tonite , I'd also have to say they're going to be very tough for anybody to beat. Now , even their D is looking good. I'll be interested to see if Detroit can stop Rodgers on Thanksgiving day. They've been pretty good against the pass.

I heard Rodgers in the postgame , and he gave credit to his QB coach who he says " gets him ready each week". Imagine that - a coach for the QB - [b]wonder why the Ravens don't have one of those.[/b] (sigh)
[/quote]
cam said qb coaches are overrated (as audibles) lol

[BenDufusberger]

[quote name='Radinho84' timestamp='1321341919' post='872092']
cam said qb coaches are overrated (as audibles) lol
[/quote]

That's classic.

Of course , Cam is quite the authority on what it takes to be overrated.

[Radinho84]

[quote name='BenDufusberger' timestamp='1321340692' post='872075']
I still think the Ravens have as good a shot as anybody to get to the SB , but after watching GB tonite , I'd also have to say they're going to be very tough for anybody to beat. Now , even their D is looking good. I'll be interested to see if Detroit can stop Rodgers on Thanksgiving day. They've been pretty good against the pass.

I heard Rodgers in the postgame , and he gave credit to his QB coach who he says " gets him ready each week". Imagine that - a coach for the QB - wonder why the Ravens don't have one of those. (sigh)
[/quote]
ia ahd a conversation with a friend about the pack. they have a good shot to go for 16-o on the regular season. but the best team out of the regular season only very few times wins the sb. so i guess there is still hope..lol

our situation is okay. we just have to win it out from here on now. we will be first in the division and after that it is game to game a headsup 50-50 chance to win...

[wayne]

[quote name='jj2020' timestamp='1321339633' post='872063']

Did not watch the game that is cute [b]I WAS AT THE GAME [/b]Flacco showed no enthusiasm no push no drive? He had it last week I think he had a good final drive last week why can not do that two weeks in a row? Why is it the same sad story every year why is this so repedative? I tell ya what we may get to the play offs hell we could win a superbowl but it will not be du eto Flacco, look we did it with dilfer nd he was worse than Flacco I think? I just do not know why thy keep trying to push Flacco to win the game like he is a brady or brees. He aint, he is average at best and now and again he gets a big game. We are done if we get away from the run game and no I am not buying we can run on the steelers, texans, and jets but not the seahawks.[b] Last word Flacco sucks [/b]and we are stuck with him. We better just hand the ball off and hope Ray and the D hold on.
[/quote]

You claim you was at the game and yet you blaming Flacco for that game? Flacco played aight taking in the circumstances that we fail behind due to two fumbles and from then on, Seattle just stayed in a prevent style D. Sure, Flacco missed on some open players but he was aight, those fumbles and that tipped pass for the pick just hurt us and then not being able to get Seattle off the field on that last drive added to it.

[nyc9192]

[quote name='Blex64' timestamp='1321325841' post='871819']
This is pathetic. I'm embarrassed to be grouped together with you people.

Seriously, you're acting like Pittsburgh fans or something. I've never seen people jump a ship so fast. People are even questioning Ed Reed. ED REED. Name a team that wouldn't start Ed Reed over whoever the hell they're starting at FS currently. What's that? You can't do it?

This loss was not NEARLY as bad as Jacksonville. Our Defense as a whole played OK. Not what we expected of them in terms of turnovers and sacks, and they let us down at the end of the game, but they held 3 turnovers that started IN FIELD GOAL RANGE to Field Goals.

Our Offense moved the ball OK, again not really as well as we'd have expected, but they weren't terrible. If the D had stopped them at the end we likely would have won.

We lost this game because David Reed fumbled twice. It started and ended there.

All that being said:

1. This is a fixable problem.
2. OUR SEASON IS NOT OVER.

We are tied at the top of the AFC with the Texans, Steelers, Bengals, and Patriots. ALL OF US are 3-loss teams, and after next week everyone will have had their bye and have even footing.

Matt Schaub is out for the season, and we have the tie-breaker on the Texans.
We have the tie-breaker on the Steelers.
We don't play the Patriots.

We have the Bengals coming up next week. Let's beat them. Let's sweep the division. We're still entirely in control of our own fates. Even if the Patriots, Steelers, Texans, and us ALL win out, we'll get the first or second seed (not sure) which). That's a first round bye and home field advantage.

Stop acting like were the Eagles. This is so sad. Yea, Cam is awful. Yeah, our pass rush didn't show up. Yeah, our special teams were ATROCIOUS. Everything but Cam is fixable right this second, and we've proven we can beat the best teams in the league in spite of him. The Ravens are still in position for a Super Bowl run. Have faith in your team.

We get the Colts at home. We're not going to lose to them, because they won't score on Offense and I think its fairly safe to assume we won't give them 2 fumbles at our own 30. Look ahead instead of crying about things that can't be changed. These are fixable issues, lets be productive here.
[/quote]
Exactly.Im far from ready to give up on my ravens but im a realist and something has got to shake and its gotta shake now!Someone needs to smack Harbaugh upside his head and tell him stop being so damn passive with the most obvious problems. Put a fire under came and let him know he has a small window of time to get his act together or hes out of here this year not next year. Also let John know that he can be replaced also(not this season but anytime after the seasons over).I just can't imagine Tomlin or Belichick watching their assistants screw up and they don't correct it. I hear John say "everything is fine" and "we gotta make plays" and "this is football blah blah".Teams make mistakes and those mistakes are negated as long as you correct them.Simple and plain. We are so good but were too much in our damn way to reach our potential. It sucks because i pray that Reed,Suggs and Ngata get a ring with this group and sometimes it doesn't look that but I know this team can make it happen.If John cuts the crap,becomes honest with himself about the problems of this team and gets aggressive with his coaches and players like a coach should, then I have no doubt that we'll raise that trophy in Indy with confetti coming down.I know when that happens this forum will exceed its bandwith and go offline because of all the pandemonium[img]http://content.boards.baltimoreravens.com//public/style_emoticons/default/229031_cheer.gif[/img] .We control our destiny.Deuces

[D_UP]

[quote name='ryanpatt28' timestamp='1321316806' post='871512']
we have superbowl talent but not a superbowl coaching staff
[/quote]
I maybe starting to lean this way. Jury's still out with me though.

[Ravenseconbeast]

I put the blame on harbaugh and cam. You would think that with harbaugh being an excellent st coach from philly would have a brain to keep this st from being a complete joke. With him being a head coach, you would think we would have one of the best ST in nfl right now. And I think its pathethic how little or clueless harbaugh is when it comes down to offense. He contributes absolutely nothing as a head coach. And keeping his best pal cam cameron(another clueless coach) isnt helping us by any stretch.

Honestly, I havent seen our offense play well for full 60 minutes since week1. Week 1 was phenomenal. Every aspect from ST,Defense,Offense were all moving in full throttle. THAT is a team that can beat Packers in Superbowl. If harbaugh keep making excuses of how these pathethic jags/seattle/titans( and soon browns/colts) team were "great team" to beat. Id freaking flip!

[Radinho84]

[quote name='Ravenseconbeast' timestamp='1321351812' post='872113']
I put the blame on harbaugh and cam. You would think that with harbaugh being an excellent st coach from philly would have a brain to keep this st from being a complete joke. With him being a head coach, you would think we would have one of the best ST in nfl right now. And I think its pathethic how little or clueless harbaugh is when it comes down to offense. He contributes absolutely nothing as a head coach. And keeping his best pal cam cameron(another clueless coach) isnt helping us by any stretch.

Honestly, I havent seen our offense play well for full 60 minutes since week1. Week 1 was phenomenal. Every aspect from ST,Defense,Offense were all moving in full throttle. THAT is a team that can beat Packers in Superbowl. If harbaugh keep making excuses of how these pathethic jags/seattle/titans( and soon browns/colts) team were "great team" to beat. Id freaking flip!
[/quote]
i agree on every point you made.
harbs maybe a great motivator but when it comes down to making desicions to help the team or make it any better his ability is at least questionable!!

he has his stuff with doghouse and all that nonsense where he is putting way to much wheigh in it in my eyes...

[Radinho84]

i also don´t know what a great game means by those coaches! winning by a field goal against a 1-6 team? beating a team with the final drive? coming close to a win but just messes it up?
i don´t know man....

[ravensdfan]

[quote name='jj2020' timestamp='1321339633' post='872063']

Did not watch the game that is cute I WAS AT THE GAME Flacco showed no enthusiasm no push no drive? He had it last week I think he had a good final drive last week why can not do that two weeks in a row? Why is it the same sad story every year why is this so repedative? I tell ya what we may get to the play offs hell we could win a superbowl but it will not be du eto Flacco, look we did it with dilfer nd he was worse than Flacco I think? I just do not know why thy keep trying to push Flacco to win the game like he is a brady or brees. He aint, he is average at best and now and again he gets a big game. We are done if we get away from the run game and no I am not buying we can run on the steelers, texans, and jets but not the seahawks. Last word Flacco sucks and we are stuck with him. We better just hand the ball off and hope Ray and the D hold on.
[/quote]

That guy Flacco that sucks well, he and the offense put us in a position to win the game with 5:52 left. The defense simply could not stop the Seahawks and get our offense back onto the field. This game is not Flacco's fault in any fashion. Numerous drops by WRs (even Boldin). This game was lost by ST. Cundiff left 6 pts on the field. (Again, it was the offense that put us in FG range). And of course, D. Reed gave the Seahawks 6 pts.

[good_n_purple]

[quote name='Blex64' timestamp='1321325841' post='871819']
This is pathetic. I'm embarrassed to be grouped together with you people.

Seriously, you're acting like Pittsburgh fans or something. I've never seen people jump a ship so fast. People are even questioning Ed Reed. ED REED. Name a team that wouldn't start Ed Reed over whoever the hell they're starting at FS currently. What's that? You can't do it?

This loss was not NEARLY as bad as Jacksonville. Our Defense as a whole played OK. Not what we expected of them in terms of turnovers and sacks, and they let us down at the end of the game, but they held 3 turnovers that started IN FIELD GOAL RANGE to Field Goals.

Our Offense moved the ball OK, again not really as well as we'd have expected, but they weren't terrible. If the D had stopped them at the end we likely would have won.

We lost this game because David Reed fumbled twice. It started and ended there.

All that being said:

1. This is a fixable problem.
2. OUR SEASON IS NOT OVER.

We are tied at the top of the AFC with the Texans, Steelers, Bengals, and Patriots. ALL OF US are 3-loss teams, and after next week everyone will have had their bye and have even footing.

Matt Schaub is out for the season, and we have the tie-breaker on the Texans.
We have the tie-breaker on the Steelers.
We don't play the Patriots.

We have the Bengals coming up next week. Let's beat them. Let's sweep the division. We're still entirely in control of our own fates. Even if the Patriots, Steelers, Texans, and us ALL win out, we'll get the first or second seed (not sure) which). That's a first round bye and home field advantage.

Stop acting like were the Eagles. This is so sad. Yea, Cam is awful. Yeah, our pass rush didn't show up. Yeah, our special teams were ATROCIOUS. Everything but Cam is fixable right this second, and we've proven we can beat the best teams in the league in spite of him. The Ravens are still in position for a Super Bowl run. Have faith in your team.

We get the Colts at home. We're not going to lose to them, because they won't score on Offense and I think its fairly safe to assume we won't give them 2 fumbles at our own 30. Look ahead instead of crying about things that can't be changed. These are fixable issues, lets be productive here.
[/quote]
1. Yes there is a lot of "fixable" bad play, but we have heard ad nauseum about "having to fix" these issues. Three games in the crapper that were TOTALLY winnable, but apparently our coaching staff took the week off, or just gave a nod to the game instead of developing a game plan, and making sure every one of the players was sharp.
2. Yes, the season is not over...but if the coaches and players don't get focused, and keep focused they're screwed no matter how the numbers play out.
3. I would love to understand what the true root cause is to these vexing performances. The old Einstein quote has been thrown around many times, but is so applicable here. [color=#ff0000][size=4]“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”[/size][/color]
[size=4]4. Ergo, this team must be pretty friggin' crazy.[/size]

[grape drank]

I think the thing our offence is missing is an identity. When people play the packer's the defences are in a sweat and try to combat everything they do. The Packer's change very little of their game plan and just do what they do. When we play people we look at the defence and try to base our entire game plan based on what they're doing. We need to gain an identity and role with it! Makes defences react to us, then we react to their reaction. Not the other way around.

[nextgen_RavensFan]

[quote name='scrock' timestamp='1321310270' post='871278']
At this point they are nothing more than pretenders, hate to say it but they are not consistent enough to do anything in the playoffs

If we make the playoffs we will be 1 and done...just like every year, it blows my mind..how did this team change, the personality changed..we never used to sleep on teams
[/quote]

I agree, We are nowhere near a SB bound team. Inconsistent play on every side of the ball. If we played Green Bay it would not even be a contest. Our secondary would be just torn apart. Our offense is predictable for the most part and when we do go deep it is usually overthrown or dropped. As our year goes on it will be tougher to find an "easy" win if we do not change something on the offensive side. Find more time to get Joe and Torrey on the same page as far as timing. We also need a kick returner and our special teams play has to get better all the way around.

[Guest ArmyRaven52]

[quote name='gabefergy' timestamp='1321311631' post='871319']
You all seem to be completely negative right now, and I get that. However,[b] there is clearly a lot of talent on this team and if they can get focused there is no reason why they cant win the SB.[/b] NE has its warts and we already beat Pitt twice and Houston. We have beaten every good team that we play and thats not a fluke. Our 3 losses have come on the road and I think that is not a coincidence. I fully expect a bounce back game at home against Cinci that will once again put us in the driver's seat. We have winnable games the rest of the schedule as long as the team shows up, that includes the coaches whose play-calling and decision making left a lot to be desired this past Sunday. The mistakes that have let us down are fixable: get back to a balanced offense. Dont turn over the ball, especially in our own territory. And get back to a more aggressive defensive gameplan. This is far from a lost season, but if you all want to bail on it I could care less. I still have faith in the Ravens.
[/quote]

And thats the coaches deal, and our coaches at HC and OC are trash.

[redrum52]

Super Bowl personnel. I feel like sometimes the coaches fail players and on occasion the other way around. Sorry to sound like Harbaugh but the team has to get better as a whole and just make up its mind to focus and stay locked in.

[SideStep77]

We have to consistently beat the 2-6 or 1-7 teams...we can't keep having embarrassing losses like we always do. Even though those teams wont be in the playoffs, the losses will come back to haunt us.

[Blex64]

[quote name='good_n_purple' timestamp='1321356349' post='872122']
1. Yes there is a lot of "fixable" bad play, but we have heard ad nauseum about "having to fix" these issues. Three games in the crapper that were TOTALLY winnable, but apparently our coaching staff took the week off, or just gave a nod to the game instead of developing a game plan, and making sure every one of the players was sharp.
2. Yes, the season is not over...but if the coaches and players don't get focused, and keep focused they're screwed no matter how the numbers play out.
3. I would love to understand what the true root cause is to these vexing performances. The old Einstein quote has been thrown around many times, but is so applicable here. [color=#ff0000]“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”[/color]
4. Ergo, this team must be pretty friggin' crazy.
[/quote]

We didn't have the same issues in this game we had in the previous ones.

[Blex64]

[quote name='SideStep77' timestamp='1321373604' post='872317']
We have to consistently beat the 2-6 or 1-7 teams...we can't keep having embarrassing losses like we always do. Even though those teams wont be in the playoffs, the losses will come back to haunt us.
[/quote]

Of course we have to beat them. We used to be the best at beating them, no idea what happened this season, maybe it really is players overlooking the weaker teams but I just don't think so.

That being said, they might come back to haunt us. They might not. Nothing to do now but move forward and hope they win every game they need to. Sucks that were in must-win positions now, but it is what it is.

[Ravenslifer]

Somehow in the last 5 years, the New York Giants, the Arizona Cardinals, and the Green Bay Packers all got to the Superbowl, and two of them one, being wildcard teams. My father is the biggest Giants fan in the world, and let me tell you, they looked worse than we did. Eli Manning threw 20, yes 20, interceptions that year, his quarterback rating was 74, and they went 10-6. Then he caught fire in the playoffs. The Packers were the same last year. Rodgers was great, but they still had bizarre losses to Washington and Miami and beat the Jets with 3 fieldgoals. They lost to the Lions 7-3. If this team makes it to the playoffs, who knows what will happen?

[gabefergy]

[quote name='ArmyRaven52' timestamp='1321370575' post='872278']

And thats the coaches deal, and our coaches at HC and OC are trash.
[/quote]
Thats your opinion, not a fact. Harbaugh made a few errors last game, but overall he has done very well as an NFL coach. Not sure how you can make 3 straight playoffs and win at least 1 game each year and be trash. Now Cam is another story, he has been really good this year at times and he has also been terrible at times. If he gets back to a balanced offensive game built around Ray Rice I think we can still have success. I am definitely not a fan of Cam, but he is what he is and we just have to hope he stops trying to outsmart himself.

[FerrariFan87]

[quote name='berad' timestamp='1321315426' post='871469']

I wouldn't. Technically speaking, this Seattle lose means the least out of all possible losses. Our AFC and AFCN W/L is more important.
[/quote]

Agreed. The Seattle loss was the one game we could afford to lose... the Titans and Jags losses could really come back to bite us if and when tie-breaking goes into effect. We just gotta take care of business in the AFC North and go from there. One Home game is better than none.