Report Card: Ravens D Without Ray

[RavenousBG]

I think we played okay without 'Da Man' our there. We didn't let them run wild on us or push us around up front much. I think we gave up a few inside runs but nothing consistent. Ellerbe and McClain played under control. They weren't dynamic but they were solid. We gave up too many points. We gave up too many deep shots and let Dalton scramble too much. But we didn't let it beat us and this group got to see what the future will be like. Ray will eventually be gone and not many of these guys on this particular defense knows what it feels like to play without him for an extended period of time. Probably only Ed Reed knows what this is like. So I think they did ok.

B-
They did enough to win the game and caused turnovers
Gave up too many yards through the air
Kept Cedric Benson and the running game under control
Youngsters Kruger, McPhee, and J. Smith made big plays

The future looks bright even though we'll miss Ray when he hangs em up.

[tsizzle95]

yeah we had some turnovers, but i think the problem is just giving away those big plays. we really gave dalton a lot of time in the pocket which allowed his receivers to get open. our pass rush hasnt been too impressive which i see is something we really have to work on. ill give them b- just because of all the yards we gave up. and i guess some of the credit to the long plays goes to the bengals receivers sticky gloves lol. man they had some nice catches..

[berad]

B- is probably right. Run-D was impressive, they generated turnovers and came up when they had to. The big plays against them were troublesome, though, and the fact that Dalton had tons of time to throw made everyone uneasy.

[PuRock]

The loss of Ray wasn't really felt too bad in this game. We were able to stop the run which is one of Rays strengths. The Defense struggled more with getting to the QB and pass coverage on WRs.

I can tell you this though. The loss of Ray against the 49ers would be felt hard. The 9ers are a good rushing team with a great TE. Areas where Ray can be a force.

[Florida Ravens Fan]

I give them a C+ they did decent, but not great. Gave up too many yards, had good pressure at times but not many sacks. Also the cbs gave too many big plays. Good turn overs that lead too points, but not overly impressed.

[H8R]

C-, blown coverages, poor pass rush for most of the game , nearly 400 yards in the air by a rookie with his best Target out.... Not good enough.

[BabydollFlacco5]

I give them a C+. Very good Run Defense and they created turnovers (INT) and they steeped up at the end and we got the W. But we had very little effective pass rushing till the very end, Dalton had way too much time in the pocket and even when they did get to him they struggled to wrap him up and take him down. and we gave up way too much through the air and just too many points. Credit to Dalton and the Bengals .. they played a great game. a few years down the line .. They may be the tougher opponent for us, then the steelers will be. Cincy is young and has trememdous promise. The AFC North is the powerhouse division.

[Florida Ravens Fan]

[quote name='H8R' timestamp='1321840913' post='879519']C-, blown coverages, poor pass rush for most of the game , nearly 400 yards in the air by a rookie with his best Target out.... Not good enough.[/quote]

Agree, keep forgeting Green didnt even play. What happened to the Ravens owning rookie Qbs?

[PuRock]

[quote name='Florida Ravens Fan' timestamp='1321841437' post='879536']
Agree, keep forgeting Green didnt even play. What happened to the Ravens owning rookie Qbs?
[/quote]

Yeah, I'm a little nervous abut round 2 at their house. But this time AJ Green will be back.

[good_n_purple]

Alright...dumb question time. Ngata and Cody are not getting penetration. Is it a tactic to have Ngata stay at home? Or, is his injury affecting his ability to push off?

[RavenousBG]

[quote name='good_n_purple' timestamp='1321841629' post='879545']
Alright...dumb question time. Ngata and Cody are not getting penetration. Is it a tactic to have Ngata stay at home? Or, is his injury affecting his ability to push off?
[/quote]

THink it's the injury. He's not getting the push he usually does and when I saw him chasing Dalton, he wasn't getting around as well. I don't know about Cody. I don't know about any injury to point at with him.

[good_n_purple]

[quote name='RavenousBG' timestamp='1321839034' post='879443']
I think we played okay without 'Da Man' our there. We didn't let them run wild on us or push us around up front much. I think we gave up a few inside runs but nothing consistent. Ellerbe and McClain played under control. They weren't dynamic but they were solid. We gave up too many points. We gave up too many deep shots and let Dalton scramble too much. But we didn't let it beat us and this group got to see what the future will be like. Ray will eventually be gone and not many of these guys on this particular defense knows what it feels like to play without him for an extended period of time. Probably only Ed Reed knows what this is like. So I think they did ok.

B-
They did enough to win the game and caused turnovers
Gave up too many yards through the air
Kept Cedric Benson and the running game under control
Youngsters Kruger, McPhee, and J. Smith made big plays

The future looks bright even though we'll miss Ray when he hangs em up.
[/quote]
Oh yeah! Even though they applied pressure at critical times (with a 3 man rush yet!) , pressure was spotty. There were too many gaps, and big plays allowed so I thing [b]C or C+[/b].

[redrum52]

[quote name='RavenousBG' timestamp='1321842251' post='879555']


THink it's the injury. He's not getting the push he usually does and when I saw him chasing Dalton, he wasn't getting around as well. I don't know about Cody. I don't know about any injury to point at with him.
[/quote]

I don't think Cody is as athletic as Ngata so you can't expect the same kind of play. Also the job of Cody and Ngata are different.

[Moderator 2]

Ngata did not look as fast chasing Dalton

[The Raven]

I'll give them a C+. Run D was great. I need to see better pass rush. Pass coverage was ugly at times. The D actually did the opposite of what I thought would happen. I thought our run D would suffer and coverage would improve but I was incorrect.

[Natty Boh]

I would give them a "B". I feel if Ray Lewis was in there...a lot of those runs up the middle by the Bengals would have been stomped out.

[TreTheRaven]

[quote name='berad' timestamp='1321840104' post='879489']
B- is probably right. Run-D was impressive, they generated turnovers and came up when they had to. The big plays against them were troublesome, though, and the fact that Dalton had tons of time to throw made everyone uneasy.
[/quote]

I still see flashes of that replay in my head where Suggs should have had him possibly in the end-zone and missed. Suggs had clearly blown up the play -- so not sure how he missed him. They said Suggs was mad at himself afterwards.

[JohnnyBoy8102]

[quote name='Natty Boh' timestamp='1321845475' post='879639']
I would give them a "B". I feel if Ray Lewis was in there...a lot of those runs up the middle by the Bengals would have been stomped out.
[/quote]

This is what I was thinking. Both of the TD runs were right in "Ray's area".

Overall, they did what they had to do to win. I would say B-

[chesapeakeaviator]

Solid C. Cincinnati is for real and Dalton earned some respect. Still too much time for him to throw the ball; his below-average WRs looked sensational and they're not. Agree--if AJ Green was out there, bad things would have happened. Nevertheless, they made some plays--including THE play that set up Flacco to Smith for the game winner. We need Ray back. We're just not there yet.

[BMORE HIGH]

I'll give them a C+ this is the Baltimore Ravens defense so I have high expectations. Pass rush was invisible today & hasn't showed up much lately. We gave up some big plays that's fixable though. Glad we held Benson is check he used to run all over us.

[savits721]

For reasons stated above about rookie QB putting up those numbers w/o his best target, blown coverages, at least three long balls, etc, I give the D a D today. Just enough to get the job done and pass (win), but if they continue to get this low of scores, they'll never post grades high enough to earn their degree (Super bowl birth, let alone a win). Hope you liked the analogy lol

[BmoreRavens732]

Run D was pretty good not great cuz if Ray was in the runs up the middle wuda been blown up especially the rushing TD's...but still ellerbe n mcclain held there own

[TXRaven]

There were some issues but overall good job. You can not replace a Ray Lewis and what he does for this team. With that being said, these guys stepped to the plate and made plays when plays needed to be made... And we got the W. That is what matters most.

[Alexir]

How receivers get that wide open on us is embarrassing. When Cary almost sacks Dalton, he keeps the play alive and strikes down field where he finds a wide open receiver for a 1st down. No one was withing 10 yards of him.

[Wallace17_OutRunMe]

[quote name='PuRock' timestamp='1321841572' post='879541']

Yeah, I'm a little nervous abut round 2 at their house. But this time AJ Green will be back.
[/quote]
Im nervous as well to play the Bengals again in Pittsburgh in a few weeks seeing that Dalton looks like he is getting better and better each week. I agree with you though that could be a very very dangerous game for the Ravens on New Years Day going into Cincy seeing that the Bengals most likely are going to have to win that game to guarantee them a spot in the playoffs;also, if the Steelers win their next 5 games leading up to that game on New Years it's going to absolutely force the Ravens to win that last game in Cincy to secure the AFC North and get homefield advantage or the bye week...

[Tank 92]

I'd give them a C. And it only pulls up to a C because of the stop on the last drive. They looked like crap yesterday. Not a Ravens D performance, not even close.

There is something wrong and it became apparent in the seattle game when they held the ball for 6 minutes when we so badly needed a score. Can't blame it on Ray's absence and it needs to be fixed. QUICKLY!

[jdynamite]

Grade C+
I give them the C+ because without the 3 turnovers converted into 14 pts we don't win the game...... Jimmy Smith did blow his coverage on the Caldwell TD..... The Dalton Scramble drill play is excusable but the next play to a Wide Open Gresham was Blown Coverage....

Pass Rush needs to improve and become more consistent... I think this could happen with Kruger and McPhee both seeing increased playing time.....
The secondary played well and often were in position for long periods of time but with Dalton stepping up into the pocket get a few extra seconds he was able to deliver some very good passes where only the WR could get it.....

[Ravens Fan in Ontario]

Overall I think the Defense played well, they held Benson to less than 50 yards. The 2 TD's from Benson came in Ray's space and one can't help but think that he would have stuffed at least one of them, if not both. The real glaring weakness to me is the CB's. They are really appearing flat-footed the last couple weeks. Cary Williams seems to get beat consistently and would have been in more trouble if Reed wasn't there to bail him out. J.Smith is just struggling due to lack of playing time I think. He needs to stop over-thinking the play and just play the receiver, don't guess on the route. That being said, I think Smith is going to develop into one of the "elite" shutdown corners it's just going to take some time and playing experience.

I have some real concerns about this game against the 49ERS. They are playing confident football and can run the ball very well. If R.Lewis can't go on Thursday, we'll really need the LB's to step it up a notch!

[lowrider]

Got some hard critics here. They generated pass rush when they needed to, they made turnovers when they needed to. All we kept hearing was the turnover battle is the most important. And they won the turnover battle.

Grade: B

[Tank 92]

[quote name='lowrider' timestamp='1321887168' post='880095']
Got some hard critics here. They generated pass rush when they needed to, they made turnovers when they needed to. All we kept hearing was the turnover battle is the most important. And they won the turnover battle.

Grade: B
[/quote]


I think folks, including me, grade the performance on a curve set by the standard of D expected of the Ravens.

Definitely not a Ravens "B" performance. By our standard, we sucked until the last set of downs.