Ravens Vs Texans - NFLN Replay...Thoughts

[neoi78]

I am watching the replay of the Oct. game vs Texans on NFLN right now.. and I gotta say, the Texans fans were right when they said this match was close the first game. I didn't remember the game being as close, or blow-for-blow as it was. At least where Im at, which is just starting the 3rd qtr (as i type this).

Their defense really pressured Joe & Co. for the first 2 qtrs.

Just thoughts from anyone else about this previous game. I think we will win the game divisonal game, possibly by 3, or 7, but it will be closer than most think.

Im going to the game, my first playoff game, so I hope we smash em, but I think it will be a close game till the end, unless we get up a score or two quickly and make them play catch up.

[HaX]

joe was getting smashed lol

[gabefergy]

I'm watching too, both teams had very strong defensive performances. The pass-rush and ability to stop the run was apparent from both sides. The Ravens definitely missed some golden opportunites to put points on the board, but that is a credit to the strong Texans defense. It's definitely going to be a smash-mouth game on Sunday. CANT WAIT!

[Purple Nurple]

I'm glad Grubbs is healthy.

[Y2J]

One reason why they got so much pressure on Joe was because Grubbs was out. I think that having Grubbs back will help the offense out in a big way. Joe took a lot of hits in this game to. Our receivers better step up for round 2 on Sunday, and hopefully we pass the ball when we get near the end zone.

[Y2J]

Man the pocket closed fast on that play

[gabefergy]

A couple more thoughts: Joe played really well. By the 4th quarter our offensive line wore down their front 7. I think that will be the key to success.

[HaX]

joe can take a hell of a beating
that's for sure

[Texan Up]

Great game!

[gabefergy]

Followed by Ray Lewis Sound FX!! Awesome =)

[hawkprey]

Texans recover a fumble in the endzone. Go figure.

[Gordo52]

Good thing we got our best offensive lineman playing this time..

[ratedr]

We really stifled their offense, I forgot that 7 of their 14 came from a fumble. And our defense didn't force any turnovers. Crazy we lost the turnover battle and still won by 15. If we at least break even in the turnover battle I think we win without question.

[codizzle]

The more I watch the texans the more scared I get of how good they could be in a few years

[Raven Hammer]

It was Dog Fight no doubt This one will also be a fight but I like our chances Ray knows the way

[3rdcoast]

I understand we got the fumble in the endzone. But he fought to the get within inches of the goal line, because it looked like he had nowhere to go. So I see a plus there (at least for us).

Couple of observations
-We got decent pressure on Flacco, just did not bring him down enough. We got 2 sacks, but it could have 3 sacks if they had not neglected an intentional grounding as an incomplete pass (1st quarter). He made some good plays in the face of pressure though.
- Two boneheaded penalties on the 1 yard line practically gift wrapped the first TD for you guys (5 chances to punch it in from 1 yard away).
-0 for 3 on 4th downs. Your defense was tough, but 2 of them should have gone for 1st downs. On the first one, the defender held Foster back by the facemask (2nd quarter). I guarantee you the Texans would not have gotten away with that one, but of course the Raven have been getting favorable calls at home all season (49ers 79 yard TD called back, Gresham had a TD called back in a 7 point loss that ended with Cincy on the Baltimore 17 yard line etc.) so I guess we can expect the same. On the second, they overturned it and said his foot did not touch the ground (IDK there did not seem to be enough evidence to overturn). Again the "homefield" advantage.
-On the 2 big plays. The one to Boldin had good coverage but Joseph mistimed his jump. The other to Smith was questionable, (we had broken coverage though) because the ball touched the ground. We just have to keep the deep play in front of us.
-We also missed out on a few opportunities with inaccurate passes, largely in part of the persistent pressure from the Ravens defense.

All in all it was a close tough game, like I indicated before. The Ravens pulled away in the 4th, but we fought hard until the end. Our first game against a stingy defense without Andre Johnson. We struggled the previous week against a poor Oakland team to run, but Baltimore was by far a lot tougher than that game. So us getting AJ back will help us to keep it close this time around, even without Schaub. We have to take care of the ball first. Then Yates will have to make plays when they a present (something he had lacked to accomplish during our 3 game slide into the playoffs.) Of course, this was remedied by the return of Johnson last week. So hopefully it can continue. We have to contain Ray Rice, and not allow Flacco the big plays the Ravens like to connect on. A key to eliminating (or limiting) the big play is getting after Flacco, so hopefully we can do a better job at disrupting his rhythm this time around. I'm looking forward to a good game (no injuries).

[3rdcoast]

[quote name='3rdcoast' timestamp='1326481871' post='945949']
I understand we got the fumble in the endzone. But he fought to the get within inches of the goal line, because it looked like he had nowhere to go. So I see a plus there (at least for us).

Couple of observations
-We got decent pressure on Flacco, just did not bring him down enough. We got 2 sacks, but it could have 3 if they had not neglected an intentional grounding as an incomplete pass (1st quarter). He made some good plays.
- Two boneheaded penalties on the 1 yard line gift wrapped the first TD for you guys (5 chances to punch it in from 1 yard away).
-0 for 3 on 4th downs. Your defense was tough, but 2 of them should have gone for 1st downs. On the first one, the defender held Foster back by the facemask (2nd quarter). I guarantee you the Texans would not have gotten away with that one, but of course the Raven have been getting favorable calls at home all season (49ers 79 yard TD called back, Gresham had a TD called back in a 7 point loss that ended with Cincy on the Baltimore 17 yard line etc.) so I guess we can expect the same. On the second, they overturned it and said his foot did not touch the ground (IDK there did not seem to be enough evidence to overturn.
-On the 2 big plays. The one to Boldin had good coverage but Joseph mistimed his jump. The other to Smith was questionable, (we had broken coverage though) because the ball touched the ground. We just have to keep the deep play in front of us.
-We also missed out on a few opportunities with inaccurate passes.

All in all it was a close tough game, like I indicated before. The Ravens pulled away in the 4th, as I've said before. It was a tough game. Our first game against a tough defense without Johnson. We struggled the previous week against a poor Oakland team to run, but Baltimore was by far a lot tougher than that game. So us getting AJ back will help us to keep it close this time around, even without Schaub. We have to take care of the ball first. Then Yates will have to make plays when they a present (something he had lacked to accomplish during our 3 game slide into the playoffs.) Of course, this was remedied by the return of Johnson last week. So hopefully it can continue. We have to contain Ray Rice, and not allow Flacco the big plays the Ravens like to connect on. A key to eliminating (or limiting) the big play is getting after Flacco, so hopefully we can do a better job at disrupting his rhythm this time around. I'm looking forward to a good game (no injuries).
[/quote]

[PuRock]

[quote name='3rdcoast' timestamp='1326481871' post='945949']
I understand we got the fumble in the endzone. But he fought to the get within inches of the goal line, because it looked like he had nowhere to go. So I see a plus there (at least for us).

Couple of observations
-[b]We got decent pressure on Flacco, just did not bring him down enough. We got 2 sacks, but it could have 3 sacks if they had not neglected an intentional grounding as an incomplete pass (1st quarter). [/b]He made some good plays in the face of pressure though.
- Two boneheaded penalties on the 1 yard line practically gift wrapped the first TD for you guys (5 chances to punch it in from 1 yard away).
-0 for 3 on 4th downs. Your defense was tough, but 2 of them should have gone for 1st downs. On the first one, the defender held Foster back by the facemask (2nd quarter). I guarantee you the Texans would not have gotten away with that one, but of course the Raven have been getting favorable calls at home all season (49ers 79 yard TD called back, Gresham had a TD called back in a 7 point loss that ended with Cincy on the Baltimore 17 yard line etc.) so I guess we can expect the same. On the second, they overturned it and said his foot did not touch the ground (IDK there did not seem to be enough evidence to overturn). Again the "homefield" advantage.
-On the 2 big plays. The one to Boldin had good coverage but Joseph mistimed his jump. The other to Smith was questionable, (we had broken coverage though) because the ball touched the ground. We just have to keep the deep play in front of us.
-We also missed out on a few opportunities with inaccurate passes, largely in part of the persistent pressure from the Ravens defense.

All in all it was a close tough game, like I indicated before. The Ravens pulled away in the 4th, but we fought hard until the end. Our first game against a stingy defense without Andre Johnson. We struggled the previous week against a poor Oakland team to run, but Baltimore was by far a lot tougher than that game. So us getting AJ back will help us to keep it close this time around, even without Schaub. We have to take care of the ball first. Then Yates will have to make plays when they a present (something he had lacked to accomplish during our 3 game slide into the playoffs.) Of course, this was remedied by the return of Johnson last week. So hopefully it can continue. We have to contain Ray Rice, and not allow Flacco the big plays the Ravens like to connect on. A key to eliminating (or limiting) the big play[b] is getting after Flacco, so hopefully we can do a better job at disrupting his rhythm this time around.[/b] I'm looking forward to a good game (no injuries).
[/quote]

Well that's going to be tougher to do this time around than the first. We were missing our best offensive line guy last time we played and plus we were just 6 games in with this new unit. The Ravens have improved their O-Line play since week 6. Our offensive line is night and day better than when first faced the Texans in Week 6.

Whereas our D-Line has improved since week 6 as well. Cory Redding is playing out of his mind late in the season. He was struggling early on. McPhee the rookie is transforming into a powerful explosive DL man that can get to the QB. And Suggs ALWAYS takes the next level in the playoffs.

So while the Texans fans think they are the only team to improve this season. Look no further than the Ravens. Winning 6 of our last 7 with improvements on both lines.

[Ravenslifer]

Thoughts? The Ravens are a better team than they were then. The Texans, I don't know if they're as good as they were without Shaub and with a banged up AJ.

[PuRock]

[quote name='Ravenslifer' timestamp='1326484629' post='945997']
Thoughts? The Ravens are a better team than they were then. The Texans, I don't know if they're as good as they were without Shaub and with a banged up AJ.
[/quote]

Yea I was just watching that game during lunch. I was at that game and I remember us being 'tame' in terms of the crowd. Sort of lackluster for most of the game. Yet the crowd still pumped up our D at the end. We were getting to Schaub and getting in his head.

This weekend. The crowd will be energizing those fresh legs to be swarming even more. TJ's not even going to get a chance to scan the field for the 'X-factor he was out last game Andre Johnson'. He'll be too busy trying to figure out how hard Suggs is going nail him.

[Militant X 1]

[quote name='gabefergy' timestamp='1326440134' post='945527']
[b]Followed by [/b]Ray Lewis Sound FX!! Awesome =)
[/quote]

i recorded both of those! =)

~Mili

[RavensAllTheWay]

I remember I was worried about the redzone offense after this game and I think I started a thread on it. Also, Skip said after the Jacksonville game (the following week) that if you put pressure on Flacco, "he can't throw the ball" or something like that. Well I guess he wasn't too informed/educated on this Texans game. But I'm not too worried about throwing in the redzone this time around because we've improved at that drastically over the last several weeks.

[PuRock]

[quote name='RavensAllTheWay' timestamp='1326488007' post='946050']
I remember I was worried about the redzone offense after this game and I think I started a thread on it. Also, Skip said after the Jacksonville game (the following week) that if you put pressure on Flacco, "he can't throw the ball" or something like that. Well I guess he wasn't too informed/educated on this Texans game. [b]But I'm not too worried about throwing in the redzone this time around because we've improved at that drastically over the last several weeks.[/b]
[/quote]

Just look at it this way. It can't get any worse. We STILL won that game despite kicking 5 FGs. If we turn half of those into TDs its no contest. And with the progression of our TEs in the Redzone, its a whole new ballgame for us.