80 replies to this topic

[RavenManiac#7]

Well, I'm sitting here watching the last 5 minutes tick away and I'm just wondering what you guys, and ladies, are thinking of our performance tonight. I'll be honest and say that most of what I've seen tonight is giving me cause for concern. Two games into the preseason, and as of yet I have not seen an NFL playoff caliber offensive line. I, also, have not seen an anywhere near adequate pass rush on defense. Another concern is our special teams. Two absolutely awesome returns called back because of penalties. That was 14 points lost, folks. Enough to turn this loss into a win. Yeah, it would have been a sloppy one, but a win nonetheless. Man, I love our Ravens and I'm with them to the end, but to be honest I've got some, what I feel are, legitimate concerns as we go forward. I sure do hope that things get better in those areas of concern. All that being said, there certainly were some positives to be taken from the game. Justin Tucker continues to win the battle for the place kicking spot. Man, wasn't it great seeing us, the Ravens!, going for, and converting a 50 yard field goal attempt! Yeah, I know that Cundiff hit a 33 and 44, I think it was, but last year Harbs would probably have punted rather than counted on Cundiff to convert a 50. The onsides kick was sweet. And man, that Omar Brown! How do you cut someone who is Always around the ball and comes up with so many turnovers? Joe certainly didn't have adequate protection, but his passes were Very accurate. Uh oh, there went that sloppy win we could have had. We just gave up another touchdown. I also think that LaQuan Williams looked good. Anthony Allen did not. I still think that Oher Needs to go back to RT and McKinnie needs in there at LT. Of course, I have other thoughts about what I saw, but I'm just curious to hear what some of you other fans think. I'm not in panic mode. I just have some concerns. Don't forget, we really do have a tough schedule this year. Am I worrying too soon, or unnecessarily? What are some of your thoughts?

[dhstandard]

Concern? Without Torrey Smith Flacco moved the offense with much ease. Laqan needs to work on his hands and there would have been more touchdowns. Their chemistry looks great thought.

Defensively when the starters were out there it was looking good. Cary Williams is not doing too well.

[Purple Nurple]

Im not concerned at all. Yet. Ask me after the third game.

[hawkprey]

Contrary to what the drunk fans on the board believe I think we actually had a great game overall.

QB: Ugh. Except Flacco.

RUNNING BACK: Pierce had his own drive (where he got the ball in some way on every play) and looked great, cutting well and making something out of not much. Had a nice catch and run on a play that got erased by penalty. Berry and Rainey both made plays. AA won't make the roster.

O-LINE: The starters didn't need to pass-protect with Joe getting the ball out in a fraction of a second. Backups didn't give Tyrod much time, but he also didn't bother getting the ball out quickly. Also note Osemele is a beast.

RECEIVERS/TEs: No tight end really looked great. Bajema had one play where he moved off his block (Avril) to get open, and Avril ended up getting in the way of the pass.

Jones had an easy drop. Laquan had an easy drop but also made some plays. Doss was targeted once and made the catch. Unfortunately Tyrod didn't give us much of a chance to look at Streeter or Thompson.

SECONDARY: The secondary actually played great when the starters were in. The only thing the Lions had going for them was Calvin Johnson in the 2nd quarter, and that was mostly on two plays. One against Cary, who really should've had safety help over the top (wasn't a great game for Considine) on a ball that could have been picked if he had a good angle, or wouldn't have been thrown at all had Reed been patrolling Johnson like he normally would be. But Cary came right back on the next play and broke up a pass. He wasn't beaten for the rest of the game, and that was really the only time he was beat to begin with.

The other was Jimmy getting beat for a TD by a vet. Veteran receivers have tricks to catch young CBs off guard (pretending the ball is thrown when it isn't, neglecting to look back when it is, etc) and Jimmy was victim to one of the best in the league. Jimmy still needs work, but he hasn't even played a full season.

Omar Brown - nuff said. Asa Jackson looked good again in coverage. Gorrer did pretty well. Thompson didn't get a chance to do much but managed to forced a fumble. Cook and Considine were dead weight out there.

FRONT SEVEN: One of the things you have to keep in mind with QB pressure is that we've been playing mostly 4-man fronts this preseason whereas we usually have 5. So not getting as much pressure right now as we did last year is expected. Besides, it's hard to get pressure when Kruger and Ngata are dropping back into coverage.

Jameel was all over the place. Kruger looked good in coverage and could've had a pick 6. He also looked great in run stopping, which was a concern with JJ and Redding out. Ellerbe had a good game. Nigel Carr was ridiculous for the backups. Upshaw was getting good pressure against backups, forcing some scrambles and showing off some pass rush moves.

SPECIAL TEAMS: Ajax and Deonte make me wonder if Jones will really have a spot as a returner. Jones had one punt return for negative yardage (sorry, he did). Rainey had good returns.


Really the biggest areas of concern today were guarding Calvin Johnson (okay, when is that not a concern?) and catching the ball. But that's to be expected when your #2 WR and #1 and #2 TEs are not playing.

[PurpleCorsair]

After watching most of the game tonight, I've decided to make this stock report similar to the ones on NFL.com regarding power rankings. Here's how I feel things are going.

Joe Flacco UP

Joe looked "Manning" esque checking in and out of plays at the line. He had one tiny mistake with the swing pass that went into Cliff Avril's chest, but other than that he was basically perfect. The no-huddle looked like a well oiled machine. Granted this is only pre-season and it was against the Lions defense who, outside of Suh, aren't exactly AFC North standards. Still it was an impressive showing.

O-Line(Starting) UP

I must say, I expected the offensive line to struggle a bit this week, but they held up well in pass protection against a pretty decent front four for Detroit. Run blocking wasn't exactly phenomenal, but they kept Joe upright.

Jacoby Jones Down

I don't have the stats exactly, but that ball on 3rd down on the first drive was perfect. The pass hits both of his hands and goes between them. You can believe the coaches are looking at that one, too.

Laquan Williams Up

The former un-drafted free agent looked right at home running with the ones. He was getting open on nearly every play and Joe found him a couple times. He almost looked more polished than Jones. Unfortunately his perceived lack of speed may keep him lower on the depth chart.

TEs (Bajema, Balasavage) Down

I don't know about you, but I'm really missing Pitta and Dickson right now... Luckily (hopefully) they'll both be back by week one. Anyway, Bajema and Balasavage need to make some plays to have a chance for this roster.

Bernard Pierce Up

Yeah the toss for like a 16 yard loss was awful. I'll let it slide, he's a rookie in his first ever NFL action. But for a rookie in his first ever NFL action he was impressive. He made guys miss, and carried the ones who didn't on his back. He cut like Rice, and then plowed a DB over. I like this guy and I can't wait to see more.

D-Line Up

I was a little concerned about their ability to stop the run last week, but that seems to have improved(granted against a downright awful, awful running attack in Detroit). Most of the improvement came with rushing the passer. Last week, we didn't even fluster Ryan, this week a couple of guys were breathing down Stafford's neck on a few plays. Nothing spectacular, yet, but Rome wasn't built in a day and neither will our defense be.

Secondary Neutral

Now I know many of you are probably thinking "neutral? Our secondary got torched!" and that wouldn't be incorrect, per-se... With Reed and Pollard in they played pretty well. Take Reed and Pollard out, and Cary and Jimmy are playing basically man to man on Calvin which is, like, nigh impossible. Deep routes are still an area of concern, obviously, but Cary played the short throws well. Jimmy had Calvin all the way for the TD, but when you stack a receiver and then he gets a back shoulder pass there's really nothing you can do. I won't go ballistic ,yet, on these guys. Next week, however, I'll want to see some significant improvement.

[Yatagarasu]

UP:

Bernard Pi erce - He locked up the back-up running job with his performance.
Justin Tucker - That 50 yard field goal showed us swag and confidence that Cundiff lacks in that range. also, that onside kick was another reason, the coaches better make this call right.
Omar Brown - Another game filled with big plays with fumble recovery and onside recovery.
Deonte Thompson - His speed doesn't lie. His kick return showed he has the extra edge over the others due to his speed. Also, he burned past his defender and was find open on a pass Taylor failed to connect.
Asa Jackson - His punt returning ability was good and he showed some solid defending on his part.

DOWN:

Anthony Allen - He did not impress again with stuffed runs, dropped passes, and bad blocking
LaQuan Williams - He got a lot of targets, but did not come up with them.
Tyrod Taylor - His scrambles were impressive, but his passes were off all day long. The backup job is not secured.
Cary Williams - I guess covering #1 WR might be too much for him
Jimmy Smith - Megatron toyed with him too, so our top CBs looks like they're struggling against Superstar WRs.

[big hits and ball hawks]

I'm going to agree, just not completely because I don't know how much you think their stock dropped or went up. Flacco continues to impress. It's pretty obvious he's improved and he's taking charge of the offense. I'm sure it will continue throughout the regular season, but I do have a tiny bit of worry that the leash will be put back on. Just a tiny bit. He's poised to do great things this season. Also, I don't think I've ever seen him so talkative on the sideline.

The Oline did look good, I don't think they looked too bad last week, but they did better this week. I think McKinnie will be put back at LT and Oher will slide back to RT, even though I do think Oher is doing good at LT. All I have to say about the Dline is that I agree with what you said and I believe by the time week 1 rolls around they'll be ready.

It was disappointing to see Jacoby drop that pass and it hurts him, it's definitely not a good look around here, but he did flash his return abilities. So, even though I think his stock dropped, I don't think it dropped too much. LaQuan looked good again. He did miss out on a few passes, but the fact that he is showing signs of chemistry with Flacco, in a game, is nice. It was also nice to see Doss get on the field and make a play.

The TEs didn't do so hot in this one. They weren't awful though. The one pass to Bajema was a little high, he still should have caught it, but I thought that pass should have gone to Streeter anyway. I could be wrong about that, I only got one look. I didn't rewind to check if he was legit open or if the corner just left him to head Bajema's way. I think Bajema is still in the lead for that third spot.

Bernard Pierce looked like he hadn't missed as much training camp as he has. He looked comfortable and not like a rookie. I see why we drafted him. Of course, this is a small sample size and he needs to show more, but if that was a preview of what's to come from him then I'm excited about the future with him in the backfield.

You pretty much hit the nail on the head with the secondary. I'm not concerned, not right now anyway. The knock on Cary is he's always playing the man and not the ball, and the time he actually turns his head to play the ball he loses the WR and can't make a play at all. It doesn't help that he was defending Calvin Johnson. Still, that's no real excuse and he has to work on timing that better. Jimmy, to me, outperformed Cary and is looking like he'll start ahead of him. Of course, I don't think that's necessarily final. Playing Megatron was a great learning experience for these two. I'd like to give a kudos to Christian Thompson for that fumble and Omar Brown for the recovery.

All I have to add is the Special Teams. I think they did better this game. They did give up a big return, and even though it was called back it still won't look good when they watch it over and over again. Also, the blocked punt. Other than those two things I thought we looked better in coverage and much more explosive in the return game. They're getting better, and I'm sure the final product will be much better than last year. I'd mention the kickers but we already know that competition is going down to the wire.

Okay, I'm done.

[BmoreRavens732]

Joe flacco - UP- he was pretty much on target all his playing time except one pass and I swear if I closed my eyes I would think I was listening to peyton Manning.
Bernard Pierce -UP- one game and barring injury he's got the backup role secured! He's fast strong quick and elusive.
O-LINE -UP -everyone looked pretty good against a pretty beast D-line. Oher is holding up great at LT and I'm very impressed with KO so far on the right side.
Tucker -UP- he better win the damn job! Its not fair to him the team or the fans if he doesn't!
The Jimmy -UP- yes megatron scored on him but the coverage was outstanding and CJ made a great play on the ball....like always! But Jimmy played great besides that.
Ajax -UP -decent coverage and great return skills.
Omar brown -UP -again he finds away to come up with a TO and he's always around the ball.
Passrush -down - I Jus feel little pressure is being generated.
tyrod Taylor -down -he's over throwing everything and is still scared to stand in the pocket. Honestly and as afraid I am to admit painter looks better smh!
Anthony Allen -down -honestly I think he's done! He can't run catch or block! Pierce looks miles ahead and rainey is clearly out playing him and Damien Berry is having more success also.
Just a few of my thoughts.

[berad]

Sean Considine DOWN

When he wasn't missing tackles, he was being caught out of position or otherwise worked over.

[Corvus]

I pretty much agree with PurpleCorsair. However I will say, I don't know how Jones can be down and Laquan up when both dropped catchable passes, and 2 of the 3 Joe threw to Laquan in the end zone were catchable balls. Both still have some work to do, but Laquan did look nice and fluid on his routes, the toe tapper was a fantastic catch. Not a big fan of Jones despite me sticking up for him in this post, but if he does falter in the regular season, I'm getting more confident in Laquan as our #3 WR.

[funky141]

Secondary Neutral

Now I know many of you are probably thinking "neutral? Our secondary got torched!" and that wouldn't be incorrect, per-se... With Reed and Pollard in they played pretty well. Take Reed and Pollard out, and Cary and Jimmy are playing basically man to man on Calvin which is, like, nigh impossible. Deep routes are still an area of concern, obviously, but Cary played the short throws well. Jimmy had Calvin all the way for the TD, but when you stack a receiver and then he gets a back shoulder pass there's really nothing you can do. I won't go ballistic ,yet, on these guys. Next week, however, I'll want to see some significant improvement.

Secondary was Down

[PurpleReign92]

Despite the little scuffle between Oher and Suh we didn't see to much of the 1st team guys... The Lions 2nd and 3rd team looks good against ours they Won... I didn't enjoy it to much because it was my 1st Ravens game I saw after the last years playoff loss. To see a loss didn't sit right, but I guess we will just suit up again next week for round 3 of 2012 pre season...

Edited by PurpleReign92, 18 August 2012 - 07:17 AM.

[PurpleReign92]

Contrary to what the drunk fans on the board believe I think we actually had a great game overall.

QB: Ugh. Except Flacco.

RUNNING BACK: Pierce had his own drive (where he got the ball in some way on every play) and looked great, cutting well and making something out of not much. Had a nice catch and run on a play that got erased by penalty. Berry and Rainey both made plays. AA won't make the roster.

O-LINE: The starters didn't need to pass-protect with Joe getting the ball out in a fraction of a second. Backups didn't give Tyrod much time, but he also didn't bother getting the ball out quickly. Also note Osemele is a beast.

RECEIVERS/TEs: No tight end really looked great. Bajema had one play where he moved off his block (Avril) to get open, and Avril ended up getting in the way of the pass.

Jones had an easy drop. Laquan had an easy drop but also made some plays. Doss was targeted once and made the catch. Unfortunately Tyrod didn't give us much of a chance to look at Streeter or Thompson.

SECONDARY: The secondary actually played great when the starters were in. The only thing the Lions had going for them was Calvin Johnson in the 2nd quarter, and that was mostly on two plays. One against Cary, who really should've had safety help over the top (wasn't a great game for Considine) on a ball that could have been picked if he had a good angle, or wouldn't have been thrown at all had Reed been patrolling Johnson like he normally would be. But Cary came right back on the next play and broke up a pass. He wasn't beaten for the rest of the game, and that was really the only time he was beat to begin with.

The other was Jimmy getting beat for a TD by a vet. Veteran receivers have tricks to catch young CBs off guard (pretending the ball is thrown when it isn't, neglecting to look back when it is, etc) and Jimmy was victim to one of the best in the league. Jimmy still needs work, but he hasn't even played a full season.

Omar Brown - nuff said. Asa Jackson looked good again in coverage. Gorrer did pretty well. Thompson didn't get a chance to do much but managed to forced a fumble. Cook and Considine were dead weight out there.

FRONT SEVEN: One of the things you have to keep in mind with QB pressure is that we've been playing mostly 4-man fronts this preseason whereas we usually have 5. So not getting as much pressure right now as we did last year is expected. Besides, it's hard to get pressure when Kruger and Ngata are dropping back into coverage.

Jameel was all over the place. Kruger looked good in coverage and could've had a pick 6. He also looked great in run stopping, which was a concern with JJ and Redding out. Ellerbe had a good game. Nigel Carr was ridiculous for the backups. Upshaw was getting good pressure against backups, forcing some scrambles and showing off some pass rush moves.

SPECIAL TEAMS: Ajax and Deonte make me wonder if Jones will really have a spot as a returner. Jones had one punt return for negative yardage (sorry, he did). Rainey had good returns.


Really the biggest areas of concern today were guarding Calvin Johnson (okay, when is that not a concern?) and catching the ball. But that's to be expected when your #2 WR and #1 and #2 TEs are not playing.

Great Observation!

QB- I think as far as Tyrod Tylor let me down i thought of him as more then a Runner but that is all he is a
'wild Cat option."

Runningbacks-unit played well as a whole without Rice despite of the loss..

Wideouts-- They were being over thrown too, with a more accurate passer things may have been different.

Jimmy Smith- Could not cover Megatron.

Harewood -had some reps at Left Tackle and i think he can be relied upon some odd plays..

Osmele- A little to powerful at times but not bad at all..

Oher- Picked up a good amount of reps at LT. He blocks on the left side but didnt shift to the edge correctly

Yanda- played well look strong pocket protection.

Gradkowsi - I didn't see him but for the most part I didn't see any flagscalled against him

Jack Cornell- Look like he was putting up a fight at Left Tackle.

Tony Wragge- Looked pretty polished but not enough time out on the field to really make an assessment.

Edited by PurpleReign92, 18 August 2012 - 07:39 AM.

[TXRaven]

It would be a lie if I said i was not disappointed. However, this is not the team we will field on the 10th of Sept. The offense did not have Dixon or Pitta or Torrey. 3 Big weapons. Laquan and Jones both dropped perfectly thrown balls. The Lions were completely ineffective while Ray, Ed and Pollard were in. Mega tron is going to burn alot of people. The Lions second TD was basically 1s vs 2s. Tyrod made several plays with his feet but most of his throws seemed high. I am excited about the explosiveness of our return ability. Asa Jackson's punt return was just sick. I really want Streeter to make this club but he dropped a key pass late in the game. The 5th anf 6th WR spot is going to be a tough one to call.

[izvoodoo]

I'm not putting a lot of weight into these penalties. Not to say they didn't occur, but with this officiating I don't trust that Carr, Kindle or Oher were actually holding.

[codizzle]

Secondary was Down

Like he said... We were fine with our starters (reed pollard n webb) .. Once they went out is when stafford went off..

Yet again.. Good try though

[JohnnyBoy8102]

I thought Flacco and the offense looked good in the no huddle. If Torrey was out there and Jacoby makes a catch on that nice throw by Joe then I would be even more elated.

The O-Line does need some work but I expected as much. The 3rd preseason game will be very telling.

LaQuan looked decent but like others have said; he needs to be more consistent catching the ball.

Overall for not having Torrey, Pitta, or Dickson the offense moved very well and Flacco was decisive and on target with his throws.

I thought the front 7 (1st team) played pretty vanilla but did get pressure on a 3rd down which forced a punt.

[JohnnyBoy8102]

The 1st team Defense w/ Ray, Ed, and Pollard played the entire 1st Quarter. The score was 6-0 Ravens once the starters came off the field. Here are the totals.

1st Team Defense
2 Drives
11 Snaps-45 Yards (4.09 yards per play)
Pass: 4/7, 34 Yards
Run: 4 Attempts-11 Yards

Edited by JohnnyBoy8102, 18 August 2012 - 08:35 AM.

[Pino]

LaQuan! Just keep throwing him the ball! Statistically, he'll make those TD grabs eventually

...Tyrod, poor accuracy again.

[ravensfan2430]

A lot of things stood out to me but one thing that feel like people have not mention are our special teams. This crap with penalties needs to change. I feel like they either bust a huge return and get a holding call or just don't block at all and get stuffed. I feel like this is an internal problem and it has been the same song and dance for years. And i can't remember how many times Coach has said this stuff is "fixable".... Well... Fix it then....!