It's only preseason? Preseason game 2 thoughts

[Tank 92]

You can trash Dragonfly now, but you'll be thanking him later.

[Purple Nurple]

You can trash Dragonfly now, but you'll be thanking him later.

I'm still thanking him. :)

It's nowhere NEAR time to panic.

[GrimCoconut]

Yes the second part was a general comment not directed at you.
Can't believe everyone is bagging on my man jacoby again. #2,#3... To me that is not important. He is very good in certain situations. He's not going to catch 70 or 80 balls but he should have a very high yards per catch and could put up 800+ yards if the offense gets really humming. He is quite possibly the best return man in the game currently. That kind of game changing skill is invaluable. I would like to see more play designs to get him the ball in space on offense more this year. He is a far better receiver than any other elite return men I can think of... Hester, cribbs...can't think of the former chief....

Yeah I have no problem with Jacoby honestly. I just dislike his salary. I think he's a bit expensive. That's all.

[ravensdan]

Yeah I have no problem with Jacoby honestly. I just dislike his salary. I think he's a bit expensive. That's all.

It only looks like a big cap number this year because the way the contract is structured it is all loaded up this year. Almost nothing last year.

[ravensdan]

I am watching the full game now. I am shocked how bad jimmy smith is getting killed when all 3 of Julio's completions the non existent safety was at least as much to blame. Also didnt card for huff not bringing down Jackson.

Also after seeing the whole first half of offense I don't think it was near as bad as the j ville game as has been mentioned. It was certainly a bit sloppy but it seemed more like timing being just a bit off to me and we are clearly only running short to intermediate passes. Not wide open at all. The blocking as I suspected from what I had seen before is the major area that Needs to be improved.

[ravensdfan]

Every year, I seem to forget to stay away from the boards during preseason lol

 

Jacoby, IMO, will be our #2 WR. If they double team Torrey, Smith can stretch the field just as well and we've seen he can beat 1 x 1 coverage. They are seriously trying out everyone at returns, so I think this decision is a done deal. That INT was not Jacoby's fault. Flacco threw that ball into seriously crowded coverage. Have no idea why, other than perhaps there is some effort to target Jacoby more.

 

I would like to see our young WRs out there getting work with Flacco in game situations. How else do you expect to fairly evaluate them? Or for them to develop any chemistry with Flacco?

 

Rice looked off. Seriously off and I don't think all of that can be blamed on the O line.

 

Tyrod has done some work this off season. He looks way more confident in the pocket and his accuracy is way better.

 

It is preseason so I'm not overly worried right now. I would much rather these issues show up in preseason, where we can see what we need the most to work on, than us look great in preseason and then have issues show up when the games count.

 

Have no idea what is up with Jimmy Smith. It's like he has not progressed at all from his rookie year. Still making all the same rookie mistakes.

[PolishRifle]

Jacoby, IMO, will be our #2 WR.

I don't think that's a good idea. Jacoby doesn't seem like a consistent enough receiving threat to be a #2. It might just be my impression, but I still don't think he is good enough at catching passes. I like what he brings as a #3 and kick returner, where he is just more valuable.

Personally, I am hoping for Deonte Thompson to get the #2 job at this point (I lost faith in Doss). Eventhough I am convinced, that Stokely will start the season as a #2 receiver.

The only thing, I like less than Jacoby at #2 is the "by comitee" solution. Joe needs a steady receiver, he can built up trust with throughout the season.

[Jgoodm3]

Does anyone have a hard stock season ticket stub from the recent 8/15 preseason game against the Falcons? Torrey Smith was pictured on the ticket. Looking to collect from each stadium I visit. Will pay $5.

[ravensdfan]

I don't think that's a good idea. Jacoby doesn't seem like a consistent enough receiving threat to be a #2. It might just be my impression, but I still don't think he is good enough at catching passes. I like what he brings as a #3 and kick returner, where he is just more valuable.

Personally, I am hoping for Deonte Thompson to get the #2 job at this point (I lost faith in Doss). Eventhough I am convinced, that Stokely will start the season as a #2 receiver.

The only thing, I like less than Jacoby at #2 is the "by comitee" solution. Joe needs a steady receiver, he can built up trust with throughout the season.

 

I think he'll do fine at the #2 spot, but I wasn't actually basing it off of anything other than the fact that they have been trying the world out at returning. It says to me that they want to turn over returning duties to someone else because he'll see more time (hence, be more valuable) at WR.

 

Personally, while I've seen flashes from Deonte & LaQuan, no one has shown they would be better than Jacoby in that #2 spot. It is all in how he is used as well. I think we will see Torrey & Jacoby on the outside, stretching the field, with Stokley and Clark as our middle guys and reliable 3rd down hands.

[BMORElegacy]

I've read through this whole thread and didn't see one mention of Arthur Brown. He was disruptive and looked instinctual out there. Very good things to see from a guy we drafted to man the middle of our defense.

[GrimCoconut]

I've read through this whole thread and didn't see one mention of Arthur Brown. He was disruptive and looked instinctual out there. Very good things to see from a guy we drafted to man the middle of our defense.

There's an entire thread dedicated to him and Elam

[BMORElegacy]

There's an entire thread dedicated to him and Elam

whoopsies. Just thought I'd add some positivity to this otherwise depressing string of posts.

[GrimCoconut]

If anyone wants to re-watch the Atlanta game it's on right now channel 576 for Verizon where I live. Lol. 

[GrimCoconut]

We are running a 4-3 & 4-2 look a lot in this game. A lot. I think that might be a big reason why our run defense wasn't as good as I had hoped. We're usually running a lot of Dumervil | Ngata | Canty | Suggs alignments. In fact, I have barely seen us have 3 DL. 

 

When we do run with 3 LB it's usually Brown/Bynes, Smith & Upshaw, with Upshaw on the right side behind Suggs. 

 

Scratch that. We looked worse running the 3-4 alignment with Jones | Ngata | Canty. Ngata was getting washed out of plays and getting pushed back and losing loads of leverage. He got mauled there by the center & guard. We might be better at the 4-3 now. I need to watch this a bit more and a bit closer. 

[Wisdom]

Realistically, the preseason is perhaps the most precious time teams have to get good work in, as all 32 teams begin the season with the same goal..... to win the Superbowl.  So maybe the preseason didn't count in seasons past, but "As I See It" they count now.  For many teams such as our Ravens, this can be one of the most important moments of the training process.  This is a very critical time for our players interns of their future with the Ravens. 

 

LETS GO RAVENS!

[shiri2]

I think our team will play better both on offense and defense (especially the first team secondary) once they all start to gell.  And as far as the 2ndary goes, we'll be stronger when Webby gets back there to help them new dudes out, and Jimmy Smith!  Chykie Brown needs to learn to look for the ball when the receiver turns his head and stop running blindly flailing his arms and drawing a flag!

 

Also guys on another note.  Over at the Broncos webpage (forums.denverbroncos.com) they're talking beaucoup smack about our upcoming match next month.  They're talking about how they're gonna humiliate us and how we won't get lucky with a hail mary and throwing bombs.  And how they don't even think we're gonna beat the Squeelas. And how we gave up 20pts in the first half against the Falcons.  And how that without Ray Lewis and Ed Reed we don't stand a chance!

 

Some of us need to go over there and set them dudes straight!

 

There's about 3 of us over there now defending our team.  I started the thread over there called "Superbowl Champ$ Return."   Look under thel section called "Broncos Football," then it's a section called "Talking Smack," and then is the thread I created called "Superbowl Champs Return."

[Ravenslifer]

The funniest thing out of all of this is that the games I'm watching where teams are actually trying, a bunch of impact players are getting injured on both sides of the ball.

[callahan09]

I'm trying to watch the interception play again on NFL.com's pre-season game pass, which I have a subscription for, but it's just incredibly hard to gain anything useful from that feature.  The quality isn't very good, there's no way to put the video into slow motion besides rapid double-clicks of the pause button, which is very imprecise and has a tendency to skip frames.

 

So I didn't really learn much... it's just not a good enough playback feature to use for film study.

 

But I *think* (again, it's very hard to tell) that this ball was thrown very accurately into the tightest of windows, and it bounces right off of Jones' hand, and after some deflection it pops up high in the air for Asante Samuel to come down with.

That was an unlucky bounce, but the throw itself, whether it was smart to throw it into such a tight window or not, was accurate, and Jones could have done a better job at playing the ball than to let it bounce up in the air like that.  It should have been a completion if Jones played the ball perfectly, an incompletion 9 times out of 10 if he doesn't.  This was one of those fluke times where it deflects badly and gets pulled out of the sky by a defender.

 

Joe throws this ball because in the pre-season you don't care about any results other than keeping a drive going so you can keep running plays and seeing how things work.  That was the only play Flacco had that could have potentially kept the drive going, so he tried it, and it was a good throw.  The decision itself is a fine pre-season decision, despite being ill-advised when the games actually matter.  But he could have converted that pass, if what I'm seeing in these replays is accurate.  It's hard to see.  But the throw looks on-target, and Jacoby is turned around looking at the ball, I just don't see how Jacoby doesn't deserve at least equal blame with Flacco considering the bounce that it took... he needs to play the ball better.

[stormie]

Of course you can. I really don't understand why everyone is flipping out about a number 2 receiver? Really? To be fair I am hearing similar things about New England as well. The saints have exactly zero star receivers. Eli has made Cruz and nicks into stars but they were unheralded. Everyone will see Jennings is a nobody w/o Rodgers this year. Actually going back to Brady, outside of one year with moss he hasn't had a single great receiver in his career.
 

I am not flipping out about it. I'm just stating that we do NOT have a SOLID #2 and we need one. Period.  Yes pre-season always sucks and we need to be patient, but I don't see a solid #2 on our team at all. Even if someone steps up some, it's not enough to go the distance.