Our TE Situation

[BOLDnPurPnBlacK]

3 targets for our TE's.

 

I repeat: 3 TARGETS.

 

That's crazy. I understand Dickson had yet another drop, and Clark still hasn't shown enough to warrant more opportunities. BUT not throwing their way at all means the D doesn't even have to respect them. Our receivers are making plays but its going to get more and more difficult if Joe doesn't at least make them think its a possibility.

 

Here's what I'd do. THROW TO BAJEMA. We've seen that Dickson and Clark are having difficulties catching the ball. But, after Bajema's catch I got to think.... I cant remember him dropping a pass. He had a few big plays in preseason, and on his first target he made a play.

 

I know he's our best blocker from the position, but Id throw him the ball more and more until he proves he cant handle it.

 

I'm not saying he'll be a revelation or anything, but at this point Why Not? What do you guys think?

[RavensAllTheWay]

Our best blocker at that position is Bajema.  At this point, he's probably our best receiver too.  I've said before, he could make some noise in our passing game.

[Gorillaz MD]

I swear we run the same first play every week. One of our TEs get wide open deep middle, Flacco hurls a bullet with pinpoint precision directly to the TE. Ball hits their hands, ball hits the ground. So frustrating.

[GrimCoconut]

I expect us to use less TE until Pitta returns. I haven't given up on Clark. It's still early. I know we need him now. That's the problem. I would probably use Billy more on offense than the other two until they prove otherwise. I'd really like to see us use Juszczyk more.

[runamuk]

I have seen Bajema in open practice and he can catch . I never understood why he didn't get targeted every time he is targeted in game he does catch it preseason too. It seems like a viable option until Dickson finds his  hands .

[Purple_Polo89]

After the catch yesterday I see big things ahead for Billy, epsecailly if Ed and Dallas don't step it up...I can see Dallas getting his hands sooner then later but Ed on the other hand needs to step it up now. I know his injury held him back a bit but come on Ed you have the speed to get open and your route running is being stepped up so no excuses for dropped balls. 

 

Any word if we can get Shanico back ?

[BOLDnPurPnBlacK]

After the catch yesterday I see big things ahead for Billy, epsecailly if Ed and Dallas don't step it up...I can see Dallas getting his hands sooner then later but Ed on the other hand needs to step it up now. I know his injury held him back a bit but come on Ed you have the speed to get open and your route running is being stepped up so no excuses for dropped balls. 

 

Any word if we can get Shanico back ?

 

 

Why do you want Shiancoe back? He looked worse than Clark and Dickson.

 

At this point I don't see any value to bringing in yet another injured, past their prime, or out of shape TE that's going to have to start developing chemistry and be even further behind Clark.

 

Which is why I think Bajema is the band aid. Not a great option, but he knows the team, knows Joe, knows the offense, and so far this year has caught everything thrown his way. Keep feeding him until he starts dropping it. At this point it cannot hurt - we're not getting anything out of our TE's right now, so its not going to set us back if we get nothing from Bajema too. But right now hes the only guy who hasn't been given a legitimate shot at it other than Furstenberg.

 

And before the Furstenberg chants start, I think we should give a guy whos has proven himself worthy of being on the field. Now if Bajema cant fill the role, Dickson and Clark continue their problems, then it may be worth it to give Furst a shot. Only reason I can think of not to is ruining his PS eligibility for no reason if hes not ready to contribute,

[redlobster]

I keep seeing "until Pitta comes back" , i truthfully do not think he returns this year and if he does he won't be effective. The team will have to roll with Dropson, Clark, and Bajema

[rmw10]

I know this is going to make a lot of people happy, but remember that this is pure speculation from Vinny Cerrato.

 

At the game yesterday, Furstenburg was asked to come to the stadium early and go through pre-game rituals.  Normally, PS guys are free to come to the game at their own convenience.  Again, Vinny didn't say anything explicitly, and I'm not implying that either, but it is worth mentioning.

[beanfigger]

One reason our tight ends weren't getting a bunch of targets yesterday is they were asked to help the struggling O-line protect the quarterback.  That issue certainly won't be resolved by sending Bajema out on more routes.

[Ravenseconbeast]

sooner or later our TE department need to get a lot better.   performances like this isn't going to get us anywhere later in the season.

[admartian]

If you've told me that I would consider Bajem to be one of our top choices in the receiving game, I'd have laughed so hard I'd have sprained my neck ala Peyton 2011.

 

But now thinking about it, you have a point. At this stage, I would give anyone on our roster a fair shot with regards to the passing game. Be it Bajema, Juice, Doss/Thompson.

 

We need a TE that the D should at least respect, otherwise Marlon and Torrey are going to get doubled all day.

[jimjim5]

I agree that the TE still needs to be targeted a good amount. However, I am not as down on Dickson as most seem to be. I think Dickson deserves the opportunity to test and prime his hands by running a few simple routes like a drag/in, a curl, out, or a hitch. All I see him run are deep 9 (go) routes up the seam in the middle of a covered zone. That is not a fair way to help a TE gain confidence nor an easy pass to make or convert when it is covered.  

 

Why isnt Dickson called on for the easier quick outs or slants that I saw Bajema get yesterday and Clark get yesterday and last week??? Please someone prove me wrong.

[frozen joe flacco fan]

Our TE situation has not been good since Todd Heap's departure.  I have described Pitta and Dickson as a two-headed dragon before and my opinion hasn't changed. Pitta has proved he can catch in the clutch but he is injured and may never be able to play football again at the level expected.  Dickson again looks like an untried rookie.  I was excited about the signing of Dallas Clark but it appears he may have serious undisclosed problems. His injury yesterday was more than getting the wind knocked out of him. If he is just taking up a roster spot and cannot perform at a high level, he should retire.  Amazingly, it appears Billy Bajema has earned a starting spot in the lineup. We have not replaced Todd Heap with a solid, consistent go-to TE like Antonio Gates, Dwayne Bowe, Tony Gonzalez, Jason Witten, Rob Gronkowski, Jimmy Graham, Vernon Davis, et cetera, et cetera. Dickson has had plenty of time and the opportunity to succeed.  Get rid of him, John, and also fire the rookie ST player who took out Dragon Fly.    

[Neil]

Clark caught a pass thrown his way yesterday, and despite having some drops against the Broncos, also caught a ton of passes.  I wouldn't be quite ready to write him off yet.  He's certainly a better option catching passes than Dickson, for whom drops have always been a problem.  I don't have a problem using Bajema as a pass catcher, but let's not start thinking that he's some kind of Shannon Sharpe that just hasn't had a shot.  The main reason the play worked so well the other day is that Cleveland could hardly have expected him to be thrown at; that was his first catch as a Baltimore Raven.

[jimjim5]

Our TE situation has not been good since Todd Heap's departure.  I have described Pitta and Dickson as a two-headed dragon before and my opinion hasn't changed. Pitta has proved he can catch in the clutch but he is injured and may never be able to play football again at the level expected.  Dickson again looks like an untried rookie.  I was excited about the signing of Dallas Clark but it appears he may have serious undisclosed problems. His injury yesterday was more than getting the wind knocked out of him. If he is just taking up a roster spot and cannot perform at a high level, he should retire.  Amazingly, it appears Billy Bajema has earned a starting spot in the lineup. We have not replaced Todd Heap with a solid, consistent go-to TE like Antonio Gates, Dwayne Bowe, Tony Gonzalez, Jason Witten, Rob Gronkowski, Jimmy Graham, Vernon Davis, et cetera, et cetera. Dickson has had plenty of time and the opportunity to succeed.  Get rid of him, John, and also fire the rookie ST player who took out Dragon Fly.    

 

That rookie ST player your want to fire (Trawick) is turning out to be a ST beast. NFL rosters don't work the way you apparently think they do.

[frozen joe flacco fan]

That rookie ST player your want to fire (Trawick) is turning out to be a ST beast. NFL rosters don't work the way you apparently think they do.

That's it. You're right!

[Neil]

I don't think it'd be a good idea to fire a rookie for one mistake in the first game of the season, unless it was something like brandishing a pistol at a ref.

[jdynamite]

I swear we run the same first play every week. One of our TEs get wide open deep middle, Flacco hurls a bullet with pinpoint precision directly to the TE. Ball hits their hands, ball hits the ground. So frustrating.

It's not funny, but reading it made me laugh lol

[msufan]

Our TE situation is that we don't have any TE.

[BOLDnPurPnBlacK]

I keep seeing "until Pitta comes back" , i truthfully do not think he returns this year and if he does he won't be effective. The team will have to roll with Dropson, Clark, and Bajema

I don't think they would have given him the ir return designation if it wasn't highly likely. Everyone said Suggs wasn't and he came back way ahead. Wasn't the best but definitely made the D better.

I'm 100% sure pitta will be back in time. It's just a matter of where the team is. If we're in the hunt he'll play. If we have the division locked up or have no chance he won't play - but either way he'll be physically able to at some point.

[BOLDnPurPnBlacK]

Our TE situation has not been good since Todd Heap's departure.  I have described Pitta and Dickson as a two-headed dragon before and my opinion hasn't changed. Pitta has proved he can catch in the clutch but he is injured and may never be able to play football again at the level expected.  Dickson again looks like an untried rookie.  I was excited about the signing of Dallas Clark but it appears he may have serious undisclosed problems. His injury yesterday was more than getting the wind knocked out of him. If he is just taking up a roster spot and cannot perform at a high level, he should retire.  Amazingly, it appears Billy Bajema has earned a starting spot in the lineup. We have not replaced Todd Heap with a solid, consistent go-to TE like Antonio Gates, Dwayne Bowe, Tony Gonzalez, Jason Witten, Rob Gronkowski, Jimmy Graham, Vernon Davis, et cetera, et cetera. Dickson has had plenty of time and the opportunity to succeed.  Get rid of him, John, and also fire the rookie ST player who took out Dragon Fly.

Is there another Dwayne Bose that plays TE I'm not aware of?

And Pitta was a premier TE before injury. So yes we replaced him but he got injured. And I'm confident he'll be back. They wouldn't use the designation if they didn't have sound medical evidence showing it likely he can play this year. It may take a little to get back but he'll be fine.

[BOLDnPurPnBlacK]

One reason our tight ends weren't getting a bunch of targets yesterday is they were asked to help the struggling O-line protect the quarterback.  That issue certainly won't be resolved by sending Bajema out on more routes.

There's more than one way to beat an edge rush. One is keeping your te's and backs in to block. The other is bubble screens and slants with your TE's right in behind our outside the rush. We do it with rice at least 3 times a game, but we don't do it with Dickson or Clark bc there's no trust they'll catch it.

Besides looking at last week Dickson had his many drops and Clark even when he actually caught the ball either bobbled it or ended up fumbling after the catch. I'm not saying take their targets away completely, I'm just advocating giving bajema a few more looks.

I understand he's rarely been thrown to but when he has he's caught the ball which is more than can be said for anyone else.

[jdynamite]

Wow I just put the game on to re-watch it. And to see that first play a big catch there would have really set the tempo early.

[flynismo]

The team will have to roll with Dropson, Clark, and Bajema

Haha, love the name

[Puntit]

If our two leading tight ends (Clark and Dickson) arent showing something very different in practice this week, I'm not sure why we are even playing them. Put Bajema in as the extra blocker, and go with an extra receiver set with Doss (who I'm still not sold on but at least he sometimes catches the ball), or maybe see if juice can catch, or even run some two RB sets with both Rice and Pierce (or Draughn) on the field at the same time, with Rice as a receiver. I'm willing to accept the teams word that Furstenburg isn't NFL ready yet, but maybe he can be hurried along a bit faster too. We have plenty of potential targets on the roster, we just have to be creative and scheme around the void we have at that position.

[BOLDnPurPnBlacK]

If our two leading tight ends (Clark and Dickson) arent showing something very different in practice this week, I'm not sure why we are even playing them. Put Bajema in as the extra blocker, and go with an extra receiver set with Doss (who I'm still not sold on but at least he sometimes catches the ball), or maybe see if juice can catch, or even run some two RB sets with both Rice and Pierce (or Draughn) on the field at the same time, with Rice as a receiver. I'm willing to accept the teams word that Furstenburg isn't NFL ready yet, but maybe he can be hurried along a bit faster too. We have plenty of potential targets on the roster, we just have to be creative and scheme around the void we have at that position.

 

This reminds me of a thought I had the other day... and its more a general thought on offensive gameplan in football than specifically for the Ravens - but - we're somewhat weak right now in pass catchers.

 

We're not top heavy in the department, but I do think we're deep. Maybe a guy like Doss cant be a starter, or beat most teams top 2-3 CB's BUT if we go 5 wide could he beat a 4th or 5th cb or a backup safety or a linebacker? I think so. Same with Deonte, and Mellette.

 

I don't have any stats to back this up, but I feel like we rarely go 4 or 5 wide (partially I know bc we don't even have 5 wr healthy and on the roster) but how often do we go 4 wide? Having an advantage with your #1 WR over your opponents #1 CB is really beneficial to an offense... but I think your 4th and 4th WR's having a decided advantage over your opponents 4th and 5th CB's or safeties or LB's (whatever personnel they would choose to defend it) can be just as beneficial.

 

I don't think we do that enough, ie playing the matchups and pitting our depth against our opponents defensive depth. We put our best up against theirs and hope to win, but we saw consistently in the preseason that our 2nd tier is better than most other teams and on offense I think we could find ways to take advantage of that.

[Puntit]

This reminds me of a thought I had the other day... and its more a general thought on offensive gameplan in football than specifically for the Ravens - but - we're somewhat weak right now in pass catchers.

 

We're not top heavy in the department, but I do think we're deep. Maybe a guy like Doss cant be a starter, or beat most teams top 2-3 CB's BUT if we go 5 wide could he beat a 4th or 5th cb or a backup safety or a linebacker? I think so. Same with Deonte, and Mellette.

 

I don't have any stats to back this up, but I feel like we rarely go 4 or 5 wide (partially I know bc we don't even have 5 wr healthy and on the roster) but how often do we go 4 wide? Having an advantage with your #1 WR over your opponents #1 CB is really beneficial to an offense... but I think your 4th and 4th WR's having a decided advantage over your opponents 4th and 5th CB's or safeties or LB's (whatever personnel they would choose to defend it) can be just as beneficial.

 

I don't think we do that enough, ie playing the matchups and pitting our depth against our opponents defensive depth. We put our best up against theirs and hope to win, but we saw consistently in the preseason that our 2nd tier is better than most other teams and on offense I think we could find ways to take advantage of that.

I think the risk of doing that is if the opposing team blitzes you could be stuck with a Doss or Deonte being the only thing between a pass rusher and your QB. That's why the tight ends who can both catch and block are of such great value in this game, and why teams love the two TE schemes -- it keeps the opposition guessing. Once you line up Smith, Brown, Doss, Deonte, you completely tip your hand that nobody useful is staying back to pick up a block and then it's open season on Joe. But if Dickson and Bajema are in there instead of Doss and Deonte, the other team can't be sure whether they are receivers, blockers or one of each. Of course that only works if your tight ends can catch.  But that's why you won't see many 4 WR plans in the NFL unless you have a very mobile QB.

[frozen joe flacco fan]

Is there another Dwayne Bose that plays TE I'm not aware of?

And Pitta was a premier TE before injury. So yes we replaced him but he got injured. And I'm confident he'll be back. They wouldn't use the designation if they didn't have sound medical evidence showing it likely he can play this year. It may take a little to get back but he'll be fine.

Bowe plays for the Chiefs and caught a TD pass on Sunday. How many TD passes have our TEs caught this year?

[scrock]

what happened to Ed Dickson? he always had suspect hands but he used to make SOME plays in the passing game....he outproduced Pitta a few years ago...now its like he's completely lost his confidence as a receiver

 

they need to get him some easy catches to get his confidence going again....with Pitta down and us being thing at WR right now we need the TEs to produce and Clark is older and slower so DIckson is the guy