Next up: Steelers Week!

[Militant X 1]

This Steelers team is beatable. Ravens can do this.

umm...and this Ravens team is beatable!  they lost today at home and especially on the road!  can't expect them to win games with this terrible offense!

 

#Mili

[Pats]

Divisional game is always tough, regardless how pathetic they play leading to this.  It's going to be a dog fight....
 
We need to win period, ugly or pretty.....

For some reason I feel like it's also gonna be a gritty game and won by something like 23-13

[ravensfan2424]

Doesn't matter. You never give up on a season. Ever.

 

I don't know. We all thought the Browns tried to do that, and it seemed to be doing pretty good for them until Hoyer went down 

 

All Kidding aside, It's definitely not time to panic yet. 3-3 is about where I expected this team to be leading up to the bye. A win this week takes us to 4-3 with a week off to recuperate, have players like Monroe and Jones get situated/re-situated with the offense, and another week to get healthy. However, if we do lose this week, and the offense remains terrible, I don't think it's too far fetched to see some coaching changes be made. Something major needs to be done to fix the mess of an O-line.

 

Like someone said earlier, all we need is to get into the big dance, seeding just makes it easier. 

[JO_75]

Like someone said earlier, all we need is to get into the big dance, seeding just makes it easier. 

 

This. Winning the division guarantees a one of 12 spots to the big dance. Bengals play the Lions, while we have Pittsburgh. Bengals are 1-1 in the division. If they lose to Detroit and we beat Pittsburgh, we'll move to 2-0 in the division while moving into first place due to better division record. 

 

Though... I'm a little confident since the Steelers lost to Matt Cassel of all people but I would probably feel better about our chances if our offense could do something for 60 minutes. Once again Defense keeps us in the game and for some reason I think Tucker wins it for us.

 

Ravens 16

Steelers 13

[cursona pirate]

Flacco I'm sure can't wait...to be chased around again.

[ROH522155]

Hey Joe it's week 7, time to wake up!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Honestly I don't give a crap about your opinion. You're borderline trolling.

[allblackraven]

I'm on the fence with this game. On one hand, I'd really love to see our O line finally produce so we can rush some on Pitsburgh and make it easier for Joe. On the other, ugly win like 12-10 would probably frustrate the Steelers even more. However it happens though, W is going to be huge because it would most likely mean we're down to 2 opponents in our division.

[Inqui]

I'm on the fence with this game. On one hand, I'd really love to see our O line finally produce so we can rush some on Pitsburgh and make it easier for Joe. On the other, ugly win like 12-10 would probably frustrate the Steelers even more. However it happens though, W is going to be huge because it would most likely mean we're down to 2 opponents in our division.

Justin Stover Tucker is my tip for week seven MVP. Based on the last six weeks I can't see anything but an ugly win or a frustrating loss.

 

A win would pretty much ice the Steelers (yay!) and give us an edge over the Bengals in the divisional race. It's not over by a long shot, but the next month will be huge unless we can somehow duke it out with the Colts and Patriots for a seeded spot.

[Puntit]

We play three divisional games the next few weeks -- sweep them and we are in great shape to win the division. But easier said then done. Yes we played poorly Sunday. Our center neither protected the QB nor created running lanes. We never really got the ball into Torrey Smiths hands, but saw our other three receivers and TE play decently. We took out two of Green Bays best receivers and only rushed four men and yet somehow still weren't able to double cover Rodgers one best remaining receiving target (who was burning Webb all day). Yanda not only didn't play well but killed drives with penalties, possibly trying to get an early jump to help Gino, but hard to know. Harbaugh made aggressive calls that were destined to either make him the hero or the goat (can't fault him for that) but poor execution made him the goat two times out of two.

Thoughts for next week. 1. Running right up the middle won't work if your line doesn't create holes. Until the O-line fixes things, take that out of our playbook. There are other ways to get Rice the ball. 2. Marlon Brown's size creates a big coverage nightmare for other teams. Let's target him more, especially in the first half of games. 3. I like the idea of platooning Jacoby and Deonte week to week, if that keeps both healthy. No point making them both active -- Joe simply isn't getting time to throw the deep balls.

The middle of out O-Line, KO, Gino and Yanda were our biggest problem this week. We upgraded the LT spot, and that just made this soft spot more glaring. I sure hope Jensen is some superstar phenom because what we have isn't going to be enough against good teams. Let keep working Shipley at guard/center, Reid and Wagner at guard, during practice. If one of them can plug a hole it would be huge.

[ravensdfan]

I'd like him to put up numbers in line with the payday he sought and win... When or if he ever does that this season I'll give him credit for a week.    Right now he hasn't had any game that makes me say I'm glad the Ravens paid this guy.

 

It's week 7 where is our quarterback????

Winning was never enough for you before.

 

Tell you what, go be a Broncos fan. You'll have all the nice fantasy numbers you could want during the regular season and can be one & done in the playoffs.

[blackbird29]

I'd like him to put up numbers in line with the payday he sought and win... When or if he ever does that this season I'll give him credit for a week. Right now he hasn't had any game that makes me say I'm glad the Ravens paid this guy.

It's week 7 where is our quarterback????

And if the Ravens didn't pay him he probably would have did like Ray did and tested the FA market and I can almost guarantee that a number of teams would have been all over him. And the team couldn't afford to let him go. Especially with no other options out there. As far as saying where is our QB? He is here. It's the rest of the offense that needs to show up. Joe did his job but can't win it by himself. If you look at the numbers, even with the loss he outplayed Rodgers. Just like last yr when he outplayed Brady and Manning. So I am quite sure that he is here and if we didn't pay him another team would have been happy to then everyone would be saying "we should have paid him, he was a good QB"

[Tank 92]

Somehow score enough to win this game, limp into the bye and get this thing fixed. Sound like a plan?

[StingerNLG]

Somehow score enough to win this game, limp into the bye and get this thing fixed. Sound like a plan?

 

And where have I heard that one before?   Just recently I think........

 

:)

[baroquenspirit]

Wake up! The Ravens are coming to town!

[funky141]

For some reason I feel like it's also gonna be a gritty game and won by something like 23-13

I was thinking the same but only a 9-6 game..

[Militant X 1]

one of my many favorite Dr. Phil-isms is; "A great predictor of future behavior is past behavior!"  So in the Ravens case; that would mean that for 6 weeks now, regardless of how well the defense plays or how many times the defense gets the offense the ball back.....this offense has been anemic and has played atrociously and therefore, that is what we can expect to see from them again this Sunday...especially with the Ravens playing on the road and vs the Steelers who are ONLY 2 games back from the Ravens.

 

#noconfidenceinthispatheticoffense

 

#Mili

[ratedr]

These next three games will make/break the season. We need to go no worse than 2-1.

[redrum52]

I swear on everything I love if we lose to these bums, for my accounts sake, I'm not showing face in Ravens talk until the Jets game.  We better win.  There are no must win games this early, this is a MUST WIN GAME.  We lose this and the Steelers are essentially back in the race.  Whatever's wrong with the line better be fixed by next game, because as bad the Steelers look, we will find a way to lose if the o-line problems aren't corrected.

[ravensdfan]

one of my many favorite Dr. Phil-isms is; "A great predictor of future behavior is past behavior!"  So in the Ravens case; that would mean that for 6 weeks now, regardless of how well the defense plays or how many times the defense gets the offense the ball back.....this offense has been anemic and has played atrociously and therefore, that is what we can expect to see from them again this Sunday...especially with the Ravens playing on the road and vs the Steelers who are ONLY 2 games back from the Ravens.

 

#noconfidenceinthispatheticoffense

 

#Mili

 

But, our previous behavior suggests we love playing at the ketchup field.

 

We win there.

[Chris K]

Was I the only one who saw a flash of the Mile High miracle yesterday on one of Joe's bombs on 4th Down yesterday? It was a bit strange, until it made me think about something.

 

For all of you blaming #5 for the offensive struggles, he is not the problem. In fact, at this point, I don't think the receivers are even the problem either, besides maybe Dickson, but we all never expected him to get much production. Regardless, in my eyes at least, from just an ignorant fan standpoint, it seems to fall on A. Offensive Line and B. Offensive Coaching. 

 

This has already been said, but I'll do it again. We can not win in a one dimensional offense. 

I get that you want to see where the Defense is going to be at its weakest all game, so you run the ball early, but running it on every first down we ever get is not acceptable. I mean, the offensive players know it themselves, they start too slow. Way too slow. That's because, instead of instantly confusing the defense by mixing plays up, we think "softing them up" by running the ball will put us in a position to throw the ball. That works both ways, and Caldwell needs to look back at the playoffs to realize that. My frustration lies in that, in my mind, I'm thinking, "Here we go offense, another chance, let's get this going."

Then what happens? They line up with Rice in the backfield and he tries to run it through a non-existent hole. Bam. We're now in second and 10, 11, 12, and so on. Getting into those situations is what will kill us in Steeler town this Sunday.. I'm not expecting things to heat up and for us to torch the secondary with amazing numbers, but I would like to see Caldwell at least attempt to open up the field early on. Once he does that, magically the defense cant put 8 guys in the box to stuff us at the line. The point of that whole big rant was just my frustration and hopes that Caldwell will get his act together with the play calling this week. Believe it or not folks, we have an aerial attack, that much was proved yesterday. If we could take our second half performances and implement the desperate game planning method we usually use then into our first half performances, this would not be as much an issue as it is.

 

Apologies for my long rant :)

[Militant X 1]

But, our previous behavior suggests we love playing at the ketchup field.

 

We win there.

our previous behavior... "this season".  you know...the one that we've presently witnessed 6 weeks of a lousy and atrocious Ravens offense?  that previous behavior!!!!

 

#Mili

[flynismo]

how many games are you willing to wait until you recognise its not ? 1 more 3 more?

I'm giving it two more weeks before I officially throw in the towel on the OL.
What can I say, I choose to be optimistic...

[flynismo]

our previous behavior... "this season". you know...the one that we've presently witnessed 6 weeks of a lousy and atrocious Ravens offense? that previous behavior!!!!

#Mili

Can you please go shake your head for me over in the Elam thread? Lol

[monkeycatt]

we will beat all our AFCN foes this year....the defense will deliver some patented raven hits on their old frenemy, big ben.

[Militant X 1]

1

I'm giving it two more weeks before I officially throw in the towel on the OL.
What can I say, I choose to be optimistic...

 

same here!  but to be honest, I'm sick and tired of always "trying" to defend our QB and this offense of his against friends of mine who are non-Ravens fans who see the same thing that I see....pure Ravens' offensive trash...week after week after week!  no excuses can be made anymore for that junk!!!

Can you please go shake your head for me over in the Elam thread? Lol

lol!

 

#Mili

[Gordo52]

Just saw Flacco is 5th in the league in passing yards...Does this mean Hardbaugh likes him now??

[T3hRaven]

I think the team will still take this game seriously because of the bad blood, but this might be one of those playing down to an opponent games.  Can anyone imagine how depressing this three week stretch will be if we head in to the bye week coming off back to back losses, one of which is to a bad Steelers team.

[jdynamite]

if we lose. i say just tank. geta top10 pick and select either a top offensive lines,an or a FS.whatsthe pointof missing the playoffs and being kicked out of the top 10.

I understand what your thinking is, I apply the reverse of this to the team I hate the most the Cowgirls. I root for them to lose every game at the beginning of the season then I cheer for them to win just enough games to not have a top 10 pick lol. So I love seeing them go 6-10, 7-9. Mediocre not terrible.

Also people are going to take your comment and go crazy with it but they forget that we had up and down years in the past and those bad years allowed us to pick up top notch guys like Suggs, Ngata, J.Lewis, Mcallister in the top half of the 1st round.

[The Raven]

I think the team will still take this game seriously because of the bad blood, but this might be one of those playing down to an opponent games.  Can anyone imagine how depressing this three week stretch will be if we head in to the bye week coming off back to back losses, one of which is to a bad Steelers team.

 

Let's not imagine that. :(

[arnie_uk]

We are due a breakout, but I can't see it being this game unless the steelers dominate our d and we are made to open the play book.