Official Vent Thread: Who to cut, Who Played Well, Who is in the Dog House?

[BSHU_Miami]

Ugh... this pretty much explains my thoughts on Dean Pees and his defensive scheme. It's nothing BUT generic. Let's take the Ravens inability to defend the screen pass against the Bengals. Cincinnati easily gained yards using those plays. And, guess what? Pees never took note to defend it. Who also had that problem? Oh, that's right: Cam Cameron! Cameron could never make adjustments during a game. Pees suffers from the same problem on defense.

 

Also, you know how everyone (or basically everyone) says how the offense going 3-and-out "tires the defense"? Well, let's look at it the other way: By having this "bend-don't-break" defense, which allows the opposing offense to have these 5-to-7 minute drives while only settling for 3 points, maybe Baltimore's defense hurts the rhythm/tempo of the Ravens offense since they can never get off the field.

 

I swear, there's no "swagger" to the defense, anymore. The pass rush has been NONEXISTENT since the midway point of the 2013 campaign. Last year, the defense could barely force any interceptions (and it wasn't until the last couple of games when they actually were able to do that, most of them coming during the road games in Detroit and Cincy). And, then, there's the whole problem of being unable to get stops on 3rd down (until the opposing team is near the red-zone, apparently).

 

Meh; I just don't know. I feel so many players have been misused by Pees, as well. I believe Lardarius Webb is the biggest case of this. Look back at his 2012 season (before he torn his ACL); Webb was no where near the same as he was in 2011. I could go on; but, whatever...

you are echoing my thoughts. We have the players, we have the talent. Mosley, Asa, Brooks, Jernigan, Elam, Brown, Will Hill, McPhee, Suggs and Doom. You mean to tell me with all that speed and talent we cant muster ONE SACK?! ONE turnover?! Rex/Pagano, would have coached this team up to a top 5 unit, there is no doubt in my mind. We have too much speed on defense to let these screens beat us. Do we move around before the snap anymore? Does our defensive line run any kind of stunts? Have we seen a corner blitz? We get no pressure, we cant cover screens, for some reason the opposing team always has someone WIDE open no defender within 5 yards.   

I'm just so frustrated with Pees man, I wanted him gone since 2012. We need fresh blood on defense Clean sweep just like the offense

[sliceanddic3]

Never heard of a defense that played "great" and didn't get a single sack or really any pressure on the QB period. That comes back to Pees defensive philosophy. We treated Andy Dalton like he's Peyton Manning by opting not to blitz, Dalton missed multiple wide open receivers, his decision making really isn't that great and that's why you need to put pressure on him.

You sit back in coverage against QB's that you know can pick you apart if you blitz, we gave Dalton way too much respect and that was 100% on Pees playcalling. It's not Chykie's fault that Pees asked him to cover Green 1 on 1, yes Chykie is terrible but Pees is the one who put him in that situation to begin with.

They did their job with only allowing 5 field goals and no TDs (until the slip up Green TD). They kept us in the game when our offense couldnt get anything going, what more could you have asked? Give them a little more credit man.

[PurpleCityLights]

Why isn't a 7th year qb making line adjustments on an obvious blitz?

bingo!

[ravensdfan]

They did their job with only allowing 5 field goals and no TDs (until the slip up Green TD). They kept us in the game when our offense couldnt get anything going, what more could you have asked? Give them a little more credit man.

 

I could have asked them to force an actual punt, pressure the QB, get a sack, get a turnover. Any number of things that are their job that they didn't do. Think that might have changed field position? Perhaps the offense wouldn't have had to start inside their 20 then if the defense actually forced more than one punt? 

 

Just a thought.

[pep_meister]

please hire me for DC... i can call a better game using my customravens madden 15 play book.     

[PurpleCityLights]

The difference between Forsett and Pierce, aside from the fumble, is just being familiar with the type of offense. Pierce and Rice need more time, but it was good to see Forsett able to get small and turn up the field.

It's sad that Torrey still can't come back to the ball and doesn't know how to find space on the sidelines. He also never got position on one deep pass that was intercepted out of bounds, which is his responsibility and the last thing you can allow the CB to do when you're a deep receiver. If he gets position on the cornerback, that's probably a TD.

I also agree about Mosley and Elam. Both played smart games.

Did you see the 49ers game & how Q played......

[RaineV1]

I agree with Ravensdfan, The Defense was the second biggest problem for the Ravens, after the receivers dropping passes. If they had been able to get pressure on Dalton, he might not have been able to throw a perfect pass downfield to Green. There is zero excuse for why a team with a front seven like the Ravens can't get to the quarterback, other than conservative playcalling by Pees. I tried to defend him in the past but letting Brown try to cover Green one on one and failing to put pressure on Dalton was the final straw. He sucks as a coordinator. With him at the helm, the Ravens D seems to always give up big plays late in the game.

[Inqui]

I'm surprised no-one's brought this up from the Bengals perspective yet. Their new-look offence actually seems fairly smart on second impressions.

 

It's well known that Dalton struggles with pressure, but that offence is also stacked with athletes who can make plays (Gio actually scares me more than AJ). So what do you do if you're Hue Jackson? Get the ball out of Lolton's hands and into those of your playmakers. It seemed we saw a lot more screens, quick slants, draws and even read option plays than the past Bengals gone by, and Dalton had an impressively quick release today (yesterday. Whatever).

 

There were plenty of times where we pushed the pocket and got penetration, only for him to fire out a two-yard pass to an open receiver before the pass rush could get to him. You persist with that too much, and I hope you enjoy watching Gresham/AJ/Sanu/Gio running for constant first downs - because that's what was happening in the first half.

 

It was the first time the league saw this new-look Bengal offence, and I think we did an alright job of adjusting at the half. The blitzing seemed a lot quieter as an expense for being able to swarm the LOS whenever those quick passes came off. There were really only three plays that came off for them in the second half (Gio getting that 40-yard gain, AJ finding a soft spot for a 22-yard reception and THAT TD play). That isn't too bad in this fan's opinion.

 

I get what you guys are saying about the pass rush and it would have been nice to see some more pressure from the DL, but at the same time I think we had to dial it back to some extent to prevent the Bengals from ripping off big gains on every other play (like they did in the first half). I'm not giving them a pass by any stretch, but I think we should wait a few more weeks before beginning the crucifixions of defenders along the Ravens Walk.

[Inqui]

And on the WR drops, some of them seemed like stupid mental mistakes that happen every week but I felt timing was a big factor in some of them too. That one where Pitta just stood there and Joe threw ahead of him was an easy example, but I thought at least one Daniels drop and Smith Sr drop (possibly more) came from the ball arriving a second or two earlier than they expected.

 

Forgiveable? Not really. But during the next few weeks these things should get ironed out in a big way. If we're still all over the place in Indianapolis then we have a problem: quote me on that. And as someone else brought up like 10 pages ago, a lot of those drops negated first downs or just led to silly mistakes shortly afterwards. Once Joe and the receivers start to better mesh with each other and the new playbook, things should run a lot smoother.

 

My main concern/problem/grievance about the offence is actually that I don't think we'll be taking enough big shots now. I know a lot of us wanted to see a scheme based on what we have now, but still having the odd 50-yard bomb planned just to keep defences honest. But given the passes we kept making even as time was expiring, I think we'll be methodical and high-percentage pretty much all the way. Raises some questions of tempo if we fall behind and of making big plays, but we'll see how they go.

 

Forsett's great because he already knows the system so he gives the running game a smooth transition from the Coryell. I have no idea if he'll be our feature back come Week 17, but I think it depends on how Pierce, Rice and Taliaferro adapt to the playbook. I think Taliaferro could be a great fit in this system and I'm excited about what he has to offer down the line. And like others have said, Juice is our Swiss Army back: gotta use him when you find yourself in the wilderness. Disappointing he wasn't a bigger part of things today.

[I AM LEGEND]

I also have to give some blame to Torrey. I love him as a professional. But too many of these games. The blueprint has been out on him for a while...get physical with him at the snap. Now hes had his share of big plays..but too many no shows..we cant give him big money. Pay him as a number 2.

[berad]

Let's start with everyone's favorite whipping boy: Joe Flacco.

 

He, much like the offense, sputtered during the first half UNTIL we got to our two minute offense and we started moving the ball through the air. Then came the worst play I've ever seen Flacco do. 8 seconds left with 1 TO, time enough to try a quick shot for the TD and the bring out Tucker if that doesn't work. Flacco loses track of time, pats the ball, and wastes all 8 seconds trying to elude players before taking a sack. Awful, he knew he blew it as he was cursing to himself trotting off the field and took blame/responsibility afterwards. From there, the offense and Flacco started playing much better. A lot of spread formations and quick passes. He was baited into the INT, took too long and let the LB get set in his zone so he could drive to the pass, but the TD was beautiful. Evaded Bengals rushers before drawing the DBs up and then letting the pass fly. Was under pressure a lot and the final sack of the game gave me flashbacks to the 2013 OL...

 

Running game was on and off. Pierce made a few nice plays but then fumbled the ball and was rightfully benched. That's sloppy and we can't afford the turnovers, frankly, especially when the other options like Forsett can produce just as well. I like Bernard, he's extremely talented, but hold onto the ball.

 

Receivers... it's becoming a trend, "hit or miss". Numerous drops, which Steve Smith said after the game were self-inflicted wounds, but came up with some good grabs, too. Torrey dropped a nice pass down the Bengals sideline that would have been a big gain, maybe a TD. Jacoby had one go through his hands that would have definitely been a TD. Steve Smith dropped a couple deep passes that would have had a big impact, too. Daniels let some off his hands, as well. They made some great plays, too, but missed opportunities always loom large in losses.

 

OL, hit or miss. Monroe got his name called for a few penalties and was beaten a few more times. Someone didn't make the right adjustments on the final sack and Flacco was down before he looked up. Flacco was under duress and sacked 3 times, which is just about on pace as last season.

 

DL/pass rush: who? Seriously, at times Bengals seemed to run at will. They stiffened as the game went on but, on the other side, the pass rush never showed up. Dalton had a clean pocket and plenty of time. The only time our defenders touched the QB was when he went on a designed run. Suggs had a nice play stopping Gio Bernard for a loss but there was not much play-making. I don't know who blocked the kick, whether it was Ngata or Canty but that was an excellent play, too.

 

LBs: Mostly invisible, which is good and bad. Mosley had a nice play in coverage. Don't know if he made contact with the ball but he distracted the RB enough to make a crucial drop on a 3rd down.

 

DBs: Jimmy Smith was excellent, no notable plays to his side from what I recall. However, this came at the cost of Chykie Brown who was the "number 2" most of the game and played outside with Smith while Asa Jackson subbed in during nickel packages. Brown was picked on repeatedly, got beat almost every time, and (the trifecta) missed his tackles. The biggest play was, of course, AJ Green burning him deep but Brown had been sucking to and through that point of the game... awful. Safeties were around, Elam had a couple of nice hits but Stewart missed the tackle on Green during the GW catch.

 

Sloppy game. Ravens were lucky the margin wasn't bigger, they were running their Pees-patented "bend but don't break" defense. They showed a stat during the game - 7 third down stops - as their kicker was lining up for his 6th attempt, what does that tell you. Offense committed two turnovers, defense forced none, so we lost that important battle too.

 

Just my jumbled two cents.

[Drew P]

Trying to figure out how the Ravens gave up on the 2013 draft class when they have four starters in there and a potential fifth as soon as next year. That's the type of draft class you dream of

 

Second rounder Brown watching on the sidelines in his sweats. 4th rounder Simon working at Walmart with jensen and mellette bagging the groceries for him. Basically 4 out of 10 picks playing and im not sure what juice is in for if they just line him up to look pretty.

[BmoreBird22]

That's completely unfounded, the offer sheet he took from SD was beyond modest.. 3M guaranteed for a corner of his caliber is minuscule money when you look at what guys like Talib got. Talib is making like 9M a year, we had the cap room to not just match SD's but up their offer. Flowers at 1/3 of of what Talib went for yearly is an absolute steal, there was wiggle room to take care of Flowers even better than SD did if we were that serious about signing him.

 

Your acting like SD paid equal to or more than market value on him and that's just not true, if anything they got him on a discount. As if we couldn't match or up that money on a premium corner with our allotted cap space if we so chose to. I can tell 100% it didn't have to do with us not being able to match his financials from SD, that's flat out wrong.

 

Flowers possibly not liking the role/fit has some legitimacy, us not being able to take care of him financially , no.

Do you know how much cap room the Ravens have now? $3.5 million, and that's only because of he Webb restructure. Do you know how much Flowers would take up? $3 million. Now way the Ravens would use all their cap and go into the season without emergency funds. So, no, the financial value doesn't exactly add up.

And Talib got more money because he played far better in 2013 and played really well for New England.

The money doesn't work out and he's taking the third corner role after being the number one for just about all of his career. Try to look at this from an objective point of view, not from the point of view of someone who's salty that the Ravens didn't get Flowers

[BmoreBird22]

Second rounder Brown watching on the sidelines in his sweats. 4th rounder Simon working at Walmart with jensen and mellette bagging the groceries for him. Basically 4 out of 10 picks playing and im not sure what juice is in for if they just line him up to look pretty.

You aim to get three starters from every draft class. The Ravens got four in two years. That's really good

[BmoreBird22]

Um not really. 

 

INT was in the third. 

 

The fumble, absolute fact. Not much to do there really.

 

If we're going to talk ST though - they had one bad punt - how many times did they force the offense to begin within their own 20?

 

Like I said - let's use the judgmental sticks evenly.

If you're talking about the Bengals starting within their own 20, during the first half, just once, and it was the only time they punted

[Edgar]

sorry if all of what i'm venting about has already been written about.

1) Why on 3rd and 11, bengals first drive, did the little screen leave us with five upfield as if there was no anticipation of the screen? i have to believe that it wasn't just me who said, "watch the screen'" to his Tv set pre-snap.

2)Jacoby Jones was awful.

3)Why did we empty the backfield on 3rd and 1(2nd quarter)? - Even if we aren't going to be commited to the run in any way, shouldn't we at least pretend we might be?

4) Is our defensive pre-snap look generally a straight forward read? Even when we blitz it is not well disguised.

5) Pierce, and i've been holding off on this a while because he was tremendous down the stretch during our run......is not good

he couldn't be more indecisive, he pitter pats, he is an injury prone player. Not one but two people who were on the sidelines last year heard him on multiple occasions after taking a hit saying. "don't give me the ball any more...I'm hurt....take me out". I'm not saying the guy should play to the point of agony but... he should be spilling his guts for this team.

5) no pressure. this is a major major concern. have got to get to ruthlesspervert on thursday.

 

too much to write about uggg

[Gordo52]

It's unbelievable man! Even, when the man himself (Flacco) says that he made the worst play ever! Smh! I don't hate Flacco; I just don't trust him or have any confidence in the cat man! None! Sure, his receivers failed him a lot today but he was horrible on his own at times in that game as well!

@Mili

That has to be an over reaction in the heat of the moment.

[Drew P]

Never start a drive passing it doesnt work it never has and never will. If they cant rush the passer at least get in the lane and get some hands up...Flacco is a giant and they batted 2 or 3 of his passes yet Dalton had clean lanes all day. If they benched Pierce then bench the WR's that cant catch the football they have a billion WR's on the roster im hopeful at least one is NFL caliber.

[Sami84]

I had 2 concerns going into this season and it wasnt the offense

 

it was the pass rush with past there prime worn out veterens

 

and a mediocre secondary

 

cant go far without one of those 2 being elite

[Florida Ravens Fan]

Jacoby Jones need to be replaced he stunk as Wr and KR. Let Aiken take all his WR snaps. Put Camp in for KR.

[BmoreBird22]

Did you see the 49ers game & how Q played......

He's probably one of the best opening day receivers ever, and he played against Dallas's D....

[Florida Ravens Fan]

I had 2 concerns going into this season and it wasnt the offense

 

it was the pass rush with past there prime worn out veterens

 

and a mediocre secondary

 

cant go far without one of those 2 being elite

Agree, no pressure no sacks, whats up with Sizzle and dumerville? I think Mcphee needs to see more snaps.

[Chros13]

On a funnier side note - Flacco's crotch took out Burfict.

 

Ok, you can now return to your regular hate session.

[SecretAgentMan]

That has to be an over reaction in the heat of the moment.

I never meant to be so bad to you .

Has to be... He's a SB winner for gods sake...

What's next, will someone say "that doesn't matter?"

[BSHU_Miami]

I never meant to be so bad to you .

Has to be... He's a SB winner for gods sake...

What's next, will someone say "that doesn't matter?"

I've seen it said

[berad]

On a funnier side note - Flacco's crotch took out Burfict.

 

Ok, you can now return to your regular hate session.

 

LOL that's hilarious. Burfict is such a scrub and punk. Was getting into minor incidents with Yanda and Smith - the two people on offense you don't want to mess with - and then as he was escorted off the field he was getting into it with the fans and being booed by large portions of the crowd. Don't know what he did but he was gesturing something.

[sliceanddic3]

I could have asked them to force an actual punt, pressure the QB, get a sack, get a turnover. Any number of things that are their job that they didn't do. Think that might have changed field position? Perhaps the offense wouldn't have had to start inside their 20 then if the defense actually forced more than one punt?

Just a thought.

At one point during the first half, I believe, a graphic came up and showed that the Bengals ran 36 plays while the Ravens had a total of 36 yards. If our offense maybe had gotten more than 1 first down, then you could put some of the blame on them. Instead of it being waaaay out of reach by the time the offense started playing, they forced them to 5 field goals. You cant expect a defense to dominate if theyre on the field the whole game.

[blueridge]

LOL that's hilarious. Burfict is such a scrub and punk. Was getting into minor incidents with Yanda and Smith - the two people on offense you don't want to mess with - and then as he was escorted off the field he was getting into it with the fans and being booed by large portions of the crowd. Don't know what he did but he was gesturing something.

I wouldn't mind having one or two similar scrubs and punks.

[wayne]

I could have asked them to force an actual punt, pressure the QB, get a sack, get a turnover. Any number of things that are their job that they didn't do. Think that might have changed field position? Perhaps the offense wouldn't have had to start inside their 20 then if the defense actually forced more than one punt? 

 

Just a thought.

Or maybe it's more fair to ask the offense to put points on the board. We didn't score until like the 3rd or 4th quarter and at one point all the defense gave up was 5 field goals..... Sorry but drilling the defense before drilling the offense is very absurd. Same ol Ravens..... good defense..... average to mediocre offense.

[Static]

Were so spoiled as far as defense goes. If we give up more than 20points than it was a bad showing lol.

Defense got no pressure on a top 5 O-line. Otherwise played great.