The Week One optimism thread:

[The Raven]

We played a crap first half, but the offense picked it up in the second half. That's a huge sign of light for the rest of the season. There is talent on this team. We're gonna have growing pains. But we do have undeniable talent. Flacco went from being 3-15 for 18 yards to 35/62 for 345 yards. Ridiculous! Forsett lit it up. Oline balled out and punched the Bengals in the mouth.

 

Here are some positives:

 

Justin Forsett played a great game, and I'm rooting for him to start the rest of the way unless Pierce shows a serious turnaround. 

 

Wagner locked it down, for the most part, at RT. That second last sack was on him, but was arguably a coverage sack. Last sack was an overload blitz that he couldn't have stopped. He's already a clear improvement over Oher.

 

Chykie Brown played great, other than being beaten by one of the best wide outs in the game. He did cost us the game, but overall, I'm happy with his play.

 

Matt "Cleats" Elam is starting to look like the player we thought he was. He laid some wood today.

 

Mosley was just dominant. He looked great from start to finish.

 

Kamar Aiken could be a serious weapon for us as a chain mover. Expect him to crack the starting lineup some point this season or next. Dude is good.

 

Those are my positive takeaways. What are yours?

[SecretAgentMan]

I love two TE sets. That's all...

[Sir Spooky]

Kubiak was calling the right plays, the offense just needs to execute -__-

[The Raven]

 

It's obvious to me that you don't know what the hell a "coverage sack" or an "overload blitz" are. Go learn something please.

 

Did you see, on the coverage sack, that nobody was open? Hmm....

[darklight1216]

When you're at the bottom the only place to go is up.

[H8R]

It's obvious to me that you don't know what the hell a "coverage sack" or an "overload blitz" are. Go learn something please.

Did you see, on the coverage sack, that nobody was open? Hmm....

The last sack was not a coverage sack...

[ittwasntme]

tbh the only thing i would have done differently is put jimmy on aj once we were ahead. other than that we played way better than where we were at last year

[The Raven]

The last sack was not a coverage sack...

 

I didn't say it was at any point. I said that the very last sack was an overload blitz that Wagner couldn't have stopped. Sorry for any confusion. The sack before that was arguably coverage.

[Inqui]

I think back to last season, where Ed Brickson and Dallas Clark had most of their drops in the early stages of the season. Granted neither became Larry Fitzgerald as things wore on, but they got better than they were given credit for imo. To me that was a huge sign that their lack of preseason action was a huge issue, and they were struggling to get on the same page as Joe for a while.

 

It really wouldn't surprise me to see something similar happen as the season wears on. The receivers get used to what Joe expects them to do and vice versa. That miscue with Pitta made the whole thing look more like growing pains than anything systemic. Not to excuse the drops (some were pretty dismal), but I'd expect them to get ironed out over the next three or four weeks.

 

The OL looked really good, aside from a few matchup issues. I saw Monroe get beaten a couple of times and there were some blips with blitz pickups, especially up the middle, but that pocket wasn't unlike what we saw during the Superb Owl run. If they can stay healthy, that unit will only get better as it develops more chemistry.

 

And hey, we finally have the creativity we wanted. No more predictable offences that just sit through bad spells.

 

On defence, I don't know what to think but I'll stick with the positives. The early stuff was largely us being the crash test dummies for a new offensive scheme imo - not unlike the read option being used by guys like Kap and Wilson. It'll have some successes, but given time people will catch up with what was going on. They adapted well during the game and should only get better from here.

 

CJ, aside from looking pretty hopelessly lost on a blitz that led to a first down in the first quarter, looks like a gun for us. He was near the ball a lot and if he stays healthy he'll be a lot of fun to watch. I think I've decided on the jersey I want.

[H8R]

I didn't say it was at any point. I said that the very last sack was an overload blitz that Wagner couldn't have stopped. Sorry for any confusion. The sack before that was arguably coverage.

Ok, I see what you're saying

[Static]

On the bright side. We might be able to get Todd Gurley in the draft.

[The Raven]

Here's another positive: The defense, other than the defensive line, was pretty physical today, and they hit hard. Haven't seen this D hit so hard since the Pagano days. 

[PolishRifle]

Positives:

We found our RB (PS.: It's not Pierce)

The passing game started to click in the second half (two TE sets worked great)

Bend but don't break D looked OKAY (hey, it's something)

However:

Joe and his receiver do need to get on the same page

Flacco still holds on to the ball too long sometimes

Our WR need catching practice

I still would like to have more balance to the offense (I understand why Kubiak went pass happy, though. since the running game stunk for a looooooooong time)

[Moderator 3]

That's probably the best defense we'll see this year.

[goldenboldin]

Bernard Peirce played awful and Forsett is looking like the starting back for week 2 against PITT. With that said, his benching should've gone around the rest of the team... Flacco awful move end of first half, Steve Smith redeemed himself but receiving core couldn't catch.. and what's up with Chykie Brown lining up with AJ Green? Even if that was the set-up, him and Jimmy should've switched seeing Green run up on that side after the huddle. Poor game.. different OC coordinator, but same old Ravens.

 

Inconsistent.

[PolishRifle]

 Flacco went from being 3-15 for 18 yards to 35/62 for 345 yards. Ridiculous! Forsett lit it up. 

 

I think these two things, more than anything, show that we are still trying to figure out where this offense is going. I wish we would've managed to do that in pre-season, but I felt better about our O in the second half against a really good Bengals D (even without Burfict), especially after we "discovered" Forsett.

[Inqui]

That's probably the best defense we'll see this year.

Not actually a bad point, aside from "healthy Bengals we'll face later in the year" but that doesn't really count because I'd be willing to bet money the offence will be better clicking by then.

[PolishRifle]

That's probably the best defense we'll see this year.

Browns, Panthers, Texans and Titans will be pretty good also.

[MissK528]

I had Pittsburgh/Cleveland here, so I didn't get to see our guys play, but I'm 97% certain none of our returners kicked a punter in the face... just sayin'...

[Inqui]

* Joe Flacco is the toughest player in the entire NFL and when he gets into rhythm, he's unstoppable. Unfortunately for the latter, that happens too few little times.

* The offensive line is much improved from the joke that was the 2013 Baltimore Ravens o-line. Yet, they still need some fine-tuning.

* Justin Forsett is perfect for this offense, as he is a veteran of Kubiak's system.

* Dennis Pitta's presence is a major boost for this offense. Oh, and having a second tight end (Owen Daniels) who can actually catch AND hold-onto the football is a plus.

* Steve Smith Sr., despite a rough start, is the only non-1-dimensional WR the Ravens have.

* Haloti Ngata looked strong.

* C.J. Mosley is going to be star.

* In Jimmy Smith I trust!

Just to pile onto the optimism, that'll happen a lot more under Kubiak's scheme. Those short routes and the potential in the running game were great for Joe in the second half. We can actually scheme for building a rhythm, rather than keep lobbing it 60 yards and hope one of them sticks.

[Raving_Heathen]

At his current pace, Flacco should throw for 5520 yards this year.

[Cville-Raven]

-"Cleats" played well and did his job

-Jimmy Smith locked it down

-Mosely looks to potentially be a very productive player even as rookie

-Forsett looked good when a hole was open 

[The Mom Gene]

-"Cleats" played well and did his job

-Jimmy Smith locked it down

-Mosely looks to potentially be a very productive player even as rookie

-Forsett looked good when a hole was open 

I loved Mosley today

[The Mom Gene]

I had Pittsburgh/Cleveland here, so I didn't get to see our guys play, but I'm 97% certain none of our returners kicked a punter in the face... just sayin'...

That was disgusting... he'll be fined, or at least better be.

[The Mom Gene]

Also, it might be a good thing, now, that the Ravens kept Deonte Thompson on their roster. I have no clue what was up with Jacoby Jones, today.

Our receivers all had a bad day today..  He wasn't the worst of them

[hn68wb4]

Also, it might be a good thing, now, that the Ravens kept Deonte Thompson on their roster. I have no clue what was up with Jacoby Jones, today.

i don't quite know what you mean by that, Jacoby played about as well as always, thats the nature of being a return man, sometimes theres just nothing there but he did have a couple nice returns and gave us good field position. On offense he's never been much more than a deep threat that could maybe catch a few over the deep middle because CBs were playing deep on him, today he never really went deep so nobody played back on him. 2 catches for 20 yards is a fine day for him especially since he's asked to do less on offense with all the pieces we have, i mean the ball was spread out very nicely today, how many guys caught a ball today? like 10, but for some reason Marlon Brown was non existent

[Bruce_Almty]

Reasonable people didn't pick the Ravens to go undefeated; that's something.

No known injuries; that's something.

First game jitters are over with; that's something.

Only 4 days to wait for the next game.

[redlobster]

That was disgusting... he'll be fined, or at least better be.

In honesty I think he should be suspended 1 game, it blatent and looked intentional.

[The Mom Gene]

No; but, he was very sloppy returning the football, as well. He just looked "off" by a lot. It seemed like he was missing that extra gear that made him fast. Oh, and when was the last time he muffed a return? Was it when he was Texan during that playoff game in Baltimore?

Yes, it looked just like that... 

[goldenboldin]

maybe we need "The Week One and Going Forward Criticism Thread" message board