The Week One optimism thread:

[beanfigger]

Well, at least we know that, if need be, Joe can keep a scramble alive for more than 8 seconds...

[cwfRaven]

Another positive... Patsies lost.

[RavensDE]

Flacco

After looking terrible and appearing to miss throws in combination with drops Joe made a good showing. The second half was a very productive offense and Joe was making great throws. The Smith Sr. TD play was two vets making a play after the play broke down. That's an x-factor that could make us deadly.

The Defense

While I prefer an aggressive hard hitting, blitzing, gambling defense, Pees is a bend don't break, play fundamental ball, know your enemy, adaptable defense. Despite a terrible offense that gave the ball back quickly in the first half the defense held a potent offense to field goals and gave us a chance to win. We didn't win but we as individual units and a holistic defense showed promise as a group we can win with. The corner problem is a serious issue, it cost us the game as much as anything else and Chykie is killing us. He has all the ability but his "awareness" is so low. When he makes the play I feel like he doesn't even know it. For what he is, he's giving his all but it remains our achilles-heel in a relatively strong defense.

Young Talent

Elam, B.Williams, and Mosley looked like quality starters who may become elite. Wagner was pretty solid throughout but I'm not fooling myself about him becoming an all star. Still they all look ready for the positions they're playing and getting better.

Steve Smith Sr.

#1 - I see chemistry with him and Flacco. Flacco got him the ball. I'm more than a little agitated about his first half drops because like so many things it may have cost us the game but given he's a future HOF and the fact that he still made a play to get us back in the game I'm very happy and optimistic about Steve Smith. If he caught all the balls he got his hands on he'd have had a monster day. It's incredible. He may be our best WR. We may have paid for a HOF has-been with something in the tank and got the actual Steve Smith. I mean this could be on the level of signing Rod Woodson as far as Ozzie moves go.

Players Getting Hurt Tackling Flacco

Burfict getting a concussion from going face first into Flacco's crotch is just gold. How does that happen? Flacco got hit hard and I was worried it'd affect his game, but no, their tackling machine is broken.

The second hit was crazy. I was mad at Joe for taking the hit and the guy just layed the wood on him but Joe pops up and the other guy looks like he tried to tackle Ray Lewis' statue.

[beasy2487]

Flacco

After looking terrible and appearing to miss throws in combination with drops Joe made a good showing. The second half was a very productive offense and Joe was making great throws. The Smith Sr. TD play was two vets making a play after the play broke down. That's an x-factor that could make us deadly.

The Defense

While I prefer an aggressive hard hitting, blitzing, gambling defense, Pees is a bend don't break, play fundamental ball, know your enemy, adaptable defense. Despite a terrible offense that gave the ball back quickly in the first half the defense held a potent offense to field goals and gave us a chance to win. We didn't win but we as individual units and a holistic defense showed promise as a group we can win with. The corner problem is a serious issue, it cost us the game as much as anything else and Chykie is killing us. He has all the ability but his "awareness" is so low. When he makes the play I feel like he doesn't even know it. For what he is, he's giving his all but it remains our achilles-heel in a relatively strong defense.

Young Talent

Elam, B.Williams, and Mosley looked like quality starters who may become elite. Wagner was pretty solid throughout but I'm not fooling myself about him becoming an all star. Still they all look ready for the positions they're playing and getting better.

Steve Smith Sr.

#1 - I see chemistry with him and Flacco. Flacco got him the ball. I'm more than a little agitated about his first half drops because like so many things it may have cost us the game but given he's a future HOF and the fact that he still made a play to get us back in the game I'm very happy and optimistic about Steve Smith. If he caught all the balls he got his hands on he'd have had a monster day. It's incredible. He may be our best WR. We may have paid for a HOF has-been with something in the tank and got the actual Steve Smith. I mean this could be on the level of signing Rod Woodson as far as Ozzie moves go.

Players Getting Hurt Tackling Flacco

Burfict getting a concussion from going face first into Flacco's crotch is just gold. How does that happen? Flacco got hit hard and I was worried it'd affect his game, but no, their tackling machine is broken.

The second hit was crazy. I was mad at Joe for taking the hit and the guy just layed the wood on him but Joe pops up and the other guy looks like he tried to tackle Ray Lewis' statue.

Honorable mention to Asa Jackson. First NFL game and he played really solid ball. He got beat by a great playcall but otherwise great game.

[frozen joe flacco fan]

There were many positives to take away from today's game but only one that counts.  We dug ourselves into a huge hole in the first half and the offensive unit managed to overcome the deficit against a very good defensive squad. That's a positive. In spite of a very lackluster performance by the offense and an abysmal performance by the defense in the 1st half, we could have won the game if we only had a legitimate cornerback defending against A.J. Green with 4 minutes and 48 seconds to go in the game. Chykie Brown will never be that shutdown corner. Talk is cheap but it takes real money to buy cars, Chykie! The other positive is that this should serve as a wake-up call to all 53 players and the coaches that we are not as good as we thought coming off a 4-0 pre-season.  The new players and coaches especially should realize they are no longer in Kansas in the AFC North. I think overconfidence was our biggest enemy today. We coulda, shoulda and woulda won if certain key players had played like Ravens in the first half. Welcome to the AFC North, fellows! Our new players and coaches will experience for the first time on Thursday night what a real rivalry is. Buckle up your chin-straps! It should be a hum-dinger. The chemistry on the team will solidify once they get a win under their belts. No boos please! Its almost as unbecoming as the number of Bungles fans who were in our house today.  

[ravensdfan]

There were many positives to take away from today's game but only one that counts.  We dug ourselves into a huge hole in the first half and the offensive unit managed to overcome the deficit against a very good defensive squad. That's a positive. In spite of a very lackluster performance by the offense and an abysmal performance by the defense in the 1st half, we could have won the game if we only had a legitimate cornerback defending against A.J. Green with 4 minutes and 48 seconds to go in the game. Chykie Brown will never be that shutdown corner. Talk is cheap but it takes real money to buy cars, Chykie! The other positive is that this should serve as a wake-up call to all 53 players and the coaches that we are not as good as we thought coming off a 4-0 pre-season.  The new players and coaches especially should realize they are no longer in Kansas in the AFC North. I think overconfidence was our biggest enemy today. We coulda, shoulda and woulda won if certain key players had played like Ravens in the first half. Welcome to the AFC North, fellows! Our new players and coaches will experience for the first time on Thursday night what a real rivalry is. Buckle up your chin-straps! It should be a hum-dinger. The chemistry on the team will solidify once they get a win under their belts. No boos please! Its almost as unbecoming as the number of Bungles fans who were in our house today.  

 

I just can't blame Chykie. 

 

1. Pees should have never had him in that position. Bad coaching.

2. The Safety was out of position. But again, Stewart & Chykie on AJ Green? Does Pees have a clue?

[KnowNoLimits]

Didn't get to watch the game today, was busy watching the Cowboys get spanked live in action. I've seen a couple of comments about Justin Forsett looking like Ray Rice.... Knew it knew it knew it. We have some decent talent in the backfield.

[Gemini68]

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?

 

Totally agree with your points and with them being stated and the fact that each player on the field shares one common factor which is that they are driven to be the best by their own selves and nothing we could do or say could put anymore pressure on them to perform better as they will always strive to be better as it is their nature. Sure it was a very bad week 1 but we know and they know we will be a much better team as the year goes on. We are too talented not to. I call that first half a "Fluke" as it does not represent the team i know we have in our great city.

[RavensDE]

Honorable mention to Asa Jackson. First NFL game and he played really solid ball. He got beat by a great playcall but otherwise great game.

True. True.