Week 3 - Baltimore Ravens (1-1) at Cleveland Browns (1-1)

[chunkywill25]

elam was awful today, but he shouldn't be there anyway.. he's a SS, not a FS. he can play it in a pinch but not throughout the game. can't wait until Hill is back and then we'll see

[cobrajet]

Steve Smith, Lorenzo, and Juice deserve game balls!

[darklight1216]

To be fair to Torrey, he almost had a TD catch, but Gilbert grabbed his facemask and he could've had another, but Joe threw late. I'm a bit bothered by the OL. They are a bit up and down. They had some really good stretches with the run blocking, but looked awful in pass protection some times.

 

Oh, and Jacoby should be benched for Aiken.

I hate to be such a downer, but from what we've seen so far, there's probably a good chance that he would have dropped that ball if he'd had the chance.

 

I said this earlier, but the o-line is leaps and bounds ahead of last season, but they still leave a lot to be desired. They only rarely punch it in at the goal line and they aren't very good on third/fourth down either.

 

Edit: I mean on short yardage runs in those situations.

[jimmypowder]

Cleveland got outcoached !

[ravensdfan]

Taliaferro is a monster!  That kid has to be in the rotation!'

 

@Mili

 

Yeah he and Forsett got it done. Can't wait to see them put Fitz in too. Want to see how he looks against a First Team defense.

 

I think Pierce might have lost his starting gig.

[sflegend89]

We got bailed out by the blocked FG and Cundiff choke job. I'm excited we were able to steal it at the end but the we can't get used to teams basically trying to giving us the game like only the Browns can. Good teams will not make those comedy of errors against us

[cobrajet]

That blocked FG by Asa was awesome!!!!!!

[Alaska Alaska!]

Only players that played well: Joe, Steve smith, Jimmy smith, Juice.

You're forgetting Taliaferro and Forsett

[Cville-Raven]

That blocked FG by Asa was awesome!!!!!!

Second blocked FG we've had this season which is pretty amazing

[PolishRifle]

I hate to be such a downer, but from what we've seen so far, there's probably a good chance that he would have dropped that ball if he'd had the chance.

 

I said this earlier, but the o-line is leaps and bounds ahead of last season, but they still leave a lot to be desired. They only rarely punch it in at the goal line and they aren't very good on third/fourth down either.

 

That's really faint praise. Wet tissue paper would be better than last years OL.

[Ravenslifer]

Winning is the most important stat lol, people do get that twisted. 400 yards is great but who cares when you lose right?

 

Yep - the majority of QBs in this league can put up 400+ yards and 3 TDs routinely if they play the bad passing defenses (or like Joe said, they're just behind and half to pass big time to make up ground) e.g. the NFC south passing Ds, which are generally bad year in and year out.  But when you're going up against a team like Cleveland, with it's secondary and pass rush and in that stadium, and without your best receiving weapon, to come out there with a win like that is super impressive.

[4everraven]

No Raven receiver other than Smith Sr would have caught that pass. He's clutch! Our others, not much! What a win! Now let's get serious about short yardage situations. No excuse for our years of ineptness at it.

[RavensFan34950]

To be fair to Elam, Pees keeps playing him deep. Not his strength.

That is as true as it gets and I don't know why he does that. He needs to adjust BIG TIME next week.

[Inqui]

elam was awful today, but he shouldn't be there anyway.. he's a SS, not a FS. he can play it in a pinch but not throughout the game. can't wait until Hill is back and then we'll see

I agree. Let's let him play out the rest of the season at least before calling him a bust. It's only his third game starting in his natural spot.

[beanfigger]

So our offense starts hot and keeps us in it early, and then our defense steps up from subpar play to get it done at the end? What kind of bizzaro world is this?

[BmoreBird22]

I agree. Let's let him play out the rest of the season at least before calling him a bust. It's only his third game starting in his natural spot.

Semi-natural. He's still not being asked to play in the box or at the LOS all that much. He's being asked to cover as a corner and play deep zones quite a bit.

[darklight1216]

We got bailed out by the blocked FG and Cundiff choke job. I'm excited we were able to steal it at the end but the we can't get used to teams basically trying to giving us the game like only the Browns can. Good teams will not make those comedy of errors against us

The Cincinnati Bengals agree with this post.

[Purple City Bird Gang]

We can run out the clock and kick the fg to win. Stupid to risk going for 7

Indeed 

[jimmypowder]

Man, I tried to get in Elam's corner but I can't do it! Dude is horrible!

@Mili

The play where he doesn't even touch the receiver down . Wow what's up with that . Does he think he's down by NO contact .

That was one of the worst plays I've seen by a safety in two decades .

Not kidding !!

[darklight1216]

Regardless of whether Elam is being asked to do too much, he should still know that he needs to touch a guy in order to down him.

 

I have literally seen offensive players perform better during interceptions and fumbles.

[jimmypowder]

Regardless of whether Elam is being asked to do too much, he should still know that he needs to touch a guy in order to down him.

I have literally seen offensive players perform better during interceptions and fumbles.

What was Elam on the town till 4 am ala Chris McAlister ??? Thats how he played .

[Cillmatic]

We need to make a trade immediately. After Pitta left we only had one receiver. Torrey Smith is officially ineffective. Kyle had better stats than Torrey. We can't win games with only one receiver.

[Inqui]

No Raven receiver other than Smith Sr would have caught that pass. He's clutch! Our others, not much! What a win! Now let's get serious about short yardage situations. No excuse for our years of ineptness at it.

Yeah, say what you want about stats, but having a guy that can be counted on in the clutch AND when things aren't going too well is just priceless.

[cobrajet]

I know there is a lot to address after this game because there was a lot of missed tackles and defensive concerns and Joe was not as accurate as I would have liked but is any one else concerned about Marlon Brown over the last three games? He is not getting open and I am a little concerned. 

[Inqui]

Semi-natural. He's still not being asked to play in the box or at the LOS all that much. He's being asked to cover as a corner and play deep zones quite a bit.

I can agree with that - point is that he needs to be used more efficiently for a while before being labelled a bust as some are doing here.

[asham27]

Looks like the Ravens should be sending Cundiff a fruit basket this Christmas

[darklight1216]

I know there is a lot to address after this game because there was a lot of missed tackles and defensive concerns and Joe was not as accurate as I would have liked but is any one else concerned about Marlon Brown over the last three games? He is not getting open and I am a little concerned. 

I am concerned about every receiver who is not named Steve Smith. And sometimes I'm a little worried about him too...

[cobrajet]

What was Elam on the town till 4 am ala Chris McAlister ??? Thats how he played .

He really struggled today that is for sure.

[redrum52]

don't even defense has been crap all day. they have 2 decent series (mostly cleveland mistakes) and now you want to blame flacco? nope.

The defense held up when it needed to didnt it?  Wasn't that your complaint last year?  Well they were "clutch" this game. Never said it was all on Flacco, but he's missed wide open guys in two games for TDs.  Not a good look in a offense designed to make his reads EASY.  I've accepted he'll never be that guy, all I ask is for him is to make smart decisions and stop locking onto guys.

[darklight1216]

Looks like the Ravens should be sending Cundiff a fruit basket this Christmas

I don't know. I think it's more like "now we're almost even."