Week 9 - Baltimore Ravens (5-3) at Pittsburgh Steelers (5-3)

[Alaska Alaska!]

Twice in a 13 year span is a fluke not working well.

 

We don't have that type of defense anymore. That is the ONLY time ground & pound works. With a dominating, suffocating defense. We are on another planet from that place right now.

That's why I never mind with Ozzie drafts for Def.  If we can just get back to that level of play on that side of the ball, we'll be straight.  

[Militant X 1]

The days of ground & pound are done unless you want to be an 8-8 team every year. The rules are made for passing. Just the way it is right now. And when your defense isn't getting stops - you don't have time to run the ball down their throats. You have to score.

 

I disagree with this!  While the rules have been changed for a more "passing" league; the Ravens still struggle with passing!  It appears that what most say about the more Flacco throws the ball results in a loss for the Ravens opposed to running the ball seems to be true.

 

Ground and pound does still work-- if you're good enough to sustain drives and convert third downs.

 

Agreed!

 

@Mili

[hn68wb4]

Twice in a 13 year span is a fluke not working well.

 

We don't have that type of defense anymore. That is the ONLY time ground & pound works. With a dominating, suffocating defense. We are on another planet from that place right now.

i just gotta say i completely disagree

just look over at the Cowboys (before the Romo injury), their offense is exactly what im talking about. They just asked Romo to complete a few passes here and there, some easy quick passes just to keep defenses on their toes and they ran the heck out of Murray. That type of offense covers up a lot of defensive flaws, that Cowboys D looked to be worst in a long long time but because their offense drained so much time it covered up a lot of those problems. Thats what im talking about, now obviously we don't have a Demarco Murray right now, but thats the offense im referring to, an offense based on running the ball, which is the Ravens way. Alaska already mentioned the Seahawks so i won't plunge into them...

[hn68wb4]

I disagree with this!  While the rules have been changed for a more "passing" league; the Ravens still struggle with passing!  It appears that what most say about the more Flacco throws the ball results in a loss for the Ravens opposed to running the ball seems to be true.

And just looking at history we can see that Ozzy can draft just about anything except for WRs, just literally no luck in that department, he's just not a passing offense type of drafter. We are meant to be a ground and pound team that drains clock to hide our flaws, thats just what we do, we've been trying to switch to a pass first offense for years now and it just simply isn't working

[Alaska Alaska!]

And just looking at history we can see that Ozzy can draft just about anything except for WRs, just literally no luck in that department, he's just not a passing offense type of drafter. We are meant to be a ground and pound team that drains clock to hide our flaws, thats just what we do, we've been trying to switch to a pass first offense for years now and it just simply isn't working

He's good at drafting TE's!  (Except for Stone Hands Dicskon)

[hn68wb4]

He's good at drafting TE's!  (Except for Stone Hands Dicskon)

anything except for WRs, i don't know what it is but he just should avoid taking 'em early (even though im pulling for Jaelen Strong next year)

[ravensdfan]

I disagree with this!  While the rules have been changed for a more "passing" league; the Ravens still struggle with passing!  It appears that what most say about the more Flacco throws the ball results in a loss for the Ravens opposed to running the ball seems to be true.

 

 

Agreed!

 

@Mili

 

We also lose when we overload on the run. Which is what ground & pound is. We win when we are balanced because our defense cannot stop the other team from tearing up the clock. That is why we cannot do it. You can't take all day to score when your defense is allowing the other team to take even more time to score.

 

i just gotta say i completely disagree

just look over at the Cowboys (before the Romo injury), their offense is exactly what im talking about. They just asked Romo to complete a few passes here and there, some easy quick passes just to keep defenses on their toes and they ran the heck out of Murray. That type of offense covers up a lot of defensive flaws, that Cowboys D looked to be worst in a long long time but because their offense drained so much time it covered up a lot of those problems. Thats what im talking about, now obviously we don't have a Demarco Murray right now, but thats the offense im referring to, an offense based on running the ball, which is the Ravens way. Alaska already mentioned the Seahawks so i won't plunge into them...

 

Romo completes way more than a "few passes here and there". He only has 30 less attempts than Flacco. And that would include Flacco's game where he dropped back 60 times.

 

That's why I never mind with Ozzie drafts for Def.  If we can just get back to that level of play on that side of the ball, we'll be straight.  

 

Yeah, how's that working out? Nowhere even in the same universe of the type of defense required for ground & pound. And we've devoted the last 3 drafts to defense.

[52520Andrew]

Im done with the pool pic. Although, I cannot take the blame. The players and refs do.

 

You didn't edit it this week and we lost again, just make sure you edit it this time lol

[BMORE_96]

Our WRs are pretty good. Its CBs we need. Keep in mind our starting TE is out still. I think Ravens need to focus on the secondary and RB positions in the draft. We can pick up a decent WR during trade season. 

I cant rely on owen in the future. I think we are in a hole at TE. if we were considering ebron last year with pitta, something tells me the FO wants a dynamic guy at the position. and Owen nor gilmore are that, though Gilmore is very solid in his role.  and the only times when our receiving corps ever actually wins their 1 on 1 battles we usually win games but its against bad teams. Those bad teams have bad corners(tampa bay, carolina, atlanta). we have depth but no superior talent at TE or WR. Its haunted the ravens for a while now, but in order to beat good defenses you need superior talent.

 

Torrey has lived up to his draft profile imo. He does not look like a natural receiver, like steve smith. now if only steve smith had torrey's youth and speed. 

[Alaska Alaska!]

 

Yeah, how's that working out? Nowhere even in the same universe of the type of defense required for ground & pound. And we've devoted the last 3 drafts to defense.

Our D-Line is great! Jimmy and Mosley are great. The only thing we're missing is a deadly backfield.  

[Alaska Alaska!]

Our WRs are pretty good. Its CBs we need. Keep in mind our starting TE is out still. I think Ravens need to focus on the secondary and RB positions in the draft. We can pick up a decent WR during trade season. 

When your WRs can't get open or can't make clutch catches when you really need them to, then there's no way you can say they are good.  

[ravensdfan]

Our D-Line is great! Jimmy and Mosley are great. The only thing we're missing is a deadly backfield.  

 

For a great D line, we fail to consistently pressure the QB more often than not. I hear that we should be doing that just rushing our 4 core guys. Pees shouldn't have to lift a finger or have a creative thought. Doesn't happen. Jimmy is good, on his way to great. Not great. He'll get there but look how long it took. So we go ground and pound and be the Browns for 5 years until another one develops? No thank you.

 

We have the QB. Why pay him that much money to play handoff? You get him a good supporting cast. Doesn't have to be great - just good.

[Alaska Alaska!]

For a great D line, we fail to consistently pressure the QB more often than not. I hear that we should be doing that just rushing our 4 core guys. Pees shouldn't have to lift a finger or have a creative thought. Doesn't happen. Jimmy is good, on his way to great. Not great. He'll get there but look how long it took. So we go ground and pound and be the Browns for 5 years until another one develops? No thank you.

 

We have the QB. Why pay him that much money to play handoff? You get him a good supporting cast. Doesn't have to be great - just good.

He had a pretty good supporting cast before Pitta went down.  Can you imagine how different this game would be if Pitta was still here?  I'm just not a fan of "Draft a WR and all your problems will be solved". Rookies are rookies.  It's even worse when they get injured (like Ebron and Clowney) then what?  You're back to square one

[HockeyAndRavens]

Whatever, bro, to be honest, I saw a couple PI calls missed the other way, holding calls not made on the Ravens OLine…I remember one game where the Steelers were highly penalized and this forum said, "good calls, they deserved it." Its hard to be objective about refs. 

I find it stupid either way for blaming the refs for a lose.

[codizzle]

Probably sick of me quoting you all night, but this had same feeling of a Billick loss tonight.

game days I can't keep up with notifications so I really don't check em..

But yea now that you say it.. It did have a bullock feel.. Not often we've seen this team so undisciplined in harbaugh era

[ravensfan520]

That quick strike offense was when we were running 2 TE sets. We weren't using our useless WRs outside of Smith Sr . We abandoned those when Pitta went down.

It isn't only Pitta either. Daniels isn't 100%. Smith Sr is beginning to show his age. Brown isn't 100% and is hardly playing. 5 of 8 of Joe's INTs are to Torrey - that isn't just coincidence. Jacoby couldn't catch a cold. That is a LOT you're asking Joe Flacco to be the cure for. Especially with the way the O line played.

He is the qb and leader of the offense isn't he... He is being paid like a franchise player isn't he... well doesn't seem like much to ask for... When Brady was playing horrible at the beginning a lot of people were saying he didn't have it anymore... now look at them. They look like a legitimate team to win the afc... and they traded there best lineman. .. and have one true weapon in Gronk the rest of the guys are system guys... so i don't feel it's too much at all to ask for him to step his game up and lead the offense to win a game when we need it...

[Alaska Alaska!]

He is the qb and leader of the offense isn't he... He is being paid like a franchise player isn't he... well doesn't seem like much to ask for... When Brady was playing horrible at the beginning a lot of people were saying he didn't have it anymore... now look at them. They look like a legitimate team to win the afc... and they traded there best lineman. .. and have one true weapon in Gronk the rest of the guys are system guys... so i don't feel it's too much at all to ask for him to step his game up and lead the offense to win a game when we need it...

Joe can't create miracles dude.  If receivers aren't getting open..they're not getting open. 

Besides... remember what happened in both the Cincy game and the Colts games when the game was on the line with 50 secs and less left to go?  Joe was chugging that ball, but both times the receivers failed to finish up. 

[ravensdfan]

He is the qb and leader of the offense isn't he... He is being paid like a franchise player isn't he... well doesn't seem like much to ask for... When Brady was playing horrible at the beginning a lot of people were saying he didn't have it anymore... now look at them. They look like a legitimate team to win the afc... and they traded there best lineman. .. and have one true weapon in Gronk the rest of the guys are system guys... so i don't feel it's too much at all to ask for him to step his game up and lead the offense to win a game when we need it...

 

We don't have any system guys. I don't know what is so difficult to understand about that. Kubiak's system is about timing. When we run those hot plays where timing is everything, they're INTs or close to INTs because our receivers are never where they are supposed to be. 

 

And as the QB and leader of the offense - he had a 91.3 rating and completed over 66% of his passes outplaying extremely poor O line protection and guys who can't get separation. Don't know what more you want. Brady played like crap when his guys were gone. Gronk comes back (we have no one comparable to a Gronk btw) and now he's back on. Pretty much proof that you have to at least give your franchise guy good and not sub par to work with.

[Grapple Raven]

I think what a lot of people have overlooked here is this is new offensive scheme, new playbook, new coaches, new players, etc.  That doesn't even include other factors like injuries, outside distractions, personal issues, etc..  That is a lot of factors for players to deal with, specifically the QB.  Kubiak even changed Flacco's fundementals this year.  This isn't something that is going to click after one or two games, even after eight or nine, as exemplified by Flacco remarking yesterday that that he made a mistake in the huddle with the play call and confused Forsett.

Kubiak even said earlier this week that he and Dennison are still working with Joe to find out the things that he does well and likes, and they are trying to incorporate that into the game plans.  That just goes to show that this offense is still a work in progress.   

 

Same thing can be said on the defensive side of the ball as well.  Sizzle and Doom said at the beginning of this season that they expected to perform much better this year, as last year was an adjustment period with all the new guys figuring each other out. We are beginning to see that now, especially with the front seven. 

 

All things being considered, I think this team has done amazingly well so far, especially with the caveat of all the changes they have experienced over last year into this season.  Change takes its toll, and it takes time.  If you expect perfection, you will always be disappointed. lol   Patience is the key!  Have a little faith in your team.

[Dfence4champs2052]

9 games is pretty late in the game to still be trying to grasp an offense....especially as a seven year veteran and SB-winning QB. I think coaching plays a larger part of this issue, but there's no way around it -- the secondary is awful.