[News] The Breakdown: Eisenberg's Five Thoughts vs. Eagles

[Grapple Raven]

Just a little perspective...

 

After listening to Harbs, Sizzle, and a few of the other players in their locker room interviews, it appears that we were without communication all of the first half of the game.  Harbs said we didn't have it for most of the first half at all, and when it did start to come back it was very crackly and the guys could get or understand the calls.

 

Harbs seemed to indicate that it was preseason and they didn't do any game planning as they are still evaluating players and looking for players at certain positions, which is normal for us at this point in preseason.  Sizzle said they didn't game plan and they definitely didn't see any of that in practice. (Surprise? Not!)  Sizzle also alluded to the fact that generally no one is familiar with Chip's style of offense except those that probably see it most within the division, combine that with the fact that we didn't game plan for it, it puts a few things in perspective, just sayin'. 

 

Would seem that ole' Chip kind of gave us a shot to the bough by game planning a bit more than we were expecting, lol.  It would make sense as he has a lot to prove to validate all his offseason changes.  Granted we did have a lackluster performance by the ones at points, but it does put some things in perspective!  It is kind of hard to perform in an away stadium with little to no communication on a preseason game plan when your opponents have both.

[Fullblack_RAVEN]

It's game 2 of preseason so i'll take it for what it's worth. 

 

They didn't practice against the eagles' tempo offense all week. The eagles went slow & vanilla per the ravens request. When the eagles unleashed it come gametime, the ravens weren't prepared. That's understandable.

 

A few things irked me, though.

 

- When flacco gets off to a slow start, it's very hard for him to rebound. This has been evident especially in the last 2 seasons. It seems like he can't get himself out of a rut. Conversely, when he gets hot at the start, he usually stays hot. That's why he's so good come playoff time. He gets amped, starts off hot most of the time and stays hot.

 

He isn't as resilient as i'd like but is still a top 10 qb.  I'd take him over many of the guys people put ahead of him(matt ryan, russell wilson, eli manning and tannehill... sigh, flacco>>>tannehill). I just think that's one of his weaknesses.

 

- This team lacks reliable speed on the outside. Perriman will have to be healthy & good throughout the season. W/O his speed, this team will have to revert to throwing short, contested balls the majority of the time. That is not joe flacco's forte. I also am having major concerns as it pertains to injury. Steve is old. Camp battled injuries his whole rookie year & had one occur this offseason. Perriman is battling a knee injury and has injury history dating back to college.

 

All the hoopla around this team's WR depth means nothing if perriman can't go. It would mean more if this team had another reliable speed option to take the heat off of its possession guys. Waller will take a while. 

 

- Serious question here: Is kendrick lewis that talented to where he's the lock at FS for this team? I'm not asking this q solely because of his performance in this largely meaningless preseason game. I'm asking this because i've never seen him as a solid starter in all the time i've seen him play. Admittedly, i only watched him last yr because i wanted to see the JJ watt and clowney show (sadly, clowney was injured but JJ was awesome).

 

Will hill came to the ravens after a yr where he was one of the best safeties in the league. He just had problems pertaining to personal conduct. Although kendrick came to the ravens w/ more experience, his talent level doesn't really match up to being a guaranteed starter. Hopefully i'm proven wrong. Either way, i believe terrence brooks is the FS of the future for this team. 

 

Everything wasn't doom and gloom, though.

 

- Tray walker and rashaan melvin are tall, play w/ ferocity and seem like they'll be mainstays for a long time w/ this team. If one of the 2 can break out by 2016, the ravens can end up emulating the corner situation the seahawks had a couple of years ago. I believe jimmy smith is a top 5 corner already so if one of these 6'1+ guys can play well alongside him, we'll have a nice thing going here. This team's corner depth seems like it won't be a problem going forward. Tray probably won't be ready to play until 2016 but if guys get injured, he could see time earlier.

 

- Magee probably won't make this team. He still ran his you know what off. He plays w/ more speed & explosiveness than buck allen. Buck has good vision though & is a really good cutter so we'll see how he develops going forward.

 

- Nelson's going to end up making someone's roster and end up having a long nfl career. It sucks that this team already has a bunch of possession wr's but hey... at least he's putting good game tape out there.

 

 

Preseason G3 will be against the redskins. Remember, it was the ravens who started rg3's pro injury carousel w/ ngata almost killing him (i miss ngata). Hopefully the ravens show up for that game and play well. 

 

1 more thing. The ravens going against the eagles' uptempo O this game will help them come game 1 vs. denver. I think the ravens will beat denver. They won't be catching the ravens off guard this time. Go Ravens!

[FloridalovesRavens]

1. When Eagles are gassed out by fourth game of season then we will see who is smart.

2. Suggs would never deliberately hurt anyone imo.

3. If Bradford does not want to get hit then don't play.

4. Its preseason and I could care less about score.

Did not see much news coverage of Ravens during the week leading up to the game BUT NOW watch out. We will be on every screen on every channel showing our loss. Sick to death of it all. No respect.

[Dorota]

Forget the final score and all the rest, I was not happy with the amount of penalties! There is no excuse for those, even without communication. I like our young guys on D-line though, especially Brandon Williams and Timmy Jernigan and Rashaad Melvin has done a good job in the secondary. And we need to keep our O-line healthy, because we're having issues with penalties and holding with the other guys.

[Flamengo1265]

The only thing that concerned me from last night's fiasco was that our starting defense got trucked on 2 drives.....and the number of penalties (although some of those calls were a little bogus).

[CQ1]

NOT sure why they started the game by running Forsett 3 straight times. We know what he has. Shortly thereafter, Flacco had a running play- surely not called. Perhaps something 'uravelled' that we are not being told- all of which to see Flacco overthrowing considerably- which is rather rare. (?)

[KidNme]

There were some real positives to come from that game.

Melvin is looking good, Vauhn was all over the place and looking like he wants to play.

Our O line didn't look bad at all, considering how many 3rd and 4ths we had in there. I think they held their own and kept defenders off our QB pretty well.

However, Joe stunk last night and that's why the "Elite" question will always be there. The man can throw a ball into a trash can from 50yds, in the rain but can't hit a 6'6 WR that's wide open.

Ya, we definitely stank up the joint but, I believe the Eagles had a chip on their shoulder because many of our guys were alluding to Chip Kelly's practice tempo being a bit soft. What do you think of the soft practices now guys.

Also, we're talking about it's only pre season and we'll get some of the injured guys back for the regular season but injuries caused us major issues last year and now again this year. I don't see how the injury thing gets better when the games count and many of our top guys, even if healthy, are still coming off of injuries. I don't see that as a positive thing.

IDK, maybe I'm just ticked because I didn't see too many players, play like a Raven last night.

Here's hoping our team looks different next weekend. Of course though, we will be playing the redskins so if we stink again, I'm going to be real concerned.

[stampedehero]

Rarely have I ever seen my team go through a blowout. It could be worse with a shut out on top. I disagree with the view that Joe was not responsible for his interceptions.  The Eagle quick tempo pace devoured us and will be effective against their division rivals, Terrill Suggs got no respect from the zebra crew

[catgirl54]

It really didn't look like anything was game-planned. A game where Mark Sanchez outshines Joe Flacco by a considerable margin leaves me flummoxed. Hope we look better going forward.

[PalmBayRaven]

Our special team sucks. Not the kicker or the punter but everybody else. When was the last time we saw such awful execution? The kick returner is not on the team now. Cut Asa and find someone who wants the job. Is it just me or did all the other teams seem to play better on special teams? Why does is seem they all have speedy guys and we got nothing? We lack speed and for all the talk about our WR depth there is no speed. We have one guy and he's not on the field now.

[PalmBayRaven]

What does that mean we didn't game plan? Hello, this was a game although preseason still a game? Some planning some where? Coaches are supposed put players in good situations and we had none of that last night. I still like Waller a lot. Not all was bleak. It's games like this one is why we don't get any respect especially a national televised game and to think I waited all week to see this game. I live in Florida so I am always excited when their on TV. Otherwise I'm on the computer and listening to Sirius radio. Love our guys. This too shall pass. I'm heading to the beach to forget about last night. Let's hope for a better performance against the Redskins?

[Island.John]

We are in serious trouble if Rashaan Melvin is on this team. He gives a consistent 7 yard cushion and back pedals the entire coverage route, every play. Our defensive zones will get picked apart week after week with dink and dunk passes that every team is now employing. The game has evolved to nullify the pass rush when passes are thrown under 3 seconds. We need tight man coverage from the db's, but obviously we don't have the personnel to pull that off. There is no wow factor with this team, may be time for a 6-10 season, I hope not.

[TheRavengers]

I really shouldn't read into things too much, considering its preseason and they usually don't go all out, but last night just left me saying "What?" several times. With the exception of a few cool moments.

[TheRavengers]

Despite the mess that was our team, I'm confident they won't look anywhere near as sloppy as what I saw last night.

On to week 3 of the preseason.

[RavenManiac#7]

Just a few thoughts. Man, c'mon, Camp! We just can't have this. You are Such a talented player but, doggone it, you HAVE to stay healthy. If we cut you, you WILL be picked up. I would absolutely Hate to see him playing for another team. Waller, welcome to the team. Webb, this is getting old. Older than with Camp by a long shot. I am Almost at the point where I say, the heck with it, start Melvin. Joe, I'm glad nothing phases you, because I don't know if I've seen you look worse in, like, forever. Our starting defense threw up an unbelievably bad stinker. As did our first string offense. As did our special teams. Truly a game to pretend never happened. And Suggs, that was the worse game I have ever seen you play. If nothing else, stop with the penalties, willya?

[RavenManiac#7]

We are in serious trouble if Rashaan Melvin is on this team. He gives a consistent 7 yard cushion and back pedals the entire coverage route, every play. Our defensive zones will get picked apart week after week with dink and dunk passes that every team is now employing. The game has evolved to nullify the pass rush when passes are thrown under 3 seconds. We need tight man coverage from the db's, but obviously we don't have the personnel to pull that off. There is no wow factor with this team, may be time for a 6-10 season, I hope not.

I don't disagree with all your points. In fact, I'm with you on a few. The quick passes negating the pass rush, But, I saw Plenty of times when their QBs had All day to sit back there and wait for someone to become open. We need a better pass rush. But, Melvin? While I might see your point on the cushion he allows. His cushion is a Whole lot less than the cushion Webb is more and more giving receivers while he is sitting on the bench. I am, actually, becoming more concerned about Webb's injury history than Camp's. At least Camp is only in his second season. Webb's woes has seemed to go on forever. How much do we, realistically, think he's going to play this season? I, for one, don't feel at all confident about his situation.

[MYTH420]

Wallers chances of making the team keep going up? What? Waller was going to make the team the second they drafted him. Every Ravens draft pick has made the team in their first year, even if it's just a couple games, they usually always give them a chance. The Ravens hate to give up on draft picks so early. The only draft pick I can remember (recently) that didn't make the team his first year was 2013 7th round pick Marc Anthony, CB.

Edited August 23, 2015 by MYTH420

[Crusader]

Injury list looks like last year's so whats the big deal?

[deathonwings52]

We really shouldn't put too much stock into preseason especially the first 2 games...if we get blown out week 4 pre season game then that would be worrisome. Last time I checked, the ravens won the super bowl last time they lost to the eagles

[alexbayrobin]

It really didn't look like anything was game-planned. A game where Mark Sanchez outshines Joe Flacco by a considerable margin leaves me flummoxed. Hope we look better going forward.

Flummoxed ? Me too. But we all know Joe has games where he just can't seem to get in rythm but when he is in rythm he is very very hard to beat.

Edited August 23, 2015 by alexbayrobin

[bioLarzen]

There are a lot of takes from this game, so let's just concentrate on two things that IMHO needs real attention:

 

1.) Flacco may have to go thorugh the season without any targets for his favouroite weapon: the deep pass. Not what we'd love to hear.

No Torrey, no Jacoby - no deep pass threat. And that always was Flacco's prime weapon. That, IMHO, seems to be the main problem for the O in 2015, and has the "promise" of reduced efficiency for Flacco. We simply have no deep threat until Perriman comes back and proves he is the solution. And all that with a missed camp and pre-season, and hardly any chemistry with Flacco. Doesn't sound very promising.

 

2.) Now it's official: we have no real candidates for kick and punt returning. The atmosphere of the David Reed Days may be back.

You know that none of your prime candidates work out when you see a new guy (Tom Nelson) being excessively tested 2 weeks into the pre-season - and he shows nothing either. The David Reed days may be back - when we can be happy with basically any return yards, and not more than one accidental return TD. The importance of kick and punt returns may be overlooked, but in reality, Jacoby meant 1-2 less first down to make - and that may be huge.Releasing Jacoby - thought clearly justified - amy beocme the next "Boldin-type" mistake: where not letting the gy go is the mistake, but failing to replace him. Here's hoping a good return guy is becoming available after week#3 when the first cuts are made - or in  two weeks when the final cuts come. Looks like we will need one badly. Neither Asa nor Carter seems to be the solution - and I'm not sure we can count on Campanaro staying healthy. He just can't seem to.

 

Same is about Torrey, by the way.

 

On the plus side, we may have the best PS QB in a long while

 

As for the ugly loss, there are days like that. Remember how we were obliterated by the Broncos in the 2012 regular season - and then went on winning the Super Bowl. Or how the Texans dealt us a likewise hideous humiliation at the end of last season - and then we were real close to making the Championship...

Edited August 23, 2015 by bioLarzen

[balfan23]

@bio - agree on all fronts.

 

#1 - I posted similar sentiments after that deep ball to Aiken. Our run game was clicking fairly well, which opened us up for that quick strike TD that we all love. The play action was on point and any WR that could even remotely be called a burner would have been 5-10 yards past the D. There is a lot to like about Aiken and Brown, but they are #3 role receivers in the end. Given that only the Lord knows when Perriman will be healthy and then how long it will take him to get into the swing of the Raven's and pro level game, we have no idea when it is that we can expect him to effectively play that role. I think we have to face the possibility that It could be the majority, if not all of a season. 

 

#2 - true, this is an issue, although not the kind that breaks a team. Sure, it is great to have that return threat, but in a league where kickoffs are almost always placed at the 20, the importance is diminishing. I am prepared to spend this season (as we did in many a season in the pre-Jacoby era) just looking for touchbacks and fair catches on every kick. 

[riseNConquer81]

Too many injuries, not a good look. not surprised the offense didnt get much done.

First pick is a fluke, cant be bothered to get mad about that. Second pick an overthrow. Joe put it too high, but that's a familiarity problem. Faster guys like Torrey, or more savvy vets like Boldin or Smith Sr sell that route a little deeper. If Marlon makes that cut a few yards later, that pass is on target. theyll work that out.

The refs were trash in this game, especially when we were on defense, but our front also forgot what run defense was for the night.

[Jim Giampaoli]

Kelly told his team to play regular season football. The Ravens were in exhibition mode. They steam rolled us. This happened partly because our coaching staff didn't see it coming. Kelly didn't show his hand until game time (smart). He out coached Harbaugh. Sanchez outplayed Flacco and Schaub. I'm taking one step back from Trestman. He was stuck with his exhibition game plan. Sounds like Cam from old. Our defense is falling apart under Pees. No pass rush and Sanchez had the best night of his life.

[SorryNotSorry]

1. First of all these games happen stuff happens, we have seen this before. They show up lay an egg come back and do better the next week. These are professionals on a good team that knows how to come back from this. We lacked in discipline and communication, like most losses this team has put together they lacked in those two things. Its that simple burn the tape nothing to see here. Plus its preseason who gives a hoot. 2.This is a superbowl ready squad. Yep I said it we have one of the deepest rosters in the league and the most talented. We are going to hoist the trophy at the end of the year mark my words. We have a superbowl QB at the peak of his prime. We got the best o line best d line, one of the best line backing corps, best running game. Believe it or not we have a solid receiving corps. The secondary will be very solid this year. Despite injuries which I will get to. We have one of the top three rosters in the league and I stick by that despite that performance as explained in point # 1. 3. Injuries aren't that concerning really, every game like this has people go down and we think its the end of the world. In reality most will be back and kicking by week 1 in time for the season that counts. About half will be back next week to play in preseason week 3 which has the starters playing the longest. Even perriman's injury isn't that big a deal, yeah it might take a little while longer to get him into the system but the second he steps on the field opposing defenses have to respect him. We are fine.

 

Please elaborate on best d line?!.... Not arguing with anything else you said, but i'd love to hear your defense of that statement. lol

[curtis0360]

Please elaborate on best d line?!.... Not arguing with anything else you said, but i'd love to hear your defense of that statement. lol

Brandon Williams timmy Jernigan chris canty? not to mention we have others behind them like carl davis and kapron lewis moore. We also have elvis dummervil and Terrell suggs crashing the edges. Not to mention, CJ mosely, daryl smith, jimmy smith. Not to mention the addition of Kendrick Lewis and Kyle Arrington. Ok we may not have the best defense but we definitely are looking at a top five unit.

[purpledown]

no more talk of Flacco being "elite", he has to be consistent,first.

[letitgosometimes]

A Sixth Thought vs Eagles: take two aspirin and call me in the morning.