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

[BR News]

Scoreboard didn’t tell whole story. Don’t want to see Smith lose cool, but he didn’t need to play anymore.

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[ellicottraven]

Utterly disappointed in our depth players. However, we can take solace in the fact that there will never be a need in the regular season to play all of them at one time. All that would ever be asked of them is to fill in for a hurt player and I think they may not suck as badly then. At least that is the hope.

[ravens4life86]

Im glad Preseason is OVER! Atleast for the Starters.

5Thoughts for this game and for Entire Preseason.

Thought 1, Take out Philly game cause of Oregon offense you have to gameplan for, 1s v 1s Offense and Defense looked good this preseason.

Thought 2, just like last year with Jimmy Smith. Injuries could crush this teams SB Aspirations...especially at a really weak position like WR.(Perriman out, timeable unknown. Praying week 1 but who knows. Campanaro constantly injured)

Smith Sr only reliable WR.I still like Waller though on this team. DLINE, Both Jernigan and DTyson left tonights game supposed to be apart of that rotation to replace Ngata. That only leaves Davis and Williams as big bodies in the middle..if those injuries are not minor.

Thought 3. Skilled Depth seems limited with second and third string, but it wont come into play if health stands up.

Thought 4. TEs havent seen them but a play here or there and No MAD MAXX Williams.. That is our best offensive skill position they have to be more involved receiving wise...like 10-15 catches a game, especially if Perriman is injured.

Thought 5. Man I hate the Dirty Deadskins, and have 0 respect for the player who did that tonight

[RavensBaltimore]

Getting Perriman and Campanaro back should help tremendously. I listened to the game, and after SSS went out, Q. Ismail mentioned several times that our receivers were having trouble getting separation against man coverage. Our first team offense was great, but we can't be relying on a 36 year old all year. This offense could be dominant if they can get and stay healthy.

[hen826957]

I love this first team offense. Some reason Joe is a much improved Quarterback now. His throws is so much smooth it looks like he's making it easy. Once Perriman gets back from his injury and become a beast Wr for us and shock the NFL this year just like OBJ this offense will be more scary. I'm ready for the season. :-)

[Barry S]

There are lots of concerns special teams, no return man is a big deal. Go back to the time before Jacoby Jones when Chris Carr was fielding punts he was letting the ball bounce and the opposing teams were gaining yards on every punt. What has happened to the discipline on this team, sure doesn't seem to be the same as in past camps way too many errors. Hope there not going back to the cream puff days the way Brian Billick used to run camp.

[hen826957]

@Barry S Yeah I know special teams are a little concerning. I wish Ozzie could trade for a young playmaker like Cordarrelle Patterson from the Vikings but I don't know the Vikings would do that. :-)

[huntrgathrr]

Gilmore is a beast. He will be a force this year. He may end up with more TDs and catches than anyone on the team. He was unstoppable on that TD catch and run. He may end up being the best TE in Raven history before he is through.

I think Smith, Brown and Aiken will be our 3 principle WRs. If Perriman ever recovers he will get on the field as well. With the 53 man roster as tight as it is, I think the oft-injured Campanaro is a luxury we will not be able to afford. Waller and Butler get the other two spots. Smith or Aike can line up in the slot.

Jackson just won the KR job, that's the end of that story.

I hope Tyson is ok, we need him for depth. But Davis, Williams, Jernigan and Canty will be carrying the mail up front this year.

Looks like it's Melvin, Smith, Arrington, Hill and Lewis starting in the secondary. They could end up being pretty good if they stay healthy. Brooks and Vaughn may also get on the field some but the less the better. Walker, Jackson and Levine all stay as backups as well. Webb, Trawick, Jacobs, et al.... any or all of these guys are getting cut.

Linebacker is where the cuts are going to sting a little....McClellan, Orr, Means and Brown: 2 out of these 4 are getting cut.

It will be interesting to see what they do about Reid, Jensen and Myers. My guess is that one of these guys gets cut. Probably Reid.

First team is pretty strong but our reserves are not quite as good as I thought they would be. So we need to avoid injuries to make a deep playoff run.

[law215]

The biggest challenge this team faces is all of the injuries. Ravens are constantly throwing in new combination of O-linemen, DBs and the lack of continuity shows in their play. Perriman and Flacco needed to get down timing, O-linemen needs to gel with RBs for effective running game, an established returner could practice setting up blocks, etc.. All of this starts with injuries. The Second problem is a lot of young guys. There will be a lot of growing pains with so many rookies and second year guys. I think this is why the second unit looks bad. There are made of rookies while other teams had veteran backups (i.e. Colt McCoy vs Beyer). Health is key and will help young guys play beeter when reps with veterans.

[Maryland]

I think we all just need to say a prayer for Timmy Jernigan's knee ligaments.

[Bruce_Almty]

Harbaugh and the Ravens left points on the field again tonight, missing out on TDs and settling for FGs instead. Our short-yardage and red zone offense needs work. The first 4 regular season games will be a real learning experience.

Edited August 30, 2015 by Bruce_Almty

[trevorsteadman]

Returner job still up in the air... Asa had a good kick return but did a terrible job on that one punt not calling a fair catch. Ravens need to capitalize on points which they did with the 1st string offense so I'm not worried. Defense needs to play with confidence. Players need to get healthy and the starting players now have 2 weeks to get ready for Denver. I really hope Jernigan comes back they were running all over us when he had to leave. Last quick note is after Crockett Gillmore's 31 yard touchdown pass I became a believer he is a tank. He reminded me of Gronk that play. If he consistently gets open and gets those yards after contact.... Man he will be good. Just picked him up on fantasy hoping he is a sleeper this year.

[trevorsteadman]

Getting Perriman and Campanaro back should help tremendously. I listened to the game, and after SSS went out, Q. Ismail mentioned several times that our receivers were having trouble getting separation against man coverage. Our first team offense was great, but we can't be relying on a 36 year old all year. This offense could be dominant if they can get and stay healthy.

Exactly what I have been preaching ever since we won the Superbowl the last 2 going on 3 years the offensive receivers have struggled getting open on a consistent basis and it is a big deal. That is one of the reasons I did not want Torrey Smith back for 7 million. He got some great plays but he was not consistent and an offense needs consistency to move drives. Sure a 60 yard touchdown catch is great but chances are moving the ball and slowly getting first downs will get you more points. Kamar has seemed to start getting more separation... But last year when Steve Smith got covered because teams learned our offense bogged down. Which is why I am excited for Perriman. He only had one training camp but in it he was getting open consistently and that is what the offense needs. Also Perriman had some incredible plays on tape. I know I have high hopes for the guy but just watching him dive for balls over and over again from poor decisions from Bortles a couple years ago gives me high hopes for the offense. They have the pieces... They did well it was 13-0 with the starters in. I'm just worried about injuries killing us because the offensive line is getting what the secondary did last year and the defensive line is right behind it...

[DENNYK]

Officiating was again a joke. If this is what we are going to see through the season, then

it is going to be a long disheartening one. It appears that they will not let the players play football as it should be played. Nitpicking calls are going to ruin the NFL if they do not get control of it right now. I can see the RAVENS getting the crappy end of the stick quite often. Harbs hates penalties and he is going to be an unhappy camper a lot this season.

[DENNYK]

Matt Schaub? Definitely a big question mark so far. I sure hope that if it comes to it he can do better with the starters. Last night he looked horrendous.

[Halshayeji]

I actually respected the fact that SSS showed no backing down. If the refs won't stop this nonsense in preseason then someone needs to step up. The Redskins were hitting late all game and no one was fighting back except Gilmore and a selected few. After the ejection, they went straight to Flacco with a roughing the passer. That's 80% on the refs and 20% on our Oline for not showing up. I don't like giving away penalties and stuff like that but if you go for my quarterback one play after a scuffle then it's on! Our Oline should have had flaccos back right there when it happened.

[Zeus]

Schaub is terrible qb, let's hope we never need him.

[bioLarzen]

My five thoughts:

 

1.) What's the deal with the secondary?

The secondary looked attrotious throughout the game - the starters and the backups alike. The run D was rock solid, but whenever the secondary had to step up - they didn't. Jimmy had no work, of course, but anyone else on the secondary just seemed to take the day off. No coverage, no turnovers, no pass defelctions... it was an awful day for the secondary - and not the first time this pre-season. And, since the secondary has been a recurring theme of the "what's wrong with the Ravens" polemy, I'm not sure the secondary is in the best hands possible... Whoever is on the field should start making plays - and nobody seems to be able...

 

2.) What's the deal with our two-minute drill D?

Another issue that's not at all new. We constantly had problems defending the 2-minute drills whenever it was a well throwing QB last season too: Brees, Rivers, Brady etc... I think it has a lot to do - once again - with the secondary. The two minute drill is the time of longer passes, typically towards the sideline - the home of the CB's. And there's hardly any pass breakups happening.

 

3.) Let's hope e can really get back the best O-line by Week#1

The backups tried their best, but it's evident that we absolutely need our starting O-line on the field if we want to win more than a handful of games. Urschel is OK, but Jensen isnt a clear cut solution, Hurst isn't a clear cut solution, and the others are absolutly clearly not a solution. And without a stout O-line there's no run game - and wthout a run game there's no success. Easy as that.

 

4.) We still have no deep threat and a good kick/punt returner

Yeah, that one raturn ofrom Asa was a thing of beauty - but that was one return. And David Reed had one regular season return TD - hell, Tandon Doss had one return TD... and still nobody remembers them as good return specialists. Why? Because they weren't. Sorry, but I dont see Asa as a good returner either - one good return per pre-season notwithstanding. And nothing shows that we are really getting desperate in this department more than the fact that we are still trying to find new guys - week 3 into the pre season... Last week it was Tom Nelson (no success), this time Magee (no success)... wonder who they will try next week (no success)... Ozzie needs to excercise his magic once again to find a kick returner for us when the cuts begin next week.

As for the deep threat - well, did Flacco attempt a deep pass at all yesterday? Frankly, I don't remember. And, as expected, it became more than clear the Waller, promising and intriguing though may be, is not YET a reliable weapon. What was good against second and third string DB's is not YET enough against starting caliber DB's... (It's just heartbreaking to see how mightily Torrey is struggling to become a productive player in SF but mostly can't be that, and all the while he would be a more than important piece of the puzzle in our D...)

 

5.) Stock watch: when reality hits hype in the face - repeatedly

There are some guys who were thoroughly hyped - mostly by the BR-com beat writers I might add - but so far failed to live up to the hype. Two players seem to jump out - and especially yesterday: Buck Allen and Kendrick Lewis. Sorry, but not only has Buck Allend not so far convinced me he's an NFL-ready back, he's convinced me he isn't. What he's shown so far is...well, nothing really. In three pre-season games he made 78 yards from 29 carries, the longest one being for 12 yards. That's an anything-but-promising 2.69 yards-per-carry. That's not good enough for the NFL. He clearly has to start improving and fast. Of course he will make the 53-man roster, but boy, was Magee more convincing... even if he did it against the second and third string D's... (and then I haven't even mentioned that goal line fumble...)

As for Kendrick... so far he's been thoroughly underwhelming. He was heralded as the new "captain of the secondary" - and look at our secondary...

[bioLarzen]

Schaub is terrible qb, let's hope we never need him.

 

The INT was a stupid decision - but he had to throw it away because the O-line could not protect the pocket at all. And the fumble was completely on the D-line, and mostly Jah Reid. I'm not saying Schaub is the real deal, but he's not as bad as the "O-line" made him look yesterday. Renner's INT was much more a QB error than Schaub's.

[catgirl54]

Fumbles, interceptions, penalties...we certainly don't look like Super Bowl contenders out there this preseason. The starters looked a lot better than last week (thank God!) but it isn't comforting knowing there's really no one behind Steve Smith to catch the ball reliably. The way these guys are getting hurt, we need depth, and we don't have it. We just don't.

[PalmBayRaven]

Cuts should be easy to make. Our 2nd and 3rd string guys played awful. So much for our depth? I really expected more from this team in this game. I don't expect to be embarrassed at Home even if it is a preseason game. This was tune up for Denver and we are in a heap of trouble. We are back to square one. Nothing is fixed still the same problems. Not going to matter how many points the Offense scores because the Defense is going to give it up. I'm still pissed and angry and the season hasn't even started yet. I did drink the purple kool-aid and expected more. Recovering from my kool-aid hangover...................

[thecommish]

Dean Peas? I know its preseason but you have a ton of talent and are out of excuses....this has looked nothing like a RAVEN defense since you arrived! time to produce or go

[terpmaniac]

Not overly concerned. I wasn't all that impressed with this team after last years preseason. We didnt have a full arsenal of players, our first unit looked damn good. Flacco looks good. Our run defense looked stout. And look around the league guys. With the exception of the Eagles, no team has looked all that impressive and did any of you see that Pittsburgh vs Buffalo game? YIKES Not sweating the regular season. We may have issues. But way too many other teams have bigger problems than we do.

[Dorota]

Asa Jackson looked good on the kick return, just a shame we were 2 yards away from the end zone and were unable to push it in! That was horrid. I'd keep Asa on kick returns. However, I think Magee showed flashes and deserves more looks as well. Glad that we have drafted Carl Davis, because otherwise it doesn't look stunning.

[law215]

1. Its either the coaching or the players, but the secondary looks terrible? These are supposed to be the guys that are better than the ones who could not hold two 14-points leads against the Patriots. Players off the ball 8-10 yards then missing the tackle. Pees is concerned with giving up the big play but playing off so the offense can get chunks underneath isn%u2019t any better. (Arrington, Lewis, and Vaughn are not as bad as they appear in this scheme) I see this too often in the Pees scheme. Matt Weiss is the CB coach. Ravens need to do better there. Secondary guys are not developing. Only the PR machine on the site will hype those guys. Ravens Play cover 2 and press the receivers

2. Injuries. Hope starting O-line and D-line are intact. Injuries are depleting a once fierce line up of D-linemen. Hope Jernigan and Tyson are ready game 1. Jah Reid almost got Schabb killed. Why is this guy still around?

3. Growing Pains. Allen, Walker, Z Smith. Potential, but not ready yet. They will be up and down since they are young.

4. Time to watch the waiver wire. Get a veteran receiver. Joe needs another reliable target other than Smith Sr. The offense tanked once he was ejected. Will Perriman be ready Game 1? Get a veteran to mix in with the talent

5. Emphasize some strength: TE group is good. Gilmore is a monster to guard, Boyle and Williams are raw but have playmaking ability, front 7 is fierce, Flacco and Foresett look sharp. Weaknesses can be fixed. Get a vet receiver to let young guys develop and Pees please stop prevent style of defense. J. Smith, Webb, Arrington, Lewis, Hill, Vaughn, Walker, Levine, and Brooks are good enough talent in the secondary but you can%u2019t tell in this scheme..

[Halshayeji]

Its probably more of a pipe dream but Kam Chancellor is approaching a month of holding out. It doesn't seem like either side is willing to back down for various reasons. At this point, The Seahawks will trade peanuts for him. Will Hill is the only Safety on this squad that is battle ready at this point. Please Ozzie PLEASE i beg you to make a move for Kam.

[Halshayeji]

1. Its either the coaching or the players, but the secondary looks terrible? These are supposed to be the guys that are better than the ones who could not hold two 14-points leads against the Patriots. Players off the ball 8-10 yards then missing the tackle. Pees is concerned with giving up the big play but playing off so the offense can get chunks underneath isn’t any better. (Arrington, Lewis, and Vaughn are not as bad as they appear in this scheme) I see this too often in the Pees scheme. Matt Weiss is the CB coach. Ravens need to do better there. Secondary guys are not developing. Only the PR machine on the site will hype those guys. Ravens Play cover 2 and press the receivers 2. Injuries. Hope starting O-line and D-line are intact. Injuries are depleting a once fierce line up of D-linemen. Hope Jernigan and Tyson are ready game 1. Jah Reid almost got Schabb killed. Why is this guy still around? 3. Growing Pains. Allen, Walker, Z Smith. Potential, but not ready yet. They will be up and down since they are young. 4. Time to watch the waiver wire. Get a veteran receiver. Joe needs another reliable target other than Smith Sr. The offense tanked once he was ejected. Will Perriman be ready Game 1? Get a veteran to mix in with the talent 5. Emphasize some strength: TE group is good. Gilmore is a monster to guard, Boyle and Williams are raw but have playmaking ability, front 7 is fierce, Flacco and Foresett look sharp. Weaknesses can be fixed. Get a vet receiver to let young guys develop and Pees please stop prevent style of defense. J. Smith, Webb, Arrington, Lewis, Hill, Vaughn, Walker, Levine, and Brooks are good enough talent in the secondary but you can’t tell in this scheme..

 

Just one side comment.

 

What happened to disguising a Blitz? It seemed like every time we send extra men to the Quarterback, the whole building knew it was coming. If my mamma knows a Blitz is coming from a TV screen thousands of miles away then the opposing quarterback sure as hell knows its coming....

[4everraven]

Harbaugh and the Ravens left points on the field again tonight, missing out on TDs and settling for FGs instead. Our short-yardage and red zone offense needs work. The first 4 regular season games will be a real learning experience.

Excellent point. This has been an issue for years. The team knows it has the best PK in the league which unfortunately creates less urgency and planning to finish off drives. They know the 3 points are in the bag and play that way. The mindset should be nothing is given which would create more urgency once the O is in scoring position.

Short yardage is another issue that's a consistent issue. One would think that with the maulers Ravens have on the Oline they would blow Dlines up, but they don't . Compounding the problem is the formation compressing everyone tight which allows the D to do the same resulting in a mass of humanity nearly impossible to move. Go 4 wide on short yardage. It spreads the D out and gives more options on play calls.

[cbrook1862]

We better pray that not another soul on this team gets hurt or were in trouble. First teamers look great, depth players look terrible.

[Flockster]

I'm not sold on Asa as a kick returner. He looked gassed at the 20 yard line during his 103 yard non TD return. That return should have been taken in for the TD. You win or lose at least a game or 2 or 3 with special teams. SS Sr looks like the quickest man on the offense. Can't risk using him. Trade time Ozzie? Maybe so.