Next up: Cincinnati Bengals

[berad]

That game was hard to watch - we all know what happened, not worth revisiting.

 

This is a huge test, a 'must-win' if ever there were one in week 3. The Bengals are a good team. We CAN be a good team if all phases come together, something they haven't done yet.

[rmcjacket23]

Never been a big fan of the "must win" label on just about any game that happens before December, but its borderline impossible to see a path to the playoffs that comes from an 0-3 start and falling 3.5 games behind the division leader after just three weeks.

[musclesnab]

They will have to literally win all of the next three games against the division to have anything salvageable. They lose any one of those division games and the season will be over. Because after that the three game west coast swing(49ers,Cardinals, Chargers) will be brutal.

[Dr. Kelley]

um.....what

Forsett was a one hit wonder and a product of kubiaks system

[PurpleCity5]

Steve was absolutely dominant just like this last season at the start of the season. But like yesterday, he had virtually no help.

Aiken, Marlon, Waller and Camp scammed the fans. They showed up acting like they can do the job, then shriveled and played like complete chumps come gametime.

Pretenders needs to go home. We need to find someone who can be a weapon in the field.

I think Aiken played well later, hes no starting WR, but I like him a lot as our #3. Perrinan needs to come back and become our #2 and sooner down the line our #1.

[johnmike72]

Maybe Harbaugh will choose his words more wisely,  telling players that they could play on any NFL roster.

[Dr. Kelley]

We just pretty much made this Week 3 game a must-win.

Dalton and the weapons the Bengals got him (poor Joe, never gets weapons) will tear up Pees soft defense.

Offense needs to put up 40 or better to win most likely.

What are you talking about? The FO always makes sure Joe has an over 30 posession reciever on the roster

/ sarcasm

[PurpleCity5]

I like Maxx...but Gilmore will be our starter for the forseeable future. DUDE IS A BEAST. Hes validated the hype so far.

Edited September 21, 2015 by PurpleCity5

[ravensdfan]

What are you talking about? The FO always makes sure Joe has an over 30 posession reciever on the roster

/ sarcasm

I want one person who is criticizing Flacco to name one other successful team that has a 36 yr old as their #1 WR (consistently mind you, year after year after year) and all other options are clearly #4 and #5 WR options. Just one.

[ravensdfan]

I like Maxx...but Gilmore will be our starter for the forseeable future. DUDE IS A BEAST. Hes validated the hype so far.

He played well but when double teamed couldn't find a way to be a target. #1 TEs find a way. Pitta did.

[A Fish Called Yanda]

I like Maxx...but Gilmore will be our starter for the forseeable future. DUDE IS A BEAST. Hes validated the hype so far.

 

Unfortunately you can basically shut our entire offense down if you double team him, which is exactly what Oakland did in the second half.

[usmccharles]

I think Aiken played well later, hes no starting WR, but I like him a lot as our #3. Perrinan needs to come back and become our #2 and sooner down the line our #1.

I agree that he should be our number 3, but mainly by default. He seems like JAG and I guess for a number 3 hes not to bad. More I think about it though, are wr corps is going to be awful next year unless this group manages to really come together or we make a trade/ FA signing

[ravensdfan]

Unfortunately you can basically shut our entire offense down if you double team him, which is exactly what Oakland did in the second half.

Most teams have more than one valid WR target so that the TE can't be double teamed consistently like that - we don't.

[balfan23]

Steve was absolutely dominant just like this last season at the start of the season. But like yesterday, he had virtually no help.

Aiken, Marlon, Waller and Camp scammed the fans. They showed up acting like they can do the job, then shriveled and played like complete chumps come gametime.

Pretenders needs to go home. We need to find someone who can be a weapon in the field.

It is kind of hard to assess the other receivers when Smith dominated the way he did. When a team has no answer for a guy, you keep going to the well, until they show you they can stop you ... which they never did. It is not necessarily a statement that the other guys played terribly. It is just that Smith was option #1 and worked and worked and worked. 

 

So neither week provided a good assessment of the rest of the group. Week 1 was an o line catastrophe and Week 2 was a WR #1 dominated event. The real assessment comes when Flacco has some measure of time to work and the opposition has a CB worthy of taking SSS away. If we see those guys fail to produce under those circumstances and Joe is forcing the ball to a covered SSS, that will be a better gauge for criticizing their performance. 

[A Fish Called Yanda]

Most teams have more than one valid WR target so that the TE can't be double teamed consistently like that - we don't.

 

Yep - will be interesting to see what happens when we get Brashad back.  I don't forsee him being the savior that we need, but who knows maybe having a valid deep threat will give the offense what it needs to keep clicking.  On the defensive side, we need Babin to step up and help generate some pass rush.  With the pass rush that we saw yesterday, we're going to lose a lot of games this season.

[MrPlankton]

I'm just bracing myself for the inevitable "defense can't get the Bengals off the field so their TOP for the game is 30+ minutes and the offense gets maybe 2 or 3 possessions in the second half" nonsense.

 

I really see the Bengals driving down the field the whole game. I don't care if they're getting FGs or TDs; they'll own the clock which prevents our offense from seeing the field often. From there, it's playing catch up for the rest of the game and having to score TDs on every single drive is unrealistic.

Edited September 21, 2015 by MrPlankton

[Bryden88]

I think its very possible that we play inspired, the Bengals don't and we steal this one. IF and only IF we beat these guys and the Steelers will I be convinced we can make waves.

 

I'm not even gonna watch this with my folks this week. I want to say in my little shelter so I can rage out if necessary and distract myself with something else if we get our butts kicked.

[RavensPunkXVX]

What, on defense can we even do to compete with the Bengals? I just don't think we have the personnel. We have some solid prospects in the trenches, but may take some time to develop. Definitely a solid foundation.

CJ Mosley is a bright spot among the linebackers. And in the secondary? Will Hill and Jimmy Smith. 

If the defensive line can't gel and get that pass rush, we're going to get roasted. And if we get in a shootout, we don't have the personnel on offense to catch up. Steve Smith and Crockett Gilmore have shown that they can play, but who else? Definitely need Perriman. 

Webb is going to get burned multiple times against the Bengals. It will be difficult to stop Eifert too. Tough, tough opening home game, especially coming in at 0-2. If anything, they should be super motivated. 

Only week two, but by the time this team gets things together, could be too late. These next couple of weeks will be very telling. 

[Sami84]

The bengals have drafted really well over the years. As much as i hate them, they have talent and chemistry. It's about time they go further into the playoffs.

 

IM quesitoning ozzies ability to bring talent to baltimore thats anything more than just solid. 

 

We really haven't drafted that well over the past few years. 

 

We need two young stud pass rushes and a corner. A better FS wouldnt be shabby.

 

The offense? Well KO is playing himself out of a contract of any note..monroe is solid if nothing else.(when he's healthy).

 

 

Maybe we need that superstar running back?

 

Maybe we need a new Jamal Lewis..has anyone ever thought that maybe having a superstar running back makes life easier for the WRs?

[Sami84]

courtney upshaw needs to go..

 

there is no way i'd offer him a second contract

[Ravens2343]

What, on defense can we even do to compete with the Bengals? I just don't think we have the personnel. We have some solid prospects in the trenches, but may take some time to develop. Definitely a solid foundation.

CJ Mosley is a bright spot among the linebackers. And in the secondary? Will Hill and Jimmy Smith. 

If the defensive line can't gel and get that pass rush, we're going to get roasted. And if we get in a shootout, we don't have the personnel on offense to catch up. Steve Smith and Crockett Gilmore have shown that they can play, but who else? Definitely need Perriman. 

Webb is going to get burned multiple times against the Bengals. It will be difficult to stop Eifert too. Tough, tough opening home game, especially coming in at 0-2. If anything, they should be super motivated. 

Only week two, but by the time this team gets things together, could be too late. These next couple of weeks will be very telling. 

 

Some things we could do defensively...

 

1.) Jam receivers and play physical on the outside.  Allow Jimmy to press Green and jam him at the line.  Hopefully Melvin plays and he can jam Jones.  Kick Webb into the slot and allow him to blitz off the edge from time to time.

 

2.) Dial up blitzes from different spots like we did against Denver.  Bring linebackers up the middle where the Bengals have a young center starting.  Babin should help on the outside and Jernigan/Davis need to step it up.

 

3.) Play more aggressively overall and allow our players to make plays! Put them in man situations and allow Hill to cover Eifert like he did Graham last year.  Overall we just cannot sit back and let Dalton throw on soft zones, I wouldn't mind seeing Brooks get some snaps this week deep and move Hill or Lewis into a coverage linebacker spot when going to nickel and dime situations

[Ravens2343]

The bengals have drafted really well over the years. As much as i hate them, they have talent and chemistry. It's about time they go further into the playoffs.

 

IM quesitoning ozzies ability to bring talent to baltimore thats anything more than just solid. 

 

We really haven't drafted that well over the past few years. 

 

We need two young stud pass rushes and a corner. A better FS wouldnt be shabby.

 

The offense? Well KO is playing himself out of a contract of any note..monroe is solid if nothing else.(when he's healthy).

 

 

Maybe we need that superstar running back?

 

Maybe we need a new Jamal Lewis..has anyone ever thought that maybe having a superstar running back makes life easier for the WRs?

 

I don't think a star running back is the answer, because Trestman has abandoned the run in his first two games.  I would like to see us run the ball atleast 25-30 times vs Cincy.  I know if it is not successful you must go in another direction, but they need to run Forsett and Taliaferro more.  Both of those guys ran well against the Raiders but we failed to use them down the stretch to close out the game

[rmcjacket23]

Unfortunately you can basically shut our entire offense down if you double team him, which is exactly what Oakland did in the second half.

I mean sort of. They definitely made adjustments, but that also involved jamming Gillmore too, who could do nothing once they started doing that.

 

Ravens still had 200 yards of offense in the second half and scored 13 points. Not an overly awesome line, but if the offense could put up 400 yards on a weekly basis, and average 26 PPG, in theory, we should win a lot of games.

[Sami84]

I mean sort of. They definitely made adjustments, but that also involved jamming Gillmore too, who could do nothing once they started doing that.

 

Ravens still had 200 yards of offense in the second half and scored 13 points. Not an overly awesome line, but if the offense could put up 400 yards on a weekly basis, and average 26 PPG, in theory, we should win a lot of games.

 

you are forgetting who we were playing against..a practice squad D outside of 3 players..(mack,smith,tuck,howard)

[A Fish Called Yanda]

I mean sort of. They definitely made adjustments, but that also involved jamming Gillmore too, who could do nothing once they started doing that.

 

Ravens still had 200 yards of offense in the second half and scored 13 points. Not an overly awesome line, but if the offense could put up 400 yards on a weekly basis, and average 26 PPG, in theory, we should win a lot of games.

 

Completely agree - we obviously didn't lose yesterday because of our offense.  Was just a shame that the success for our first half performance seemed so one dimensional that it took quite a bit of time in the 2nd half to overcome the Raiders adjustments and continue scoring.  The lack of offense in the 3rd quarter also put our defense on the field repeatedly - they looked winded in the 3rd and allowed Oakland to get a lead that ended up screwing us in the end.

[rmcjacket23]

you are forgetting who we were playing against..a practice squad D outside of 3 players..(mack,smith,tuck,howard)

Cool... and we put up 33 points.

 

We weren't playing against a practice squad D on the other side of the ball, which is why we gave up 37. There's three phases of football generally, and playing terribly on one of them generally doesn't bode well.

[rmcjacket23]

Completely agree - we obviously didn't lose yesterday because of our offense.  Was just a shame that the success for our first half performance seemed so one dimensional that it took quite a bit of time in the 2nd half to overcome the Raiders adjustments and continue scoring.  The lack of offense in the 3rd quarter also put our defense on the field repeatedly - they looked winded in the 3rd and allowed Oakland to get a lead that ended up screwing us in the end.

Yeah I mean for me its pretty simple...

 

Raiders had 8 drives not starting off a turnover, meaning they were required to go most of the field in order to score.

 

Their first five drives (excluding the turnover that led to a FG), they scored 20 points and their average drive was for 58 yards. They punted twice the entire game, and we forced only one three and out.

 

And that was in the first half primarily, which was when the offense was moving the ball well and the defense should have been relatively "fresh" from a conditioning standpoint.

[Bryden88]

I *do* think we tend to play "better" in general against our rivals. When I say better, I mean that the games are rarely a blow out. Both our losses to the Bengals last year were close. Our blowout loss to the Steelers almost never happens.

 

The good thing about our rivals is we always play them hard, and thus we know them better.

 

That gives them an edge too, but it also gives us an edge, which is why I am not losing hope UNTIL we lose one or both division games coming up.

 

Suggs may never play another game for the Ravens if things go bad in the off season, but you know what? I want him on the sidelines to give folks a speech just like Ray did when he was injured. Show up and get people motivated. I think that's something that we need from our leadership.

 

I wish the Bungles game was prime time, then we'd have an edge since Dalton lays an egg on night games usually.

[jazz1988]

courtney upshaw needs to go..

 

there is no way i'd offer him a second contract

 

Soo um who sets the edge since Suggs is gone?

[Sami84]

Soo um who sets the edge since Suggs is gone?

 

a 6th or 7th round pick ..

 

because thats what upshaw really is.