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

[catgirl54]

The officiating was TERRIBLE in this game, and I hope there are some repercussions. That said, we still stunk the place up. We were in the game, but could not wrap it up. Terribly frustrating. I think I may have to stop watching for my own health.

[PurpleRainBlackVeins]

My 5 thoughts 1. I'm still trying to figure out why Marlon Brown is still on this team and is getting snaps over Givens and Ross. 2. Money tied up in the often hurt and non effective players like Monroe, Webb and Smith. We award the wrong players big contracts and let the deserving ones go (i.e. Boldin) 3. At what point is Harbs gonna be held accountable for this team's porous play and lack of discipline? 4. Revert back to number one and insert Dean Pees name. 5. A top 5 draft pick should allow us to get a difference maker!

[whobilly]

If we got half as much pressure that our opponents get on Joe we would be 6-1. It almost seems like they have our play book 75% of the time and Joe is either getting sacked, hurried, flushed out of the pocket, or forced to throw it away or make a bad throw. Hope next season our roster is not loaded with all of these Practice Squad WR's.(SSS excluded)

[Minionhunter]

1. The Ravens played well last night in the loss. 2. I'm beginning to think the refs union has a thing for our team. 3. Flacco is getting more comfortable with Givens 4. Injuries keep killing us, it's lucky Flacco is not dead 5. People criticizing Harbs don't know what they are taking about, his game end conference was a ton better than last week and the team played very tough last night especially for the situation.

[WNC-Raven]

Well I guess we will all get to see exactly what type of fans we are. I am starting to want to lose every game so we can get a high draft pick. I have never in my life felt that way. I heard the other day the Browns have one of the largest fan clubs in the NFL. How do they do it year in and year out. We will all need to stand together as fans and continue to support our team. Let all the bandwagoners go and play golf on Sundays. I will be right here supporting my team. As hard as that may be right now. Go Ravens!

[Minionhunter]

Still the ref who stared directly at Urshel calling his eligibility and looking around clueless should be drug tested, financially investigated, and at the minimum be relegated for incompetence. Footballzebras and Dean Blandino both couldn't even figure that the level of stupidity and the TV broadcasters did all but say he should be examined for a concussion.

[RobF]

Look, Raven fans. We have not always been a winning franchise. I've been a fan of this club before they moved to B-more. Suck it up and support our men! Yes, they are paid professionals, however, we are not. Our job is to cheer loudly at home games and help defend the bank. I'll bleed purple and black until I die. GO RAVENS !!!

[baru643]

Many fans here have said it and I've said it, and I'm hoping now that it was re-affirmed over and over by the national commentators on a national broadcast more and more of us get comfortable admitting the God's-honest reality of the situation.

1. When massive chunks of your salary cap (your playmakers) are either on IR (Suggs 4mm 2.8% , Pitta 6.2mm 4.4%) or are chronically injured and missing games (Canty 1.7mm 1.25%, Webby 9.2mm 6.6%, Perriman 1.58mm 1.15%) it's hard to compete.

2. Then you add in those three massive chunks of dead money we're suffering because of Rice 9.5mm 6.8% (really it should be 12mm cuz it costs us 3mm in Forsett to replace Rice) and the unavoidable parting with Ngata 7.5mm 5.35% and Jacoby 2.6mm 1.9%, and you've got another hand tied behind your back.

That's more than 30% of our cap that won't suit up for us this year or struggles to suit up consistently for us this year. That's before you dive into the strategic importance of those guys in our gameplans on either side of the ball. Go ahead and take away 30% of any other team's salary cap and see how they perform.

3. Then you add to that the phenomenon that we went literally 3 years ago from being one of the oldest rosters in the league to one of the youngest now, and it's another incredible challenge for teams to overcome immediately. As Gruden pointed out, we have the youngest TE corp in the entire league and a starting WR corps consisting of career journeyman Aiken and an undrafted player in Marlon. Credit Joe Flacco for keeping us relevant.

Any one of those things in isolation would be sufficient as an explanation (dare I say 'excuse') to explain why a team isn't winning.

But consider that we, unlike any other team in the league, are cursed with all 3 of those things simultaneously. And yet these coaches (yes, Dean Pees included) keep trying to make the best with what they have and compete game in and game out in close contests.

Not a single coach or player on this team will state these things during the season. Self-pity is not in the Raven organization's DNA.

It's our job as fans to be fair and honest though. In 2015 we were dealt a crappy hand and we're trying to make the best of it we can.

This may be the best 1-6 team in NFL history.

 

Very well said!  I agree with all your comments, especially about Flacco keeping us in these games with a chance to win or tie at the end of everyone.  If you think about what Joe has had to work with over the years he should be given even more credit for the playoff wins and SB title, he has never had the luxury of having multiple play-makers like Brady, Manning, and Rodgers have had on their teams.  It's also worth pointing out that Joe has had 4 OCs in the last 5-6 years, it can't be easy for an offense to having adjust to new offensive schemes and philosophies each season.  

 

Lets hope this team starts gelling and can build a younger core of players for years to come, and possibly find an identity on defense once again.  Go ravens!

[whobilly]

I'll be making my 250 mile roundtrip for the game Sunday. That's what "Real Fans" do. I'm predicting there will be about 10,000 other fans disguised as empty seats. Suck it up. This will get better. With six more Home games I guess we will get a TRUE feel for what type of Fans we are.

[ravenwildman]

Thick or thin loss or win I am a Ravens fan. 1. Offense may not be good enough, but Defense has far greater issues. 2. Commentator were laughing as they predicted the first play of our offense (swing pass to Juice) each half. They were calling out our plays before they were run.....if we are that transparent to commentators, no wonder we are 1-6. 3. Never seen officiating that obviously was that sided, if a Raven hit Johnson it would have been a UR penalty giving them a 1st down. 4. Defenses are on to lobbing one up to Gilmore, hence why two defenders standing with him. 5. I say it's time to start thinking about drastic change to the defense. GO RAVENS!

[PalmBayRaven]

I firmly believe that from these ashes we will rise up and be better for having gone through it. We have lost heart breakers and have had a least a shot of winning every game. This will make us stronger when we finally do turn it around. Maybe not this year but I don't think we are Cleveland either.

[ReginaldColeman1]

What amazes me is that some of these guys are getting paid a half a million dollars for under achieving. Never mind Smith's poor tackling. I can almost live with that. And poor Webb. They look like they're in hot pursuit of the ice cream truck. How on earth are they being paid the numbers they get and then the team lives with them because of dead money. Well they won't change the terms of the labor agreement but the ownership needs to take responsibility for the outcomes. You've got football players who apparently decide on how to spend an operating budget of $150 million dollars like they're at Disney World. Get a business consultant already. Change the scope of the jobs they hold. It's no joke thinking Bisciotti's team probably lost a few hundred million in value this season alone.

[jravens13]

In our 6 losses, Trestman and this offense have had the opportunity to go on a game winning drive and have failed to do so. If our defense put up that kind of effort in the first 6 games, I think we would be much closer to the playoff conversation. But it should be another lesson learned of how crucial each football game is and that there isn't any time to let games slip or take games off. Just remember that this team has some talented building blocks, but we have glaring weaknesses at a few positions that destroy our chances of winning consistently (including coaching).

Edited October 27, 2015 by jravens13

[Purple Dawg 96]

My five thoughts are Let Matt start! INTs, underthrown passes to wide open WRs, no movement in the pocket and doesn't extend the play to get other WRs going and play calling! Cant blame the Defense or Pees this time our QB is done he makes the whole team look bad and yes one man can stop this show or will people blame everyone but the QB again?! Matt will win his 1st start!

[steelraven]

Flacco has to be the first player in NFL history to be paid by the team he's on and the team he's playing against. Every week he gives the other team life and take the life out of his team, he never fails to disappoint. It's to the point now to where I'll be surprise if he doesn't disappoint.

[Purple Dawg 96]

Oh yeah I said let Asa "Ace Boogie" play he has to be on the field more and look what I got! You know whom you are that made fun of me about Asa! Offensive and Defensive threat rolled into one just has to be on the field more!

[757RavensFan]

1.  I'm actually pleased with their effort last night, they actually showed some fight.  

2.  For the longest, I wanted to give Marlon Brown a fair shot.  I just can't support him any longer. 

3.  Webb actually played very well last night. As hard as this is to say, Jimmy Smith has turned into

     a liability this year.  I have to believe he's not 100% from the foot injury last year.  (same with Wagner).

4.  I'm NEVER one to blame a loss on the refs, but they didn't help us out at all last night.  

5.  Played well last night; Flacco, Forsett, Allen, SSS, Givens,Canty, Dumervil, D. Smith, CJ Mosely and Webb.

 

One for the road: Pees called a pretty good game.  Can't blame him on the missed tackles on the CJ2K touchdown. 

[sofgman]

Raven lost, as usual, this time more than 6 points, no complain. They will fire somebody this week. Whatever they do, new franchise record will happen next sunday 1-7 at home.

[757RavensFan]

In our 6 losses, Trestman and this offense have had the opportunity to go on a game winning drive and have failed to do so. If our defense put up that kind of effort in the first 6 games, I think we would be much closer to the playoff conversation. But it should be another lesson learned of how crucial each football game is and that there isn't any time to let games slip or take games off. Just remember that this team has some talented building blocks, but we have glaring weaknesses at a few positions that destroy our chances of winning consistently (including coaching).

 

We only had 26 seconds at the end of the Oakland game to try to go the entire length of the field and score.  I wouldn't exactly call that an opportunity.  

 

If you noticed during the game last night, they showed a stat that the Ravens had the lead in 4 of their losses  w/ less than 4 min left in the game and still lost.  That falls on the defense more than the offense. 

[TheRavengers]

I can say the team played decently last night, I noticed Larry Fitzgerald only had 39 receiving yards which is far less than what I thought was gonna happen. I'm also glad that Carson Palmer didn't torture and mutilate us the way Josh McCown did, like the Carson Palmer of the Bengals day used to.

[Derrel]

Turned this off early in the third quarter after going down by two scores. Missed our opening drive after the half, must have been 3 and out?? Bad defensive backfield and no receivers. SSS is playing hard but the rest?? More drops on third down. Flacco looks to have lost some desire this year. Not sure what it is....

[Derrel]

Marlon Brown is playing himself off this team. By the way Perriman had the same drop problems in college as many of you know.

[voltesV]

Joe, you scared the hell out of me on that final drive, and then I thought to myself, it ain't January yet. High "5" Flacco!

Ravens 19.5, Cardinals .05 over 39 teaser $500 KA CHING!!!

[BillyD]

@Eisenberg...The running game never got going? What game were you watching? Both Forsett AND Buck had decent runs of 5 plus yards. You need to keep running the ball! Forsett ended up with 12 carries. 12! For 36 yards. Buck was sitting at 3 carries for 25 yards! I'll discount the Givens failed little reverse, which was blown up from the start since no one seemed to be able to recognize Matthieu blitzing off of that corner all night. So, between Forsett and Buck they had 15 carries for 61 yards. by my calculations that's about 4 yards a carry. We GAVE UP on the run. It did "get going". The play calling just left it there. We were down by 4 at the half and called plays as if we were down by 24. This team needs to just accept the fact that we do not currently have the playmakers to sling the ball all over the field, so we need to get back to basics on offense and defense. Run the ball, run the ball, run the ball. Play solid D, play solid D, play solid D. Let's get that accomplished and maybe we'll turn these close loses into wins. Oh, and try not running the same plays during the same portions of games week after week. If Tirico and Gruden are recognizing that in the ESPN booth, don't you think the opposing team is hip to that game as well? Just saw a note from the Sun that showed we run that same play to Juice on 47 percent of our opening drives.  47 PERCENT!  Guys, you have to come up with something either more creative, or figure out a way to run the ball down the throat of the defense in order to open up the passing game.  At least come up with another option! This team surely lacks game breakers, but the strategic formula from the coaching staff isn't making it much better. Oh, and by the way. Great job by the talent evaluators passing on Freeney and picking up Babin. We really nailed it on that move.

Edited October 27, 2015 by BillyD

[Drew P]

I wish I could curse on this post

1. Why the hell do we keep using Marlon brown? Cut him

2. Givens and Ross should've been out there every snap with smith to stretch the field!

3. Why the hell do we keep doing the same predictable plays over and over? Same runs back to back?

4. I'm pissed off because we could've literally won every game we lost

 

In 2016 I don't want to hear the names Upshaw, Trestman, Monroe or Marlon associated with this squad

[go ravens86]

who going to be fired,and when will it happen

[bburnham89]

I'm a little conflicted about that INT. I feel there's 2 ways to look at it. 1) He should've moved out of the pocket away from that unblocked pass rusher and bought some time to make a better throw. 2) But if he does that and pass falls incomplete, there's a great chance you've run the clock out trying to make something happens. So, if that's what Joe was thinking, he goes ahead and lofts it up there towards his tallest, strongest player and hopes he comes down with it. That being said, I can't seem to decide if Gilmore should've done a better job of locating the ball, or if Joe could've taken an extra second to step into the throw instead of off his back foot. That pass rusher wasn't quite in his face yet. What say the rest of you? Granted, it doesn't come down to 1 play for this game. The whole team is playing bad right now, the cap situation has really been a huge impact this year between dead cap and injuries, and the DC and OC can't seem to get the team prepared.

All that being said, Joe and SSS seem to be the only 2 guys on offense that can really make magic happen. As good as Forsett has been he's not a true superstar (though still a solid starter). It's nice to see Joe getting more comfortable with Givens. We need to start him and SSS at WR because Aiken isn't scaring anyone and Brown is dropping too many passes. Hopefully Perriman does get to play at some point this season because if he doesn't, you wasted a valuable roster spot by not putting him on IR.

[budman]

1.  I'm actually pleased with their effort last night, they actually showed some fight.  

2.  For the longest, I wanted to give Marlon Brown a fair shot.  I just can't support him any longer. 

3.  Webb actually played very well last night. As hard as this is to say, Jimmy Smith has turned into

     a liability this year.  I have to believe he's not 100% from the foot injury last year.  (same with Wagner).

4.  I'm NEVER one to blame a loss on the refs, but they didn't help us out at all last night.  

5.  Played well last night; Flacco, Forsett, Allen, SSS, Givens,Canty, Dumervil, D. Smith, CJ Mosely and Webb.

 

One for the road: Pees called a pretty good game.  Can't blame him on the missed tackles on the CJ2K touchdown. 

Have to disagree on your Webb description. Webb is the liability. He simply has those bad knees now and cannot cover which is why he has to hook and turn, and hold or interfere. Penalty waiting to happen. He had a lot of promise before his knees went.

[BillyD]

I'm a little conflicted about that INT. I feel there's 2 ways to look at it. 1) He should've moved out of the pocket away from that unblocked pass rusher and bought some time to make a better throw. 2) But if he does that and pass falls incomplete, there's a great chance you've run the clock out trying to make something happens. So, if that's what Joe was thinking, he goes ahead and lofts it up there towards his tallest, strongest player and hopes he comes down with it. That being said, I can't seem to decide if Gilmore should've done a better job of locating the ball, or if Joe could've taken an extra second to step into the throw instead of off his back foot. That pass rusher wasn't quite in his face yet. What say the rest of you? Granted, it doesn't come down to 1 play for this game. The whole team is playing bad right now, the cap situation has really been a huge impact this year between dead cap and injuries, and the DC and OC can't seem to get the team prepared. All that being said, Joe and SSS seem to be the only 2 guys on offense that can really make magic happen. As good as Forsett has been he's not a true superstar (though still a solid starter). It's nice to see Joe getting more comfortable with Givens. We need to start him and SSS at WR because Aiken isn't scaring anyone and Brown is dropping too many passes. Hopefully Perriman does get to play at some point this season because if he doesn't, you wasted a valuable roster spot by not putting him on IR.

How about calling an audible?  He obviously recognized the blitz was coming, you could see him pause and look at the D.  I guess he thought he could float it and Gilmore would make a play.  I would just like to see Joe play with more confidence and just take the reigns.  I just don't see enough of that from him.  Don't get me wrong, I love Joe.  Just my opinion.

[PurpleRainBlackVeins]

Soooooooooooooo how long are we gonna ignore the elephant in the room??? Flacco's interceptions every game