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

[BR News]

Hard to imagine Ravens cutting any up-and-coming running backs. Ronnie Stanley sets a different tone at left tackle. Cam Newton got the best of Ravens secondary.

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[ellicottraven]

Who's that Samford DT that was all over the ball? That guy is a stud. Most importantly he's a football player. I hope he makes the practice squad at least.

[Ravensfansince03]

I have to disagree with Eisenberg on the RB situation. I watched the game at a bar near the stadium and during the game many people including me said that Kennith Dixon looks ready and Allen & West are mediocre at best. First of all good RB's dont run East & West.

[Ravensfansince03]

Who's that Samford DT that was all over the ball? That guy is a stud. Most importantly he's a football player. I hope he makes the practice squad at least.

I'll keep an eye out for him

[JoeKnows]

Chris Carter was impressive. Flashed on my TV screen all night.

[cbrook1862]

I have to disagree with Eisenberg on the RB situation. I watched the game at a bar near the stadium and during the game many people including me said that Kennith Dixon looks ready and Allen & West are mediocre at best. First of all good RB's dont run East & West.

Maybe on some plays you thought Dixon was West. West had 2 touchdowns and I believe more yards. West was a beast out there tonight so I have no idea what ur talkin about. Also the only time I seen any of the RB's do anything except run downhill was When West had to re-route and run to the right when the running lanes collapsed and he was about to run into a wall of defenders for a 5 yard loss. Yea good RB's do what they have to do to make the play. He scored a TD so if a back needs to go East/West to get out of trouble and extend the play then that's what he'll do.

[cbrook1862]

My 5 thoughts

1) The ravens emphasized pass-rush this offseason and it showed. Guys were getting after the QB all night, causing a strip sack, other sacks, and rushed throws. If the panthers QB wasn't so athletic and fast he would've been sacked at least 3 times.

2) Run game greatly improved. Even though we stuck to a simple playbook tonight and had a limited number of weapons, it was clear that running the ball is definitely a priority this season. I think we ran the ball efficiently and effectively.

3) Defense tightened up in the red zone. Even thought the Panthers threaten to score often, they were held to just one TD and keeping teams out the end zone is always a must.

4) Better discipline. Last season we constantly shot ourselves in the foot with repeated dumb and careless penalties, but tonight I think we were only penalized 3 times with one questionable PI call.

5) Secondary still needs some work. Cam moved down the field easily the first series, and panthers receivers were catching passes across the middle frequently. we also gave up a few 3&longs. I will say that we often did have good coverage on guys, but just wasn't able to make the play. Another emphasis this offseason was on turnovers, so there can't be any "almost had it's," if in position we need to get an interception or break up the pass but we need to make sure we capitalize on opportunities and when we have tight coverage.

Look forward to next week and hopefully we'll have Chris Moore, Campanro, and Perriman on the field.

[verified]

2 thoughts. kyle arrington still cant cover. Cam was picking on him with ease. I cringe everytime i see him on the field. Number 2, sharece wright is not a starting corner, i dont know what the coaching staff sees in him and i couldnt care less about him and jimmy smiths relationship the guy simply cant play.

[RaRaRavens]

4 hours ago, Ravensfansince03 said:

I have to disagree with Eisenberg on the RB situation. I watched the game at a bar near the stadium and during the game many people including me said that Kennith Dixon looks ready and Allen & West are mediocre at best. First of all good RB's dont run East & West.

I agree with you about Allen since HE didn't do anything in first game. The 19-yard TD catch&run was made possible only by solid blocking. I probably could have scored a TD on that play. As to his running game, 6 yards on 6 carries, how is that a good game for a RB?! It was only a first game but let's hope it won't be spohmore slump year for Allen.

As for West, maybe you had your beer goggles on in that bar, bro, but technique wise he was probably the best RB of the day. About good RB's not running East&West, do I have to remind you about this one D*head LeVeon Bell who seems to scorch us in every game at least couple of times by changing the running direction. Running to the other side is solid tactic when no immediate lane opens up and the defenders are over pursuing with their shoulders turned. You'd be right if the defenders had been keeping their ground with shoulders square to the RB, but in that play West made absolutely right decision. Might wanna sober up and rewatch that play.

Edited August 12, 2016 by RaRaRavens

[Purple Dawg 96]

Love it! Like I've been saying the running game is on point and so refreshing to watch, just hit teams secondary like they hit ours and the Ravens should manifest big time! I love the run also but it's holding the Ravens back from doing something much greater! THIS OUR YEAR!

[Zeus]

Secondary got worse, how's that possible?

[Steve32]

I have to disagree with Eisenberg on the RB situation. I watched the game at a bar near the stadium and during the game many people including me said that Kennith Dixon looks ready and Allen & West are mediocre at best. First of all good RB's dont run East & West.

Apparently you had too much to drink if you think West was mediocre.

[hen826957]

Secondary got worse, how's that possible?

I'm also still concern about the secondary. Hope it's improves next preseason game because we still have problems breaking up plays and letting them gain big yards.

[billiejean]

Who's that Samford DT that was all over the ball? That guy is a stud. Most importantly he's a football player. I hope he makes the practice squad at least.

easy there cowboy, it was just a preseason game

[EdTheMythicalOne]

Who's that Samford DT that was all over the ball? That guy is a stud. Most importantly he's a football player. I hope he makes the practice squad at least.

That was #78 Michael Pierce. He made some nice plays and I don't think he got a ton of snaps because he was behind Carl Davis and Willie Henry. But if Harbaugh is looking for some playmakers, Pierce improved his stock.

[Minionhunter]

I have to disagree with Eisenberg on the RB situation. I watched the game at a bar near the stadium and during the game many people including me said that Kennith Dixon looks ready and Allen & West are mediocre at best. First of all good RB's dont run East & West.

One of them took a run out of a clear hole and ran it into the line (I think Allen). Dixon looked like his college self, running the ball to the sides way too often, other than the one nice run up the middle. Hopefully he can get cured of that. West looked good, he did kind of play it like a game, meaning some runs not for much, but if he were l ad back that is just fine in the first half to punish the defense while getting his feel for the game and set up longer runs later. I liked West then Allen and Dixon last night. West is gunning for Justin's job. We are stronger with all our tailbacks doing well.

[EdTheMythicalOne]

I have to disagree with Eisenberg on the RB situation. I watched the game at a bar near the stadium and during the game many people including me said that Kennith Dixon looks ready and Allen & West are mediocre at best. First of all good RB's dont run East & West.

West looked good and on some plays got more yards than were blocked for him. He showed good vision and very fast cuts. The O-line was getting pushed around a lot and they didn't open up a lot of holes. Dixon looked good as well, he kept churning and was finishing runs going forward. Buck Allen was the one that didn't impress running.

I disagree with you on some degree. Some of the all time great running backs took the ball east and west before going north and south, Barry Sanders is the first one to come to mind just because of recency, Gail Sayers and Walter Payton would be two more.

[EdTheMythicalOne]

Chris Carter was impressive. Flashed on my TV screen all night.

He clearly stood out and was making a number of plays, most notable was the one where he completely decleated the O-line man en route to blowing up the QB.

[billiejean]

I have to disagree with Eisenberg on the RB situation. I watched the game at a bar near the stadium and during the game many people including me said that Kennith Dixon looks ready and Allen & West are mediocre at best. First of all good RB's dont run East & West.

i think we may have had this discussion before. Your ability to analyze NFL football players is suspect at best.

[ravenwildman]

Lots of stuff for the Ravens to work on. The secondary is still a concern to me at CB. Powers got owned, twice receivers had a couple steps on Jimmy, Wright had a height disadvantage on the TD, but his technique was solid. Of course defense was playing vanilla without some starters so perhaps it seemed worse than it was. Backups looked solid this year so far :) GO RAVENS! 25

[EdTheMythicalOne]

How come nobody is mentioning Josh Johnson. If Mallet was solid, then Johnson was "solider." Mallet threw some lame ducks and overthrew some guys, underthrew some others. Josh Johnson was dropping the ball into guys perfectly in stride most of the night and only one bad miss I saw was the short hop to Clay.

The O-line was a bit underwhelming. Stanley did a good job and I realize Yanda wasn't in there, but Ducasse and Wesley looked pretty bad at RG and the line got pushed back often, didn't open up many running lanes. They protected the QB's pretty well though so that's a plus.

Arrington and Powers had rough nights. Arrington because he was simply out of position all the time and Powers because he was falling down. I noticed that even though Jimmy Smith wasn't in the game long, he was in long enough to be beaten on a pass that should have been a TD if it wasn't thrown so poorly. I thought the safeties did a pretty good job overall. Elam missed a tackle on a play where he crashed down on an outside run, but he stopped the play's momentum and somebody else was able to clean up the tackle.

[rmcjacket23]

2 thoughts. kyle arrington still cant cover. Cam was picking on him with ease. I cringe everytime i see him on the field. Number 2, sharece wright is not a starting corner, i dont know what the coaching staff sees in him and i couldnt care less about him and jimmy smiths relationship the guy simply cant play.

I think the 2nd half of 2015 proved that he can play pretty well.

[Shaky End of the Quarter]

West had 2.8 yards per carry. Allen had 1 yard per carry. Dixon had 4.8 yards per carry. Since when is 2.8YPC and 1YPC stealing the show? I was not impressed one bit with the performance we put forward. If the Panther starters would have played the entire game we would have got creamed by 35. Its only the first preseason game (don't mean to be a debbie downer) but everything
i have seen and read indicates we are a 7-9 non-playoff team. Hope it doesn't come to fruition but last year I had the same feeling and predicted we would finish 5-11 or 6-10 at best. Which is exactly were we finished.

[trevorsteadman]

West had 2.8 yards per carry. Allen had 1 yard per carry. Dixon had 4.8 yards per carry. Since when is 2.8YPC and 1YPC stealing the show? I was not impressed one bit with the performance we put forward. If the Panther starters would have played the entire game we would have got creamed by 35. Its only the first preseason game (don't mean to be a debbie downer) but everything
i have seen and read indicates we are a 7-9 non-playoff team. Hope it doesn't come to fruition but last year I had the same feeling and predicted we would finish 5-11 or 6-10 at best. Which is exactly were we finished.

If you watched the game at all West had about 6 or 7 yards a carry besides the goal line situations he was put in. He converted a few first downs and got the ball in the end zone twice from a yard or two away. Otherwise he was probably going to average 6 yards a carr.

[trevorsteadman]

  6 hours ago, JoeKnows said:

Chris Carter was impressive. Flashed on my TV screen all night.

He clearly stood out and was making a number of plays, most notable was the one where he completely decleated the O-line man en route to blowing up the QB.

Gino Gradkowski lol

[bioLarzen]

QB stats can be so, so misleading and unfair at times... you throw a perfect pass, but the target fails to catch it - it's an INT on your resumé... on the other hand, you throw a 1-yard screen which the target magically turns into a 50-yard TD - you get a 50-yard TD on your resumé...

[bioLarzen]

West had 2.8 yards per carry. Allen had 1 yard per carry. Dixon had 4.8 yards per carry. Since when is 2.8YPC and 1YPC stealing the show? I was not impressed one bit with the performance we put forward. If the Panther starters would have played the entire game we would have got creamed by 35. Its only the first preseason game (don't mean to be a debbie downer) but everything
i have seen and read indicates we are a 7-9 non-playoff team. Hope it doesn't come to fruition but last year I had the same feeling and predicted we would finish 5-11 or 6-10 at best. Which is exactly were we finished.

A huge average YPC isn't the only way to be impressive. You can have a 10 YPC average but turn the ball over three times - and you can have a 3.0 YPC average with 3 TD's - which one's better?

[fusuymada]

West had 2.8 yards per carry. Allen had 1 yard per carry. Dixon had 4.8 yards per carry. Since when is 2.8YPC and 1YPC stealing the show? I was not impressed one bit with the performance we put forward. If the Panther starters would have played the entire game we would have got creamed by 35. Its only the first preseason game (don't mean to be a debbie downer) but everything
i have seen and read indicates we are a 7-9 non-playoff team. Hope it doesn't come to fruition but last year I had the same feeling and predicted we would finish 5-11 or 6-10 at best. Which is exactly were we finished.

If all you look at is stats then Ryan Mallet ran for 6.5 yds a carry, why didn't we just let him run all night? You have to take into consideration when those yards were made, what were the downs, what were the situations, what was the ball location? Its hard to run for 20 yards when 1 yard gets you into the endzone. That happened twice to West yesterday. And on short yardage, the runner is attempting to get a first down on an obvious run down so the defense stacks the box. Getting 2 yards and a first down is highly successful in that instance. And how would the Panthers starters have scored 35 points based on their production because when Cam was in they only scored 3 points? I would say I am happy that Ryan Mallett played almost dead even with MVP Cam Newton. And I am happy that our young guys were able to get the stops they needed in crucial points in the game to allow us to secure the victory. Last year they could not do that. Anyone who is not tickled with the running game, Waller, Butler, the young defensive guys and our secondary, are looking for reasons to whine. YES, our secondary, because I saw passes blocked last night and we didn't even get close to passes last year. So are they perfect? No, are they vastly improved from last year? Absolutely and well on the way to a very good season

[Drew P]

What's the prognosis on Tavon Young? Clearly the best DB on the team lol

[EdTheMythicalOne]

50 minutes ago, trevorsteadman said:

Gino Gradkowski lol

Was it Gino? No way..the knock on him while he was here was that he wasn't strong enough. Guess that play didn't do much to help dispel that notion. I guess the Gino most famous here in football terms is still Marchetti. If you've ever eaten at a Gino's here in Maryland, that's the guy behind them.