Next up: Ravens at Browns, FirstEnergy Stadium Cleveland

[AWOLFNATION]

On paper, this seems to be a decent matchup for the Ravens. The offensive line will absolutely need to play better. Yanda had an uncharacteristically sloppy day for his level of talent, but still finished with a fine game overall. I think that Stanley and Lewis will continue to improve each week, even though they might hit some rough patches here and there. Wagner was solid, and that seems to be about what we can expect of him. Zuttah is my biggest concern. He doesn't have the pure power to really stop strong lineman, and it wouldn't surprise me if Urschel replaces him at center at some point this season. If the Ravens can find some improvement from the offensive line this week, the running game should click. That could open up some downfield chances to Wallace and Perriman. I also think that Pitta will have a solid day. Flacco could look to him often if the downfield routes are well-covered .

Defensively, I think that they will continue to play aggressively. It wouldn't surprise me to see the Browns put up a fair amount of yardage in this one, but I also think that the Ravens can get to McCown and will be able to shut down the Browns running game. They won't have to worry as much about containing McCown like they did with Tyrod Taylor and like they would have with RGIII, so I can see their outside rushers being able to be more aggressive. I think that having Weddle as the general of the secondary will continue to pay dividends. He will be able to keep cohesion more often than they had last season, which should help to eliminate some of the sloppy breakdowns in communication that were far too frequent.

Special teams could be a wild card. I think that Tucker and Koch will be reliable as usual. It's the blocking/coverage units and Hester that could go either way. They didn't do a particularly good job blocking on returns against Buffalo, which contributed to Hester's first return that didn't gain much yardage. If they can find some improvements this week, I think that you will see more opportunities for Hester to find lanes to run in. He obviously has the talent, even if he doesn't have the speed that he once had. Hopefully he will feel more comfortable each game. While he might now have the explosiveness of past seasons, he's still a Hall of Fame returner that is knowledgeable and sure-handed.

Overall, I'm hoping to see a good game that will result in a Ravens win.

[FerrariFan87]

1 hour ago, ellicottraven said:

Perriman and Mosley are the most concerning. I was wondering about Perriman seeing only 20 snaps on offense as well. But, if he was hurt there was no indication in his locker room interview. He seemed very excited. So, it is just cautionary hopefully. Mosley not being at practice is very concerning as well. He is the defensive QB right now. Without him, the flow of our defense is going to be affected.

I'd say Weddle has become the vocal leader of the D and that "QB" as well. I've never seen our secondary look so in-sync, especially since Reed and Lewis left.

[stuckonaboat13]

I'm more concerned about this game then most. This is a rivalry and regardless of the records or players these usually end up being hard fought.  Without a solid push from the D -line I don't think the Ravens will be able to win. You can't give a guy like McCown all day to throw, he's no superstar but he is more than capable. Last years match up continues to stick out in my mind. If we can get to him then the Ravens win this 20-13. If we continue to lack pass rush the Browns will win this 23-13

[Sami84]

hes has weapons

Pryor can really really play

Barnidge 

Coleman

Higgins

 

if they had Gordon I think our secondary would struggle ...

[BmoreBird22]

8 minutes ago, Sami84 said:

hes has weapons

Pryor can really really play

Barnidge 

Coleman

Higgins

 

if they had Gordon I think our secondary would struggle ...

Two are rookies and one just now is understanding his new position. I'm not as worried as you 

[Daft Classic]

I'm *hoping* the Browns are just too much of a jumbled mess right now to really give us a fight. They don't really have a #1 WR, RB, or QB but a mess of decent options. I think we can get by now, but the 2nd game will be interesting with McCown having momentum, Gordon being back, and some of their issues in order

[757RavensFan]

On 9/13/2016 at 0:55 PM, terps85 said:

Nassib is an edge player and will probably be on Wagner 90% of the time.  Shelton is the one to worry about with Zuttah.

Zuttah missing practice today doesn't help. 

[Ravens4Real]

23 minutes ago, Sami84 said:

hes has weapons

Pryor can really really play

Barnidge 

Coleman

Higgins

 

if they had Gordon I think our secondary would struggle ...

They also have Hawkins in the slot. Small shifty WR that will be really hard for our 3rd CB to cover.

[LosT_in_TranSlatioN]

1 hour ago, BmoreBird22 said:

Two are rookies and one just now is understanding his new position. I'm not as worried as you 

I actually agree but to play devil's advocate. Rookie WRs have gotten faster at lighting up the league past few years and I like Coleman's playing ability. I don't expect him or Pryor to give Jimmy fits but anything is possible. Barnidge is the one that scares me because CJ in the past has struggled in coverage.

 

But here' the thing. How are they gonna stop our weapons? Even without Perriman we still have a ton of depth. And Haden is overrated, Williams is old, and they cut williams. Who is there to fear?

[Sami84]

7 minutes ago, LosT_in_TranSlatioN said:

Oh noes, a game, vs. the vaunted Cleveland Browns! Just put Flacco on IR Right now. The season is over. 

#ManupandmajorlyloseforMylesGarret

 

i dont think cleveland are as bad as you guys think. RGIII being out might be the best thing possible for them. They have talent, sure they are young but would it shock me if they won ? nope..

[ellicottraven]

2 hours ago, FerrariFan87 said:

I'd say Weddle has become the vocal leader of the D and that "QB" as well. I've never seen our secondary look so in-sync, especially since Reed and Lewis left.

The thing is Weddle communicates with the secondary, but Mosley essentially has the ear of the defensive coaches and is supposed to relay the specific call to the defense. Technically he is the QB of the defense. So, while I get what you're saying because Weddle did handle that responsibility in San Diego, here its Mosley and not him.

[ellicottraven]

1 hour ago, 757RavensFan said:

Zuttah missing practice today doesn't help. 

If he's missed practice today I don't expect him to suit up Sunday. Its going to be either Jensen or Urschel that will man the Center position...

[usmccharles]

11 minutes ago, Sami84 said:

i dont think cleveland are as bad as you guys think. RGIII being out might be the best thing possible for them. They have talent, sure they are young but would it shock me if they won ? nope..

I actually agree.  I was looking forward to playing RG3, I expect us to be better than last year, I will definitely take the under on McCown throwing for 450yards. 

[Sami84]

im worried about our pass rush. Z.Smith looks like he hasnt shaken off an ankle issue ..doom is out..suggs is dealing with you know what. i look at the browns injury report and everyone is healthy ( apart from rg0) while we already are having lingering issues with players.

[Sami84]

2 hours ago, FerrariFan87 said:

I'd say Weddle has become the vocal leader of the D and that "QB" as well. I've never seen our secondary look so in-sync, especially since Reed and Lewis left.

 

 

 

yup.

I was condifent of beating the bills..but this might be a rude awakening for us. I have the browns winning this one by a touchdown.

[usmccharles]

18 minutes ago, Sami84 said:

im worried about our pass rush. Z.Smith looks like he hasnt shaken off an ankle issue ..doom is out..suggs is dealing with you know what. i look at the browns injury report and everyone is healthy ( apart from rg0) while we already are having lingering issues with players.

I'm actually not worried about our pass rush, I think if Taylor wasn't such a good mobile QB, we would of had numerous more sacks. 

Any idea on Doom's health anyone?

[Militant X 1]

This is a division rival game so there ain't no "blow outs" about to happen so stop the madness.  The brownies always play the Ravens tough with the proverbial, "you left our city and won a championship in Baltimore" chip on their shoulders.  Besides, McCown has a personal record of 2-1, 63.3 comp pct, 885 passing yards, 4 TD's and 0 INT's in those 3 games against the Ravens.  This will not be a cake walk ladies and gentlemen!  Our boys, as I always say; need to go to Cleveland, handle their own business and get the hell out of there with the "W" as soon as possible!

Ravens 17

Browns 13

[JoeyFlex5]

1 hour ago, usmccharles said:

I'm actually not worried about our pass rush, I think if Taylor wasn't such a good mobile QB, we would of had numerous more sacks. 

Any idea on Doom's health anyone?

If we faced a statue in the pocket type of qb I don't think 5 sacks would have been unrealistic. We came really close to a freaking ton of sacks, and we didn't miss by not getting there in time we missed because he juked tacklers. Our pass rush and specifically our blitzes were getting there often.

[Tornado777]

4 hours ago, 757RavensFan said:

Zuttah missing practice today doesn't help. 

That might be a good thing.

[Tornado777]

As long as our D continues to swarm the offense like African bees, Ravens will win easily. 24- 10 Ravens.

[allblackraven]

1 hour ago, Militant X 1 said:

This is a division rival game so there ain't no "blow outs" about to happen so stop the madness.  The brownies always play the Ravens tough with the proverbial, "you left our city and won a championship in Baltimore" chip on their shoulders.  Besides, McCown has a personal record of 2-1, 63.3 comp pct, 885 passing yards, 4 TD's and 0 INT's in those 3 games against the Ravens.  This will not be a cake walk ladies and gentlemen!  Our boys, as I always say; need to go to Cleveland, handle their own business and get the hell out of there with the "W" as soon as possible!

Ravens 17

Browns 13

Nah, man - all I read from that is that's about time McCown throws couple picks to us. Ravens by more than 2 scores.

[Ravens4Real]

I seen on ESPN that this game is supposed to be the worst to watch/worst match up quality out of all the games this week and possibly year.

At least we are winning at certain things in the media!

Edited September 14, 2016 by Ravens4Real

[stuckonaboat13]

36 minutes ago, Ravens4Real said:

I seen on ESPN that this game is supposed to be the worst to watch/worst match up quality out of all the games this week and possibly year.

At least we are winning at certain things in the media!

hahaha good , I don't care what the world thinks or if we stink it up as long as we are heading to Jax 2-0. That game will also be getting poor rating from ESPN as well I'm sure. Id love for the ravens to be under the radar and 3-0 when they return home to face the Raiders. Speaking of Jax anyone going to the game , I just got a couple tix looking to get a big ravens tailgate going on. 

[GrimCoconut]

2 hours ago, Militant X 1 said:

This is a division rival game so there ain't no "blow outs" about to happen so stop the madness.  The brownies always play the Ravens tough with the proverbial, "you left our city and won a championships in Baltimore" chip on their shoulders.  Besides, McCown has a personal record of 2-1, 63.3 comp pct, 885 passing yards, 4 TD's and 0 INT's in those 3 games against the Ravens.  This will not be a cake walk ladies and gentlemen!  Our boys, as I always say; need to go to Cleveland, handle their own business and get the hell out of there with the "W" as soon as possible!

Ravens 17

Browns 13

I fixed it.

[Inqui]

Man, after watching the Browns game from the weekend I think this one is going to be painfully low-scoring.

Offensively the right side of our OL needs to do a hell of a lot better than the Bills game. And I'm not convinced they will. Yanda will rebound if he isn't carrying an injury, but I'm not getting my hopes up for Zuttah. Wagner's an x-factor, but Carl Nassib looked pretty good even if he didn't make any big splash plays so that could be a tough battle for us as well. Granted we're not 2013 levels of bad, but I don't think we'll get enough push to eke out that 3.5-4.0ypc that you'd like in an away game. I'm not sure we'll have the time to go deep on every play either, so making those short and intermediate passes count will probably make or break our game. The Eagles found some success with underneath and clearout plays, and I think that's how we'll get most of our success in moving the chains - with the usual road issues (miscues and crowd noise and the like) being kind of a nuisance. But coming away with seven in the red zone will no doubt be a problem, so I'll be pleasantly surprised if we put 30 on these guys.

Defensively I think Jimmy will more or less lock down Terrelle Pryor or whoever takes him on in any given play. And I wouldn't be surprised if we spent more time putting one man on Coleman for the deep routes, then stuffing the box and sitting on short routes like we did against the Dolphins a couple of years ago. Pees showed he's willing to change things up against the Bills, and I really hope that continues here. We've had issues with McCown, but our secondary has never been this healthy and their OL looks beatable. If we can shut down Barnidge and Pryor (I'm not worried about the latter, but the former could pose more than a few problems) I think they'll seriously struggle to put up points. Hence a low-scoring game on both sides, where one big play or one muffed punt could be the difference.

Now watch us win a 42-41 shootout where neither side can get off the field.  

Edited September 15, 2016 by Inqui

[Sami84]

4 minutes ago, Inqui said:

Man, after watching the Browns game from the weekend I think this one is going to be painfully low-scoring.

Offensively the right side of our OL needs to do a hell of a lot better than the Bills game. And I'm not convinced they will. Yanda will rebound if he isn't carrying an injury, but I'm not getting my hopes up for Zuttah. Wagner's an x-factor, but Carl Nassib looked pretty good even if he didn't make any big splash plays so that could be a tough battle for us as well. Granted we're not 2013 levels of bad, but I don't think we'll get enough push to eke out that 3.5-4.0ypc that you'd like in an away game. I'm not sure we'll have the time to go deep on every play either, so making those short and intermediate passes count will probably make or break our game. The Eagles found some success with underneath and clearout plays, and I think that's how we'll get most of our success in moving the chains - with the usual road issues (miscues and crowd noise and the like) being kind of a nuisance. But coming away with seven in the red zone will no doubt be a problem, so I'll be pleasantly surprised if we put 30 on these guys.

Defensively I think Jimmy will more or less lock down Terrelle Pryor or whoever takes him on in any given play. And I wouldn't be surprised if we spent more time putting one man on Coleman for the deep routes, then stuffing the box and sitting on short routes like we did against the Dolphins a couple of years ago. Pees showed he's willing to change things up against the Bills, and I really hope that continues here. We've had issues with McCown, but our secondary has never been this healthy and their OL looks beatable. If we can shut down Barnidge and Pryor (I'm not worried about the latter, but the former could pose more than a few problems) I think they'll seriously struggle to put up points. Hence a low-scoring game on both sides, where one big play or one muffed punt could be the difference.

Now watch us win a 42-41 shootout where neither side can get off the field.  

 

 

words cannot adaequtly describe how much better i'd feel if we had a pro bowl caliber center. It would really solidify everything with the two rookies on the left.

Edited September 15, 2016 by Sami84

[ellicottraven]

7 minutes ago, Sami84 said:

words cannot adaequtly describe how much better i'd feel if we had a pro bowl caliber center. It would really solidify everything with the two rookies on the left.

Is anybody available out there that is better than who we have or perhaps any team that could be lured into a trade? 

[Inqui]

4 minutes ago, Sami84 said:

words cannot adaequtly describe how much better i'd feel if we had a pro bowl calibre center. It would really solidify everything with the two rookies on the left.

I'm actually not that worried about the left side. Ogbah had his moments, but he's really no scarier than anything Stanley's already faced and I expect that battle should at least go our way for most of the day. Lewis probably won't do as well, but I don't think he'll be a disaster by any stretch. But I agree in a big way about wanting even a consistently good C (top 12, say). It would probably elevate Yanda's play too.

I was saying to @GrimCoconut that I know it's not the Ravens way to spend money on a LG, but if we'd at least managed to land Josh Sitton that would have given us a few options to reshuffle the line without doing anything drastic.

[January J]

3 hours ago, allblackraven said:

Nah, man - all I read from that is that's about time McCown throws couple picks to us. Ravens by more than 2 scores.

That's the way I see it.

[Davesta]

4 hours ago, Ravens4Real said:

I seen on ESPN that this game is supposed to be the worst to watch/worst match up quality out of all the games this week and possibly year.

At least we are winning at certain things in the media!

Can't be worst than that MNF 49ers v Rams game.