Week 1: The good the bad and the ugly vs Buffalo

[PurpleCity5]

PFF focus has posted its grades. 

Here's the link: https://www.profootballfocus.com/pro-buf-bal-grades/

Top offensive grades:

G Marshal Yanda, 83.5

QB Joe Flacco, 80.7

WR Mike Wallace, 80.5

HB Justin Forsett, 74.8

WR Breshad Perriman, 71.6

I'm surprised at Joe's high grade. IMO I thought he was solid but I don't know if he was this good. He missed some guys, threw flat footed and made some mistakes, I'll probably go back and look at the tape. 

Perriman only saw two targets but also got a good grade, I found that surprising as well. 

 

Top defensive grades:

S Eric Weddle, 84.2

CB Shareece Wright, 81.3

NT Brandon Williams, 80.6

DE Timmy Jernigan, 77.9

LB Albert McClellan, 77.8

No surprise here, all of these guys played their hearts out. 

[Inqui]

4 hours ago, Maryland said:

lol I was logging on to here just to see if anyone else noticed how bad Zuttah was today. He's continuing from a bad preseason, too. Usually O-linemen are still in their prime at age 30, but he has regressed it seems. Hopefully it's just a bad game and this is all overreaction, but he looked weak out there today even when he wasn't whiffing on blocks or hiking the ball at the wrong time. He's a big reason why our inside runs went for no gain.

I'm curious as to what playbook Trestman's using this season. There was talk he was using Gary Kubiak's last year, which wouldn't necessarily have helped. But if he's using his own one this year, Zuttah's drop-off could be a by-product of that if he doesn't fit whatever blocking scheme Trestman uses. I'd be very interested in what someone more knowledgeable than myself in these matters has to say on that possibility.

[Maryland]

35 minutes ago, Inqui said:

I'm curious as to what playbook Trestman's using this season. There was talk he was using Gary Kubiak's last year, which wouldn't necessarily have helped. But if he's using his own one this year, Zuttah's drop-off could be a by-product of that if he doesn't fit whatever blocking scheme Trestman uses. I'd be very interested in what someone more knowledgeable than myself in these matters has to say on that possibility.

It's still a zone-blocking scheme--that was actually an area of continuity between Kub and Trestman's offenses (Trestman ran ZBS in Chicago) 

[PurpleCity5]

38 minutes ago, Inqui said:

I'm curious as to what playbook Trestman's using this season. There was talk he was using Gary Kubiak's last year, which wouldn't necessarily have helped. But if he's using his own one this year, Zuttah's drop-off could be a by-product of that if he doesn't fit whatever blocking scheme Trestman uses. I'd be very interested in what someone more knowledgeable than myself in these matters has to say on that possibility.

 

1 minute ago, Maryland said:

It's still a zone-blocking scheme--that was actually an area of continuity between Kub and Trestman's offenses (Trestman ran ZBS in Chicago) 

I can recall some people here saying that Trestman usually runs with the same playbook his first year and changes it up the second. It would be weird if he did that since there was no news of it what so ever. It would make sense though since the first year is always his best with a drop off the second year. 

[redrum52]

5 hours ago, flynismo said:

Agreed on Wallace. I expected us to use him in various roles -- possession guy, slot guy, deep ball guy, and we got to see a little bit of that today. He is going to have a big season.

And my god, that throw and catch on the first Perriman play...that is EXACTLY what this offense has lacked since...1996?

What about that toss to Pittake?  Let not sleep on the  Bills defense either.  Teams are still feeling each other out and they have a pretty good secondary.  I'm more worried about our interior line still, but hopefully the chemistry grows.  This really had an old school Ravens feel to it.

[redrum52]

1 hour ago, PurpleCity5 said:

PFF focus has posted its grades. 

Here's the link: https://www.profootballfocus.com/pro-buf-bal-grades/

Top offensive grades:

G Marshal Yanda, 83.5

QB Joe Flacco, 80.7

WR Mike Wallace, 80.5

HB Justin Forsett, 74.8

WR Breshad Perriman, 71.6

I'm surprised at Joe's high grade. IMO I thought he was solid but I don't know if he was this good. He missed some guys, threw flat footed and made some mistakes, I'll probably go back and look at the tape. 

Perriman only saw two targets but also got a good grade, I found that surprising as well. 

 

Top defensive grades:

S Eric Weddle, 84.2

CB Shareece Wright, 81.3

NT Brandon Williams, 80.6

DE Timmy Jernigan, 77.9

LB Albert McClellan, 77.8

No surprise here, all of these guys played their hearts out. 

From what I saw he had to move around a decent amount of times and still o5ut up some decent throws.  Also seems to be getting or attempting to get the ball out for quick strikes.

 

Also, for the pass rush, though I see some of the same problems, but might have been due to also trying to contain Tyrod. 

[PolishRifle]

1 hour ago, PurpleCity5 said:

PFF focus has posted its grades. 

I'm surprised at Joe's high grade. IMO I thought he was solid but I don't know if he was this good. He missed some guys, threw flat footed and made some mistakes, I'll probably go back and look at the tape. 

Perriman only saw two targets but also got a good grade, I found that surprising as well.

I know, that the Ravens offense could've played better, but 67% 258yrds and a TD aren't bad.

I agree with everyone, that Joe looked timid and some of those shoestring catches could've been avoided, if he stepped into it, which I hope he'll get over in the next couple of games, but he did throw a beautiful TD pass to Wallace, that throw to BP wasn't half bad either and he made some big plays escaping the pocket. I believe one huge completion went to Aiken, while escaping pressure from Jerry Hughes. It was awesome.

Did we see January Joe? Nope. But I actually feel pretty good with this offense moving forward. Joe is a calm and tough guy. I'm sure he'll eventually get over his injury and how many times will we see a game, where Yanda has TWO false starts? Everyone was a bit off.

Edited September 12, 2016 by PolishRifle

[Filmstudy]

6 hours ago, sharkh20 said:

The Good: Player of the day was Wright.  What a game.  Great pursuit to the ball.  Looked fast.

Defense played pretty well minus the non existent pass rush after we took the lead.

All the receivers we have.

 

The Bad:  Pass Rush

 

The Ugly:  Offense looked like "Here we go again" garbage.  I don't know how many times you have to do a 0 yard out before you realize it isn't going to work as your number one go to play.  Every time we have a 3rd and 4th down play, we do a play under the first down marker.  It is like watching an insane person make the same mistakes over and over with Trestman.  Meanwhile he is making me look insane yelling at the TV but that is another story.  I think he has a rule where he is only allowed to use the middle of the field less that 5 times a game.

Refs seemed to continue their trend of making up new rules to stop Rex Ryan teams.  I felt bad for Tyrod all last year and I would have felt bad for him again this game if it wasn't against the Ravens.  He plays well and every time it looks like his team has turned the momentum, I see a flag for calls I didn't even know existed.  Bailed us out multiple times and tried their best to give us points.

Good stuff.  It was a very controlled pass rush, but they have to get home more (and convert) when they have that much time to rush.

[Sami84]

just watched the raiders game and KO beasted...seriously beasted.

We just cannot afford to have zuttah in this lineup anymore. Lewis might have promise but i doubt he'll reach KO's level. cant have a scrub next to him.

[Jacquouille]

Wright and Orr have shut down McCoy all by themselves.

Also happy to see Jernigan making plays.

 

That's promiosing for sure, now I'll be disappointed if we don't roll over the Browns on both offense and defense.

[Tank 92]

43 minutes ago, Sami84 said:

just watched the raiders game and KO beasted...seriously beasted.

We just cannot afford to have zuttah in this lineup anymore. Lewis might have promise but i doubt he'll reach KO's level. cant have a scrub next to him.

LMAO!  At $12 mil. a year he better be beastly!  And he's playing guard. Right?

[Sami84]

2 minutes ago, Tank 92 said:

LMAO!  At $12 mil. a year he better be beastly!  And he's playing guard. Right?

he played quite a few snaps at tackle when watson went out.

We just miss his strength and physicality. 

[Tank 92]

3 minutes ago, Sami84 said:

he played quite a few snaps at tackle when watson went out.

We just miss his strength and physicality. 

Yeah don't get me wrong, any team would miss KO, he is wondermous. But oh that salary!  

[52liveforever]

I personally don't know that our pass rush was that bad. We didn't get the sacks, but I saw Jernigan, Judon, Zadarius, Mclellan who isn't even a pass rusher and even webby getting back there. Tyrod wasn't at all comfortable and he really isn't a guy that gets sacked all that much to begin with so I feel like the game plan may have been more about putting just enough pressure on him to make him uncomfortable, but not too much to where he will burn us and make us pay. Because we definitely contained him when he did try to take off. 

[BOLDnPurPnBlacK]

Everyone knocking the pass rush, I think we need to keep in mind who we were facing. You can't just go full speed after a guy like Tyrod where he can make u miss, get outside the pocket and make big plays. 

Definitely more important to stay in your lanes, hold the edges and make him beat you from the pocket. We did that minus one play... And still got home 3 times, missing one. That play where McLellan missed shows it. Had we gone all out trying to hit him, he makes more of those plays. 

Next week we've got another mobile QB, but I think we'll be more aggressive with him. Either way give it a few weeks to decide if the lack of consistent pass rush was really ineffextiveness or just part of the game plan. 

[rmw10]

20 minutes ago, 52liveforever said:

I personally don't know that our pass rush was that bad. We didn't get the sacks, but I saw Jernigan, Judon, Zadarius, Mclellan who isn't even a pass rusher and even webby getting back there. Tyrod wasn't at all comfortable and he really isn't a guy that gets sacked all that much to begin with so I feel like the game plan may have been more about putting just enough pressure on him to make him uncomfortable, but not too much to where he will burn us and make us pay. Because we definitely contained him when he did try to take off. 

Yeah I wouldn't say it was bad.  I think we need more consistency than anything.  There were quite a few occasions where there was simply too much time in the pocket.  Whenever you play someone like Tyrod, Russell, Cam, etc., you have to expect that they'll be able to extend a few plays with their legs.

[rmw10]

One other area that we really struggled was ST, believe it or not.  The return game was awful on the occasion Hester did actually get his hands on the ball.  Hester looked a little rusty which you'd expect for a guy that had about a week of true practice, but he was getting no blocking either.  Rosburg needs to whip them into shape, because it wasn't pretty.

[balfan23]

24 minutes ago, 52liveforever said:

I personally don't know that our pass rush was that bad. We didn't get the sacks, but I saw Jernigan, Judon, Zadarius, Mclellan who isn't even a pass rusher and even webby getting back there. Tyrod wasn't at all comfortable and he really isn't a guy that gets sacked all that much to begin with so I feel like the game plan may have been more about putting just enough pressure on him to make him uncomfortable, but not too much to where he will burn us and make us pay. Because we definitely contained him when he did try to take off. 

Seriously, are people calling out the pass rush based on that performance? Going into the game, containment was stated as probably the most important thing for us to do in this game. We didn't get a high number of sacks, but as you say TT was never really comfortable all game. 

Like Sizzle said in his interview "Pees called a helluva game. Dont let TT make an explosive play and break things open". That's what they did. No complaints here on this one. 

[balfan23]

The Good: The Defense ... all the way around. Wright might have been the player of the game, but players that I've called out as needing to perform, largely Jimmy and Timmy - both were solid. Great to see Sizzle back. Orr is looking like a true starter. Got off the field consistently and no conversions on 3rd and long, as we've been susceptible to. 

The Bad: Seeing the offense squander multiple opportunities to put the game out of reach, but instead threw the game back to the defense to win. We looked like we were playing offense as if we had the 2000 Ravens D behind us. Fortunately, while the 2016 D isn't that, they were up to the task

The Ugly: The win. It was ugly, but at the same time, it was so beautiful. To lose this would have been dreadful. We had to win and we did. 

 

[GrimCoconut]

26 minutes ago, rmw10 said:

One other area that we really struggled was ST, believe it or not.  The return game was awful on the occasion Hester did actually get his hands on the ball.  Hester looked a little rusty which you'd expect for a guy that had about a week of true practice, but he was getting no blocking either.  Rosburg needs to whip them into shape, because it wasn't pretty.

Yep. Special Teams wasn't good. I recall people criticizing the unit in preseason, and I know I said it could be because guys with ST roles were playing defense and would likely switch to ST later but yep, those concerns are looking validated. I think people put too little emphasis on preseason at times here. Yes, it's true that it is only preseason but you do get an idea about how a team looks from preseason as well. When there are trends, you do have to wonder if the trends will continue. 

[JoeyFlex5]

If people are complaining about the pass rush its because they don't understand the value of pressure and only appreciate sacks. There's more depth to pass rush than raw sack numbers and ESPECIALLY when facing a qb as dangerous on his feet as tyrod, he escaped which is expected and we kept him behind the line for the most part and didn't allow him to roll out and throw downfield. 

Our pass rush fell off for a few possessions because we played more passively, then we ramped it back up and destroyed them. 

[Purple_City39]

11 minutes ago, JoeyFlex5 said:

If people are complaining about the pass rush its because they don't understand the value of pressure and only appreciate sacks. There's more depth to pass rush than raw sack numbers and ESPECIALLY when facing a qb as dangerous on his feet as tyrod, he escaped which is expected and we kept him behind the line for the most part and didn't allow him to roll out and throw downfield. 

Our pass rush fell off for a few possessions because we played more passively, then we ramped it back up and destroyed them. 

Yeah I don't understand all the complaints about the pass rush.  They did very well.  They put pressure on Tyrod all game long and forced him to move often.  Had it been a non-mobile QB, at least 3 more sacks would have been added to the stat sheet.  But Tyrod was expected to be elusive 

[rmw10]

13 minutes ago, GrimCoconut said:

Yep. Special Teams wasn't good. I recall people criticizing the unit in preseason, and I know I said it could be because guys with ST roles were playing defense and would likely switch to ST later but yep, those concerns are looking validated. I think people put too little emphasis on preseason at times here. Yes, it's true that it is only preseason but you do get an idea about how a team looks from preseason as well. When there are trends, you do have to wonder if the trends will continue. 

I guess the silver lining is that the mistakes were by some of the younger guys.  I recall Tavon Young literally standing behind the Bills' punt returner, I guess thinking it was a fair catch or that he was going to let it bounce, and just letting him run up the sideline.  I can accept those types of mistakes because you know they'll be learning points, and I'm confident that Rosburg will make sure something like that doesn't happen again.

[redlobster]

8 hours ago, LosT_in_TranSlatioN said:

Is water dry?

I guess 16 ST snaps is good for a very high 2nd round pick?

[RavensFanMania]

9 hours ago, LosT_in_TranSlatioN said:

Who?

 

Sorry for The mispellings, I was on mobile and mistyped Urschel.  

Edited September 12, 2016 by RavensFanMania

[Sami84]

OK i watched the game again here are my individual grades

 

Offence

Flacco : C 

He wasn't as bad as i first thought but he needs to start moving out the pocket. One bonheaded throw to SSR which darby would have taken to the house on another day.

Forsett: B-

Decent game 

West B-

See above

 

Juice D

Outside of his one reception i thought his blocking was quite poor

 

Stanley D

Really struggled allround. Was bullrushed plenty and the pre draft concerns of his strength came about in this game. Not much going on in the run game either.

 

Lewis D+

Decent in pass pro but offered little in the run game. Doesn't have enough strength. Huge downgrade from KO.

 

Zuttah E

An abomination. Whether it was williams or washington or brown blitzing it was just a revolving door. didnt need to rewatch him..it was painful

 

Yanda B

An average game by his standards. Outside of the 2 penalties he was the only guy that made run blocking possible. If this were any other player i'd have a higher grade but with yanda i set the bar higher.

 

Wagner D

Disappointing. He looked good in the pre season. 

 

SSS: D

Tried but clearly has lost burst off the line

Wallace: B+

Still looks electric fast. That jet sweep in slow motion reply shows you how fast he is lol..everyone else looks in slow motion..not him though. great TD

 

Perriman C+

The highlight grab and nothing much else outside of a missed slant catch. It's clear trestman wants that play for him. He needs to make those plays. Some good blocking though outside of that

 

Aiken C-

Pretty much invisible outside of 1 catch in the 1st quarter.

 

Moore C

Nice catch and run..crisp routes.  Want to see more of him.

 

Pitta B+

Apart from that 1 drop..it was same old dennis pitta.

 

Gilmore C

Some nice blocks but nothing in the catching game of note

 

Williams N/A

He apparantly played..

 

Hester : D

did nothing of note..would have been a C if it werent for his last play where he lost yardage

 

tucker : A

nuff said

Koch B

Has had better days but nothing bad.

 

Defence

B.Williams B+

A force down the middle. They couldnt run on him.

Jernigan: B+

Looked good..

Pierce: B+

Nicely stuffed the running play and had 2 pressures down the middle in limited snaps

Urban C

Just seems to be another guy

Guy B-

Solid game allround even though pass rush was lacking.

Z'Smith B-

Mixed bag but better than my initial thoughts when watching live. Had a few pressures but lost the edge a few times on McCoy's runs. He's never going to be an elite pass rusher but it be good if he could seal the edge and be a bit more well-rounded.

Suggs C-

Clearly can diagnose plays but looked sluggish at times. On others he looked good.

 

Judon  B

in limited snaps its clear he's got the potential with more to get a sack in pretty much every game. Got caught in the run game once but he breaths down the QB neck more often than not. Needs more snaps

 

CJ Mosely B-

Solid if unspectacular. Decent coverage. 

 

Zach Orr B

Better than Cj. Was always around the ball and didnt hesitate. 

 

A.McCllelan C-

Almost had a decent game but really struggled in the run D. Infuriatingly missed on sacking TT but i know its not easy getting hands on him.

 

Wright   A

Great game and was unlucky not to take one potential interception to the house. MVP

 

J.Smith C+

 Covered well but clearly didnt have the footwork to deal with sammy watkins..Weddle helped him big time during coverage schemes. If not, it might have been ugly to watch.

 

Weddle A-

watch coaches film. He saved our asses more than people think. 

 

Webb B

Good game. Some nice blitzes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 12, 2016 by Sami84

[rmcjacket23]

1 hour ago, rmw10 said:

One other area that we really struggled was ST, believe it or not.  The return game was awful on the occasion Hester did actually get his hands on the ball.  Hester looked a little rusty which you'd expect for a guy that had about a week of true practice, but he was getting no blocking either.  Rosburg needs to whip them into shape, because it wasn't pretty.

Mostly agree. I thought our kick coverage was generally pretty good, but our return game wasn't.

Although, this game was one of the biggest supporters of my argument for ST... you don't have to be great at it, but you can't suck at it.

The Bills completely sucked at it yesterday. Four ST penalties and a missed FG. 

Easily one of the biggest differences in the game.

[rmw10]

3 minutes ago, rmcjacket23 said:

Mostly agree. I thought our kick coverage was generally pretty good, but our return game wasn't.

Although, this game was one of the biggest supporters of my argument for ST... you don't have to be great at it, but you can't suck at it.

The Bills completely sucked at it yesterday. Four ST penalties and a missed FG. 

Easily one of the biggest differences in the game.

For sure.  Definitely more complaints on the return portion of ST than the coverage portion.  Few miscues there, such as the Tavon Young note above, but many more issues on returns.

[berad]

The gameplan was obviously to pass... and pass a lot. Only having 2 RBs active made that pretty clear. Still, against a tough Bills defense they limited mistakes enough to carve out a win.

The worst play was Zuttah's boneheaded snap followed by Flacco's almost-INT that would have been backbreaking. The great plays were Wallace's deep route, Perriman's first catch, and Pitta and Flacco's 4th-quarter play. The running game looked bad on paper but they made enough plays to help us. The final drive was perfect and we basically had to make the last first down twice, thanks to a shoddy spot by the officials.

[Davesta]

The good: Steve smith's post game interview in the locker room. That reporter.. Lol! Ice up, son.