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

[DomMcRaven]

21 minutes ago, 757RavensFan said:

Jeff Zrebiec ‏@jeffzrebiecsun  41m41 minutes ago

Ravens' players raved about Dean Pees' game plan, and communication level on the field before plays and on the sideline.

 

Jeff Zrebiec ‏@jeffzrebiecsun  38m38 minutes ago

Ravens felt they got way too predictable last year on defense. Tyrod Taylor one of several Bills to say Ravens did things they hadn't seen

 

VERY refreshing to see this. 

[Tank 92]

Good start and about what I expected from the offense.  You can see the potential is there and with reps will come consistency. I think we've got something special here. Joe's got some rust, butthat is to be expected.  I think once all the pieces get in sync the Ravens O will be a force to be reckoned with.

The D was fantastic. But I have to say this, and I'm sure I'll get some flack, but Jimmy worries me.  He doesn't look to be 100%.

[Cillmatic]

Why did Perriman basically vanish after his catch?

Edited September 11, 2016 by Cillmatic

[DomMcRaven]

Offense: Flacco looked timid (kinda expected). Wasn't a fan of Trestman's playcalling for the most part because I felt he could've ran the ball more (really looking forward to see a healthy Dixon on the field). While I wasn't a big fan of him throughout his career, I was impressed with Wallace. He and Flacco could have a special rapport. Perriman had a nice catch and Moore looked decent. Welcome back Pitta! The Flacco to Pitta connection is back....for now (please no more season ending injuries)! Where was Gilmore and Maxx Williams? Where they even on the field? As for the o-line, it'll take some time for them to gel, but Stanley and Lewis played relatively well. 

Defense: Where do I begin? Everyone played with heart! Ray would've been proud. How about that Shareece Wright, huh? Boy was he hungry because he played like it. I'm not TOO worried with our pass-rush because Doom will come back sooner rather than later. Jernigan....my dude! That's another guy I saw playing with a fire in his belly. How refreshing is it that we have two competent safeties who feed off each other? I don't recall Tyrod even attempting to throw deep on us. I really hope I don't see a thread comparing our defense to another one of ours of all time like last season. 

[LosT_in_TranSlatioN]

19 minutes ago, Sami84 said:

im worried about the protection.. remember they were without dareus too.

You have two rookies on the line Sami. Good rookies, but still rookies. It'll take awhile for them to adjust. If both were to walk in and play at an all pro level, not only would I be shocked but I'd be calling for another extension to Newsome's contract. 

[Bruce_Almty]

46 minutes ago, rmcjacket23 said:

Don't bother. Their mods appear to be rather quick. They had removed my posts within minutes and sent me several warnings. I don't think they appreciated me individually calling out people who had the worst predictions.

 

The censorship on this site is ridiculously Machiavellian.

[Tank 92]

My MVP......Shareece Wright.

[arnie_uk]

4 minutes ago, LosT_in_TranSlatioN said:

You have two rookies on the line Sami. Good rookies, but still rookies. It'll take awhile for them to adjust. If both were to walk in and play at an all pro level, not only would I be shocked but I'd be calling for another extension to Newsome's contract. 

You keep saying this, but when film study does his report, it won't be the two rookies with the worst grades from what my untrained eye seen. Zuttah and Wagner looked poor, and yanda wasn't his best. If anything, Stanley was probably the best of the bunch

Edited September 11, 2016 by arnie_uk

[Sami84]

Just now, arnie_uk said:

You keep saying this, but when film study does his report, it won't be the two rookies with the worst grades from what untrained seen. Zuttah and Wagner looked poor, and yanda wasn't his best. If anything, Stanley was probably the best of the bunch

 

center is the 2nd most important position on the O line. Zuttah just seems like a backup player at this point/

[Tank 92]

Just now, arnie_uk said:

You keep saying this, but when film study does his report, it won't be the two rookies with the worst grades from what untrained seen. Zuttah and Wagner looked poor, and yanda wasn't his best. If anything, Stanley was probably the best of the bunch

Exactly.  I think most of the pressure was up the middle and from the right.

[Tank 92]

Just now, Sami84 said:

center is the 2nd most important position on the O line. Zuttah just seems like a backup player at this point/

He was an open door at times.  But that can be fixed.

[rmw10]

I don't get those knocking the defense.  They gave up 160 yards, 7 points, and 3/13 3rd down conversions.  I'll take those numbers every single week.  Are there some things to work on?  Absolutely.  You'd like to see a bit more consistency in the pass rush and tackling, but I'll take this type of defensive performance week after week.

[arnie_uk]

Just now, Sami84 said:

center is the 2nd most important position on the O line. Zuttah just seems like a backup player at this point/

I've never liked him. He was an upgrade on gino, but we should have replaced him the summer after we traded for him. Never been a fan

[arnie_uk]

1 minute ago, Tank 92 said:

Exactly.  I think most of the pressure was up the middle and from the right.

That's what I seen as well. The rookies done better than the experienced side.

[Sami84]

Just now, arnie_uk said:

I've never liked him. He was an upgrade on gino, but we should have replaced him the summer after we traded for him. Never been a fan

yup...might just need to develop skura or play jensen

[Tru11]

2 minutes ago, rmw10 said:

I don't get those knocking the defense.  They gave up 160 yards, 7 points, and 3/13 3rd down conversions.  I'll take those numbers every single week.  Are there some things to work on?  Absolutely.  You'd like to see a bit more consistency in the pass rush and tackling, but I'll take this type of defensive performance week after week.

offense looked horrible majority of the time so of course people will look to vent upon the defense lol.

[ludy51]

59 minutes ago, rmcjacket23 said:

Don't bother. Their mods appear to be rather quick. They had removed my posts within minutes and sent me several warnings. I don't think they appreciated me individually calling out people who had the worst predictions.

 

Were you HomeOfTheBravens?

Edited September 11, 2016 by ludy51

[rmw10]

1 minute ago, Tru11 said:

offense looked horrible majority of the time so of course people will look to vent upon the defense lol.

Yep.  Offense had it's moments but really sputtered in the second half.  Still some good to take away from it of course, but if today was any indication, the offense needs a lot more work than the defense.

[Tru11]

Just now, rmw10 said:

Yep.  Offense had it's moments but really sputtered in the second half.  Still some good to take away from it of course, but if today was any indication, the offense needs a lot more work than the defense.

as good as the defense looked i hope we are not banking on them to hold teams to under 10 points lol

wallace looks great though.

[JoeyFlex5]

36 minutes ago, Sami84 said:

perriman from what i've seen in the past 2 games needs to work on his slant catches..

I agree but both catches were Well timed defenses by the db. He got popped in the back pretty good just as his hands touched the ball. 

He needs to be better at that though, not arguing.

[Inqui]

10 minutes ago, arnie_uk said:

You keep saying this, but when film study does his report, it won't be the two rookies with the worst grades from what my untrained eye seen. Zuttah and Wagner looked poor, and yanda wasn't his best. If anything, Stanley was probably the best of the bunch

I've always seen Zuttah as the 16th-17th best C out of the 32 starters (granted this was with Kubiak), but he was deadset terrible today. At least with Yanda you'd expect him to bounce back for the rest of the season so that issue should sort itself out unless he's playing injured. Hopefully Wagner's issues aren't recurring - like you say the rookies were clearly the bright spot of the OL and I'd prefer to see them keep that side of the OL locked down for the season as opposed to Lewis potentially shifting to RT for whatever reason.

[Tank 92]

14 minutes ago, Tru11 said:

offense looked horrible majority of the time so of course people will look to vent upon the defense lol.

Yeah, that's not true. While I think the D was the better unit today the offense looked far from " horrible". They had issues, but looked like a unit that will gel with some tweaks. I really  think we need Jensen at center. Smitty was obviously at about 60%. All in all I think they wil be fine.

horrible?  Not

Edited September 11, 2016 by Tank 92

[757RavensFan]

Quote

Jeff Zrebiec ‏@jeffzrebiecsun  2h2 hours ago

LeSean McCoy on Ravens' defense: "They had a number of third-down packages that surprised us, and they were structured very well."

Whatever we're doing different, lets keep it up.  

I wonder if Leslie Frazier is changing up the defensive schemes. 

[sibelius]

Very encouraged by what I saw today. Obviously a ton of rust to shake off but that was to be expected. Incredibly pleased with the defensive effort, especially from the down linemen. They should get better every week as ZDS and Judon continue to improve (And we get Dumervil back). McClellan is clearly at his ceiling but he's a decent stopgap for the first half of the season.

Say what you want about the offense, but this is exactly the type of game the Ravens lost over the past two seasons because they couldn't run out the clock. We ran the ball when it mattered most and they knew were going to run. I think the timing and playcalling issues will be resolved in the coming weeks but the physicality and will to win that you can't teach is already there. Very excited to watch this team evolve.

 

P.S. -- Shout out to Judon for the textbook Quarterback hit on Tyrod. That's the kind of play a rookie can easily mess up and end up with a roughing call. Like this kid more every day. Doesn't hurt I was born in Detroit and have multiple relatives that passed through the doors of Grand Valley State.

Edited September 11, 2016 by sibelius

[Steve0x]

Is the Ravens defense improved or its just the Bills they played? If Ravens play like this again next week then their Defense is back! But im not happy the way offense has played. Flacco has to get aggressive passing game and take chances. Flacco cant keep calling conservative plays like too many slants Cant keep doing that. You gotta throw ball deep at times. 

[Wacko4Zacko]

Mike Wallace looks. Promising.  That's all I got to Say. 

[GrimCoconut]

2 hours ago, Inqui said:

How did our WRs hold up against the Bills CBs in the second half? All this stuff was off camera so I can really only guess until the coaches' film comes out, but Joe seemed to pause in the pocket for a second or two fairly often only to throw a one-yard pass to Sr, Aiken or a RB and I'm wondering if that had anything to do with guys like Perriman eventually getting locked down by the Bills CBs and just not being open.

I had a nice, lengthy explanation but I lost service and I subsequently lost the post because I hit submit. I saw a lot of off-man and zone and I think that's partially one of the reasons Joe was so reluctant out there since he's been burned bad by that before. In fact, Flacco is pretty good at getting to guys in press coverage but struggles a bit against zone, and he seemed hesitant due to the zone coverage used and that makes sense since zone and off-man puts you in a better spot to take away the ball from the offense if you're a secondary player. I think he was diagnosing the plays, personally. 

2 hours ago, PurpleCity5 said:

Jernigan played really good. Really liked what I saw from him. 

Yep. He played with passion and intensity. I liked what I saw from him. Hopefully he keeps it up. His motor isn't always the best at times between games. 

2 hours ago, rmw10 said:

Suggs doesn't look 100% there yet either.  He was really slow getting to the edge on multiple occasions, and looked slow in general.  I hope that's just additional recovery from the injury and him getting back into game shape.

I agree, but I also think the edge guys were primarily used to contain rather than penetration, but it really bothers me that we did so little rushing the QB. He had plenty of time back there and I think they lost Cordy Glenn? There's no reason they shouldn't be beating the back-up, IMO. 

2 hours ago, D_UP said:

Is the ravens defense this good or is bills offense just that bad? My enthusiasm is measured because I don't know if it's real or fools gold.

I think a little bit of both but the Bills have a good offense.  I have to say Tyrod looked really good--really sharp. You could see that he was making good decisions and he's in a great position to succeed there in BUF. I think he is doing really well with that team and it's just a perfect situation for him. 

[mc_red23]

The good: SSS' interview after the game . If you haven't seen it then check it out on the Ravens website, I'm in hysterics! 

[GrimCoconut]

2 hours ago, BmoreBird22 said:

I love how people were freaking out over Jimmy for allowing four catches for a whole 46 yards (for a long of 19).

Understand a few things first off. Jimmy was locked up 1v1 with Watkins without safety help. The safeties were rotated away from Jimmy to help Wright and Young. Jimmy also allowed three receptions on one or two drives in the third when the pass rush was non existent.  So, essentially, Jimmy locked down Watkins for three and a half quarters. I'd stop complaining if I were you all. 

Also, it isn't up to Pees to tell the corners how far off to play or Trestman to tell the receivers how far to run their breaking routes. The players decide that. Don't blame Pees or Trestman for that. 

Anyway, after a few miscues by Stanley, he played really well given the expectations. Mike Wallace has a real rapport with Joe Flacco, so that was really great to see. The run defense was dynamite up the middle with a few things to work on off the edge. Eric Weddle had a really great game for his first as a Raven.

The only real bad things I could see were 1. The edge of the defense couldnt stop the run or rush the passer for the second and third quarters. When Koandijo came in, I expected the Ravens to feast, but they seemed to regress. Also, Joe Flacco is clearly working his way back with unwillingless to run, but the mechanics weren't that great. He was throwing flat footed and his throws all seemed really low because he wasn't driving through them by stepping in.

No ugly when you win opening week.

MVP was Shareece Wright for sure.

First, after meeting him personally I'll say Jimmy Smith is a huge guy on the field. I always knew he was a big CB but wow. He is a big guy. Anyway, Jimmy Smith played great today, IMO. He did a great job covering Watkins, an electric WR who has a ton of talent and was a top-pick at WR in 2014. I understand that people want to see shutdown CB, but wow, I mean come on...this isn't some scrub or something. Yeah, he gave up yards and he let Watkins make a catch here and there, but that's football and sometimes you do that intentionally. Smith didn't get burned. He stopped Watkins and didn't let him get YAC, which is honestly where the money's made. He played so well I saw Taylor look away from Watkins and go to another WR. 

2 hours ago, Sami84 said:

seriously..it was like a revolving door down the middle..

Middle of the OL was bad. I didn't pay attention to individuals there but I noticed the middle of the offense was getting blown up. We have serious problems there. 

2 hours ago, Grapple Raven said:

Grim, since you were at the game what did you see with Jimmy Smith's injury?  Was he injured or just stepped on or something else? Would like to know what you actually saw.

I didn't even know he was injured, honestly. I knew Price was out there and I was surprised by that, and I saw Young make a big play, but I didn't know he was injured until you just posted this. Is he OK? What happened?

[BmoreBird22]

1 minute ago, GrimCoconut said:

He played so well I saw Taylor look away from Watkins and go to another WR. 

I think it says quite a bit that Watkins was generally lined up on the left side of the formation with Tyrod being a right handed quarterback. From what I saw, Tyrod looked immediately to Watkins, saw he was being jammed, and moved on. Rarely worked back to him except for the plays where the pass rush gave him like five seconds. That's a really big deal.

Also, chances of me getting an autograph on my #22 jersey before the game if I go to the tunnel?