[News] Ravens' Confidence Still High Despite Loss To Dallas

[BR News]

Safety Eric Weddle stressed after the 27-17 loss that the Ravens still control their destiny with all of their goals in front of them.

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[Crusader]

That"s nice.

[surfdude]

OK the play is getting better. The Ravens looked like they belonged on the same field as the Cowboys, BUT the penalties are killing this team. Not injuries , but mistakes. I've seen more drive killing penalties on this Ravens team then ever before that has to stop.

Few keys for them to not only win the division , BUT win a couple of games in the playoffs.
1. Jimmy Smith has to get healthy. I say without AJ Green rest Jimmy this week.
2. CLEAN UP THE DRIVE KILLING PENALTIES.
3. O LINE has to play together like that one drive where they run blocked and pass protected really well.
4. Get Doom back and put more pressure on QBs
5. Get at least some yards on punt returns. Been more fair catches this year then usual.

Overall the team has some promise just need to clean things up and get healthy.

[TheRavengers]

I guess the fact that we still own the division for now is something to be optimistic about, and it's not like we got beaten to death but rather we lost to a legit good team as opposed to losing to worse teams like the Jets. And our offense is still capable of showing life.

That being said, nearly everyone else on offense needs to drink some Red Bull and have more than a handful of good drives per game. That no-huddle shotgun that Flacco is good at, do more of that. He's clearly capable of hurling a ball 60+ yards down the field and we've got at least 2 wideouts who are fast enough to do that, so go for it.

And the penalties, my God, they have to stop racking up flags.

[ravens4life86]

I'll be confident when Steve B. Clean house, Harbaugh and everyone of his clueless crew. Every stinking week its the same old rhetoric were committed to the run...and in all 5 losses no commitment to the run game!!!!!!

[ravens4life86]

And all I hear about is Harbaugh is such a great coach..yet every road game 12 penalties. Lack of commitment to run and penalties will get his whole crew fired!!!! This is not ravens football.

The rhetoric is old

[JD08]

I know it's highly unlikely, but would be nice to get a pay cut from Flacco and Webb their contracts are way too high and they are underperforming. Signing Shareece Wright was a waste of money, he needs to go.

[Ibleedperple]

You can be confident all you want. Still not good enough to beat teams with a winning record. Plain and simple... THEY ARE A AVERAGE TEAM< HAVENT BEEN GOOD IN YEARS

[purpledown]

Harbaugh still on hot seat. A loss to Cincy this weekend should mean a change in my opinion

[jravens1313]

That 2:00 minute drill down 10 points was embarrassing by Flacco and reinforces Ray's questioning of his drive. If I am Ozzie, I draft a QB in every draft. Ryan Mallet clearly isn't pushing Flacco lead to this team. Our defense played well until they were left hanging by the zebra's and the offense. Pees got into this soft zone coverage that allowed easy completions for Prescott and eventually Dallas got things going.

How do we continue to feed West when Dixon looks more effective every time he touches the ball? So painful to watch these personnel decisions and bad offense continue. (PS: the zebra's protected the Star in that game. How many obvious PI's did they let go on critical 3rd downs for our offense? How many times did they let Dez Bryant and Terrence Williams push off on their routes in tight coverage? The NFL has become more and more of a production, and less of an competitive sport. Remember close games sell beer and TV ads! Home teams are NEVER blown out anymore.

Edited November 21, 2016 by jravens1313

[Purple Dawg 96]

Harbaugh still on hot seat. A loss to Cincy this weekend should mean a change in my opinion

Kick rocks! Harbs isn't under center Joe is!

[Purple Dawg 96]

I can take this "L" and the one to the skins but loosing to teams we should have beaten raiders giants jets hurt "MUCH" worse! Six game win streak LETS GO!

[robbie29]

Harbaugh still on hot seat. A loss to Cincy this weekend should mean a change in my opinion

I doubt this Sunday's game will be the difference maker. However, if the Ravens finish with a losing record and miss the playoffs again, that's a different story.

[Crusader]

The real issue is the Ravens are really not improving. It's the old "stuck in the ditch syndrome" How many years have we heard "We need to: Run the ball more, make a stop on third down,. and stop the penalties? The only good things that happpen was Joe did not throw an interception and no injuries

[metalraven]

Weddle has been a wonderful pick up. He's a great leader. His skills and smarts are second to none. Really, really like him. Wish he was a Raven from the get go.

[CQ1]

Confident in what ? What does that mean in reference to myriads of ineptitude ?

[CQ1]

The real issue is the Ravens are really not improving. It's the old "stuck in the ditch syndrome" How many years have we heard "We need to: Run the ball more, make a stop on third down,. and stop the penalties? The only good things that happpen was Joe did not throw an interception and no injuries

Ditto!

[CQ1]

I can take this "L" and the one to the skins but loosing to teams we should have beaten raiders giants jets hurt "MUCH" worse! Six game win streak LETS GO!

Yes Dawg- those games will hurts us. We better start to progress- and quickly.

[budkretz]

The losses will continue because of coaching and lack of drafting or acquiring skill players. Penalties are stopping any momentum we have - that's coaching from Harbs on down. When our offense and defensive games plans work all is well. When others teams adjust we don't!!! We cannot change mid-game. That is Pees biggest weakness. The offense lacks skill players to create anything resembling a sustained attack and our playbook is a joke. Did you see the Deadskins Sun night. The runs they called, the pass routes had players open and many big plays accomplished. They don't have great skill players - so it's better coaching. Juan Castillo has to go. Make Yanda a player coach he came up with the idea to switch sides so he can use his better arm. If Zek Elliott was available at #6 I bet the Ravens would have passed on him. Of course it would not matter we don't run the ball. I believe West /Dixon got 2 or 3 carries in 2nd half. They torched through them in the first half. Yes, we had the ball only a couple times in second half and had to catch up, but Mary M is looking like all the other OCs under Harbs - clueless! I'm ready for a new regime. Even though we may win the division (only because Pit, Cin and Cleve are as bad as us or worse) but I hope we don't. We need big time changes to get back to a winning football team.

[Zeus]

Confidence still high? How is that possible, and for what reason after the D quit in the second half.

[bigcatfrank1]

I can take this "L" and the one to the skins but loosing to teams we should have beaten raiders giants jets hurt "MUCH" worse! Six game win streak LETS GO!

Surprisingly the Raiders and Giants both have great records, so do the Redskins. The team we should have beaten for sure is the Jets! And we had the chance in all of them. So the Ravens schedule really hasn't been as easy as was first set out to be. Dallas clearly is the most skilled team that they have faced. TIme to beat Cinci!

[bigcatfrank1]

OK the play is getting better. The Ravens looked like they belonged on the same field as the Cowboys, BUT the penalties are killing this team. Not injuries , but mistakes. I've seen more drive killing penalties on this Ravens team then ever before that has to stop.

Few keys for them to not only win the division , BUT win a couple of games in the playoffs.
1. Jimmy Smith has to get healthy. I say without AJ Green rest Jimmy this week.
2. CLEAN UP THE DRIVE KILLING PENALTIES.
3. O LINE has to play together like that one drive where they run blocked and pass protected really well.
4. Get Doom back and put more pressure on QBs
5. Get at least some yards on punt returns. Been more fair catches this year then usual.

Overall the team has some promise just need to clean things up and get healthy.

Agreed....
Its weird how one player each week seems to get flagged 3 times or more.

How do the refs claim that Zutahs hit on the run play was unnecessary roughness when the player was in bounds within the zone of the play, yet they didn't call the hit to the head of Steve Smith Sr. when he caught the ball on the sideline? bad refereeing made for lop sided penalty yards.

Yes we need J Smith.,
Yes we need Doom, however

Pees should have never gone to rush 3 or 4 in the second half. He should have come with the whole team! relentless!! we had Dak on his heels. If he was going to burn us, make him do it, and get the ball back. Instead they burned clock up and our D suffered.

O line was too tight, need to push outward and create a wider pocket for Joe. Still need to give Joe 1-2 more seconds in most cases. Run under center, no huddle, then option, then shotgun. quick snaps.

Hester is not doing the job at all. We need to get some run backs! Use Sharice Wright hes struggling ...sorry, but we could try something.

[coreyadams]

Weddle, what does Flacco say? I don't see any drive in our QB. No hussle! No heart.

[RaRaRavens]

Overall record wise, I think we are not in a bad place. I mean, 4 of our 5 losses have come against teams who are currently 9-1 (Cowboys), 8-2 (Raiders), 7-3 (Giants) and 6-3-1 (Redskins). And, not that it matters, but we were darn close to winning many of them. Our only really bad loss was the upset from 3-7 Jets.

This is definitely not where thought we'd be when the schedule came out, but then again despite our 5-5 record we are leading the division. It's just one of those years. The season is far from over and a lot can happen, key games will be against the Steelers and 2 games with the Bengals. If we can sweep the division, we might be just fine. And anything can happen in the playoffs with our stout defense.

However, how we are going to get these wins against division rivals with the current state of our offense is another matter. Our run game seems to work most of the time, but it just feels a little chipy. And, for whatever reason, we completely abandon it in the 2nd half. And even if we don't we still can't put up even field goals on most of our drives, despite the run game.

Passing game is just non-existent. Flacco can't get much protection. Even when he does, more often than not WRs can't get much separation. And even when they do, Flacco messes up most throws, because he has regressed 9 years technique wise.

The only time our passing game (and offense in general) hasn't looked clueless was one half against Browns' league worst defense. The rest of the time we've made bottom half defenses look like the Legion of Boom ca 2013.

I literally get nervous before our every offensive snap, because I know most likely there will be nothing good coming. And by now, it's safe to say, there will not be any major improvements by the unit any time this season.

[KidNme]

Unfortunately, even if we were to make it to the playoffs, I'm pretty sure we'd be one and done. This team needs more top draft picks than a 2% chance to make it to the SB. Flacco looked a lot better against Dallas but the coaching and a few players (and refs) killed it for us. When we stink it up against the jets but hang with Dallas, it's obvious to me that we need a couple new coaches. I am getting tired of hearing that we're on the cusp of winning these games after we've lost them. "Close" only works in horseshoes and hand grenades or if you're trying to sell PSL's, Cialis and beer. Pretty soon, every team will be getting trophies for participation. Welcome to the age of the Millennial.

[steelraven]

How are you confident when your offense can barely stay on the field and leaves your defense out to dry and most important you can't even get in the endzone. The ravens need to take a page out of Dallas's book, run the ball and limit Flacco attempts. He made some foolish throws Sunday and was lucky it was only Dallas's defense. The Ravens can't rely on that defense week in and week out, sooner or later like this past Sunday the offense needed to show up. How can you expect to win when your kicker has more points than your offense? Over 9 season Flacco has made over $114 million. To put that in prospective Tom Brady has made $196 million in 17 seasons. Making that kind of money in 9 season's you should be able to carry your offense no matter what or who you have, Brady been doing that for years even without a line, hell he went to the Super Bowl and won it with a patch up offensive line.

[Militant X 1]

14 hours ago, Crusader said:

The real issue is the Ravens are really not improving. It's the old "stuck in the ditch syndrome" How many years have we heard "We need to: Run the ball more, make a stop on third down,. and stop the penalties? The only good things that happen was Joe did not throw an interception and no injuries

The mistakes that doomed Baltimore against Dallas are mostly issues that have persisted all season. The offense struggled to get in the red zone and committed costly penalties that stalled drives. The defense also couldn’t stop the passing game without top cornerback  Jimmy Smith  on the field.

[Halshayeji]

17 hours ago, JD08 said:

I know it's highly unlikely, but would be nice to get a pay cut from Flacco and Webb their contracts are way too high and they are underperforming. Signing Shareece Wright was a waste of money, he needs to go.

Flacco taking a pay cut. I highly doubt it...

webb and wright are probably gone next year unless they cut like half of their salaries.

[Halshayeji]

1 hour ago, steelraven said:

How are you confident when your offense can barely stay on the field and leaves your defense out to dry and most important you can't even get in the endzone. The ravens need to take a page out of Dallas's book, run the ball and limit Flacco attempts. He made some foolish throws Sunday and was lucky it was only Dallas's defense. The Ravens can't rely on that defense week in and week out, sooner or later like this past Sunday the offense needed to show up. How can you expect to win when your kicker has more points than your offense? Over 9 season Flacco has made over $114 million. To put that in prospective Tom Brady has made $196 million in 17 seasons. Making that kind of money in 9 season's you should be able to carry your offense no matter what or who you have, Brady been doing that for years even without a line, hell he went to the Super Bowl and won it with a patch up offensive line.

And patch up receivers and running backs lol.

[Halshayeji]

15 hours ago, metalraven said:

Weddle has been a wonderful pick up. He's a great leader. His skills and smarts are second to none. Really, really like him. Wish he was a Raven from the get go.

Amen to that