[News] The Breakdown: Eisenberg's Five Thoughts vs. New England Patriots

[Glen1024]

Couple of thoughts:

1. Getting outcoacched was painfully evident. Harbaugh is a solid HC, but no mastermind like Belichick. From the way NE went uptempo early in the game and completely exhausted out our league lading D-line which allowed them to push us around with the run game the rest of the day, to couple of trick plays just at the right time, and even to the last play before 2 minute warning in the end of game, where they passed since it the clock was gonna stop anyway and caught the entire defense off guard - our team was just not ready for anything in this game. And the saddest part is, our entire team from coaches to players seemed to be baffled and surprised by the things NE did. As if we haven't seen it year in and year out. Our Harbaugh&Boys just got schooled, period.

2. Flacco and Brady both veteran QBs, yet one of them is capable of reading the defense, detecting weaknesses in coverage, audibling to a right play to take advantage of those weaknesses and make the defense pay for their play call. The other dumps the ball off to the closest receiver, usually near the line of scrimmage. 

3. It was actually pathetic to see Ravens attempt nohuddle uptempo offense next to Brady and Cheat-a-lots. NE was on the line scrimmage ready to snap 10-20 seconds from the end of last play and our defense could not even get into their stances. Our "uptempo" offense never managed to get a snap off with considerably more than 10 seconds on the clock. Absolutely no urgency late in the game, we just wasted time between plays. And when running our regular offense, our guys got lined up with 10 second on play clock. How in the hell if Flacco, even if he is capable of that, make any audibles with so little time remaining?! How in the hell can other teams get ready to run a play at least 10 seconds faster than us?! That puts our offense in a disadvantage even before the snap, damn it!

_________________________________________________

Coaching is the weakest part of the ravens and has been for sometime now, I've grown used to watching us being outcoached for some time now and most weeks out talent can cover for it. The pats for the most part did what they do and exposed it again on monday night

[ravensnj]

5 hours ago, Derrel said:

Just plain embarrassing. A defensive player jumps over the OL and blocks a chip shot FG?

Please, I was trying to forget that. They later slowed the snap count ,so it wouldn't happen again. The defender's timing was off and he settled into the line. Belichick always takes away the teams strength, whether it be wr or rb, in our case it's our kicker.

 

 

[callahan09]

Flacco played very well after the snap.  He was making his throws, his only interception was a very accurate throw that went right through Wallace's hands and should have been a deep completion rather than a turnover.  He had another one of those that bounced right off Wallace's hands for a drop.  Another that Perriman didn't turn around for.  He still completed over 70% of his passes on a day when the pocket was collapsing from a literal 3-man pass rush and absolutely nobody was open.  That's the reason for so many checkdowns.  He also had to overcome a ton of holding penalties and false start penalties.  The checkdowns and screen aren't successful at getting us first downs because our receivers don't seem to have a nose for the first down marker.  Multiple times yesterday, on third down, Flacco throws the ball to a receiver who is *JUST SHORT* of the first down marker, and we end up settling for a field goal or punting on 4th and less than 1.  Why can't these receivers figure out how to get on the other side of the sticks, instead they settle for catching the ball just before the sticks and failing to make any yards after the catch.  These guys look indecisive and slow, and when they do try to make a cut, they do it at the wrong time or in the wrong direction and just get taken down immediately.  Where is the burst of speed after that catch that makes a guy miss the tackle?  We don't see it often.  Juice had a great catch with some serious yards after in the 1st quarter, but for the most part, there was nowhere to go with the ball except the flats, and these guys don't do much with the ball in their hands.  We need our playmakers to do more.

 

That all said, the area of debate is, maybe Flacco didn't play so well *before the snap*?  The Pats were dropping 8 into coverage all game and that's why nobody was ever open and we struggled to move the ball downfield and had to settle for short chunks.  Is there something Flacco could have done before the snap to take advantage of the look the Patriots gave them?  I really don't know... What's the solution, check into a run, would be the conventional wisdom right?  Well, why weren't they?  Fact is, we don't really know enough about how this offense works to know if Flacco *actually* has that option.  Even if Flacco can see that this would be the answer, if the coaches didn't install the option into the play, then how is Flacco supposed to do it?  I think a lot of is this.  I have seen Flacco check into the run because of the coverage literally hundreds of times over the past 9 seasons.  Many of our best single play runs in the history of this team came on checks that Flacco made.  It's not that the coaches don't trust Flacco.  We've got evidence that they don't trust the *TEAM*.  That's right, the ENTIRE OFFENSE needs to be aware of, coached up, and ready for these plays.  The plays need to be sent into the huddle, as well.  They haven't given a mechanism to Flacco to "design a play from scratch" (so to speak) at the line of scrimmage.  If the option isn't provided in the huddle, then Flacco can't call it on the field.  

 

Now why don't they trust the offense to plug in some more play-changing ability?  Well, for the same reason the snap count is so rigid.  An indicator of the reason is all the pre-snap penalties we *already see with this offense*.  The offensive line is filled with rookies, inexperienced players, and a lineup that is ever-rotating and has no chemistry with each other.  The playmakers routinely aren't on the same page, don't run their routes correctly, fail to handle their block correctly, etc.  This is an epidemic with this team.  There's no offensive chemistry, we don't have the pieces coached up and experienced enough and TRUSTWORTHY enough to have provided them the extra wrinkle of complexity of giving Flacco a mechanism for changing the play at the line to anything other than what's provided in the huddle.  It's a dumbed down, simplified offense because of all the moving pieces, inexperienced linemen, and off-page playmakers who have demonstrated no ability to run even this simplified offense without penalties or broken plays.

 

The fact is, we've got too much inexperience, too many players not on the same page as everyone, too much turnover at the offensive coaching side of things, that there just isn't the chemistry and trust in this offense for a more complex system right now.  We need to INVEST IN THE OFFENSE and have better offensive coaching so that we can actually take advantage of mismatches and have a system of complexity that allows for changing to a play that can take advantage of a look on the field.  It's like when we think about going for it on 4th down but end up taking a timeout.  Flacco knows whether or not the look he wants/needs to have a successful execution of the playcall is there, and he doesn't run the play if it's not.  Thus the timeout.  If he can diagnose that, surely he can run the play that WILL work.  Except he can't, because the system doesn't provide him with the mechanism for informing the rest of the offense what to do at the line of scrimmage.  And thus there is no other option but to kill the play.

 

The problem is the coaches and the investment in the key pieces of the offensive that needs to be ramped up so that we have a well-oiled machine that can handle complex tasks.  Read that sentence again.  Now, do you think we have a well-oiled machine that can handle complex tasks?  Haha, that honestly makes me laugh.  Of course we don't.  So the writing is on the wall.  It's not like Flacco has much of an option pre-snap to actually get us in a position to take advantage of the defensive look he sees, and so he just has to take what's given to him post-snap, and it's all too often not enough, but I think he's been doing as good a job as you can reasonably ask since about the bye week.

[slowboater]

Yes, Hester has to be history. We have carried him ALL season and nothing but a little bit of misery has come from it.
Flacco and Marty ARE a good combination... they just have to get on the same sheet of music AND the game plan is Marty and he needs to do a better job game planning... I did not see us exploit any weaknesses but I did see us play to the Pats strengths... that was very disappointing.
If we do make it in the playoffs, there is NOTHING in the game that we to go back too.

How are Flacco and Marty a good combination? Because of the Miami game? Even a blind pig finds a kernel of corn now and then. When NE gives you the run and you still pass, that is either Marty or Joe's fault. Take you pick. I say a bad combination.

[Rav'n Maniac]

It's becoming increasingly difficult to have any faith in this years team. I know it's not over yet but it's hard to stay positive and believe.

Losing to NE absolutely destroyed me and I'm not sure I can get back up for a game this year.

[Crusader]

It's becoming increasingly difficult to have any faith in this years team. I know it's not over yet but it's hard to stay positive and believe.

Losing to NE absolutely destroyed me and I'm not sure I can get back up for a game this year.

"Losing to NE absolutely destroyed me" Me too. That's what happens when fans a constantly told after a lose " we learn from this and move on" and fans take them at their word so after the Miami game we fans had very high hopes but the team resorted back to what we saw in the beginning of the year with modest improvement. Heartbreaking to say the least.

[Rat]

I've read and listened to all the views, pro n con on Flacco's performance.....it was the O-Line, or maybe the WR's, how about the WR coach......no maybe it was Coach Harbaugh........
I have defended Flacco's forever, but no more!
Someone in this thread said...."did u watch the game?"
Well said, because I did and Flacco on many of the dumps, was not pressured at time of release.....but went to the dump pass immediately...many say our receivers don't get open.....IMO Flacco, not always, but many times Flacco does not give the receivers time to finish a route.....and by the way, on planned dump routes.....without pressure, short arms it......ever notice with many QB's they hit receivers on the run.....Brady to hogan as an example.....our guys reaching behind constantly.....or down.....or to long.
Finally, is he or isn't he elite....again, in my opinion he is a pretty good QB, but there is no way he is elite....besides, what difference does that make.....

Three more wins and maybe just maybe we will see a playoff Flacco......but I doubt both

[sizzlingdoom]

We got outcaoched. And like all season long, Flacoo is about as tough as a 6 year old girl in the pocket. It's embarrassing to watch.