[News] Late For Work 12/13: Seven Takeaways From Monday Night, Including Ravens' Playoff Path

[BR News]

Ravens haven't shown they're on the same level as league's best teams. Offense returns to an imbalanced, checkdown-dependent attack. If J. Smith is out, winning will be difficult. Ravens’ top-ranked defense made Brady look like MVP. Calls for Ravens to show more urgency. Heart goes out to Tucker.

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[Bat-mite]

I feel bad for Tucker, but kicking is a team effort. A bad snap, a missed block, anything can cause a FG attempt to fail. So, while Tucker is great, the whole crew should get the credit. And there was just nothing they could have done differently on that first attempt. Good that they made it a one-time thing my changing up the snap count.

I am so sick of EVERYONE IN THE WORLD knowing we need to pick up the pace in close games EXCEPT THE RAVENS! Man, it is so frustrating when you are watching the game, screaming "Go faster! Get to the line!" And then the announcers say, "They ought to be hurrying to the line."

I am not starting a "Harbaugh is great/Harbaugh sucks" argument. But his clock-management is atrocious, and it never gets any better.

[Raven1995]

Chris Moore needs to catch punts and return Kickoffs. He is great on Special teams, his plays have accounted for +21 points. He fights for the ball and he wants it . Hester is probably -33 points with his fumbles, letting the ball roll to the one twice last night, and being scared to catch anything.

[krnraven]

Lethargic Joe Succo. How many 1 yard passes are you going to attempt? It is really sad that the entire staff could not make adjustments to deal with 3 and 4 man rushes with zone behind it. Outclassed badly.

Where is the Flacco meter at today? Garbage.

[Raven1995]

One Home Monday Night game in 9 years? Conspiracy?

[TheRavengers]

I actually thought the fact that we made Brady throw something in anger on the sidelines earlier in the game was proof we might have a good night.

Sad to say I was wrong.

[potomacpitbulls]

Seven Takeaways:

1. Joe has earned a new nickname this year "Checkdown Joe"
2. Someone should take Hester to Pimlico and put him out to pasture.
3. If Morgan Cox had a bigger gluteus maximus it would have been a flag.
4.Yoda wants the ball, give him the ball!!
5. West's time with the Ravens is heading south.
6. I bet Gruden is still telling everyone he meets this morning that the Pats rushed three but he still doesn't know which three.
7. RIP Konrad Reuland. The Raven's have lost too many family members in the last year and a half.

[Bat-mite]

1 minute ago, potomacpitbulls said:

6. I bet Gruden is still telling everyone he meets this morning that the Pats rushed three but he still doesn't know which three.
7. RIP Konrad Reuland. The Raven's have lost too many family members in the last year and a half.

6.  OMG!  I started throwing stuff at my TV every time he said that,  I think I counted seventeen times!

7.  Did not know that Reuland passed.  Very sad.  So young.  Can't imagine losing my children; his parents must be devastated. 

[ravenwildman]

I lost count of the check downs, if the zone is taking away the middle then run off tackle and (on occasion) draws, then the play action may actually work (see Seatle Seahawks win over NE). Disguising the drop out-to-coverage by the linebackers rattled Flacco, for that speed there is a price. Had they hammered the run (even delayed hand off), the depleted Pats secondary would have tired. Just a thought. Without offense adding pressure, Brady was able to do as he wished as the game progressed.

Also, the Pats and other teams lose star players and are able to win. Why are the Ravens so dependant on one player (Jimmy Smith). Need to fix this major flaw, if the Pats can do it, so can the Ravens. GO RAVENS! CB 25

[Minionhunter]

1. NE was the more desperate team. NE had to throw the kitchen sink at us to win. First use of no huddle by NE outside 2 minutes with Brady this year, trick plays, brand new defensive game plan, and ST tricks. We couldn’t handle it this time, if we make it in and play NE again, they will wish they held something back because we will end them.

2. What did West do to get in the doghouse? Dixon is not ready to be the feature back despite second half running. Dropping passes and taking the safety in the first half was terrible. Whoever decided to move away from West –this year- should be fired. Nothing more needs to be said, Dixon may be OK down the road, but not this year, and he is no power rusher, great after contact, but not a power back like West.

3. Hester is afraid. Despite the blocked FG, ST for the Ravens is still excellent. The “score not being as close as it was” is a false narrative, the first was a fluke yes, but our ST caused the second fumble, there was no garbage time scoring. This is the worst reasoning and shows poor ability to break the game down, just lazy commenting. If people make this claim, they are deluding themselves and may as well say the Ravens let the Patriots into it in the first place and then hang around because of Devin Hester alone. If teams can cover Hester immediately, he is worse than a liability, if he has room to move, he is still an OK returner.

4. Harbs and crew are protecting Elam for some reason.

5. Receivers didn’t help Joe out, and neither did Mornearwig with the game plan and adaptions. Wallace’s complete whiff on the interception is intolerable and the announcers should have pointed it out.

Extra Credit – Belichick blames Harbaugh for deflategate and they are no longer friends. The end game ”handshake” said it all. Belichick hates Harbaugh.

[Raveforlife19]

Chris Moore needs to catch punts and return Kickoffs. He is great on Special teams, his plays have accounted for +21 points. He fights for the ball and he wants it . Hester is probably -33 points with his fumbles, letting the ball roll to the one twice last night, and being scared to catch anything.

Yes I like that kid! You can tell he's a fiery competitor. He's always super pumped when he gets the ball on ST haha

[Bat-mite]

Patriots are extremely well coached.  They take no name players and coach them up into greatness.  Brady knows where every player is on that field at all times.  He threads throws into ridiculous situations and lands them into the receivers' hands.  Pats D outperformed us because of coaching and game-planning.

[Raveforlife19]

Lethargic Joe Succo. How many 1 yard passes are you going to attempt? It is really sad that the entire staff could not make adjustments to deal with 3 and 4 man rushes with zone behind it. Outclassed badly.

Where is the Flacco meter at today? Garbage.

I totally get your frustration and feel it too but that has everything to do with receivers not gaining separation, and not Flacco sucking... It's QB 101 -- if no one is open down field and the pass rush is in your face, hit the check down, scramble, or throw away. The problem is you cant get a first down with three check down passes in a row -_- and that's on the OC because it's an offensive design flaw or it's on the WR coach b/c the receivers are not running routes well. Also, here was Flacco's stat line, given there was no run game and the Pats were dropping 6-8 guys into coverage, he actually did pretty well. 37/52 (71%), 324 yds, 2TD, 1INT (laziness by Wallace and questionable no PI call), 92.1 QBR.

[Raveforlife19]

1. NE was the more desperate team. NE had to throw the kitchen sink at us to win. First use of no huddle by NE outside 2 minutes with Brady this year, trick plays, brand new defensive game plan, and ST tricks. We couldn’t handle it this time, if we make it in and play NE again, they will wish they held something back because we will end them.

2. What did West do to get in the doghouse? Dixon is not ready to be the feature back despite second half running. Dropping passes and taking the safety in the first half was terrible. Whoever decided to move away from West –this year- should be fired. Nothing more needs to be said, Dixon may be OK down the road, but not this year, and he is no power rusher, great after contact, but not a power back like West.

3. Hester is afraid. Despite the blocked FG, ST for the Ravens is still excellent. The “score not being as close as it was” is a false narrative, the first was a fluke yes, but our ST caused the second fumble, there was no garbage time scoring. This is the worst reasoning and shows poor ability to break the game down, just lazy commenting. If people make this claim, they are deluding themselves and may as well say the Ravens let the Patriots into it in the first place and then hang around because of Devin Hester alone. If teams can cover Hester immediately, he is worse than a liability, if he has room to move, he is still an OK returner.

4. Harbs and crew are protecting Elam for some reason.

5. Receivers didn’t help Joe out, and neither did Mornearwig with the game plan and adaptions. Wallace’s complete whiff on the interception is intolerable and the announcers should have pointed it out.

Extra Credit – Belichick blames Harbaugh for deflategate and they are no longer friends. The end game ”handshake” said it all. Belichick hates Harbaugh.

Couldn't agree more! To your 5th point, considering Flacco still finished the game with 71% comp. for 325yds 2TDs and a 92 QBR, I think had the receivers played better and we weren't out-coached on O, we would have seen vintage Foxborough Joe, because he wasn't playing too poorly all things considered as you mentioned... oh well :/

[omar586]

here's the thing we saw last night:
1- Pats good coaches vs our lame coaches, if they have the WRs we have, they would be blowing out teams every sunday, our problems with the offense are all on the coaches, they dont adjust to the 3-4 man rush.
2- why we keep abandon the run game? ppl will say we were dowing a couple scores. will they're rushing 3-4 man pass rushes, with the way dixon and west running i would take advantage of that. the run game is the ravens bread and butter, the run game opens up the pass game for the ravens. just look at the pats last TD, guess why weddle got sucked by the fake playaction.
3- hester should've been cut like 8 wks ago, just saying, a lot of screw ups with him. just cut him and promote camp, can't do any worse.
4- elam is a bust, again cut him and let lewis harris or someone to take his spot, can't do any worse.

[RavensBaltimore]

When we convert our turnovers into TDs, we were given a "gift" that we didn't earn. When the Patriots turn a blown coverage into an easy, uncontested TD, with a guy running down the middle of the field without anyone near him, then Brady is "carving up the league's best defense."

The Patriots helped us out with mistakes, but we gave them a lot of help as well. Hester killed our offense multiple times by not fielding a punt, which resulted in a safety. The int went right through Wallace's arms, and we had several uncontested drops. We had a bunch of pre-snap penalties.

[krnraven]

  1 hour ago, krnraven said:

Lethargic Joe Succo. How many 1 yard passes are you going to attempt? It is really sad that the entire staff could not make adjustments to deal with 3 and 4 man rushes with zone behind it. Outclassed badly.

Where is the Flacco meter at today? Garbage.

I totally get your frustration and feel it too but that has everything to do with receivers not gaining separation, and not Flacco sucking... It's QB 101 -- if no one is open down field and the pass rush is in your face, hit the check down, scramble, or throw away. The problem is you cant get a first down with three check down passes in a row -_- and that's on the OC because it's an offensive design flaw or it's on the WR coach b/c the receivers are not running routes well. Also, here was Flacco's stat line, given there was no run game and the Pats were dropping 6-8 guys into coverage, he actually did pretty well. 37/52 (71%), 324 yds, 2TD, 1INT (laziness by Wallace and questionable no PI call), 92.1 QBR.

Oh Joe was sucking despite what the misleading stat line says. Had it not been for the gifted TOs he would not have had the 2 tds. Offense could not stay on the field for more than 4 minutes.

There were receivers open on some plays. Plus with a zone you can hang in the pocket and wait for the soft spots. Remember Mattison???? Joe is too anxious and is hurting us.
There was no running game because coach hardhead neglects to run. And have you seen a two minute offense from Joe? It's like watching grass grow. My frustration is that the same problems occur and that we are not getting better even 14 weeks later.

Pats have less skilled players than we do yet they contend every year due to exceptional coaching.

[OUravensfan]

4 minutes ago, RavensBaltimore said:

When we convert our turnovers into TDs, we were given a "gift" that we didn't earn. When the Patriots turn a blown coverage into an easy, uncontested TD, with a guy running down the middle of the field without anyone near him, then Brady is "carving up the league's best defense."

The Patriots helped us out with mistakes, but we gave them a lot of help as well. Hester killed our offense multiple times by not fielding a punt, which resulted in a safety. The int went right through Wallace's arms, and we had several uncontested drops. We had a bunch of pre-snap penalties.

Definitely a double standard. 

So we demean Joe for capitalizing off of mush have point opportunities, what if we didn't score than what? Danmed if you do damned if you don't, I'm putting huge blame on Mike Wallace, so sick of this one trick pony dropping passes and causing interceptions in key moments.

[JD08]

52 passes to 13 runs...I don't understand why these coaches are pass happy, Patriots were dropping back all game, no adjustments made at all, 2 rushes for West and he supposedly is the starting back, this team is a lot better with balance. Also I don't understand the logic in the short passes, unless it's to S.Smith who does a good job stiffing arming CB's there's no point in it

[Raven1995]

1. NE was the more desperate team. NE had to throw the kitchen sink at us to win. First use of no huddle by NE outside 2 minutes with Brady this year, trick plays, brand new defensive game plan, and ST tricks. We couldn’t handle it this time, if we make it in and play NE again, they will wish they held something back because we will end them.

2. What did West do to get in the doghouse? Dixon is not ready to be the feature back despite second half running. Dropping passes and taking the safety in the first half was terrible. Whoever decided to move away from West –this year- should be fired. Nothing more needs to be said, Dixon may be OK down the road, but not this year, and he is no power rusher, great after contact, but not a power back like West.

3. Hester is afraid. Despite the blocked FG, ST for the Ravens is still excellent. The “score not being as close as it was” is a false narrative, the first was a fluke yes, but our ST caused the second fumble, there was no garbage time scoring. This is the worst reasoning and shows poor ability to break the game down, just lazy commenting. If people make this claim, they are deluding themselves and may as well say the Ravens let the Patriots into it in the first place and then hang around because of Devin Hester alone. If teams can cover Hester immediately, he is worse than a liability, if he has room to move, he is still an OK returner.

4. Harbs and crew are protecting Elam for some reason.

5. Receivers didn’t help Joe out, and neither did Mornearwig with the game plan and adaptions. Wallace’s complete whiff on the interception is intolerable and the announcers should have pointed it out.

Extra Credit – Belichick blames Harbaugh for deflategate and they are no longer friends. The end game ”handshake” said it all. Belichick hates Harbaugh.

Number 3 I totally disagree. Hester is afraid and is letting the ball drop and not catching it , but when he does get room like you say they commit a Penalty. Even on Fair Catches I've seen them flagged. I would rather have Webb or Chris Moore back their and Fair Catch and tell the other players stop holding and blocking in the back.

[Raven1995]

here's the thing we saw last night:
1- Pats good coaches vs our lame coaches, if they have the WRs we have, they would be blowing out teams every sunday, our problems with the offense are all on the coaches, they dont adjust to the 3-4 man rush.
2- why we keep abandon the run game? ppl will say we were dowing a couple scores. will they're rushing 3-4 man pass rushes, with the way dixon and west running i would take advantage of that. the run game is the ravens bread and butter, the run game opens up the pass game for the ravens. just look at the pats last TD, guess why weddle got sucked by the fake playaction.
3- hester should've been cut like 8 wks ago, just saying, a lot of screw ups with him. just cut him and promote camp, can't do any worse.
4- elam is a bust, again cut him and let lewis harris or someone to take his spot, can't do any worse.

Great Post, a lot of thinking and not going for the easy quip of bashing Flacco.

[eze17]

The clock management problem has been an issue since Harb's became head coach, so I don't see that going away. Remember, he studied under Andy Reid, A great coach who can't manage the clock if his life depended on it. You can cover it up sometimes, but it's always going to be there, and unfortunately something that Flacco seems pretty nonchalant about also. So no surprise there.

Yet once again, penalties hurt us. A reoccuring issue that just won't go away and manages to bite this team when it seems to hurt the most.

Please, just go ahead and cut Hester. It hurts to watch a once great player look like he's clueless out on the field. We need to find a return man for next year, so why not start the auditions now? There has to be a young gun on this team who can fill the position better than an aging veteran who has clearly lost a step.

And while I'm not going to blame Elam for the long touchdown, it's pretty obvious by now that he is detrimental on passing downs. Good player vs. the run, but obviously shouldn't be on the field full time. Sorry, not what we expected from a first round draft pick, and I don't see him becoming worthy in the next three games.

[cobrajet]

I am just sick to my stomach at the loss of Jimmy Smith. I thought that it would be ok to lose to the Patriots, if we could just stay healthy, because I liked the matchups for the last three games against a healthy Ravens team.

[respecttheRaven]

Uncle Fester needs to go....sorry, he is not cutting it. Wallace needs to practice on the Jugs machine, he dropped 2-3 balls that were right to him. I mean right in his hands. The intercepted ball went right through his hands into the other teams players hands!!!!  

[BallsoHard622]

Almost every game we deal with the same issues.
1. Not enough quality corners
2. The offense is lost until the second half.
3. Flacco either can't audible or doesn't know how to audible
4. Not running the ball enough.
5. Bad play calling on both side of the ball.
6. Dumb penalties
7. What he hell s Hester doing?
I can go all day long, it's the same thing over an over again for years..smh

[KidNme]

Playoffs!....Playoffs???

[Crimson Raven]

Patriots ruin everything. Someday, they'll get theirs, but it doesn't matter now that we lost our Konrad. Rest in peace.

[fusuymada]

1 coaching
a. Penalties, 8 years now we have been told its on the coach. We continue to implode when driving with stupid penalties. How long, how long?
b. urgency, for 8 years we have been saying that someone needs to light a fire under Flacco, he needs to show he is in a hurry,
c. Field smarts, for 8 years we have said that Flacco is not a field manager. He barely has a hand full of plays he can check to, he can't even see the front line fill the hole he is getting ready to give the back the ball to run into. he cant even step back and call a timeout when in doubt
d. run-pass efficiency for 8 years we have been saying that for Flacco to be successful that there has to be some sort of equality in runs and passes, yet here we go again with a Flacco throwfest that just wants to make us throw up.

I am stopping here because I think you get the picture. Flacco has many imperfections but if nobody is going to tell him to fix it, he is the proverbial lazy boy who leaves his socks in the middle of the floor until mommy tells him to pick them up. For 8 years we have been waiting for someone to tell Flacco to pick up his socks along.

Same with everything else that just keeps occurring. Someone needs to coach and it looks like the inmates are running the asylum.

[RavensBaltimore]

  40 minutes ago, Raveforlife19 said:

  1 hour ago, krnraven said:

Lethargic Joe Succo. How many 1 yard passes are you going to attempt? It is really sad that the entire staff could not make adjustments to deal with 3 and 4 man rushes with zone behind it. Outclassed badly.

Where is the Flacco meter at today? Garbage.

I totally get your frustration and feel it too but that has everything to do with receivers not gaining separation, and not Flacco sucking... It's QB 101 -- if no one is open down field and the pass rush is in your face, hit the check down, scramble, or throw away. The problem is you cant get a first down with three check down passes in a row -_- and that's on the OC because it's an offensive design flaw or it's on the WR coach b/c the receivers are not running routes well. Also, here was Flacco's stat line, given there was no run game and the Pats were dropping 6-8 guys into coverage, he actually did pretty well. 37/52 (71%), 324 yds, 2TD, 1INT (laziness by Wallace and questionable no PI call), 92.1 QBR.

Oh Joe was sucking despite what the misleading stat line says. Had it not been for the gifted TOs he would not have had the 2 tds. Offense could not stay on the field for more than 4 minutes.

There were receivers open on some plays. Plus with a zone you can hang in the pocket and wait for the soft spots. Remember Mattison???? Joe is too anxious and is hurting us.
There was no running game because coach hardhead neglects to run. And have you seen a two minute offense from Joe? It's like watching grass grow. My frustration is that the same problems occur and that we are not getting better even 14 weeks later.

Pats have less skilled players than we do yet they contend every year due to exceptional coaching.

You say the statline is misleading because of the TOs, but you completely ignore the fact that the int was a pass that should have been caught for a 1st down in NE territory, and Wallace dropped another deep pass after that. Had the receivers not dropped so many passes, we would have had scoring opportunities without those TOs, and Joe wouldn't have had any ints. I agree we had too many dump off passes, but that's better than forcing it into coverage when no one is open, and when Joe did throw down field, he was accurate.

Also, NE has a good redzone D, so converting those TOs into TDs shouldn't be taken for granted. The offense was given great field position, but nobody let them in the end zone.

[ravensohyea]

Almost every game we deal with the same issues.
1. Not enough quality corners
2. The offense is lost until the second half.
3. Flacco either can't audible or doesn't know how to audible
4. Not running the ball enough.
5. Bad play calling on both side of the ball.
6. Dumb penalties
7. What he hell s Hester doing?
I can go all day long, it's the same thing over an over again for years..smh

LOL. Great synopsis.