[News] Ravens React To Falling To Steelers, Missing Playoffs

[sp3ctor]

After the Lee Evans drop and Cundiff shank Ray said in interview that basically you can't blame those guys for one play because it shouldn't come down to that. He pointed to himself and how he didn't make a tackle in the 3rd quarter. I agree with Ray that it's a 60 minute game and in the playoffs one play can look like it makes all the difference but the game is still 60 minutes. When it's the regular season it isn't 60 minutes, it's more like 960 minutes. Sure one play could make or break your season, and for those who weren't paying close enough attention after the stretch by Antonio Brown (you know, because you were dry-heaving your Christmas turkey), had he not streched the steelers would not have had time to get set for a field goal and the clock would have expired. It was that close, a game of inches. But, what about CJ's fumbled pick-6 that would have sprung a momentum shift against the Washington Racial-Stereotypes? What about the absolute embarrassment of a game against the New York Jets? What about a one point loss against the Oakland Raiders? The season often comes down to a play or a game that decides everything, but only because most people have short memories of the plays and games that didn't go our way earlier on. One win in October would have been the difference between the post season this year. The defense crumbled against good offenses all season so we shouldn't be surprised. We should be hungry for change and stability this off season. A lot of good happened this season and from an outsider's standpoint I saw a few things that are better to me than a post season berth: 1) Flacco still has it. He's never going to be a lights out kinda guy, but he appears to be moving past his injury and with him on the books for the next 5 seasons that's a Christmas gift in itself. 2) The defense has potential to be a shut-down unit, they just need help in the secondary, which is doable this off season. 3) the offense has a new weapon in Dixon. If he can continue to develop he will be the teams #1 next season. 4) We are one true #1 WR away from being an explosive offense. If I were Ozzy I would do everything in my power to get the drafts #1 Wideout, even if that means trading up and giving away a few picks. & finally 5) Maybe the bittersweet ending to this year will prompt Smitty to come back for one last dance. I'm keeping my fingers crossed he does. I want him to go out fighting against bigger dudes deep in the post season and I'm sure Ravensnation wants the same.
Good year of rebuilding. Take the momentum and bring it into 2017.

[UnWorld]

 

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I agree with Ray that it's a 60 minute game and in the playoffs one play can look like it makes all the difference but the game is still 60 minutes.

@sp3ctor Hit the nail on the head - the true blows to our playoff chances occurred earlier in the season... Washington, NY Jets, and NY Giants games come to mind.  That 4 game losing-streak was going to be hard to overcome in December; and as expected - that's exactly what this season ended up coming down to - "must win" December football against division rivals.

Crazy thing is, even *if* we had gotten the W at Heinz Field, we would have still needed to win against the Bengals (who we defeated by 4 points, 4th quarter close game, with WWE-style special teams to run out the clock).

Next season - 1) DBs, 2) More DBs, 3) Quality Slot WR, 4) Even more DBs.  In the Dean Pees philosophy, Better coverage forces the QB to hold the ball longer, resulting in increased pressure (Hits & Sacks).  Watching replays - the Ravens had 4-5 LINEBACKERS on the field as their "best pass coverage" on that final Steelers drive.  That says a LOT about the level of talent (and numbers) our current DB corps possesses.

We had rookie pass rushers on IR - who "should" be able to develop well into next season.  Judon is going to be HUGE in the future.  Our O-Line played well when healthy.  Our Defense has only been exploited in pass coverage; due to our current DBs inability to play as well as Dean Pees schemes require of them (especially when J. Smith is injured).  This team is not too far off from returning to greatness.  Harbs, Ozzie, DeCosta & Co. just have to have a sense of urgency this offseason.  Fix the problem spots, don't just gloss over them.

[Purple Dawg 96]

Four game loosing streak to teams the Ravens should have beaten is why we're not Division Champs! Squeelers just finally got lucky! This will make us stronger! Keep yall heads up!

[Halshayeji]

7 hours ago, Vitalvicious said:

It just sux to have played so well, mount a great comeback only to watch the same episode that's been running for 14 weeks, get a lead and surrender it. We need to improve our secondary ASAP. We need a viable pass rush ASAP. Onice again out coached when it counts. Maybe my expectations for Ravens football need to be taken down a notch. I'm thoroughly disappointed in how our season ended but sometimes that's how the ball bounces. 

Ozzie............please spend some money on a #1 cornerback, and please stop bringing in old has-been players from teams.

I feel ya brother. I feel ya 

[Militant X 1]

16 hours ago, Vitalvicious said:

I'm sick of losing games that we shouldn't lose, I'm sick of our defense folding when the game is on the line, I'm super sick of this PATHETIC patchwork secondary that we keep putting on display year after year, I'm sick of players in our secondary not playing their true position, I'm sick of our team being out coached week after week, I'm sick of the lame excuses after every loss, I'm sick of people/players being politically correct and not speaking the truth, I'm sick of dump down passes, I'm sick of terrible play calling in crucial moments of games!!!!!!!! Make some changes, this has gotten to be the same movie week after week and it's boring. Baltimore Ravens football should be a much better product than what has been displayed the last few years!!!!!

I agree with the last bolded statement and I'm still pissed too!

Let the being "sick of" it flow brah!  

[Zeus]

This team didn't improve much at all from last season. Why?

We need to find a stud at WR... Perriman is a joke and will never live up to all the hype that has been posted on this site

[kakatakoi]

Ravens Nation, I am very proud of our performance this season and remember we were not expected to even be close in the Steelers game so keep your heads up, you scared the he!! out of Pittsburgh in that game. They are very lucky right now and they Know it.  We battled through injuries, coaching changes, more injuries, one of the TOUGHEST schedules in the league and even the tragic deaths of team members. Think about this...we played Oakland, Patriots, Steelers, Giants, Redskins and Miami...all teams going to the playoffs (minus NY) and beat two of those teams and had it not been for some 4th qtr mistakes (that we Will Identify, learn from and Correct) we could have and should have won all those games.  Raiders...winnable game, Steelers...winnable, Patriots...winnable, Giants...winnable. Philly....We won but we nearly lost a 17 point lead, we should have learned and corrected but we didn't, now we must go back and look at what broke down....the over the middle crap, Odell Beckham, Jesse James, Chris Hogan.  Teams did it to us all season so, Dean Pees....WHY and HOW is this repeatedly happening? Identify and correct the issue so we aren't plagued by huge busted plays in the 4th qtr where our team Deserved to leave with the victory!  Also, OC we Have a legit running game...use it and when its working chew the clock up and keep using what's working, stop trying to get cerebral, we had Pittsburg's back against the wall with the run, chewing up clock, wearing out the D then started throwing ....why? We have to figure out WHY our OCs Continually stop using what's working.  Sometimes the defense just can't stop the run even if they Know it's coming...going against tendencies and mixing it up just because the odds and probabilities say you can't do something over and over with success isn't always right. You got this Ravens, you have a Right to feel disappointed because you played your hearts and souls out, you also need to know you're one step closer to figuring it out, just learn from your mistakes...continue to build on what you have, reframe and see if there's any details you've overlooked and focus on the process not the outcome....you played like champions all season, never got blown out, never sat down, never quit, never abdicated, and never pointed fingers....that's something to be Proud of and Carry Forward!

[kakatakoi]

17 hours ago, UnWorld said:

 

@sp3ctor Hit the nail on the head - the true blows to our playoff chances occurred earlier in the season... Washington, NY Jets, and NY Giants games come to mind.  That 4 game losing-streak was going to be hard to overcome in December; and as expected - that's exactly what this season ended up coming down to - "must win" December football against division rivals.

Crazy thing is, even *if* we had gotten the W at Heinz Field, we would have still needed to win against the Bengals (who we defeated by 4 points, 4th quarter close game, with WWE-style special teams to run out the clock).

Next season - 1) DBs, 2) More DBs, 3) Quality Slot WR, 4) Even more DBs.  In the Dean Pees philosophy, Better coverage forces the QB to hold the ball longer, resulting in increased pressure (Hits & Sacks).  Watching replays - the Ravens had 4-5 LINEBACKERS on the field as their "best pass coverage" on that final Steelers drive.  That says a LOT about the level of talent (and numbers) our current DB corps possesses.

We had rookie pass rushers on IR - who "should" be able to develop well into next season.  Judon is going to be HUGE in the future.  Our O-Line played well when healthy.  Our Defense has only been exploited in pass coverage; due to our current DBs inability to play as well as Dean Pees schemes require of them (especially when J. Smith is injured).  This team is not too far off from returning to greatness.  Harbs, Ozzie, DeCosta & Co. just have to have a sense of urgency this offseason.  Fix the problem spots, don't just gloss over them.

you said it perfectly, Dean Pees needs to sit down ID, address and Correct, fix and keep it fixed on the secondary.  All previous losses aside our Defense gave up 21 points in 1 quarter of football. the idiocy of some journalists and commentators asking "did we score too soon"? Are you kidding me?  Also, second guessing our red zone scoring and the decision to just take field goals...points on the board are points on the board and you take what the defense gives you because that is just football, no one is entitled to score touchdowns. The last 5 weeks since we got rid of that toxic OC we had we have been putting up more points than we had All season...so where was the problem, special teams...offense....or the defense? Not only did our secondary Not get it done but our front 4 haven't created real pressure or sacks all season.  Dean Pees, I'm calling you out...Marc Trestman got his pink slip and the offense has improved immeasurably...Dean Pees, it's time to find new employment.   

[WordProphet]

I think we need new coaches a new head coach, a new offensive coordinator and a new defensive coordinator for we get the same results year after year and for some reason people can't see that we need a change, the secondary needs a face lift, Weddle is fine but Jimmy Smith is out with a bad back and the rest has been a problem for years!!! Excuses always comes out of the mouths of the people that is the cause of the problem, the coaches, and Flacco misses too many people who are open too many times!!! This is the results we will always get if we keep thinking that we don't need to change things that don't work, next year will be the same if we don't make changes, just wait and see, excuses, excuses, excuses, and no playoffs!!!

[kakatakoi]

On 12/26/2016 at 7:39 AM, Halshayeji said:

I'm just as sick as you are. But I think play calling was actually pritty good this game. We just couldn't handle Brown without Jimmy. It seemed like every time we overload the box they threw and whenever we dropped extra players in coverage Bell would run for 7 or 8.

offensively, Joe put 1 up there for perriman, Waller, and Pitta but all 3 were dropped. Yes I don't expect any WR to catch those on a regular basis because they were really touch catches to make. But on any given Sunday that's 10-14 points. We came out with 6. That's game! And then juice made a fantastic play for that TD but had he fallen a yard or 2 short we would have run the clock out.

it was just that kind of a game. Tough fought game and the home team prevailed with 9 seconds left.

im just as heartbroken as anyone here but that's football. Win some and you lose some. I was much more disappointed with a few losses earlier in the season where we should have won 10 times out of 10. But oh well. If we have an offseason like last year were back on the map!

you are so right about the True disappointment coming from previous losses this year...NY Giants, Pats, Jets, Washington (inexcusable), Oakland (embarrassing and also inexcusable) and if anyone was watching we nearly gave up a 17 point lead to Philly (I almost wish they had won, they showed way more heart) by the way in 3 games we lost including the last one to Pittsburgh we got ATE UP over the middle.  NY Giants...Odell Beckham, Patriots ...Chris Hogan, Steelers....Jesse James (it honestly was Not Antonio Brown who was killing us oh did I forget to mention Eli Rogers, he gutted our secondary, Brown just stole the show). Anyway, same issues all season...never identified, never properly addressed, never corrected and obviously never fixed.  Why was this....Only Dean Pees can answer that question, he's supposed to be accountable for his defenses production or lack there of...how about it Dean....you got any answers?  I don't want to get banned from the boards so I'll stifle my visceral antipathy for that ineffective, parasitic load on our team. My favorite incident all season was seeing Mark Trestman get canned, you want to make some Ravens fans get past this disappointment...show Pees the  door!

[WordProphet]

Ever since Harbaugh and Ozzie got rid of the Superbowl team, we've done nothing but gone down hill, poor coaching, poor play calling, losing games that we should not lose, being out coached, lame excuses and not speaking the truth, they need to get rid of the whole front office and the coaching staff for lying to the fans!!!

[kakatakoi]

10 hours ago, WordProphet said:

Ever since Harbaugh and Ozzie got rid of the Superbowl team, we've done nothing but gone down hill, poor coaching, poor play calling, losing games that we should not lose, being out coached, lame excuses and not speaking the truth, they need to get rid of the whole front office and the coaching staff for lying to the fans!!!

you are so right about the Pathetic Coaching and the True disappointment coming from previous losses this year...NY Giants, Pats, Jets, Washington (inexcusable), Oakland (embarrassing and also inexcusable) and if anyone was watching we nearly gave up a 17 point lead to Philly (I almost wish they had won, they showed way more heart) by the way in 3 games we lost including the last one to Pittsburgh we got ATE UP over the middle.  NY Giants...Odell Beckham, Patriots ...Chris Hogan, Steelers....Jesse James (it honestly was Not Antonio Brown who was killing us oh did I forget to mention Eli Rogers, he gutted our secondary, Brown just stole the show). Anyway, same issues all season...never identified, never properly addressed, never corrected and obviously never fixed.  Why was this....Only Dean Pees can answer that question, he's supposed to be accountable for his defenses production or lack there of...how about it Dean....you got any answers?  I don't want to get banned from the boards so I'll stifle my visceral antipathy for that ineffective, parasitic load on our team. My favorite incident all season was seeing Mark Trestman get canned, you want to make some Ravens fans get past this disappointment...show Pees the door!

[WordProphet]

I think the Ravens played as hard as they could, and it was a real good game, but this missing the playoffs the last 3 out of 4 season is not a good thing and excuses will not cut it!!! But as always GO RAVENS!!! I hope the draft will do us some good if Ozzie can get this one right!!!

[kakatakoi]

To say that it was a hard loss to swallow or that emotions ran high in a game of inches just does not get me past losing another Winnable game that meant SO much with our destiny in our Capable hands. We literally snatched defeat from the jaws of victory...giving up 21 points in 1 quarter is as inexcusable as it is incomprehensible.  It goes without saying but this is going to hurt, as it should, for a long time and Not because we left anything on the field or we got robbed or we didn't try or put forth enough effort...we arguably surrendered the victory due to a fear based mentality and strategy, playing not to lose versus playing to win.  In short, we ultimately beat ourselves...this is not taking Anything away from the heart and the resolve of our players it is simply saying to the Ravens coaching staff, you screwed your team in This game and you should find or borrow a backbone and profusely apologize to every player!

[manofsteel]

Fire Dean Peas, Morty ? and Harbaugh for the dumbest ending to the steelers game. Do I have to recite it? Passes down the middle? Not getting the defense to cover the receivers tight! Wow If I was the owner all 2 would be gone by today!

[manofsteel]

I think the Ravens played as hard as they could, and it was a real good game, but this missing the playoffs the last 3 out of 4 season is not a good thing and excuses will not cut it!!! But as always GO RAVENS!!! I hope the draft will do us some good if Ozzie can get this one right!!!

No playoffs due to coaching and backfield! Not because J Smith not there and thats for sure! Get rid of Ozzie too

[manofsteel]

If you Ravens think that you ARE good, then blowout the Bengals next week......prove something to us who pay you all of these millions, not rightfully deserved!

[bozo]

fix the secondary.

[kevraves]

the prevent D wasn't the best idea...but that loss was a a result of poor tackling. weddle -Safety...the very positions means your the last line of defense. and mosley instead of trying to make the big hit wrap-up and drive him back. we almost lost to philly with the same scenario. the end of the games players just are not playing situational football.

[Vitalvicious]

On Monday, December 26, 2016 at 9:18 AM, MadStorkSociety said:

Old has-beens --- you mean like Steve Smith Sr or Weddle?

Like Wright, Arrington, Powers, Watson, Hester, those has-beens! 

[drillem]

Take a look at Dallas. They finished last year with pretty much the same record as us. Then a few good draft picks and they are superstars. Something is wrong with Raven's philosophy in drafting players. And a few other things.

[terpmaniac]

Had the lead late very late in the game against Oakland, we lost. Lead late in the game against the Giants, we lost. CJ Mosely fumbles winning score against the Skins in the ennzone late in the game, we lost. Late lead again against the Steelers, again we lost. There it is Ravens fans our season in a nutshell.

[raven4evr]

Shoulda, Coulda, Woulda... season in a nutshell... Coaching!!

[raven4evr]

Fire Dean Peas, Morty ? and Harbaugh for the dumbest ending to the steelers game. Do I have to recite it? Passes down the middle? Not getting the defense to cover the receivers tight! Wow If I was the owner all 2 would be gone by today!

fire all THREE