[News] The Breakdown: Eisenberg's Five Thoughts At Pittsburgh Steelers

[BR News]

One of Ravens' most heartbreaking losses. Saying Juszczyk should've waited to score is silly. Could've been a 40-point day. Ravens need more playmakers. Final stretch dulls fine season for defense.

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[Molson Man]

We need a new OC but this was a great game but tough loss

[ByTheBay]

Tough loss for sure but barring a miracle 2012 like playoff run this team was doubtful to make much noise in January. We have a bunch of veterans that probably wont be back next year and a bunch of promising young guys with a season under their belt. Joe didnt look like he felt comfortable until a week or so ago. Stanley is set to be a beast next year. We need to replace a few weak links in the secondary. Maybe we can land Norm at OC. He would be good for Joe. All in all we played better than last season and look set to make some real noise next year. Cant win them all and if we can once again be a perinial playoff team with only 2 down seasons that would be something most teams can only dream of. Go Ravens!

[Hardhitters]

The 4 game losing streak earlier in the season hurt us, we were out coached leading us to need to be prefect in our division in order to make the playoffs. Harbaugh put the team in that position with garbage time coaching, it's time for him to move on and get a head coach that can win the coaching game.

[Minionhunter]

Late lead against the raiders loss, late lead against the giants a loss. I still think

[Hardhitters]

We only made the playoffs once since Ray Lewis & company left and the one time is credited to Kubiak. Bye Harbaugh, you clearly have nothing for us in Baltimore. People keep saying OC & DC when the true problem is the HC.

[scottsdaleazravensfan]

I disagree if Kyle stops at one yd line we have first and goal with one plus min left . We score they don't have enough time to score . I know I'm probably dreaming .

[Hardhitters]

Harbaugh fired Trestman then Marty did the same thing Trestman did and Harbaugh allowed it, insanity at its best.

[ravens4life86]

Looking forward to a new OC,
And I believe 2 more years locked into Flacco contract if Im not mistaken.
He aint getting another extension without another AFC title run/ SB run..
That 20mil contract and average performance has cost Ravens the ability to keep gamechangers in other areas Defense, Oline. (KO, multiple raven defenders over years Mcphee, probably B.Williams etc)
If your not going to be Aaron Rodgers and throw 35 tds a year..

Then its better to have a Loaded up defense and pay your Qb nothing, draft 1 every 5 years until you hit on Rodgers or Marino type

[Fastynart]

Just pitiful. How can you keep the Steelers to 10 points through 3 quarters then fold like a crumpled piece of paper, giving up 21 points in the fourth. An all too familiar refrain for this Raven's defense. While the offense blew several key opportunities, there is absolutely NO EXCUSE for the defense allowing the Steelers to march the length of the field with 1:18 remaining. Steelers receivers were so wide open that it looked as if no one was paying any attention to them. Just a pathetic performance at the end doomed the Ravens.

[WordProphet]

Penalties will not help you win, but they will make sure you lose, this off season maybe we can instill that in certain players mind and teach them how to play the ball and not the man, because it's just stupid not to turn around when the ball is coming, a lot of time you could intercept the ball or at the least knock it down!!! I see this happening on every team in the NFL, I wonder do they teach not to play the ball but the man???

[GMAC]

Penalties will not help you win, but they will make sure you lose, this off season maybe we can instill that in certain players mind and teach them how to play the ball and not the man, because it's just stupid not to turn around when the ball is coming, a lot of time you could intercept the ball or at the least knock it down!!! I see this happening on every team in the NFL, I wonder do they teach not to play the ball but the man???

That was a tough lesson for the rookie, but we found a good one for the future. And in the 4th round no less, where we seem to do our best drafting.

[WordProphet]

I hope we can draft high in the 2017-18 season!!! And we need a new OC and DC for the ones we have stunk up the place and a new head coach for we have not made the playoff for a while with the ones we have, maybe a change is needed!!!

[GMAC]

Tough loss for sure but barring a miracle 2012 like playoff run this team was doubtful to make much noise in January. We have a bunch of veterans that probably wont be back next year and a bunch of promising young guys with a season under their belt. Joe didnt look like he felt comfortable until a week or so ago. Stanley is set to be a beast next year. We need to replace a few weak links in the secondary. Maybe we can land Norm at OC. He would be good for Joe. All in all we played better than last season and look set to make some real noise next year. Cant win them all and if we can once again be a perinial playoff team with only 2 down seasons that would be something most teams can only dream of. Go Ravens!

Pass rush, secondary and O-line need some help for sure. And persuading SSS to come back for one more year wouldn't hurt. Sadly he was our best receiver again.

[WordProphet]

Stupid mistakes and poor decisions is what doomed us this year, how many times will we not make the playoffs before people see there needs to be a change!!!

[jravens1313]

"Ravens need more playmakers" - More like Ravens need to utilize playmakers. This coaching staff is something man. Every week Dixon outplays West, yet West gets more reps. Every week we talk about running the football and proceed to throw 70% of the time. How do we not take shots with Wallace deep? Or allow Perriman to win jump balls in the redzone? Using Pitta past 5 yards. Feeding SSR and allowing him to get yards after the catch.

The "high completion" short passing game was our offensive identity this year (along with many 3 & Outs). Flacco finally gets to 4000 yards but we all know that isn't the recipe for success.

Pees usually does a great job against Pittsburgh but that soft prevent that allowed Steelers WR's to stop the clock (every time) on the final drive was terrible. After Juice picked up that first down, I wanted him to knee it at the 1. Run more clock and score. Sucks to suck John.

[BallsoHard622]

Looking forward to a new OC,
And I believe 2 more years locked into Flacco contract if Im not mistaken.
He aint getting another extension without another AFC title run/ SB run..
That 20mil contract and average performance has cost Ravens the ability to keep gamechangers in other areas Defense, Oline. (KO, multiple raven defenders over years Mcphee, probably B.Williams etc)
If your not going to be Aaron Rodgers and throw 35 tds a year..

Then its better to have a Loaded up defense and pay your Qb nothing, draft 1 every 5 years until you hit on Rodgers or Marino type

Can't agree with you more. I thought we should've let flacco walk instead of extending him an build the team. I don't think he can get us to the big game again.

[omar586]

actually we need use our play makers, we have them, we need to utilize them,
1st- coming up short to make the playoffs is on harb and coaching staff, the reason being, not running the ball consistantly throughout the season, that lead to losses. and this game proved that. we were in the game because of our running game.

[Maurice0094]

Lack of playmakers was a part of this end result for Ravens. I also think the inconsistency for offense to sustain scoring drives, lack of run game and the defense not making any plays via pass rush, ints, tunerovers! This was a team loss with failures against teams we could've beat.

[goldenboldin]

Disagree with those pinning most of Ravens issues on Flacco. Joe wasn't responsible for Waller's TD drop, nor Perrimans multiple drops. Perriman has a steep learning curve and isn't representative of a starting WR let alone a 1st round pick.

Flacco is a good QB but he's a very system-typed QB. He can only succeed in a specific offensive system - notably Kubiaks. If Joe had that again, he would be tearing it up. The two glaring issues are lack of playmakers on receiving core (as previous post mentioned) and Offensive Coordinator playcalling. If Ravens fix those two things, I'd think we'd be shocked how good they can be.

[Crusader]

I wonder how much the Defense having to carry this offense all year had to do with the late season collapse? Also, the defense and offense plays are so predictable I guess even the Eagles figured that out. Johns "agressive" play calls led to record.

[ravens4life86]

1 thing that bothered me a lot bout this game and the nfl in general, not trying to be "Mr Conspiracy" but it puts doubt in your mind about integrity of the games not being fixed.
1) how in the world is Sizzle on the bench for final drive of the game? Or he was atleast until they got down into the redzone. Dont tell me he needed a breather, not like that excuse doesnt work when the games on the line.
2) Steve Smith sr? He was a ghost in the 2nd half especially in the redzone when he dominated 1st half. Thats fishy.

Those things make my antennas perk up and sound the alarms

[ravens4life86]

Bottomline is...Harbaugh should lose all power now. Hes a good coach but hes not the white knight he thought he was. And year by year fans are proven right, he won on the backs of HOFrs Lewis,Reed, Sizzle, and very good borderline hofrs like Ngata etc, with a group of alpha males like Boldin,Pollard etc who ran the asylum. Not a yes men type cheer leader coach, who picks his besties for OC jobs who fail miserably.

Now Ozzie needs to go get those edgy, nasty alpha males.. Sizzle,Ray Lewis, Ngata esque players who may have never been picked if Harbaugh was originally coach. Well now he doesnt get a choice, cause correas and Koufusis bums from 2nd rate schools with nice guy attached to their name dont cut it.

We want
A bonefied Pass Rusher or 2.
Barnett Tennesee, Harris Mizzou, Fields Louisvl, Smoot Illinois,
AShutdown Cb
T. White, Lsu, J.Lewis Mich, D. King Iowa,
WR
Dede Westbrook Okla, Amarah Darboh Mich, Chrisian McCaffrey RB/WR

[designermaryland]

we have enough talent on this team to be fine. nobody has 10 antonio brown quality stars. jesse james and guys i have never heard of were making our touted defense look like swiss cheese. this claim that we need "playmakers" is old. we just need our guys to execute against average defenses and not look inept. we need Flacco to see open receivers. Tom Brady and others are throwing to no name chumps and performing well. Time for a new regime in Baltimore.

[designermaryland]

  2 hours ago, ravens4life86 said:

Looking forward to a new OC,
And I believe 2 more years locked into Flacco contract if Im not mistaken.
He aint getting another extension without another AFC title run/ SB run..
That 20mil contract and average performance has cost Ravens the ability to keep gamechangers in other areas Defense, Oline. (KO, multiple raven defenders over years Mcphee, probably B.Williams etc)
If your not going to be Aaron Rodgers and throw 35 tds a year..

Then its better to have a Loaded up defense and pay your Qb nothing, draft 1 every 5 years until you hit on Rodgers or Marino type

Can't agree with you more. I thought we should've let flacco walk instead of extending him an build the team. I don't think he can get us to the big game again.

definitely. give me anyone else making under 15 million, including alex smith who may have been an option at the time if they had not resigned him. half the cost and twice the production. flacco has not evolved or improved marginally at best in 9 years. i can get anyone in the league to "almost" get me a win 8 out of 16 times.

[Zeus]

Great job Harbs once again! Time to clean house

[RaRaRavens]

“We’re very close to being a very good football team. We can be a great team. But we’re not there yet.” Yes, this is true and we do need more young playmakers. But the reason I'm most devastated is, next year we will not be in a better place young talent wise.

We are probably going to lose B.Williams, Wagner and maybe even Juice. SSS will be gone, so we will be without our only player who deserves to be a WR. Probably Suggs and/or Doom will be calling it quits.

To replace them all, we are going to probably bank on our young guys develop into studs over the offseason (unlikely in most cases) and Oz having incredible draft (judging by last couple of drafts, with the exception of last year's 4th round, he won't find immediate impact players).

Therefore, I'm most dissappointed in our season ending, because I'm afraid we won't have another season that matters any time soon, at least not next year.

[Purple Dawg 96]

WHAT A GAME! I'm bummed out but proud of my squad! When in the redzone you gotta get "TOUCHDOWNS" period! GOOD GAME

[The Greek]

exciting game and hats off to the steelers for not quitting. hopefully the message is loud and clear to the front office that we need a cb badly.

[catgirl54]

have to remember that Suggs has been playing with a torn bicep all season and it's probably really bothering him now, and Doom is getting older and has been hurt all season too. Without an effective pass rush, you can't stop a cagy, quick-release QB like Big Ben. No Jimmy Smith really hurt us too, but Smith's value has to be re-evaluated. He's too injury-prone. We need someone stalwart like a Richard Sherman.