[News] Late For Work 12/26: Eight Takeaways From Ravens-Steelers Christmas Classic

[TheConquerorWorm]

  14 hours ago, TheConquerorWorm said:

  14 hours ago, Black&purple#55 said:

Dean pees must let go man, i cant stand this "PLAYING SCARED" defence

Pees blitzed almost every play in the final drive. How could you even watch that game and blame the coaches? The players on defense choked, period. Where were Suggs, Doom, Judon, Jernigan on that final drive?

No, he didn't blitz almost every play. This has been going on for so long, when these situations come up I say out loud on every play how many guys are in the rush. Once or twice I said "5". And sending a safety at Big Ben isn't going to do anything but leave another LB in space.

You need to watch it again .Even the broadcaster said it.

1st Play - Ravens rush 4, pass to TE James.
2nd Play - Ravens rush 4 - Orr was blitzing but had to drop out to cover Bell because Squealers go 5 wide with Bell, pass to Brown
3rd play - Ravens rush 5 (LB blitz), long pass to TE
4th play - Ravens rush 5 (LB blitz), pass to WR
5th play - Ravens rush 5 (LB Blitz), long pass to Eli to Ravens 19
Red Zone defense

That's 4 blitzes called in a row.

Now, one could argue that if the Ravens actually played a "prevent" defense (some on here need to understand the difference between Cover 6 and Prevent) where we only rushed 3 and dropped 8, we might have won the game. But that doesn't fit the whole "we played prevent, we lost, Dean Pees sucks" narrative.

[Rav'n Maniac]

That was a classic rivalry game between these two teams that didn't disappoint from beginning to end.

You can point to many failures on the Ravens part during the game that could have put it out of reach for the steelers. Three incompletions in the end zone come to mind. The fact that we had five drives in the first half on their side of the 50 and couldn't make it into the end zone once. The 4th quarter meltdown on the D, there is no way they should have been able to score with 78 secs on the clock.

Time to begin thinking of next year.

[BigUgly]

That was the best offensive game plan we saw all year, but even that showed some fatal flaws.  The entire offensive coaching staff needs to be overhauled, and the new OC empowered to pick his staff.  Same for the defense.  Pees has been saddled with less that elite talent in the defensive backfield for years, but the pattern of blown leads late in games stretches back to the SB, the divisional round in '14, and this year to the Jets, Stillers (x2) and Eagles games.  Scheme plays a part in that, and for that reason, he should go as well.  Missed our chance to nab Schwartz last year.

[ski]

  16 hours ago, Bohica5 said:

Harbs has had plenty of "time"..........No More Time!!!!!! he is done!

Ozzie had plenty of time to draft quality players, what did he give us? Matt Elam, Art Brown, Kamalei Correa. Should he be done, giving Harbaugh a bunch of weak players and saying make chicken salad out of...

 

Harbaugh doesn't build the team, he makes cuts and employs a coaching staff, and tries to put the best product on the field. He gives us the best of what Ozzie gave him 

This is the truth. Those Madden warriors who have the lightest of football knowledge just love pointing their Cheetos crusted fingers at Harbs and Flacco for all the problems that Ozzie has created. Rookie CBs tend to get torched. Is Webb really a safety? Offensive lines with rookies and zero continuity tend to get torched. And QBs with no O-line and no true impact playmakers never consistently do well. Where is Flacco's Antonio Brown? The team simply needs better players.

[steelcityraven]

8 take aways from the game:

1. We cannot close any team out 15 of our 17 loses over the past two years have been us surrendering a 2nd half lead and many of those in the 4th quarter and many of those on the closing drive. Do you realize that if we won even half of those games (8) and split them between the two seasons (4) apiece... we would have not only made the playoffs both years but also been a top seed this year.

2. I don't understand why we shut AB down for 3 quarters and then in the 4th quarter... we decide to give him space and play him soft. We kept Weddle over top for 3 quarters and then with the game on the line we give one of the most dangerous WRs in the game all the space in the world to work with

3. I keep hearing that we don't have play makers and I don't know that I agree with that. I don't know that we always utilize our playmakers enough but we have play makers.

4. It concerns me that for the past 3 plus seasons - that NO lead is safe - no matter how much the lead or how late the lead we always find a way to blow it. We have had very different defensive personnel over the past 3 years so it is not the players.

5. I love Dixon and he runs hard.... but I think we need to compliment him moving forward with a speed back. Would love to see a Dalvin Cook here.

6. I know that every one is screaming for pass rushers... but it don't matter who you have here - the defense has to commit to pressuring the QB not rushing 2 and 3 and wondering why we cant get pressure on the opposing QB.

7. I know we want more pass rushers but for the past 3 years now -we have said that the one player that we cannot afford to lose is Jimmy Smith and every year we have lost him for multiple games. When are we going to bring in a real CB opposite Jimmy to take some of the pressure off of the D

8. Joe has shown that when he is protected... he can be elite and when he is not.... he is avg at best. With that said... I hope we do everything we can to bring Ricky Wagner back next season.

[steelcityraven]

Needs going into 2017

1. A legit CB opposite Jimmy

2. A legit pass rusher
` I think Judon can be very good but someone to push him

3. A dangerous playmaker at WR
` especially if SSS leaves.
` Wallace, Perriman, & Moore.(that's a solid nucleus but more is needed)

4. We need to retain Brandon Williams

5. We need a S to begin to replace Webb
` He can do do okay but we need an upgrade badly there

6. We need speed to compliment Dixon at RB

7, We need a new DC