512 replies to this topic

[bmore_ken]

They're really not. You can't look at attempts and assume thats what happening.

 

47 dropbacks. 19 of them were on the final two drives where they had to go to the air. 

 

28 dropbacks to 21 rushes before the final two drives. 

We'll have to agree to disagree. This team wins with time consuming drives with the running game. Not Lamar throwing 40 or 50 passes. 

[TwentyThirtyFive]

We'll have to agree to disagree. This team wins with time consuming drives with the running game. Not Lamar throwing 40 or 50 passes.

They cant do that anymore. Know I just posted it in another thread but yeah. Weve gone from being a TOP efficent offense in recent years to a chunk play big strike offense(at least when the offense is going well). Dolphins exposed how inefficient we are this year.

[TwentyThirtyFive]

Pretty comfortable saying if we had 4 wins instead of 6 our playoff hopes would be all but gone.

[Mike in STL]

We'll have to agree to disagree. This team wins with time consuming drives with the running game. Not Lamar throwing 40 or 50 passes. 

Well, Lamar has never thrown 50 passes, and until last night, was 2-1 when attempting 40+ passes. 

[TwentyThirtyFive]

Get some defensive coqches in here that know how to coach players up. I think our defensive coaching staff sucks and Im npt even necessarily talking about Martindale. The positional coaches.

[PrimeTime]

There's something that fans often lose sight of in the wake of a loss....the other team gets paid, too. It sounds like a stupid cliche but it really rings true.

The Ravens made their share of mistakes but the Dolphins were not there for our entertainment. They out schemed us defensively and we didn't have an answer for it.

[Mackus]

Sorry, it does not ring true for me.  Not at all interested in a "tip your cap to the Dolphins" reaction to last night.  I'm ok with calling it a terrible game and moving on, but not with saying that the opponent simply outplayed the Ravens.  I don't think that is what happened.

[PrimeTime]

Sorry, it does not ring true for me. Not at all interested in a "tip your cap to the Dolphins" reaction to last night. I'm ok with calling it a terrible game and moving on, but not with saying that the opponent simply outplayed the Ravens. I don't think that is what happened.

The other team impacts your ability to execute. There were certainly defensive breakdowns that led to the big plays, so mostly self inflicted wounds there. Offensively, the Dolphins blitzed like hell and we couldn't block it up.

Piss poor execution isn't always about just what we do; what the other team does to us impacts that.

[Mackus]

The other team impacts your ability to execute. There were certainly defensive breakdowns that led to the big plays, so mostly self inflicted wounds there. Offensively, the Dolphins blitzed like hell and we couldn't block it up.

Piss poor execution isn't always about just what we do; what the other team does to us impacts that.

 

What you're saying applies to some games. Many even, I'd agree.  I don't think it explains last night.  It wasn't a "tip your cap to the Dolphins" type of game.  It was a "what the eff are the Ravens doing" type of game.  I think everyone in the building thought it would be an easy win.  I'll even point to things like not activating Boyle, I think he was probably close enough to ready to play but they thought they could win without him so they'd give him another 10 days before really needing him.  Not saying they win if Boyle plays, just that deactivating him could be viewed as a symptom of the bad approach.  And largely because of that mindset, overall as a team they weren't frosty and Miami was able to take their lunch money.  I think the Ravens lost not because of anything Miami did but because of everything they didn't do.

[You Play to Win the Game]

Harbs chewed Duvernay a new one late in the game after  ST miscue. Wish he were more willing to confront veterans that way. Sammy Watkins for instance, no one said a word to him from what I could see. Although it did seem to me that his snaps seemed to decrease as the game went on, but again I'm not really certain on that.

[Biggsy]

The other team impacts your ability to execute. There were certainly defensive breakdowns that led to the big plays, so mostly self inflicted wounds there. Offensively, the Dolphins blitzed like hell and we couldn't block it up.

Piss poor execution isn't always about just what we do; what the other team does to us impacts that.

I respect what the Miami coaching staff did on the defensive side. We went right down the field on the first 2 drives. Then they said F it, we're getting beat anyway, let's just send the house and see what happens. And they took over. Last night is exactly what usually happens to Roman in the playoffs. Someone comes out and hits him with something different. He gets flustered and can't figure out how to beat it all game.

[cprenegade]

There was a thread here earlier in the week that was titled "Nobody does more for their team than Lamar Jackson."  I thought that was absolutely true, but I also thought how much of a house of cards that is.  Not since Peyton Manning and the Colts have I seen a team so dependent on one person to win.  When Manning was out for a season, the Colts won maybe 2 games at most?  This was a playoff team every year with Manning.  And the year he was out, they drafted Andrew Luck.  

 

Miami adopted that defensive philosophy last night.  They basically decided to blitz every down with the focus on Jackson. And they knew they could get there because the Ravens offensive line is settling in as a bottom third of the league offensive line.  If Jackson decides to run the ball, we have enough people at the line that someone should be able to get him.  The receivers are good, but our blitz will take away the deep ball and make him decide within 1 1/2 seconds where to go.  And if he hands the ball off, well there is no running back on the Ravens roster that can get by the blitz.  They are all old and slow.  It was a pretty good defensive gamble.  And this came from a team that is not a very good defensive team..  

 

If adjustments were made, maybe the Dolphins would have backed off of the pressure.  But the only thing the Ravens had to answer the pressure was a lateral WR screen to Brown that worked maybe 10% of the time.  Pretty weak offensive adjustments.  Bottom line is if I were a DC scheming for the Ravens, I would do the exact same thing until they prove they can handle the pressure.  

 

If the Ravens had a defense, maybe a lot of last night would be different.  Between Tua and Brissett, two names not ever going to even be close to going to the HOF, they threw for over 300 yards against the Ravens.  And they hit big plays when the game was still winnable.  All of these things are flaws the Ravens have.  But every team has flaws.  It just feels like a team so dependent on Jackson to be fantastic every game is going to suffer a first round playoff defeat every year until they figure out how to become more of a team and less of a one man superstar show.  

[hallas]

Harbs chewed Duvernay a new one late in the game after  ST miscue. Wish he were more willing to confront veterans that way. Sammy Watkins for instance, no one said a word to him from what I could see. Although it did seem to me that his snaps seemed to decrease as the game went on, but again I'm not really certain on that.

 

Watkins only played about 1/3 of the snaps, while Bateman played about 2/3.  To me it really looks like Bateman is the clear WR2 - he's wally pipped Watkins, and I'm sure Watkins' weird no-effort on that end zone ball, and the fumble made it an easy decision.  That said I'm sure Watkins isn't 100% yet.