383 replies to this topic

[cprenegade]

The Ravens had a 10 point lead at home in the 4th quarter.  How do you choke that away?  The defense lost a lot of pieces including a coordinator who knew how to adjust during the game.  The Raiders are not a very good team, anyone saying differently is fooling themselves.  The Ravens absolutely blew a sure win because the defense let the Raiders make every play they needed in the 4th quarter.  Don't tell me about elite.  KC doing it, I get.  The Raiders with Minshew, not at all.  Terrible loss.  Maybe this team was just very overrated by the hometown pundits.  I still think they are a playoff team, but their window was wide open last year.  It's closed a lot since then.  

[ivanbalt]

Bad challenges, bad playcalling and another blown lead.  Ravens in mid season form.

[Biggsy]

Thought maybe the Ravens could have blitzed Minshew a bit more (I don't know how many times they actually did). He can be forced into bad throws under heavy pressure. Also, where was Kyle Hamilton for much of the game? He didn't seen to have much presence, especially at the line of scrimmage.

I'm not sure Orr knows how to use Hamilton properly. He seems to have him playing more of a traditional SS role, vs how Macdonald used him like a Swiss army knife, hybrid cover LBer role.

[Ravens2006]

The Ravens had a 10 point lead at home in the 4th quarter. How do you choke that away?

It's easier to do when your head coach is HORRIFIC at the game management aspect of his job. Which is basically his biggest role on game day.

Been on it for many years now. His record is a byproduct of the talent given to him by the front office. He adds zero positive on game day. Monday thru Saturday he might run a great ship. Sundays he is a hindrance.

[NewMarketSean]

8-9 team. No playoffs.

[Mackus]

Agree that John is a negative on game days. Think the overall package is still a very good coach, but I have no strong argument against those that want to move on (and have wanted to for a while) to find someone better at game day stuff. Although "better at game day stuff" can be very subjective. I would have full confidence in DeCosta and Bisciotti to find another good coach if they had to for whatever reason.

[TwentyThirtyFive]

Harbaugh is a good coach. Runs a great program. Yeah, the game day stuff is lacking but all the other stuff is way more improtant in football.  Reid was a great coach in Philly who was eventually run out of town. That may happen here and if it does I would expect Harbaugh to have success in his next stop assuming he isnt working under a trash GM. I dont think its smart trying to start over now. Not while Lamar is still in his prime. Youre more likely to do worse than better. But I also dont really care that much either.

[makoman]

I've always been a Harbaugh defender, also a "Monday-Saturday overcomes Sunday deficiencies" guy. Maybe it's just anecdotal feeling, but  the Sunday part is just starting to feel a lot worse lately, lately meaning the past few years. And I know they had the best record in the league last year, results aren't just W/L but how they get there. Having one of the most talented QBs of the generation hides a lot of problems. I'm starting to feel the same way I do about Hyde--not exactly calling for him to be fired, but if they did it today I'd be ok with it. I still have faith in EDC and think he can find someone suitable. Who knows how he'll turn out but I kinda wish Macdonald had just slid over to HC and Harbs retired.

[ivanbalt]

I've always been a Harbaugh defender, also a "Monday-Saturday overcomes Sunday deficiencies" guy. Maybe it's just anecdotal feeling, but  the Sunday part is just starting to feel a lot worse lately, lately meaning the past few years. And I know they had the best record in the league last year, results aren't just W/L but how they get there. Having one of the most talented QBs of the generation hides a lot of problems. I'm starting to feel the same way I do about Hyde--not exactly calling for him to be fired, but if they did it today I'd be ok with it. I still have faith in EDC and think he can find someone suitable. Who knows how he'll turn out but I kinda wish Macdonald had just slid over to HC and Harbs retired.

It's just the same old thing year after year.  The losses to Pitt, Cleveland and Indy last year followed the same pattern.  Have lead in the 4th quarter and then the defense falls apart and the offense can't do anything.

[Ravens2006]

NFL games are often coin flip affairs that can go either way, and a few plays / decisions along the way can play a big role in how it ends. The field position battle. Timeout management / usage. Clock management. Little things that your head coach has a BIG hand in controlling "the cards in your hand" as the seconds tick down. I don't see John as someone who consistently (or frankly even RARELY) does HIS job on gameday to a level where they have the best hand they can at the end. 

 

The replay challenge decisions yesterday, as someone who was sitting in the stadium, were ABSOLUTELY a by-product of John emotionally reacting to the crowd. Zero question. Absolutely zero question. Blame the board operators if you want too, but they showed brief fuzzy clips, without freeze framing, of plays that your biased home crowd (half of them at various levels of inebriation) thought might be wrong and started yelling for a challenge. I could see it coming in real time. The crowd was chirping more as the next snap got closer, so John tossed a flag. Wasting a challenge in the second half cost them a timeout, and a timeout lost is more time off the clock at the end.  30 or 40 seconds of play clock is, for many teams, maybe not the Ravens, but many others... 4, 5 snaps? At minumum 2 or 3. More chances to gain yardage, get closer to FG range, give yourself a CHANCE, etc.

 

John NEVER leaves them in an optimal position down the stretch. It's SO overwhelmingly obvious to me. It hurts the team every year in many games.

 

For comparison, the Chiefs (Andy Reid, who owns John's soul) trailed by 2 with the ball and just outside of 2 minutes left in the game. Again, Mahomes is the best QB in the league. Did they come out full throttle air attack?  Nope.  3 timeouts remaining.  Two of their first 3 snaps on offense, trailing...???  Runs by Pacheco.  Positive yardage, no panic, plenty of TOs and a 2 minute warning. Calm and cool under pressure, and the 3 TOs in their pocket helped.

 

Ravens 4 minute drive, despite Henry gaining positive yardage on EVERY carry up to that point in the second half... drop back, sack, big loss.  2nd and 19!  What happens at 2nd and 19? Derrick Henry comes off the field. Your "bell cow" back is no longer in the equation. Tie a hand behind your own back, limit your own weapons. 3 and out.

 

Little things...

[jamesdean]

Even if they crash and burn and miss the play-offs, Harbaugh's not going anywhere.  He'll be back next year.  The excuse this year will be all the coaches and players that they lost and that 2024 was a year of transition with growing pains.  2025 will be much better.  The last time they started 0-2, they went 5-11 for the season.  I don't think things would get that bad as long as Lamar is healthy, but I can definitely see 8-9 or 9-8.  I'm not worrying about the schedule either because although it looks tough on paper, it's still based on last year.  Who knows how the all the teams will evolve, who will get hurt, who will stay healthy, etc... That part of the equation is really a crap shoot.  It may turn out that their schedule wasn't that tough after all but if they keep playing like they did yesterday, it won't matter anyway. 

[Slidemaster]

8-9 team. No playoffs.

I think this is where I am.

[makoman]

This seems ridiculous. Is this just bad luck or a coaching problem? Seems like the latter but what do I know.

 

Ryan Mink

Since the start of last season, here's the Ravens' quarter-by-quarter point margin, per
@TruMediaSports
.

1st: +62
2nd: +80
3rd: +52
4th: -4
9:53 PM · Sep 15, 2024
 

[Ravens2006]

This seems ridiculous. Is this just bad luck or a coaching problem? Seems like the latter but what do I know.

Ryan Mink
Since the start of last season, here's the Ravens' quarter-by-quarter point margin, per
@TruMediaSports
.
1st: +62
2nd: +80
3rd: +52
4th: -4
9:53 PM · Sep 15, 2024

That's coaching. Situational management. In game adjustments. Leaving the opponents too much clock and their TOs, while you're handcuffed at the end with no TOs, giving away field position advantages, etc.

Won't pretend that the OL isn't a concern right now, but at kickoff in almost every game they have as good or better roster than their opponent. Talent takes the lead. But as the game unfolds and adjustments are made, John is usually outperformed by his counterpart.

Sometimes the talent alone in uniform doesn't save the day. Exactly what I've seen and been saying for years now... he doesn't put them in optimal position to succeed, and it comes back to bite them down the stretch sometimes. That's how you blow double digit second half leads with striking frequency.

[bmore_ken]

Why is Henry not running 25 times a game? And Lamar with only 5 runs is criminal. I know I'm not a HC, but come on Harbaugh. 

[hallas]

Tight throw catch made and folks are lauding how the QB threaded the needle. Tight throw from Lamar to Bateman turns in to an INT and folks want to blame Lamar. It's comical.

There's a reason why Lamar doesn't trust Bateman, and you saw it again today on that play.

 

I saw someone that sounded like he knows what he was talking about, say that Lamar was about a half second late releasing the ball to Bateman.  I misread the route a little because Bateman drifted out quite a bit after his initial cut in, so it looked like a whip route to me, but the guy said it was supposed to be a curl and the drifting out was just to meet the ball. and if he had released it on time, the DB wouldn't have had time to recover. and the LB wouldn't have been in a position to scoop up the tip.

 

I still blame Bateman more than anything, but it was an interesting insight nonetheless.  Either way, Bateman needs to not brick that catch.

[Mackus]

The pick was absolutely Bateman's fault.  I'm not hearing anyone saying that a WR who has a ball hit him in the hands at chest height and drops it into a defenders arms is somehow the QBs fault.  No clue how anyone could make a good faith argument that it was Lamar's fault.

[NewMarketSean]

I thought Bateman's strength was his ability to catch the damn ball.

[jamesdean]

I thought Bateman's strength was his ability to catch the damn ball.

Between his health issues and erratic performance on the field, it really makes you wonder if he'll ever become a consistently good receiver. Nothing new for the organization and their draft history.

[BaltBird 24]

Lamar did go back to Bateman a few plays later for a big reception. Typically, after a WR created INT like that, Lamar would totally ignore Bateman for the next 5 games.