*****Baltimore Ravens Thread***** (1 Viewer)

I'm too lazy to look up the old thread and there are only 4 or 5 of us anyway, so......NEW THREAD!

I thought Kevin Clark over at The Ringer had an interesting take on Baltimore: that they are the rare team hoping their old guys bounce back when most teams hope their young players step up. I think that speaks to the FO's draft failures recently. The Kindle/Cody and Elam/Brown drafts were disasters from the standpoint of putting elite players on the field. They've offset that somewhat by canny FA signings and lower-round (or UDFA) picks panning out. And Pernell McPhee aside (who they weren't going to pay anywhere near what the Bears did), they've always had a knack for letting guys go at the right time (see: Adalius Thomas, Ed Hartwell, Paul Kruger, and a bazillion others). But there's been a top-end talent sap going on for years - you can only hope to strike lightening in a bottle on "undesirables" so many times.

That said, they lost - I think - 9 games by one score last season, and that's with having 17,000 starters or major contributors on IR. Normal distribution would have had them at somewhere around .500 (injuries included). Two of their five wins came against Pittsburgh. The only blowouts were against Arizona and Seattle. They didn't quit, which says something to me about the players and the coaches.

Anyway, on to this season. They are not as talented as either the Stillers or the Bengals (who have owned them recently). Barring injury, I think the offense will be fine. Top-to-bottom, it's the best (or, at least "deepest")WR corps Flacco has had. TEs are a mess right now, though. RB stable is stocked with "he's pretty good" guys. Losing Osemele sucked, but OL is one of the two areas the Ravens have improved with youth the last couple of years.

The other is DL. Those are nasty young men up front and good luck to other teams running up the middle on them. LB scares the hell out of me. I thought Mosely was the Second Coming - and he's good - but he couldn't cover me on a pass route. Suggs & Dumervil (I'd love to know the ethnicity behind this name, by the way) are almost as old as I am, and the other ILB is an UDFA. The secondary has been a mess for years. Maybe Weddle shores that up?

ST: Devin Hester? Ok, why not. Tucker got paid and I can't figure out who made out in the deal. He tried a crap-load of long FGs last year and missed a good portion of them - not sure if that's on Tucker or Harbaugh....

....speaking of whom, I don't think he's on the hot seat yet (the SB win still glows and the injuries killed them last year), but something needs to go right or he'll be on it next year.

I'm thinking 8-8, with a swing of 2 in either direction.

I think they're slightly better than .500, and have a good shot at a WC berth if they perform well in their division. 

Offense doesn't concern me, they're going to be that rare mix of explosive plodders

On D, it's really SSDD. Can the guys up front disrupt well enough to keep the secondary from being exposed, and can the secondary make just enough plays to keep from being picked on over and over again. Like you said, Weddle should help. 

Great home win to start the season for a team that will (I think) get better as the season goes on. 

Quick thoughts:

Wallace obviously stood out. If he can have one big play like that every other game he will be a huge asset for this offence. Perriman was quiet with only one catch, but you couldn't ask for a better one catch. He flashed everything we hoped he would be on that play: big, fast, physical.

The interior D-Line was dominant in the first half. Cooled off a little in the second. Overall the pressure was much better, even without Dumervil (who is Haitian, BTW. The name is French) and a half-speed (at best) Suggs.

Flacco looked like the solid, regular season version of his old self. He didn't force things, took a couple smart sacks rather than pushing the ball into coverage. Overall, I thought he did exactly what he needed to do in this game.

Defense overall looked much, much better. Offence could be good enough to win some playoff games if some of the skill guys step up.

Killtops said:

Wallace obviously stood out. If he can have one big play like that every other game he will be a huge asset for this offence. Perriman was quiet with only one catch, but you couldn't ask for a better one catch. He flashed everything we hoped he would be on that play: big, fast, physical.

Click to expand...

I think Wallace is going to end up with better stats than Torrey ever had here. He's a perfect complement to Flacco. 

Perriman impressed me with that catch. He'll continue to grow all season long as he gets reps. Look out in November/December. 

After thinking about it a couple of days.......

The tackling on D was really good - better than it's shown in recent years. Though that one DB had like 14 of them. I thpought the coverage was good, too. Other than the one Houdini-play Tyrod pulled off, they kept Buffalo from any big plays.

I'm a little disappointed Baltimore didn't try harder to establish a run game. 

Flacco looked fantastic in the 1st half and so-so in the 2nd. Might have worn down a little.

Hester brought zero to the table. I know it's only one game, but he looked slow and indecisive.

God, I hope Perriman isn't a tease.

Now they face "I'm like Dan Marino only when I play Baltimore" McCown.

3-0 with two road wins. It hasn't been pretty, but I'll take it! 

People will talk about the quality of the opponents, but Buffalo just dismantled one of the NFC's alleged powerhouse teams, and Cleveland hasn't been steamrolled as badly as everyone thought they would be. The Jaguars were an up-and-coming team absolutely desperate for a win playing at home. That is a game that a bad team loses every time.

Time will tell what this team really is, but with Oakland, Washington, @Giants, and @Jets up next, 5-2 going into the bye week is downright reasonable. 

Challenged offensively, but just such a well-coached team. I think 5-2 is very reasonable.

Where will the offense come from eventually? They look like they're still trying to sort that out.

Let's get these wins now.  After week 5 we may be the favorite in two games.  Schedule is brutal at the end of the year.