Good post
@Joe Schmo. Post here more often! I'm sure everyone's tired of my drivel alone by now.
My initial post mortem:
1. I'm not a guy who usually calls for heads every time something goes wrong, but I think it's time to move on from Greg Roman. His situational play-calling baffles me. I think
@The_Man mentioned it the game thread yesterday about his calls when they are near the goal line. Also, and Joe touched on it above, how many games has Bateman come out of the gates looking like he'd have a monster day only to disappear? And yesterday you had the Steelers, who couldn't stop ME in the run game, and Roman plays right into their hands. I dunno, man. Might be time for a change there.
2. Among players who will probably be gone are: Campbell (if he retires; if not, I want him back - great leader), Jimmy Smith (body just won't hold up), Villanueva (I'll drive him to the airport), Boykin, Brandon Williams, Watkins, McPhee, Houston, maybe Bynes & Tayvon Young. Also, isn't Averett a FA? If so, he'll get more money somewhere else than Baltimore will pay him.
3. I'm not gonna dwell on Harbaugh's end-game decisions too much. I didn't mind either of the 2 pt tries or, really, any of those calls. I thought they were all justifiable when looked at a certain way. They didn't work out
4. Given the Ravens extraordinary luck early in the season, they were probably closer to a 6-11 team than 8-9. Plus, their fortunate good health last season got karma'd this year.
5. I don't know what happened to Lamar the last month he played, but he was a mess. And that's after it looked like he had taken his game up a notch earlier in the season. I saw rumors that COVID screwed him up worse than reported. It also may be that playing hero ball the first two months finally caught up with him.
6. I don't even know what to say about the offensive line. Just getting Stanley back at - hopefully - full strength isn't going to cut it. Zeitler was fine, as was Mekari, and I thought Bozeman was ok. Cleveland played well yesterday, I thought, but he's been slower than I had hoped to grasp things. I guess they'd be ok going Stanley, Zeitler, Bozeman, Cleveland, Mekari next season but there's no depth other than Tyre Phillips (who is awful at Tackle). I don't know how to address this other than the draft or hope to hit lightning in a bottle with a cheap FA pickup.
7. Oweh hit the rookie wall after flashing some early on, then got hurt. But I like him. Bowser was probably their most consistent player on D. I'm starting to think Queen is what he is, but maybe a light bulb comes on. Regardless, they need another strong pass rusher and another stout ILB. And they need to rebuild that D line - Williams & Campbell are likely gone.
8. For the first time in years, I really like the WR group. Bateman runs routes like a 10 year vet (The_Man likened him to Derrick Mason), Brown came out of the gates smoking and was playing like a Pro Bowler the first half of the season before getting disappeared by Roman, Duvernay makes something happen almost every time he touches it except jet sweeps, Proche had a great game a couple of weeks ago then was a healthy scratch the very next (????). Maybe sign a vet cheap and draft someone late, but this is the strongest WR room they've had in years. TE is very good, though they really missed Boyle when he was out. Ricard is a monster.
9. Cincy's obviously on the rise. Cleveland's season went south on them but I still think they are gonna be good for the foreseeable future. Pittsburgh will bounce back once they figure out what they're doing at QB. That division is going to be brutal.
10. To Joe's point above about the coaching holding things together, I agree. Baltimore played hard in every game, even the three games they got smoked in (Cincy x 2, Miami). And there was no turmoil or drama. I'm also going credit the players for a lot of that. They believed in their coaches and in themselves. The organization is a solid as any. I think I can only count 3 teams that have 2 or less coaches this century (Pittsburgh, Baltimore, NE) - am I missing someone?
11. I'm excited for next season. Get healthy (Dobbins, Edwards, and Peters will make a huge difference just by being there), iron out some play calling issues, and have a good FA-signing/draft period. I fully expect them to be right in the mix in 2022.
The PM show has Jason La Confora and Ken Weinman and they are pretty good with La Confora having the national audience even though a local guy. One of my favorite in season guest is Bobby Depaul who breaks down the Ravens in a very accessible manor and he comes across as a beer and brat kind of guy.
