The Good And The Bad (Week 8)

[PurpleRulz]

The Good:

1. We are alone in first place at 5-2!

2. McNair seems to have found his accuracy and his arm.

3. Jamal runs for over 100 yards.

4. Todd Heap and Derrick Mason stepped up to make plays.

5. Ronnie Prude and Dawan Landry shows us that we have a bright future in our secondary.

6. Special Teams gets two thumbs up for field position on today.

The Bad:

1. Samari Rolle must be finished as an effective CB in the NFL. He is just lost right now. Should we give Ronnie Prude a look at starting at CB?

2. Secondary communication. These guys must get on the same page. There seems to be too much free styling and not enough discussion on where they are to be on the field. Gerome Sapp left Joe Horn wide open on that TD catch.

3. Jamal Lewis. He got his 100 yards and he got his carries (31 carries), but he still was not a factor on today. His yards were quiet, and he barely got those yards against a team that is among the worst in run defense.

[WxKevin]

Secondary play was horrible. McAlister had 4 penalties I think? They kept biting everytime Brees pump faked. Thank god for great pressure from the front 7 or Brees would have picked them apart even more than he did.

Other than that, everything was either good or very good. Nice to see a good rhythm from the offense.

[LBoogy]

Jamal not a factor? He had 103 on 28...the last 3 carries were to eat up clock.

ANYTIME Jamal (or any RB) has over 30 carries for 100 yards, they are a HUGE factor. Giving Jamal the ball SO much today helped McNair get in a groove. Jamal was big for us today.

I think the defensive scheming is the result of the big plays getting let up. When we were up 35-7 we only allowed something like 138 total yards. The prevent defense killed us at the end of the game.

Billick made this offense competent and the defense looked good (minus the 4th quarter).

[FadeToBlack]

These are the best kinds of wins. A convincing victory against an elite NFC on the road, and the Ravens still weren't playing as well as they were capable of playing. That's what you want to see. They win big in a big game, but there are still areas to improve.

The secondary is horrible. Just a bunch of big names underperforming. Are these players actually playing their coverage schemes??

[PurpleRulz]

Jamal not a factor? He had 103 on 28...the last 3 carries were to eat up clock.

ANYTIME Jamal (or any RB) has over 30 carries for 100 yards, they are a HUGE factor. Giving Jamal the ball SO much today helped McNair get in a groove. Jamal was big for us today.

I think the defensive scheming is the result of the big plays getting let up. When we were up 35-7 we only allowed something like 138 total yards. The prevent defense killed us at the end of the game.

Billick made this offense competent and the defense looked good (minus the 4th quarter).


Jamal took 31 carries to get 109 yards and against a defense that is poor against the run. That is 3.5 yards per carry. That does not scream "Jamal is back" to me.

[PurpleRulz]

These are the best kinds of wins. A convincing victory against an elite NFC on the road, and the Ravens still weren't playing as well as they were capable of playing. That's what you want to see. They win big in a big game, but there are still areas to improve.

The secondary is horrible. Just a bunch of big names underperforming. Are these players actually playing their coverage schemes??


Totally agree. I wouldn't mind seeing Ronnie Prude starting in place of Samari Rolle.

[Merlin]

GOOD:
As I was saying multiple times the last 2 weeks -- people have underestimated Billick -- he has a knack for the play calling, and is reinvigorated by the coaching role of the offensive coordinator. First half was as good as it gets with the right balance; ocassionally using the pass to set up the run. SCHWEET call on the McNair draw for the first TD!:patriot:

Interesting that the Saints seemed off coming back from the bye and we weren't -- the 2 losses seemed to stick in our craw.

D line -- great play

BAD:
Secondary -- what do we need to do? Average play of our opponents TOUCHDOWNS is over 30 yards. We clamp down in the red zone but the big play gets to us. How much of this is the scheme? Is it the price we pay for going for the higher amounts of turnovers?

[PurpleRulz]

Secondary play was horrible. McAlister had 4 penalties I think? They kept biting everytime Brees pump faked. Thank god for great pressure from the front 7 or Brees would have picked them apart even more than he did.

Other than that, everything was either good or very good. Nice to see a good rhythm from the offense.


We just need to stop falling asleep whenever we get a comfortable lead. We seem to lose our edge instead of going for the kill. There is no way we should have given up that last TD.

[LBoogy]

Jamal took 31 carries to get 109 yards and against a defense that is poor against the run. That is 3.5 yards per carry. That does not scream "Jamal is back" to me.


No one is screaming that Jamal is back, but it's absolutely RIDICULOUS to say that he wasn't a factor.

We were able to CONTROL the T.O.P. and set up the pass with Jamal running the ball 30+ times. Sure he didn't have eye-popping stats, but he was breaking tackles and getting a couple 10 yard runs.

If we had no established the running game the way we did, I think McNair would have had a harder time. Play action was much more effective today.

I don't give a shit if Jamal averages 3 YPC, if he's getting 30 carries a game, it means were are controlling the clock and are not playing from behind. Period.

[PurpleRulz]

Reggie Bush played as if he was scared of our defense. I love it. Terry and Drew on WNST said that we would get amBUSHed and that we'd have so much Bush in our faces. Looks like we clipped the Bush bald.

[RavenDavey]

Jamal.....the point is we were able to run him for ball control. He looked good going to the outside more so than up the middle. He needs to get at least 22-25 carries a game to be effective. Nice total package today by the offense, but the secondary gave up some big plays AGAIN! Not acceptable!

[Brandon]

No one is screaming that Jamal is back, but it's absolutely RIDICULOUS to say that he wasn't a factor.

We were able to CONTROL the T.O.P. and set up the pass with Jamal running the ball 30+ times. Sure he didn't have eye-popping stats, but he was breaking tackles and getting a couple 10 yard runs.

If we had no established the running game the way we did, I think McNair would have had a harder time. Play action was much more effective today.

I don't give a shit if Jamal averages 3 YPC, if he's getting 30 carries a game, it means were are controlling the clock and are not playing from behind. Period.

Totally agree with this post.

Also, PurpleRulz, I don't think Ronnie Prude is starting CB material at this point yet, no matter how horrible Samari Rolle has played.

[skimmy]

Second game in a row our defense gave up over 400 total yards mostly through the air. We could set the rushing defense record and still be lower than a top 10 defense if this keeps up.

[HDDream]

I would say Jamal and the running game was somewhat effective, but not quite what you would like it to ulitmately be and that inability to really grind things out and make it a shorter game when you're ahead is part of the reason why the Saints were able to put up so many yards in the second half.

As far as the seconday, clearly there's some kind of communication issue that has failed to have been addressed. That has to come back to the coaching.

[RavenFanatic2k6]

Ronnie Prude should be starting, at least to see how it goes. He can't possibly be any worse than Rolle is right now.

[Greg]

Jamal only had 109 yards because they played to stop him the whole game, which set McNair up and he took advantage. If you wrote a script this would be it, with maybe Jamal ripping off a few good ones at the end to get his stats up. I don't care about those big runs at the end to pump stats, he chewed up the Saints 3.5 at a time. Yeah, no HUGE runs but he was only stopped a few times at the line, he got 2 to 5 each carry. Positive yards. Most importantly, he wasn't tap dancing. It looked like he was lined up deeper and getting a bit of steam up. Somebody else noted that he seemed to be closer to the LOS under Fassel, it looks like Billick has moved him back which means he gets going while looking for the hole.

[bassgtrst]

Hey guys,

3.5 + 3.5 + 3.5 = 10

Last time I checked 10 yards is a first down and you get 3 tries.

Jamal did fine today.

The last time I felt like this was after the Tampa game.

[StingerNLG]

My List as follows;

Good:

Brian Billick - Seriously, could it be that Matt Cavanaugh and Jim Fassel just flat out sucked as offensive coordinators? The only thing we didn't see today from the offense was a screen pass, and quite frankly we didn't need to use one. Jamal Lewis in at Fullback?? A Quarterback Draw? A fake end around to clear Heap into wide open space? Putting Clarence Moore in the SLOT and not fade routing him? PLAY ACTION?? I saw things I simply haven't seen in YEARS with this offense. If this is the real Brian Billick run offense, sign me up!


Steve McNair - Hey, call it as you see it. After 5 weeks of sub-par play, the guy was flat out on fire today. And unlike other hypocrites on these boards, I'll say the same thing I said with Carolina. Lucky tipped pass or not, that Heap TD looks the same on the sheet as if no one but Heap touched it. Poor throw, but that was one of only two poor throws he made all day. He was crisp, he took some big shots and kept going. A good day indeed. PLEASE let this be the McNair we paid for, and not just a one week flash.


Receivers and TE's - I think I'm the only one who didn't get a catch today! Let's see: Mason, Clayton, Heap, Wilcox, D-Will, Moore, and Musa Smith, all with catches today. Clarence Moore with a touchdown? And it wasn't a fade? AND he took a hit in the process? Again, maybe Jim Fassel simply didn't know how to use "Big Drink", because Billick seemed to have no problem getting an easy TD out of him.


Defense - 5 turnovers. 2 of them interceptions for touchdowns. I believe that is a first in Ravens history if I read the TV graphic right. They weren't flawless today (see below), but half that 35 spot belongs to them I believe.

Bad:

Samari Rolle - I'm really starting to get tired of seeing Rolle turn around and just look at a receiver as he catches the ball 2 yards away. I'm also getting tired of watching him get burned on the big plays. I'm really getting tired of Samari Rolle.


Ed Reed - Yeah, I said it. How many games without an interception now? It's time for him to stop screwing around and start playing safety again. Yes, he's a ballhawk. But news flash, you can't let the ball get by you.


Ugly:

The Saints - That was the worst performance from a 5-1 team I have ever seen. Reggie Bush? Please. We even made him call for fair catches today. Hey rookie, take that shit back to the PAC-10. I actually felt bad for Drew Brees until he started throwing his own bad interceptions. There came a point in this game when I really felt the Saints should have just forfeited and saved the embarrassment. Feel good story? Not this chapter.

Ben Rothlesberger - Oh yeah, Ben R is such the awesome quarterback. Gee, how good is he now without Gerome Bettis.........and Plaxico Burress.........and Randle-El. Yeah, that's what I thought. Good night Steelers, thanks for trying to play.

[RavensJackson]

I think our secondary needs to step it up in a big way especially going against Cinci next week, but I don't think everyone needs to be as critical as they are for several reasons.
1. Teams playing from behind are gonna get a lot of passing yards, its just the way it goes
2. Drew Brees has been a very well protected QB this season and with a lot of 1 on 1 coverages, a lot of pressure is needed.
3. Scheming left Ray Lewis covering Marques Colston on one of those TDs, not the DBs.
4. Seemed from replays that a lot of their long TD's were not so much our CB's getting burnt but missed tackles (I'm not saying thats a good thing, but at least Rolle wasnt getting left running 10 yds behind open receivers like against Carolina)
5. We forced them to be one dimensional and throw the ball and that might cause them to put up big numbers but we took advantage of it and got a lot of INT's today. Think teh Ravens D in 2000 when the Jets and Vinny T came out throwing. We had like 7 turnovers that game?
5a. Drew Brees threw only one more TD to his receivers than to our DBs. If opposing teams can only come out with a "+1 TD" passing ratio, that's not so bad considering we're not gonna give up many rushing TDs...

[postalworker]

I agree whole heartedly with Stinger.

I didn't expect much from Billick's play calling, but I was VERY impressed by it. We actually looked like a real offense yesterday, and for once, the opposing defense didn't know what was coming. The pass to Heap on third and two was the best play call I've seen around here in years.

I've been a critic of Steve McNair as of late, but he also impressed me with his performance. He threw the ball with some zip, he was extremely accurate, and he produced touchdowns. Awesome performance.

[Ravens'N'Hoos]

Are these players actually playing their coverage schemes??


According to Rex Ryan's post-game comments, no. Too much freelancing, not enough communication.

These are fixable problems, though, and the difference between this and last week is situational. As someone else posted, a huge number of Brees' yards and TDs were after the game was well in hand.

The secondary has issues that need to be addressed, but remember - with a run defense that is THIS good, that's going to inherently put more pressure on the secondary. More throwing by the opposing offense means more opportunity to get burned but also more opportunity to make big plays. They've been doing a lot of both, and it's certainly possible for them to cut down on the first.

[StingerNLG]

Well, it's time the Ravens also started to get more of a pass rush out of their entire front 4. I thought Pryce and AD did a great job of getting to Brees in certain circumstances, but is it concerning anyone else that we're not hearing Haloti Ngata's name at all during the game anymore? That lack of pass rush is letting QB's sit back there and throw into our secondary. That is something Rex Ryan does need to fix.

[highwater]

I was also a bit perplexed at the lack of a pass rush in the second half, but I really couldn't tell if it was a scheme thing or that they just weren't able to get to Brees. Over the course of the season the pass rush has been pretty stellar. The secondary, however -- :grbac:

I will be very surprised if Carson Palmer doesn't throw mucho times in Rolle's direction next week, so we better have some pressure on Palmer, because if not we will probably once again watch Rolle watching some WR running past him.

[AZRAVEN]

I must say I saw a lot more diversity yesterday with our offense than I expected to see. I really expected to see more of the same, figuring no matter who was calling the plays they were still Billick's plays. I was really impressed ~ way to go Brian! I'm still not sold on Jamal or Moore but if I see a couple more weeks of the McNair I saw yesterday I will be more than ready to eat crow on my opinion of him.
I think if I was Ryan I would sit Rolle for a game, maybe it would help him. They say sometimes it helps to just watch for a game. I really don't see how it could be that much worse with Prude.. of course, I don't know that I'm brave enough to do it with Palmer coming in. Rolle just seems to have totally lost his game, his tackling was really bad yesterday on the rare occasions he actually caught up with somebody.