The Good And The Bad (Week 10)

[PurpleRulz]

The Good:

1. Steve McNair. He won this game for us. 373 yards passing? When was the last Ravens QB to throw for that many yards? Has any Ravens QB threw for that many yards?

2. The Receivers. Mason, Clayton, and Demetrius Williams! Wow. Look how far we have come at the WR position. Clayton is a star in the making. Mason is what he should be, and Demetrius is going to be a huge star in the NFL. The catches that Demetrius made today shows that he has serious talent. Imagine DW in about a year or two. Todd Heap also made some key catches.

3. Sam Koch. Some good punts especially in the second half. The Tits started field position deep in their territory for most of the second half, save for that INT by McNair.

4. The OL. Kuddos for this group giving McNair lots of time to throw the ball. Looks like pass protection is becoming this unit's specialty.

5. We are 7-2 and lead the division by 3 and half games. If we keep our heads, we will own the AFC North.

6. Dawan Landry. Led the defense in tackles. Does anyone miss Will Demps?

7. Matt Stover. What would we do without him?

8. Trevor Pryce. Great hands on that blocked kick.

The Bad:

1. The defense. Where did our intensity go? There were so many missed tackles left on that field. Additionally, we have got to get to the QB much faster if we are going to commit so many defenders while blitzing.

2. Billick. He has to set the precedent for keep his composure. His penalty was unacceptable and is probably what led to Ogden losing his cool. Also, someone must get CMAC under control and quick. It seems he can be counted on for a costly (and stupid) penalty. I guess Billick can't be counted to get CMAC under control.

3. JAMAL. As stated in another thread, "Jamal Must Go!" Enough of stutter step. He can't gain anything on the 31st ranked run defense? He just does not have IT anymore. Can we please get more of MA and Musa (now that we know that he'll be alright)? If Jamal wants to whine inspite of the fact that we are so far in first place in the division, pay Jamal and send him home. I think we could get more production from PJ Daniels and Cory Ross, than what Jamal puts out.

[psuasskicker]

1. The defense. Where did our intensity go? There were so many missed tackles left on that field. Additionally, we have got to get to the QB much faster if we are going to commit so many defenders while blitzing.

Okay I'm gonna say it. This game was a near exact clone of the Jags game in 2000. Now, the Jags were a better team, and we were at home. But the rest was almost exactly the same. Jumped all over us early in the game, ran up a bunch of points, then we stoned them in the second half and came back to pull out a very close win.

That game really propelled our season IMO. Our losing streak was after that, but it felt like we knew we could overcome great adversity after that game. But more importantly, the defense started to play lock-down after that game.

Hopefully this will have a similar impact.

- C -

[RavenDavey]

1. The defense. Where did our intensity go? There were so many missed tackles left on that field. Additionally, we have got to get to the QB much faster if we are going to commit so many defenders while blitzing.



I'm gonna say it.....Ray Lewis is our defense against the run!!! what an underrated player!

[Sephy]

I'm gonna say it.....Ray Lewis is our defense against the run!!! what an underrated player!

Hehe, underrated.

[bassgtrst]

Steve McNair. He won this game for us. 373 yards passing? When was the last Ravens QB to throw for that many yards? Has any Ravens QB threw for that many yards?

Today's game is the second most passing yards a Ravens QB has put up.

The most was 429 by none other than Vinny Testaverde.

[Merlin]

Jamal is the weakest link on the team at this point , when Ray comes back

If we don't address this problem it will come back to bite us . .

[RavensNTerps]

not like the jacksonville game....more like the bears/cardinals game this year.

[StingerNLG]

Excellent post PR. Not much to add to what you said, especially when it comes to the receivers. D-Will is going to be the guy the FO and coaches THOUGHT Clarance Moore was going to be. He sat down in that zone in the 2nd half like he had been doing it in the NFL for years. He's going to be special in this league. Can you imagine just going 4 wide a lot with Mason, Clayton, Williams, and Heap? I can only think of MAYBE 3 other teams with better receiving tandems than us. One of them lost today. :)

I did want to disagree with one thing though:


4. The OL. Kuddos for this group giving McNair lots of time to throw the ball. Looks like pass protection is becoming this unit's specialty.

Sometimes they did, sometimes they didn't. I wouldn't yet say pass protection is becoming their specialty. McNair had to do a LOT of running around today, and thankfully Billick has decided to bring in the rollouts and waggles that this offense has been missing for years.

I will also contend that our special teams play had a big hand in winning this game. When it looked like the defense was going to blow it for us ala Cincy 2004, the ST unit comes up HUGE and blocks the game winning FG.

Other than that, dead on posting PR.

[donnaj]

One obvious BAD must be the play of McAllister! The stupid penalties and undiscplined play was part of what he concentrated on in the off season and was supposed to be more disciplined to putting an end to this season. WHat happened? The last few games CMAC has been good for at least 2 pass interference penalties a game, instead this time we get a personal foul and an off sides! The personal foul was extremely costly, because of it it made the opportunity to challenge the Vince Young "TD" null and void. As was pointed out earlier, if we had challenged it and won, we still would have had the personal foul so instead of it being 4th down and the Titans having to settle for a FG attempt they would have gotten the ball on the 3 with 1st and goal.
The second penalty again allowed the Titans to continue their drive when they should have been punting and they ended up taking that penalty on to score again.
Billick's penalty...well we didn't get to hear him on the sideline this time, but last week we very clearly heard him yell to the ref that it was "close enough for a f*#$ing measurement" I am sure CBS had a hefty fine for not bleeping that one out. Again I could read his lips (gee he must be a friend of George Bush - read my lips) today with much of the same colorful language. He needs to remember that he can't bully the refs by screaming obscenities in their ear on the sideline.
JO's penalty - I know that it was a lapse in discipline, but if you look at the play again. JO seemed to be defending Mike Anderson who was having his arm/elbow twisted and pulled on in the opposite direction it is supposed to go while he was sitting on the pile. I know some dirty things can happen in the pile, but it seemed to me that JO was trying to protect his teammate!

I think our secondary needs to take a hard look at how they are preparing for games. I have seen footage on Comcast and Ravens Wired about how they all meet at Ed Reed's house to eat and watch game film, well maybe they need to go somewhere without so many distractions and be a lot more disciplined in their preparation. Our corners are scaring me and quite hoestly so was Ed Reed's play across the middle today. Was Ed really not well enough to play? I am hoping that is all it was, because I am not accustomed to Ed just letting a player go after not being able to bring him down or even failing to pursue a tackle. He seemed to have no drive or filler instinct on the field today - what happened?

[GreenWave52]

The good is that we stole a win (and all the stuff PR mentioned).

The bad is our D without Ray Lewis. To think a majority of posters wanted to ship him off for a 2. We were crap and it was one of the few times since Billick has been coach where I wasn't sure if we could hold our lead- AFTER SCORING 27 POINTS!

I'm thrilled we won and games like this can help define a season. It was a real up and down game (well really down and then up) and our boys showed that if they don't quit they are never out of it.

Go Ravens!

[Heap86]

Its bizarre, without Ray our Run D is crap, but last season without Ray they didn't miss a beat, was Tommy Polley really that good?

[bobw2829]

Its bizarre, without Ray our Run D is crap, but last season without Ray they didn't miss a beat, was Tommy Polley really that good?
It's one game people. You all act like this has been going on for years. Damn, sounds like "what have you done for me lately" symdrome.

[RockyMRaven]

Its bizarre, without Ray our Run D is crap, but last season without Ray they didn't miss a beat, was Tommy Polley really that good?

The problem was that Mike Smith was injured IN THE FIRST SERIES. Smith has proved that he can hold his own at middle linebacker.

In comes Dennis Haley, who had been playing on the practice squad, since the season began, had been activated this morning and only expected to play on special teams, and had taken absolutely NO snaps with the defense. Would you expect the D to perform at the same level? At least initially? I don't think they would have missed a beat it Mike Smith had not been injured.

[Greg]

There was another McAlister penalty, offsides on a missed FG that turned into a first down and eventual TD for them.

[Sephy]

Trevor Pryce: Biggest offseason acquisition not named McNair. Bar none. Guy has been a BEAST all year. No upgrade over Weaver my ass.

[PurpleRulz]

The running situation really disturbs me, because we all on here know that is crucial in any hopes of being more than one and done in the playoffs. Our receivers stepping up huge is great, but what happened to the Bengals and the Colts in the last offseason shows that it is more of how well you run that determines how far you go and not so much how you won in the regular season.

Typed all of that to say this. What do we do with this Jamal issue. He clearly showed that he is no longer a featured back. We know it, experts know it, however Jamal is in serious denial about it. Here is our dilemma:


1. We sit Jamal or decrease the number of carries he gets, and get more carries to MA and Musa, and then Jamal starts his whine and bitch sesssions and brings down the entire club and seriously risk our postseason/ SB chances.

2. We continue to play Jamal (because forbid we offend Jamal) and seriously risk our chances postseason/ SB chances.

What to do?

[belzner]

J.Lewis has got to go!!!!!
Give us M&M, Mike and Musa.
Without a stronger running game we will not go beyond
the first round of the playoffs.

[Gabrosin]

The biggest gain from having Steve McNair at quarterback is definitely the way he stands in the pocket. I don't think I've seen him panic yet, even when it looks like the entire pocket has collapsed around him. That's something you only get from a decade of experience in the NFL; I can remember an earlier McNair who would try to break free and run for daylight. He still does that when necessary, but he really makes the most of every ounce of pass protection.

I still don't know whether Jamal is the total problem for our running game, but I do know that what we're getting from him now isn't worth what we'd have to pay to keep him around after this year. I'd like to see Musa Smith start getting the lion's share of the playing time, but of course, we don't know whether his injury is going to keep him out for a while. Still, he has looked pretty good so far; I'm especially impressed with his blocking.

It looks like some people around here have finally gotten their wish; the Ravens are becoming a team that has to pass to set up the running game, rather than the other way around.

[Gabrosin]

The problem was that Mike Smith was injured IN THE FIRST SERIES. Smith has proved that he can hold his own at middle linebacker.

In comes Dennis Haley, who had been playing on the practice squad, since the season began, had been activated this morning and only expected to play on special teams, and had taken absolutely NO snaps with the defense. Would you expect the D to perform at the same level? At least initially? I don't think they would have missed a beat it Mike Smith had not been injured.

I was hoping they would move Bart Scott to MLB and bring in Cody for his spot, or move Suggs back and start someone else at DE. I was not impressed with Haley, but he did about as well as you can hope; you can't expect a PS player to be Ray Lewis, even for sixty minutes. Our defense really adjusted at halftime, and the biggest change was up front, where Gregg and Ngata turned things around on Kevin Mawae. Without the center of our line collapsing, we were able to make stops in the running game. Looks like Ray knew exactly what he was talking about this offseason.

[52decleetzu]

The problem was that Mike Smith was injured IN THE FIRST SERIES. Smith has proved that he can hold his own at middle linebacker.

In comes Dennis Haley, who had been playing on the practice squad, since the season began, had been activated this morning and only expected to play on special teams, and had taken absolutely NO snaps with the defense. Would you expect the D to perform at the same level? At least initially? I don't think they would have missed a beat it Mike Smith had not been injured.


Exactly.I heard Rex Ryan this morning on 1570 and he said they basically had to create a scheme for Haley on the sidelines while the game was going on!They actually had some packages where Sapp was playing MLB,along with Scott some and Haley.

Just think about if McNair was hurt,Boller starts and then he gets hurt on the second play and we need to go to our emergency QB,thats essentially what happened on defense.

Our great announcing team didnt even realize that Smith was out until 3/4 of the way throught he first quarter,Im watching saying to myself 'Where the hell is Mike Smith?" not knowing that he got hurt on the second play.

[PARavensJeff]

Great post PR

A good will also be that our team as a whole, & the defense especially, made adjustments at the half. Imagine something that this team has been criticized for since Billick came here. I think the Titans had just over 100 yards total in the 2nd half.

The bad is also the officiating, which on many replays you could see the Ravens D line & LB's constantly being held & no laundry flying.

[hurting]

The bad is also the officiating, which on many replays you could see the Ravens D line & LB's constantly being held & no laundry flying.

I noticed the blatant holding too. On one play I watched a Titan grab onto and hold Bart scott's left arm. Bart was trying to tackle the ball carrier and his right arm was reaching forward for the cackle while hil left arm was clearly behind him being held onto.

I saw many blatant holding calls missed. And not the nit-picky kind that O-linemen do on every play. These were the kind that stops the defender from making a play.

[PurpleRulz]

Exactly.I heard Rex Ryan this morning on 1570 and he said they basically had to create a scheme for Haley on the sidelines while the game was going on!They actually had some packages where Sapp was playing MLB,along with Scott some and Haley.


Did you also hear Rex Ryan say that the "offense bailed out the defense." Did that give you pause, because it sure did indicate how far we have come as an offense in such a short time.

With the offensive talent we have (and maybe a hope of drafting OK RB, Adrian Peterson, since with his injury, he could be available at the 32 pick:D ) is it possible that our offense could move from vanilla to neopolitan next year?

[ChrisQ]

It's been touched on here but not said...

The entire defense was vanilla the whole game because Haley doesn't know our defense. He only came up from the practice squad the day before. He probably knew Tennessee's defense better than ours.

This put a lot more pressure on the 2ndary because we couldn't run our crazy blitz's and stunts to befuddle the rookie QB. We had to just let him sit in the pocket and find receivers all day.

I'm guessing Haley will be eating and sleeping in the tape room this week, and hopefully we'll be able to mix it up a little more next week.

[sailorsam]

I heard Rex Ryan changed/simplified the D at halftime. it worked.
wow, Demetrius W is terrific. each week he comes in and catches 2 or 3 for first downs. and Mark Clayton? only in his 2nd year? he's everything Travis Taylor never became. we may never know how good Devard Darling could be!
anyone know what BB said to get the penaltus?
I was hoping they'd start Musa. Jamal looks like he's lost a step; no 'explosiveness', I think is how it's said. and he isn't breaking tackles. Musa suffered 'a shock to the spinal system' and should be back Sunday, might even play. I doub't they'd let him start at rb; at this point let's try PJ Daniels, or SOMETHING else. JL wasn't going through holes and he wasn't turning the corner.
the Sun is reporting that Jarret Johnson will be MLB this week. Haley will be pass-rush specialist, which he's better suited for (speed).
Corey Ivy got concussed, but he's better now (even played the 2nd half).

[Ravenswarrior19]

I just watched our game with the Colts from '04. (The year Peyton set the TD record and we couldn't beat a quality team to make the playoffs 9-7).
Jamal was such a beast in that game, playing with a bad ankle too.
He ran guys over, ran away from DB's, just ran wherever he wanted.
Almost brings a tear to my eye remembering those days. Where have they all gone?

[Fanman]

The whole "Jamal needs the ball 25 times" mantra is just stupid and I don't buy it. He is bringing down the offense and performing far below the other starters. The holes are there, but his tippy toe style just doesn't get him thru the holes fast enough.

Look at almost any other starting RB in the league and they ALL hit the hole w/ a burst of speed. LT, LJ, Willie Parker, Chester Taylor, Tiki Barber, Maroney, Thomas Jones...the list goes on and on.

Giving Anderson and Musa more touches is not only overdue...it's critical at this point to make us a legit playoff contender.

FM

[camdenyard]

I just watched our game with the Colts from '04. (The year Peyton set the TD record and we couldn't beat a quality team to make the playoffs 9-7). Jamal was such a beast in that game, playing with a bad ankle too.

Yes, I always think back to that game as well. He had one run where he broke something like 10 tackles. He ran like a man possessed. And I was at the dome...the people sitting around me couldn't believe anyone could run like that.

I just don't think he's lost that much. When he breaks it open down the sidelines, you can see he still has the speed. I do question the desire - he used to deliver punishment before going OB, now he just goes OB.

Against the Bengals and Titans, I watched him take handoffs and plow directly up Brown's or Flynn's back and stop there...with not much tippy-toe. I've seen the replays, and guys, there isn't a whole hell of a lot there in the middle resumbling a hole!

What I want Billick to do is run him outside more. Use pitchouts. Under a full head of steam, he can do damage. If he can't after using this play, well I can start buying into the "dump Jamal" argument.

[Fanman]

Hey CY: I like your optimism about Jamal...but what guy have you been watching for the past 2 seasons? He is SO done it's not even funny.

His type is a dinosaur in the NFL. Smaller, quicker bakcs that hit the hole w/ a burst of speed are successful in the league. Jamal is done here...it's time to pass the torch.

FM

[RAVENOUS52]

Is it any coincident that after feeding Jamal the rock 31 times he broke his first 100+ yard game and scored as well?

He's that kind of back now, so either we commit to that formula or sit him down. I feel that he'll become extremely valuable in the near future, so don't throw him to the wolves just yet.

[Mista T]

Our big success started when Jamal was given lots of handoffs. 55 carries against NO and Cincy translated into nearly 75 minutes time of possession. (Discount the Titans game because we had to play passing game catchup). Keeping the ball and continuing to pound - even though average YPC is not impressive - is a major reason for opening up the passing attack.

While the pitter pater and lack of bursting through are disappointing, I give major credit to Jamal's duarbility for the resurgence of the offense.

:T2:

[Greg]

Is it any coincident that after feeding Jamal the rock 31 times he broke his first 100+ yard game and scored as well?
He still only got 3-3.5 yards per carry. I would buy this "formula" if in the second half he started busting some runs but he isn't. How long did we hold onto the ball against some of these teams? TOP well into the 30s and he can't make them pay.

And camden, there are a few holes, sometimes he has to cut back to find them, he just doesn't get there fast enough. He used to be into the hole ahead of or at the same time a LB would arrive and they could only try arm tackles as he went by. Now they beat him there and take him on. Most times they lose and he gets another yard and punishes them, but by then help arrives and what used to be an 8 yard gain is 3-4.

I would like us to give Mike Anderson a shot this week to see if he can get through those cracks before the LB arrives.

[Art-Florida]

The formula itself is fine. However the technician (Jamal) isn't. Mike Anderson, M.Smith, P.J. Daniels, - Cory Ross even. Get SOMEONE in at tailback to actually hit those holes.

[highwater]

I absolutely agree with Art. Billick has made a commitment to establishing the running game since he took over the playcalling, and he's giving Jamal plenty of opportunities, but Jamal is still not looking very good. If it takes him 30 or more carries to gain 100 yards, okay, but can't Musa Smith or Mike Anderson do that too, and maybe do better than that?

I like the renewed focus on the running game, but Jamal may not be the best RB on the team to implement that attack. We've got depth at RB -- let's use it.

[RAVENOUS52]

Ahem...Keep giving Jamal the ball.

That's my story and I'm stickin to it.

[Sephy]

Ahem...Keep giving Jamal the ball.

That's my story and I'm stickin to it.

The thing is, ANY of our backs could be that kind of back. Do nothing for 20 carries, then when the defense finally tires, start getting some runs. That's the baseline with any back we can get. I'd prefer to put in someone with some upside for those first 20 carries so we don't have to constantly play catchup in the second half.

We need to keep giving SOMEONE the ball, and Jamal hasn't proven it should be him. Notice when Musa got the carries at the end of the game he was busting those same kind of runs?