Where was our pass rush and pass protection?

[Tspot-D-Ravenator]

:confused: :179421: :grbac: :thumbdown: NON EXISTANT

[Sephy]

Protection wasn't HORRIBLE, but not great. Pass rush was pathetic, but you still can't put this one on the D. McNair played like complete ass. So did the WRs.

[psuasskicker]

Are you kidding? McNair had all the time in the world, he just didn't get the ball to anyone! The run blocking is what sucked, not the pass blocking. Did McNair even get sacked? No one was near him for four seconds or more every single play. That's what you're supposed to get in the NFL.

Our pass rush was bad in the first half but good in the second. Our D did a terrific job other than that one drive where they completely fell apart. We don't botch that third and 16 play and the Bengals don't score more than 6 all night on us. Their O is terrific, and we held them to 13 points on the road on 4 days rest. What the hell more can you want from them???

- C -

[Tspot-D-Ravenator]

Are you kidding? McNair had all the time in the world, he just didn't get the ball to anyone! The run blocking is what sucked, not the pass blocking. Did McNair even get sacked? No one was near him for four seconds or more every single play. That's what you're supposed to get in the NFL.

Our pass rush was bad in the first half but good in the second. Our D did a terrific job other than that one drive where they completely fell apart. We don't botch that third and 16 play and the Bengals don't score more than 6 all night on us. Their O is terrific, and we held them to 13 points on the road on 4 days rest. What the hell more can you want from them???

- C -

A WIN

[darb72]

You do realize that the Bengals were running short drops to stop our pass rush from getting to Carson, don't you?

And the line protected McNair about as well as it has the past five weeks. He just had an off game and we have to give credit to the Bengals secondary.

[RockyMRaven]

He just had an off game

And HOW! :crazy:

He was horrible. Worst game since Denver.:grbac:

[darb72]

So Steve can't play in the rain.

Let's get the weather man to work on that one for us.:thumbup:

[OwingsMillsAlex]

So Steve can't play in the rain.

Let's get the weather man to work on that one for us.:thumbup:


Not Steve but the whole team. This has been a rocky slope for us since Miami in 2000....this team can not play well when the weather is bad.:thumbdown: On the pluss side we have plenty of time to hope for dry weather in KC on the 10th. :thumbup:

[WxKevin]

The Bengals were keeping 2 backs in at times to catch anybody that got through the line. All Palmer needed was a 2 or 3 seconds to get those short passes off. The Bengals has a great game plan and completed eliminated what the Ravens are good at. Not all teams can do this against the Ravens though.

[PARavensJeff]

The O line wasn't terrible, McNair had time to look around the field & pick receivers before he dumped it off for a 2 yard dink. McNair just didn't have his game head on last night. Why didn't we come out & be aggressive, open it up with the passing game & then pound Jamal? We made their defense look like our 2000 defense, & their defense sucks. We have no clock management as usual, if there wasn't a score showing on the tv & you didn't know the score, you would think we were winning with our casual approach to the clock. The whole team looked slow & not ready to play. Billick let's them have an easy week, & this is how they repay him? He should have had them practicing every day, not doing walk thrus. Lewis practiced all 3 days this week before the game. At least have them hit on Tuesday.

As far as the pass rush, the Bengals held the RB's & TE's in to block & give Palmer extra protection. They picked up our blitzes & rush with ease, they were ready for our defensive game plan.

I don't think Billick should have gave them 5 days off after this game. He should have said you win, your off, if you lose, you're off Friday, &do your lifts Saturday, & we start practice on Sunday to get ready for KC. I know if I was on this team, I wouldn't be running out of town to go "relax" for 5 days, because after the way that game was played last night, I couldn't relax & be off, I'd be so mad.

[ravenjoe]

Our pass rush was neutralized (and we did Not adjust), and our pass protection was Lackluster, at best, along with the total Offensive effort! Imo this team does not seem to possess the mental toughness to win this thing. Yes, they've had a great year (thus far); but to be a Championship team, they can not approach a game (as huge as last night's game), and lay an egg. Mental toughness, discipline, and execution were totally lacking from last night's effort, and I can see this year's team ending up with a nice season, but be just 1 of 31 other teams that will Not be holding the Lombardi trophy come season's end!

[Ravens'N'Hoos]

Imo this team does not seem to possess the mental toughness to win this thing.

How many comebacks have we had this year? Come on - mental toughness is not this team's problem.

I have no idea if the Ravens are Super Bowl material or not. Before and after this game, my assessment is the same - they've got about as much chance as most other contenders, they have their weaknesses and the weaknesses are apparent but can be worked around in most games, and that's true for the Colts, Chargers, Bears, Cowboys, you name it.

Our offense, special teams and - to a lesser extent - defense had an off night on a short week (shorter than the Bengals' because of travel) against a good team, a tough division rival on the road. After how good they looked in most of the games since the bye, they're allowed an off night.

This team doesn't have the makings of a late-season collapse. They're still confident, mature, unified and strong. I think we're still well-positioned to either win out from here or after KC to finish at least 12-4, which wins the division and might win the No. 2 seed.

[WxKevin]

Imo this team does not seem to possess the mental toughness to win this thing.

If you are stating this opinion based on 1 game all year, then you are completely off base. Not 1 single game makes or breaks your season! Last night was an awful performance by the Ravens. They could not adjust to the Bengals very good game plan. Mentally they definitely weren't ready to play the game. I am sure this has something to do with coming of the best game of the year combined with a short week. Billick said all week that he was not worried about them physically but mentally making stupid mistakes. Unfortunately it turned out he had reason for concern.

I just don't understand the whole "chicken little" thing? They have not shown a pattern of not having mental toughness. In fact, the have shown th complete opposite. Last night was the anomaly!

[Sports Steve]

The Bengals OL blocked very well last night they did their job. Sam Adams was a beast last night and caused a lot of problems with our OL. Still McNair had time but the execution just wasn't there. McNair was lucky that he didn't have a couple picked off. Look the facts are they came to play and we didn't. Hope we learn from the game and get back on track.


:jester: :jester:

[Mista T]

pass protection?

:229031_confused2:

Over the past several games - actually, the entire season - we have been seeing the best pass protection in Ravens history. How many sacks have they surrendered this entire season? (Answer = 16) Last six games? (Answer = 4) Last night? (Answer = Zero) In particular, all this with a QB whose scrambling abilities have waned with age.

McNair had plenty of time last night. He just couldn't see the open receivers, or didn't have the arm strength to get the ball to them accurately.

Blaming his performance on OL protection is a cop-out. McNair needs to rest his aging body, in particular his arm.

:T2:

[Gabrosin]

The pass protection was fine. Our pass rush did a terrible job against a mediocre offensive line that was missing some of its best players; they deserve a lot of the blame for that performance. Maybe they were tired from the short week; maybe they couldn't get enough traction on the wet field. We didn't have many exotic stunts this game, which makes sense, because we didn't have much time to practice or gameplan, and the conditions made it difficult to rely on our defensive speed. But on the whole, I'm not going to blame our defensive players for what happened. They held the Bengals to 13 points in spite of our offense not giving them any rest during the course of the game. Kudos.

This one goes on two people: McNair and Billick.

First, McNair just played poorly. His passes weren't reaching the mark. He looked tired and weak and uncertain of where to go with the ball. He gets a D.

Billick, on the other hand, gets an F. And this is one he's been earning for years. I'm not going to go off on him too badly, because I'm giving him a lot of credit for the previous five games and how well our offense has performed. But this one, he stunk. And he stunk because he doesn't make any adjustments for poor weather.

I was at Della Rose's last night for the broadcast, and it was mentioned that the Ravens have been miserable over the past few years in games with heavy rain. There shouldn't be a mystery to this any longer.

What did we watch the Bengal WRs do all night? Run out in their pattern and COME BACK TO THE BALL. They pushed the defenders back and then looped around for the completion. Our defenders weren't able to break on the ball; when playing soft coverage it's hard to stop those routes. What were our receivers running? Outs, slants and curls... no comeback routes. Run out, turn and stop. Run out, cut outside/inside, look for ball. And the Bengals were all over it. Since the ball had to travel further to get to the spot, and the defender had less distance to cover to reach it, they were making plays, breaking up passes and nearly having a few picks. Do you get less yardage when you come back to the ball? Sure. But you get the completion more often. Even after seeing how they marched down in the first half, we didn't go out and try the same thing. We had roughly the same pass protection and our running game was working better than theirs, and yet, we FAILED TO ADJUST. That's a coaching issue.

I hope that Billick learns from his mistakes here, but history shows he probably won't. Pray for clear skies in the playoffs.

[Gabrosin]

And a quick note about defensive strategy in this game, because Rex Ryan should bear a little blame here too. If your opponent is using all of these comeback routes and your pass rush is never reaching him, why not drop LBs into the comeback areas and concede a QB scramble? Especially against Carson Palmer, whose knee just got rebuilt and seems to be averse to taking a risk by running with the ball. I know that typically you need to get pressure on a great passer to beat him, but I really believe that in this game, we could have done a better job by rushing three, having a LB spy on whichever TE or RB was left in for extra protection, and placing LBs in zone underneath while our secondary prevented the deep passes.

It's easy to criticize scheme the day after from in front of a computer, but this is something that was readily apparent by halftime. Billick is still too proud to admit that the opponent had a solid plan and steal what's working from his book, even if just for thirty minutes of play.

[Ravens0587]

The Bengals were keeping 2 backs in at times to catch anybody that got through the line. All Palmer needed was a 2 or 3 seconds to get those short passes off. The Bengals has a great game plan and completed eliminated what the Ravens are good at. Not all teams can do this against the Ravens though.

ok so this means were truly screwed.

5 Linemen + (2 Tackles, 2 Guards, 1 center) +2 RB or 1 RB/1TE + 1 quarterback.

Ok so 8 people. This leaves 3 Wr's

if we blitz 7 people we have 4 people in coverage.

Do you mean to tell me that our Defense can't cover a damn wr for 2 seconds?

Honestly think about this, 4 people can't cover 3 for 2 seconds? If this is truly the case then the playoffs are not looking too good, especially with our offensive performance against their defense

[purplepoe]

Why can't people accept that the Bengals had a good game plan and executed well while we didn't.

It's that simple.

We're 9-3 and just lost a game, on the road, to a team playing for their playoff lives.

Sometimes you line up and play and the other team plays better. It happens.

PP