Preseason D - #1 in the NFL (through 3 weeks)

[RavenScallywag]

Unless the Steelers manage to shut out Denver tonight, we have the #1 Defense in the NFL through 3 preseason games. We've allowed 25 points in 3 preseason games. The Steelers have allowed 24 in 2 preseason games.

Panthers are actually the closest right now, allowing 33 points in 3 games

By comparison, Cincy, who has 4 preseason games already, has given up 84 points, for an average of 21 points.

We also have the largest net point differential in the NFL, at +39. GB is next with a +35.

For a team with major concerns about our secondary, that has to be a good sign right?

[elland]

Yeah! And most PDs! Second in sacks, top ten in picks and fumbles force and recoveries.

[AirFlacco]

Ravens just went over 11.75 qtrs w/o giving up a TD in preseason.

NY finally got one with the scrubs in with 1 min left in the game.

I told Jon not to worry about the secondary.

Right now we need to worry about the o-line with 3 sacks in the
first half.

[Jeremiah W]

I really expect the trend to continue. Mattison really looks like a guy who knows what he is doing now. For his first 6 games I was really unhappy with the type of blown coverages, lack of gap control, blitzes that did not get there all kinds of defensive problems we were not used to watching. After that, it was like the same old Ravens defense. The numbers are not everything, but they do not lie either.

Suggs and Nagta look like they are ready to lead the defense to the top. I do not think they are going to be blocked much this year even with teams trying to double one of them every down. You can not double 2 guys all game long or get predictable with it vs guys who may drop into coverage.

The corners looked pretty good during the 3 games. Washington is a solid starter and he looks good and healthy. Frank Walker said Fisher was a player, and he was right. He may not be great, but he is alright. Williams has a lot of potential and looks very solid already. Carr is a very good 3rd CB. He is a good blitzer and really seems to have stepped his game up from early last year when he was terrible.

The pass rush has been punishing. You never want to see your QB taking those kind of hits. Flacco got hit hard like once or twice in the game, but the NY QBs had pants on the ground all night.

Some of those early runs by Bradshaw and Jacobs were impressive. Break 3 or 4 tackles and you deserve some yardage, but there was not many if any missed assingments or whiff tackles.

[camdenyard]

I'd be more interested in the stats for the time the starters are in there. But that probably looks even better.

[RavenScallywag]

Tony Moll has earned my respect though...he's the 3rd string RT and hes playing as decently as Gaither and Cousins would be.

That said, we'll see some help come when Cousins and eventually Gaither comes back.

I'll have to see what Filmstudy says, but I think Oher is improving little bits. He had a FS penalty, maybe gave up a couple hurries, but looked improved to me.

Birk missed a big sack on a stunt, think that was just a preseason mistake, won't happen often.

Also, towards the end of first half, Yanda was at RT a little when Moll had an injury scare, Chester at RG.

[DVGN]

Mattison's playcalling is finally worthy of the defensive talent the Ravens have on the field. The young blood at LB is worth getting excited about, and Suggs is looking like a true harbinger of destruction. :respect

My talking-out-of-my-ass prediction is that while the Ravens will return to the uber-elite status of a top 2 or 3 defense in the league, Ray Lewis is going to finally suffer a dramatic and obvious decline in production. He has been at best invisible in the pre-season, and I could imagine his old legs becoming something of a liability by the end of another long NFL season.

I can easily envision a mid-season thread entitled "Ray Lewis: To Bench or Not To Bench?"

[Jeremiah W]

Mattison's playcalling is finally worthy of the defensive talent the Ravens have on the field. The young blood at LB is worth getting excited about, and Suggs is looking like a true harbinger of destruction. :respect

My talking-out-of-my-ass prediction is that while the Ravens will return to the uber-elite status of a top 2 or 3 defense in the league, Ray Lewis is going to finally suffer a dramatic and obvious decline in production. He has been at best invisible in the pre-season, and I could imagine his old legs becoming something of a liability by the end of another long NFL season.

I can easily envision a mid-season thread entitled "Ray Lewis: To Bench or Not To Bench?"

I may have been thinking that way but to actually write it down seems wrong.

Ray was right in the hole on the 4th and short, and while Bradshaw did show for sure that Ray has indeed finally lost a step, he can still play his position at an elite level. He just is not going to be everywhere all the time like he used to be like there was was three of him running around like it must have looked like after he hit you a few times.

The defense did not slack off one bit with Ray on the side line. Just like they rolled right along last year with Reed on the shelf. As great as they have been, defense has always been about all 11 playing together. Gap control, sound coverage, solid tackling. Reed and Ray are able to make plays within the scheme that others can not, but the defense works just the same as long as the back ups are where they are supposed to be.

I can not see it as clear as Mike Carey, but when I look at Suggs in the eyes, I can see a lot of malice in his heart. This season may set up the perfect storm for him to get some monster numbers. The run D should be ridicuolus, setting up a lot of obvious passing situations, not to mention what should be a high scoring O to help make teams one dimensional. Then there seems to be a much more hostile blitzing scheme and multiple angles and personel groups getting touches on the QB consistantly. Like in 2006, not only will the sacks come with that kind of pressure, but it is the takeaways is what will force the QBs to eat the sacks. Qbs were either just throwing it up for grabs or standing there waiting to get blindside blasted like Big Jen by Bad Bart.

[Stealthbirds80]

What this basically amounts to is that we are the deepest defense in the NFL (besides CB's), in which most of us already knew. Next man up has been realized on the stat sheet. Cuts will be hard around here.

[psuasskicker]

C'mon guys, it's pre-season. The Colts prior to this year were like 4-20 in their last six years of pre-season games. I'd rather look good than not, but this is a completely meaningless stat.

Detroit won all four of its pre-season games the year they went 0-16...

- C -

[RavenScallywag]

I don't think you can totally throw out this stat...yeah, teams don't play full tilt on us in preseason. But if our D was getting crushed in preseason, it would be worrisome since teams are showing that their lite playcalling can get to us.

Besides, people were ready to DESTROY our offense for not putting up numbers in preseason.

[Jeremiah W]

I don't think you can totally throw out this stat...yeah, teams don't play full tilt on us in preseason. But if our D was getting crushed in preseason, it would be worrisome since teams are showing that their lite playcalling can get to us.

Besides, people were ready to DESTROY our offense for not putting up numbers in preseason.

I do not think you can discount anything that happens when it is 1s vs 1s. They are lying if they say they are not trying. They may not be calling the game the way they would if they were trying to win, but they are trying to execute plays and the D is trying to stop them. How the matchups play out tend to continue in the regular season. You can cover up your mismatches with the gameplan, but they tend to expose them intentioanlly in the preseason. For exapmle, the Ravens know they can run the ball so they were working on the passing game primarily. In a real game they will be more balanced, but they wanted to see how they held up running the no huddle all pass attack because that was a weak spot last year.

I also thought they left some guys in some 1 on 1 coverage situations so far they would not do in the regular season very often. They wanted to see if Nakamura could cover Steve Smith and found out he could. They also wanted to see which of the inside linebakers could carry a WR or TE up the seem routes (if any). I think htey sent the house a lot more than they will in real games but wanted to see how the coverage held up when they did.

[RavenScallywag]

I get PSU's point, but we're not talking W-L record here...we're talking the number of points we gave up. We're talking TDs allowed (0 vs 1st-string, 1 vs ANY-string)

And my mine shock was that our CBs, which were decidedly worse than the average, have not given up many points. Yards, yeah, Fisher in particular has been bad. But even then, the secondary still han't let any guys get past them for TDs, until last night in the last minutes.

Work isn't done, but that's still a good sign.

[Sua Sponte]

I don't care what anybody says, yeah play calling might be a little bland, but pre-season is all about Defense in my opinion, especially 2nd and 3rd string, you can't really tell a Defensive player to play at 80%, it's not in there nature, atleast not in Ravens nature. Teams still want to put up points and players are still playing hard to make teams.

[HoustonRaven]

Luke McCown is the number one QB thus far this pre-season.

Anyone really think this is an indicator that Jacksonville will be an amazing passing team this season?

Didn't think so.

Pre-season stats mean about as much as my belly button lint.

[jonboy79]

Luke McCown is the number one QB thus far this pre-season.

Anyone really think this is an indicator that Jacksonville will be an amazing passing team this season?

Didn't think so.

Pre-season stats mean about as much as my belly button lint.

agreed.

But, as a fan, you can take some optimism from the performance that the unit has played well, and is deep. Trying to extrapolate more then that is an effort in futility. You can certainly take some notes on individual players as well. Travis Fisher is a prime example of someone that has pretty certainly proved he isn't up to the task of NFL corner at this point in time.

[Jeremiah W]

Luke McCown is the number one QB thus far this pre-season.

Anyone really think this is an indicator that Jacksonville will be an amazing passing team this season?

Didn't think so.

Pre-season stats mean about as much as my belly button lint.

If he had done it as the starter it would have meant something.

Prince Miller and some guy I never heard of getting beat at the end of teh game does not mean the Ravens will have coverage issues, it means those guys are on the bubble, so it all means something.

[RavensNTerps]

agreed.

But, as a fan, you can take some optimism from the performance that the unit has played well, and is deep. Trying to extrapolate more then that is an effort in futility. You can certainly take some notes on individual players as well. Travis Fisher is a prime example of someone that has pretty certainly proved he isn't up to the task of NFL corner at this point in time.

Not to mention Troy Smith has shown enough in the preseason over the course of 3-4 years that proves he should be a CFL Qb, right?

[jonboy79]

Not to mention Troy Smith has shown enough in the preseason over the course of 3-4 years that proves he should be a CFL Qb, right?

Hey, at least he is improving, he jsut had his single best half of proffessional football in his career. Not good enough to make this roster, but maybe SOMEONE will give him a chance. Or maybe not.

[RavensNTerps]

Hey, at least he is improving, he jsut had his single best half of proffessional football in his career. Not good enough to make this roster, but maybe SOMEONE will give him a chance. Or maybe not.

You really think he's not making the team, don't you?

Man talk about blinded by hate.

Almost NO NFL Team carries 2 Qbs, so get used to it.

[jonboy79]

You really think he's not making the team, don't you?

Man talk about blinded by hate.

Almost NO NFL Team carries 2 Qbs, so get used to it.

Blinded by hate?

No, we have the best 2 deep QB depth chart in football. Besides that, we have BY FAR the deepest front 7 in football, and massive injury/suspension issues in our secondary and OL, and now WR.

Mr 53 will be more important then carrying a QB that shouldn't have to play, and is looking for any chance to get on another team. He alos has lockerroom cancer attributes in him, unneccessary for a team with these kinds of expectations. We don't need trade requests in December again.

I think you are blinded by love, or the Heisman or something... Why isn't there love like this for Edgar Jones, struggling to keep his head afloat while doing ANYTHING the team asks for? In very many way s they are similar, and similarly skilled players at different positions.

[HoustonRaven]

Almost NO NFL Team carries 2 Qbs, so get used to it.

Huh? Every NFL team has 2 QB's.

:187734:

[jonboy79]

Huh? Every NFL team has 2 QB's.

:187734:

His point was that most typically do carry 3 at most times.

[HoustonRaven]

His point was that most typically do carry 3 at most times.

Gotcha .... his statement is about as lucid as his Troy Smith jocking.

[RavensNTerps]

Blinded by hate?

No, we have the best 2 deep QB depth chart in football. Besides that, we have BY FAR the deepest front 7 in football, and massive injury/suspension issues in our secondary and OL, and now WR.

Mr 53 will be more important then carrying a QB that shouldn't have to play, and is looking for any chance to get on another team. He alos has lockerroom cancer attributes in him, unneccessary for a team with these kinds of expectations. We don't need trade requests in December again.

I think you are blinded by love, or the Heisman or something... Why isn't there love like this for Edgar Jones, struggling to keep his head afloat while doing ANYTHING the team asks for? In very many way s they are similar, and similarly skilled players at different positions.

Agreed about the front 7...it's ridiculous when you see our DL and LB depth during preseason. Our back ups are starters on most teams.

Still not sold on Bulger at all, so I disagree about the QB depth. Don't consider Bulger, at this point, any better than QBs like Gradkowski, Collins, Rosenfels, and probably even a Kitna or Seneca Wallace.

[Dave Lap]

Preseason isn't a good predictor of the regular season but it's not meaningless either.

The challenge is figuring out what's meaningful and what isn't.

For example: I don't think the preseason showing of Indy's defense means they are going to suck this year. Why? Because they showed they are a good defense last year and personnel/coaching haven't changed much, if at all.

OTH: I think the Skins are going to do better this year than last based on their preseason showing. Their d is looking pretty solid and McNabb is a definite upgrade over Campbell. Once they all get more used to each other they'll get even better. Course Snyder will never let them get too good. He'll find some way to screw them over.

[trailhiker85]

You really think he's not making the team, don't you?

Man talk about blinded by hate.

Almost NO NFL Team carries 2 Qbs, so get used to it.

Ugh. One can be blinded by love as much if not more than by hate. The only thing any of us have to "get used to" is what Harbs and his staff decide will comprise the final roster. You don't make those decisions and neither do I. Whatever THEY decide about Troy, I can probably live with it.

Troy played decently Saturday, but that's not the only factor that will decide his status. Part of it comes down to numbers. For example, if we have to "waste" a roster spot to keep open the prospect of Stallworth returning in November (since he can't be PUP'd at this point), can we really justify keeping 3 QB's? I thought this was questionable even before Stallworth's injury. And we need 5 healthy WR's on the roster ...particularly considering Boldin's durability history.

The fact that I support the 2 QB scenario has nothing to do with hatred for Troy Smith.

[Sua Sponte]

I say keep the roster spot for another position, if we are playing our 3rd string QB we are likely not going very far anyway, and can pick up a QB if our first 2 go down.