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ExtremeRavens: The Sanctuary

a couple items for you to comment upon


moonman

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I'll be brief. A couple items to ponder in the aftermath of Saturdays game.

 

1. Cam has trusted Joe Flacco with more of the play book as the season has progressed and he has

not made many mistakes. Yet early in game its as if it was Joes first game. When potential passing

situations came up in the first two possessions, Cam basically gave up and ran the ball. It bugged me.

What was it, 3rd and long both times, and not even a short pass was trusted to Joe. Was it

early crowd noice or something?

Don't you think this was a bit odd given that the Ravens have opened most of the play book up to Joe?

And do you think we will start off Joe the same way again in the next game? To me, this approach gets your

defense overworked from the start if nothing else.

 

2. On the NFL network, a very quick statement was made by Sanders in his analysis of the game. Many folks

may not have heard it, cuz they were covering things pretty quickly. But he basically said the Ravens Linebackers

are not very good in pass coverage. I'm not debating this point necessarily, but compared to the rest of the league's

linebackers is this a fair statement?

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I'll be brief. A couple items to ponder in the aftermath of Saturdays game.

 

1. Cam has trusted Joe Flacco with more of the play book as the season has progressed and he has

not made many mistakes. Yet early in game its as if it was Joes first game. When potential passing

situations came up in the first two possessions, Cam basically gave up and ran the ball. It bugged me.

What was it, 3rd and long both times, and not even a short pass was trusted to Joe. Was it

early crowd noice or something?

Don't you think this was a bit odd given that the Ravens have opened most of the play book up to Joe?

And do you think we will start off Joe the same way again in the next game? To me, this approach gets your

defense overworked from the start if nothing else.

 

2. On the NFL network, a very quick statement was made by Sanders in his analysis of the game. Many folks

may not have heard it, cuz they were covering things pretty quickly. But he basically said the Ravens Linebackers

are not very good in pass coverage. I'm not debating this point necessarily, but compared to the rest of the league's

linebackers is this a fair statement?

I don't have any problem with the playcalling. Last week, Cameron continually went for the home run play. He tried it again this week, but not early in the game. It was cold, raining, and an early mistake would have buried us quite easily.

 

You play to win the game, not play to gain 99 yards on each down. I'm happy that they continually worked on the inside run when it seemed as if it was going nowhere. We aren't yet built to get away from the run, and it was very smart that we didn't.

 

Simply put, while Cameron is a creative playcaller, he knows what he's doing and who he's playing against. It wasn't the time to go for the jugular.

 

I did hear what Deion said, and there's really not a lot of argument against it, especially if you watch the play during which he mentioned it. Lewis is by far the best of the bunch, but they have enormous problems keeping track of tailbacks who wander outside (Ray usually takes the tight end, and does so very well). Scott is an incredibly poor open-field tackler.

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Playcalling sucked on both sides of the ball for the Ravens.

 

Why don't we throw underneath like all these teams we play? Joe is getting in the habit of homerun or deep ball only. Don't forget the in betweens!

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The crowd noise limited them...it's just about the loudest and most football savy crowd in the NFL.

 

They had to go on a silent count the whole game...most importantly, Joe couldn't audible to beat the defenses with the big play passes.

It's one of the limitations of playing on the road.

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The crowd noise limited them...it's just about the loudest and most football savy crowd in the NFL.

 

Have to disagree a bit. Football savvy? Absolutely. Loudness? Eh.

 

Even ESPN writers were commenting earlier this week about how Tennessee isn't the mosh pit it once was. It's just plain mediocre.

 

I didn't like how Diefdorff kept coming back to it. I had my whole stereo on and the noise still wasn't as loud as I have heard other places (including Baltimore) this year.

 

The fans were good... not great, in my opinion.

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Sorry guys but the place was ridicolousy loud yesterday. Flacco couldn't hear his mic in the helmet numerous times.

 

 

As far as the playcalling, it bothered me a tad. Almost every first and second down titans had 8-9 guys in box. Streak pattern and crossing patterns were open all game. We needed to use more playaction, however I think the playcalling was so conservative b/c we weren't in great field position. Walking back to hotel after the game, numerous titans fans were talking to me about why we don't let Flacco throw the ball cause they thought he was a stud qb.

 

Referees gave titans their first td on that weak illegal contact call on rolle and mason seemed to get raped all game.

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I really don't know what you guys were watching. What you hear on television means absolutely nothing as to how loud it actually is. Considering Flacco's actions and the body language of folks in the stadium, it was incredibly loud (which someone who was actually there just attested to).

 

We ran the ball 25 times and threw the ball 22 times, excluding rushes by Flacco. Ray Rice was in the game for just three snaps, and obviously wasn't healthy enough to play. Who, then, would you like all these screen and short passes to? I recall a few slants, all of which were covered well. Heap isn't often used for short yardage anymore. It just seems like you guys can't be satisfied. We're playing not to lose the game? Well, did we lose?

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I think Cameron backs off the playcalling early in the game to allow Flacco's nerves to settle into the game. I think he tries to avoid making early costly mistakes and eases into the game plan. Also, Flacco just missed a third bomb that could've resulted in points, so I'm taking the wins as we get em and I'm looking forward to an explosive offense next year. I can't believe we're in the championship game!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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It did sound loud on Saturday. However, like Spen said, it sounded loud when both teams had the ball. I heard a lot of Heap chants on that fourth quarter chant. I wonder how many Ravens fans were there.

 

 

My Section was a third baltimore fans.... it was awesome. The nightlife was great too, mostly all ravens fans taking over nashville bar scene.

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It was very loud. Louder than Miami by far, and not nearly as many Ravens fans this time around. Yes, there were a large number of Ravens fans in the city, but Nashville has a very centralized downtown area. Even 500 Ravens fans would look like 5,000 there.

 

There may have been a lot of fans in certain sections, like behind the Ravens bench, but they definitely weren't as spread out and numerous as in Miami. Walking around the stadium before the game, after the game, and during breaks, it was pretty obvious. In Miami you couldn't turn around without running into a group of Ravens-faithful. In Tennessee you had to seek them out.

 

As I posted elsewhere, we were in section 104 and were 2 of the only Ravens fans in the entire section. When the Ravens did something good, you could hear a pin drop around us. It was very awkward.

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On another note, I definitely agree that the playcalling is far too conservative. In the last Pittsburgh game it was too conservative, and it was again on Saturday. Flacco doesn't struggle against these defenses as much as our coaches think he does. Let him throw the ball to Rice out of the backfield and pick up 4-6 yards a pop instead of trying to jam McClain through a pinhole every play.

 

We could have very easily lost this game, and I've never been narrow-minded enough to think of football as "wins and losses" only. If Cam called these tough games the way he called our "easier" games, I think he would be pleasantly surprised with Flacco's ability to move the ball through the air on 1st and 2nd down, rather than putting him in 3rd-and-long situations every series. I'm not asking for high-risk passes...but I also don't think Flacco will make high-risk throws anyway. He hasn't lately at least. Every time we unchain him, he impresses everyone. Cameron just needs to have faith in our offensive line and our young quarterback.

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