TBird

You mean there's an actual game Thurs nite? >>sarcasm>>

Since Ravens fans need some hope on something, lost in the aftermath of the game Sunday and the scandle is that the o-line shined vs Bengals. KO is back and playing like he did in the SB and Ravens finally have a RT, Wagner, who held his own. FS charges him with a sack on the next to last play but I don't think he is officially charged with a sack. Film Study posts his grades on most ofl the boards and he is usually right. He played college football at Syracuse. Everyone looks forward to his grades. Amidst the difficult loss and scandal, Ravens fans need hope. It was there Sunday, in the form of a much improved offensive line. The Bengals ran primarily vanilla 4-man pressure on 14 of the Ravens’ first 17 pass plays. When that produced ample time and space (ATS) on 12 occasions, they switched to frequent double-A-gap blitz looks with some combination of Rey/Maualuga/Lamur standing to either side of Zuttah. I can’t help but think how helpless Gradkowski was in such situations a year ago, but as we’ll see, the 2014 Ravens line was up to the challenge. The Ravens did not employ any jumbo formations and each lineman played all 84 snaps. Monroe: Eugene had a lousy game as a run blocker, but it didn’t really cost the team. In fact, his 6 missed blocks came on runs of 3, 3, 5, 6, and 2 as well as a missed screen block on a 7-yard play. As a pass blocker, he was pancaked by Atkins for a QH (Q3, 8:55). He was also flagged twice, once for a tightly-enforced illegal formation (Q3, 0:51) and another time when the referee called his number for Zuttah’s hold (Q4, 6:59). Scoring: 77 blocks, 6 missed, 1 QH, 1 illegal formation, 71 points (.85 per play). Despite the quality of the Bengals’ defensive line, I can’t credit as much as .05 adjustment for opposition, because my system isn’t penalizing him enough for his bad run blocks, so that’s a B effort. Osemele: Kelechi returned from a miserable and abbreviated 2013 to play his best game since SB XLVII. He got the best push of any lineman and showed ability to find blocks in level 2 where he was 7 for 9, including 2 pancakes. He had only 2 bad plays, a pressure surrendered when beaten inside by Atkins (Q3, 14:30) and a penetration allowed when he tripped over Pitta while pulling (Q2, 8:45) that allowed Burfict to take down Pierce for a loss of 4. Scoring: 80 blocks, 2 missed, 1 penetration, 1 pressure, 76 points (.90 per play). Based on the quality of the Bengals’ interior, I adjusted him by .06, but he grades anA without adjustment. His play is the best reason to believe the line can return to the top-8 form it enjoyed for most of the playoff years. Zuttah: His hold (Q4, 6:59, incorrectly charged to Monroe), was his 20th in the last 4 seasons. He did, however, pitch a clean slate as a pass blocker with no pressure events allowed. I charged him with 2 missed blocks on plays where he gave ground in the pocket, but the ball was out quickly. It would also be fair to credit him with some of the overall success of the line against a challenging opponent that sought to confuse with A-gap pressure. A point of potential concern from the games I reviewed from last season was his inability to find and deliver blocks in level 2. He’s supposed to be mobile, but connected on just 3 of 6 such blocks on Sunday. Scoring: 78 blocks, 6 missed, 1 holding, 72 points (.86 per play). With an adjustment of .06 for handling Gilberry, Atkins, Peko, and the linebackers, that’s a B at center. Sometimes addition is by subtraction. Sometimes addition is by addition. In the case of Gradkowski for Zuttah, it was both. Yanda: It’s unusual when Marshal turns in the worst pass-blocking game, but that’s what happened against the Bengals. He allowed a PD to Gilberry (Q2, 8:07), a half pressure to Atkins (Q3, 6:20), and a full pressure to Atkins (Q4, 10:46). He finished the afternoon by allowing half of the final sack by Gilberry and Nelson (Q4, 1:00). On the plus side, he made all but 1 of his run blocks. Scoring: 77 blocks, 3 missed, 2.5 pressures, ½ sack, 69 points (.82 per play). He had a tough draw, lining up opposite Atkins on the majority of his snaps, so I adjusted him by .06. B. Wagner: The Wagner/Dunlap matchup was like a hard 17 at blackjack, meaning a push would have been great. Wagner was bulled by Dunlap which contributed to Atkins’ PD (Q3, 6:20). Dunlap also bulled him for what I believe was a QH (Q4, 12:47, will confirm with coaches video). I charged him with a very slow-developing sack of Flacco on the Ravens’ next-to-last play (Q4, 1:09) when he may have held his block of the stunting Gilberry in excess of the 3-second standard. He missed just 1 run block while making 5 level-2 blocks and connecting on his only pull (Forsett’s 13-yard TD run). Scoring: 79 blocks, 1 missed, 1.5 pressures, 1 QH, 1 sack, 67 points (.80 per play). I adjusted him by .08 for having to face the Bengals’ pressure machine, but he still scores a high B. Had I not charged the borderline late sack to him, the game would have graded a solid A. The other major blocking contribution cam (unexpectedly) from Justin Forsett, who made 8 of 9 set blocks (plus 1 chip) effectively. The Ravens used eligible receivers to set block just 16 times in 65 pass plays (4.8 eligible receivers in the pattern per play). So, why didn’t the Ravens offense pile up 500+ yards with such a dominant blocking effort? Flacco had Ample Time and Space (ATS) on 38 of 65 drop backs (58%), which is substantially more than his 2010-13 average (50%). That’s an extra 5.5 attempts with a clean pocket for 65 drop backs. Here’s a summary of Flacco’s pass plays both with and without pressure: Flacco and his receivers came up approximately 88 yards shy of expectations for the opportunity set afforded by the offensive line. This entry was posted in Blog View, Featured, Filmstudy by Ken McKusick. Bookmark the permalink. ABOUT KEN MCKUSICK Ken comes to us via area message boards where he has consistently posted some of the most insightful and memorable posts that you'll find anywhere. Known as "Filmstudy", Ken is a lifelong Baltimorean and rabid fan of Baltimore sports who grew up about 1 mile from Memorial Stadium. He attended...moreView all posts by Ken McKusick →SHARE THIS STORY

Probably Bisciotti gave orders on how to play it out. I'M GOING TO BE A HANDS OFF OWNER. STEVE BISCIOTTI

Talk about piling on? Here's Canty uttering his complete disgust with Ray and understands why the team cut him. Canty is a Christian and understands that Ray's a sinner and he loves the sinner but not the sin but he still can't understand him doing that. So here's his teammate piling on like a cowardly dog. (sarcasm) The locker room didn't trust him and neither did the front office. As Canty said, we're preparing for the Steelers and this business puts us in a tight spot. http://www.baltimorebeatdown.com/2014/9/8/6124811/nearly-in-tears-chris-canty-comments-on-ray-rice-video

Thanks, man. I knew you were an old Colts fan with that #82 but Berry broke my heart going to Indy. He didn't give a rat's ass how we felt about them stealing our team. Screw him. Back to Rice and piling on. Hell, no one trusted him anymore once it was out he lied. The locker room didn't trust him nor did the front office after he deceived them. They stood by him in the beginning just like with Ray and even after the trial. He played in the pre-season games and had a good camp. Once the vid showed he lied and he decked her twice they couldn't trust him anymore. Nobody could including his teammates.

Cowardly dogs? Bull shit. The coward was the guy who slugged his woman - twice. The entire city is upset and it makes everyone look bad. The organization really looked bad leaving HARBs all alone to meet the press to explain things. Where was the owner and Oz and Cass. They are the disgrace.

During the trial Ray testified as part of the deal and he described how they used the knives. They weren't big ones like the ones you normally think of and they didn't come down with the blow. It was really weird but the co defendants got off because it was self defense. The Ohio boys had guns. They shot the limo up including shooting the tire out. Ray's boys had knives. The knives won. The Ohio boys started the fight inside the Cobalt Lounge. Ray got his guys out and into the limo fast but they followed them calling them every dirty name in the book. A guy got out of the car and was hit in the head with a champaign bottle. Once the jury saw an example of the bottle, it was all over for the prosecution. Case closed. Ray had blood all over his white fur coat so he was in the middle of it. He said he was stopping it but nobody out of Bmore believes it. There was one other guy who ran off and he was never found. he was the guy Ray was scared of and that's why Ray lied to the cops.

Things are sure different from when I was a boy following the Baltimore Colts. The worse scandals back in the 60s were when Paul Horning and Alex Karas were suspended for betting on games. Horning said he needed to bet to augment his measely salary but he bet on his own team. Betting was wide spread and he even threatened Pete Rozelle the comish to blow the lid off if he acted. Pete called his bluff and suspended him anyway. Colts owner was widely known for betting and on his own team. During the 58 sudden death championship game he was on the side line forcing the coach to go for the 6 points instead of an easy FG to win it at the end of OT. A FG wouldn't cover the spread but a TD would and he got the TD. Players even got envelopes under their doors as part of the payoff from the guy who lost. All that is in Steadman's book, FROM COLTS TO RAVENS. Rosey finally died when he drowned off his beach front estate. Arty Donovan called Unitas and said mafia frog men just got Rosey. He owed a lot to Vegas and there was a police investigation with his wife being questioned as a possible suspect. Nothing happened to her and she got the team and moved them to St Louis. Now its domestic violence which wasn't even a term back then. Today it's murder charges, beatings, drugs, assault, even bullying teammates, steriods not to mention the gun cult in the NFL. One player accidently shot himself in a club with a gun in his pants. Yup, the game sure has changed and it's an embarrassment. Everyone outside of Bmore thinks Ray is a murderer even though charges were dropped and the co-defendents were acquitted. Now Rice who really is guilty. All this hurts the organization for sure. Makes me sick.

In the wake of Ray Rice situation, of course, but good things happen to good people who try and work hard like Toussaint. Aaron Wilson tweeted the above.

There's always Wenning on the practice squad.

Especially the way he played yesterday. With Brandon Williams taking up 2-3 blockers up the middle, Ngata should have been open and in the back field more often even if he is injured. A lot of fans are calling for his dismissal next year, and his CAP savings. I think his CAP hit was $16M this year and last year.

ESPN reported that Ravens don't owe Ray any money for this year at all since league suspended him indefinitely. Not sure if it counts vs the CAP next year.

According to Brian McFarland over on 24x7, Ravens save $3.2M this year. Next year it's $9.5M cap hit in dead money. OUCH!!!

Time to bring back Cox. I don't ever want to see Brown again, ever.

BTW, Flacco threw the ball 62 times for a 58% completion rate while Marsha had a 50% completion rating losing to Miami. Romeo had 3 INTs losing big at home. Even Jerry is miffed at passing on Manzeal but Clowns might be willing to trade him-lol.

It's a little late but here it is and Webb is on it. So was Campanero. Wright, the Bengals CB was on it for them too. http://www.baltimorebeatdown.com/2014/9/7/6117513/ravens-bengals-inactives-lardarius-webb-is-out-will-not-play

9 drops.

Comparing Joe to Boller is not funny.

ILMAO. Rack that post Post of the day.

Two f**ing mins. The D couldnt protect the lead for 2 f**kiing mins. Then again, the D was sliced and diced like crap in the entire first half too so why should I expect more. 82 is right - it's on both sides of the ball. It's a team effort in the loss.

But it didn't and Joe was sacked and rushed. There was no pass rush to protect the secondary which is still giving up the big play. How many sacks were on Dalton? With Brandon Williams taking up 2 or 3 blockers, the guys on both sides of him should have been getting thru to the backfield often and repeatidly. They didn't.

Exactly.

Huh? Not the D? They gave up the winning TD with 2 mins left. Green got behind everyone and side stepped tthe only guy left to stop him to get in. They gave up 15 pts for a 15-0 lead. The score should have been 28-0 Cinci but the D held and granted the FGs but they were still moved on and gave up the final big play just like they did all last year and I called it before today's game. One big interception given up by D. No pass rush for most of the game just as in pre-season. Dalton had more time to throw than Joe and hit Green for winning TD. The pass rush is needed to protect the secondary especially this secondary with Webb missing. 9 dropped balls. Did anyone count or even notice the dropped balls. Maybe Joe just throws it too hard. I dunno but the receivers sucked except for Steve Smith's bomb and a lot of people said he was too old when he signed. Receivers also didn't get separation a lot and Joe had to move or get sacked. Also bad coaching. Going for 2 pts and missing. Score would have been 23-17 with a TD for the win instead of forcing into OT. Also HARBs just didn't have team ready as he should have. They were so flat in first half while Pete Caroll has his team in SB form already. Tucker finally loses a game with blown FG. That's 5 pts we lost on special teams with the missed conversion try and missed FG which Tuck usually hits. He made 2 70 yarders in camp this summer. O-LINE again didn't open up holes early on for running game and Joe is blitzed and sacked once again, make that a lot at the end of the game. We heard all summer that Kubes will run and run to set up the play action. There was none of that today. Best play after the TDs were a draw play up the middle for good gain. Can't remember last time Ravens ran a draw play or one that succeeded. . They finally scored on ground llate in game as Forsett ran well and scored big TD. Also Cinci blitzed just like I said they would but they ran a 4-man line a lot more often than I thought. They put the pressure on the line and blitzed like crazy the winning sacks on Joe on our last 2 plays of the game. Whew - that's enough to blame right there and I'm just getting started.

Good points guys but I'm not a Seattle jock, just stating the facts and while I'm at it, I'm removing the scarsasm from the OP after our game today. No way the Ravens beat them or Denver with all those dropped balls. And again, the coaching factors into it. HARBs didn't have the team up like Pete did. I mean 36 pts vs GB and we couldn't beat them last year. Yea, we lost Boldin and had injuries to the line but still could have gotten into the POs. At one point we were only 6 pts from getting in. By the end of the year we only needed 11 more points to make it, like the big play to GB last year and again today to Cinci. We're still giving up the big play. Boldin wouldn't have made the difference because he requires a tight window and Joe was the most blitzed QB in football and even injured his knee. He was running for his life and wouldn't have had the time to get the ball into that tight window like he did in the SB. But again, HARBs sucked going for the 2 pt conversion and not having the team ready. On that last blitz on Joe, the guy came in un-touched. There was supposed to be a RB to pick him up. Wagner had his man covered on the outside. That's not on him.

While Pete Caroll has his Seahawks in SB form already, Ravens PR guy says it's time for Ravens to shut up and play. http://www.baltimoreravens.com/news/article-1/Byrne-Identity-Its-Time-To-Shut-Up-And-Play/ce0ed1b7-547b-4f2f-89d7-aedc1903f73c