The good from Thursday and what we need to work on.

[thundercleetz]

I do not see Thursday night as a sign of things to come by any means. We played a great first half and believe it or not, there were some really encouraging signs. In my opinion, Thursday night was not lost on talent, it was lost on poor decisions in planning the active roster.

 

Looking back it probably was not smart only having four corners and four wide receivers active. This is not smart on multiple levels. Take Lardarius Webb for example. The guy is just coming off of ACL surgery and due to depth and short offensive possessions Webb is out there playing 50+ snaps. Marlon Brown is similar, although at receiver we ran him on longer routes requiring less sudden movement. Either way the chances of injury go up significantly when players aren't given proper rest.

 

Then there is the matter of effectiveness. I think Brandon Stokley will be a good receiver for us. At his age with his skill set he is not an every down player. Stokley is most effective working out of the slot in short-to-intermediate passing situations and that is where he should stay. Once Jacoby went down Stokley became an every down player. The lack of receivers then leads to Dallas Clark having to be on the field more, which turned out to be a disaster.

 

I think we saw when playing a fast paced passing team like Denver five WRs and five CBs are necessary. Your fourth or fifth depth guy does not have to be great, but just being able to spell a starter to keep him fresh is worth it's weight alone in an active roster spot.

 

Now the good:

 

- Marlon Brown looks to be a stud. He runs routes, has good hands, and is a willing blocker. He should some surprising speed for a guy his size on the crossing pattern. He has long strides that eat up ground. Brown is only got to get better as the year goes on as he continues to learn the pro game and his knee gets stronger from ACL surgery. Brown is a complete receiver who is going to start immediately with Jacoby out. Joe has never had a target at WR this big. Brown could be a red zone threat for us.

 

- I feel terrible for Jacoby. He was looking really good before going down. He ran a few crisp routes and made some tough snags. Of course his speed was a threat. Maybe Jacoby was on his way to finally putting it all together as a WR. Real shame...

 

- The offensive line looked great before Oher went down. Wagner played admirable, but we were required to shuffle guys away from their best positions were caused problems for us. If Oher is back, or with a week of preparation without Oher, we should be better. I was really impressed with Gino. He has a nonstop motor and finished off a lot of blocks.

 

The encouraging:

 

- We played a great offensive line this week with a QB who gets rid of the ball quickly. Any other offensive line is going to have fits with our front four. The good news is we will not even need to blitz to generate pressure. Cleveland is in for problems next week.

 

- I am not worried about CB. Webb played solid, and while Graham and Smith were picked on in the second half, they held up great in the first half. Safety play did not help our corners at all and our top three CBs were completely gassed by the third quarter. We do not play Manning every week we will be just fine.

 

The bad:

 

- Safety play as mentioned. This was one week so I am willing to give Huff a few more chances. However, I believe we will see Elam a lot more this week.

 

- Tight end was terrible, absolutely miserable. The drops killed drives and left points on the board. We have to give Dickson more chances as his speed is going to keep him open as a big play threat. Clark on the other hand we can not afford to have a guy out there who is supposed to be a steady target. Please call up Matt Furstenburg. He cannot be any worse than Clark.

 

- WR depth: we need five bodies active. Smith and Brown are the starters. Stokley needs to be a part time player to keep his efficiency. So we need to more guys active to be safe. With Jacoby out we better hope Thompson is back soon to return kicks and be WR depth. Mellette will surely be active. We could use a possession receiver like Mellette. Maybe we bring Doss back as a guy who can provide decent depth and play ST?

 

What does everyone else think?

[cravnravn]

4 minutes changed that entire game.

[vmax]

Nice analysis cleetz.

 

Let me add that I believe Denver will have a very good running game this year and the Ravens front 7 stopped them cold....without Williams and Jones to rotate in and spell the guys.

 

The Ravens need to get back to a better balanced run/pass ratio. It's a losing formula to throw that much...even 2/3rds that much.

 

The penalty situation can be improved and must be. Unnecessary roughness flags must be eliminated. That's stupid and selfish. The coaching staff has to clamp down and enforce this. After a game where the Ravens spent much of their time beating themselves, they have to whittle down the areas where they do this.

 

I saw the same "better/elevated" performance for Jones as a receiver. He is going to be sorely missed. Pierce and Webb should not be return guys.

 

Dickson speed and ability to get open is impressive and a mismatch for most teams. His ability to catch the ball is a bucket of ice down your pants. when he's not practicing get him on a jugs machine and have Taylor throwing passes to him for and hour every day.

 

I think Clarks just trying to get a paycheck. Cut him.

 

Absolutely Elam must start. The Ravens have no enforcer on the back end. As much as we criticized Reed for his tackling at least he brought his man down. When a safety misses a tackle it's a touchdown. I'm willing to go through the growing pains with Elam.

 

The Ravens ran more plays and won time of possession despite all the hoopla of Denver's hurry up offense that is designed to create more plays.

 

Very solid first game for Gradkowsky. He was downfield blocking LB's and safety's on the running plays. His athleticism along with Yanda's is something they can build on.

 

Aren't you glad they brought Leach bask?

[Tornado700]

What better learning experience is there after getting clobbered by Peyton Manning in the first game of the regular season. Alot of good may very well come out of this loss. Something tells me that it will. I still believe in my heart that it'll take a few more bumps and bruises during the month of September until this team finds it's niche and comes together as a full team. No need to panic, it's a long season, thank God. We'll be just fine. One game at a time.