Tues AM observations

[varaven45]

After last night's win - and what a victory - everything is good (even the oatmeal taste pretty dang good ). I blew my prediction which I had us losing by 10.

And after watching the refs BLOW 2 MAJOR CALLS in 1st half (DPI & LATE HIT on NGATA), my prediction looked good at the half with the Saints up 17-14.

It was at that point I resigned myself to the notion that the Ravens would have to beat the Refs and Saints in the 2nd half. Well, we beat both and won in convincing fashion.

 

My observations of last night's game:

 

We finally established our offensive identity through a dominant running game. And we needed that to win last night's game. Establish a strong running game, get Joe in a comfort level, and let his receivers (Smith & Smith) do their thing. Granted it was against NO, but we established an offensive identity and our OL made a dang statement.

 

Joe played an outstanding (not great) game. Joe was Joe - he led his troops, established the run and made critical throws at key points in the game. He nearly threw a pick six which arguably could have changed the outcome. But he didn't and Joe led a good, balanced, dominant offense and it was a thing of beauty. They need to follow this blueprint down the stretch run.

 

Justin Forsett is an amazing player and a real find. Thank goodness Kubiak, Harbaugh snatched him in the offseason. He, Pierce and Lorenzo will be key down the stretch.

 

We have an enigmatic defensive. Our front seven, including our run D (Ngata et al) and pass rushing (Suggs. Elvis) is strong and often dominant. And it has to be in order mask our leaky pass D and keep us in games. Will Hill is as advertised and made the D play of the game with his pick 6. Somehow, someway the little sisters of the poor in our secondary (Brooks, Elam) have got to emulate Hill's tenacity and toughness on defensing the pass. This is going to be critical moving forward.

 

Our ST's play were key last night. Koch's booming punt and Tucker's kicks were clutch, and Jacoby might be finding his legs again (maybe).

 

Lastly, last night s game was huge and the team showed a lot of grit in overcoming adversity and BAD, BAD CALLS. While the victory was significant , it was 1 win that merely keeps us in the hunt. Harbaugh and the team have to build from last night and bring it every Sunday from here on out need. In spite of what many will say, the Chargers and Rivers will bring it Sunday. Expect no less than a war.

 

Keep on keepin' on !

 

 

Go Ravens

 

[cravnravn]

In defense of Joe and the pick 6, he was hit as he was releasing the ball, Monroe didn't hold the block long enough.

 

Joe went 18 for 24 for 243 and a TD, I'll take that weekly, stats don't tell the story, or it tells a false story, look at Bree's stats if you didn't know the outcome you would think the saints won by 21 points. In actuality the scoreboard lies caus the game was not as close as the scoreboard indicated.

[thundercleetz]

I'm curious what the snap count was for our SS rotation. I didn't see Elam much at all.

 

Looks like Hill was the fulltime FS. He gave up a few plays (a Graham TD, I think the long pass on Webb was Hill's coverage), but Hill plays aggressive and is able to put bad plays behind him. When it was all said and done, Hill probably did a better job covering Graham than anyone has in the league the past two years. I like having Hill back there and He is only going to get better as the season goes on and he continues to get used to being our fulltime starter.

 

Also, another solid performance by Levine. I don't think he was beat much. Like Hill, Levine plays aggressive. Even when Levine gets beat he closes on the receiver in a hurry. Speaks volumes to his athleticism that he can convert from safety to corner midseason and hold his own. Levine and Hill are going to be players for us down the stretch!

[52isUnstoppable]

Gorrer had a pick in his hands for 2 seconds until it was snatched from him.

[RavenMad]

Gorrer had a pick in his hands for 2 seconds until it was snatched from him.

And that play should have been ruled an incomplete pass. How the hell it wasn't overturned I don't know? It felt like the fix was in, but someone forgot to turn the lights off late in the 2nd this time.

[oldno82]

I'm curious what the snap count was for our SS rotation. I didn't see Elam much at all.

 

Looks like Hill was the fulltime FS. He gave up a few plays (a Graham TD, I think the long pass on Webb was Hill's coverage), but Hill plays aggressive and is able to put bad plays behind him. When it was all said and done, Hill probably did a better job covering Graham than anyone has in the league the past two years. I like having Hill back there and He is only going to get better as the season goes on and he continues to get used to being our fulltime starter.

 

Also, another solid performance by Levine. I don't think he was beat much. Like Hill, Levine plays aggressive. Even when Levine gets beat he closes on the receiver in a hurry. Speaks volumes to his athleticism that he can convert from safety to corner midseason and hold his own. Levine and Hill are going to be players for us down the stretch!

 

I'm not quite ready to declare for sure yet it, but it's beginning to look to me like Elam is a flop.

[vmax]

Right now he's a flop. The fact that he can't break into the lineup with weaknesses everywhere speaks volumes.

I hear Elam doesn't get the mental side of the game. Can't have a guy like that at safety.

 

Got to read the offenses. Got to have brains...

[Tornado700]

At halftime, I felt real good about the game. Knowing that the Ravens are a good second half team while the Saints are a bad second half team, I knew we were going to win. Brees's last TD was basically a Raven give way. We just man handled them in the second half.

[vmax]

There were a lot of key moments in the game.

This was one of them....

 

 

 

Harbaugh doesn't deal in comparisons, but he said the victory was "very special" and he felt his team made a statement, particularly early in the game when the defense made a huge goal-line stand on the Saints' first drive, stopping New Orleans three times from inside the 2-yard line.

The Ravens' offense then got the ball on its own 3-yard line and drove the length of the field on the Saints for a touchdown.

"That's courageous playing," Harbaugh said. http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/ravens/bs-sp-ravens-saints-folo-1126-20141125-story.html#page=1

 

I hope the Gorrer and Brooks learned to be more aggressive from their muffed interception opportunities. The good news is that they were in position to make the play. Now keep playing at that level and finish the play.

[cravnravn]

Yup even Ray Lewis said the exact thing, when we stuffed them on the goal line and then drove the field,it was game over.