Cards vs Ravens

[tsylvester]

I'm a bit delayed, but so far, end of the first, it appears 1) the officials are trying to ensure this game is close 2) the defense stayed in Baltimore, all of these missed tackles....

Great first drive by the Ravens, Lamar was incredible, so too was Bateman, who bailed him out of a likely pick.

Great vision, and pass to Andrews to even the score

[tsylvester]

Well the defense woke up, took over the game for 3 &3/4 anyways.

Incredible performance dominating the the line, Pierce, Madebeke, Clowney and company.

But they almost lost the game, giving up 10 pts in the last 4 or so minutes. I think, being thin at the edge in depth, they just ran out of gas. Not even that marvelous run down the field by the offense to get 7 more could rejuvenate the defense.

The offensive line was, well, offensive for most of the game, save for a few short fields, & the opening and closing drives.

All in all this game was closer than the score, the special teams were once again an issue.

Tucker drinker the post on a 53 yarder, punt coverage was suspect when the Cards did get a chance to return. The short kickoffs were horrible, why give them a shorter field? That is on Harbs. Just kick em to the moon...

The onside kick what a blunder, do they not practice that part?

But hey, 6-2, could be, should be, 7-1 maybe 8-0, not many teams can say that. Toughest part of the schedule starts, oy

[oldno82]

Agree with your analysis! The offensive line did not do well and they couldn't get the ground game going so Lamar was always looking at 8 dropping in pass coverage.

Now comes the tough part of the schedule. No more weak teams after now. At least most games are at home.

Special teams have been a weak point all season so far. We miss our previous ST coach?

[papasmurfbell]

Lets keep playing down to competition and see how that works out come Jan.

[deeshopper]

At least they got the onside kick right the second time. Oof.

[tsylvester]

13 hours ago, papasmurfbell said:

Lets keep playing down to competition and see how that works out come Jan.

A lot goes into it, all of the travel, Cleveland, Pit, Cinci, London, then to Arizona. Man, just thinking about that makes me want to take a nap.

But now they have a majority of their games at home, time to shine or fade into obscurity

[papasmurfbell]

I say the later.  Ive seen this show before.

[tsylvester]

Yes, we have, maybe they have learned from their past mistakes

[deeshopper]

They tried to lose the game at the end. Wish they could consistently finish strong.

[tsylvester]

Too little offense in-between lead to the defense being tired. Also, rushing the passer is tiring, especially when the qb can run around like Dobbs did..

I think as we move forward, we will see more consistency from both squads. What worries me are the special teams. Coverage on kicks and punts, even Tucker is starting to worry me.

[oldno82]

6 hours ago, deeshopper said:

They tried to lose the game at the end. Wish they could consistently finish strong.

Consistency between games and even quarters is lacking. Maybe because they're still learning Monken's system and how he wants to operate. This Sunday will be a good test.

Also, agree with Tsyl that something is amiss with the special teams. Punt coverage, returns, have all been lacking. And Tuck seems to be dealing with a long snapper who's snaps are often high which could lead to his timing being off.

[papasmurfbell]

14 hours ago, tsylvester said:

Yes, we have, maybe they have learned from their past mistakes

https://ibb.co/BNRG7Rt

What has he ever learned?

[tsylvester]

[deeshopper]

13 hours ago, papasmurfbell said:

https://ibb.co/BNRG7Rt

What has he ever learned?

Gross.

[papasmurfbell]

Yes he is.