On to Bengals

[varaven45]

What can we expect Thursday night?  Who shows up that night?  

Contender type performance - a la Lions and Seahawks or Pretender effort - a la Colts, Steelers, Browns ?

No in game adjustments; 4th quarter collapse? 

 

Givern the Bengals' precarious position in AFCN and Burrough finding his mojo w his WR corps, I find this to be a very challenging game for us. 

With the Bengals pass heavy offense, I see our best, maybe only chance, to win is by unleashing our run game - Gus, Hill & Mitchell. 

Ground and pound, keep Burrough off the field, and execute for FOUR QUARTERS !!!!        

 

 

   

  

 

 

[tsylvester]

The best way to help guard against pass rushers when your replacement tackles struggle pass blocking? Run the football, it wears down the defensive line, ever carry, pushing, chasing, takes their legs out.

That was one reason a good running game + play action works so well.

But it is Thursday night, usually one team can't adjust to the short week, sometimes both.

Other times it is one side of the ball or the other. Should be interesting

[tsylvester]

According to the Ravens main website, Humphries has a lower calf strain, better than I thought when I saw him grab the back of his ankle, he will be day to day..

No word that I saw on Stanley, Simpson nor the other walking wounded

[varaven45]

Tsy,  I find myself in the company of not trusting this team or coaches.    Still, there's plenty of time to adjust 

and say, "fellas we are running it down their throats tonight.... all night". it would keep Burrow off the field, minimizes 

Lamars obligatory picks or pick 6's.   If we get into a shoot-out w Burrow, we are going down.      

[deeshopper]

Oh, the Ravens are going to lose.

[tsylvester]

1 hour ago, varaven45 said:

Tsy,  I find myself in the company of not trusting this team or coaches.    Still, there's plenty of time to adjust 

and say, "fellas we are running it down their throats tonight.... all night". it would keep Burrow off the field, minimizes 

Lamars obligatory picks or pick 6's.   If we get into a shoot-out w Burrow, we are going down.      

Yep, take a page from their history, from Michigan when they played PSU last weekend, and run, run zone reads, run power, shoot, line up in the wishbone and run some more. When they get tired of that, run the wing T

[varaven45]

3 minutes ago, tsylvester said:

Yep, take a page from their history, from Michigan when they played PSU last weekend, and run, run zone reads, run power, shoot, line up in the wishbone and run some more. When they get tired of that, run the wing T

fwiw --Texans Devin Singletary bludgeoned the Cinci D for 150 yards-30 carries/5 yards/ea.  if we don't pound the rock (>150 yards), we have little chance in this game.      

[oldno82]

Rushing game and play action passes is the strategy. Also, rushing the heck out of Burrow on D. Cinci is not invincible. No NFL team is.

We should go into this game pissed as hell. Thing is, Bengals lost last week too and will be looking for revenge as well for early season loss.

A good test for the Head Coaches to see how fired up they can get their teams going into Thursday night.

[tsylvester]

They are saying an MCL sprain for Stanely, 4-6 weeks, we shall see..

 

[oldno82]

Gee...that hurts some but Mekari can play LT for us and with Stanley's diminished performance this year it shouldn't be too much of a drop off, if any. Moses is expected back at RT. The Bengals have some significant injuries as well which could affect their game this Thursday.

Excuse me here while I rant: The NFL is crazy for scheduling these Thursday games after a Sunday game. How the hell is a team supposed to recover in 4 days? Anybody who's even listed as 'day-to-day' on an injury list probably shouldn't suit up for a Thursday game. I can't believe the players' union hasn't negotiated these games out of existence.

OK...I'm finished now.

[varaven45]

If I’m Harbaugh I’m reminding each and everyone of our players about last January’s debacle in Cincy and then how that loss still tastes and what are they doing about it Thursday night !  

[papasmurfbell]

1 hour ago, oldno82 said:

 

 I can't believe the players' union hasn't negotiated these games out of existence.

 

They like the increased revenues so increased salaries.

[oldno82]

3 hours ago, papasmurfbell said:

They like the increased revenues so increased salaries.

They'd be better served with an 18 game schedule with 2 bye weeks.

[tsylvester]

Yep, 14 million viewers watching terrible, usually, football.

[papasmurfbell]

8 hours ago, oldno82 said:

They'd be better served with an 18 game schedule with 2 bye weeks.

With Amazon throwing away insane money Im not sure.  

[varaven45]

Back to the topic ...... we saw Denver's recipe for success last night in Buffalo.    They ran (not gawdy numbers),but stayed committed and disciplined.

They dominated TOP (37 - 22 minutes) and kept Josh Allen under control and even forced four TOs.   Allen and Burrow are similar in their gunslinging tendencies.   

I would submit this is our formula for success Thursday night - Gus, Justice and Keaton - all night long !!!! 

Ask our boys how they felt about last January's loss in Cincy and a shot of redemption in our HOUSE !!!!!  

[tsylvester]

Well, while I do agree, Denver loses that game if not for the 4 turnovers. Josh seems to have the same problem Lamar does, turnovers in big games.

With the injuries to the line, and a short week, do expect a heavy dose of the run game, so long as it is close & or the Ravens have a big lead

[varaven45]

Convinced that to have a chance in this game, we need to impose our physicality (or play ticked off enough),

impose our will at the LOS and pound the rock.   This team was embarrassed (outphysicaled) on Sunday 

and needs to regain its swagger to win Thursday and the rest of the season.   We are No 1 rushing team in the NFL, and 

Cincy yields 136 yards/game (2nd worst in the league).            

[oldno82]

I have no problem with a running game-play action pass strategy against Cincy this week as long as Keaton Mitchell gets a fair number of carries. He's a big gain opportunity every time he touches the ball. They will need to use all 3 backs to make this effective.

Meanwhile, I'd definitely sit Stanley this week and only play Humphrey if he's really able to go. Mekarri can take over Stanley's spot with only a slight, if any, dropoff and the secondary played very well when Humphrey was out before this season. On defense, the key has to be putting pressure on Burrow and not letting him feel comfortable back there throwing the ball.

Still, none of this will really matter unless the whole team comes out fired up. And that's going to be on Harbs and the coordinators to instill.

This is the biggest game of the season so far and a must win. The Ravens will have to play up to their potential.

This game will tell us how good or mediocre this team really is.

[varaven45]

Oldno, agreed.  I see this game as a rite of passage for this season.    

[oldno82]

Yep...we're finally going to find out how good this team really is. They have the tools in the toolbox to win. They just have to use them all in the right way.

[tsylvester]

I disagree, I give no credence to how good any team is based on Thursday night games. It's heavy water, not clear water, they may as well be running through the jungle. (Yes, I have CCR playing in my head)

 

[papasmurfbell]

14 hours ago, varaven45 said:

 

They dominated TOP (37 - 22 minutes) and kept Josh Allen under control and even forced four TOs.   Allen and Burrow are similar in their gunslinging tendencies.   

 

Oh I see them as very different QBs.  Allen yes is a gunslinger sort of like Favre.  Burrows is a surgeon looking to take you apart.

9 hours ago, oldno82 said:

 

Meanwhile, I'd definitely sit Stanley this week and only play Humphrey if he's really able to go. Mekarri can take over Stanley's spot with only a slight, if any, dropoff...

The Way Stanley is playing this yr is could be a raise in ability.

[tsylvester]

Lamar 7-1 against the Bengals, over 70 yards rushing per game too boot. But it is a Night game, a short week game oy..mm

Good news, that tan ravens sideline hood is down to $69, wonder if I can get it for $49 by the time Christmas rolls around

[tsylvester]

Tee Higgins (hamstring), Sam Hubbard (ankle), and Andrei Iosivas (knee) have been ruled out after not practicing this week. That means the Bengals will rely heavily on Trenton Irwin and Tyler Boyd to step up next to Ja’Marr Chase at wide receiver.

Hendricks is playing, shucks, he always seems to kill us.

Stanley and Simpson are out, Humphries is doubtful for the good guys...