Ravens vs Chargers

[tsylvester]

Ew, wash that ugly loss against a team the Ravens should have mashed, they were who we thought they were as the saying goes.

Up next, the L A Chargers, yeah, that sounds weird to me as well. Are these the same old Chargers that find ways to lose important games? Well, the media would have us believe not, after all, they came back and beat the Bengals, currently sit at 7-3, have a plus 75 points in points allowed and pointsns scored. Oh yes and they are 5-2 in the AFC. New coach, new home in LA, new team? Maybe, then again, maybe not.

Herbert is playing well in an old system run by a familiar name, Greg Roman. Run the ball, throw behind the run off of play action, slants, seam routes, occasional deep routes.

Herbert is completing 63% of his passes, with 13 touchdowns and 1 pick. He has been sacked 23 times. He has added 182 yards on the ground with 1 score. Yes, he can run like a gazel, the Ravens need to keep disciplined rush lanes and eyes on him.

They are averaging 22 points per game while holding their opponents to 14.5 points. They are pretty equal in 3rd down success with their opponents, 38% to 32 % respectively, and on 4th down as well, 66% to 64%.

Their defense has recorded 9 picks & 34 sacks. They are allowing teams to average 4.7 yards per carry, but have given up only 3 rushing touchdowns.

Like the Ravens, they do comitt a lot of penalties, 5 per, 41 yards per game.

The Chargers have also fumbled 12 times so far, but only lost 4 of them.

Penalties, turnovers, it's what cost the Ravens a number of victories this year. The key to beating the Chargers, new or old, is to not beat your self.

So, who ya got?!

[oldno82]

Concerned about this game. The Ravens didn't do well after losing the opener to KC the following week losing to the Raiders, and I'm afraid the long plane ride, time zone change, and very disappointing loss to Pitts will linger.

Could be we come out flat and get beat by an inferior team? Up to Harbs to keep the team psyched up and focused. Does he still have the ability to do that? We will see.

[tsylvester]

Well, Lamar after the game certainly fired everyone up, so we shall see. They generally play well on Monday nights, something like 6-2, Lamar with 20-0 tds to picks. Two of those games he had 5 tds.. so we shall see..

[papasmurfbell]

I am wondering if poorer play involves colder weather.  LA will be nice so that should not be an issue.

[tsylvester]

Welp, Lamar has a 109.3 passer rating in cold weather games.

https://www.si.com/nfl/ravens/news/ravens-weather062421#:~:text=SportsBettingDime.com thoroughly explored how,climate games among all quarterbacks

[papasmurfbell]

That’s old.  I no longer pay attn to qb rating as a stat.  There is no rhyme or reason for the numbers.  A qb has 4 incompletions and a sack but a perfect rating.  The next qb has no incompletions and no sack but is missing a few points.  

[tsylvester]

I do agree, qbr is subjective. But his td to picks ratio is real.

[papasmurfbell]

That’s real.  Let’s see how it stays if teams keep the same defensive style.

[tsylvester]

It would help if players around him did not turn the ball over. 3 turnovers and none of them his fault, though he gets "credited" with one.

I know, he missed a number of throws, but still...

[papasmurfbell]

Last Jan I saw one that was all his fault.

[oldno82]

Generally speaking he's been solid this year. I think he's become the type of QB who can win a SB especially with the cast of skill players he has right now. But the O-line is only mediocre. We sure miss having an experienced RT and RG.

The D is a work in progress and needs more talent. Pass rush, while decent, and secondary can't shut down an opposing team. Don't know for sure if coaching is a problem there or not...I tend to think it is.

[papasmurfbell]

I don’t think he can win a sb.  I have not seen him win high leverage games with any consistency.  This d plays well for a game doesn’t make it close to fixed.

[oldno82]

Well, he doesn't have to win SBs consistently; he just needs one. But it won't be this year unless the defense can progress to a higher level of play somehow. I agree with you about that.

[papasmurfbell]

I don’t think any yr.  The window closes after 2025.  They will have to resign him to lower the cap or rebuild the whole team.

[tsylvester]

This year there really is no dominate team, a handful of really good teams, then a cluster of meh teams.

Yes, Detroit is playing great, scoring a lot of points, playing good defense, but we saw the same from them last year, and we know how that turned out for them. Have they learned from last year? A better o line, some key fees agent pick ups on offense & defense, but are they real? Maybe

The Cheifs have a good defense, but their offense is struggling, but they have Mahomes.

Pit, well good defense, meh offense, no one really to challenge deep, and a shakey offensive line.

Then who?

If the Ravens can play disciplined ball, not best them selves as we have said all season so far, why not them?

Even last week with Lamar off target, refusing to run when given the chance, they should have, okay, could have won.

In fact, all of their loses they should/could have won if not for their penalties, turnovers, unforced, missed field goals.

So while it is true, no running first, running qb has ever won a Super Bowl, Lamar is more like Steve Young, a man most say was a running qb who won a Super Bowl.

Young went to San Fran and learned how to be a pocket passer who could run.

Just as Lamar is now doing. He just needs to relax in the big games and exploit the opportunities to run when given the chance, ala Steve Young.

So yes, this year, could be the year, more so than last year was, even though this year's defense is a shadow of last year's.

 

[papasmurfbell]

Detroit is a better team this yr.  The chiefs are reminiscent of last yr.  Philthy is playing well.

this team is not disciplined and won’t be.

ive seen Steve young.  And Lamar is no Steve young.  He still has accuracy issues and that won’t change.  I give the running ability about 3 more yrs before the fast muscle twitch isn’t firing as fast.  Then he will have to be a passer without the threat to run.

im predicting a one and done.

[tsylvester]

I'm not saying he is Young, just that the two are very similar in their style.

We have reached a new level of coaching in the NFL, where teams are taking run first qbs and adapting offenses while said player learns how to become a pocket passer.

Imagine Andre Ware, even Warren Moon in today's NFL, with an offense built around them as it has been for Lamar!

I do expect, not just feel, but expect Lamar to excel, to become a pocket passer with his running ability which is much more dangerous than Josh Allen & Justin Herbert. Two pocket passers who can really run.

Add in Kyler Murray who seems to be coming along.

When we look at the running qbs of the past, you are correct, one injury and boom, gone, RG3, comes to mind. But he never got the chance to fix his accuracy issues or truly read defenses post snap.

Even Cam, only had one great year, made it to the Super Bowl, but his lack of more diverse types of passes held him, the team back. He never learned how to drop passes in, how to take something off. With him it was straight line passes thrown a million miles an hour. Or, he would float them out of bounds. Nothing in the middle.

Lamar is learning this, learning how to layer throws. You can see the change from just two years ago. So yes, I do think he can.

[papasmurfbell]

I see change.  But I still seethe innacuracy issues too.  This learning should have been done 5 yrs ago.  Turdy screwed up the timing.  
 

yes injury can change everything.  I am not looking at a devastating one.  I am looking at the nicks and age as the culprit to slow Lamar down.  
 

also young was always very accurate.  He would look to run to fast and had to be trained out of it.

[tsylvester]

I'm not sure it was on Harbs, the player has some culpability too and it APPEARS,  that Lamar only took things truly to heart a year or two ago. Maybe more, it is impossible for us to know, some players take longer.

[papasmurfbell]

He could have moved on from Roman.  He chose not to.  Again turdy is along for the ride and doesn’t make calls.

[oldno82]

Monken has decidedly had a positive effect on Lamar and this season, the second in Monken's system, shows that. He's reading his progressions better and except for a few brain farts in Pitts he's been throwing well to the whole field.

It will be interesting to see if he can keep it up this Monday night where the Chargers' coaches will know all about his strengths and weaknesses.

[tsylvester]

33 minutes ago, papasmurfbell said:

He could have moved on from Roman.  He chose not to.  Again turdy is along for the ride and doesn’t make calls.

Move on from an offense that, with a very raw qb, set franchise records, the qn won mvp, and, the team had the #1 seed?

Then, the pandemic season interrupted everything.

Make no mistake, I love having Todd here and no, I do not think Harbs is a great coach.  One reason the team keeps making the same mistakes, penalties, is because Harbs does as well with his clock management, use of time outs, etc.

But it is easy to see why he kept Roman and expected Lamar to work on his craft in the off season Ala many of the other qbs.

[tsylvester]

A lot of key injuries for this game,

Lindy and Smith the biggest, Jones as well

https://www.baltimoreravens.com/team/injury-report/

 

[papasmurfbell]

In 22 we should have replaced him.

[tsylvester]

Splitting hairs, would likely not have Monken then