Dirty Bird Game

[varaven45]

Man, exhibition game aside, that effort was embarrassing. Zero first downs against the Falcons D in the 1st Q ? Zero first downs against Falcons D in 1st Q ? Are you kidding me !

 

That wasn't even vanilla offense . That was 0 offense . I thought Cam, Flacco and the O was past this dysfunctional stage ? Ouch !

[Robjr83]

I think its the Oline..... Hard for Joe to get any rhythm when he's getting pummeled. RR was getting stuffed 2-3 yards back on each play.

[papasmurfbell]

That was the same Cam feeling out a D for a while. Nothing looks to have changed from last yr. It is just the first preseason game but that should be concidered troubling.

[cravnravn]

It was the first preseason game..Listen, Matty Melt came out throwing week 15 shit, We played somewhat conserative on O..We will be fine, Hey Joe did throw a hell of a slant when Atlanta blitzed..I even thin I seen him audible!!!!

 

Welcome to solitude Rob

[Robjr83]

Thanks for the welcome Crav. Its quiet around here without the pitterpatter of little trolls.

[yagersports]

Every preseason people get concerned and worked up. It's just preseason, nothing more. Time for people to try new things and work stuff out. It means little.

 

I'm always reminded of the fact that Spurrier was routinely a preseason warrior. On the other side, the Dallas Cowboys of the 90s stunk it up in the preseason yearly if I recall correctly.

 

I think the great Allen Iverson would view the preseason as he views practice lol lol lol.

 

Honestly though, not worried one bit. These Ravens always get stronger as the season progresses.

[papasmurfbell]

I said in my eval that the Falcons were trying to win the game instead of getting a look at their younger guys. They kept the more experienced guys in longer. That said the slow start is one of the huge issues thay had last yr. Cam can't play this game this yr. They need quick starts.

[vmax]

The O & D lines worry me. The D line moreso.

 

There was no pressure on Matty.

 

As for the O line I'm not worried as much. It was Williams first start with this unit. He'll do fine.

Gradkowsky was out of his league. First start in the NFL and he has to call signals? He doesn't even know who to pick up so how can he tell anyone else?

KO's first NFL start...that's 3/5ths of the line who are very raw in a brand new system.

 

That said, I'm very excited about the Ravens offense.

I said it last night: with Caldwell came the Indy offense under Manning and you saw their first attempt at it last night.

Not 1 huddle untill they were taking knees at the end.

There were WR formations, groupings and routes I have never seen Cam use.

Joe's just getting used to this. You could see that Painter has it down....he just can't make the throws and plays unless he's playing against #3's.

They are going to score a ton of points this year.

 

This explains "the rust" or hesitation and missed assignments we saw last night.

 

Jones, Boldin and Smith will be a load. Throw Dickson, Pita and Rice into that mix as targets and we are in for some excellent Ravens football this year.

[oldno82]

I'm not quite as optimistic as you are, Max, about the O line. I saw Joe get crushed by a blitzing middle LB who wasn't even touched on the way in. Stuff like that can kill your QB.

The D was also a mess, I agree. No pass rush in first quarter at all. It was lame. Maybe Upshaw can provide a spark next time.

 

All that said, it was just the first pre-season game. And the Falcons definitely came out smokin' for a lead early. The effort the Falcons put into this first pre-season game stunned me and probably the Ravens as well.

 

Hell...I thought it was just supposed to get guys feet wet!

 

(I REALLY liked our no huddle offense though!)

[vmax]

The line will be better with Birk holding up the middle. He'll communicate well with Williams. Joe was getting pressured between the tackles from missed assignments.

McKinnie just pushed those 2nd and 3rd stringers around like toys.

 

With the no huiddle D's will get gassed which affects the pass rush. Then there's the audibles, shot gun, waggles, roll outs, hot reads...this is a dynamic and fluid offense this year.

I don't think the line will be as big a weakness as we've been thinking.

[yagersports]

On a side note, Painter has been learning from Paytong and Caldwell for awhile now. I'm curious how he may do as a head coach one day if he had such aspirations. Often those 2nd string guys make really good head coaches and/or coordinators. Gary Kubiak comes to mind coached by Shannahan and Qb'd behind Elway.

[yagersports]

The line will be better with Birk holding up the middle. He'll communicate well with Williams. Joe was getting pressured between the tackles from missed assignments.

McKinnie just pushed those 2nd and 3rd stringers around like toys.

 

With the no huiddle D's will get gassed which affects the pass rush. Then there's the audibles, shot gun, waggles, roll outs, hot reads...this is a dynamic and fluid offense this year.

I don't think the line will be as big a weakness as we've been thinking.

 

 

You hit the nail on the head with Birk. He'll be really good for at least half of the season. Hopefully that will be enough time to get Gino up and running.

[FlaccoForever]

The line will be better with Birk holding up the middle. He'll communicate well with Williams. Joe was getting pressured between the tackles from missed assignments.

McKinnie just pushed those 2nd and 3rd stringers around like toys.

 

With the no huiddle D's will get gassed which affects the pass rush. Then there's the audibles, shot gun, waggles, roll outs, hot reads...this is a dynamic and fluid offense this year.

I don't think the line will be as big a weakness as we've been thinking.

 

All good points, I think the slow start last night was due to getting some of the kinks out. We still have issues to work out on the Oline but you're right about it not being as bad as everyone thinks. The more the Oline is scrutinized the more I believe they will be motivated to prove everyone wrong. Gerry Sandusky (WBAL) tweeted a couple of weeks ago about the offense using more no huddle and spread during training camp to adjust the offense to Joe's strengths, he also tweeted that they won't show their hand much during the preseason.

[cravnravn]

I said in my eval that the Falcons were trying to win the game instead of getting a look at their younger guys. They kept the more experienced guys in longer. That said the slow start is one of the huge issues thay had last yr. Cam can't play this game this yr. They need quick starts.

 

 

Tell that to the matty melt nuthuggers..they say the absolute opposite

[papasmurfbell]

Did Williams not have a good game? It was really hard to tell what was happening with the OL with Ch 11's camera people. I could not really tell hwere all the holes in the OL were coming from.

[oldno82]

The line will be better with Birk holding up the middle. He'll communicate well with Williams. Joe was getting pressured between the tackles from missed assignments.

McKinnie just pushed those 2nd and 3rd stringers around like toys.

 

With the no huiddle D's will get gassed which affects the pass rush. Then there's the audibles, shot gun, waggles, roll outs, hot reads...this is a dynamic and fluid offense this year.

I don't think the line will be as big a weakness as we've been thinking.

I agree that a healthy Birk and McKinnie will help a lot but the thing is can Joe survive until they're ready to play? He really took some nasty hits in Atlanta. Imagine what a real Defense would do.

[vmax]

McKinnie and Harewood were men amoung boys as far as pass protection. The Falcon #2s couldn't even get them to break a sweat.

 

Sergio Kindle...actually he did good. He played disciplined and intelligent. He was dropping into coverge a lot, didn't get fooled, so plays never came his way. He made sure his end was sealed. He has a good nose for the ball and was good in pursuit. He played hard to the whistle....when they blew them. He got a couple QB pressures but at times the RT stymied him. I just don't know about him as a pass rusher...we'll see.

 

Osemele...solid game.

Kemo...he's got to step it up. Out of position and not enough push.

Tyson...he's a battler...Raven tough.

 

Berry... it was a short look for him but he looked good protecting the QB. Had 1 nice north/south power run. On Painters first TD toss, he helped sell the defense to think it was a run to their left....they chased him, Painter rolled the other way and had a sweet throw to Bajema. Nice execution by the whole offense on that play.

 

[cravnravn]

Sergio Kindle...actually he did good. He played disciplined and intelligent. He was dropping into coverge a lot, didn't get fooled, so plays never came his way. He made sure his end was sealed

 

 

So last night you reverted back to your troll days, when I asked about him?????????

 

See thats what Im missing, its he or Krugs that has to replace Suggs, and I want the best!!

[yagersports]

I'm really pulling for Kindle because this guy was off the hook in college. Ray Lewis was extremely excited when we drafted him. He stated that Kindle played the game like he did. I would think that Kindle would have the highest ceiling if he can capture his potential.