Random thoughts after loss vs BAL

Some random thoughts after today's game:

-First of all, a game in which we allow under 14 points must be enough to give us a pretty high chance to win: this loss is exclusively on the offense
-Even though most eyes are looking at Ben's injury as the difference maker, if Brown had played today, 2 or 3 plays from him would have meant at least a FG
-Dwyer is clearly the best option we have at RB
-Mendenhall is officially my underperformer of the week (dances a lot behind the LOS, and that last catch when we didn't run out of bounds... a PeeWee mistake). before someone secondguesses me about this: Leftwich didn't underperform today, he's always been a subpar QB
-Even though I've been liking Haley's playcalling overall so far this season:

• the last red-zone drive playcalling was awful (Why not pound it 3 times with Dwyer instead of trying 2 passes to the endzone with a subpar QB?). This series was our clearest chance to win the game
• We got a 5 ypc average for the game. Why were we throwing so much the football?
• Only 1 deep pass, on the 1st play of the game. That kept Reed away from the box for a while. If nothing else was working, why don't give it a shot again?

-H Miller was targeted 2 or 3 times... really? Our toughest player wasn't involved enought today. I think this was not by design
-Our Oline was not the issue (yes, they gave up 2 sacks -the last one was an unread blitz by Leftwich) but this one was not on them
-Were those Leftwich's underthrown passes a consequence of a) his lack of play, b) lack of rythm with our WRs, or c) an injury? or d) I told you so, he's not the answer!
-Wallace keeps hurting his chances: drops, fumble... the clock is ticking and hasn't made enough to earn a big contract here... or elsewhere
-Sanders has earned every bit of a new contract so far
-Our D has stopped almost everything recently. Today was not an exception:

• -Hampton, Kiesel & Heyward played a great game, making key stops or delivering hits
• -Woodley & Harrison both sacked Flacco, generated pressure and played extremelly well on 3rd downs
• -Foote & Timmons held R Rice to a 2ypc average
• -I Taylor & K Lewis: outstanding, both equally great today
• -Clark: always delivers, and today was not an exception (with an amazing tackle on R Rice!)
• Only 3 pts were accountable to our D (The other 10 were the Wallace fumble: FG, return TD)

-Best overall D, each game we hold opponents to more 3&outs, break passes, hit people... but what about creating turnovers?
-Penalties keep hurting, that last one was a close call IMO, but wasted valuable time. Is this a discipline issue?
-Coach T & Haley should have pulled Lefty and inserted Batch (I've already said that IMO Batch should have started). If Leftwich was so hurt (after each throw, he seemed to be in pain) and not delivering... why was he still our QB for the rest of the game?
-Rainey's returns were not what we expected. Is it me, or was he dancing and stopping when returning KOs? We needed a couple of big returns today
-Our best chance to win comes with Batch at QB and Dwyer as a starting RB

 

I agree about Rainey very disappointed so far

 

I agree. I am not sure why some guys like Dale Lolley keep saying that Mendenhall is the best back and gives the team the best chance at hitting a big run. While he may be the quickest, when is the last time he sprang a big one? Any day I'd take Dwyer's consistent hard runs with some 10-20 yarders mixed in then Mendenhall's 1-2 or two yards a clip mixed with the off chance he might get a big run once or twice a year.

 

Nice post! Nailed it!

 

Wallace absolutely needs to go. Reminds me Deshean Jackson..had a good year or two, got the big contract but has done very little. Speed isnt enough in this league...let someone else overpay for him.

I've also said Rainey was a waste of a roster spot since day 1, still hasn't proven me wrong

 

This is the kind of game that really sickens me to watch. We lost on an effing punt return. The Ravens were pretty awful all night. With a healthy Ben and Brown, we could well have taken them apart.

Mendenhall's "dancing" (let's not get started on that one) was visible but not necessarily negative; his lack of getting out of bounds was a rookie mistake (though there was almost a moment when he looked at the sideline, then decided he could get further up the field - a bit like Leftwich's touchdown, in a way. So while I was furious with him... he was trying to make a ply. Just a bad one).

I didn't think the runningback by committee worked at all this week. No rhythm in the running game. Dwyer or Mendenhall. Decide, Mr Haley.

After an early mistake, Keenan Lewis played brilliantly.

I see what WWW is saying about Leftwich, but there was a fair bit of rust in his game. Which wasn't helpful, but at least promises a bit for next week. His improvisation was central to most of our best moments on offense. Even right at the end when he escaped the sack (when the Raven guy had a free run at him), I thought we were going to have a miracle ending. Maybe I'm a blind optimist. Maybe I will hurt for that.

On playcalling: if Bruce Arians was still OC, this board would literally be on fire with complaints.

 

-Leftwich is not the answer for our backup.

-Dwyer should be our starting running back from here on out.

-Wallace does have his value but he is not worth big money.

-Heyward should start over Ziggy Hood.

-Mike Adams needs help all the time in his pass blocking.

-Keenan Lewis was outstanding. Matter of fact, the entire d played lights out

-If we would of had Ben, no doubt we would had one this game

-Mendenhall? Do we keep him or not? I will chalk his performance on rust. I'm just not ready at this point to give up on him. Only because he really has not ran behind our new and improved offensive line when healthy except for the Eagles game. And he gave us a spark. It won't take much money to resign him if we do. We shall see.

-Lastly, who do we start at quarterback next week?

 

Agree with all of this. Really agree that Heyward should start over Hood. I think he did a great job in the run game last night when teams have been running at Ziggy all year with great success.

 

We SHOULD start batch...but, if Leftwich is healthy or says he is healthy, I think he starts.

 

D played great, yes...but where are the turnovers? Another week, another goose egg in the TO column. In 2008 and 2010 it was late forced fumbles that gave us the lead over the Ravens, and in the 2008 AFC championship game it was a late Int that sealed the victory. I can't believe that our guys can't jump one slant, get one tipped ball for an int, or get get one strip sack to change the momentum of the game in our favor. Do they even practice stripping the ball in practice?
That being said...the D is obviously not the reason we lost. We lost due to a multitude of factors...the biggest being that our franchise QB (on pace for the best statistical season of his HOF worthy career) was standing injured on the sidelines. Offensive playcalling was not up to snuff, and our special teams coverage unit bugaboos came back to haunt us. It's frustrating because the game was there for the taking and we refused to reach out and take it.

 

Hard to replace Ben.
Also this was a hell of a game to ask Lefty to come in and win for his first start in god knows how long. Ask DD.
I agree Dwyer should be starting. Mendy may be more capable of breaking one but he doesn't do it very often
Plus I'd rather have dwyer killing the clock with his consistency in getting first downs.
Finally, I see this business about putting heyward in ziggy's spot, Isn't Heyward our replacement for Casey? If casey's starting to tire out why put him and Cam on at the same time instead of rotating them?

 

on that last drive Lefty had Gilreath wide open and just couldnt get him the ball. the Ravens had complete defensive breakdowns in the secondary a few times and that was another one. Gilreath got behind the defense and was just standing there alone and Lefty bounced it about 15 yards in front of him.

i commend Lefty for gutting it out, but i would be surprised if we dont here that he broke a rib in that game. he was hurting for the last 3 quarters and Batch should have been in there once the coaches saw that Lefty couldnt throw the ball much farther than 20 yards without extreme pain.

Batch completes that pass to Gilreath and he probably walks in for a td.

its also very clear that Dwyer is the best rb they have and should be the #1 guy. im not taking anything away from Mendy or Redman, but Dwyer is the real deal. its a good problem to have, but at some point trying to use them all hurts more than it helps.

 

McClendon is Hamptons backup.

 

He's Casey's backup but isn't the reason we drafted Cam to take Casey's job when he left?

 

we have multible rb's and all of em were coming off relatively serious injuries mendys dancing has got him big plays thats his style and it works{rehabbing from acl &achilles}.dwyer has power and he is elusive for a big guy{rehabbing from quad} redman is more power than anything{ankle} none of our backs need to be totin the rock 25 -30 times just yet if they can stay healthy at the same time we have the best 123 punch in football period.defense is playing lights out(found their SWAG) as far as rainey how can u be disappointed with his play for a rookie he is playing descent not putting the ball on the ground last tme i checked blocks have to be made to free up the runner our ST is not that good on either side.NOW for mike wallace the fade was a bad call cant and wont blame him for that but that effin fumble but questioning his effort im not he blocks on run plays i totally believe that coach t would allow a player not goin balls to the wall.#17 will be aiight he makes good catches and he drops a few show me a receiver that hasnt dropped passes. mr brown has had a few as well but our we slaying him? NO because he makes a big play and we forget wallace has done the same.so in that regard he's fine with me play calling was suspect except for lebeau the coaching sucked.i sincerely believe the reason lefty stayed in because batch was physically not ready being that he hasnt practiced aside from this week he hasnt even dressed in 8 weeks to come in like that against the ravens would not have been good.

 

It has probably been commented on already, but I have to give credit where credit is due. With 2:48 on the clock, I fully expected us to use our last timeout after the ravens first down play, thereby negating the timeout entirely. We didn't do it, and I was very excited that the remedial math course had paid dividends. Then, instead we took the timeout with 2:04 which gave the ravens carte Blanche to pass on 3rd down without worrying if it was incomplete since the 2:00 warning would have occurred anyway. Instead, the OTHER reason taking the timeout at 2:04 was wrong was exposed when dumb REALLY intervened and we jumped offsides giving.them the 4 seconds AND another down. So, dumb found an end run around us not making the more obvious incorrect timeout call with 2:45 or so.

So, we're past remedial math now. Can't wait to see what happens after we pass algebra....

 

I have never thought of Lefty as a subpar QB...of course maybe thats because I remember him beating the Steelers all the time when he was with Jax.

HACK

 

The good news is the rats have to fly to the west coast to play a desperate charger team sunday, and after this emotional game and a long flight, plus they dont play well on the road anyway, they should be as flat as a pancake; the bad news is we could be flat against the clowns as well after this loss, we have a chance to gain back a game on the rats this sunday if we dont blow it....

 

I still have nightmares about that game against Jax with Tommy as our QB in the playoffs.

 

Rainey is either still injured which is how I see it or he is hesitant because he is a tad nervous of the hits. If its the later I hopeful he awakes from sleep mode and toughens up. He is not very big so he has to rely on quickness .

Wallace is not really doing so well since the start of the season. He shows flashes of greatness but he is not consistent and thats what we need.

Suisham needs to kick the ball deeper, preferably into or through the end zone. Field position was terrible last night.

Too many dumb penalties. Playcalling was suspect and Byron was not the answer to our backup QB situation.

 

I think our problem with turnovers is they are scared to create them. They would rather tackle the catch (then try to strip it) sack the quarterback (then strip it) tackle the receiver (then jump the route) tackle the ball carrier (then strip him). I don't see one person trying to pull the ball out when we are tackling. They'll come up and try to hammer him with a big hit but someone needs to force the ball out. (See the DB from the Bears)

 

i think the problem is that the defense has taken the notion that "the guy cant catch and thats why he plays defense and not wr" to a whole new level. they constantly get their hands on passes, but they just cant bring them in. Ike had one last night that he could have caught. it would have been tough, but lots of dbs make that play. there was another down in the redzone that the safety i believe knocked the ball down instead of just catching it.

they seem to have 2 or 3 of those chances every week.

we always blame the offense for the turnovers and putting the defense in a bad spot. how about the defense forces some turnovers and puts the offense in some good spots.

 

I dont think there is the talent on the team to make the catches ( ike taylor) . Sometimes the hard hits can force the ball out as a fumble. I am glad they are playing as physical as they are. You hammer these receivers in the open field and they get shy and think twice about going after the ball.

Bman

 

No...Ta'amu was drafted to be Casey's back up (McLendon is ahead of him now but that was the reasoning) Heyward was to replace Keisel. Casey is the NT...Heyward is a DE.

 

When the defense does not allow the other team to score other than 2 FG following bad offensive turnovers, I will not complain about not creating alot of turn-overs. To create turnovers, often it is a big risk-reward thing where sometime you get the TO and other times you get burned for a big TD play.