RunTheBall

The Ravens have some seriously bad mojo going on right now. If they lose to Houston I think the wheels come off that bus. If Lamar is really injured and the team isn’t running interference for him because he quit on them (which he has done before), then his #1 weapon (his agility) is going to be seriously hampered. He’s not a drop back passing QB. They weren’t playing well when everyone was healthy, so I don’t know why people think they can go on a 9-2 run.

I watched a lot of the All-22 and a Mariano’s clips. I have to agree that Van Demark did very well for his 3rd (?) start ever, plus he’s a more natural LT. The sack was more on Josh, he held the ball too long. He gave up a couple pressures but was dominant in the run game. We could do a lot worse for a backup tackle. I was more pissed at the 4th down play call than Van Demark whiffing. He got tripped up by Torrance taking a big step back when he pulled.

I’ll be concerned if the D doesn’t improve after the bye when we have our dinged up starters and PED boys back. What I’m seeing now is 2 rookies on the D-line, confusion in the back 7, and horrific tackling. All of that is correctable. Babitch isn’t going anywhere this season. At worst, McD will take over the play calling but never admit it.

What’s infuriating is the same problems we’ve had for years on defense seem to be worse. I know it’s early and we’ve got a lot of reinforcements coming, but we are weak on the fundamentals. I think the defensive strategy with Drake Maybe has got to be a contained rush, stop Stevenson, and make Maye dink and dunk again and again. He’s got a lot of potential but some guys are talking like he’s already in the Top 10 which is ridiculous. McBabitch should be able to confuse him pre snap if our D actually knows where the hell to line up. Just make the damn tackles, don’t let Maye burn is with his legs, and we should be fine.

The guys just have to tackle. So many times guys are in the correct position and just whiff. the D-line isn’t getting as washed as it was against the Ravens. Bosa needs to set the edge better though. The LBs, Tauron, and the safeties are missing tackles and/or taking bad angles. Dorian Williams will be replaced by Shaq Thompson if Glass Milano can’t go. Williams was abysmal in the Saints game. Year 3 (?) and the guy still bites on every play action, gets fooled by every misdirection, and makes Klein look like a healthy Milano when he has to cover in space.

Waller just had a ridiculous catch for a TD

You guys are right. It was 18 and 101. For some reason I thought it was a second. I’d still give up a 2nd for him but since there is no chance of that happening its easy to say.

Zero percent chance he leaves Philly. I can’t believe we didn’t give up a 2nd rounder to get him when the Titans idiotically traded him. I’d give up a second in a heart beat right now. Guy is everything we need in a receiver even at the tail end of his career. Edit: As others have pointed out, it was the 18th and 101st pick, not just a second rounder. My bad

Ravens aren’t done losing and I don’t give a sht about their defensive injuries. We played friggin KLEIN against Kelce in the playoffs so stop with the BS. I’m a Lamar fan but Lamar absolutely quit on his team and his teammates 100% are going to have an opinion on that. Zero percent chance Josh or Mahomes comes out of the game if they aren’t carried off the field. Ravens are in crisis mode big time. They’ve got 3/4 of a season to figure it out but they are in a huge hole and the L’s aren’t going to stop coming just because they are the Ravens.

What rookie defensive lineman that weren’t top 15 pick are making a difference on their team right now? Real question. I’d like to see more out of these guys as well but we are Super Bowl contenders with a deep roster. I think a lot of us expect way too much from rookies in general.

The only way to deter Buffalo’s running game is by loading the box. Our offensive line is too good, extra tight ends means extra gaps to defend, and then you have to account for the threat of Josh running. Teams have been very reluctant to load the box do because they fear Allen passing. Mature Josh is no longer Sugar High Josh and he’s not forcing the issue when the looks aren’t there. When teams start committing more players to the box, I hope and expect our intermediate / deep passing game will make an appearance.

McD has had this game circled from the beginning because he gets to tell Babitch to run his soft zone all game. This will be classic McD “keep everything in front of you” and make Rattler march the field. They’ve got a lot of speed in the WR group so we are going to stop the pass first, probably make an aging Kamara look like he’s in his prime, frustrate the hell out of all of us then win by 2 scores in the end. It will be interesting to see what the Saints do on defense. I’m sure Brady will want to establish the run and just do the usual. I’d love for the Saints to go all out to stop the run so we can see what we’ve got with the intermediate/deep passing game. Brady/Josh won’t test that unless the looks are favorable and we are still seeing a ton of 2 high shells.

Why would anyone want Daboll back? His overall offensive pedigree sucks. Yeah, he was instrumental in helping Josh in his early development but Josh outgrew him. He had a young Daniel Jones who looked like ass and now is playing like a top 10 qb without Daboll. That’s a strong condemnation of Daboll offensive prowess. IDK why everyone keeps floating this idea. This is besides the fact that even though McD puts on a professional front with him, it was clear as day he had some seriously strong negative feelings about Dabol. No way McD brings that back in the building. Same thing with this Mike McDaniels idea. Why would we want to bring a guy in who has shown he can’t adjust his offense that defenses caught up to a year and a half ago? Yeah he had a great offense tailored to Tua for a year, then it got figured out and it has sucked since. Maybe he’s hampered by Tua’s limitation and a crap offensive line but it doesn’t take a genius playcaller to run the ball more.

We are going to be at he quarter pole of the season after this weekend. Unless there is an injury, I don’t see any way McD brings in someone new to the system. We’ve all given Bishop the excuse that this defense is incredibly complex and takes 2 years to get comfortable in so how are we going to bring in a guy after 4 games and think he’s going to work out?

I’m curious if Schoen gets canned after Daboll inevitably does. I can see Schoen back in Buffalo, zero chance Dabs ends up back here.

Bo Nix is average at best. Herbert might actually start to reach his potential with Harbaugh as a coach. Chargers are a solid team, I hope they keep KC from the Division title. Indy looking ridiculous with Danny Dimes at QB but I think they come back to Earth as the season progresses. NE is a couple years away. I thought we’d see more from Drake MEH but it’s still early. The kid can make some plays. I love the fact that a Vrabel coached team turned the ball over 5 times. Hate that guy, hate that team. Stevenson is done, the guy puts Crisco on his gloves pre game. Diggs is just collecting a pay check, Mac Hollins doing Mac Hollins things. I still like that guy.

Gotta give Herbert credit, he dissected the Chargers defense on this final drive.

Denver is going to blow this. Bo Nix is so over rated. So is Hebert but he’s made some plays in the clutch.

Watch the All-22 and see how much they rotated into Cover 2/3 looks in the second half. They ran a 3-3-5 in the first and we gashed them with the run game. They showed a lot of man at the snap and then rotated into 2 high shells. Marino/Cover 1/Sal all have > than 60% 2 high safety shells, sometimes 3.

Miami played Cover 2 or some sort of deep shell 60% of the time. There were definitely intermediate/deep routes called and Josh decided against a couple. On short yardage situations Miami played more man or run blitzes. I’d like to see Brady be a little more aggressive in those looks but it’s hard to argue when the O is putting up 30 points a game. I don’t think Josh is getting over cautious, I think he’s become much more cerebral and understands the game script. Yeah, fans want bombs away and to put a 50 burger up on every team. I think Josh felt we were in control of the Miami game and he didn’t need to take chances and risk the turnover. Against a better team like KC or the Ravens, I bet he’d pull the trigger more often on those deeper routes. That’s good football. We lead the league in explosive plays, they just aren’t the explosives fans want to see. We are ahead of the curve on offense. Multi TE sets, 6 O line with multiple TE all the way though to 5 wide. The number of personell packages we have is ridiculous and it’s working. I’ll worry about the deep stuff when we play a team that man’s up on us most of the game and we can’t get the ball downfield. Until then, enjoy the W’s people, style points don’t matter.

Do you guys actually pay attention to what type of defensive alignment teams are using against us? It plays a huge part in the lack of a downfield passing game. Yes, I would like to see us improve in that area but if a team like Miami plays a defense that blankets the deep/intermediate routes (Hint : it’s called a 2 high shell or Cover 2) then the easy yards are underneath. Remember when Josh was called a turnover machine? That was when teams started using 2 high against us and he just kept chucking it deep with Dorsey/Gabe. Josh has evolved to take what the defense is giving. Now, when the opposing team lines up in man I’d love to see us take more shots downfield. The deep ball is Josh’s worst throw and it would be good to get him some practice before the playoffs. ,

I think it’s an acknowledgement that the defense we’ve had for the last few years isn’t getting it done in the playoffs. We are seeing more 4-3, more 5 man fronts, more DE’s rushing over guards. We will be playing a lot more man coverage once Hairston gets up to speed. This defense is going to look significantly different once the guys who are injured/suspended come back into the fold. I think we are seeing them experiment with multiple looks/fronts so we aren’t as predictable as we have been.

You guys who think the bobble was 50/50 need to go watch the replay. I saw it in real time and thought he bobbled it. The one replay they showed it was clear as day his one foot was in the air when he gained control, one foot in bounds, then the other foot that was up lands clearly out of bounds. I rewatched a few times, it’s not close. The reply coach in the booth is useless unless he saw it, called McD, and for whatever reason McD didn’t want to risk a challenge that early.

Oh I forgot to add - McD not challenging that obvious 3rd down bobble from Hill is coaching malpractice. Didn’t we hire a replay coach last year? Fire that guy. If he had challenged that 3rd down, Miami probably punts and that changes the entire demeanor of the game.

The Cover 1 guys will tell us how great he is and we just don’t know how to watch film to see just how effective he really is. Like they did when they ball washed Edmunds for years. I’m not anti-Groot, but for a guy who’s best move is to set the edge he really blew it in the AFC Championship when he drove inside several times and Mahomes made him pay with a TD and number of first downs.