Baltimore has one of the best defenses in the NFL. They shut down our running game. It's not the first time they've done it this season. They held Chris Perry to 37 yards, Jamal Lewis to 56 yards, Rashard Mendenhall to 30 yards, Chris Johnson to 44 yards, and even in the blowout to the Colts Dominic Rhodes didn't have a 100-yard day. He was held to 73 yards and 2.9 YPC. Half of his total came on one play where he rushed for 38 yards. It was pretty obvious that Pennington needed to have a great day in order for us to win. He didn't. Cam Cameron was looking for vindication and he got it. Give him credit too. After Ferguson left the game due to an injury the Ravens ran McGahee up the gut. If Cameron had made halftime adjustments like that when he was in South Florida he might still be our head coach.
Looking ahead to our next opponent the Bills held Julius Jones to 45 yards, Fred Taylor to 49 yards, Maurice Jones-Drew to 17 yards, Bush and McFadden to 97 yards, Edgerrin James to 57 yards, and LT to 41 yards. Yikes! But Steven Jackson gained 110 yards on 24 rushes. So that's encouraging.
The Bills will have the same approach as BAL and that is to shut down the run and force Pennington to beat them. Their run defense looks stellar right now, It could be a long day if Ronnie doesnt get room to run.
If we can beat the Bills we are back in the playoff hunt. Look at the AFC right now. The four division leaders are starting to pull away but the rest of the teams are all bunched together. Jets 3-3 Ravens 3-3 Jags 3-3 Colts 3-3 Chargers 3-4 Browns 2-4 Texans 2-4 Raiders 2-4 Fins 2-4 If Denver beats New England tonight the Pats will also be 3-3. We could have a real shot at a Wild Card if we keep fighting and go on a win streak. I know the loss to the Ravens hurts but we can't give up hope. Not yet. Not with how close the Conference still is.
It just feels like a lot of people (not just this forum) are finding fault with the Fins. There were definitely times we shot ourselves in the foot. Pennington missed Fasano for a TD. Camarillo dropped a TD. Will Allen dropped an INT. Our secondary allowed Mason to score an easy TD. Pennington found a wide open Terrell Suggs for an easy score. Ferguson left the game with an injury and McGahee ran all over us. However, I don't think any of that means we're done for the season or that we are out of the playoff hunt. The Cowboys just got whipped by the Cardinals and the Rams but I wouldn't count them out. Granted they are a more talented team than us but I'm not talking Super Bowl. I'm just saying we're still mathematically alive for a Wild Card and good teams lose all the time. Just because we lost doesn't mean we are a bad team. The Saints, Colts, Jets and Chargers lost to the Panthers, Packers, Raiders, and Bills respectively. This is the NFL. Any given team can win on any given Sunday.
Wasn't that when Stroud went out of the game with an injury? Aside from Chris Johnson, all of those players have struggled this year. However, they have had a really good run defense like you said, big part of that is because of Justin Bannan's play in the middle.
I'm sure you're right. Didn't see the game. I was just gathering the statistics. Speaking of injuries I hope Ferguson doesn't miss too much time. They said he is day-to-day and won't play against the Bills. We signed Toribio to the practice squad, Soliai will be back, and Starks is healthy, but I don't know if any of them can replace Ferguson. True. The Ravens haven't shut down LT, Peterson, or Westbrook but there's no denying their run defense is stingy.
I wasn't joking. Their defense outplayed our offense and their offense outplayed our defense. Look at the stats. how many INTs did we return for a TD? how many yards did we get on the ground? the funny thing was that ST was the only thing that I think we did better than them at and that's even making a leap.
Wasn't aware of him being out of the Bills game. You can add another loss to that then. Toribio was cut on the 15th. Starks is not a good run stuffer since he doesn't plug up holes but I expect them to use him there because they speak highly of him at the Nose spot for whatever reason. He's good in pass-rush but doesn't do anything in the run defense. Absolutely agree with you.
Oh, I thought you were playing off the title of the thread. I totally agree. It's like optimists look at the glass as being half full and pessimists look at the glass as being half empty. As fans we can look at the loss to the Ravens and think the Fins suck or we can look at it and think the Ravens were just too good. Personally I think that defense was just too good, and our offense shot itself in the foot, but that's not going to happen every week.
I hope not. There's a difference between a player getting hurt during the game and having the whole week to prepare with the knowledge that you'll be without a certain player. Hopefully we'll be able to come up with something. Maybe a rotation of Soliai, Starks, and Toribio. Sorry. I meant to say we re-signed him. It just happened today. That's not good.
Soliai coming back is a positive but he's also inconsistent IMO. He gets moved around but he's such a wide body which is helpful at times. Hopefully his wide body is enough to help us in the run defense. Sparano has listed Ferguson day-to-day so he's not officially ruled out according to the official website so with that, there's an outside chance Ferguson plays. Didn't he injure his ribs? If he did, that's going to be tough on him because he would have trouble breathing or at least I would think so. Ooo. I haven't read anything on it but I'll take your word for it. Yeah, that's my thoughts on it. Sparano thought his performance was "admirable" while Starks said its "still a struggle." I think Starks can be a good spell for Ferguson but I'm not big on him starting. He's versatile though so hopefully he can improve his play in this week and get comfortable before Sunday's game. I can't imagine how tough it would be going from a 43 DT to a 34 Nose in such a short time.
I was but I was serious and that's why I put out the "their offense was better than our defense" stuff.
Thanks for your insights into Soliai's play. The fact that Parcells and Ireland traded for Ferguson in the offseason tells me that they weren't sold on the guy. Hopefully he has changed their minds. Here's the latest on Ferguson by the way. Dolphins' Jason Ferguson out for Sunday's game vs. Bills? -- South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com They're not saying whether it's a rib or abdominal injury but it doesn't look like he'll be suiting up on Sunday.
No problem brother, glad I could help somehow. I think it also helped the fact that Soliai didn't apply himself very well prior to this year. He was overweight, lazy and just didn't look good out there. He's improved but he still has a way to go IMO. Thanks for the link. You were correct on Toribio. It points out Dotson could see time at NT. I thought about that as well but he's 290 pounds, same as Merling. They have him at End right now so I wonder how that will work out for them.
I don't know what he was looking for... What I know is that Baltimore's Defense can eat and spit our our Offense in a heart beat... we don't have the O team to compete with... They are best against our only strength... Our Defense is as best Average and our Special Teams is, if not last, close to it last in the league... They don't rank # 1 against the run, # 4 against the pass, # 2 in total yards allowed and # 3 in points allowed for nothing... but you probably knew that...
