Looking at the Ravens schedule...Yikes!

"Sceeto wrote:

I was looking at their record to find out certain reasons for the losses that they've had this year and something I didn't realize was that all of their losses came against really good teams whom are all in the playoffs and whom are some of the top teams in the league....

2 losses to the Steelers.
1 loss to the Titans.
1 loss to the Colts.
1 loss to the Giants.

Yikes! With that said the old cliche, "Any given Sunday" comes to mind. I think Penny has to have a big day because they might be able to stop our run game like they did in our first match up with them, but if Penny has time to pick his spots wherever he can, that will be key. I hope Martin is playing and healthy because I think our tight ends could have a big day, as well as quick, short to intermediate throws to Bess.

Obviously, the other thing would be to get to Flacco and try to rattle him in to some rookie mistakes, which he, surprisingly, hasn't made a lot of. His time is due. =D The lack of a consistent pass rush from us last weak makes me worry a bit. Joey P. needs to get to Flacco! They also have a lot of important guys whom are dinged up a bit, they'll be playing, but hopefully they'll be playing a little gimpy. JMO.

The other side of the coin says they have problems against the better teams.The Ravens are good but we can beat them,I`m sure of it. I agree though,Porter must step up and pressure Flacco into some mistakes. He seems to have lost a step of late and is almost non-existent when we need a big defensive stop.

"Sceeto wrote:

I was looking at their record to find out certain reasons for the losses that they've had this year and something I didn't realize was that all of their losses came against really good teams whom are all in the playoffs and whom are some of the top teams in the league....

2 losses to the Steelers.
1 loss to the Titans.
1 loss to the Colts.
1 loss to the Giants.

Yikes! With that said the old cliche, "Any given Sunday" comes to mind. I think Penny has to have a big day because they might be able to stop our run game like they did in our first match up with them, but if Penny has time to pick his spots wherever he can, that will be key. I hope Martin is playing and healthy because I think our tight ends could have a big day, as well as quick, short to intermediate throws to Bess.

Obviously, the other thing would be to get to Flacco and try to rattle him in to some rookie mistakes, which he, surprisingly, hasn't made a lot of. His time is due. =D The lack of a consistent pass rush from us last weak makes me worry a bit. Joey P. needs to get to Flacco! They also have a lot of important guys whom are dinged up a bit, they'll be playing, but hopefully they'll be playing a little gimpy. JMO.

I have thought this all season: Pennington cannot afford to make any mistakes if we want to win. When the Dolphins played the Ravens earlier in the year, and Pennington threw that interception to Suggs, makes my point.

"RGF wrote:

The other side of the coin says they have problems against the better teams.The Ravens are good but we can beat them,I`m sure of it. I agree though,Porter must step up and pressure Flacco into some mistakes. He seems to have lost a step of late and is almost non-existent when we need a big defensive stop.

Ravens had no problems with the Dolphins in week 6. Are you saying the fish aren't a "good team"? :wink2:

"aWol wrote:

Ravens had no problems with the Dolphins in week 6. Are you saying the fish aren't a "good team"? :wink2:

No I`m NOT saying that.:angry:

Lets just say that we are a better team now .:hi5:

We've lost to:

1. the 9-7 Jets
2. the 11-5 Pats (second team in NFL history with that record and no playoffs)
3. 9-7 Cardinals (NFC West Division winners)
4. 11-5 Ravens (Wildcard winner)
5 the 8-8 Texans.

Point being, the teams we've lost to weren't scrubs, most made the playoffs, or had winning records as well, and for whatever reason, the Texans have our number.

This is our game to lose.:up:

"Sceeto wrote:

I was looking at their record to find out certain reasons for the losses that they've had this year and something I didn't realize was that all of their losses came against really good teams whom are all in the playoffs and whom are some of the top teams in the league....

2 losses to the Steelers.
1 loss to the Titans.
1 loss to the Colts.
1 loss to the Giants.

Yikes! With that said the old cliche, "Any given Sunday" comes to mind. I think Penny has to have a big day because they might be able to stop our run game like they did in our first match up with them, but if Penny has time to pick his spots wherever he can, that will be key. I hope Martin is playing and healthy because I think our tight ends could have a big day, as well as quick, short to intermediate throws to Bess.

Obviously, the other thing would be to get to Flacco and try to rattle him into some rookie mistakes, which he, surprisingly, hasn't made a lot of. His time is due. =D The lack of a consistent pass rush from us last weak makes me worry a bit. Joey P. needs to get to Flacco! They also have a lot of important guys whom are dinged up a bit, they'll be playing, but hopefully they'll be playing a little gimpy. JMO.

I'm sorry. Aren't we in the Playoffs too?

I see that list and come to the conclusion that they can't beat playoff caliber teams. Without Ferguson and Soliai (which is what we were when we faced them last) we aren't a playoff caliber team. With them...we are. :up:

"RGF wrote:

Lets just say that we are a better team now .:hi5:

Absolutely....if the Ravens think they are playing the same team they played in week 6, we can have a big day. We are a much more confident team. Right now, our players BELIEVE they have a destiny to fulfill. That is a much different mindset than when we played Baltimore in October.

A lot of football is mental, and confidence, and no one is playing with more confidence than the Miami Dolphins right now.

"padre31 wrote:

We've lost to:

1. the 9-7 Jets
2. the 11-5 Pats (second team in NFL history with that record and no playoffs)
3. 9-7 Cardinals (NFC West Division winners)
4. 11-5 Ravens (Wildcard winner)
5 the 8-8 Texans.

Point being, the teams we've lost to weren't scrubs, most made the playoffs, or had winning records as well, and for whatever reason, the Texans have our number.

This is our game to lose.:up:

First, they beat us mightily. You can argue Ferguson/Soliai. But, common opponents, we almost lost to the freaking Raiders. They manhandled them. They also man-handled the Texans.

"Samphin wrote:

I see that list and come to the conclusion that they can't beat playoff caliber teams. Without Ferguson and Soliai (which is what we were when we faced them last) we aren't a playoff caliber team. With them...we are. :up:

We destroyed the fins and Eagles. Are you saying they aren't "playoff caliber teams"?:no:

P.S. I'm guessing you're familar with how the Ravens lost to Pitt & Tenn.!?

"Jamester23 wrote:

I'm sorry. Aren't we in the Playoffs too?

Yes, but that was not the point. =D

"aWol wrote:

We destroyed the fins and Eagles. Are you saying they aren't "playoff caliber teams"?:no:

P.S. I'm guessing you're familar with how the Ravens lost to Pitt & Tenn.!?

I am. i just don't care. :hi5:

"PMZQ wrote:

Absolutely....if the Ravens think they are playing the same team they played in week 6, we can have a big day. We are a much more confident team. Right now, our players BELIEVE they have a destiny to fulfill. That is a much different mindset than when we played Baltimore in October.

A lot of football is mental, and confidence, and no one is playing with more confidence than the Miami Dolphins right now.

I don't doubt that this is true, but the Ravens are a much better team now aswell. The biggest stride made by the team is probably the chemistry that Joe and Mark Clayton now have. This will probably be negated by how well your corners are playing. The defense is really what it was when we played you last time, except for the fact that Ed is in the form of him career (8 picks in his last 6 games, and a sack in the one game he didn't register 2 picks), so he's definitely someone Pennington needs to account for.
Also most Ravens fans have been wondering if we're going to be using our version of the wildcat (with QB Troy Smith playing Ronnie Brown). We've generally only brought it out against poor defenses or when we're winning handily. We're not sure if that's them practicing it for when it matters ( I.E the playoffs) or whether we're just to chicken-**** to use it when we're not assured of a victory.

"jdang307 wrote:

First, they beat us mightily. You can argue Ferguson/Soliai. But, common opponents, we almost lost to the freaking Raiders. They manhandled them. They also man-handled the Texans.

"Mightiliy"?

Pennington had his highest yardage total of the year at that point, a pick six was the difference,

The Raiders busted a punt for a TD, otherwise it would not have been close..at all, that game was the turning point for our Special Teams, in the last 6 games our ST unit has outplayed the Raven's ST unit.

And the Texans just own us, I cannot explain it, seriously. :dunno:

"aWol wrote:

We destroyed the fins and Eagles. Are you saying they aren't "playoff caliber teams"?:no:

P.S. I'm guessing you're familar with how the Ravens lost to Pitt & Tenn.!?

So you beat 2 winning teams when they were down and lost the rest. Are we actually trying to make that a positive?

"Sceeto wrote:

Obviously, the other thing would be to get to Flacco and try to rattle him into some rookie mistakes, which he, surprisingly, hasn't made a lot of. His time is due. =D The lack of a consistent pass rush from us last weak makes me worry a bit. Joey P. needs to get to Flacco! They also have a lot of important guys whom are dinged up a bit, they'll be playing, but hopefully they'll be playing a little gimpy. JMO.

He hasn't made many mistakes this year but in the losses, he has. Crunching some numbers, he's averaging roughly two interceptions per loss. A big key is the offensive line not being able to keep him off his backside. He's been sacked on average twice per game in those losses. When he's pressured, he's not accurate. He's prone to interceptions as listed above and he's averaging a completion percentage of 49 percent - roughly eleven % lower than his average on the year of 60 %.

More crunching of the numbers showed me some things that we need to do to win this game on defense and offense. Defensively, number one is clearly pressure the quarterback. I listed his average statistics in the losses and in those games, he was sacked at least twice. That's a big number for us to achieve because if we don't provide any pressure, he will sit back there and pick us apart. Number two is stop their two-headed duo of LaRon McClain and Willis McGahee. Every time I watch McClain, I amazed at how quick his feet are for a 260 pound fullback. He's not your typical fullback because he can run right through you and he can leave you on the ground with jukes, etc. Willis McGahee is always banged up but he can break the big run as we witnessed in the Dallas game a few weeks ago. I believe he unleashed an eighty yard touchdown to seal the game for the Ravens. However, in their losses, the duo's average per carries are 3.6, 3.4, 1.6, 2.5, and 3.3. That averages out to 2.8 yards per carry, which is well below the league average.

On offense, we are going to need an efficient game from Chad Pennington. Seems like an easy thing for him but this is the Ravens ballhawking defense. Ed Reed will try to bait Quarterbacks to throw his way every play if he can. I'm not truly worried about Fabian Washington and Samari Rolle. Rolle doesn't have the footspeed anymore to keep up with players but he's still a good player but not the same one as he was in Tennessee. Watching Fabian Washington earlier this year, he jumps just about every route he can and he pays for it. In Washington, he gave an eight to nine yard cushion off the wide receiver and then tried to jump the slant route - eventually getting burned for a touchdown. In those games against the Ravens defense, the winning quarterback averaged a touchdown per game and 0.4 interceptions. The winning quarterback also had a completion percentage of 60%. In Conuficus great keys to the game, I believe he mentioned that we need to spread out the Ravens defense and then pick them apart with short passes, which I would agree with. Take the high success rate with the short passes but don't let Ed Reed fool you. The next thing that I noticed is that in each of those games, we're going to have to get a big play from someone. In the Pittsburgh games, their were passes of 49 yards and 30 yards. Without looking at the tapes of those games, I'm going to guess that with those long passes, the Ravens defense were on their toes and could not pin their ears back, therefore allowing short passes underneath and continuing drives. Moreover, in the Indianapolis game, Peyton Manning had a 67 yard touchdown pass. In the Tennessee game, their was a 26 yard touchdown pass by Kerry Collins. Not the longest pass but possibly enough to get the Ravens front seven to backup a little and keep it in the back of their minds. In the game against the Giants, there was no long pass play but their was a long run. A long run by Ahmad Bradshaw I believe of 77 yards.

In the end, we're going to have to establish the run by efficient passing in my opinion. I think that the Ravens defense is a very good one but can be worked on with the spread offense and the run game. I think if you have an opportunity of Ginn going downfield when matched up with Samari Rolle, who lacks the footspeed he once had IMO, I think you take the shot because its a 50-50 shot and if successful, you got something to build on.

"alen1 wrote:

He hasn't made many mistakes this year but in the losses, he has. Crunching some numbers, he's averaging roughly two interceptions per loss. A big key is the offensive line not being able to keep him off his backside. He's been sacked on average twice per game in those losses. When he's pressured, he's not accurate. He's prone to interceptions as listed above and he's averaging a completion percentage of 49 percent - roughly eleven % lower than his average on the year of 60 %.

More crunching of the numbers showed me some things that we need to do to win this game on defense and offense. Defensively, number one is clearly pressure the quarterback. I listed his average statistics in the losses and in those games, he was sacked at least twice. That's a big number for us to achieve because if we don't provide any pressure, he will sit back there and pick us apart. Number two is stop their two-headed duo of LaRon McClain and Willis McGahee. Every time I watch McClain, I amazed at how quick his feet are for a 260 pound fullback. He's not your typical fullback because he can run right through you and he can leave you on the ground with jukes, etc. Willis McGahee is always banged up but he can break the big run as we witnessed in the Dallas game a few weeks ago. I believe he unleashed an eighty yard touchdown to seal the game for the Ravens. However, in their losses, the duo's average per carries are 3.6, 3.4, 1.6, 2.5, and 3.3. That averages out to 2.8 yards per carry, which is well below the league average.

On offense, we are going to need an efficient game from Chad Pennington. Seems like an easy thing for him but this is the Ravens ballhawking defense. Ed Reed will try to bait Quarterbacks to throw his way every play if he can. I'm not truly worried about Fabian Washington and Samari Rolle. Rolle doesn't have the footspeed anymore to keep up with players but he's still a good player but not the same one as he was in Tennessee. Watching Fabian Washington earlier this year, he jumps just about every route he can and he pays for it. In Washington, he gave an eight to nine yard cushion off the wide receiver and then tried to jump the slant route - eventually getting burned for a touchdown. In those games against the Ravens defense, the winning quarterback averaged a touchdown per game and 0.4 interceptions. The winning quarterback also had a completion percentage of 60%. In Conuficus great keys to the game, I believe he mentioned that we need to spread out the Ravens defense and then pick them apart with short passes, which I would agree with. Take the high success rate with the short passes but don't let Ed Reed fool you. The next thing that I noticed is that in each of those games, we're going to have to get a big play from someone. In the Pittsburgh games, their were passes of 49 yards and 30 yards. Without looking at the tapes of those games, I'm going to guess that with those long passes, the Ravens defense were on their toes and could not pin their ears back, therefore allowing short passes underneath and continuing drives. Moreover, in the Indianapolis game, Peyton Manning had a 67 yard touchdown pass. In the Tennessee game, their was a 26 yard touchdown pass by Kerry Collins. Not the longest pass but possibly enough to get the Ravens front seven to backup a little and keep it in the back of their minds. In the game against the Giants, there was no long pass play but their was a long run. A long run by Ahmad Bradshaw I believe of 77 yards.

In the end, we're going to have to establish the run by efficient passing in my opinion. I think that the Ravens defense is a very good one but can be worked on with the spread offense and the run game. I think if you have an opportunity of Ginn going downfield when matched up with Samari Rolle, who lacks the footspeed he once had IMO, I think you take the shot because its a 50-50 shot and if successful, you got something to build on.

Totally! Good stuff bro. Thanks! ..I especially agree with the part about spreading their D out and picking them apart with the shorter passes. I think our TEs could have a big day and I think getting it to Bess on the short to intermediate routes will be key. Penny needs to play smart, which, as we know, is one of his strengths. He needs to play smart and hopefully our OL can give him the time to go through his reads and pick his spots.

"Sceeto wrote:

Totally! Good stuff bro. Thanks! ..I especially agree with the part about spreading their D out and picking them apart with the shorter passes. I think our TEs could have a big day and I think getting it to Bess on the short to intermediate routes will be key. Penny needs to play smart, which, as we know, is one of his strengths. He needs to play smart

Agreed.

hopefully our OL can give him the time to go through his reads and pick his spots.

I think with the spread, it'll be easier for the offensive line to do their job but it'll still be a difficult task simply because the Ravens are a good defense. They may not sack the quarterback but they'll put him on his back at least a few times with knockdowns in the game.

All that said, I don't think we will this game because I don't see our run game going well and I'm not big on pinning everything on Pennington to win the game for us.

"alen1 wrote:

He hasn't made many mistakes this year but in the
In the end, we're going to have to establish the run by efficient passing in my opinion. I think that the Ravens defense is a very good one but can be worked on with the spread offense and the run game. I think if you have an opportunity of Ginn going downfield when matched up with Samari Rolle, who lacks the footspeed he once had IMO, I think you take the shot because its a 50-50 shot and if successful, you got something to build on.

You're right when you say Samari doesn't have the footspeed that he once did, but he's still quick enough to put decent coverage on Ginn for 20-25 yards, and Chad would be ill advised to throw the ball any deeper than that because past that it's Ed Reed's ball. I think the best way to attack Rolle would be to put your biggest wideout or split out the tightend to Rolle's side and throw it short. Rolle's a willing hitter but he's physically pretty weak and that might be the best way to pick up yardage in the aerial game.

"Mkdave wrote:

he's still quick enough to put decent coverage on Ginn for 20-25 yards, and Chad would be ill advised to throw the ball any deeper than that because past that it's Ed Reed's ball.

I think the Ed Reed factor is huge but he can be looked off by the Quarterback to create separation for Ted Ginn.

I think the best way to attack Rolle would be to put your biggest wideout or split out the tightend to Rolle's side and throw it short. Rolle's a willing hitter but he's physically pretty weak and that might be the best way to pick up yardage in the aerial game.

Good point.

"alen1 wrote:

He hasn't made many mistakes this year but in the losses, he has. Crunching some numbers, he's averaging roughly two interceptions per loss. A big key is the offensive line not being able to keep him off his backside. He's been sacked on average twice per game in those losses. When he's pressured, he's not accurate. He's prone to interceptions as listed above and he's averaging a completion percentage of 49 percent - roughly eleven % lower than his average on the year of 60 %.

More crunching of the numbers showed me some things that we need to do to win this game on defense and offense. Defensively, number one is clearly pressure the quarterback. I listed his average statistics in the losses and in those games, he was sacked at least twice. That's a big number for us to achieve because if we don't provide any pressure, he will sit back there and pick us apart. Number two is stop their two-headed duo of LaRon McClain and Willis McGahee. Every time I watch McClain, I amazed at how quick his feet are for a 260 pound fullback. He's not your typical fullback because he can run right through you and he can leave you on the ground with jukes, etc. Willis McGahee is always banged up but he can break the big run as we witnessed in the Dallas game a few weeks ago. I believe he unleashed an eighty yard touchdown to seal the game for the Ravens. However, in their losses, the duo's average per carries are 3.6, 3.4, 1.6, 2.5, and 3.3. That averages out to 2.8 yards per carry, which is well below the league average.
.

Problem with focusing on all the losses is that 3 of them were in the first 5 weeks when Joe was still raw,he's improved a lot since the beginning of the year.
The Cowboys sacked him 5 times in the first half,we still won.
We have a three headed running attack,you left out Ray Rice.

Also, keep in mind, if a rookie QB is going to make some rookie mistakes at some point, it'll probably be in the playoffs, if they get there that is... see Matt Ryan. It's just such a big stage. One in which they haven't experienced yet. Bowl games or not.

"Baltboy wrote:

Problem with focusing on all the losses is that 3 of them were in the first 5 weeks when Joe was still raw,he's improved a lot since the beginning of the year.
The Cowboys sacked him 5 times in the first half,we still won.

That's very true, I was merely pointing out statistics in those losses. As I said, I don't expect us to win this game.

We have a three headed running attack,you left out Ray Rice.

I'm aware of Ray Rice but he didn't have a big impact or none at all in the game.

Well look what the Cardinals are doing to the Falcons right now, who are a pretty good team , and look what the Cardinals did to us, we had to face the Patriots 2X, who are arguably one of the best teams, and I believe we were in a very competitive division.

We will win this game playing at home.....

d-1

"Sceeto wrote:

I was looking at their record to find out certain reasons for the losses that they've had this year and something I didn't realize was that all of their losses came against really good teams whom are all in the playoffs and whom are some of the top teams in the league....

2 losses to the Steelers.
1 loss to the Titans.
1 loss to the Colts.
1 loss to the Giants.

Yikes! With that said, the old cliche, "Any given Sunday" comes to mind. I think Penny has to have a big day because they might be able to stop our run game like they did in our first match up with them, but if Penny has time to pick his spots wherever he can, that will be key. I hope Martin is playing and healthy because I think our tight ends could have a big day, as well as quick, short to intermediate throws to Bess.

Obviously, the other thing would be to get to Flacco and try to rattle him into some rookie mistakes, which he, surprisingly, hasn't made a lot of. His time is due. =D The lack of a consistent pass rush from us last weak makes me worry a bit. Joey P. needs to get to Flacco! They also have a lot of important guys whom are dinged up a bit, they'll be playing, but hopefully they'll be playing a little gimpy. JMO.