Again, I don't know if you understand the concept of getting the ball out quickly. Wether it was from under center or in the shotgun, the dline was not getting pressure on the quarterback mainly because flacco was getting the ball out quickly. He was able to get the ball out quickly because we were playing off coverages with soft zones and letting them release uncontested into their routes for the quick throws underneath and over the middle. The decision to play off coverage and soft zones was made by vance. The decision to not make any adjustments during the game is also vance. Yes there were some plays where one of their guys just made a play against one of our guys, but the overall problem on defense was that their gameplan was alot better than our gameplan and we did not adjust. Simple as that.
if a healthy jelani Jenkins and kiko were out there that game plan would have been fine if vance has any real fault it's overestimating his depth lbs ability to play the coverages he called and execute them from a drop and awareness aspect.... he tried to play man Rambo got torched on a man crosser by pitta ok maybe you give him the catch but to be able to turn it up after was a butchery cover play the other tight end used our pre snap leverage and depth with quddus against us for another big gain again in man coverage I do agree with the pass rush had no real chance cause flacco was basically shooting fish in a barrel at the lb level.
Kiko did play in the baltimore game and he wasn't able to cover anybody. Jenkins has also not been able to cover anybody all season even when healthy. Fact is all of the linebackers have been bad in coverage pretty much all season long. When you have all of your linebackers failing in coverage at some point you have to look at your system and coaching as being at least part of the problem. Everyone is always so quick to blame the players. You have to make your system work for the talent you have, I always look at how new england is always well prepared and well coached no matter if they have injuries or change players. That is a sign of a well coached team.
kiko played with a hammy which limited his range his top end speed and even had him in his pedal shifting from one leg to the other on a 14 yard 3rd and 15 middle drop out zone play kiko can't mask all these other guys deficiencies. he's not great at the poa as a fill backer or as a carry coverage backer but this teams up **** creek without a paddle without him unless the pass rush murders people the indictment in this lb corp is that without jelani Neville Hewitt hasn't stepped up and taken the nickel job and shown this staff he can be a 3 down lb... as such given Jenkins health Miami has to make a a every down wlb one of it's highest offseason priorities...appears we will be in that wheelhouse pick wise anyways come the draft. that and seam tight end I would bet head the list of needs right now
So you continue to ignore any responsibility the coaching staff might have in all of our linebackers failing miserably in coverage and just blame it on the players. You talk about kiko not being healthy yet even when he has been healthy he hasn't been good in coverage. He had one good play on the interception against San Diego but aside from that he has been regularly burned in coverage all season long. Fact is none of the linebackers have been good in coverage, kiko included. When all the players fail at something, at some point you have to admit there is a problem with the scheme and/or coaching.
Explain to me the concept of getting the ball out quickly. Because, lest I forgot, this is sort of the foundation of Quarterbacking 101, correct? You said Flacco was throwing out of "three step drops all game". Do you understand (may I?) "the concept" of a three-step drop? I said scheme. You said scheme. We're not in disagreement here. I don't see why you are taking offense to the fact that Miami did not rush the passer effectively. They didn't. I wasn't necessarily defending the poor coverage concepts, just simply ADDING that Miami did not get to Flacco, which helps the coverage (last I checked, this was a team game). Yes, the coverages were soft on some, but not all plays. I saw what I think were coverage adjustments made as early as the second quarter, and they still beat them. I didn't really see 10-15 yd off coverages as you suggested. Regardless, whether it was a backer thinking he had help, or the tight end simply making a play, it didn't work. You're working with journeyman LBs here. Even when the coverages were there, the Ravens still made plays. So take away scheme and cruddy LB play. What else do you have that can help against the pass? The rush! Miami has been one of the better teams at getting to the QB. They didn't do it that game. Hit a QB enough, and he'll start making errant throws. Every. Single. Time. They didn't do it. And it didn't help. Do you think that maybe for a second that the scheme at the beginning of the game was to cover some deficiencies in the LB corps? Because you know better, right?
You're getting hung up on wether it was a 3 step drop or not. The point was that flacco was consistently getting the ball out very quickly, wether it was a 3 or 5 step drop or from under center or shotgun the fact is he got it out quickly. He usually didn't have to look past his first or second read to get the ball off. In that situation it is very difficult for the defensive lineman to get to the quarterback in time to sack him or at least disrupt his throw. The dline didnt just suddenly stink in unison at pass rushing because they all got up on the wrong side of the bed that day. They didn't get to flacco because flacco didnt give them time to get to him. And the main reason flacco was able to get the ball off quickly so consistently is because we were playing off coverages for most of the game. Our corners are big and their best game is to play physical to disrupt recievers at the line and knock them off their routes, this forces the QB to wait a little longer until the recievers can clear the press which in turn gives the pass rush a chance to get there. We have failed miserably all year playing off and zone coverage and have been much more succesfull playing press. Vance came into the game afraid of the deep pass and decided to play off coverage with large cushions. Thats all he ever talked about before the game is how they had to take away the deep pass. Well guess what his gameplan did what it was designed to do it took away the deep ball, too bad it left everything underneath and over the middle open for them to kill us slowly. I would rather challenge the receivers and tight ends with press coverage and force them to beat us deep than have them slice us up with quick throws all day long. In my opinion we got an *** wuppin in large part because of a very bad gameplan. You guys just seem to want to absolve the coaches of any responsibility and just blame it all on the players.
Yeah, we got rocked. I don't think any reasonable fan here would absolve the coaches for anything. I can understand that Joseph had his plan. It didn't work. And I'm okay with that. I get the feeling that this coaching staff will learn from it. Here's the deal, I don't care if it was a 28-step drop, the rush didn't help, even when the longer routes were there. It takes time to run them, and they didn't apply pressure. There were passes in that game that required a little time. They connected. We had no rush. I kind of get the feeling that if he plays a tighter coverage and we get beat deep, things probably do not change, and we'd have something else to complain about. I think Joseph just had to choose his poison. Their TE was their biggest target. A guy who averages around 8 ypc. Not exactly eye-opening. And until that game, had zero TDs. Who would you bet on beating you? Their receiving corps or their TE? I'd have played it loose over the middle, esp on that slippery surface. It didn't work. Whaddya do, aye?
