Opinions Archives – Page 5 of 18 – A Marketplace for Ideas

AFC Championship Game – The Ugly Post-Mortem

I don’t know about you, but I needed ten days before penning this ugly post-mortem. I’m unable to shed any light on Todd Monken’s bizarre avoidance of the run game. It’s as puzzling to me as it is to every other observer, including you. Did it cost the Ravens the game? Mostly likely, yes. But no need to dwell on that further.

This was the type of year that team dreams of. Virtually every one of Eric DeCosta’s late pre-season free agent signings were not just hits, but homers (I hate baseball analogies, but its apropos here). Furthermore, key young players blossomed to their full potential (Justin Madubuike), and some became major stars (Kyle Hamilton) while others came out of nowhere (Brandon Stephens). The quarterback was the league’s most valuable player. The defensive structuring and coordination was spectacular. The Ravens played in arguably the toughest division in football, yet smashed virtually every top end team they played and wound up with the number one seed. Continue reading “AFC Championship Game – The Ugly Post-Mortem”

Ravens-Chiefs Preview: Thoughts from the Chiefs Win Over Buffalo

Time to prepare for the big Sunday matchup. I start with thoughts from the Chiefs win over the Bills. What we can identify as focus areas for the Chiefs, and lessons learned for the Ravens.

The Chiefs Running Game

Readers well know that Mike Macdonald’s zone focuses create weakness in the Ravens interior run defense. The Ravens typically wind up with only six defenders in the box. In the Chiefs tight victory over the Bills, virtually all of their success in the run game was between the tackles. Isaiah Pacheco ran tough with arms flailing (a fumble risk) as the Chiefs pounded the ball. They had virtually no success with designed running plays wide. Pacheco looked a bit slower to me than I expected, just a tad less explosiveness than we’ve seen before. Continue reading “Ravens-Chiefs Preview: Thoughts from the Chiefs Win Over Buffalo”

Ravens versus Texans – A Few Pre-Game Thoughts

By all means the Ravens should win this game. There are no excuses this time around, even without Marlon Humphrey and Mark Andrews. Let’s consider a few pre-game thoughts before kick-off.

Marlon Humphrey’s Loss Should Not Be Critical

The Ravens are fortunate that Tank Dell’s place on injured reserve has him in civvies for this game because his loss leaves the Texans with only Nico Collins as a serious downfield threat. Robert Woods doesn’t scare anyone, and neither does John Metchie. Ron Darby will take Humphrey’s place. Continue reading “Ravens versus Texans – A Few Pre-Game Thoughts”

Ravens Comments Heading Into Steelers Week

Your blogger apologizes for taking last week off, but I’ll grab for insights from the 49ers game if the Ravens wind up meeting them again. Let’s focus instead on some Ravens comments coming out of the Dolphins shellacking and into the Steelers finale.

To Rest or Not to Rest, That is the Question

The “rust” concept doesn’t worry me. Thirty-four of the last 64 number one seeds (going into this year) have made it to the Super Bowl. The Ravens’ 2019 number one seed fiasco doesn’t mean a thing. That was a different roster, a different quarterback (de facto), and a different offense. They got behind early and lacked a complete passing attack. Of course, all of that is just noise. What should a prudent coach do with respect to an end-of-the-season meaningless game? Continue reading “Ravens Comments Heading Into Steelers Week”

Ravens Observations Heading into The Rams Game

The gauntlet begins this Sunday with the Rams potentially presenting the first of several interesting challenges for Mike Macdonald and his defense. Although the Rams offense lacks the complete talent of the Dolphins and 49ers, there’s enough in both the run and pass games to stress the Ravens cover-two defensive approach. Let’s take a look at some Ravens observations and lessons from the Chargers game. Continue reading “Ravens Observations Heading into The Rams Game”

Ravens Early Comments Before the Rams Game

I hope to have a subsequent post this week drawing comments from the Chargers game and towards the Rams game. Below are a few idle thoughts coming out of the bye week.

Kyle Hamilton

Readers are aware of my view that Hamilton is really two different players. I’ve argued that when he’s aligned in the slot or in the box (i.e., when he is at the line and coming forward) he is outstanding. Hamilton has made a plethora of impact plays from that positioning; sacks, tackles for loss, beating blockers and disrupting plays, etc. But when Hamilton is aligned on the back end as one of the Ravens’ two deep safeties in cover two, he’s just ordinary. Continue reading “Ravens Early Comments Before the Rams Game”

Ravens Thoughts Post-Bengals Heading into L.A.

After a solid drubbing of the poor-old Bengals, it’s time to share some Ravens thoughts heading into the Chargers game. The loss of Mark Andrews was the only thing that went wrong against Cincinnati. As great as Andrews is – and he is – the Ravens have enough remaining offense to continue piling up the points. Let’s get into last week a bit, and extrapolate from there.

Give Me More and More Keaton Mitchell, Please

The Ravens didn’t highlight Mitchell much more than they had against Cleveland. But Mitchell’s reps against the Bengals jumped so far off the tape that I’m more excited for his (and the Ravens offense) upside than before. I’m focused on Mitchell’s third quarter effort. Continue reading “Ravens Thoughts Post-Bengals Heading into L.A.”

Ravens Cleveland Fiasco – What Does it Mean?

It takes a village to make a successful team, and no more was that evident than in the Ravens fiasco against Cleveland. We must not forget that a lot went right in this game. The natural response is to focus on what went wrong and why. I’ll take a crack at that first.

A Tale of Two Games

The Ravens dominated the first quarter of the game, played to a rough push in the second quarter, and were outplayed in the second half. There’s a bunch of bad in the second half, but on my game review much of that was isolated to poor play by a handful of players. So, what did I see? Continue reading “Ravens Cleveland Fiasco – What Does it Mean?”

Ravens Crush Seattle: A Deeper Dive Into the Ravens Defense

After a win such as the Ravens drubbing of Seattle, there’s often little to criticize. This was a defensive blitzkrieg, and it’s time to take a deeper dive into what Mike Macdonald is achieving and how he does it. But I’d be remiss (and an empty vessel) if I let readers march happily into the night without showing them a goblin or two. I’ll start there, and then move into the sunlight.

It’s Not Getting Better – Ronnie Stanley is a Major Problem

I know Halloween is behind us, but it’s scary watching Stanley in pass protect. He’s going to get Lamar killed. I’m not saying we are full Alejandro Villanueva yet, but Stanley’s a lot closer to that than he is to Jonathan Ogden. There’s no need to fully rehash Ronnie’s lower body instability. It’s not getting better, nor should we expect it to at this point. Continue reading “Ravens Crush Seattle: A Deeper Dive Into the Ravens Defense”

Ravens Post Cardinals: Inconsistency Persists

In the end all that matters is that you win the game so we should be happy with the Ravens win over Arizona. Yet their performance was uneven (to say the least). Inconsistency is still stamped all over the Ravens. Let’s take a look at a few reasons why the consistency just wasn’t there.

Defending the Run Trouble – A (One Game?) Reversion By Patrick Queen

Forget tackle numbers, as they rarely tell the whole story. Patrick Queen played arguably the worst game I’ve seen since Roquan Smith joined the team. Continue reading “Ravens Post Cardinals: Inconsistency Persists”