Game 5 - Browns at Ravens Oct 11th

[Ravenchamp]

Ravens vs Browns

Sun, Oct 11 Browns @ Ravens 1:00 PM


We win this home game VS the Browns, the recovery underway

[Evil Yoda]

If they win this game it will not say much about a "recovery". But if they lose it, that will say a lot.

[Deleted]

The Ravens could very conceivably stand at 3-3 after the next two weeks, with a date against the godawful 49ers following the Cleveland game. But as EY pointed out, I'm not sure if that would be representative of a recovery, or just a stretch of favorable scheduling.

Right now I'd say the three top teams in the AFC are Cincinnati, Denver and New England. It's early in the season, but the Bengals look to be the most balanced team. Peyton Manning may not be the player he was, but the Broncos defense is more than compensating thus far. The Patriots have looked like a machine on offense in the early going.

[Evil Yoda]

A less charitable individual might wonder if the Patriots are cheating even more, now that they understand they can't effectively be punished for it, and that's the foundation of their success.

[Ravenchamp]

Line: Ravens (-6.5)



This weekend, the new Cleveland Browns head to the east coast to take on the old Cleveland Browns (i.e. the Baltimore Ravens). It’s a matchup of two teams looking to dig their way out of the AFC North basement, with both sporting 1-3 records.

The Ravens are fresh off their first victory of the season, beating the Pittsburgh Steelers in overtime last Thursday night. Meanwhile, Cleveland blew a chance to take the San Diego Chargers into overtime after jumping offsides on a missed field goal attempt. Of the two teams, it’s Baltimore who heads into this contest with the most momentum.

On the surface, the Ravens couldn’t ask for a better matchup to get their offense going. Cleveland’s defense is an unholy mess right now, meaning 300 passing yards is likely the bare minimum for Joe Flacco this Sunday.

Look for Baltimore to win convincingly, keeping its season alive while effectively ending Cleveland’s.

Prediction: Ravens 35, Browns 17


www.rantsports.com/nfl/2015/10/07/cleveland-browns-vs-baltimore-ravens-nfl-week-5-preview-tv-schedule-prediction/

[Evil Yoda]

The advantage the Ravens have is that the Browns are something like 31st against the run, which is the only game the Ravens have left. On the radio were two items of speculation: that Roddy White or Golden Tate might land here. White is expensive at 2.2M for the year. Tate is much more affordable at ~750K, but his contract is longer - he's in year two or three of a five year deal. Since Ozzie can't draft receivers for whatever reason, maybe their path is to keep recruiting veterans.

[Ravenchamp]

why we cant draft WRs is a mystery

[Deleted]

Oct 8, 2015 13:29:20 GMT -5 Evil Yoda said:

The advantage the Ravens have is that the Browns are something like 31st against the run, which is the only game the Ravens have left. On the radio were two items of speculation: that Roddy White or Golden Tate might land here. White is expensive at 2.2M for the year. Tate is much more affordable at ~750K, but his contract is longer - he's in year two or three of a five year deal. Since Ozzie can't draft receivers for whatever reason, maybe their path is to keep recruiting veterans.

White has a cap number of some $5.5 million this season; there's no way the Ravens, who have only about $1.5 million in cap room at this point, can afford him. Tate, who just restructured the five-year deal he signed with Detroit in 2014, carries a similar number for this year.

[Evil Yoda]

Annnnd... there's the comment. This is a very bad football team. Inconsistent offensive line, lunkheaded penalties, no reliable passing game, and a defense they really should be ashamed of.

Might as well just lay down for a high draft pick like Caldwell did for Luck in Indy. Get Ozzie's thoughts on wide receivers and then DON'T PICK THOSE GUYS!

[Deleted]

I think it's safe to say that age, injuries and lack of depth have finally caught up to the Ravens. They appear to have seriously overestimated their talent at the outset of the season.

Their defense made Josh McCown look like Otto Graham (who never threw for that many yards in one game), and the previously non-descript Gary Barnridge look like (pick a Hall of Fame tight end). The 10 penalties didn't help matters either. This is just not a very good team right now.

[Ravenchamp]

We lost thanks to this horrendous defense

[Evil Yoda]

I looked ahead and saw four teams I think they can beat (49ers, Jags, Chiefs, and Miami). I'm guessing they'll actually split with those teams (2-2). And they'll lose to most everyone else, but let's allow for one win in that series that confounds likelihood. That makes the final, optimistic estimate for the season 4-12. They might do one game better or worse.

The problems I see on defense are scheme and talent. You can't fix those during the season. I have never been a fan of Pees and I think Bis needs have a four word conversation with Harbaugh on 1/4/16: "Pees. Or you. Decide." It's possible that Harbaugh needs to go. Not that all, or even most, of the problems are his. But even gangster Jules Winnfield understood that sometimes you have to shoot a guy to get everyone else's attention. (Quote NSFW!)

They need to figure out how they so badly overestimated the talent, or this will happen again. They have holes everywhere.

Some of their problems are caused by the Rice and Ngata cap situations. No cap expert I, but apparently when you cut a guy you can't pro-rate his guaranteed money over as long a period.

I think they need to have a restructuring conversation with Webb, and if he's not open to it, they need to cut ties. He has peaked and is now in decline despite a few good plays yesterday. Why Jimmy Smith has apparently regressed is a question they need to investigate.

They should see if they can persuade Steve Smith to delay retirement one more year, and if not, sign another talented veteran receiver. That's how they have to get wide outs; they're utterly unable to draft them, because let's admit what everyone knows: Perriman is another bust. Not tough enough mentally or physically or both for the NFL.

My brother and I had the depth conversation during the pre-season; he contended that "you'll never see all of these guys on the field at once" and believed they did not have a depth issue. I saw the second and third string guys getting beaten by their second and third string counterparts from other teams in every facet of the game and was worried.

[Ravenchamp]

Are we at a point now where Biscotti has the pink slips ready but unsigned?

[Evil Yoda]

I doubt anyone is going anywhere during the season. And they shouldn't. You can't change scheme midseason and that's the only real reason to fire a coordinator. And no one's looking to take over as head coach midstream, either - so guys you'd hire to replace Harbaugh would be guys who are desperate.

Harbaugh might be opening the first letter, though.

The incoming leader of the Politburo was smug and flush with success, so he almost didn't speak to the outgoing leader. But he did, and the fellow handed him two envelopes. "At your first crisis, open the first envelope and follow the instructions. At your second, open the second envelope."

In due time a crisis did arise and the leader did not know what to do, until he remembered that conversation. Inside the first envelope was a simple message, signed by his predecessor: "Blame me." Now, some time had passed and the leader did not know this would work, but at his wit's end he tried it. And it worked well! The people, satisfied with the explanation for their pain, vilified the predecessor. With time to work, the crisis passed.

And the second crisis came, and this time the leader knew just what to do. He opened the envelope and inside was a longer message: "Prepare two envelopes..."

[Deleted]

Everyone in the organization--from the front office on down--needs to be held accountable. There's much the Ravens need to correct before they can be among the league's blue bloods again.

The Ravens need to look at the way they draft (virtually no impact players in the last few drafts), to the way they manage the salary cap, the way they can't seem to develop playmakers at wide receiver, to the way they are conditioned and coached. All areas have shown to be lacking thus far this season.

I honestly don't think wholesale changes are on the way, however--the Ravens have never operated that way and I don't think they intend to start now. Pees is the most likely to be gone, but I can't place all of the blame on him. He simply doesn't have the horses. Bill Walsh once observed that it's possible to scheme your way through mediocre offensive talent, but on defense, it's virtually impossible; you have to have guys who can actually play it.

Right now what I would question would be Pees' adherence to the 3-4 defense, a scheme in which coverage from linebackers is absolutely essential. This group simply can't do it. Guys like Upshaw and Mosley are decent against the run, but get burned repeatedly in pass coverage. Ditto Daryl Smith, who looks like he's reaching the end of the line. I'd expect the Ravens to continue making otherwise ordinary pass catchers look like first-ballot Hall of Famers. And don't even get me started about the open-field tackling, what has largely been atrocious to this point.

In short, if you didn't bring it with you, you ain't likely to find it. I see no sense at this point in mortgaging the team's future to try and find patchwork solutions. There are simply too many holes to fix.

[Evil Yoda]

I'm not certain I'm right here, but it seems to me they've been in disarray since the Ray Rice explosion. Rice said that Ozzie was the only one in the organization he would henceforth trust, which implies that Ozzie disagreed with the rest of the organization about how to handle the matter. It could be that Ozzie became disillusioned with Bisciotti and is no longer capable of his earlier top flight work. Because the last couple of drafts have produced few true impact players. Mosely came out of the gate hard but this year he has not looked good.

It might also be that Harbaugh is a weak leader and this fact was concealed by the top flight player-leaders the team has had - all of whom are either retired or hurt right now.

I agree there's little gain in trying to fix this season. No one's catching the Bengals and this team's got maybe four wins in it, total.

[highmc2]

The only fun thing about the home team tanking, are the armchair GM's speculation and fantasy resolutions.

Not that there is anything wrong with that, it's just a matter of opinion.