The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

by vlad755 on Aug 26, 2011 4:11 PM EDT

The Good

Ray Rice *still* in mid-season form. Evans, Boldin; Ricky running with authority. McPhee, even though against 2's and 3's, he is a beast. Leech, wow, that guy is just a load and half. Anthony Allen looked solid (needs to work on those mitts, though). I think Parmalee's days are now numbered as a Raven.

Doss. Does he get credit for a save for his pre-game adventures? Right now, he is the number three receiver on the team. He catches everything thrown in his zip code...

Slants. Keep 'em coming, Cam! And let us face it, the drop by Allen- that normally would have been Rice or Ricky, and either one of them would have caught that easily.

Tyrod taylor. Yes, risky having a rookie as your backup, especially on a legitimate SuperBowl contender. But I like what I have seen so far. Ball seems to sail on him a bit, but he is putting together a nice preseason campaign.

The Bad

Just the overall inconsistency and lackadaisical effort by our 1's, on both sides of the ball against the Redskins' 1's during the first half. DC is going to be sniffing around 8 - 8, maybe 9 -7 if they are lucky; but could very easily lose nine or ten games also. We should have been more crisp coming out of the gate, especially on defense, going up against that team (they ain't all that). Tim Hightower??? John Beck????? C'mon...

Our other rookies not mentioned above: Torrey, Jimmy Smith and Chylkie Brown. Torrey had two drops, and on the second one you could see Joe's face just compute the fact that he cannot trust Smith at this time. Smith is fighting LaQuan for the 5th receiver spot. No way Smith gets cut, but he could very easily go into week one as the #6 guy behind Boldin, Evans, Doss, Reed and LaQuan. Chylkie Brown did not look good. He struck me as taxi squad material at best last night.

The other Smith. While I give him props for noticeably improving his technique- much better footwork, got the head swivel thing timed right, he still has a lot to learn and looked like a rookie at times, especially when he lets Moss go blowing by him for a touchdown. He is a rookie. He has all the tools to be a really special corner, but he is not there yet and has a ways to go. I think by the end of the year he will be starting, if he doesn't hit the rookie wall. But definitely not starting week 1 and definitely not against P-burgh.

Foxworth- he is not the same Foxworth that ended the '09 season (who was a stud then). Not sure if it is the lingering injury, age, him not being all that good, or some combination of all three. Him and Webb are fighting for the #4 CB spot in my opinion. Webb is good on punt returns, good on blitzing, but that seems to be the sum total of his game right now. Not sure what happened to rest with him...

And Oher. Almost made "Ugly" on the "whiff" sack allowed, but I was merciful. Right now, Pittsburgh will make him their punk-boy on the left. Ravens have two short weeks to get Oher coached up or McKinnie in game shape. Last night's Oher will get Joe killed like a wildebeest on the African Savana against the squeelers.

The O-line in general. While they did great against the Chefs, the deadskins and iggles made them look pedestrian, and slow pedestrians at that -like little old ladies trying to cross the road pedestrian... Maybe it is an NFC East thing this year with them... Even if Oher makes miraculous improvement and/or McKinnie has a magical weight transformation, still very much a work in progress, and I do not mean that in a good way.

The Ugly

This one is easy. The pick-6. From Joe staring down his receiver, to Joe's feeble tackling attempt -what was that? It looked like me when I used to empty the diaper pail and take the bag of dirty diapers out to the trash... Joe, need some work on the tackling sled... Just about as ugly a play as there is. But let us also give credit to Hall who is a damn fine corner.

Preseason makes offenses look like a 19 year old blond with ADD at a fraternity party chugging Red Bull -all over the map. I get that; and even though the offense arguably took a step back, it is still preseason and honestly, typically, it is not until week 3 or 4 that most NFL offenses start clicking. I suspect it will be even longer this year for most due to the lockout.

So I do not feel bad about last night's performance, overall, just do not feel that good about it. Kind of like a one night stand where you sober up in the morning and realize she is fugly... You got some trim, but yick...

The opinions posted here are those of the administrator of this blog and his loyal readers. They are in no way official comments from the team, and should not be misconstued as such, even though he thinks he could do just as well or even a better job!

Tweet Comment 15 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

Great write up as always

Webb definitely didn’t play his best game of pass coverage, but you still gotta give him props for the INT he grabbed. He caught more balls thrown his way than Torrey did.

Jimmy says it was a “miscommunication” when Moss flew pass him for the TD. But when I rewatch the play, I think its pretty clear that he got flat out beat. But he’ll only get better with experience. Although I’ve changed my opinion on him starting Week 1, its just too soon to have him on Ward or Wallace, but he’ll get there eventually.

"I hate your sig…" -Mr MaLoR

by StuckInUtah on Aug 26, 2011 4:26 PM EDT via mobile reply actions

True

It is telling when Webb is more offensive than (Torrey) Smith…

Right now, I do like Webb higher on the depth chart than (Jimmy) Smith

"A little learning is a dangerous thing; Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring."
"The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug."
"God's whiskers! Your face is as hideous as the demon's in my storybook!"
"I never expected to see the day when girls would get sunburned in the places they do today."
"It's big for a reason."

For Pittsburgh fans, that's Pope, Twain, Rostand, Rogers and Megamind

by vlad755 on Aug 26, 2011 5:05 PM EDT up reply actions

I didn’t see jimmy get beat… Will watch again

by Evan Skev on Aug 26, 2011 5:51 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions

Yea he saw the drag route coming and didnt cover the guy that was in his third of the field. Moss ran a banana route.

by Raven_all_day on Aug 26, 2011 5:54 PM EDT up reply actions

I guess it depends on your definition of “got beat”. Jimmy was assigned a certain area to defend, and Moss caught his TD in the area where Jimmy was supposed to be at.

"I hate your sig…" -Mr MaLoR

by StuckInUtah on Aug 26, 2011 6:22 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions

Got Beat

Or mis-communicated or brain farq’d -doesn’t matter -that was clearly his play to defend and by hook, crook or rook(ie), he blew it.

Like someone else said, most likely a rookie mental mistake and hopefully easily corrected. I have high hopes for Jimmy.

For Pittsburgh fans, that's Pope, Twain, Rostand, Rogers and Megamind

by vlad755 on Aug 26, 2011 6:31 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs

Agreed, agreed, and agreed.

"I hate your sig…" -Mr MaLoR

by StuckInUtah on Aug 26, 2011 6:36 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions

i expected him to blow a few coverages, so it doesn’t bother me. What bothers me is how he asked for a flag when he was at no point even within arm’s reach of any other player on that play. Very immature.

"Airborne, do not look at the ground. I promise you, it will be there. Unless the tectonic plates shift, and a chasm opens up on the drop zone, in which case we will surely let you know."

by jackmca on Aug 29, 2011 4:48 PM EDT up reply actions

The preseason is awful; I just don’t put too much stock into it, even the third “dress rehearsal” game. And you said it…“lackadaisical effort” by the ones. Once the season gets started, I am pretty confident we’ll see a better effort from Sizzle, Haloti, and Co.

by JoshuaStein on Aug 26, 2011 4:52 PM EDT reply actions

Nice write up and agreed. At least Jimmy’s mistake was more of a mental rookie one though.He was supposed to have the deep 3rd and looked like he didn’t realize it. That’s something easily corrected compared to just being over matched.He gets the mental things out of the way and he will be solid.

On Ed Reed:
"I’ve told him to his face many times, ‘You’re the greatest safety ever to play the game,’"
"We all learn from each other, but we all learn most from him."
- Troy Polamalu

by AV23 on Aug 26, 2011 5:31 PM EDT reply actions

I must say that I was skeptical about going into the season with Taylor as the #2 QB, but all he’s done is make plays and show his maturity as a QB. He doesn’t seem to be playing like a rookie that has only had WEEKS to prepare to be a pro. He has far exceeded my expectations, and last night he made that offense his own in the second half and was a leader for the O to the win. He has a good combination of vision, arm strength, and athleticism. What a draft day steal. I bet other teams’ GMs have seen him play and are kicking themselves for passing up on him. Well done Ozzie and co. (disclaimer: Flacco is still the best and only starting QB option for this team, simply saying that Taylor has impressed).
Another seemingly huge draft steal is McPhee. He has a non stop motor. You could see it in his face towards the end of the game that all he wanted to do was make the opposing O Line and QB wish that he wasn’t on that field. I like the tenacity he brings and he seemed so committed to closing out that game to secure a win.

"Don't throw it, don't throw it, don't throw it. I know y'all going to throw it, they going to throw it anyway. I wouldn't throw it. Don't do it." - Ed Reed

by WestminsterRaven on Aug 26, 2011 7:13 PM EDT reply actions 1 recs

This draft was full of steals by Ozzie

the man is a magician

by YeahDonnie on Aug 26, 2011 10:15 PM EDT up reply actions

While Tyrod is no Flacco

and his arm is not as good nor his ability to read defenses, his legs pose HUGE issues for defenses and he will either run them ragged or get himself killed.

Either way, he is a lock to make the roster, but I still smell Marc Bulger in our future. Just my hunch…

aka 'Rexx'

by Bruce Raffel on Aug 27, 2011 11:32 AM EDT up reply actions

Vlad-

If you would like, I’d be thrilled if you do this for the regular season games and post it on the Front Page. Just email me and let me know and I will edit and post as soon as you get it done post-game.

Great job, thanks!

aka 'Rexx'

by Bruce Raffel on Aug 27, 2011 11:33 AM EDT reply actions