The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly for Ravens vs. NE

[Jeremiah W]

The differences I already noticed in the offensive planning was the tempo and motion. They got out of the huddle in a hurry and kept the D line in a stance for almost 6 seconds. There was motion on almost every play.

The routes of the Wrs seemed to be timing and beyond 10 yards.

The screens, chips and combo blocking on the DEs allowed street Fa and practice squad Ts to block a couple of pro bowl caliber ends long enough to get Wrs breaking open down feild.

The FB handoffs on the 1 yard line is one of those things that Billick did not do enough of.

There were about 4 tripple option action fakes on run plays in the first half. The FB handoff worked because the Rb and QB carried out a great option fake on the edge allowing Grubbs and Brown to maul the guys in front of them 1 on 1.
The details make all the difference. If you have a defense off balance and guessing, you can beat them without all pro talent accross the board. If the D knows what you are doing and have a few mismatches, they can shut down even Manning or Brady.

[ClericBlackDave]

But don't worry, the usual suspects in the media have already forgiven Troy Smith and beat on Kyle Boller. Just look at Aaron Wilson and Mike Preston today.

Yeah I noticed that.

To be honest, Aaron has particularly been getting on my nerves as of late with his pro-Smith man-love.

I don't think Aaron was always like this, but the whole insider mentality makes me think that he, like Preston, take their personal opinions a bit too seriously.

Not sure how anyone can look at Smith being 5 fo 12 (41%) vs. Boller 11 of 15 (73%) and be excited about Smith as the favorite.


But the media has their agenda, and they're going to beat it in to anyone who'll listen.


Thats why I love Tony Lombardi's camp reports where he is able to separate the "facts" of the camp from his opinions of it.

[Galen Sevinne]

I really saw absolutley no difference between last night's playcalling and last season's playcalling, only I think last season had alot to do with Mcnair checking down do to the fact that he had the arm of a 10 year old girl.

The first three drives had 3-4 screen passes, 3-4 play action passes, at least one hurry-up offense and balls thrown 15+ yards to wide receivers on crossing and out patterns not just curl patterns into the soft areas. I thought this offense look very different.

Of course, it still trotted Stover out for the 3.

[ClericBlackDave]

.


That said, it makes me laugh, even though I knew it would happen, that people are saying Boller didn't measurably outplay Smith. Boller had two boneheaded mistakes for TO's. Smith, playign agaisnt much lower competition had 7 or 8 bad plays, two of which should have been pick-6's. Boller lead the team to a 16-3 Lead, Troy did enough not to let us lose. It wasn't close

Yeah, I mean if the names were reversed and Troy was 11 of 15 and had that one INT, Troy fans would be saying the competition is over.


Really is a matter of whether or not you're in the anybody-but-Boller camp, or the its-an-open-competition camp, and impartial enough to look at this straight up.


Boller completion percentage is just much better, and if you have that, then you're going to control time of possession and, therefore, the pace of the game.

[StingerNLG]

The first three drives had 3-4 screen passes, 3-4 play action passes, at least one hurry-up offense and balls thrown 15+ yards to wide receivers on crossing and out patterns not just curl patterns into the soft areas. I thought this offense look very different.

Of course, it still trotted Stover out for the 3.

And not just that, on 3rd and 4 Cameron was calling plays were the receivers went 8-10 years out. He sent guys over the middle. He passed on 1st down and ran on 2nd down so you had a chance at 3rd and mid rather than 3rd and long.

I saw some great playcalling where it mattered. The offense scored 16 points in the first half. How often did that happen last year??

[Luker218]

I don't consider myself to be pro-Boller or pro-Smith.

Boller made some nice throws but also had two turnovers. Some people are saying the fumble wasn't his fault, but he needs to protect the ball, and it's something he's failed to do year after year. The interception was a typical poor decision that we've seen time and time again from Boller. To me, it was a typical Boller performance. He made some really nice throws when given time, but he struggled when he was under pressure. If not for the 2 turnovers, he would have impressed me, BUT you cannot overlook the turnovers.

Smith was erratic but made a couple of great throws. The throw on the sideline inside the 5 that was dropped by McCants was a thing of beauty. He shows more ability to scramble when pressured, which is something that will be absolutely necessary given the state of our offensive line this season. He still makes the young QB mistake of staring down receivers, and this almost cost him a pick-6. The one area that really concerned me was his inability to throw to backs out of the backfield. Definitely something he needs to work on.

All of this being said, I really didn't see where one player shined over the other. Yeah, if Boller doesn't turn it over twice, maybe things are different, but you can't overlook that.

The other thing people need to remember is that Boller does not have a future on this team where as Smith very well could. Last night, I saw the typical Kyle Boller that I've come to accept. He's not going to get any better than what he is now.

This team is really looking at Smith as their backup of the future. Unless Boller outplays Smith SIGNIFICANTLY (which he did not last night IMO), they are going to go with Smith. Considering Boller is the experienced veteran and Smith has all of 2 career starts, Boller really did not distinguish himself.

Regardless of how this season goes, the reps that Smith can get this year will give the organization more confidence moving forward with Joe Flacco as the starting QB and Smith as a capable backup.

I think it really boils down to the fact that Boller does not have a future on this team, and Smith has a much better chance of being the backup QB moving forward. This is why I expect Smith to be the starting quarterback on opening day.

[purplepoe]

And not just that, on 3rd and 4 Cameron was calling plays were the receivers went 8-10 years out. He sent guys over the middle. He passed on 1st down and ran on 2nd down so you had a chance at 3rd and mid rather than 3rd and long.

I saw some great playcalling where it mattered. The offense scored 16 points in the first half. How often did that happen last year??

Are you guys telling me we didn't see this stuff in preseasons of the past? Great first drives, good play calling etc....?

Cmon now. On the first drive, we had a 3rd and 4 or 5. What did we do? We flared the RB into the flat and Boller had pressure on him and the pass was off and fell incomplete. That is the SAME exact shit everyone bitched about last year with Billick.

How often did we score 16 points in the first half of regular season games? Not many times for sure. But I'm a little confused to see this fawning over the offensive playcalling last night when we've seen that in the preseason before.

PP

[jonboy79]

All of this being said, I really didn't see where one player shined over the other. Yeah, if Boller doesn't turn it over twice, maybe things are different, but you can't overlook that.

Smith did NO BETTER protecting the ball, the NE defense he was playign agasint simply did a worse job collecting it. Smith's pass to Crable was JUST as bad as Boller's pick, if not worse as Crable was likely gone back for 6 if he catches it. Smith's other pass to the future grocery bagger DE was one of MANY passes batted down at the line. If Smith wasn't 10-15 yards off the LOS it was a batted pass. Smith was completely unable to hit a back in the flats, or a WR behind the LOS. I saw plenty of reasons to think we may start Boller. It looks to me that TS has indeed improved since last season, but he still needs more work to be able to lead a team. 11-15 and 5-12 are not overlookable and the most important stat lines of the game. They tell the majority of the story, oh yeah, as does 16-3.

[camdenyard]

Why is anyone breaking down play selection from a preseason game? These are glorified practices. There is no real game planning. Half the guys running the plays will be stocking shelves or driving delivery vans in September.

I mean, I really have to force myself to watch these things because they are so far removed from regular season action.

Cameron will not be able to turn on the jets until he has his starters playing, Heap in particular since his passing game is so TE-oriented. The guys who were masquerading as TEs last night...oh please.

[Fanman]

Luker said:
<<This team is really looking at Smith as their backup of the future. Unless Boller outplays Smith SIGNIFICANTLY (which he did not last night IMO), they are going to go with Smith. Considering Boller is the experienced veteran and Smith has all of 2 career starts, Boller really did not distinguish himself.>>


I have to disagree here. This org. has invested heavily in Boller for 5 years now and having a serviceable backup is a must in the NFL and something many teams do not have. Don't be so quick to think Smith has the #2 role locked up already after this year. Unless Smith shows something this year in a big way he will be gone b/c he was a low draft pick and has little experience. Boller was a 1st round pick and teams HATE to see a pick that high not pan out.

I am not a Boller fan, but you can't put a price on experience and Smith has yet to show me he can be a starter.

FM

[jonboy79]

I gotta agree, especially as Boller seems liek the kind of PERSON that could hanle coi back here o a moderate deal to perhaps bckup, and perhaps start a few game for a few more years.

[A & S Football]

Overall I thought the offence actually looked better than last years. Boller did make some nice passes, but he still had 2 turnovers. I don't care how accurate you are, you can't keep turning the ball over like that. If Boller could ever manage to keep from turning the ball over so much, he'd be fine. It was Flacco's first game, so I didn't expect anything. Smith wasn't as accurate as he should have been, but he made some nice passes, plus he didn't turn the ball over. It's only the first pre-season game, so it's still too early to read anything into it all. There a lot of changes on this team, and it will take a little while to get everyone to gel, but I think by September we will be ok.