What do the Ravens need to do to make the play offs?

[HotInHere]

Come on. No one in Baltimore actually thought Collins had a snowballs chance in the realm of Hades of winning that Super Bowl. Sure enough, the minute Brandon Stokely scored that game was over.

That's true. I remember a lot of excitement/concern about the juggernaut offense in Minnesota. Seeing Vinny and the Jets drop 500+ on this defense you had to be concerned about what the Vikings would do. But once they lost to the Giants, the Lombardi was all but awarded.

[BigPlayReceiver]

Avoid any more costly injuries.
At some point next man up becomes no man left.

...and score more frequently off of TO's.

@CIN: 5 TOs => 10 pts
vs CLE: 5 TOs => 14 pts

[RavenAustralian]

...and score more frequently off of TO's.

@CIN: 5 TOs => 10 pts
vs CLE: 5 TOs => 14 pts

On the face of it, when you look at this stat it's a little disturbing. In both games we received 5 turnovers and only scored on two of those possessions. But then you have to remember that Harbaugh is Bo Schembechler reincarnate. He gets a lead and instead of applying the boot to the throat and then violently twisting. He asks the guy to say uncle and believes him when he says yes. I'm all for fair play but it is the only thing that i don't like about him, but that is just me. I'm not ready for a new coach as long as he wins.

[HotInHere]

On the face of it, when you look at this stat it's a little disturbing. In both games we received 5 turnovers and only scored on two of those possessions. But then you have to remember that Harbaugh is Bo Schembechler reincarnate. He gets a lead and instead of applying the boot to the throat and then violently twisting. He asks the guy to say uncle and believes him when he says yes. I'm all for fair play but it is the only thing that i don't like about him, but that is just me. I'm not ready for a new coach as long as he wins.

An awful lot of those turnovers were in the red zone. Starting from your own 20 is not a spot where you 'punch it in.' You'd have better field position after a touchback.

[RavenAustralian]

An awful lot of those turnovers were in the red zone. Starting from your own 20 is not a spot where you 'punch it in.' You'd have better field position after a touchback.

As i said..."on the face of it"

[The Excellector]

John Harbaugh does have that habit. It's one reason why the offense can look very different in the playoffs. When it's win or go home, he tends to let the offense do it's thing more. Even then, it took him a few years to get to that point. You just see them running plays offensively that you didn't even see during the regular season. One game that stood out to me was the Wild Card game at Arrowhead. I think the entire city of Baltimore came out and said, "Where the hell did this offense come from? What?...........they're actually using Boldin properly? Where's that play been?".

Still, it wasn't until that 2012 AFC Championship Game that he finally said "Joe Flacco is going to lead us to the Super Bowl", and the locker room erupted. I think that, in this regard, Michael Lombardi was on the money about his assessment of Flacco and how the organization handles offense in general.

[Rxdoxx]

Sign Dieugot Joseph to the 53
Championship!

[RavenAustralian]

Sign Dieugot Joseph to the 53
Championship!

It's a slow day at work for me, and I thought this was hilarious

[BcRaven]

If the Ravens have a lead in the second half, we can't expect a Bill Walsh offense, not with our current offense. So it looks like we will have to rely on a run game that eats up clock and a stout defense. It's worked for the first two games and may have to be the plan going forward. I just wonder what the Ravens will do if we're down in the 3rd or 4th quarters (?) ... Bc

[Rxdoxx]

If the Ravens have a lead in the second half, we can't expect a Bill Walsh offense, not with our current offense. So it looks like we will have to rely on a run game that eats up clock and a stout defense. It's worked for the first two games and may have to be the plan going forward. I just wonder what the Ravens will do if we're down in the 3rd or 4th quarters (?) ... Bc

Encouraging to see the roll outs from Joe, he won't have to bide time in the pocket waiting for WR to get downfield, but can actually gain a second or so for them ... just need to see the WR speed willing to fight for the ball ... or Maxx like Shockey eating yards in the middle

[PerpetuallyBored74]

If the Ravens have a lead in the second half, we can't expect a Bill Walsh offense, not with our current offense. So it looks like we will have to rely on a run game that eats up clock and a stout defense. It's worked for the first two games and may have to be the plan going forward. I just wonder what the Ravens will do if we're down in the 3rd or 4th quarters (?) ... Bc

Try to comeback at the last minute only to have wrong routes, drops, bad reads, missed assignments, turnovers, and penalties derail the effort, all while mismanaging the clock in a way that would make Andy Reid shake his head in disbelief.

At least if the last few seasons are anything to go by.

[bacchys]

That's true. I remember a lot of excitement/concern about the juggernaut offense in Minnesota. Seeing Vinny and the Jets drop 500+ on this defense you had to be concerned about what the Vikings would do. But once they lost to the Giants, the Lombardi was all but awarded.

A juggernaut offense that was blanked by a Giants defense that, while good, was nowhere near as good as the Ravens or Titans that year.

The Lombardi was won when the Ravens beat the Titans. Those were the two best teams in football that year. The Titans had the best record at 13-3, and the Ravens were tied for the second best record. Going in that game I knew the winner was going to win the Super Bowl.

But the fact the Ravens were better team didn't make the Giants bums. Had Minnesota pulled out the win at home, the Ravens would have crushed them, too. Then they would have been the bums and the talk would have been how if the Giants had made it..yadda, yadda, yadda.