I'll be damned if I'm gonna jump to conclusions over a Thursday night road loss

[PeterB58]

So far this season has gone exactly as I thought would. My thoughts haven't changed. Based on my preseason predictions the Ravens don't win another game until 10/14 at the Titans. Hopefully I am very wrong. That would be a 4 game losing streak and losses to all 3 division teams.

Now that I've seen the games the team I have the most confidence in beating is the Steelers. I'm not sure they can pressure like the Bengals, Browns or Broncos. If that happens Joe is going to be able to take advantage of his improved receivers. The Ravens defense will struggle against the Steelers passing offense but it's possible that we can keep up with them.

You can chalk up the Bills win to arguably the worst team in the league + inexperienced QB.

You can chalk up the Bengals lose to short week, injuries, "Marvin Lewis always has our number", yada, yada, yada...

This Sunday should tell us a lot about where this team is heading this year.

[Dirt1]

I thought the interior OL of the Ravens got dominated on Thursday night. I am not sold on Skura as the Center. The Ravens depth chart has Alex Lewis and Bradley Bozeman listed as depth at the Center position. Would the Ravens consider working in Siragusa into that position by later this season? It looks like he is on the practice squad right now. I think Siragusa would be more effective handling bigger DTs than any of those guys.

[Ravensforce83]

I'll concede that there are overreactions (there always are on this board, and I'm guilty as well. But it is one of the things that make this board so entertaining and sometimes sparks great discussions) But I think the overreactions related to Thursday's game is that at the conclusion of that game hope and optimism collided with reality. Hope and optimism that this team would finally not be plaugued with the same problems and inconsistencies that we have seen over and over the last 5-6 years. Hope and optimism that the past problems have been identified and addressed.

The overreactions are not due to them losing a week 2 game but are solely due to the way that they lost which has been the way they lost so many other games and dashed the fanbase's hopes.

We saw O-line issues, inability to rush the passer, playcalling, questionable coaching decisions (lack of a feel for the game and situational football), Our QB's inexplicable inability to perform against the Bengals D and seeming inability to read a defense at times, the D not being able to get off the field or cover AJ, and the offense looking nonchalant in situations where time is of the utmost importance, subpar safety play, and overall inconsistencies

We have seen all of these things rear their ugly heads many times over the course of the last few seasons. Therein lies the reason for overreactions because we have seen how this plays out before and with all of the hype about improvements and thr showing in the Bills game, the Cincy game became a heart breaker because we saw that some things have not changed and I for one wanted so badly to believe that many of those things I listed had changed but this game made it clear that the same issues can potentially derail this team and it made me sad.

The WR play however has been very encouraging finally and it is clear that that area is a significant improvement.

I will say that I am not a Joe hater but neither am I a member of the FWO. The loss is by no means on Joe as a whole but some of the things that led to Cincy scoring were on Joe. I just try to see the reality that is Joe Flacco. But anyway don't want to make this post about Joe because it isnt, just wanted to include my position on him because it isn't blind hate like some.

I think though that the way I felt about the Bengals game many others share.

[Ravenboy2003]

It's not really an overreaction to be upset over this team's "Rinse-Repeat" philosophy on offense.

We are on a 5-year run now of the same annoying scheme. Start losing a game by a TD or more, and we are automatically going into an offense I like to call Shotgun-Dumpoff. You know what's coming and so do opposing defenses. And we will see it many more times this season with the tough schedule and an apparently shitty interior O-line that isn't going to allow us to run the ball.

[Mark]

Had nothing to do with Mosley getting hurt and the Bengals then scoring on four straight possessions, huh?

I didn't say Mosley's loss had "nothing to do" with the result but choosing Peanut to wear the green dot was the coaches's decision that he was the best guy for the job and by the time they realized he was a disaster calling the D, more damage had been done.

[GreatWhiteNorthRaven]

Yeah for me it has nothing to do with the result. It's about what I watched.

The play calling is becoming tiresome. The lack of effort is becoming tiresome.

Those two things point to things becoming stale in the locker room. 10 years is a long time to have one guy running the ship.

Johnny's time is over.

[Mmcclend]

Terrible offensive line play, terrible safety play, terrible pass rush. That’s not a playoff team in my eyes. Sad but true.

[Real Fan Dan]

Short week, on the road, lost Mosley, bad Oline play all came in within one play to still win..waaayyy too early for knee jerks lol maybe i'm getting old.

I heard on CNN that we only lost because of the hurricane that blew through Cincy in the first half.

[BigPlayReceiver]

Yeah for me it has nothing to do with the result. It's about what I watched.

The play calling is becoming tiresome. The lack of effort is becoming tiresome.

Those two things point to things becoming stale in the locker room. 10 years is a long time to have one guy running the ship.

Other than Tucker's performance, the only consistent thing that I can count on is this team's inconsistency.

Johnny's time is over.

Chuck Noll from 1985-1991: 1 playoff appearance.


You'd have to go back that far to find a former SB winning coach with a similar, stretch of playoff-irrelevance as Johnny Harbs.

[GOTA]

You can chalk up the Bills win to arguably the worst team in the league + inexperienced QB.

You can chalk up the Bengals lose to short week, injuries, "Marvin Lewis always has our number", yada, yada, yada...

This Sunday should tell us a lot about where this team is heading this year.

Yup. The Broncos to me are another middle of the group team just like the Ravens. Winning this one means a lot

[camdenyard]

Terrible offensive line play, terrible safety play, terrible pass rush. That’s not a playoff team in my eyes. Sad but true.

All those things were terrible...in THIS GAME. They were all SUPER in the last game.

Buffalo is horrid, the Bengals might be a very good club. Playing away on short rest is always a challenge.

With few exceptions, teams really don't know what they have until they hit the quarter pole.

[BillickFan]

Ravens aren't as good as the team that beat Buffalo like they were a HS team.
Raven's aren't as bad as the team that got smoked by Cincy on the road in a short week.

September football is all about making incremental progress, learning your teammates & coaches & building something for later in the season. I had us a 3-3 or 2-4 after 6 games, 3 game road trip. And, I still see us getting to 9-11 wins in a watered down NFL. With all the new pieces on offense, it's going to take time for them to gel. Hayden Hurst hasn't even taken a snap yet. The OL combinations aren't settled. This coaching staff has shown over the years that they build as the season goes. I'll patiently wait to see where we are at Halloween, then Thanksgiving & eventually Christmas. Those are my 3 measuring sticks for the football season. Are you positioned to advance to the post-season on those dates? Far too early to panic .