The Ravens biggest problem in big games is psychological.

[Culex]

"Believe me I've tried!"




Wise words from a wise man... Bc

He wasn't that wise if you ask me

[QtR Nevermore]

He wasn't that wise if you ask me

Freud got a lot of the answers wrong but the approach he took and the questions he asked opened up a whole new area of study and changed the way humans think about themselves, which makes him a lot smarter than any of us.

He even has a whole discipline named after himself, so he sounds like your kind of guy.

[Capt. Atari]

It's Harbaugh. Shouldn't even be the HC if it weren't for Lamar dragging the entire team on his back out of irrelevancy in 2018. John & Jim are both hacks that peaked 10 years ago and haven't been able to keep up with the football world since.

Harbaugh has to go. Bienimy or McDaniels would be at the top of my list

Unless they are bringing a Pass Rush or a better O-Line, they can stay where they are. The Raven's problem isn't coaching, its Talent. The Ravens need better guys in the trenches. Can the guys we have get better? That remains to be seen. I would say that if you're not seeing us in more 5 receiver sets by the end of the season that will tell you something. If Lamar isn't going deep outside the numbers more often over the next few months that will also tell you something.

[WNCRavensFan]

Unless they are bringing a Pass Rush or a better O-Line, they can stay where they are. The Raven's problem isn't coaching, its Talent. The Ravens need better guys in the trenches. Can the guys we have get better? That remains to be seen. I would say that if you're not seeing us in more 5 receiver sets by the end of the season that will tell you something. If Lamar isn't going deep outside the numbers more often over the next few months that will also tell you something.

Eh. The Ravens have weak spots on their team just like every other team (yes even the Chiefs). Even their best players played like doo doo on Monday night. I put the onus on the coaches.

[Ravenswintitle]

you guys still arguing who to blame? there's a game in 3 days

[edromeo]

This game was painful but it could be useful. We can now see what the problem is. It wasn't a bad luck or a "bad day" like we thought after Tennessee or the Chargers. It's not that the team isn't good enough. (They never even played like the Ravens all night. If they had passed like they did against Cleveland or ran like they did against Houston, this would have been be a close contest.) It's not because we don't have AB, Earl

Late to the party but...
Starting with the last first, which i think is completely different topic but AB would absolutely be a difference maker that would lift the entire passing game which would help them win playoff games. But AB off the field might be more then the organization can bear or handle.

The problem is psychological. I don't know whether it comes from Harbaugh, Roman or Lamar himself* but the whole team, and the offense in particular,gets tense for big games. The team seems to try too hard and the playcaller tries to get too clever. Whoever is to blame, the problem now seems undeniable.

I do agree that psychology or mentality is an area they can improve in.

I think Greg gets 'tight' and it makes Lamar tight.
I think Greg loses the aggressive mentality and its reflected in his playcalling.
He begins to....'panic' but that's too strong a word description for me.
I think Greg gets nervous which makes the playcalling disjointed which makes Lamar nervous or at least makes Lamar frustrated and then he starts pressing.
You can see it in Lamar's body language AND Greg is in booth so Harbs and Lamar don't have that personal contact communication rapport and imho that can create a snowball effect because of the separation.
Harbs can't put his arm around Greg and get him back in the game with a smile or joke or hug or what ever.
Lamar can't look Greg in the eyes and convince him to dial up some shot plays.
They aren't there on the sideline to help each other.
They need to come into the Chiefs game with swagger and confidence.
A confident team doesn't get nervous nor veer from the blueprint of who they are and what they do.
A confident team isn't afraid to call plays that throw to Miles Boykin anytime he has a favorable match-up.
A confident QB doesn't force the ball to his 'safe' targets.

I think the problem with the Chiefs is also partly related to coaching.
The gameplan, play design and playcalling are lacking especially compared to they level of performance we get during the regular games.

[Uli2001]

This game was painful but it could be useful. We can now see what the problem is. It wasn't a bad luck or a "bad day" like we thought after Tennessee or the Chargers. It's not that the team isn't good enough. (They never even played like the Ravens all night. If they had passed like they did against Cleveland or ran like they did against Houston, this would have been be a close contest.) It's not because we don't have AB, Earl, or Dez. (Please!)

The problem is psychological. I don't know whether it comes from Harbaugh, Roman or Lamar himself* but the whole team, and the offense in particular,gets tense for big games. The team seems to try too hard and the playcaller tries to get too clever. Whoever is to blame, the problem now seems undeniable.

The Ravens must admit that they tighten up in big games before they can try to fix it. Get in sports psychologists, hypnotists, treat it like any other week, whatever it takes. They must alter their prepapration for important games before the playoffs.

( * It might be Harbaugh because - we went missing in key regular season gmaes against Pittsburgh and Cincinatti before Roman and Lamar arrived.
*It might be Roman because - 49ers fans used to accuse him of trying to get too clever in big games. SOund familiar?
*It might be Lamar because - he's never played well in the biggest games. The coaches might be trying to minimise the effects of his tension.
Who knows? )

[Uli2001]

Late to the party but...
Starting with the last first, which i think is completely different topic but AB would absolutely be a difference maker that would lift the entire passing game which would help them win playoff games. But AB off the field might be more then the organization can bear or handle.

I do agree that psychology or mentality is an area they can improve in.

I think Greg gets 'tight' and it makes Lamar tight.
I think Greg loses the aggressive mentality and its reflected in his playcalling.
He begins to....'panic' but that's too strong a word description for me.
I think Greg gets nervous which makes the playcalling disjointed which makes Lamar nervous or at least makes Lamar frustrated and then he starts pressing.
You can see it in Lamar's body language AND Greg is in booth so Harbs and Lamar don't have that personal contact communication rapport and imho that can create a snowball effect because of the separation.
Harbs can't put his arm around Greg and get him back in the game with a smile or joke or hug or what ever.
Lamar can't look Greg in the eyes and convince him to dial up some shot plays.
They aren't there on the sideline to help each other.
They need to come into the Chiefs game with swagger and confidence.
A confident team doesn't get nervous nor veer from the blueprint of who they are and what they do.
A confident team isn't afraid to call plays that throw to Miles Boykin anytime he has a favorable match-up.
A confident QB doesn't force the ball to his 'safe' targets.

I think the problem with the Chiefs is also partly related to coaching.
The gameplan, play design and playcalling are lacking especially compared to they level of performance we get during the regular games.

I think the explanation could be simpler: youth. This offense is young at key positions.

[usmccharles]

Eh. The Ravens have weak spots on their team just like every other team (yes even the Chiefs). Even their best players played like doo doo on Monday night. I put the onus on the coaches.

That game was absolutely about coaching and lack there of. I can handle losing when we play our game, our style, Ravens football. What i cant stand is going completely against what was working AND what makes us so dominant. Again. The coaching staff for some reason (ego maybe) goes out there and tries to show the world that we can be a high octane passing offense too. Belicheck is famous for taking away what the opponent does best, we did that to ourselves which is why this game burns so bad

[QtR Nevermore]

I do agree that psychology or mentality is an area they can improve in.

I think Greg gets 'tight' and it makes Lamar tight.
I think Greg loses the aggressive mentality and its reflected in his playcalling.
He begins to....'panic' but that's too strong a word description for me.
I think Greg gets nervous which makes the playcalling disjointed which makes Lamar nervous or at least makes Lamar frustrated and then he starts pressing.
You can see it in Lamar's body language AND Greg is in booth so Harbs and Lamar don't have that personal contact communication rapport and imho that can create a snowball effect because of the separation.
Harbs can't put his arm around Greg and get him back in the game with a smile or joke or hug or what ever.
Lamar can't look Greg in the eyes and convince him to dial up some shot plays.
They aren't there on the sideline to help each other.
They need to come into the Chiefs game with swagger and confidence.
A confident team doesn't get nervous nor veer from the blueprint of who they are and what they do.
A confident team isn't afraid to call plays that throw to Miles Boykin anytime he has a favorable match-up.
A confident QB doesn't force the ball to his 'safe' targets.

I think the problem with the Chiefs is also partly related to coaching.
The gameplan, play design and playcalling are lacking especially compared to they level of performance we get during the regular games.

I'm with you in thinking that the nerves/tightness/panic starts with Roman.

I've seen posters (including me) blame Harbaugh because we had late season, big game disappointments against Pittsbugh and Cincinnati before Roman, but those games didn't feel like the Titans and KC losses. Both came down to one big play. Those were borderline playoff teams at best and they didn't suddenly play far worse than usual in the big game. There wasn't the feeling that the whole offense was diminished by fear. (I'm not saying Harbaugh is blameless. The main problem in those earlier games was Pees calling an incredibly passive defense and we can see Harbaugh's pattern of non-intervention when a co-ordinator is getting it badly wrong.)

There's also a good chance that Lamar gets tense too. He was never put in a position to succeed but we're used to seeing him overcome negative situations all the time. In these games he didn't.

The Ravens need to bring in sports psychologists to help the players with more confidence in big games but I think Harbaugh has to persuade Roman to work with one too, which might be a tricky conversation. Having seen Roman's press conference I'm not confident that he's willing to change anything at all. If he isn't, I expect a similar performance in the next big game, sadly.

[QtR Nevermore]

I think the explanation could be simpler: youth. This offense is young at key positions.

I don't think players just age into being better under pressure. The team has to take steps to help them get there ie. sports psychologists.

And Roman is 48. What's his excuse?

[LAMAR]

Freud got a lot of the answers wrong but the approach he took and the questions he asked opened up a whole new area of study and changed the way humans think about themselves, which makes him a lot smarter than any of us.

He even has a whole discipline named after himself, so he sounds like your kind of guy.

He actually got a hell of a lot wrong. I respect him for breaking new ground in the field, but I thought Carl Jung was a much better psychologist over all.