Concerns for 2021 Season

[edromeo]

I really like Gus. Between Gus, Hill and Williams and i don't expect the run game to miss a beat and if Roman wants to run outside more I still think Williams and Hill still provide the outside and speed element.

And if Roman/Lamar want to pass the ball to the backs more I think between Gus, Hill and Williams they can give the offense what people expected JK to provide. I think Gus is a better pass catcher then he gets credit for, he had 2 of the best catches that I saw from a RB last year.

[leachisabeast]

I am not worried about AV or LG anymore. Powers and AV looked solid in their last two games. My worry is where it was at the end of last season, the passing game and the lack of passing weapons. Bateman has had surgery, Watkins is banged up (shock), and Brown has not had a pre season really.

[edromeo]

My 3 biggest concerns are as follows:

• Loss of Dobbins, he added a dimension to the offense that makes our run game lethal. Gone is being able to run outside the tackles with speed and burst
• Health of our WRs, in order for our pass offense to reach the next level we need these guys healthy and in synch with Lamar. A more efficient pass offense will help overcome the loss of Dobbins too
• Health of our secondary - we've seen what has happened in years past when this unit gets decimated. Bad domino effect

Yeah, the injuries to the WRs has me kinda concerned. It was an area they wanted to improve and its the area that got the least time to work together and gel. I worry that if the passing game starts slow then Roman will rely on the run game as usual and then passing game will keep lagging in development.

But, for whatever preseason is worth Huntley looked with the back-up WRs vs Washington's back-ups.
And he was throwing the ball to the areas of the field the Harbs/Roman have targeted for improvement.

When it comes to the secondary I'm bullish. I think Marlo, Juiceman, Averett and Stephens are better then what we had last year.
Ardarius and Westry look like they can play....and we still have Tavon and Smitty.

[BcRaven]

baltimoreravens.com - After Hard But Rewarding Camp, Daelin Hayes Looks to Make Impact :

" Daelin Hayes pulled no punches describing his first training camp with the Ravens.

"That was the hardest six weeks of my life," Hayes said. "I'll keep it honest with y'all."
The demanding camp didn't break Hayes. In fact he flourished, showing his potential to be an impact rookie as a fifth-round pick at outside linebacker.

Hayes kept showing up in the opponent's backfield during practices, preseason games and joint practices... "


<---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------->

baltimorebeatdown.com - Dominant edge setting earned Jaylon Ferguson a spot on the Ravens roster :

" ... he had the best camp of his young career. He impressed in practice and then was able to translate his success to the preseason. One area of his game where he imposed his will with authority was setting the edge against the run.

“He’s gotten so much better in every facet, but the thing you love about him, that you can take to the bank, is he’s going to set a dominant edge. Any time there’s run at him, he’s knocking that back,” Outside Linebackers Coach Drew Wilkins said. "


The Young and the Restless... Bc

[beavery]

Concerned about depth at linebacker position and until proven otherwise their ability to cover. Wink's schemes leave the middle of the field open. Also lack of a rush without blitzing

Offensively worried about Roman's ability to coordinate and execute effective game planning. Lack of depth on the offensive line is a concern. What I'm excited to see is the improvement of our receiving corp. I think it showed by the lack of drops in preseason that the new receivers coach and pass game coordinator worked hard with the group. I'm hoping they can give input that would be meaningfully considered in game planning.

Last worry is the new center on the wolfpack. Hopefully they don't miss a beat but you won't know until game time.

[Ravenswintitle]

I am not worried about AV or LG anymore. Powers and AV looked solid in their last two games. My worry is where it was at the end of last season, the passing game and the lack of passing weapons. Bateman has had surgery, Watkins is banged up (shock), and Brown has not had a pre season really.

Lamar played one drive and was sacked twice. Go watch AV and the lg on those plays

[GOTA]

Wide receivers and pass rushers. Both groups need to prove they can do it on the field.

The pass rushers have a ton of talent but none short of an old Pernell McPhee have done it in real games.

Will Watkins stay healthy? Will Bateman get ready and be able to adjust to the NFL despite missing most of camp? Will Marquise Brown take the next step after looking a lot better the end of last year?

Lamar Jackson needs significant improvement from the wide receivers over last years group. The running game without Dobbins is still good but it would have been great with him. The passing game has to pick up the slack and that’s on the receivers.

This could be a Super Bowl team but things are going to have to go right. It’s a real narrow path to get there with the other contenders in the AFC.

[HbgPARavenfan]

I really like Gus. Between Gus, Hill and Williams and i don't expect the run game to miss a beat and if Roman wants to run outside more I still think Williams and Hill still provide the outside and speed element.

And if Roman/Lamar want to pass the ball to the backs more I think between Gus, Hill and Williams they can give the offense what people expected JK to provide. I think Gus is a better pass catcher then he gets credit for, he had 2 of the best catches that I saw from a RB last year.

I dont think gus is quite good enough to be a rb1. I think the loss of Dobbins could be significant if Williams doesn't pop this year.

I think gus has been great at what he's done so far, the rb2 hammer. Our offense definitely plays into his strength doing that, but I really think people underestimate how dynamic Dobbins is. Hes an electric player and I think he was primed for a huge year

[edromeo]

I dont think gus is quite good enough to be a rb1. I think the loss of Dobbins could be significant if Williams doesn't pop this year.

I think gus has been great at what he's done so far, the rb2 hammer. Our offense definitely plays into his strength doing that, but I really think people underestimate how dynamic Dobbins is. Hes an electric player and I think he was primed for a huge year

I hear you on how dynamic Dobbins is, trust me I do. But at the same time I think people underestimate how good Gus is already....and i think people overrate Dobbins ability in the passing game. I think Gus is a better pass protector and a better receiver then JK.

We may lose some explosive runs, but net-net the I don't think the run game will hold this team back at all.
Gus is poised to make the league know who he is.

[edromeo]

My concerns are (in order of importance):

1. The entire offense having little time in training camp together to work out any of the issues early in the season. We saw the Ravens attempt to expand their passing game mid-season last year with some difficulty. They were lucky to win a lot of the early games like the Eagles and WFT since the schedule was easy. We could have similar trouble this year due to injuries.

I'm def worried about this too. In a weird kinda way these questions marks make the season more interesting to me.

2. Downfield blocking. This seemed to be the issue in 2020 when we lost the ability to run the heavy TE sets based on the loss of Boyle, Hurst, and to a lesser extent Seth Roberts. I'm hoping Oliver and Tomlinson can help with this, but, otherwise there isn't a healthy receiver on the roster that can bring a whole lot in the blocking department. This is probably why Boykin was brought back (although he's on IR to start the season). I'll be interested to see how the young receivers develop as blockers (and am unsure how Watkins slots in as a blocker).

Hollywood Brown is smaller then me and he was a good enough blocker for this run game to be tops in the leageu. I agree that WR blocking is important, but a WR can occupy a defender enough to help out the run game without being a stud. I think the downfield blocking skillset importance is a local media invention....i think any WR that plays for the Ravens will be coached up to be good enough.

2. The only concern I have for the defense is covering RBs and TEs. We seem to have this issue every year since the superbowl victory. We will need some major improvements from Queen and Harrison to ensure that they can cover those guys. Now this could potentially be fixed by a variety of things:

- Queen and Harrison develop their coverage skills
- Tavon, Ar'Darius Washington (unlikely due to size), or Brandon Stephens are able to cover those guys nicely as slot guys
- Bowser and Oweh can be brought on and use their athleticism to cover and Oweh develops good coverage skills
- We use the depth in the secondary to have Humphrey cover guys like Kelce while having Averett, Peters, Smith, etc... cover the outside

The upper echelon TEs are a tough cover. Too fast for most LB. To big/long for most DBs.
I bet that task falls to Brandon Stephen, Jimmy Smith (when healthy) and maybe even that tall kid Westry.

[edromeo]

...
Oline has me the most scared though. AV is simply not the answer. I said it when we signed him. He’s a lazy run blocker and is playing in at a brand new position. Hasn’t looked good in preseason and I don’t expect him to in the regular season. Stanley needs to stay healthy or this offensive line is far worse than it was last year.

I'm worried about Alejandro also....i hope preseason struggles were just a veteran learning and tinkering with a new position. Maybe once the season starts he turns it up a notch and his veteran savvy kicks in.

[leachisabeast]

Lamar played one drive and was sacked twice. Go watch AV and the lg on those plays

I watched all of the snaps. Lamar held onto the ball for a while and one of the sacks was shared responsibility of both Powers and Stanley IIRC. The second sack was on Zeitler. Av had no part in either sack. Filmstudy has given high grades to Powers the last two games.