First look observations

[Raveninwoodlawn]

What a game! I don't want anyone to underestimate the importance of this win...we need to win as many road games as possible, and we still have to go to Minny, Green Bay and of course, New England. It wasn't pretty and a lot has to be looked at and corrected, but wins on the road are big...especially against teams that probably will be winning their divisions.

Lets start with the bad...

1. After watching our game and the Jets game...man do I miss Rex Ryan. I am probably still biased as I didn't like the hire, but I'm not impressed at all by Mattison's scheme and play calling. The players kept saying that it was largely the same defense as Ryans, but it is obvious to me that Mattison may be in over his head a little here. We have the talent to mask some of his calls, but I just don't like the calls. I'm not one of those guys who wants to blitz, blitz, blitz...I think being more "sound" is a good idea...but it's either all or nothing with him. I have hardly seen any zone blitzes...one thing that Rex did/does, is he comes a lot, but a lot of the time, it is no more than 4 or 5 guys...they just overload sides and come from different spots. Mattison seems to want to bring the house every time he blitzes, and it will get you burned against guys like the Chargers have at WR...I mean they have a storehouse of 6-5 guys and they smartly just threw the balls up there and let them outfight 5-10 guys.

2. Fabian looked really bad. It wasn't just the WR's beating him, he was getting his ass kicked by Gates. I know Gates is the truth at TE, but when you are going against a TE, the only real routes you should be getting beat on are quick slants or short hooks. Fabian was bailing out on Gates as if he were scared Gates was going to run by him! He got turned completely around on Gates big play down the middle he fumbled on and basically bailed the rest of the game. Dom wasn't very good either, but at least I saw a guy out there fighting and still trying to make plays...such as the deflection that Barnes picked off. And Carr is a terrible nickle guy...I'd rather put Webb there or even Walker. He can't cover and he is even worse as a tackler. More on him later

3. Where is Ed Reed? I know he has been a slow starter, but man...he has been practically invisible so far. Hopefully he gets it together like he normally does.

4. Special Teams. Cover teams and return teams in particular. I know Sproles is amazing, but man, I'm tired of this crap. We score and then kick the ball out of bounds. We score and then give up a 60 yard return. We can't get a return past the 25. Carr runs even more tentatively than Figurs. And I really liked the Carr pickup. He even got lucky today by having his fumble roll out of bounds. If he isn't going to make any plays, and fumble the ball, and not know when to make a fair catch, then put Webb back there. We are going to face a lot of terrific special teams this year, and we can't be behind the 8-ball here or it will cost us a game or 2.

5. We'll be hearing about how our D is old and in decline all week. And what may be sad, is that it may be true

Now the Good...

1. Joe Flacco...this feels so awesome having a legit franchise QB in here. I knew this would be a tougher go in the passing game than last week because the Chargers have 2 terrific CB's in Cromartie and Jammer. I was kind of worried that he would struggle some due to matchups, but he played very well. He took what was there, bought himself time when he needed and kept the offense on schedule. The guy is going to be very good as long as he stays healthy.

2. The OL played relatively well. They made a couple bad plays, but for the most part, did what they were supposed to do in blowing San Diego off the ball and kept Joe clean (the Merriman hit was ridiculous...he was so clearly offsides). I don't know how long we can keep these guys together, but this is a talented and aggressive OL...the likes of which we haven't seen sin the first 96 season.

3. McGahee is back. Man, that was impressive and refreshing. He obviously was the man today...and ran better than Rice and McClain. I think when all 3 backs are healthy and motivated, McGahee is clearly the most talented guy.

4. Ray Lewis obviously showed why he is going to the HOF. I don't think that was a called run blitz, Ray just went on film memory and instinct. I thought we'd hold them if they ran, but I didn't think someone would shoot that gap like that and close the game out in that fashion. The ageless one continues to amaze.

Again, I think we all should be happy that we got the win on the road as I think that is a VERY talented San Diego team. I was shocked and impressed not only by their talent, but by their awareness and discipline...especially on defense. I know Cam ran quite a few play action plays and boots and all of the like, and we rarely, if ever fooled them. They are going to have problems against the run all year, but they have a lot of talent in their secondary.

Not getting caught up in the spread next week, but hopefully we come out on mission and continue to work on and fix the problems on defense and special teams (and offense too...they weren't perfect). We have a BIG game in 2 weeks in New England...I want to go into that game 3-0.-

[StingerNLG]

Great post RIW. Let me add in mine from the game thread after watching the game.

This was a game I felt that was "winnable" but not a lock, and that if we could take this game we'd definately get to 10 wins. So we went in and got it. 2-0 and first place in the division baby!

1) Kudos to Frank Walker tonight. We've all given him a LOT of shit this pre-season. But when Washington went down SD specifically picked on him with that throw to Naane, and Walker never gave up on it. He definately helped save the game tonight. So for this week, I tip my hat to him.

2) Despite what I said above, I am REALLY worried about our pass defense. 436 yards given up this week? 436 PASS YARDS??? Are you kidding me??? Vincent Jackson and Antonio Gates had good days. Sproles did too, but that's not deep pass. Sproles is Sproles. All we could have hoped to do is contain his rushing, which we did.

3) Speaking of which, why are teams still trying to run on us?

4) Flacco was once again solid tonight. 65% passing, 2TD's, 1INT. Look, I knew he wasn't putting a triple up against the Chargers like he did KC. But I'll take 190 yards. He was mobile, and the offensive line did another solid job of protecting him.

5) I'm still going to remain worried about our receiving core and you guys are just going to have to stay mad at me. 1 catch (and 1 drop) for Todd Heap. 1 catch for all-pro Mark Clayton. 3 catches for 31 yards for Derrick Mason. 0 catches for Demetrius Williams, who I can't even remember if he was in the game anywhere.

Let me put it this way. All three of our running backs registered more catches than our number 2 receiver. And once again Ray Rice led the team in catches and had more yards than our number 2 receiver. I'm sorry, this is still a concern for me.

That said, big tip of the cap to Kelley Washington. It's been a pretty nice surprise for our team. That touchdown where Flacco fake-draw-fake-to-clayton and Washington was wide open was great. And when needed, Washington got the yards to move the chains.


6) Our running game. DAYIM!!!!!! Willis came up big today. And I don't how Ray Rice only had 36 yards because it seemed like he had more. Can we get this kid a touchdown please?? Serious, can we just gift him one? Because he's earned it. And so much for McClain being the feature fullback this year. They still like to give him the ball.


7) Can we leave Hauschka alone for at least this week now?


8) Ray Lewis. 10 tackles, 2 assists, 1 forced fumble, and helped force the interception in the second half. Nothing more needs to be said.

9) Fuck Dan Fauts.

[JimZipCode]

On the replay Merriman wasn't offsides, he just timed the snap perfectly. He got a better jump than anyone on the offense.

Is it just me, or did Gaither play like crap?

I saw Oher blow an assignment, which led to a D-lineman in Flacco's face, but I thought he played well overall.

[Rxdoxx]

My concern is ST.
BA looked fine, but I'm starting to feel that a player or two has to be replaced, same as we saw happen last year.

Lawrence caught my notice this game. Not just the Stone-like penalty, but it sure looked to me like he was responsible for Carr getting creamed and having trouble getting up.
From what I could tell, the guy who hit him came from in front of Lawrence.
All he had to be doing was body the guy up. Anything would have lessened the price Carr paid. Lawrence let him pass right in front of him.
Anyone else see it this way?

[Sephy]

I'll comment on some stuff tomorrow but one thing I've noticed in the media.

No one seems to care that the Ravens gave up 420 yards in the air. The hype machine has begun - Florio from PFT, Mooch on Gameday..all saying the Ravens look like a top of the AFC team. I'm a little puzzled - but I guess the final straw was finally getting some offense in here.

Man I hope we beat the Browns like 49-0.

[RavensDomination]

I'll comment on some stuff tomorrow but one thing I've noticed in the media.

No one seems to care that the Ravens gave up 420 yards in the air. The hype machine has begun - Florio from PFT, Mooch on Gameday..all saying the Ravens look like a top of the AFC team. I'm a little puzzled - but I guess the final straw was finally getting some offense in here.

Name one "great" secondary in the NFL.

You can't. NFL rules have all but eliminated those days. This league is now a passing league, and we finally can put up points through the air. Rivers was arguably the best QB last year, and they have good receivers. He was just airing the ball out all game. It's a concern for me but not huge, we can't be strong in every area. The Steelers won the Super Bowl last year with less talent in the secondary. I think people are starting to realize we are strong where it matters the most - in the trenches and under center.

1. After watching our game and the Jets game...man do I miss Rex Ryan. I am probably still biased as I didn't like the hire, but I'm not impressed at all by Mattison's scheme and play calling. The players kept saying that it was largely the same defense as Ryans, but it is obvious to me that Mattison may be in over his head a little here. We have the talent to mask some of his calls, but I just don't like the calls. I'm not one of those guys who wants to blitz, blitz, blitz...I think being more "sound" is a good idea...but it's either all or nothing with him. I have hardly seen any zone blitzes...one thing that Rex did/does, is he comes a lot, but a lot of the time, it is no more than 4 or 5 guys...they just overload sides and come from different spots. Mattison seems to want to bring the house every time he blitzes, and it will get you burned against guys like the Chargers have at WR...I mean they have a storehouse of 6-5 guys and they smartly just threw the balls up there and let them outfight 5-10 guys.

I agree. Watching that Jets defense you had to smile, as much as the shit talking got on my nerves leading up to that game it was a great display of classic Rex defense. Bart was a monster! Their secondary is better than I thought. Their defense is going to finish top 5, thank God I have them in all my fantasy leagues.

[Dade]

One thing that bothers me is the false start on Oher. Flacco was in the shotgun and right before he snapped it, the refs came running in. They never blew the whistle, just crowded the line for about 5 seconds. Then they backed out and Oher moved. Was that weird for anyone else? What the hell was that all about?

[RavenScallywag]

From what I saw...

- Flacco looked MUCH more comfortable here than against KC. Less miscues, less gambles. He worked the RBs into the passing game very nicely, finding the good mismatches. The INT was a junk play, Merriman had a ridiculously well timed break on him, he tried to force it in quick.

- Running game is going well, except we were getting smashed at the end. They seemed to have all our corners covered and were getting nice pressure and gap coverage on our OL.

- Receivers went down a tad from last week, but we still came away with plays when we needed them to. I think we might want to start some contract extension talks with Kelley Washington. I think we should keep him around for a few more years.

- OL seemed to play pretty good, didn't focus much on that.

- D as a whole was ben, don't break. You had the one long Sproles TD where we blew coverage. Other than that, no long TD plays, and we did well in the redzone. We came up big at the end when we needed to.

- ST was MUCH MUCH improved. Carr is frustrating as a returner, he'll have 2 or 3 boneheaded returns, then break a nice one where you're like "Maybe we should keep him in there".

[RavenScallywag]

One thing that bothers me is the false start on Oher. Flacco was in the shotgun and right before he snapped it, the refs came running in. They never blew the whistle, just crowded the line for about 5 seconds. Then they backed out and Oher moved. Was that weird for anyone else? What the hell was that all about?

Late substitution from SD was getting in place I think. I hate that, because they could use it to get us a Delay of Game. Commentators were mentioning they hold up the play, but don't stop the game clock. It got our rhythm off and Oher just got thrown.

[Dade]

Late substitution from SD was getting in place I think. I hate that, because they could use it to get us a Delay of Game. Commentators were mentioning they hold up the play, but don't stop the game clock. It got our rhythm off and Oher just got thrown.

Thats BS the refs can hold the game for a late sub on defense. And they don't stop the game clock. Aint there that old saying, "Offense doesn't wait for defense."

[srobert96]

On the replay Merriman wasn't offsides, he just timed the snap perfectly. He got a better jump than anyone on the offense.

Is it just me, or did Gaither play like crap?

I saw Oher blow an assignment, which led to a D-lineman in Flacco's face, but I thought he played well overall.

Good Point. He was not offsides. Flacco needs to incorporate a hard count or something to throw him off so he can't time it. In situations like that Brady and Manning will stand up and point him out as coming. This stops the player from rolling right into the rush and makes him stop.

[Marcel#52]

Good Point. He was not offsides. Flacco needs to incorporate a hard count or something to throw him off so he can't time it. In situations like that Brady and Manning will stand up and point him out as coming. This stops the player from rolling right into the rush and makes him stop.

On the replay Merriman wasn't offsides, he just timed the snap perfectly. He got a better jump than anyone on the offense.

Is it just me, or did Gaither play like crap?

I saw Oher blow an assignment, which led to a D-lineman in Flacco's face, but I thought he played well overall.

Gaither played well. Merriman was ineffective the whole game besides that play. The play wasn't on Flacco or Gaither it was on Birk. CBS showed the re-play giving us an angle to see Merriman watching Birk drop his butt about a second before snapping the ball, he got across the line before Gaither could get out of his stance..