Midseason Evaluations and Notes

[AFlaccoSeagulls]

Well...we're through 8 weeks in this season. We're 4-4 coming off of a blowout loss to Carolina.

What are your midseason observations and evaluations so far?

EDIT: Spelling

[berlin calling]

i was defending #22 and #23 and thought they'd bounce back big time this season.

turns out i know nothing. cut the losses after the season and rebuild the secondary, you have the foundation with Humphrey, Young and - pending further development - Averett and Elliott.

[M.10.E]

- Team looks very similar to last year besides the passing game being better and the running game being worse. Beat the bad QBs, lose to the better QBs. We play a lot of better QBs this year, so that's not good. We are in mediocrity hell. Probs will finish around 8-8, plus or minus a game.

- Also, PLEASE no more contract restructures. That BWill contract looks TERRIBLE, oh my.

- We've beaten ONE good QB outside of our division the last 2.5 years. ONE (Stafford).

[RavensFC]

As we all seem to agree on we are very up and down this season. I think we are worse than most of us thought in the beginning now that’s not to say we don’t have the talent to sneak into the playoffs but it’s getting hard to see us doing that as each weeks goes by.

As for the team I’ll start by saying there is no unrestricted free agent we have that we have I would sign besides John Brown. Mosley hasn’t been playing up to our expectation which is sad to see because I like Mosley but no need to resign him. How Flacco has been better still makes some questionable decisions but the lack of the run game is what is holding us back because it allows Flacco to not throw the ball so much limiting his mistakes. Our defense is great we obviously have to change some things up. We need a playmaker at Safety and we need a pass rusher on the Dline and allow Tim Williams and bowser to play more to see what they can really do.

I want to believe this season can be a win-win for us. Either we make the playoffs and hopefully make a push and who knows. Or we don’t make the playoffs we get a better pick and Decosta comes in and cleans house and we start great new QB and new coach and coaching staff. 

[paraven]

unfortunately I feel this team is going to get a lot worse before it can get better. This team needs a full rebuild from top to bottom, on both sides of the ball. 

[Danand]

I have spent a lot of time on twitter trying to explain how I view the Ravens this season. I’d wish the story was a bit different from earlier years, but so far it very much look like the 2013, 2016 and 2017 seasons, where a few close games determine the season, which end with us on the outside looking in.

Basically I believe we as a team has such a solid foundation (coaching, offense, defense, ST) that we can get 6-7 wins with a “comfortable” margin. Then we have the games where we either don’t show up or the opposition is simply better. Those games also accounts for 6-7 a year.

That leaves 2-4 close games that determines whether we go to the playoffs. 4 wins here and we get in, 2-2 we have a shot, but with 0-4 we are out.

Despite us being a better team this year – last year was a piececake QB-schedule, we have lost 2 of the close games that could have gotten us over the mediocre win/loss ratio we have now, and that have to change.

Having a playmaker on offense or defense could have made the small difference between a playoff or bust season. Instead we have a solid team, where we can’t make a game winning grab against the Browns or make a game winning interception against the saints – plays we made the years we went to the playoffs.

The season is far from over, and if we rebound and get wins against the Steelers and Bengals at home, we suddenly look real good.

[DreamKid]

58 minutes ago, paraven said:

unfortunately I feel this team is going to get a lot worse before it can get better. This team needs a full rebuild from top to bottom, on both sides of the ball. 

This is just something people say when they don't understand why the team is losing games.

S: DeShon Elliot, Chuck Clark

CB: Marlon Humphrey, Tavon Young, Anthony Averett, Maurice Canady, Jaylen Hill

LB: Kenny Young

EDGE: Tim Williams, Tyus Bowser, Matt Judon

DI: Zach Sieler,  Chris Wormley, 

OT: Ronnie Stanley, Orlando Brown Jr.

G/C/T: Bradley Bozeman, Jermaine Eluemanor, Alex Lewis, James Hurst

TE: Hayden Hurst, Mark Andrews

WR: Willie Snead, Chris Moore, Jordan Lasley, Jaleel Scott

HB: Alex Collins, De'Lance Turner, Gus Edwards

FB: Patrick Ricard

QB: Lamar Jackson

^^That's purely the young talent we have under contract at least through next year.

Add in our veterans(Tucker) and some obvious resigns(Suggs) + hopeful extensions(John Brown), and you have a perennial contender. 

We have all the talent necessary, young + old. The only position group where we need a clear upgrade is the Interior Offensive Line. Coaching and execution has been this team's issue. 

[paraven]

Just now, DreamKid said:

This is just something people say when they don't understand why the team is losing games.

S: DeShon Elliot, Chuck Clark

CB: Marlon Humphrey, Tavon Young, Anthony Averett, Maurice Canady, Jaylen Hill

LB: Kenny Young

EDGE: Tim Williams, Tyus Bowser, Matt Judon

DI: Zach Sieler,  Chris Wormley, 

OT: Ronnie Stanley, Orlando Brown Jr.

G/C/T: Bradley Bozeman, Jermaine Eluemanor, Alex Lewis, James Hurst

TE: Hayden Hurst, Mark Andrews

WR: Willie Snead, Chris Moore, Jordan Lasley, Jaleel Scott

HB: Alex Collins, De'Lance Turner, Gus Edwards

FB: Patrick Ricard

QB: Lamar Jackson

^^That's purely the young talent we have under contract at least through next year.

Add in our veterans(Tucker) and some obvious resigns(Suggs) + hopeful extensions(John Brown), and you have a perennial contender. 

We have all the talent necessary, young + old. The only position group where we need a clear upgrade is the Interior Offensive Line. Coaching and execution has been this team's issue. 

there young, but I dont know about talented. Humphrey is the only one on there that might make a pro bowl.

[SalvadorsDeli]

Things just don't feel all that different from the past couple of years. Still struggling to put it together for 60 minutes, still struggling to execute on both sides of the ball in the same game, still getting torched by good QB's... still failing to build momentum after big wins. It's 2 steps forward and 2 steps back, always. 

I think the next 2 weeks are probably the final nails in the coffin - realistically we need to win both of them to keep up any hopes of winning the division - but I pretty much see where this is going. And I think this is probably the end of the road for the Flacco/Harbaugh era. 

[AFlaccoSeagulls]

The midseason evaluations from me are as follows:

Offense

QB - Flacco has actually played well this year, all things considered. He has no running game to balance things out, but for the most part he's made good decisions and played well. Lamar Jackson has been our best running package this entire year, and I'm very glad to see him getting into games and not just wasting a season sitting on the bench. He has a long ways to go with throwing the ball from the pocket, but I will say his TD to Hayden Hurst yesterday was a great play.

HB - Collins has been very up and down. When he gets space to move, he's still the same guy as last year, but his fumble problems are still a concern and ultimately that's something that will always keep him from being a reliable back. Buck Allen has been the same steady guy he always has been. Doesn't do anything special, but does his job. 

WR - Crabtree has been a huge disappointment, but John Brown and Willie Snead have been playing phenomenal this year and I hope we keep both of them moving forward. Chris Moore has been pretty solid in limited action as well.

TE - This group is the most confusing to me. Andrews has played great for us this year. Maxx Williams has played great for us this year, but seemingly disappeared in favor of Nick Boyle, who is so slow that every time he catches a pass the only way he gains positive yards is by trying to hurdle guys. Hayden Hurst, despite being healthy for 3 weeks now cannot get on the field with the 1's. For a guy who is already old for a rookie, the fact he can't get on the field is highly disappointing. That said, I have no idea why this team continues to run 3 TE's out there and make them try to make impossible blocks in the running and passing game. It's only hurting this team. We need to either make Maxx an H-back or do something else, because Hurst and Andrews need to be in the game more than Boyle.

OL - For the most part this group has played well, even James Hurst. Hurst and Alex Lewis, once they're healthy, should solidify things for us down the stretch. However, seeing as they're both fighting injuries, the fact that we only have one reserve OL for the past two games is unacceptable and I have no idea what we're doing.

 

Defense

DE - All of these guys suck. Urban, Wormley, etc. Not a single one of them provides any push in the run game or pass game. With how much we've invested here with 2nd and 3rd and 4th round picks over the past 5 years, it's amazing the best player out of all of them is Brent Urban, whose missed like 2 full seasons of games with injuries and has like 1 career sack.

DT - Brandon Williams' contract looks worse each day, and he's been completely invisible for us. No push in the pass game, and not much impact in the run game. Michael Pierce has been solid, but his playing time is rare as it is.

OLB - Suggs started off hot but of course is starting to taper off. I hope his snap counts start declining more so that come December he's not completely useless. Judon has been a huge disappointment after having a breakout season last year. He looks completely useless as a pass rusher, and just like another iteration of Jarret Johnson and Courtney Upshaw. Tim Williams has been phenomenal, when he plays, which is almost never, and I hope his snap counts increase as Suggs hopefully decrease. Bowser hasn't played enough for me to actually know anything about any progress.

ILB - Mosley went from stud young player to borderline liability in a little less than 2 full seasons. He's slow, looks lost in coverage and can't play in space and recently he can't even tackle without being dragged for 8 yards but a 185lb WR. Probably the most disappointing player on defense this year. Peanut has been the complete opposite. He's been a solid tackler, looked good in space and as a blitzer, and basically been everything he wasn't last year. Kenny Young has been up and down, which is expected. I would hope his role continues to grow and he sees the field more as a man-coverage or downhill linebacker before fully taking over next year when Mosley walks. Chris Board has been a fantastic ST's player.

CB - Jimmy Smith has been meh but horrible the past two weeks. Carr has been his usual reliable #2 CB self. Marlon has been great when healthy, Tavon Young has only had one bad game. 

S - Weddle is just invisible on the field. I never notice him doing anything besides running around and being near the end of the play. Jefferson just sucks. Can't believe we bought into the hype around this dude in Arizona, but whatever coach made him play to that level in 2016 should've got Coach of the Year because he's worse than Kendrick Lewis. A complete overhaul at Safety should be in our future, though I would be a huge fan of moving Weddle to a secondary assistant coaching position as soon as he retires. He seems to at least have a very good mental approach to the position - he just can't physically do anything you want a safety to do. He's too slow to play single high coverage and he can't tackle with his body at all, he just arm tackles everything. Anthony Levine has been a stud when he sees playing time, which is basically never. He's our best dime ILB and should be playing a lot more than he is. Chuck Clark hasn't played enough for me to notice anything.

K - Justin Tucker is still the MVP of this team.

P - Sam Koch is still one of the best punters in the league.

EDIT: Added short analysis for Levine and Chuck Clark.

[AFlaccoSeagulls]

19 minutes ago, DreamKid said:

This is just something people say when they don't understand why the team is losing games.

S: DeShon Elliot, Chuck Clark

CB: Marlon Humphrey, Tavon Young, Anthony Averett, Maurice Canady, Jaylen Hill

LB: Kenny Young

EDGE: Tim Williams, Tyus Bowser, Matt Judon

DI: Zach Sieler,  Chris Wormley, 

OT: Ronnie Stanley, Orlando Brown Jr.

G/C/T: Bradley Bozeman, Jermaine Eluemanor, Alex Lewis, James Hurst

TE: Hayden Hurst, Mark Andrews

WR: Willie Snead, Chris Moore, Jordan Lasley, Jaleel Scott

HB: Alex Collins, De'Lance Turner, Gus Edwards

FB: Patrick Ricard

QB: Lamar Jackson

^^That's purely the young talent we have under contract at least through next year.

Add in our veterans(Tucker) and some obvious resigns(Suggs) + hopeful extensions(John Brown), and you have a perennial contender. 

We have all the talent necessary, young + old. The only position group where we need a clear upgrade is the Interior Offensive Line. Coaching and execution has been this team's issue. 

I've highlighted all the people who I would consider talented. The rest are basically just depth guys or completely average players.

[berlin calling]

get a coach who coaches his players up no matter how talented. Can't have 20 pro bowlers on the team. Put them in position to succeed. 

AFS mentioned Jefferson playing out of his mind and in hindsight over his actual talent in Arizona. good coaches do that. I am not sure that has been the case in Baltimore under Harbaugh (guess i am missing the one player that overachieved but you get where i am coming from). In Baltimore you are put on the bench when you are young and unexperienced, i'd rather have a supportive coach who accepts players will make mistakes and let them learn - and grow - through it. 

Gimme a new head coach and position coaches before overhauling the roster.

[SalvadorsDeli]

2 hours ago, berlin calling said:

get a coach who coaches his players up no matter how talented. Can't have 20 pro bowlers on the team. Put them in position to succeed. 

AFS mentioned Jefferson playing out of his mind and in hindsight over his actual talent in Arizona. good coaches do that. I am not sure that has been the case in Baltimore under Harbaugh (guess i am missing the one player that overachieved but you get where i am coming from). In Baltimore you are put on the bench when you are young and unexperienced, i'd rather have a supportive coach who accepts players will make mistakes and let them learn - and grow - through it. 

Gimme a new head coach and position coaches before overhauling the roster.

Yep. There's been a lot of talk about relatively poor drafting since the Super Bowl but that sort of goes hand in hand with the coaching staff - what if part of the reason our drafting looks so bad is because the coaching staff is just failing to develop players? And besides, on the front office side, we ARE making changes this offseason. That needs to go hand in hand with changes at the coaching level too. John Harbaugh has basically been Jeff Fisher since we won it all and 6 years is far past the grace period. 

 

[Danand]

33 minutes ago, BaltimoreTerp said:

Yep. There's been a lot of talk about relatively poor drafting since the Super Bowl but that sort of goes hand in hand with the coaching staff - what if part of the reason our drafting looks so bad is because the coaching staff is just failing to develop players? And besides, on the front office side, we ARE making changes this offseason. That needs to go hand in hand with changes at the coaching level too. John Harbaugh has basically been Jeff Fisher since we won it all and 6 years is far past the grace period. 

 

The coaching staff have developed players drafted in the later rounds into solid starters or rotational players. Not many of them could be considered among the best in the NFL at their position though and while Brandon Williams plays well, he isn't the guy that can hold himself alone in the running game or make the crucial sack when the game needs to be closed.

[AFlaccoSeagulls]

57 minutes ago, BaltimoreTerp said:

Yep. There's been a lot of talk about relatively poor drafting since the Super Bowl but that sort of goes hand in hand with the coaching staff - what if part of the reason our drafting looks so bad is because the coaching staff is just failing to develop players? And besides, on the front office side, we ARE making changes this offseason. That needs to go hand in hand with changes at the coaching level too. John Harbaugh has basically been Jeff Fisher since we won it all and 6 years is far past the grace period. 

 

 

21 minutes ago, Danand said:

The coaching staff have developed players drafted in the later rounds into solid starters or rotational players. Not many of them could be considered among the best in the NFL at their position though and while Brandon Williams plays well, he isn't the guy that can hold himself alone in the running game or make the crucial sack when the game needs to be closed.

Our team takes late round picks and develops them into maybe decent rotational players for our team. Other teams take late round picks and develop them into All-Pros. That's the difference, IYAM. And basically all of our success at developing players has been in the front 7 of the defense. We can't develop safeties, or CB's, or WR's, or TE's, or OL, or RB's. We've primarily relied on high round picks and FA's for those positions ever since 2012. Sure, we've had a couple of decent players here or there, like Judon or Kenneth Dixon or Chris Moore but for the most part, aside from the DL (and the architect of that is now passed away, RIP) we don't really develop any high-level players in many areas of this team. And even recently that development on the DL has gotten us....Brent Urban? Willie Henry? Those guys would be depth players on any other roster, not starters. 

There is definitely a narrative around the dynamic between drafting and coaching. It's hard to detach those two things when you have players like John Simon, Kamalei Correa, Arthur Brown, Matt Elam and Breshad Perriman all picked high and all completely failed here. Either the drafting sucks, or the coaching sucks. Or both.