Random Ravens Thoughts: New Forum Edition

[SalvadorsDeli]

Yeah, it does look on paper at least like the Seahawks made some bad hires. But I do give credit to Carroll for shaking things up. Good teams don't pat themselves on the back for being competitive most years. They set targets and when they don't reach them, they hold people accountable. Harbaugh would have kept Richard, Cable and Bevell until 2021 at the earliest. 

Steelers are moving on from Haley too. Another perennial contender recognizing that they can do better and acting on it. 

People talk a lot about how 'good teams value stability' or whatever but what I see more of is good teams making moves and holding bad coaches accountable while we congratulate ourselves for being a gold standard NFL team even though we've made the playoffs once in 5 years and nobody is afraid of us anymore. 

Edited January 18, 2018 by BaltimoreTerp

[AFlaccoSeagulls]

2 hours ago, BaltimoreTerp said:

Yeah, it does look on paper at least like the Seahawks made some bad hires. But I do give credit to Carroll for shaking things up. Good teams don't pat themselves on the back for being competitive most years. They set targets and when they don't reach them, they hold people accountable. Harbaugh would have kept Richard, Cable and Bevell until 2021 at the earliest. 

Steelers are moving on from Haley too. Another perennial contender recognizing that they can do better and acting on it. 

People talk a lot about how 'good teams value stability' or whatever but what I see more of is good teams making moves and holding bad coaches accountable while we congratulate ourselves for being a gold standard NFL team even though we've made the playoffs once in 5 years and nobody is afraid of us anymore. 

Yeah I'll say this, there is 0% chance that Harbaugh fires either Bevell or Richard or Haley no matter what.

[DreamKid]

Calling what the Seahawks did "shaking things up" is generous if not outright odd.

The steelers moved on from Haley more because of issues he had with fatso, the consensus was that their D was the problem and they kept everyone in place on that side of the ball.

I will agree that our prestige has dropped during these ineffectual years, before when we missed the playoffs at least the team had an edge and a presence, very few star/impact players, injuries, early round draft busts, embarrassing coaching, softer players than our yesteryear demons, its all dragging us into the darkness.

Our special team unit is peak, but for all the continuity the FO strives for on the staff we see little of it on the field with our other units. Thank everything we were able to keep Roman, an agent of continuity. 

[AFlaccoSeagulls]

Here we go again......Was our problem really that we didn't blitz enough?

[M.10.E]

1 hour ago, Darth Pees said:

Here we go again......Was our problem really that we didn't blitz enough?

Our problem was that both our coordinators and players didn't show up when it counted. Let's hope that changes this year.

[Mancunian Raven]

Hopefully he doesn't think Aggressive defense=blitzing all the time. He may just mean that he likes more man coverage, jamming WRs, playing a more proactive defense that looks to make plays, rather than just allow teams to have their way on short and intermediate passing routes.

If he does just mean he wants to blitz more, then next year will be a long, painful one.

[AFlaccoSeagulls]

1 hour ago, M.10.E said:

Our problem was that both our coordinators and players didn't show up when it counted. Let's hope that changes this year.

Well that's part of the problem and it's relatively well known by now that Dean Pees' mantra was "finish!" and yet here we are....I certainly hope that Martindale's "changes" aren't just blitzing more. We blitzed plenty this year, the problem is that it didn't work because our scheme was crap. From everything I've read, we're not really changing the scheme, we're just "doing things more aggressively".

I don't know, I'm just really having a hard time finding optimism here.

[coordinator0]

8 hours ago, BaltimoreTerp said:

Yeah, it does look on paper at least like the Seahawks made some bad hires. But I do give credit to Carroll for shaking things up. Good teams don't pat themselves on the back for being competitive most years. They set targets and when they don't reach them, they hold people accountable. Harbaugh would have kept Richard, Cable and Bevell until 2021 at the earliest. 

Steelers are moving on from Haley too. Another perennial contender recognizing that they can do better and acting on it. 

People talk a lot about how 'good teams value stability' or whatever but what I see more of is good teams making moves and holding bad coaches accountable while we congratulate ourselves for being a gold standard NFL team even though we've made the playoffs once in 5 years and nobody is afraid of us anymore. 

 

I approve.

[RavensDefense3]

I like the aggressiveness talk, I'm done with seeing wide open WRs in dumb zone coverages catching bombs to end the game on us.

[berlin calling]

talk is cheap, lets wait until his first gameday. maybe he will make use of all the draft picks that were benched all season though, that alone would be an improvement.

[AFlaccoSeagulls]

38 minutes ago, RavensDefense3 said:

I like the aggressiveness talk, I'm done with seeing wide open WRs in dumb zone coverages catching bombs to end the game on us.

Like others have said, it depends on what he means with aggressiveness. Does he mean blitzing? Does he mean press coverage? What does that mean?

If anyone can find our blitz percentages under Pees, I would love to see them. From what I can recall, we're about average in how much we blitz and I think this year we blitzed a lot more than we previously have under Pees, and the results were much the same.

Me personally, I would love to see our scheme simplified, player responsibilities simplified, personnel packages revamped and expanded (more linebackers on the field, less DE's on the field), and I would actually like to see guys playing roles that maximize their talent/skill set. None of that really means being more aggressive.

[Danand]

5 hours ago, Darth Pees said:

Like others have said, it depends on what he means with aggressiveness. Does he mean blitzing? Does he mean press coverage? What does that mean?

If anyone can find our blitz percentages under Pees, I would love to see them. From what I can recall, we're about average in how much we blitz and I think this year we blitzed a lot more than we previously have under Pees, and the results were much the same.

Me personally, I would love to see our scheme simplified, player responsibilities simplified, personnel packages revamped and expanded (more linebackers on the field, less DE's on the field), and I would actually like to see guys playing roles that maximize their talent/skill set. None of that really means being more aggressive.

Being aggressive or not aggressive, it all comes down to how and when the plays are called.

Various insiders, players etc. has told, that Steve Sarkisian inherited Kyle Shanahans playbook and it is the exact same plays they have in their offense this year. Yet we saw a very different offense which basically comes down to how and when and which plays are called given the situation on the field.

Pees scheme could very well work, but if he calls a different play on 4 and 12 than we usually would or a play we execute 100% every time, the end result might be different.

Also, I completely agree with the statement, that most of us would just like to see every player rotated in and used in a way that suits their best skill. If Tim Williams isn't great against the run, don't play him as an outside linebacker with same responsibilites as Suggs/Judon whoever.

If it is 4 and 12, line him up behind Suggs and let Suggs stunt in between the guard and tackle and let Tim Williams have the outside and get matched up against a tight end/runningback, just something other than using him like we use all our outside linebackers.

[AFlaccoSeagulls]

4 hours ago, Danand said:

Being aggressive or not aggressive, it all comes down to how and when the plays are called.

Various insiders, players etc. has told, that Steve Sarkisian inherited Kyle Shanahans playbook and it is the exact same plays they have in their offense this year. Yet we saw a very different offense which basically comes down to how and when and which plays are called given the situation on the field.

Pees scheme could very well work, but if he calls a different play on 4 and 12 than we usually would or a play we execute 100% every time, the end result might be different.

Also, I completely agree with the statement, that most of us would just like to see every player rotated in and used in a way that suits their best skill. If Tim Williams isn't great against the run, don't play him as an outside linebacker with same responsibilites as Suggs/Judon whoever.

If it is 4 and 12, line him up behind Suggs and let Suggs stunt in between the guard and tackle and let Tim Williams have the outside and get matched up against a tight end/runningback, just something other than using him like we use all our outside linebackers.

Yeah I agree with all of this.

One thing to remember though is that the 4th and 12 play we called was a fake blitz. For all intents and purposes, we ran an "aggressive" concept there with the double A gap look and then backed them out. The only thing more aggressive than that would be actually blitzing or something. Who knows. All I know is I'm trying to be optimistic about the future of our defense next year, but I just don't know.

[RavensfanRD]

1 hour ago, Darth Pees said:

Yeah I agree with all of this.

One thing to remember though is that the 4th and 12 play we called was a fake blitz. For all intents and purposes, we ran an "aggressive" concept there with the double A gap look and then backed them out. The only thing more aggressive than that would be actually blitzing or something. Who knows. All I know is I'm trying to be optimistic about the future of our defense next year, but I just don't know.

We're screwed.

[diamondbull424]

The one benefit that I can say about the Darth Wink hiring as well is that, if Martindale fails, he likely doesn’t see a coordinator job for a very very long time... if ever. Thus one has to imagine that if any normal person is in a similar circumstance, they are probably fighting, clawing, working, and doing everything in their power to truly seize an opportunity that they once squandered away.

One thing about failure is that it is the greatest teacher. And thus, if Martindale looks at this promotion like, “I’m buddies with Harbaugh, I have job security” than not only will he fail, but he will be hard pressed to find a defensive coordinator opportunity again. But perhaps his failings before were those of someone that was cocky and arrogant. And now he has been humbled and is truly ready to seize what he has in front of him. We’ll see.