GDT 9/29/19 Week 4: Baltimore Ravens (2-1) vs. Cleveland Browns (1-2)

[BleedTheClock]

Yeah Lamar Jackson is certainly not terrible. He was overrated after the first two weeks, but I thought the Ravens would be looking for a new QB after this season. That seems incredibly unlikely at this point in the game. He's pretty darn good.

 

Teams can't pressure him quickly because he slips out and creates big gains. He gets easy cheap completions to TE's because the rush gets muddled as he's a running threat. It's very difficult to defend.

[BareYourTeeth]

Cutting Jefferson would be the most savage move I could think of and would make the loss and overall performance yesterday worth it. Not going to happen though, I know that, but I agree with Dreamkid... Clark needs to start ahead ahead of him and given the green dot. 

Jefferson having the green dot means he's playing 100% of the defensive snaps which is a sin and cannot happen.

If they rather have a rotation at SS and that's what they choose to do then they're going to have to let Earl give the calls.

Edited September 30, 2019 by BareYourTeeth

[Danand]

36 minutes ago, LETSGOBROWNIES said:

So I’ve had my fun and I’ll play nice.  I’ll even try to say some nice things.

1. Lamar is a LOT better than I thought he’d be. He improved a ton since last year and if he can continue to improve and continue to stay healthy, he’s gonna be a handful.

2. Marlon Humphrey is a MONSTER. I’m glad neither he nor OBJ got ejected, I enjoyed watching those two go at it.

3. Mark Andrews is another one I’m jealous of. Dude is really solid.

4. Your ability to draft and develop defensive talent is unreal.  I know it wasn’t their best game, but after losing as much as you did over the offseason I thought the talent you trotted out there was pretty impressive.  Their ability to draft and develop linebackers is second to no one.

Anyway, it was a good game and both team left without any major injuries (that I’m aware of anyway).  Good luck until the next game.

Oh, and @RavensfanRD, I don’t normally do any ridiculous sig or avi bets.  I do admire your stones though.  That said, if the Browns don’t win another game I’ll happily wear whatever avi you want (it won’t matter as I’ll be walking in front of a bus shortly after changing it) but I won’t hold you to your end, not really my style my man.  

Did you notice if you had more help for your tackles in this game? I saw a lot of blindside pressure on Mayfield on your previous game, but it was almost non-existent in this game. The Browns did it last year and it worked well against us there as well.

[LETSGOBROWNIES]

9 minutes ago, Danand said:

Did you notice if you had more help for your tackles in this game? I saw a lot of blindside pressure on Mayfield on your previous game, but it was almost non-existent in this game. The Browns did it last year and it worked well against us there as well.

A bit, I also saw Baker climbing the pocket more.  Last year he was phenomenal at not getting happy feet, climbing the pocket and making throws.  Early this year he was bailing early and feeling a lot of phantom pressure.  He seemed to have corrected that a bit.

It also looks like Freddie started incorporating more of what worked last season.  This was the first game the ball came out quickly, we had any semblance of creativity, etc.  The first 3 games looked like a kid who was pretty bad at Madden calling the same 3-4 plays the whole time.  We finally got back to what had been successful previously.

[RavensfanRD]

1 hour ago, LETSGOBROWNIES said:

So I’ve had my fun and I’ll play nice.  I’ll even try to say some nice things.

1. Lamar is a LOT better than I thought he’d be. He improved a ton since last year and if he can continue to improve and continue to stay healthy, he’s gonna be a handful.

2. Marlon Humphrey is a MONSTER. I’m glad neither he nor OBJ got ejected, I enjoyed watching those two go at it.

3. Mark Andrews is another one I’m jealous of. Dude is really solid.

4. Your ability to draft and develop defensive talent is unreal.  I know it wasn’t their best game, but after losing as much as you did over the offseason I thought the talent you trotted out there was pretty impressive.  Their ability to draft and develop linebackers is second to no one.

Anyway, it was a good game and both team left without any major injuries (that I’m aware of anyway).  Good luck until the next game.

Oh, and @RavensfanRD, I don’t normally do any ridiculous sig or avi bets.  I do admire your stones though.  That said, if the Browns don’t win another game I’ll happily wear whatever avi you want (it won’t matter as I’ll be walking in front of a bus shortly after changing it) but I won’t hold you to your end, not really my style my man.  

I dig it. Not really my style either. You make it hard to dislike the Browns, however, I still do. 

See you week 16 when we take the division title again!

[pnies20]

What’s up with earl thomas? Has he not been the same since his injury? He looked slow and lethargic. 

[berlin calling]

the love affar with Chris Moore has to end.

he offers nothing as a receiver that can't easily be replaced by the other guys. ST? not needed with Bethel excelling as gunner.

i want Scott starting the next game over Moore and prove he belongs.

 

[M.10.E]

The drives and how they ended

1 - Bozeman gives up quick sack, no chance for Lamar

2 - Andrews drop on 2nd down then sacked on 3rd

3 - The Chris Moore debacle where he tried to run before he actually caught the ball.

4- Touchdown

5- Kneel

6 - Ingram fumble after driving field with ease

7 - TD

8 - Downs, with the awful run call on 3rd then miscommunication on 4th. Basically the game here.

9 - INT 50 yards down the field

10 - INT on hit arm

11 - Garbage TD

Simply too many self inflicted mistakes for a team with a shoddy defense.

[RavensDefense3]

48 minutes ago, M.10.E said:

The drives and how they ended

1 - Bozeman gives up quick sack, no chance for Lamar

2 - Andrews drop on 2nd down then sacked on 3rd

3 - The Chris Moore debacle where he tried to run before he actually caught the ball.

4- Touchdown

5- Kneel

6 - Ingram fumble after driving field with ease

7 - TD

8 - Downs, with the awful run call on 3rd then miscommunication on 4th. Basically the game here.

9 - INT 50 yards down the field

10 - INT on hit arm

11 - Garbage TD

Simply too many self inflicted mistakes for a team with a shoddy defense.

yup. we really did beat ourselves.

[M.10.E]

16 minutes ago, RavensDefense3 said:

yup. we really did beat ourselves.

On offense I agree. Defense is a whole other can of worms.

[AFlaccoSeagulls]

Watch these highlights and then tell me how impressed with Baker Mayfield you are. Literally every throw except for TWO are to wide open dudes that any NFL QB can make. It's embarrassing how bad our defense is in coverage.

[M.10.E]

Between the option "pass", Ricky Seals Jones, & Jarvis broken tackle that's about 150 free yards of offense. Smh.

[Danand]

3 hours ago, LETSGOBROWNIES said:

A bit, I also saw Baker climbing the pocket more.  Last year he was phenomenal at not getting happy feet, climbing the pocket and making throws.  Early this year he was bailing early and feeling a lot of phantom pressure.  He seemed to have corrected that a bit.

It also looks like Freddie started incorporating more of what worked last season.  This was the first game the ball came out quickly, we had any semblance of creativity, etc.  The first 3 games looked like a kid who was pretty bad at Madden calling the same 3-4 plays the whole time.  We finally got back to what had been successful previously.

I felt the same way watching the game. I viewed the Rams Browns game right before kickoff and specifically the part about the oline. Also saw the screen game as something you guys would use, and I was a little surprised at how well it went as it was quite clear it was a go to play for you in obvious blitz situations.

[LETSGOBROWNIES]

Just now, Danand said:

I felt the same way watching the game. I viewed the Rams Browns game right before kickoff and specifically the part about the oline. Also saw the screen game as something you guys would use, and I was a little surprised at how well it went as it was quite clear it was a go to play for you in obvious blitz situations.

This was the first game the screens have been successful.

The Rams game was prolly Baker’s worst as far as sensing phantom pressure and not stepping up.  He was the primary issue with the offense there imo.

[diamondbull424]

7 hours ago, Danand said:

The coverage breakdown where Ricky Seals-Jones, most likely the best tight end in the game, runs a seam, I can’t really guess the coverage here, but I think it is a cover 3, Carr on the right side follows his receiver, Thomas goes deep middle, Humphrey and Jefferson both play the sticks, and both breaks on the outside receiver, this seems like Humphrey playing a wrong assignment and not Jefferson. If this is the case, some of the miscues on deep passes is on Humphrey as I saw the same breakdown in the Cardinals and Chiefs game

This was a great post overall. I just wanted to comment and agree specifically with this portion. I think Humphrey was locked in on shutting down OBJ that he didn’t recognize that we went with a zone cover 3 there where he had deep zone.

This is what I mean with returning Smith should change the entire infrastructure of how we are playing coverage and make our defense improve significantly. With Smith, Carr, and Humphrey we can man all three and give some rest when they need it. Averrett now becomes a depth/breather option and not someone to expose religiously in man, thus due to Carr’s decline in performance and endurance in games, we’re trying to protect our corners and safeties (ie Tony Jefferson) from giving up big plays in man coverage by running zone and it’s clearly not working.

That said I find the defensive strategy to be quite annoying regardless of the lack of corner options. For as unaware as Averrett is in man coverage, at least he sticks to his man and presents the appearance that his man is not open. Also while Jefferson is significantly better in zone coverage than man coverage, he’s still below average in zone. While Humphrey is simply above average in zone (mostly due to his awareness with regard to WHEN we’re in zone and not his ability to read and diagnose). It seems incredible foolish to play to Jefferson’s strengths and not cater your strategy to best fit your elite talent and force your weaknesses outside of that to catch up.

Either way, with the lack of leadership and lack of pass rush, would definitely be interested to see if the Broncos might be for trading him and if so what it would cost to get done.