TNF: For Whom the Bell Bowls (balt v nyj)

[sp6488]

16 minutes ago, FrantikRam said:

 

The Ravens have beaten the following teams with winning records:

Patriots

Niners

Seahawks

Bills

Rams

Texans

Steelers

 

And then the Bengals twice, Dolphins, Jets and Cardinals

 

They've clinched at least having half of their wins against teams with winning records. Seahawks, Bills, Rams and Steelers were road games. Rams and Texans were completely destroyed. Patriots and Seahawks were beaten by double digits.

There is no way to discredit them. There have obviously been teams more dominant, and I'm assuming that the "historic" nature that people are referring to is simply their running game and time of possession - because they are no where near historic in terms of scoring or even point differential. They need 56 points over their last two games just to score more than the Rams did last year, and 94 more to score more than the Chiefs did last year.

Which is crazy to think about - for as good as the Ravens are on offense, they're not the Chiefs from last year. And the lessons they can take away from both the Rams and Chiefs from last year, and Eagles the year before is that when you are that "it" team, you better win the Super Bowl - because the following seasons usually aren't very kind to you. Someone will figure out a way to stop this offense at some point, and they'll need to be able to adjust.

If you normalize drives, they're right there with them.

[N4L]

2 hours ago, AFlaccoSeagulls said:

New England had us coming off a bye and we still ran a train over them. But sure.

You cant simulate Jackson in practice. Hes a special special athlete and the ball fakes and split actions they run are so precise you cant have guys who don't run them full time give your defense good work in practice. Its a unique offense to the NFL and that makes it very hard to prep for the first time around.  

I didn't say I think the ravens will fail, just that it will be interesting to see how teams play them the second time around. Option football can be defended, but it takes sound fundamentals and a defense playing disciplined. Look at the niners game, first half we had a lot of guys on the back end who were clearly supposed to be pitch defenders bite on the inside runs. Then in the second half guys started playing their assignments and not falling for the fakes, and the ravens only scored 3 points, a last second FG to win. 

That's the only way to defend it. you have a set assignment for each defender and they don't worry about the other skill position players. Roman has done an amazing job of pulling TEs and getting blockers on those edge defenders and having the numbers in their favor, and that's a testament to roman's unique wrinkle on an old school offense, but its not like there is no physical way to stop the offense lol

I mean, Cleveland Pittsburg both gave them a tough time the first time (next two opponents). Then in the playoffs they could potentially see KC, NE, HOU, BUF again. That's big for those other teams to have the actual in game experience against this offense. Its why I am very happy with the fact the niners played you guys already. Nothing replaces actual experience. 

[berlin calling]

guess you'll see after week 17 when the Ravens had their second divisonal games against two good defenses with the Browns and Steelers.

Both -theoretical- still playing for a playoff spot.

However week 17 may be irrelevant due to Jackson sitting out. 

[RavensTillIDie]

Ravens fans in NFL General right now:

 

[RamblinMan99]

Leveon Bell honestly doesn't want to play football.  

Keeps making excuses for why he's having a terrible season.  

You can't sit out of the league for a whole year, and just come right back.  

His career is probably over.  

[diamondbull424]

7 hours ago, M.10.E said:

Oh.My.God. This is just a beautiful thread.

"Why are Ravens fans so defensive?"

Cause we have to deal with crap like this.

Saving this for the later like...

But yeah, that was quite the find. Really wanted to grave dig it up. But I didn’t want it to get locked. So much gold fr Browns fans. I generally don’t care much about the Ravens Browns game, but really hope we dismantle that team completely and OBJ after the game is exchanging jerseys with Lamar and Baker looks in the background all envious like that Tom Brady photo.

Would be the perfect moment to cap all that vitriol spilled within that thread for a QB that obviously had shown to AT WORST be the second best rookie QB last season, with minimal chance to work with the starters not get comfortable to the pros.