2020 ROT

[diamondbull424]

So interesting. Ravens backfield with another 21 carries in this game with a RB high of 10 carries, both the same as in the opener. I think it’s safe to say none of the RBs are likely to get much more than 10 carries in a game.

[coordinator0]

I'm still undecided about that. On one hand I do believe that the more carries a guy gets the better chance of falling into a rhythm and racking up quality runs... but on the other hand the fresh legs factor is pretty appealing. 

[RavensfanRD]

Just keep giving my mans Gus the ball! Ingram and Dobbins will eat, too, but free my mans "GusBus". (I don't know how I feel about calling him Bus, haha)

Edited September 21, 2020 by RavensfanRD

[AngusMcFife]

Maybe the Ravens saved all their good running plays for Dobbins on the shelf to use for KC. We had control of this game vs the Texans from the 2nd quarter on, so no need to show our best plays. 

[wackywabbit]

Dobbins had a bad pass blocking rep that led to a key sack on Lamar in the first half. Wonder if that led to a couple extra reps for Gus in the 2nd half.

This was the play:

https://youtu.be/997b7xtL264?t=315

If Dobbins does a better job picking up the blitz, Lamar gets the ball to Andrews who is wide open for very likely a first, and worst case a FG. Instead a punt a Texans score before the half. Something for the rookie to work on. 

No complaints so far about spreading out the snaps, we need fresh legs. 

Edited September 23, 2020 by wackywabbit

[diamondbull424]

2 hours ago, wackywabbit said:

Dobbins had a bad pass blocking rep that led to a key sack on Lamar in the first half. Wonder if that led to a couple extra reps for Gus in the 2nd half.

This was the play:

https://youtu.be/997b7xtL264?t=315

If Dobbins does a better job picking up the blitz, Lamar gets the ball to Andrews who is wide open for very likely a first, and worst case a FG. Instead a punt a Texans score before the half. Something for the rookie to work on. 

No complaints so far about spreading out the snaps, we need fresh legs. 

Meh. Dobbins is the least of the problems on this play. Typically you want the RB on the blitzing LB. Dobbins was targeting their OLB coming on the blitz. He would’ve been better serve going after the ILB but he literally had no chance there.

Notice how prior to the snap that side is largely overloaded. The Texans were smart to overload the right side to take advantage of the inexperience. Brown and Phillips, likely because they’re slow, tried to over compensate by shifting to the right too early as opposed to dropping into their set and adjusting, while the Texans instead simply were faking the outside pressure and overloaded the B gap. Watt is stunting inside to the A/B gap after the initial TE block. What’s more two others double blitzed the B gap. Had Phillips picked up the initial B gap pressure, Dobbins would’ve still had enough time to adjust to the LB flowing through. However Philips whiffed on the B gap pressure and ended up double teaming Orlando Brown’s guy at the C gap, for no conceivable reasoning. Leaving 2 guys coming free from the B gap and Watt right behind them.

Then Bozeman as opposed to being patient in his set just wanted to get out there and hit someone by helping Stanley on his block. Meanwhile JJ Watt went free up the middle on his stunt. Even if Lamar had been able to shake free of the two defenders wrecking the B gap, Bozeman wasn’t in position and didn’t even look out for the inside stunt.

Skura was too patient and when the defender flashed across him he didn’t engage until the last minute and had no leverage, giving up the gap. Allowing the defender to blow past him. He should’ve engaged early to assist Philips (had he been in position) and then been available to catch an inside stunt/inside pressure. Both Philips and Skura whiffed terribly on their blogs and allowed the B gap to get blown up. I can’t fault Dobbins when the pressure was coming from the A, B, and the C gaps so quickly that it was impossible to know which defender would get through. Not even Vonta Leach is making a difference on that play with how badly the OL did there. The entire interior was abysmal.

What makes it all worse is there was literally no communication going along the OL to identify anything. Generally this would fall on the center to communicate such looks. Clearly he’s not. Seems all that time spent with Yanda was wasted by these interior guys.

[Danand]

I think it is simple.

Dobbins never get squared up inside to take out the blitzing linebacker - but that doesn't matter, as Phillips gets beat by Omenihu with an inside swim move, then Skura tries to pick him up but isn't in position.

As I see it, Boyle just has to push Watt inside and release into his route, which is easy as Watts assignment was to take advante of the gap between Skura and Bozeman. Brown takes care of the DB, no problem. Phillips might have tried to pick up Watt, but as Watt looped around, the only guy to block was the DB.

That leads to Omenihu splitting the gap between Skura and Phillips and Dobbins is not in position to pick up the blitz. Had the play worked, Phillips would have taken Omenihu, Skura the blitz and Dobbins Watt which would have been a bad matchup, but the ball should have been out by then.

 

[diamondbull424]

8 hours ago, Danand said:

I think it is simple.

Dobbins never get squared up inside to take out the blitzing linebacker - but that doesn't matter, as Phillips gets beat by Omenihu with an inside swim move, then Skura tries to pick him up but isn't in position.

As I see it, Boyle just has to push Watt inside and release into his route, which is easy as Watts assignment was to take advante of the gap between Skura and Bozeman. Brown takes care of the DB, no problem. Phillips might have tried to pick up Watt, but as Watt looped around, the only guy to block was the DB.

That leads to Omenihu splitting the gap between Skura and Phillips and Dobbins is not in position to pick up the blitz. Had the play worked, Phillips would have taken Omenihu, Skura the blitz and Dobbins Watt which would have been a bad matchup, but the ball should have been out by then.

 

You’ll have to look at the play again. Philips isn’t getting beat on the swim. He’s correctly passing his man off to Skura so that in the event that Watt rushes the d gap, the C gap is protected from the blitz.

How that play SHOULD have went down is Phillips passes off 94 to Skura, Skura bumps 94 to the right towards the 5 spot, but doesn’t overcommit and pursue, instead he continues to drop into his set and maintains the wall. With Phillips in position he can use one arm to help patty cake 94 back to Skura before the delayed blitzer reaches his set and he engages. Everyone is properly spaced out and appropriately in position.

So like noted above as Phillips doesn’t have to take so long on the pass off of the defender, and Skura has proper spacing with Tyre, Philips would’ve been further back in his set and could’ve then handled #41 coming on the delayed blitz. However because the handoff takes so long he’s out of position and instead just decides to hit somebody... effectively and nonsensically double teaming the DB with Brown Jr as out of position against #41 speed rendered him helpless to the play.

To recap if done correctly Skura engages 94, Tyre engages #41, and Brown engages the DB that he correctly blocked.

Now on the opposite side of the line Bozeman double teams Stanley’s guy, like an idiot. Stanley was appropriately engaged. Bozeman’s responsibility would have been to, after seeing one of the two defenders drop into coverage, to look inside... which he did not do. However had he done so, Bozeman’s guy would have been JJ Watt coming around on the loop.

If the OL had blocked that correctly, Dobbins could then have released out of the backfield to the right and went into the flat and been available as a check down to Lamar.

The Texans showed 7 in the box, with 5 defenders overloading the right side of the OL. This is why the right side of the OL is supposed to angle their sets to the right. It’s also why Dobbins has to go from the left to the right side of the formation to assist with the pressure. He does this correctly. But as the Texans only sent 5, that was enough for the OL to block alone without additional assistance from the RB, unless one blocker got overwhelmed, giving him the potential avenue to release to the flat.

Thus in summary the biggest culprit on messing the play up was Skura. By him not accepting #94 earlier, it blows everything else up. The second biggest culprit on the play was Bozeman as he didn’t look inside and would’ve gave up Watt as a free runner anyway. He was COMPLETELY out of position there.

Edited September 23, 2020 by diamondbull424

[Danand]

Yeah, I think you might be right here. Looking at it closer, it does indeed seem like Phillips never commit to blocking Omenihu - he doesn't do a good job at passing him off to Skura either though. 

I wonder if their intention was to have Dobbins take the outside block to the right of Brown, which would have been the DB and then released out into his route if not commited to a rusher. Instead he sort of get caught inside in no mans land and are never able to set his feet.

 

[DreamKid]

On the subject of Dobbins blocking- 

 

[diamondbull424]

2 hours ago, Danand said:

Yeah, I think you might be right here. Looking at it closer, it does indeed seem like Phillips never commit to blocking Omenihu - he doesn't do a good job at passing him off to Skura either though. 

I wonder if their intention was to have Dobbins take the outside block to the right of Brown, which would have been the DB and then released out into his route if not commited to a rusher. Instead he sort of get caught inside in no mans land and are never able to set his feet.

 

Yeah Dobbins just seemed to look like WTH is this sh- show here? He looked like he brought a knife to a gun fight. He definitely didn’t excel there, but with how quickly all that broke down... I can’t blame him.

I think for Phillips he couldn’t aggressively push off because that side of the line was experiencing an overload. If he gives a quick push vs a passive push, he loses balance and doesn’t have the ability to get into his proper set.

Either way, until these guys gain a groove with each other,  they need to do a far better job communicating on passing downs.

On run downs most of them looked pretty darn good this game over last. Orlando Brown Jr and Bozeman especially seemed to have an impact on that front that I noticed. But pass blocking will be a definite concern moving forward, if it doesn’t improve I’m hoping we can go after an elite center in this draft. The Oklahoma center comes to mind as someone to look out for.

[SalvadorsDeli]

Call it reactionary if you want but already looking like a giant whiff from EDC in terms of building and improving the weapons around Lamar this year. 

Offensive line is a mess. We banked the development of the passing game on the idea that Miles Boykin was going to be something and so far he decidedly is not. Dobbins looks great when he gets on the field but I'm struggling to see the point of having 3 elite RB's we can't really fully utilize at the same time especially when there are such glaring holes all over the rest of the offense. 

Meanwhile we spent 1st and 3rd round picks on middle linebackers this year, are carrying $15 million in dead money from the catastrophic Earl Thomas signing, franchised Matt Judon for $17 million to do provide as much pass rush as I provide from my couch, and spent the rest of our scant cap space on defensive linemen because 'muh Ravens tough football.' All that money and resources into a defense that looks uniquely vulnerable against the team we know we have to go through to win the AFC. 

Compare that to a team like Buffalo: Over the past 2 offseasons they completely revamped their offensive line and built an elite WR core (Diggs, John Brown, Beasley). They look explosive and are making life as easy for Allen as possible by giving him all sorts options both deep and short in the passing game. We're also seeing the impact Hopkins is having on Kyler Murray's development. Even if they're still trying to put it together, the Browns have done everything they can to surround Mayfield with talent between OBJ, Landry, Chubb, Hunt, and the offensive line revamp from this past offseason. Hell  evenJoe Burrow's starting his career in Cincy already having better weapons than what we have on offer. We're asking Lamar to go play catch-up with Willie Snead. 

There's no question that Lamar looked terrible last night and has a lot to answer for himself (and FWIW, people are comparing this to the Titans game but Lamar looked infinitely better in that game than he did last night). But he is not being helped by what just looks like hubris and complacency from the front office and coaching staff. 

 

Edited September 29, 2020 by SalvadorsDeli

[Ray Reed]

24 minutes ago, SalvadorsDeli said:

Call it reactionary if you want but already looking like a giant whiff from EDC in terms of building and improving the weapons around Lamar this year. 

Offensive line is a mess. We banked the development of the passing game on the idea that Miles Boykin was going to be something and so far he decidedly is not. Dobbins looks great when he gets on the field but I'm struggling to see the point of having 3 elite RB's we can't really fully utilize at the same time especially when there are such glaring holes all over the rest of the offense. 

Meanwhile we spent 1st and 3rd round picks on middle linebackers this year, are carrying $15 million in dead money from the catastrophic Earl Thomas signing, franchised Matt Judon for $17 million to do provide as much pass rush as I provide from my couch, and spent the rest of our scant cap space on defensive linemen because 'muh Ravens tough football.' All that money and resources into a defense that looks uniquely vulnerable against the team we know we have to go through to win the AFC. 

Compare that to a team like Buffalo: Over the past 2 offseasons they completely revamped their offensive line and built an elite WR core (Diggs, John Brown, Beasley). They look explosive and are making life as easy for Allen as possible by giving him all sorts options both deep and short in the passing game. We're also seeing the impact Hopkins is having on Kyler Murray's development. Even if they're still trying to put it together, the Browns have done everything they can to surround Mayfield with talent between OBJ, Landry, Chubb, Hunt, and the offensive line revamp from this past offseason. Hell  evenJoe Burrow's starting his career in Cincy already having better weapons than what we have on offer. We're asking Lamar to go play catch-up with Willie Snead. 

There's no question that Lamar looked terrible last night and has a lot to answer for himself. But he is not being helped by what just looks like hubris and complacency from the front office and coaching staff. 

 

This was unanimously said in this forum after Harbaugh promoted Wink to defensive coordinator, too.

Ingram looks cooked this year. That doesn't make the Dobbins pick pointless - he's going to be our feature back for the next 3 years. Him/Gus/Justice going forward isn't too crowded a backfield for a team that runs as much as we do.

I don't fault Eric for failing to anticipate our 2 young, ascending, probowl tackles completely falling off a cliff this year. Show me someone in the offseason who complained about our starting tackles. They're getting abused just as much/if not more so than the spot we anticipated needing help (RG). And to replace that RG spot we had a 3rd and 4th round pick this year, a 4th round pick last year, and DJ Fluker all battling to win 1 starting job. Any reasonable NFL GM would expect one of those players to fill in at least adequately simply by the law of averages. But again, our (probowl) tackles have been arguably worse. 

Everyone knew going into the year tagging Judon was a necessary evil with our cap situation not allowing the signing of a preeminent pass rusher. That is what it is but bottom line is he's in a contract year and its not an indictment of the GM to have expected him to give us anything of substance this year. He just hasn't unfortunately.

I don't get a sense of complacency and hubris at all when I see/listen to John Harbaugh and Eric Decosta work during the offseason so we differ very greatly there. But even if they were, it's not like they sat on their thumbs after going 8-8. They were the best team in the league last year until the Titans caught us slipping and until last night were on a 14 game win streak against some of the toughest competition in the league over that span. They had a great team to begin with, Eric saw the potential to make it better in certain areas in the short and long term (Campbell, Queen, Dobbins), and we've started 2-1 and haven't begun to play our best ball yet.

You can point to teams like the Bills Browns and Bengals to be envious of but the simple fact is that the way our GM has constructed this team and the way our coach coaches this team we consistently beat those teams. We have it figured out better than they do up to this point and I'm just not going to start comparing ourselves to those groups (that we can/do beat on the football field) because we lost to the Chiefs last night.

Why don't we give it more than one week 3 loss against the SB champs with the potential GOAT QB before we start questioning the GM everyone was universally praising in the offseason. 

Edited September 29, 2020 by Ray Reed

[M.10.E]

Yeah I'm not there yet. I think the personnel is there to at least COMPETE in the playoffs/other teams, we just seem to get scared and panic.

Get back into a rhythm this week and start fresh.

Edited September 29, 2020 by M.10.E

[AngusMcFife]

It's not how you start, it's how you finish. 

I have faith our offensive line will improve throughout the year. They didn't start playing well until mid-way through last season.