GDT 9/20/20 Week 2: 1-0 Baltimore Ravens vs 0-1 Houston Texans

[Danand]

3 hours ago, diamondbull424 said:

Was just coming in here to say that. I’m willing to give the OL a pass for their week 1 performance because they really need preseason games to gel with combo blocks, blocking angles, and the like. But they need to look AT LEAST incrementally better than last week. Show obvious improvements even if it’s not how they might be expected to look by mid season. If our OL shows up in a big way, I can’t see us losing this game. If they don’t, we certainly can.

On the other side of the field, our front 7 needs to look better as well. We won’t be going up against the likes of Chubb and Hunt but we need to show we can finally stop a team that likes to run those stretch zone concepts, unlike last season against the 49ers, the playoff game against the Titans, and last week against the Browns. Texans will run a similar system, we need to do a better job of containing the run.

In terms of prediction, I expect a closer game than last year. I’ll take us winning by 10 points in a game that only separates after a late 4th quarter score seals it away. I’ll call it: 27-17, Ravens. Feel like the OL won’t be as good as I hope and along with a usually stout Texans run defense, we aren’t as proficient moving the ball as we’d like. But Lamar will still show himself to be that dude and why as long as he’s on the field, we’ve legit got a chance to make things happen.

Just listened to the Ken McKusick podcast which just confirmed me in what I saw. Stanley doing fine, Boze playing well, especially on pulls, Skura struggling mightily and just didn't seem ready/Ogunjobi playing great, Phillips playing well enough as a tackle convert. Orlando Brown struggled with Myles Garrett, but I didn't think he had as bad a game as Ken scored.

Anyways, too many "C" grades on the oline to be able to win consistently.

[Ray Reed]

Don't think you can ever refer to an opponent with Deshaun Watson and JJ Watt as a "trap" game, but this feels like a potential one.

They're 0-1 with 4 extra days of rest/prep when 0-2 typically spells a death sentence for playoff hopes, although the new format may change that a tad.

Wouldn't be surprised in the slightest if this is just one of those weird games every year we "should" win but don't - especially with KC on the horizon - ala Cleveland week 4 last year.

Need the running game to get into gear and the run defense has to hold better early on as to not allow the threat of Deshaun PAs/Bootlegs throughout the latter parts of the game.

[Danand]

9 minutes ago, Ray Reed said:

Don't think you can ever refer to an opponent with Deshaun Watson and JJ Watt as a "trap" game, but this feels like a potential one.

They're 0-1 with 4 extra days of rest/prep when 0-2 typically spells a death sentence for playoff hopes, although the new format may change that a tad.

Wouldn't be surprised in the slightest if this is just one of those weird games every year we "should" win but don't - especially with KC on the horizon - ala Cleveland week 4 last year.

Need the running game to get into gear and the run defense has to hold better early on as to not allow the threat of Deshaun PAs/Bootlegs throughout the latter parts of the game.

This "trap" game stuff is always a weird discussion. Like with the Titans in the playoffs last year, all indications was that we had every reason to be a favorite. And in the end it was just an "any given sunday" kind of game, where everything for the Ravens went wrong, and everything for the Titans just clicked.

Those games can just happen, without some underlying reason, like "the Ravens was already focused on the Chiefs game", "the Ravens underestimated the Texans" etc.

Texans doesn't have an elite unit, and Watson begins to feel somewhat overrated and risk end up in the "Wentz-category". If the Ravens avoid having a complete meltdown, this should be a W.

[sp6488]

5 hours ago, DreamKid said:

It'll be important to force Deshaun Watson to play Hero Ball. I assume Harbs and Wink will deploy the same contain rush method attack they did last year. Which did a good job of stifling Watson's skill set. This will be an important game for Bowser and Queen in particular. Having Calais with us now means more interior pressure and more scrambling from QBs looking to escape said pressure. So as our outside and inside speed guys they'll need to run down Deshaun effectively. Tyus had 2 Sacks against the Texans last year. A repeat performance would be much appreciated. 

Don't sleep on MP in this one either. Watson likes getting wild with some of his throws and we know Peters is always looking to house something. Feels like he could have a day.

I'd like to see Alaka active in this one over Board. I think his skillset complements this point a bit better.

[M.10.E]

I feel very confident about this game which scares me.

[RavensTillIDie]

1 hour ago, sp6488 said:

I'd like to see Alaka active in this one over Board. I think his skillset complements this point a bit better.

Thanks for bringing this up, wanted to mention it but completely forgot. I have no clue why Board was active last game over Alaka. He was solely responsible for giving up the Browns only TD on the day. If our 4th LB is only going to be in there to give the other guys a breather, I'd rather have a thumper like Alaka vs Board. 90% of the reps should be split b/w Queen, Fort and Harrison going forward, IMO.

[SalvadorsDeli]

Not surprisingly this one probably comes down to O-Line play. Seemed like Watt and Co. got the better of the Chiefs in most short yardage situations last week. 

As much as I love to see Lamar dominating through the air, feel like it's all the more important to get the running game going this week and keep the ball out of DeShaun's hands. 

[Ray Reed]

3 hours ago, Danand said:

This "trap" game stuff is always a weird discussion. Like with the Titans in the playoffs last year, all indications was that we had every reason to be a favorite. And in the end it was just an "any given sunday" kind of game, where everything for the Ravens went wrong, and everything for the Titans just clicked.

Those games can just happen, without some underlying reason, like "the Ravens was already focused on the Chiefs game", "the Ravens underestimated the Texans" etc.

Texans doesn't have an elite unit, and Watson begins to feel somewhat overrated and risk end up in the "Wentz-category". If the Ravens avoid having a complete meltdown, this should be a W.

That's kind of the whole deal with a trap game, though. A game that we should win in every sensibility, but for whatever (most likely inexplicable) reason, we get outplayed and we lose. That happens from time to time, and it isn't always due to "overlooking" a team necessarily, sometimes that's just how things shake out on Sunday like you said. But I would absolutely classify us going down to HOU Sunday and getting outplayed ("having a complete meltdown", as you put it) in a game everyone expects us to win a "trap" game, or "letdown" game, or whatever you want to call it. 

Fact of the matter is we should win Sunday. If we don't, something went wrong, and you can define that however you'd like. 

Here's to hoping that doesn't happen - but again - against a team with 4 days extra rest, our first "road" game, and Deshaun Watson, I think that's not as unlikely to happen as conventional wisdom may be saying.

Edited September 16, 2020 by Ray Reed

[AFlaccoSeagulls]

The Texans are a team that finds ways to lose. We need to make sure we capitalize on that and when they give us opportunities to make plays on their mistakes, we take it. Biggest thing here is limiting the big plays from Watson. If we can stop them from beating us deep on those PA shot plays, we'll be fine on defense.

On offense, not much about their defense scares me, even JJ Watt at this point doesn't really scare me so I think we'll be okay moving the ball at will.

[Danand]

1 hour ago, RavensTillIDie said:

Thanks for bringing this up, wanted to mention it but completely forgot. I have no clue why Board was active last game over Alaka. He was solely responsible for giving up the Browns only TD on the day. If our 4th LB is only going to be in there to give the other guys a breather, I'd rather have a thumper like Alaka vs Board. 90% of the reps should be split b/w Queen, Fort and Harrison going forward, IMO.

Board had some nice plays on defense outside of the TD he gave up and I saw him several times on special teams. My guess is he is better than Alaka in that area.

[Danand]

32 minutes ago, Ray Reed said:

That's kind of the whole deal with a trap game, though. A game that we should win in every sensibility, but for whatever (most likely inexplicable) reason, we get outplayed and we lose. That happens from time to time, and it isn't always due to "overlooking" a team necessarily, sometimes that's just how things shake out on Sunday like you said. But I would absolutely classify us going down to HOU Sunday and getting outplayed ("having a complete meltdown", as you put it) in a game everyone expects us to win a "trap" game, or "letdown" game, or whatever you want to call it. 

Fact of the matter is we should win Sunday. If we don't, something went wrong, and you can define that however you'd like. 

Here's to hoping that doesn't happen - but again - against a team with 4 days extra rest, our first "road" game, and Deshaun Watson, I think that's not as unlikely to happen as conventional wisdom may be saying.

Guess my post was unclear. My whole point was to emphasize your original post "trap game = any given sunday". The "weird" part is, that we are not even trying to come up with a reason as to why the Texans should/could win, outside the possibility that the Ravens completely fall apart and have an off day.

[SalvadorsDeli]

1 hour ago, Ray Reed said:

That's kind of the whole deal with a trap game, though. A game that we should win in every sensibility, but for whatever (most likely inexplicable) reason, we get outplayed and we lose. That happens from time to time, and it isn't always due to "overlooking" a team necessarily, sometimes that's just how things shake out on Sunday like you said. But I would absolutely classify us going down to HOU Sunday and getting outplayed ("having a complete meltdown", as you put it) in a game everyone expects us to win a "trap" game, or "letdown" game, or whatever you want to call it. 

Fact of the matter is we should win Sunday. If we don't, something went wrong, and you can define that however you'd like. 

Here's to hoping that doesn't happen - but again - against a team with 4 days extra rest, our first "road" game, and Deshaun Watson, I think that's not as unlikely to happen as conventional wisdom may be saying.

I get what you're saying but I feel like dating back to last season when the team started to really go on a run after the Seattle game, we've managed to talk ourselves into every single upcoming game as the definite 'trap game.' At some point we should just admit that it's just about managing our own expectations as fans and not wanting to feel overconfident. 

Edited September 16, 2020 by SalvadorsDeli

[Ray Reed]

12 minutes ago, SalvadorsDeli said:

I get what you're saying but I feel like dating back to last season when the team started to really go on a run after the Seattle game, we've managed to talk ourselves into every single upcoming game as the definite 'trap game.' At some point we should just admit that it's just about managing our own expectations as fans and not wanting to feel overconfident. 

Oh 1000%. 

This Lamar-led team seems to be much better at performing up to their capabilities much more consistently than Ravens teams in the past.

Still, 24ish years of "incoming trap game" is hard to shake.

[berlin calling]

Not ideal. We'll probably see Fluker again

 

[M.10.E]

I'll wait until tomorrows practice to be concerned about Stanley. If he doesn't go tomorrow, we'll most likely get Fluker.