This Ain’t Ravens Talk

[diamondbull424]

Perhaps I’m being lazy bad there’s already one of these somewhere, but with the Bengals and Browns game yesterday, it got me thinking that maybe a thread for the purpose of incites or opinions of things around the NFL might hold some value.

I know Joe Burrow was playing behind a below quality OL, but I can’t say I was as impressed as everyone else seems to be. I think his numbers were heavily inflated due to passing the ball 61 times. From what I saw it looked far more like a 180 yds type of passing performance than a true 300 td performance. So far I see about what I saw from Sam Darnold when he was a rookie, though tbf to Darnold he was only 21 as a rookie but now he and Burrow are the same age. Burrow can certainly improve and they’ve got a bad OL, so we’ll see how things end up. It should be a lot easier for him though considering once the Bengals get the OL improved, even without a prime Green, they’ve got some great weapons at their disposal.

The Browns run defense looks pretty stout upfront so far this season.

Bengals HC is a lame duck IMO.

AJ Green looks pretty done, not stick a fork in him done... but last legs done. He’s seemingly reached the Larry Fitzgerald past his prime ability.

[AngusMcFife]

I have been trying to assess Burrow as well, wondering if he is going to be a pain for us to deal with the next decade or not.

He doesn't have a particularly quick release any time he throws deep. So his arm strength is iffy. But he spreads the ball around effectively over the middle and short throws to the sideline. Seems to read the defense well.

He is also fairly athletic, but unfortunately he thinks he's more athletic than he really is. Similar to Josh Allen. So he might get in trouble at some point, as defenders will tee off on him unless he dials back his aggressiveness running with the football. 

I don't think he's that much different than Dalton, overall. Dalton did give us fits for a number of years, so I'm not trying to diss him. He could be better than Dalton, but he has a similar skill set.  

[berlin calling]

always wondered if i'd draft a QB w/o having a somewhat decent Oline or would prioritise BPA at OLine in the draft, suck again for a season and then take the best QB available. Getting your QBOTF mangeled and his self esteem shot during his rookie season behind a poor line just doesn't seem a winning concept to me.

[Danand]

I think Burrow has showed a lot of promise for a rookie QB on a bad team. 

That right side is killing him, and burrow wont be a problem until they fix that oline. 

[diamondbull424]

2 hours ago, AngusMcFife said:

He is also fairly athletic, but unfortunately he thinks he's more athletic than he really is. Similar to Josh Allen. So he might get in trouble at some point, as defenders will tee off on him unless he dials back his aggressiveness running with the football. 

Agreed. That play yesterday where he was running for a 1st down and he dived helmet first towards the 1st down was a concussion waiting to happen. If the defender comes in with a point to prove, he’s in the medical tent. Instead the Browns LB let up. Had it been Deshon Elliot flying toward the ball, that could’ve resulted in a knockout blow and some Tylenol.

25 minutes ago, Danand said:

I think Burrow has showed a lot of promise for a rookie QB on a bad team. 

That right side is killing him, and burrow wont be a problem until they fix that oline. 

True. But I’m less concerned about how bad the team is vs how good the offense is in what they have to work with. So far the offensive skill talent is the best the Bengals have had in the last few years. Comparable skill positions to the rest of the divisional teams. The OL is certainly a struggle to this point for sure. Plus it’s a unique offseason to judge a rookie QB on. Heck it’s hard to judge a rookie QB regardless, certainly harder in only 2 games played.

That all said so far I get heavy Daniel Jones vibes. Sneaky athletic, but not particularly “special”. Only notable differences being that Burrow is better at navigating the pocket while Jones was a bit more of a gunslinger in the pass game. Both had pretty high fumble% in their games considering their number of respective starts. We’ll see if Burrow can cutdown on his fumbles as the season progresses unlike Daniel Jones last season.

Also perhaps a factor that needs to be taken into account with the “potential” of Burrow is him being one of the older rookie QBs of the last few seasons. He’s 1 1/2 years older (currently) than both Daniel Jones and Dwayne Haskins. He’s roughly a month to two months older than Lamar Jackson and Josh Rosen respectively are right now. Then 6 mos older than Sam Darnold.

Burrow will be 24 before the end of this season (unless it’s cancelled early due to COVID-19). Russell Wilson, Carson Palmer, and Carson Wentz all thrived as equally aged rookie QBs of the last 20 years. Just find it something worth keeping in mind moving forward over the next few years. 

[drd23]

I can't figure out if having watched MVP level QB play for the last year+ has spoilt my expectations for a young QB or if Burrow was actually as impressive as some people are making him out to be yesterday.

IMO his ball placement was pretty poor and his arm strength only adequate.  His decision making process (outside of basically every time he tried to run) was pretty good though

[DreamKid]

I think Burrow looked good, for a Rookie. He didn't seem rattled at any point, was generally accurate, looked in control, and bounced back when he did have non ideal moments. The game never seemed to big for him imo. It's a good sign whenever you see a young/first year QB extend plays and have success. I thought Burrow made some good decisions under duress in that regard. 

To DRD's point I think some recent phenoms like Mahomes and our own LJ8 are affecting people's expectations for these young QBs. 

[Silver]

What kills me is Browns fans running around like they turned the corner barely beating one of the worst teams in the league. Plus Baker popping off, again. I just don’t get that mentality.

[RavensfanRD]

38 minutes ago, Silver said:

What kills me is Browns fans running around like they turned the corner barely beating one of the worst teams in the league. Plus Baker popping off, again. I just don’t get that mentality.

When you've been hot garbage for 20 years, any type of 'momentum' is a plus.

[diamondbull424]

3 hours ago, DreamKid said:

I think Burrow looked good, for a Rookie. He didn't seem rattled at any point, was generally accurate, looked in control, and bounced back when he did have non ideal moments. The game never seemed to big for him imo. It's a good sign whenever you see a young/first year QB extend plays and have success. I thought Burrow made some good decisions under duress in that regard. 

To DRD's point I think some recent phenoms like Mahomes and our own LJ8 are affecting people's expectations for these young QBs. 

 

4 hours ago, drd23 said:

I can't figure out if having watched MVP level QB play for the last year+ has spoilt my expectations for a young QB or if Burrow was actually as impressive as some people are making him out to be yesterday.

IMO his ball placement was pretty poor and his arm strength only adequate.  His decision making process (outside of basically every time he tried to run) was pretty good though

I think for me it’s a little bit of, I’m genuinely not incredibly impressed by Burrow as well as comparison threads that have 30% of people on this board picking Burrow to Lamar’s 50% (other 20% going to Baker and Rudolph), kind of making me give him less of the benefit of the doubt.

The sample size prior to castigating Lamar and calling him figured out was all of one playoff game. So while I won’t equally do the same to Burrow after only 2 regular season games, he’s 2 years older than rookie Lamar and 1 year older than last years Lamar. The NFL is an adjustment, but because most judged Lamar’s flaws as if he were a veteran... I’ve naturally kind of started to take a “judging these young QBs that fanbases want to protect by the same veteran standard” Lamar has been forced to endure.

[diamondbull424]

Weird that we won’t be playing until the Early slot tomorrow. I suppose this’ll give a chance to look over the Steelers and Broncos. Just how real are the Steelers? They beat up on a bad Giants team on one hand, but on the other hand... we know they’re a good team regardless. I suppose how good is in question. The Broncos look like a more serious threat to challenge them.

[wackywabbit]

8 hours ago, diamondbull424 said:

Weird that we won’t be playing until the Early slot tomorrow. I suppose this’ll give a chance to look over the Steelers and Broncos. Just how real are the Steelers? They beat up on a bad Giants team on one hand, but on the other hand... we know they’re a good team regardless. I suppose how good is in question. The Broncos look like a more serious threat to challenge them.

Rooting for Jerry Jeudy to light it up against the Steelers will be the closest I get to my dream of watching Jerry Jeudy light it up as a Raven.

[diamondbull424]

12 hours ago, wackywabbit said:

Rooting for Jerry Jeudy to light it up against the Steelers will be the closest I get to my dream of watching Jerry Jeudy light it up as a Raven.

Perhaps, when I was scouring away at the old forum I found a few threads from maybe 2007 where people were bringing up us potentially signing Anquan Boldin as a free agent and enough people laughing it off, we didn’t do it obviously, but just a few years later we would go on to trade for that receiver. There was another thread talking about how we should draft Calais Campbell back in (I don’t know) 2008, only for a decade later for him to end up on this team.

I suppose when someone plays like a Raven there’s always a good chance they just might end up as one. But I definitely feel you, Jeudy was a favorite of mine as well.

[diamondbull424]

Kind of annoying the Steelers are lucky enough to get to play the Broncos while we have to play the Chiefs. I mean I like the test against the Chiefs, don’t get me wrong... but if Lock is going to continue trying to play like he’s Deshaun Watson only without the mobility then the Steelers should make easy work of this squad.

[diamondbull424]

Jonathan Taylor showing why I was so high on him as a RB. Playing behind Lamar, I can only imagine how dangerous he would’ve been.

Not hating on JKD at all. I love them both as RBs, though I still loved the Taylor fit especially.