MNF GDT Week 1: Ravens @ Raiders

[Nightmare]

55 minutes ago, BayRaider said:

Glad Raven fans on this sub get silenced after that distasteful thread they made. Bunch of arrogant pieces of **** on this site. 

Some of the salty post-game posts on their thread were delicious as well.

FF is a very mixed bag in terms of fanbases, but some are so arrogant. It’s always great to take the W against the entitled ones.

[BayRaider]

1 minute ago, Nightmare said:

Some of the salty post-game posts on their thread were delicious as well.

FF is a very mixed bag in terms of fanbases, but some are so arrogant. It’s always great to take the W against the entitled ones.

I have no issue with Steeler fans on here. Some are definitely major homers, but eh, a lot of people are always gonna be somewhat of a homer. Most of them are still very respectful, I don't mind going in their sub at all. Biggest fanbases I've had an issue with on here are Ravens, Saints, and somewhat the Rams. Everyone else is cool. 

[ronjon1990]

1 hour ago, NYRaider said:

Yeah I think our pass protection was solid considering the circumstances. But the Ravens are also a team that depends on blitzes to generate pressure and their DL isn't great in terms of generating pressure. The most concerning thing for me was our run blocking, it looked terrible. 

Once Good went down, the right side of the line was a concern. They didn't absolutely fail though, so credit to them.

The left side was pretty solid, imo. Carr's blindside typically stayed fairly clean. 

[ronjon1990]

1 hour ago, BayRaider said:

I have no issue with Steeler fans on here. Some are definitely major homers, but eh, a lot of people are always gonna be somewhat of a homer. Most of them are still very respectful, I don't mind going in their sub at all. Biggest fanbases I've had an issue with on here are Ravens, Saints, and somewhat the Rams. Everyone else is cool. 

God awful. 

Try living in New Orleans. Lol

[NCOUGHMAN]

3 hours ago, Nightmare said:

Some of the salty post-game posts on their thread were delicious as well.

FF is a very mixed bag in terms of fanbases, but some are so arrogant. It’s always great to take the W against the entitled ones.

I almost miss the old days on here where during afc west games we’d go to each other’s chat rooms trolling the rivals lol

[Jeremy408]

9 hours ago, ronjon1990 said:

1. Getting open on short and intermediate routes and actually making the tough catches. The play he was "draped" by Humphrey, a WR1 makes that catch. He's not consistently doing that. 

2. Not going down at the first touch. He's a small guy, and I can understand him not breaking out of tackles left and right. But dude's "blazing Underwear Olympics speed" rarely comes into play in any sort of traffic. This may be a bit pedantic, but look at Renfrow. He's tiny too, but makes up for it with, frankly, world-class route running and toughness. When I see him, with his pedestrian 4.6 speed, I have to wonder why Ruggs isn't performing with similar consistency. If Renfrow was running a  4.27, he'd be damn near unstoppable. Much like Agholor last year as well. 

3. More clear usage coming from the sidelines. Take, for example, the screen to Waller. I about LOL'd at the lunacy of not running that play through Ruggs. It seems more reasonable and practical than having him block for a TE, no? But that goes back to last year, when his route running and consistency was a point of needed improvement per team brass. Why aren't there more manufactured touches for him? Was it a 1-game approach? Or is it regular season game # 14 for him and he's still just adequate enough to use as a decoy and 11th body on the field because the offensive decision makers don't think he's come along enough to warrant the touches? Again, maybe a bit pedantic, but it seems more like a continuation of last season when he was sort of low key in the dog house for not being up to snuff, just with the added "new season" label. 

 

Give me those 3 things (with some leeway on point 3 because we'll simply never really know what Gruden's doing play by play) and I might be sold on him as a worthwhile 1st rounder and more than a fast WR4/5. As I've said before, we don't need just a deep threat, not with Carr and Gruden.  

1. He has made contested catches in the nfl before.Consistently? That’s a fair point. In terms of the Humphrey thing. Show me which receivers do that on Humphrey 

2. Most people that have never been fast so this is a very hard concept to understand. Being fast actually makes it harder to run routes lol. In my opinion that’s what makes Tyreek Hill special for how fast he is he’s actually able to stop and start. But like most deep threats aren’t very good route runners. Can he be a better route runner absolutely. I want to see what his route running looks like throughout the season.

3. That’s a Gruden problem not a ruggs problem(but you said that already)

I will say the opposite. With this offense they have every type of skill player. I personally don’t feel like rugs needs to be a number one receiver on this team TBH

Edited September 16, 2021 by Jeremy408

[opeth0500]

11 hours ago, BayRaider said:

Glad Raven fans on this sub get silenced after that distasteful thread they made. Bunch of arrogant pieces of **** on this site. 

Classless thread and that user with the Pokémon avatar is a real POS. Made the win feel even better. 

[Darbsk]

On 9/15/2021 at 8:42 AM, NYRaider said:

According to PFF (which I know isn't end all be all):

Kolton Miller: 84.6 (4/68 OT)

John Simpson: 54.8 (45/65 OG)

Andre James: 35.6 (32/32 C)

Jermaine Eluemunor: 65.4 (21/65 OG)

Alex Leatherwood: 39.4 (68/68 OT) 

 

To be fair, that is very harsh on James and Leatherwood. I'm not sure if the ratings are percentages or what they're out of, but no way Simpson was that much better than Leatherwood from what I saw. Leatherwood allowed that one bad sack and had a penalty which was very tough for him, possibly on Carr but he was decent I thought given he was rookie making his first start and was up against a couple of wily vets. James was average with a couple really big whiffs, I guess the bad snap and penalties counted again at him a lot. They weren't great but I struggle to believe they were the worst in the whole league.

[Nightmare]

11 hours ago, BayRaider said:

I have no issue with Steeler fans on here. Some are definitely major homers, but eh, a lot of people are always gonna be somewhat of a homer. Most of them are still very respectful, I don't mind going in their sub at all. Biggest fanbases I've had an issue with on here are Ravens, Saints, and somewhat the Rams. Everyone else is cool. 

Dolphins are another one I noticed on here over the years. For whatever reason they seemed to have a few wildly delusional posters mixed into the normal folks.

Would agree on the Steelers fans on here. Definite homer vibes, but also a knowledgeable group.

 

7 hours ago, NCOUGHMAN said:

I almost miss the old days on here where during afc west games we’d go to each other’s chat rooms trolling the rivals lol

BP rolling up into the Broncos and Chiefs subs often led to chaos…

[ronjon1990]

6 hours ago, Jeremy408 said:

1. He has made contested catches in the nfl before.Consistently? That’s a fair point. In terms of the Humphrey thing. Show me which receivers do that on Humphrey 

2. Most people that have never been fast so this is a very hard concept to understand. Being fast actually makes it harder to run routes lol. In my opinion that’s what makes Tyreek Hill special for how fast he is he’s actually able to stop and start. But like most deep threats aren’t very good route runners. Can he be a better route runner absolutely. I want to see what his route running looks like throughout the season.

3. That’s a Gruden problem not a ruggs problem(but you said that already)

I will say the opposite. With this offense they have every type of skill player. I personally don’t feel like rugs needs to be a number one receiver on this team TBH

Hunter Renfrow did. In the very same game. On a similar route. And closer to the sideline with less room to operate. 

 

[Jeremy408]

1 hour ago, ronjon1990 said:

Hunter Renfrow did. In the very same game. On a similar route. And closer to the sideline with less room to operate. 

 

I just watched right now. I completely forgot about that LOL. Renfrow definitely made the play there.

I feel like though that’s a feather in Renfrow’s cap rather than “wow you suck henry ruggs because you can make a contest a gouge against one of the best in the game.” Because in my opinion that’s like saying “why can’t Renfrow beat anybody deep? He must suck.”
 

 

[agarcia34]

Watched the game over and I was impressed with Abram. He wasn’t wild and out of control like he was last year very in control the whole game. Had good coverage on Andrews in the end zone to force Lamar to throw it high then had the knock out on Andrews in OT. He wasn’t Spectacular but he was steady and in control the whole game and he looked so much more comfortable playing in the box. 
 

Very good first game for him 

[ronjon1990]

1 hour ago, Jeremy408 said:

I just watched right now. I completely forgot about that LOL. Renfrow definitely made the play there.

I feel like though that’s a feather in Renfrow’s cap rather than “wow you suck henry ruggs because you can make a contest a gouge against one of the best in the game.” Because in my opinion that’s like saying “why can’t Renfrow beat anybody deep? He must suck.”
 

 

That's where the chess game comes into play though. 

I don't mind Renfrow not being able to beat people deep, because within 20 yards, where there's a higher probability of success, he gets it done almost like clockwork. And our offense really clicks in those situations (except for the 1st half...that was inexplicable other than as rust). 

Ruggs, to date, doesn't. He's like aiming solely to take out the queen and only focusing on getting peons across the board to replace taken pieces. That's great and all, but not a particularly good strategy or recipe for success against a good opponent. 

Don't get me wrong, I don't want Ruggs to flop. It's not a matter of getting an "I told everyone so". I just see a guy who's only real asset (so far) doesn't fit our offense and gets out-produced by lesser athletic talent that focuses on more nuance and just fits the offense better. It's great that he can break deep once or twice a game, but how often is that going to work with:

A. Carr not often taking deep shots.

B. Gruden's offense not being known to rely or dial up deep shots.

C. A rebuilt and banged up O-line that can't be relied on (yet) to keep a clean pocket long enough to justify deep shots.

D. A still TBD D that doesn't need to be on the field often, as could happen if we ran deep shots often.

E. Us being an offense tailored to clock control (why I'm not bothered that Carr isn't a 5000 yd/40+ TD guy). 

I don't doubt Ruggs could be a complete stud on, say, KC (ugh), Tampa Bay, 2012 Denver, the Rams, etc. But here...until he improves on the other aspects of his game, I just don't see him as a major asset. He was taken, I recall, because of his excellent route tree and crisp route running, along with his speed. Mayock then called him out for it. That tells me that they took him to be more than just a deep threat, they expected a WR1, and he hasn't lived up to expectations. I certainly want to be proven wrong, but so far.... I'm just not optimistic about him. 

[G]

10 hours ago, Jeremy408 said:

With this offense they have every type of skill player. I personally don’t feel like rugs needs to be a number one receiver on this team TBH

This is pretty much how I view it. Spread the ball around so there's too many weapons to cover. Waller sticks out as a #1 option and he still gets his. Would be nice to have the others shine so Waller gets less attention. As long as we WIN I don't care that much. 

[Jeremy408]

1 hour ago, G said:

This is pretty much how I view it. Spread the ball around so there's too many weapons to cover. Waller sticks out as a #1 option and he still gets his. Would be nice to have the others shine so Waller gets less attention. As long as we WIN I don't care that much. 

 To be honest I don't think they drafted him to be a number one receiver as crazy as that might sound. I think they drafted them because they already have a number one receiver(Waller)