SNF Week 12: Ravens @ Chargers

[diamondbull424]

This should’ve been a 33-13 type victory, yet the coaches, not named Macdonald absolutely let the team down.

Harbaugh deserves some credit though IMO for giving this team a chance. It was clear that Harbaugh stepped in with regard to play calling when the game went to 13-10.

Monken not running the football up 10 was pathetic. What’s more, the types of run plays showed he had no command for what was working. The Chargers small DL were getting bullied inside the entire game, there best defensive stops came along the edges, but they’re couldn’t stop off tackle all game long and we continued to get close to FG range and then abandon the run game, let alone off tackle runs… all game long.

Get into obvious FG range at least before getting cute. And this wasn’t his only game abandoning the run, it’s been a problem before.

Harbaugh stepping in late in the game was a boon. Beyond that though, his decisions to not challenge two obvious plays, especially when one had your MVP QB arguing over the spot and confidently proclaiming (rightfully so) that he got the 1st down… and yet you choose not to toss the flag?

Have to hope this was just a thanksgiving, traveling far west type of letdown game from the offense. At least the break seemed to do the defense good. Hopefully they continue their momentum after the bye.

[AngusMcFife]

The ball just isn't coming off of Tucker's foot the same this year. Is this the beginning of his decline?

[SalvadorsDeli]

Harbaugh and Monken really did everything in their power to make this one of THOSE games and the defense just refused to let them blow it. 

Gritty and frustrating win. Bye week comes at a key time not just for the players but for the coaches too with the exception of Mike McDonald. The game management was genuinely terrible last night - missing challenges on the bad spots and then blowing a timeout within a play or two anyways, that baffling 4th down play at the end of the 1st half where they clearly didn't make a clear decision on whether they wanted to air it out for a Hail Mary or try to get into FG position... it's about to be December and we can't afford be that stupid on the basic stuff any longer. 

There's no way to justify Justice Hill playing offensive snaps anymore -- every time he touches the ball he's just taking it out of the hands of Keaton Mitchell. Hill makes sense in theory as a 3rd down back who can pass protect but he was getting beat like a drum in pass pro last night. He just does everything worse than the other 2 RB's we have. Harbaugh handing him the ball on the 3rd down before the Tucker miss with a chance to close out the game was a game-losing decision and he has an all-World defense to thank for the bailout on that. 

Pass protection needs to get a whole lot better. Deep passing game still isn't there - you hope the shots start falling at some point but it's not going to happen if we're not protecting Lamar and he ends up putting extra mustard on every one of those throws. Biggest stock-ups on offense are Likely and Flowers, huge to get both of them going a bit more. With our schedule there's no time left to be rusty or tentative -- gotta come out of the bye locked in if we want home playoff games instead of a trip to Arrowhead come January. 

[Ray Reed]

Didn't watch a snap last night (I get up at 5am everyday) but I recorded it to watch today. Judging by the comments in here...should I even bother? 😂

[AngusMcFife]

10 minutes ago, SalvadorsDeli said:

There's no way to justify Justice Hill playing offensive snaps anymore -- every time he touches the ball he's just taking it out of the hands of Keaton Mitchell. Hill makes sense in theory as a 3rd down back who can pass protect but he was getting beat like a drum in pass pro last night. He just does everything worse than the other 2 RB's we have. Harbaugh handing him the ball on the 3rd down before the Tucker miss with a chance to close out the game was a game-losing decision and he has an all-World defense to thank for the bailout on that. 

Feels like a weird game to call out Hill when he was effective (5 carries for 31 yards), in fact he was much better than Gus last night, almost doubled his ypc (6.1 to 3.3). 

[AFlaccoSeagulls]

35 minutes ago, Ray Reed said:

Didn't watch a snap last night (I get up at 5am everyday) but I recorded it to watch today. Judging by the comments in here...should I even bother? 😂

Yeah I think you should and post your thoughts. Always nice to see different perspectives of the game, especially since you can watch it knowing we win lol

[AFlaccoSeagulls]

30 minutes ago, AngusMcFife said:

Feels like a weird game to call out Hill when he was effective (5 carries for 31 yards), in fact he was much better than Gus last night, almost doubled his ypc (6.1 to 3.3). 

Gus seemed like he was banged up or sick or something. He just didn't look right. I still do not believe we should EVER be handing the ball to Justice Hill on 3rd or 4th downs, though. No matter what.

[SalvadorsDeli]

1 hour ago, AngusMcFife said:

Feels like a weird game to call out Hill when he was effective (5 carries for 31 yards), in fact he was much better than Gus last night, almost doubled his ypc (6.1 to 3.3). 

Gus has earned a little bit of a benefit of the doubt, not to mention stylistically he's a different kind of runner and has a distinct role as the more physical/hammer back. 

Hill had one nice run last night but he still doesn't offer nearly enough to justify the team treating this as a 3-man committee, especially when the respective skillsets/styles of the RB's means that Hill's touches come directly at the expense of getting the ball in Mitchell's hands on a more regular basis. The good news is that judging by the snap counts things are trending in the right direction on this front but post-bye the backfield needs to be a Mitchell/Gus show.

[AngusMcFife]

1 hour ago, SalvadorsDeli said:

Gus has earned a little bit of a benefit of the doubt, not to mention stylistically he's a different kind of runner and has a distinct role as the more physical/hammer back. 

Hill had one nice run last night but he still doesn't offer nearly enough to justify the team treating this as a 3-man committee, especially when the respective skillsets/styles of the RB's means that Hill's touches come directly at the expense of getting the ball in Mitchell's hands on a more regular basis. The good news is that judging by the snap counts things are trending in the right direction on this front but post-bye the backfield needs to be a Mitchell/Gus show.

I see Gus as the hammer and Mitchell as the scat back, but it is useful to have Hill take some touches because he can run inside and outside. We haven't seen Mitchell hit the hole hard between the tackles and get slammed by a downhill LB, we just don't know if he has that toughness yet. 

[AFlaccoSeagulls]

1 hour ago, AngusMcFife said:

I see Gus as the hammer and Mitchell as the scat back, but it is useful to have Hill take some touches because he can run inside and outside. We haven't seen Mitchell hit the hole hard between the tackles and get slammed by a downhill LB, we just don't know if he has that toughness yet. 

Justice Hill is not any better at running between the tackles considering how small he is and he doesn't break tackles. We saw last night on 3rd and short how easily he goes down.

[AngusMcFife]

36 minutes ago, AFlaccoSeagulls said:

Justice Hill is not any better at running between the tackles considering how small he is and he doesn't break tackles. We saw last night on 3rd and short how easily he goes down.

OK I disagree but this isn't that important a debate. 
If the coaches think Hill helps the team with 5 or so carries a game, I'm fine with that. 
I generally would use Mitchell or Gus when the game is on the line, but I don't know how many run plays Mitchell is coached up for. 

The real travesty on that last series was 1) not calling a single pass play (Lamar was 3/3 on the drive with 2 first downs), and 2) kicking the field goal on 4th and 1 rather than going for it. Why the eff are we paying Lamar $255 million just to run the ball 3x with the game on the line and try a FG on 4th and 1 when going from 3 to 6 point lead actually doesn't help that much? We might as well have Taysom Hill at QB rather than Lamar. The coaches ultimately are protecting Lamar and preventing him from losing the game, but in doing so are robbing him of valuable reps in clutch situations. Harbaugh will say that he loves Lamar, he's the no. 1 Lamar fan, but the playcalling shows he truly does not trust him and will take the ball out of his hands rather than let him win/lose the game. 

It just pains me to know that we will get into high leverage situations later this year with the season on the line, and I'm 100% sure Harbaugh will turtle up and do the most conservative strategy possible, allowing the other team to win the game. We got lucky the D closed the game out. 

 

[Ray Reed]

First half observations:

-Kyle Hamilton is a top 10 defensive player in the league 

-Clowney looks the best he ever has

-OBJ is stringing together some games here

-I harp on it almost weekly, but Lamar is way, way, way too nonchalant as we get into fringe FG range. Every week he takes a sack when we’re at about the 30-40ish yard line that pushes us out of scoring range because he holds the ball way too long. This week our defense forces a fumble (shoutout PQ) and we have the ball 3rd and 6 around the LAC 40 with :12 sec left. Lamar TRIPLE CLUTCHES the ball in the pocket instead of throwing it away, and gets sacked and fumbles. We recover, but now clearly out of FG range. You have to get the ball out quickly to get a few yards there. And you DAMN sure can’t lose yards in those types of scenarios. This simply can’t keep happening. Not with how Tucker is playing this year. You can’t leave 3 points on the table every single game by refusing to throw the ball away and getting sacked out of FG range. The fact it happens this frequently is as big of an indictment on the coaches at this point, because clearly they’re not sending a loud enough message. In the playoffs, those are the plays that lose you football games. 

Edited November 27, 2023 by Ray Reed

[Nobellythrower]

Why does monken spam screens to zay, pretty sure he seen what bateman could do in arizona, why not do screens to him , too much predictability, and lack of adaptability for someone whos strength was adaptability I assume

[Ray Reed]

25 minutes ago, Nobellythrower said:

Why does monken spam screens to zay, pretty sure he seen what bateman could do in arizona, why not do screens to him , too much predictability, and lack of adaptability for someone whos strength was adaptability I assume

They ran one to Bateman in the first half (Stanley got called for a block in the back) and it was just painfully obvious that Bateman doesn’t have the acceleration or short area quickness to consistently make the first defender miss (which is what you need to actually pop those plays).

I agree with spamming Zay too much tho. Let him run some deep routes…get him off the LOS

[Ray Reed]

2nd half observations

-Stanley is washed. When he isn’t false starting he’s getting abused by whoever is lining up across from him

-Keaton Mitchell could be a star next year. Like 1400+ all purpose yards. Kid can just flat out play

-Moses showing his age too. We very well may need to go OT next year

-I’m almost positive the reason we ran the ball with Hill on that 3rd and 3 to try and close out the game is a direct result of what I brought up in my 1st half observations. Monken straight up did not trust Lamar not to take us out of FG range on that play with a sack or a turnover, and that’s a major issue

-This defense is ferocious. Really gonna suck losing Queen and/or Madubuike and/or Clowney next year 

-Van Noy IMO has been as good for us this year as most of Tyus Bowser’s “best” years 

-Gritty ugly win that I think we may have needed. We needed to prove to ourselves we could win a game like that after losing the last 3 we’ve played in that had that same tone (IND/PIT/CLE)

Edited November 28, 2023 by Ray Reed