Ask Baltimore Beatdown: Questions for the Ravens Blogger

that we would go out and get, say Julius Peppers, which I thought would be a great move. But nothing happened and we’re now hoping that something clicks in the defense to get it back to last year’s status.

but getting older. If we can cover in the secondary he can reach the passer but he doesn’t have that first great move like he used to.

Drives a mean Dodge Challenger, black with tricked out rims, etc.!

Guess not. What about Neil Smith? He was a major piece that brought us those two SBs.

and leading the defense on and off the field. What a great role model for our younger LB’s and the rest of the team. The key issue I talk about until I’m red in the face on The Beatdown is our lack of a pass rush.

It’s not Rex Ryan, nor anything other than personnel not getting the job done. Without a rush, the passer makes our secondary look like crap.

Looking at the schedule, if we lose here to fall to 3-4 and with games with the Colts, Pittsburgh (twice) at Cincy, Green Bay, we’d have to go 8-1 the rest of the way, a real tall task.

Bruce is a guest here, but still lmao!

Wouldn’t he do the dance after his morning glory?

Just sayin’, that’s when I’m feelin’ good!

maybe a better time and place for it.

We’ve seemed to have a decrease in our blitzes. It’s really angers me since our secondary can easily be picked a part w/ a four man rush.

No one has really stood out this year, but if I had to name a name I’d say Suggs.

mostly the pressure comes from our front four. Occasionally we rush a safety off the edge but we can get burnt that way. We need to get pressure off of our front four or even five to slow down the opposing QB’s from all having career days against us.

and expect the pressure to be kept off of Flacco in my opinion. Flacco already has more long plays this season than he did all last year. He has a cannon and a good touch on the long ones. Give him time and he is so composed in he pocket that you will sit back and have to be impressed.

Did fabulous last week even though Jared Aleen breathing down his throat for every snap.

and the vet of the unit. Our tackles, when healthy are solid, with Jared Gaither (6’9", 340) at LT and Michael Oher at RT. Our LG is Ben Grubbs, solid and RG pretty decent. They’ve held their own against some tough d-lines so far and even with Doom, I expect Flacco to be protected well.

Did I mention pass rush? If we’d had a pass rush in the first six games, we’d be either 5-1 or 6-0 as well. But we don’t and unless we can stunt or blitz you to death, Orton to Marshall and Royal worry me.

He’s good if you use him in the right quanity. However we also want go get the ball to Ray Rice (who I think resemlbes Darren Sproles.) We alos Our running back-full back hybrid Le’Ron McClain who is alos a very good runner and is surprisingly agile for his size.

in the past two games. But then again, Ray Rice has been so good that it’s tough to find reps for Willis, who is a solid back and will get his fair shot at carries and TD’s to continue to rack up the fantasy points. But Rice is the man and leading the NFL in all purpose yards I believe.

But the game I last attended I was patted down. So was everyone else. But that was ’04 so things probably changed.

And you can’t bring in outside food.

has put on about 10+ pounds of upper body muscle this season. Security pats you down above the waist at gates. Put anything (beers) in your pants and will probably be okay. Stay away from Ray, though, sicko!

is the only week that I will be rooting against Ray Rice. I love watching him play (all other weeks).

Love these questions HT. I never ask anything like them as you always do… :)

1) We have a very well rounded offense. We’ve established that we can pass, and pass well. We also have the three-headed monster of Rice, McGahee and McClain. Our defense still has a great linebacking core even with the loss of Bart Scott.
2) Our weakness is recievers not named Derrick Mason. We’ve really not had consistincy (sp) from any of our other receivers. our weakness on defense is the secondary. Ed Reed hasn’t been same he’s been in year’s past. We are still waiting for a corner who can play half as good Champ Bailey, we’ve had nothing but crap.
3) I’d say Mike Oher or Ray Rice. But then again i think a good portion of the blog has heard of both of them.

1. Passing game, short passes to Rice out of backfield. Run defense (I thought), and intimidating crushing hits on opposing players that make them pay for every yard (Ray Lewis, Ed Reed).
2. Offense’s weakness is better wideouts getting open over the middle instead of sideline curls all the time. Defense’s weakness is stopping the big play, third and long and rushing the passer.
3. I love LB Jarret Johnson, from Alabama. Converted to a LB, he is a tough dude who hits as hard as anyone on the team. You WILL see him all over the field on Sunday (#95).
Thanks!

….rush the passer making Orton throw early, stopping the run.
Probably Suggs or an outside LB on Clady’s side.
DB’s not playing much of anything, looking lost out there.
Probably the “will” or the SS on Scheffler.
Any OLB on Knowshon or Buck
Flacco actually hrt his foot, where Jared Allen stepped on it while rushing (Brady would have cried for a flag!).
Thanks!

we look like we’re going to win every game, then yank our fans’ hearts out by snatching a last minute defeat from the jaws of victory!

nice profile picture kwool79. maybe use one of your upskirt dressing room shots next time.

Doesn’t seem possible for one man to keep up with the questions. I’ll answer these four:
1) secondary is still suspect
2) no, Moreno and Buck cannot be stopped. They will both break 100 yards
3) we cannot protect Flacco. We hope he’ll be okay to play future gAmes. We thought about trying the move from the replacements where Falco throws the ball reAlly hard into the face of an oncoming defender.
4) we probably can’t run against you

the saving grace for us is that the broncos will also beat the Steelers so we won’t fall farther behind

1. No.
2. Who knows, but yeah, Knowshon and Buck are no AP or C. Benson (this year’s version).
3. Not worried about pass protection as our line is much better than any of those you mentioned.
4. Cannot stop them, but to contain Rice you will have to chip him out of the backfield and hope he doesn’t get the ball in space.
Thanks and good luck in staying healthy Sunday but no luck from us on the game!

i think you guys have the upper-hand at QB. (We had Trent freakin’ Dilfer in 2000)

The comparision is a very fair one.

As much as I am a homer. That Ravens defense was either the best or 2nd best of all time (85 Bears). The Ravens didn’t score a touchdown for 5 straight games and still won a good handful of them. You couldn’t run on Siragusa and Adams in the middle and they also allowed Ray Lewis in his prime to run free. Match that with a vet secondary, we will probably never see a defense like that ever again.

Still Kyle Orton is a very good, quarterback. He is not flashy but he can make all the throws and he can read the defense.

although our run game was still better then than yours is now. You have much better passing game than our SB team, no comparison there. Puh-lease, don’t even begin to mention any similarities between your defense and the Ravens 2000 defense, which was one of the top five of ALL TIME!!!

That was a silly question.

Our D is average now BUT not by much. We might be able to flip a switch soon and become very good. We have some very strong players on D and we are still tinkering with combinations to get to the QB. Our DB’s, who take most of the blame these days, have to defend entirely too long. These poor guys are new to top it off and learning the sytem as well as their teammates.

We haven’t had a breather in quite some time as we’ve faced Rivers, Brady, Palmer and Favre. Those guys can take advantage of the least bit of confushion in the DB backfield. And in those games, only a few major breakdowns occured but the vet QB’s made them really hurt. I think you might be surprised how well we play on D this week. I think Orton is going to get sacked at least 3 times. We are really going to emphasize the rush to get this monkey off our back.

Mike Nolan, Marvin Lewis, Rex Ryan. They all had something in common – Ray Lewis.

Also…now that Baltimore has a team I think we need to get Sacramento a team.

How great would it be to see a BAL SAC game?

and we loved Sharpe’s great personality and Pryce is a class guy. A little over the hill, but still brings it. Vote for Sharpe into the HOF at the JC Penny site!

This game makes me very nervous. You have the best O-line we have played, you have the best D we have played, with the possible exception of Cincy (but the jury is definitely still out). I like how our DBs match up to your receivers, and I DO think our pass rush can pressure Flacco more than he is used to, and that will give our secondary a feeding frenzy. IF your Oline holds and gives Flacco time, you say above that you still don’t really trust most of your receiving corps. I think Orton can complete passes, and every team we have played has tried to take the running game away, and force Orton to throw. The problem is that Orton is pretty damned good at throwing the ball!

My big question mark is the Ravens’ special teams. How are they, and how do they match up with the Broncos? Hopefully our recent change at punter will pin you guys deep in your own territory, but I have no idea who your return guy is.

That Denver is good enough to win those close games and Baltimore is not. Or, Denver could easily be 3-3 and the Ravens could just as easily be the 6-0 team in this game.

Pick your poison, I’ll take the latter, thank you very much.

this team is just too good to be changed, regardless of the record. Besides, we don’t have guys waiting in the wings that could do any better than what’s on the field. Perhaps some more time for our 2nd round pick, Paul Kruger, or a change at SS, but doubtful.

YES, Bruce is out as out Blog Master.

A – "Orton back to pass, throws deep to Marshall single covered…"
E – "Orton dumps off to Scheffler, breaks a tackle, running free…"
B – "Flacco drops back, under pressure, hit as he throws…"
C – "Hand-off Moreno, breaks a tackle at the line, he’s got space…"
D – "Royal fields the kick at the 15, breaks for the sideline, he’s got a seam…"
F – "The Ravens get the ball on their 20 with 2 minutes left, trailing by 4…"

A — ….Marshall makes the catch, shakes of some tackles at the 20, Touchdown Denver!
B — ….by Dumervil, ball falls incomplete and that is the game as Denver wins.
C — ….at the 50…to the 40….35….he’s going all the way folks.
D — ….and he…could…….go…….all…….the…..way…..Touchdown. Oh, man is this guy good.
E — ….first down Denver inside the 20.
F — ….they march down the midfield. Fourth down and they have to go for it. Game over Broncos win.

Many of us really enjoy the cross-talk…especially when it isn’t just a bunch of trash and you get to hear good solid information about the other teams you are playing!

It’s really cool to have this kind of information going back and forth between fansites. It makes both MHR and BB more knowledgeable because of it. It’s been a great week of discussion with you and the other Ravens fans.

Thanks Bruce!

Our intra-division blogs can get a little intense too. It’s the nature of the beast I guess.

We are not winning the time of possession battle so the opponents are getting so many more plays than us on offense and there’s just so many chances for those great skills guys to break one, as they have in each game it seems.

If Marshall is covered (which I seriously doubt), then my concern switches to Scheffler, over the middle for first downs and drive extending plays. The Ravens have given up a bunch of third and long first downs which is so damn frustrating and hopefully we can limit those mistakes.

I was hoping to see that big trade at the deadline, such as getting Julius Peppers from Carolina. Would have been a great pickup for us, saving for the Panthers and erased our pass pressure issues, thereby making our CB’s much better overnight.

He had flashes of greatness here, but was too inconsistent. I think part of the blame is the fact that his systems seem to change every year. The Broncos had a merry-go-round with DC’s, then he gets bumped to the Falcons, and now he’s with you guys. A few years in one, consistent system could do him wonders. I still have a soft spot for him and wish him well on Monday and the rest of the year.

Great thoughts there. Scheffler should be able to get out into space and work against our coverage. I think you’ll be fine in pass protection (unfortunately) with your basic protection package. As far as the problems in our secondary, Ed Reed has got to stop freelancing too much and start providing weak side backup on the deep side of the field. We need to put a CB up on the line and not let your WR’s get open on the short slant that leads to big YAC. Our safeties need to provide coverage in back of the wideouts and our safeties, LB’s, nickel and dime backs need to shadow better and limit the big plays in the middle of the field, where we’ve been susceptible.