Ravens Need Defensive Creativity
I don’t remember a bye week ever really mattering, but it feels like this one did. A three-game losing streak on the heels of the same number of wins to open the season had to be taxing both emotionally and physically. I can’t imagine there would be a better time to reset the program.
Taking stock is pretty simple. The offense is better than expected, sitting fifth overall in all of football. The defense is dramatically worse than expected — 19th overall and allowing 21.7 points per game. Not surprisingly, they’re seventh against the run (91.2 yards/game) but 23rd in passing (241.5 yards/game). That sounds like a team that could have a winning record, but 3-3 is hardly shocking.
If we accept that the Ravens need ten wins minimum to have a shot at the playoffs, that means they need to take seven of their remaining ten games. Here’s the schedule if you need a refresher:
Broncos, at Bengals, at Browns, Colts, Steelers, at Packers, Lions, Bears, at Steelers, at Raiders
I don’t know, do you? We can go game-by-game but the waters in there are murky enough that we’d be guessing at best.
I’ll hold off on my preview for the Broncos match until later in the week. For now, I’m thinking long term.
Let’s assume that the offense and the run D remain solid. That’s not a sure thing, but it’s reasonable for our purposes because we all know that the major issue is the secondary. Since they can’t change personnel (except for giving Lardarius Webb more playing time) they’ll have to change the way they play.
That means one thing: mix it up. You can camouflage a lot of weaknesses with creativity, and you can take a lot of heat off the secondary with smart, well-timed pressure on the quarterback.
The schemes have to improve. That’s the biggest difference between this year’s defense and what Rex Ryan did last year. And, I’d argue, it’s the biggest reason they’re weaker now than they were. If that doesn’t change, an 8-8 season looks like a very real possibility.
(photo via Keith Allison, yet again)
How bout dem Wizards!
In a way, this week’s game could be the defining moment (sorry) of the Raven’s 2009-2010 campaign. A win would basically hit reset on everyone’s minds and erase the last two weeks, and get everyone geared up for next week’s pivotal matchup in Cincinnati (which I think JoePo mentioned is properly abbreviated “Cinti” which is mind-bogglingly aggravating) and get the Ravens train back on the tracks (important with 5 more tough games on the docket). A loss, though…well, falling any further behind the pack is gonna make catching up that much harder.
Maybe that was a little obvious. Still: This Is It. The Ravens need to win this game.
@dan the man – If Gilbert is back to being the guy we grew to love it’s good not only for the Bullets but for the league as a whole. I hope that’s the case.
Did you know that Cliff Lee’s full name is Clifton Phifer Lee?
Hell of a performance tonight. My hat’s off to him.
Not only is Gilbert back but the whole team executed well and played defense, which is unheard of. Flip Saunders is going to do a world of good for this squad. I think they, along with most Wizards fans, were tired of Eddie Jordan.
Winning game 1 was the best chance the Phils had at the Yanks and I’m pumped that they were able to put the pressure on early, raise the Arod clutch question in the minds of all Yankee fans, and do it against CC.
jesus i just had a horrifying thought after laughing at the yankees score tonight.
my band is scheduled to play a show in philadelphia thursday, november 5th. just looked it up and it would be GAME FUCKING 7 which after a philly win tonight seems like destiny.
may as well go ahead and cancel.
say what you want about philadelphia (the fans are the worst) but i’ve never been to a city where it seems like every single person follows the sports teams.
then again maybe it would be kind of awesome to play a club where no one shows up, not even the manager or bartenders.
@Big Ben’s Motorcycle – Who’s your band?
The best thing about last night was not just that the Yankees lost, but how overwhelming Cliff Lee looked (it’s hard to believe that I saw the same dude pitching for Buffalo two years ago), but that he was doing it with low 90s, high 80s stuff. The thinking that a 95+ mph fastball is what makes a pitcher just went right out the window with all of the Yankee bats.
Also, regardless of your thoughts about Philly, Cliff Lee is an attractive dude, and apparently when you look at every other player in that game last night (Utley, Victorino, Howard, Sabathia, ARod, Chamberlain, Rollins, Werth) that’s no easy feat.
a neil sedaka cover band called:
SEDAKA’S BACK!
http://www.catalinasmbay.org/names/kidding.jpg
i play in a band called celebration.
@Big Ben’s Motorcycle – Sweet!