Call Me A Contrarian

[BLRIGHT]

I thought that game was a step forward for Kolb and the team. Kolb (particularly in the first half) threw the ball with significantly more zip, was more decisive, and improved his footwork (don't get me wrong, there is still much, much more work to be done). The pass protection this game was the worst it has been all season. Kolb is shell-shocked, and he was playing hurt. Add that up, and I get a small step in the right direction.

I'm completely astonished by the wide receiving corps. I honestly thought that Andre, Early and Stephen Williams were going to light it up this year. What a disappointment. Luckily, replacing receivers is the easiest thing to do in free agency and the draft.

Beanie ran the ball very, very hard. That was an impressive effort (again considering that he was hurt). Paradoxically, I think our run blocking has never been better (do you remember all of the negative running plays during the Edgerrin James era)? I wonder if someone just told Levi that every play is a run if we would do better than his pass pro. He does crush people in the run (which seems to support Mitch's suggestion to move him to guard).

We ran the ball a lot on first down (probably too much so in the second half), but didn't exploit it enough in the second half with play action. The Ravens sold out on the run on first down in the second half, and we had no chance.

I thought the run defense was good enough to win. We blitzed too much and paid for it in the secondary. Better edge rush, but simply not good enough. Having a poor man coverage group with a sluggish pass rush is a lethal combo. I think it's literally as simple as that. We won't stop anyone for 60 minutes until we improve at least one of those two issues. I wonder how much Toler's injury cost us this season. I personally think it's at least one win.

Again, as I've said before, I'm in this for the long haul of rebuilding. I never expected greatness this year. We are rebuilding. I'm focused on the progression from here on out. I want Whiz to stay.

This game was a step in the right direction IMHO.

 

[az240zz]

Play action, did he say play action?? I don't recall seeing much play action.

 

[RedViper]

I agree a little bit. Blowing the lead and collapsing the way they did, was too much. It broke the back of this team. Maybe there are some positives that came out of this game but this version of the team is DOA. Before this team is successful again there will be many new pieces required. And success is probably quite a long way off.

 

[Duckjake]

I agree a little bit. Blowing the lead and collapsing the way they did, was too much. It broke the back of this team. Maybe there are some positives that came out of this game but this version of the team is DOA. Before this team is successful again there will be many new pieces required. And success is probably quite a long way off.

I have to agree especially since we were having the same discussions this time last year. Only some of the names have been changed to protect the guilty.

 

[RugbyMuffin]

Contrarian ?

:updownupdownleftrightleftrightbaselectstart:

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[Russ Smith]

I said that too the first half was much better from Kolb stepping up, staying in the pocket, not backing up. The problem was in the 2nd half as you said they stuffed the run and then got us into pass downs and just let loose the lions and our OL got murdered.

And disappointingly Kolb didn't react well to the pass rush he took a step back from the step forward in the first half and with that kind of defense we just couldn't do anything.

I'm going to keep saying it with our WR group it makes no sense to not play more 2 TE sets. We have 2 NFL WR's, Fitz and Doucet, the rest have proven nothing. I think for whatever reason(maybe all the drops) Kolb just doesn't like to throw to Roberts he was better with Skelton last year so it'll be interesting to see if that changes if Skelton plays. But the guy just doesn't seem to do anything, as someone said last week he's a ninja, he's invisible out there.

So play 2 TE's, it'll help run the ball, and when teams load up the the Ravens did you can throw the ball to the TE's with mismatches on their LB's(especially Housler).

Right now being 3 and 4 WR so much is pointless only 2 of them ever do anythign.

 

[CardLogic]

Come on, Russ, the system works they are just not executing properly!

 

[kerouac9]

I said that too the first half was much better from Kolb stepping up, staying in the pocket, not backing up. The problem was in the 2nd half as you said they stuffed the run and then got us into pass downs and just let loose the lions and our OL got murdered.

And disappointingly Kolb didn't react well to the pass rush he took a step back from the step forward in the first half and with that kind of defense we just couldn't do anything.

I'm going to keep saying it with our WR group it makes no sense to not play more 2 TE sets. We have 2 NFL WR's, Fitz and Doucet, the rest have proven nothing. I think for whatever reason(maybe all the drops) Kolb just doesn't like to throw to Roberts he was better with Skelton last year so it'll be interesting to see if that changes if Skelton plays. But the guy just doesn't seem to do anything, as someone said last week he's a ninja, he's invisible out there.

So play 2 TE's, it'll help run the ball, and when teams load up the the Ravens did you can throw the ball to the TE's with mismatches on their LB's(especially Housler).

Right now being 3 and 4 WR so much is pointless only 2 of them ever do anythign.

You'd think that, but let's look at the tape from 1st downs in the second half:

1-10-ARI 18 (12:06) 26-C.Wells right guard to ARI 22 for 4 yards (92-H.Ngata, 55-T.Suggs).

1-10-ARI 38 (10:49) 36-L.Stephens-Howling right end to ARI 36 for -2 yards (95-J.Johnson).

1-10-BAL 49 (6:35) 4-K.Kolb sacked at ARI 41 for -10 yards (31-B.Pollard).

1-10-ARI 21 (1:26) 4-K.Kolb pass short middle intended for 36-L.Stephens-Howling INTERCEPTED by 53-J.McClain [55-T.Suggs] at ARI 30. 53-J.McClain to ARI 22 for 8 yards (63-L.Sendlein; 36-L.Stephens-Howling).

1-10-ARI 20 (14:55) 26-C.Wells left guard to ARI 22 for 2 yards (91-B.McKinney).

1-10-ARI 41 (13:42) 26-C.Wells left tackle to ARI 44 for 3 yards (55-T.Suggs).

1-10-ARI 49 (12:27) 4-K.Kolb pass incomplete deep left to 11-L.Fitzgerald. PENALTY on ARI-11-L.Fitzgerald, Offensive Pass Interference, 10 yards, enforced at ARI 49 - No Play.

1-20-ARI 39 (12:22) 4-K.Kolb pass intended for 12-A.Roberts INTERCEPTED by 20-E.Reed [97-A.Jones] at BAL 28. 20-E.Reed ran ob at BAL 28 for no gain. PENALTY on BAL-21-L.Webb, Defensive Pass Interference, 20 yards, enforced at ARZ 39 - No Play.

1-10-BAL 41 (12:14) 26-C.Wells left tackle to BAL 34 for 7 yards (95-J.Johnson, 53-J.McClain).

1-10-BAL 28 (9:51) 46-A.Smith right guard to BAL 27 for 1 yard (53-J.McClain, 55-T.Suggs).

1-10-ARI 46 (7:58) 26-C.Wells right tackle to ARI 44 for -2 yards (55-T.Suggs).

1-10-ARI 2 (3:07) PENALTY on ARI-71-D.Colledge, False Start, 1 yard, enforced at ARI 2 - No Play.
1-11-ARI 1 (3:07) 26-C.Wells left tackle to ARI 7 for 6 yards (95-J.Johnson, 29-Ca.Williams).

12 runs on first downs, 4 of which were "successful" (i.e., getting 40% or more of the necessary yardage for first down), and only 2 of which were stuffed for negative yardage.

4 passes on first down, all four of which resulted in not only incompletions, but negative plays like sacks, interceptions, or penalties.

It's not first-down that's the problem for the running game, it's second down in the passing game.

 

[Russ Smith]

You'd think that, but let's look at the tape from 1st downs in the second half:



12 runs on first downs, 4 of which were "successful" (i.e., getting 40% or more of the necessary yardage for first down), and only 2 of which were stuffed for negative yardage.

4 passes on first down, all four of which resulted in not only incompletions, but negative plays like sacks, interceptions, or penalties.

It's not first-down that's the problem for the running game, it's second down in the passing game.

i see 8 runs for 19 yards so hard for me to say they weren't stuffing the run.

We had a few good ones yes and I won't argue the passing game was terrible but it just seemed to me that we were in 3 and 4 WR way too much in that game, especially when we had the lead.