The Ravens came out of the Dawg Pound alive on Sunday, but not without a brutal fight against a now 2-7 Cleveland Browns team.
Offensively, the story stayed the same. The play calling was inconsistent most of the 2nd and 3rd quarters, and the breakaway speed of Torrey Smith wasn’t even recognized. Dennis Pitta only had one grab, and Flacco only completed passes to two WR’s throughout the game.
At the end of the day however, the O managed to squeak out 25 points and it was enough to notch a 6-2 record. But to be honest, 25 points should NOT have won them the game.
The defense went with the script of the first seven games and allowed the Browns to run and pass all over them.
Some might say that Brandon Weeden didn’t have the best of games. And looking at his stat line, you could agree. But this game wouldn’t have been even close if our corners did their jobs.
Cary Williams does show flashes of brilliance now and then; however, most of the time he is absolutely miserable. Too many times Williams just accepts the fact that the WR is going to make a play, and doesn’t go for the ball. And I think we can all remember when he ran about seven yards, only to find out that he wasn’t in fact trailing the wideout, and a gain of 20+ yards followed.
Williams’ struggles have been consistent and he just hasn’t proved that he is worthy of being a Number 1.
When Lardarius Webb went down with the ACL injury, the former 1st round pick Jimmy Smith was left being the next man up. This was Smith’s time to attest that he really was worthy of Ozzie’s first round pick. Has he done so?
I don’t think so.
Smith has showed slight improvement each year, but I don’t think it’s been enough to label him a worthy first round pick. He struggles tackling, you could never trust him man-to-man without Ed Reed behind him, and teams like Pittsburgh that have three excellent WR’s will rip him to shreds.
Let’s take a look at the next seven quarterbacks the Ravens will face: Carson Palmer (who, when previously with Cincinnati, threw all over us) Big Ben (twice), Philip Rivers, RGIII, Peyton AND Eli Manning.
Glancing at that list is very concerning. Over this seven game span, I can almost guarantee, we are going to bend AND break if we don’t do something quickly.
The organization seems to have missed out on a perfect opportunity at the trade deadline. Needing a CB, you would think the team would have gone out and nabbed one.
The free agent market is very thin. With former Steeler Bryant McFadden and 2011 Super Bowl winner Deon Grant being the best options, you can rule that opportunity out of the mix.
Trade and free agent possibilities aside, grooming the players we already have has to be the route the Ravens take.
The DB coaching must beef up the training and game film study over the next few weeks because if the proper steps aren’t taken, disaster could strike in Charm City.
One Rave about “Ravens win, but secondary play remains very concerning”