Ask Baltimore Beatdown: Questions for the Ravens Blogger

 Our DBs in general have been pretty poor but rather than bash them, I look at part of the problem that has been the pass rush, which has not gotten enough pressure on the QB. You know with your defense, the better the pass rush the better the DB’s look. Without a rush, any DB will get beat.

Ed Reed is losing his speed and awareness and he is lining up in too much man-coverage. I guess this is mostly because Gregg Madison doesn’t know how to use him right. Dawan Landry has his moments, but is inconsistent and lacks awareness. Our corners are absolutely terrible, Chris Carr is slow and small. ( Don’t forget bad a special-teams, This is probably the main reason we signed David Tyree.) Domique Foxworth has the right build to be a good corner but we need to remember that he can only cover one wide receiver at a time. This brings my to my next subject; worst but not least, Fabian Washington. He is small, slow, afraid to take a hit, and is blind in awareness, So I can pin-point what our 1st round pick will be next year. So this is the low-down on our secondary. Good luck and enjoy the game, it will be a good one. :D

he has started at RT but since LT Jared Gaither got hurt in the Pats game, he switched over to LT. He will ultimately be our LT for the future, but Gaither’s game status is still undecided. Either way, Allen will be a real tough matchup for them. As far as comparing Oher to Harvin, you only truly hear an o-linemen’s name when they do something wrong., and Harvin may have been a steal for you.

His mistakes (two INT’s in the RZ) have just been poor decision making. We’ll see more pressure from you than we probably have from anyone. Flacco tends to hold onto the ball too long but still appears cool under pressure. This will be a great test for him in the dome with the noise.

I would have tended to think we’d even stop AP but after CEDRIC BENSON (?) got over 100 yards on us, now I’m worried again. We can’t put 8 in the box as our DBs keep getting burned. We also have not blitzed enough in my opinion, which has led to QBs having too much time to puck our secondary apart.

Because the Purple Jesus isn’t slowing down, and let’s be honest, Besides Percy Harvin you guys don’t really have that big of a wide-receiver to burn us deep.

but I’m one never to blame a team’s loss on the refs. That said, we have to realize that they are waiting for us to commit any infraction so they can throw the flag. The difference between Favre and Brady is that after a questionable hit, Brady whines for the flag while Brett gets up and taps the opponent on the helmet saying “good hit, bro.”

Our strength is our running game and the lack of respect our passing game gets, which is much improved. Our weakness tends to be boring playcalling in tough games and the inability to stop the offenses in key situations.

um thing…

they make the Ravens offensive and defensive lines look fat!

…I fully expect the pass game to improve to closer to the first four games than they looked against Cincy. Stop Mason by blanketing him w/ your best (Winfield?), and take away the run, making us try to beat you in the air. Tyree shouldn’t make much of an effect. Rice’s receptions are short in the flats on the screens type. He runs off tackle or outside, while Willis is more of an inside guy, tied w/ AP I believe for TD’s so far.

I have McGahee & Flacco on my fantasy team

are thrilled with the improvement in the pasing game but still want to see us pound the rock on the ground more than pass. We were known for running it and defense and both have dropped off lately. We are more of a between the tackles team than outside and our passing game is designed more for short sideline or curl routes than over the middle ones but we go long a few times to keep the defense honest. Personally I think we’ll need some quick long strikes to keep up Sunday.

and certainly is not the guy he was years ago. But he is still the best motivator and knowledgeable player on the field and that helps with great conditioning and positioning. As long as our DT’s keep guys off f him, expect to see him in the pile of tacklers almost every time.

as long as we stay healthy. However, LT Jared Gaither (6’9", 330#) is hurt and may not play again. That leaves rookie Michael Oher to move over to his natural position and while he has been good and will be great, Jared Allen is by far the toughest test he’s had so far. Expect us to double Allen perhaps with an extra TE and use a lot of three step drops to offset his rush abilities. God help us though.

I still think we are a better team than the Bengals and will get our revenge when we play in a few weeks in their house. I also am not anywhere as impressed as last year about the Steelers but when they beat us three times last season, until we prove we can beat them….

As far as Cleveland, well nevermind….

Both have boring play calling, were great running teams that just this year were able to finally wing it out. Both have solid run defenses and shaky passing D. We both even wear purple. Super scary…

By the way thanks for coming over appreciate it.

that we do not blitz ENOUGH! We send four and sometimes five, but rarely bring the house which we would like to see more often. Not getting pressure on Favre worries me more than sending six in and hoping he can’t just wing it out to his receivers. While the Patriots and Chargers receivers outmuscled us, I’m not as scared of yours as theirs. At the same time, our WR’s don’t have too many teams squirming either.

have been pretty solid on all fronts, while being confident but not laying down the unnecessary bogus trash talk. I’ll make my prediction on Sunday’s post, but here’s a hint: I smell upset!