SB Nation - Chris Carr

Broncos Thoughts & Musings, Part 3: Ravens Week

Emmett Smith — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:30:20 -0000

More photos » by Jack Dempsey - AP

2 months ago: Denver Broncos head coach Josh McDaniels reacts to the game winning touchdown against the Dallas Cowboys during the fourth quarter of an NFL football game Sunday, Oct. 4, 2009, in Denver. (AP Photo/ Jack Dempsey )

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I found myself looking around the 'Net at stats and articles, as I often do. The outcome was an increased emphasis on examining our defense (since the offense was already a big part of Part II) and a longer look at the Baltimore Ravens. Their situation brought out a chance to talk about the history of the passing game in the NFL as well as the inevitable upcoming game prediction, so settle in and let's take a walk through the last of the October BT&M.

Name that Gloom

It's been a lot of fun watching folks locally and nationally scrambling to name the Broncos defense this season. From my perspective, the search for a name for the Denver D isn't a big concern. Do you want a description? While it's not poetic, the best way to describe them may be 'sulfuric acid' - when you pour them onto an offense, that opponent's abilities quickly dissolve and it begins to stink. They are a gloomsday defense, one that shreds the confidence of the cockiest (yep, looking at you, Crimea Rivers), destroys their morale, and along with Orton's skills in the 4th quarter, ensures an outcome that is only happy to those in predominantly orange. Two third-down conversions in the 2nd halves of games, and both of those within the first two games makes it nearly impossible for an opposing team to win a close game. If you can't score, you can't win. Just ask the Pats, Cowboys or Chargers.

And Baltimore, as talented as they are, has to play the Broncos who are coming off a bye and who have had 2 weeks to prepare. I like the Ravens, but not in this matchup. I expect another great, rugged, physical game. When the Broncos are in the playoffs after this season, no one will be able to suggest that they got there any way but the toughest. There's no better way to prepare for the playoffs than going up against the best during the regular season.

The Essence of Defense

I was re-watching for the 15th time the play that ended in Darrell Reid's sack during the late stages of the SD game. Some things happened during it that defined for me a big reason that the Broncos are winning so effectively. Chargers were on a third-and-long situation, an obvious passing down. The defense lined up in its base 5-2 - apparently. But once the ball was snapped, all heck broke loose.

Vonnie Holliday, who's been a stellar pickup, was manning the RDE. At the snap, he drove into the left guard's (Pro Bowler Kris Dielman) right shoulder and bulldozed him back and then into the left tackle, Marcus McNeill, whose attention had been fixed on Robert Ayers (lined up outside on the weakside). Ayers left off and tried a stunt up the middle, but he didn't get there. While Holliday was taking out two linemen and Ayers was trying to stunt, Davis came up the middle through the exposed gap and forced Philip Rivers to the back where Darrell Reid was pushing through from the strongside - sack! Reid received a sack on the play, but Holliday, Ayers and Davis, combined, didn't scratch the scorecard. Their effort just made the play work. Not only did he tie up two defenders, Holliday opened a hole that would have created a run-to-daylight TD had it been on the offensive side. The linebackers made the play on Rivers, who is one of the best in the league at handling the blitz and who still didn't have a chance. That explained the lack of the Chargers' scoring after halftime. Another gold star to Mike Nolan, another win for Denver. And Vonnie?

"We'd love all of our players to have the same leadership qualities Vonnie Holliday does, but we knew Vonnie Holliday could still be an active, productive football player in our scheme," Josh McDaniels said.

Two more quick thoughts on this: First, check out this article on the development of Robert Ayers. The reason that I'm adding it now is that Ayers has consistently done much the same that Holliday did -- driving to the QB, tying up 1-2 defenders, plugging his gaps and letting Doom rack up the sacks. We are stat-obsessed at times and much of the distaste I've heard regarding Ayers is a classic example of that. He's doing a great job for a young OLB/DE. We're lucky to have him - but it wasn't luck at all. McDaniels/Xanders knew exactly what they wanted when they chose him.

Next, we need to keep something in mind -- the 49ers didn't do at all well with Mike Nolan's defenses. Why? They complained frequently that his shifts, adjustments and schemes were 'too confusing, too complex'. The Broncos went out and got intelligent players for whom this isn't a problem. Consider the article from the Denver Post by Dave Krieger -- in his defense, the latest columnist to chomp on blackbird and enjoy the taste -- which talks about how effectively the Broncos change things at halftime (throughout the game, really) and how their players execute the changes without a walkthrough. It's a good example of this same principle.

When I broke down the film from the Chargers game, I quickly found that they had tremendous difficulties figuring out how to block the Broncos defensive rush. That wasn't exactly a shock, but a lot of it was that they could not, as Josh McDaniels pointed out last Thursday, use the running back, for example, to block a certain player because they never really knew if that player was coming or not. LaDainian Tomlinson, in fact, often chose the wrong lane to try and stop a rusher, only to find out that someone else had blown by him and gotten to Rivers. Eventually, Rivers didn't make many throws without a Bronco in his face or on his back. Small wonder that he couldn't score late.

By the way, it was nice to see Le Kevin Smith in on a few of those tackles. He's another perfect pickup who brings the skill, experience and talent that the Broncos needed to win right away. What depth this team has!

Safety in Numbers

Josh Barrett's ability to shut down the TE was evidenced again against Antonio Gates, who is still one of the best TEs in the game. Darcel McBath's overall skill has worked in the secondary and on special teams, while David Bruton's appearance on ST blocks and tackles helped spring Eddie Royal on both returns for TDs. These are all reasons to love the Broncos' young safety squad. We have three talented, hard-working young men who are learning from some of the best players in the league,as well as some of the best coaches. All three have been among the best stories on special team. Darcel McBath appears able to do anything we ask of him and Barrett now has shown that he can handle Gates as well as Tony Gonzales. When Wesley Woodyard struggles on the TE, expect to see Barrett out on the field more often. Barrett is being developed slowly, as befits a player who came into the league so raw, and he has the physical gifts to excel as he matures. Bruton may be the slowest of the three to develop, in the end, but that doesn't mean that he's in any way a disappointment. I've already heard folks wondering what we'll do when Dawkins retires (at about age 52). We've got three solid young options to develop against that day. I know that folks are talking about Eric Berry or Taylor Mays, but we've got exactly what we need - young, smart, skillful, hardworking players that can do their jobs.

That's something that we've been conditioned, as fans, to overlook. We are drawn to glitz, to fame and personality. There's nothing wrong with that per se, but that's not how the Patriots became a perennial power and it isn't how the Broncos will stay one. Getting marquee players is fine, so don't misunderstand me. I love Mays and Berry.and they'll be solid-to-great players in the NFL. But by establishing the three young players that we have, just as we are doing with Jack Williams and Alphonso Smith at CB and Ryan McBean, Robert Ayers and several others, we're creating a team that won't have huge cap issues, that fields a squad of tough, smart players who are focused on winning and execution, and who may have less stars, but will have more winners. In the end - that's what it's all about.

Taking Your Best Shot

I had to laugh at the blurb TedB did on shots this week, with the resultant recipes and member preferences. Great stuff, folks. At this point, my choice of shots tends to be morphine or Dilaudid. Wusses... ;-)

Final Thought - The Ravens

I don't really believe that anything the Broncos did in seasons past bears much on this year. For that reason, although the Broncos have a history of winning coming off the bye week, I don't see that as relevant. On the other hand, most teams play well with an extra week of rest and the Broncos will follow suit. They will have an extra week to gameplan, too, and that's never going to be a bad thing with our coaching staff. I don't discount the Ravens staff, either.

So, let's look at Baltimore. I see a very good team on both sides of the ball and one that may have its back to the wall. They're at home, and they're coming off a bye (but so are we). They are showing some weaknesses in their defensive secondary, and that's to the advantage of Denver. Orton's arm has proven more than strong enough to pick apart a team that leaves holes, especially if the rush doesn't reach Orton. Our offensive line will have its work cut out for it in the running game, but as the last two games showed, the Ravens can be beaten on the ground. This is a great opportunity for Knowshon Moreno to shine, and Correll Buckhalter is going to get a lot of chances as well. It's close, but I believe that our offense can overcome the Ravens defense in a close, hard-fought game.

But while this is a change in Baltimore, stopping their offense will be very tough, even for a defense as gifted as the Broncos. One big reason is the running game - Ray Rice is a heck of a back and their line is blocking well for him. The other is the way that the Ravens have delved into history to establish a passing offense that takes advantage of the skills of Joe Flacco, who was underestimated by many coming out of college. The abilities of Baltimore offensive coordinator Cam Cameron, who is at the top of his game, are nothing to take lightly. As far as Cameron goes, here's some thoughts:

Everyone knows how much I enjoy the history, skills and writings of Bill Walsh. While he has a special place in my heart, I like to go out of my way to credit Sid Gillman and Paul Brown for much of what Walsh developed into his own approach. On the other side of the passing game, the vertical passing game side that also traces to Sid Gillman, you have the 'Air Coryell' style approach - the vertical game. Many coaches have used and improved upon it, but Coryell was in many ways the key to its development. There is even a legitimate argument that these are the two most important forks in the passing game road, although by no means the only important ones. Both came down from the works of Sid Gillman. Most NFL teams will tend to use more of one or the other of these two iconic approaches.

The Ravens tend to bend more to the Coryell approach. Coryell took the old 'passing tree' concept and improved on it in his own ways. Every offensive coordinator, even those that fans (including, I'm ashamed to admit, myself) tend to see as 'conservative', such as Ron Turner, takes those routes and concepts and turns them into a bewildering confabulation of lines, twists, routes, concepts and options. The Walsh-based systems tend to emphasize timing routes and the shorter game (although not ignoring the mid- and deep-passing game, as some have claimed) and prefers to name the routes, while the Coryell-ancestry systems will blend a passing game that is delineated with numbers and is more heavily based off of the '9' (go) route. But every modern system is complex, weaving incredible variations of routes that look more like a pile of malaria germs than trees.

Within all modern systems, you also have a great emphasis on having the receiver see, dissect and recognize the various coverages and to adjust his routes accordingly to find the weaknesses in the coverage. The quarterback has to instantly see, understand and adapt to those changes, which is one reason that a smart QB can be more dangerous than a stronger one. The routes are not necessarily etched in stone. Sometimes they are fluid and adaptive, making the connection between receivers and quarterback essential to success. That's something that many seem to have ignored when Orton didn't fly out of the gate like Brady in 2007. It will always take a while for the receivers and quarterbacks to learn each other's patterns, tendencies and skillsets. The skill of the receivers at coming out of their breaks instantly and smoothly is often the difference between a completion and a failure.

Here's a Broncos example: Late during the Chargers game, with the Broncos driving, Brandon Stokley made an adjustment to the Chargers coverage that Orton had never seen (and which Stokley claims that he'd never used before) on the fly. Orton saw, understood and used it, throwing the pass where only Stokes could get it and the result was adding 6 to the Broncos' total. The ability of the seasoned receiver to use the basics of the system, analyze the defense and to adapt the route to the personnel and coverage to produce a completion is an essential aspect of modern success with the offensive game.

In the same way, Brandon Marshall communicated a weakness in the Dallas defense to Orton and told him to look for a certain variation on the hitch route if Terrence Newman acted a certain way, indicating a certain coverage. That pass was good for 6 points and the victory over the Cowboys. The reason that some fans argued that it wasn't 'really' a hitch route is that it was, but Orton and Marshall had also agreed on the way that they would vary it to defeat the coverage.

This may seem a bit long-winded, but here's the point: The Ravens have gotten very, very good at this. They like the vertically-based system, whose weakness is that it takes just a moment or two longer to set up. Flacco has the intellect and the arm - the intellect scares me more. His receivers have been doing a solid job of breaking down the defenses, and the offensive coordinator has been very good this year, despite the recent three loses. Flacco has learned a lot about his receivers and they are getting very good at creating options for him to employ. If you add the power running approach that they are playing and playing well, this is a team with a lot of strengths and not that many weaknesses.

But as we've seen, they can be beaten. I think that this may be the toughest game so far, and because of that, it's the one I'm looking forward to the most. We have a very challenging schedule, but this game, like all of them, is still winnable. We have to get to Flacco, our secondary has to continue to be titanium and our offense has to put points on the board. Nothing deep there - just hard-nosed football. But the Ravens pass rush hasn't been stout and the Broncos O-line has.

I saw cornerback Frank Walker get utterly hosed by the Vikings on more than one play and he had been brought in to replace Fabian Washington, who was even worse. Our receivers need to play well, but what's new? The Ravens have also given up two 100-yard rusher games in the past two tries. They gave up 77 total points in losses to New England, Cincinnati and Minnesota and we've beaten two of those teams. I wouldn't read too much into that, though - the losses were by a combined 11 points. The Ravens are in it each week.

They miss Bart Scott and Jim Leonhard, although Ed Reed is as dangerous as ever. Tavares Gooden isn't the same caliber as Scott, not that that's an insult to him. Our visiting friend Bruce Raffel from the Ravens SB Nation site says that Gooden will probably be tasked with covering Tony Scheffler, and if so, there's a huge mismatch there. Cornerback is a tough issue for Baltimore: In addition to the problems with Washington and Walker, Chris Carr looks sloppy at times and I expect to see more of Lardarius Webb. The Ravens have given up 25 plays of 20 yards or more, though, and that's not how you win championships. At this point, a championship is what the Broncos are obviously playing for, although I don't see them getting ahead of themselves. Big plays may decide this game.

I believe that McDaniels will pull out more of his seemingly infinite bag of tricks and give the Ravens the toughest challenge that they have faced this year. Due to the factors on the Ravens side -- home field, bye and having their backs to the wall -- I'm calling it a one point victory, and I think that it will come down to the 4th quarter. The Broncos are, right now, the meanest 4th quarter team in the NFL, and that should be the difference in the game. Broncos 24-23 in a nail-biter.

I'll see you in a couple of weeks, my friends. Go Broncos!

Doc

Broncos Thoughts and Musings - A look back at Chargers Week

Emmett Smith — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 17:00:30 -0000

More photos » by Denis Poroy - AP

about 1 month ago: Denver Broncos running back Knowshon Moreno, center, goes over the top of San Diego Chargers linebackers Tim Dobbins (51) and Stephen Cooper (54) while gaining two yards for a first down in the third quarter of the NFL football game Monday, Oct. 19, 2009 in San Diego. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy)

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Having taken a 'bye' week of my own, I thought that I'd put together a few musings for the general group. Before getting into the meat of this week's offering, though, I'd like to take a minute to mention a phenomena that has been showing its ugly face around Broncos Country. I'm talking about the problems of our fans having a 'Shanahangover': the sinking belief that the issues of the past years, in which the Broncos look good enough to fool us and lull us into a state of complacency before succumbing to a massive blowout (often to an inferior team) and shattering our dreams, could resurface in 2009. It's a dangerous disease, but fatal only to those who believe that this year's team has something in common with the teams of the past - notably, the past three seasons. Time will tell, but I don't see this happening any longer.

I've read this from a few of the members and in other blogs and sites: "The Broncos have fooled us before." It's true, too, but that was before a new sheriff, deputy, posse, marksman and scouts came into the picture. No matter what you've seen in the past, this team has little or nothing to do with the Ghosts of Seasons Past. The improvement in the coaching, performance of players, attitude and execution is light years beyond what we as fans are used to. Whether it's our team or another, living in the past is an exercise in misunderstanding the present. This is not last year's Broncos. It's a whole new experience.

As an example, Arrowhead Stadium is likely to be a tough place to win; but it's not because the Broncos haven't played well there in the past. They often didn't, but that's not a matter for this year's team. It's a windswept, loud, raucous place to play. It's hard to hear signals if the place is full and I don't take any game lightly, particularly a division rival. While I do think that the Chiefs are in early stages of an upswing, I'm not at all concerned that they're better than Denver or that they will beat us, even in their own house. Our veterans aren't going to take games off and they're not going to let the younger players take anyone lightly. If the Broncos play anywhere near their skill level, they're just too good for most teams. We've got a lot of great contests coming up, but one thing that doesn't concern me at all is the possibility that we will revert to the habits of seasons past. It's not going to happen, so put it out of your mind.

Charging into the Future

Before the Monday Night Football game that extended the Broncos' record to 6-0, Chargers TE Antonio Gates said, "One thing that gives us a chance is that we're still in the hunt in the AFC West. We never said it had to be pretty, and it wasn't pretty last year." After the game, it was a lot uglier. If Gates believes that the Chargers are still in the hunt, he needs to define his terms pretty quickly.

"It's tough to always be in this situation," Gates said afterward. "We didn't plan on being here. We didn't plan on being 8-8 last year either. But here we are. We have to keep working, or it could snowball and turn into a losing streak."

"We didn't plan on getting here." If there are words perfectly suited for failure, I think those should be high on the list. "We didn't plan on being here." Yes, that about covers it.

Bear in mind that they also didn't plan well enough to avoid it. They didn't run the extra sprints that the Broncos endured to get in better shape than their opponents. They didn't make the personnel moves that the Broncos did, realizing that no matter how good you were supposed to be, an 8-8 record will rarely get you into the postseason. They didn't identify the weaknesses that they had, nor the ones that could arise with age, injury and contract status. They didn't do enough to prepare themselves for the fact that Shawne Merriman was very unlikely to have a great year this year. Few will, after the kind of surgery that he had. In short - they didn't plan to succeed, either.

I'm sympathetic to their injury issues among linemen. That's tough and often unpredictable. But even there - is it a shock that Jamal Williams (who's had more surgeries than an aging Hollywood ingenue) would start to break down? Nick Hardwick has had a lot of injuries, plenty of surgeries (and I thought that Scott Mruczkowski did a very good job until Mike Nolan outfoxed him). Igor Olshansky was going to be gone. I wrote last spring about the issues that the Chargers were going to be experiencing, and I'm no expert. So, what happened?

Three things, I'd argue, and all are common: arrogance, lassitude and reversion to the mean. Arrogance in this case includes believing that you can start out poorly season after season and still make up the ground - the continuing decline of their schedule argues against that. But the arrogance also includes the behavior of individuals, including fighting within the team that is seen in public. Then there's lassitude, as in admitting, as A.J. Smith did last February, that the Chargers' woes were in great part on him but not doing more about it. And reversion to the mean: this is a team that has been heading for mediocrity (and how obvious can that be, after going 8-8?) for some time. It needed major help, and it got a few band-aids.

I loved the Kevin Burnett pickup, and it's just bad fortune that he's hurt. I liked the Larry English draft pick, and he's getting there. I also liked the Louis Vasquez draft pick, and he's developing quickly. I can't even fathom the Kynan Forney (who's since been released) or Travis Johnson pickups, though. The Bolts tended to stand pat with a suspect secondary, didn't develop their depth and accepted on faith that bad performances were anomalies instead of facts. It bought them a game in which a stellar performance by Philip Rivers wasn't enough, in which Nolan and McDaniels out-coached Ron Rivera and Norv Turner and in which the best the Chargers could bring wasn't close to enough.

There will, as Merriman pointed out, be a rematch. I look forward to it, and I'm sure the Broncos do. Stating before the game that 'the Broncos can't stop me' wasn't Rivers' smartest move. Claiming that they will get revenge after the game wasn't Merriman's, but I do appreciate the help those things gave Denver. If the Broncos needed any aid in getting up for the home half of this series, which I greatly doubt, they won't after that night's statements.

Arrogance...some things don't change.

Losing the Locker Room

That same arrogance has infected the locker room and the very attitude of the Chargers. You could see in a single moment why the Chargers have problems with their team very clearly during the first quarter of the Monday night game. The Chargers bogged down at the goal line - LaDainian Tomlinson was stopped short of the goal line twice. They took him out on the third play and put in Darren Sproles, trying to take advantage of a seam that Turner had seen. Tomlinson paced the sidelines, obviously complaining bitterly about not being in. The Broncos stopped Sproles and the Bolts short again, and they settled for kicking the FG.

It got me to thinking. Last year at this time, the Chargers were starting slow, appeared unmotivated and perhaps even ill-prepared. Tomlinson was also complaining - about the play calling, the offensive line, and not getting enough carries. Now, imagine that he was in orange and blue. How likely is it that a Bronco would do that - two years running? If you consider that Turner's team has gone from 14-2 before he arrived, to slow starts three years running, you start to see why that might be true. Players fight with management in the media. The GM insults his team, as A.J. Smith did by calling their play 'soft'. Nowhere is there a sign that adults are in charge. Merriman has a public feud with Smith, dating back a couple of seasons. Smith doesn't like his side jobs, feeling that it takes away from the team. LDT fights with Turner, expresses his feelings and tussles with Smith this past offseason, very publicly. Smith gets quickly pulled into it. No one wins.

This past week, it was wide receiver Chris Chambers. A non-factor for quite a while now, he was complaining to the press that his snaps are being taken by Malcolm Floyd. I don't know what he expected - he's not gaining separation, he's not getting open and he hasn't shown a ton of skill at fighting for the ball. But he's still touting himself as if it were three seasons ago and he was doing good things. It's the kind of thing that you're not seeing from the Broncos, the kind of thing that tells you when a franchise is in disarray.

I can't even express my gratitude for the fact that Josh McDaniels has very good management skills. He won't carry arguments into the media, rarely gets flustered and keeps things behind closed doors. I've fired people for the kinds of destructive behavior that I've seen from the Chargers over the past two years. Those who claim that this is football and that it's really okay to have things this way should consider how the Broncos do handle things -- and how their team acts and plays. As in, as a unit. As a real team, one that's going good places. It matters. Once in a while, a dysfunctional team has a good year. Most of the time, though, they flame out, and the talent levels don't matter enough to get them where they want to go. That's happening in San Diego, and while it's good for the Broncos, it's an obvious sign of the Bolts organization needing a makeover.

Asked before the MNF debacle, LDT was asked what he saw in the Charger's locker room. "It's a quiet confidence. You look in each man's eyes in that locker room, you can tell there is something extra."

Did they also see that you'd be pacing the sidelines, yelling and pouting, LDT? Perhaps not. That's one reason that the Chargers are 3 games back. Even worse for the Bolts and better for the Broncos, LDT hasn't been alone.

Beating Kansas City has given the Bolts a brief respite, but that's hardly a road back into the land of the competitive. While I do think that the Denver game as been a wakeup call of Shakespearean proportions for San Diego, their problems run too deep to permit them to make the late season run this year profitable. The game in Denver will be a grudge match. Given the state of the raiders and Chiefs, that's a good thing. It may keep thing much more interesting.

Some Other Stats that Matter (With apologies to Lebowski)

What did the Broncos do right so far this year? It's a long list, but try these perspectives on the rushing game:

Stuffs per carry - Correll Buckhalter, 4th, at 0.043 Knowshon Moreno at 9th, with 0.061
Stuffed: Best in league - It only happened on 8 plays. Despite the issues that can improve in short yardage, the problem isn't with negative plays.
YPC: Buck, 1st, 6.7 Broncos 11th, 4.3
Yards: Broncos 7th, 798
Big play rushes: tied for 9th, 20
100-yard rushers against: 0
100 yards rushing by opposing teams: 0
Passes dropped, over 6 games: 5. Four of those came in the first two weeks. It's all about doing your job and doing it right.

Let's also look at the percentage of rushing versus passing plays. Going back to the offseason, Doug (nycbroncosfan) and I published the "Divining Josh McDaniels" series. We said at the time that McD had been viewed at being more of a passing kind of guy than he really deserved. It was true when McD was in NE and it is true in Denver. We're in 8th, with 47.7% rushing and therefore 52.3% passing - a very even, balanced attack. Over the last 4 years, McDaniels had averaged 43.1% rushing plays. That seems low, but it's not if you look at how the team was structured. In 2008 that number was 46.8% rushing and that was similar to 2006 as well. On the other years, the passing game was working too well to minimize it. Josh McD believes in maximizing all of your skill sets and using the ones that the defense lets you win with, whether it's the pass or the run. As you would expect, he's attempting to make sure hat both are viable options. It's that simple. By getting Moreno, Buckhalter, Orton, the O-line and the receiving corps, he can go either way with complete confidence. That makes it very hard to stop the Broncos' offense.

You might also look at how the aging, decrepit defensive secondary is doing. Teams have been challenging Champ Bailey and Brian Dawkins and getting their hats handed to them. Take a look at these stats: Bailey is tied for 2nd in the league with 8 passes defensed; Dawkins is tied for 11th with 6.

The Broncos have two players in the top 11 in the NFL in passes defensed -- and both players are over 30. That's a stat that not a lot of casual fans follow, but it tells you a lot about a team. It tells you that the Broncos have age, wisdom and maturity in the defensive secondary. Experienced players know how to communicate and that skill is constantly undervalued. It also tells you that those who believe that Champ Bailey, Andre' Goodman, Brian Dawkins and Renaldo Hill are 'losing a step' need to find their argument. Dawkins and Bailey are among the league leaders and are getting some payback on the 'lost a step' crowd. Andre' Goodman and Renaldo Hill are playing the best ball of their careers. The young guys, Alphonso Smith and Jack Williams, are also paying well and Darcel McBath has already shown why we drafted him on defense as well as by leading the team on special-teams tackles.

I'll be back later today with more Thoughts and Musings...

Baltimore’s Struggling Defense: A Warning for the 49ers

raorao — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 20:00:28 -0000

by Jim Mone - AP

about 1 month ago: Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson (28) eludes an attempted tackle by Baltimore Ravens safety Ed Reed (20) in the fourth quarter while racing 58 yards in an NFL football game Sunday, Oct. 18, 2009, in Minneapolis. The Vikings won 33-31. (AP Photo/Jim Mone)

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Hey NinersNation, I’m Rao: A longtime 49ers fan and Bay Area expat in DC who is forced to suffer through Singletary-less football games every Sunday. As a part of Fooch’s quest to dominate the football blogosphere, I’ll be writing weekly feature stories on important issues around the league and why we, as Niners fans, should care. First up: Why the Baltimore defense is falling apart, and what we can learn from it.

After a three game losing streak, the Baltimore Ravens are going through a bye week identity crisis. For ten years, the Ravens have known exactly who they were: A physical, smash mouth defense, led by Ed Reed and Ray Lewis, that dragged its offense along for the ride – basically what the 49ers aspire to be in coming years, if not later this season. After years of waiting, however, their offense finally came together in 2008, and this season had Ravens’ fans talking dynasties and superbowls. But a funny thing happened in the first six weeks of the season: the heralded Baltimore defense forgot to show up.

Make no mistake, the 2009 Baltimore defense is not the squad that it once was. The Ravens last year ranked in the top 3 in total defense, pass yards allowed, and running yards allowed, but this year they are averaging a mediocre 333 yards allowed per game. Opposing quarterbacks are posting a 63% completion rate and an 89 point passer rating on average against the Ravens, which would have been impossible in 2008. That year, the Ravens only allowed four teams to score more than 24 points against them – a number that has already been matched this season. So what's going on here?

A third-rate secondary. The unit’s clearest problem is their back end: Specifically, their inability to cover anyone. The team has allowed 242 yards per game in the air, ranking them 22nd in the league, and only five teams have allowed more plays of 20+ yards. Sure, Baltimore has played teams with good passing games, but they make questionable receivers look like superstars – no one can excuse allowing Vikings WR Sidney Rice a 176 yard game. With the loss of veteran cornerback Samari Rolle in the offseason, the Ravens have the untested CBs struggling in the position and instead of making big plays, they have a penchant for giving them up. The Ravens have already allowed 6 passes of 40 yards or more, matching their total for the entire 2008 season. This is a unit that is constantly tested by opponents and fails miserably – as Baltimore Beatdown blogger Bruce Raffel colorfully put it, "Our cornerbacks couldn't cover a sleeping homeless guy with a blanket."

It all starts with the front office. To some extent, these problems are a result of poor management decisions: Two big offseason acquisitions, CB Domonique Foxworth and Chris Carr, have so far seemed to be busts. Nickel back Carr, particularly, has been repeatedly beaten in obvious passing situations, like when Cincinnati’s Andre Caldwell torched him for the game winning touchdown in week 5. Some blame can be passed on to the coaching staff as well: New defensive coordinator Greg Mattison, replacing defensive genius Rex Ryan, lacks the former’s knack for creative blitzing schemes and has instituted a more vanilla defense.

"Veteran" sometimes just means old. But secondary play this bad can’t just be caused by suspect play calling or a few bad players. The more likely reason: The Baltimore defense is finally showing signs of its age all around. ILB Ray Lewis is entering his 14th season, and lacks the speed and instinct he once had; FootballOutsiders argued he’s not even in the top 10 LB’s in the league anymore, and his play has unquestionable suffered this season. Fellow linebackers Terrell Suggs and Jarret Johnson have also slowed with time, hurting their ability to cover the middle of the field effectively and putting even more pressure on the strugging secondary. This front seven is still solid – they rank sixth against the running game with 3.5 yards per carry, and 11th in sacks – but its no longer as dominant as it once was, and it can’t make up for the team’s questionable back end play in the way it did in 2008. This is a unit that got its hands on one of every four passes thrown last season, and ranked number 1 on fourth down. Those numbers have returned to Earth in 2008, and the secondary is paying the price for it.

The house always wins. Some would argue that the unit is salvaged by the freakishly effective strong safety Ed Reed. In all fairness, he can always be counted on to come up with a big play at least once a week, like his spectacular forced fumble in week 5. But the reason he is so successful is because he takes risks – playing receivers close and jumping routes to come up with big interceptions – and gamblers always lose in the long run. When this team had an elite pass rush, like it did in 2006, such tactics made sense, since quarterbacks were too busy avoiding Ray Lewis to play chess games with Baltimore’s secondary. Those days are over now, and Ed Reed’s aggressive style of play is as likely to lead to big plays for the other team as quarterbacks have more time in the pocket.

Whether it’s because of their aging stars, poor game planning, or just bad play, the Ravens defense this season seems like it won’t be the juggernaut it once was. Their season could still be salvaged on the shoulders of Joe Flacco, but, as of now, they sit in third place in the NFC North with the Colts, Broncos, and two games against the Steelers still on the schedule. What does this mean to us Niners fans? Outside of one less team to fear in the playoffs, it’s a warning that solid defense doesn’t last forever. The difference between a great defense and a mediocre one isn’t big in the NFL, and as Baltimore’s struggles show, defensive dynasties are quickly destroyed by age and injury. Every year with a struggling offense is another year our defense gets older and closer to mediocrity. So here’s hoping it doesn’t take until Patrick Willis’ 14th season for the 49ers to find their own Joe Flacco.

Dissecting The Ravens Loss: What Went Wrong?

Bruce Raffel — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 14:51:37 -0000

More photos » by Gail Burton - AP

2 months ago: Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Andre Caldwell tosses the football away as he celebrates his fourth-quarter touchdown during the NFL football game against the Baltimore Ravens, Sunday, Oct. 11, 2009, in Baltimore. The Cincinnati Bengals won 17-14. (AP Photo/Gail Burton)

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Where do we start? Perhaps this story might be a lot shorter if we just talk about what went right. The Baltimore Ravens Lost to the Cincinnati Bengals 17-14 yesterday and there were so many things that went wrong that my fingers might give out before we list everything.

So let's just summarize and break it down by offense and defense. Offensively, the Ravens could only muster 257 total yards, easily their lowest output of the 2009 season. Joe Flacco threw for 186 of those yards but it was another Red Zone interception on a poorly thrown ball off of a bad decision that cost the Ravens points for the second straight week. Without the amazing run after the short catch by Ray Rice, the offense would have been shut out by the Bengals surprising defense. After throwing what seemed too much last week in the loss to the New England Patriots, the Ravens made so many questionable choices to run at inopportune times in key situations, most notably a three and out in the third quarter when they ran the ball three straight times including a third and four. The subsequent series gave the Bengals their first score on a long Cedric Benson run. The playcalling was boring, the execution inefficient, and the field was reduced to sideline passes and dump offs, resulting in lost opportunities.

Where was Derrick Mason all day? Until the last drive, where was the over the middle throw to Kelley Washington? Was Willis McGahee playing at all? What about L.J. Smith? So many key contributors from our three wins were absent either physically or spiritually from yesterday's gameplan. How many times did it seem like both Brian Billick and Matt Cavanaugh were calling the plays? I heard a unnamed newspaper columnist say after the Patriots loss that our offense has to take what the defense gives it. I totally disagree with this as good offenses force the defense to compensate, not the other way around. Perhaps this team has such a long history of a weak offense that even they believe that they can't determine what the defense is doing and it must stay the other way around, which is never what you hear from the better offenses in the league. I guess we're still just not up there with them despite our early success this season.

Defensively, you can say that we held them to ten points for the first 59+ minutes of the game and even I predicted they would only score ten points yesterday. Of course, all Ravens fans would have walked away real happy if that was all the Bengals scored. However, when the opposition can roll 80 yards for the game winning score with seconds left in the game on what is supposed to be an opportunistic defense, as it was for one play in the first half, then nothiong else needs to be said.

Blame the refs, the poor penalties, the offensive shortcomings, this team had the lead and where they wanted the Bengals with two minutes left in the game. Our cornerbacks couldn't cover a sleeping homeless guy with a blanket. At the same time, the lack of a pass rush makes it so difficult to cover a guy for that long. Notice that a lot of Carson Palmer's completions came after he had a long time to sit back and wait for his guys to get open for the catch. Until this team (and it's fans) stops whining about the refs and stop causing so many inopportune penalties, the league will continue to sit and wait for us to screw up so they can throw the flag. That is not targeting us in a league conspiracy, it's just knowing that this team is prone to committing penalties and are among the league leaders year after year.

Our cornerbacks remain a huge issue this year as we cannot match up much less cover the opponents receivers. The key mismatches are seeming to come on the nickel and dime packages as the opponents' #3 receivers are burning us over and over. We saw this yesterday when third option Andre' Caldwell caught the game winner with, who else, Chris Carr lying on the ground watching his cross the goal line. Carr has not played anywhere near the guy we thought he would be when we signed him as a free agent in the off season, as a DB or in the return game.

Face it, the days of the Ravens dominating defense appear over. While we still have some great players, this team is not going to win games by themselves and other than the occasional amazing play, do not expect us to shut down the better teams and win the close games unless the offense picks up the slack. That certainly did not happen yesterday and you have to give partial credit to the Cincinnati Bengals who proved you can win all your games in the last seconds as long as you win,which is why they sit at 4-1 and atop the AFC Norht, while we are in what Tom Petty sings in his hit "Free Fallin'" and are now headed for Minnesota and a real tough game against an undefeated Vikings team next Sunday.

Poll

What side of the ball played worse in the Baltimore Ravens loss to the Cincinnati Bengals yesterday?

The Ravens offense

329 votes

The Ravens defense

219 votes

548 votes | Poll has closed

Final Practice/Injury Report: Cincinnati Bengals (3-1) at Baltimore Ravens (3-1)

Kirkendall — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 15:20:13 -0000

OUT	Questionable	PROBABLE
LB Rashad Jeanty (finger)	S Kyries Hebert (hip)	RB Cedric Benson (hip)
T Andre Smith (foot)	DT Tank Johnson (foot)	CB David Jones (foot)
	S Chinedum Ndukwe (hamstring)	LB Rey Maualuga (knee)
		DT Domata Peko (chest)
		S Roy Williams (forearm)

BALTIMORE RAVENS

QUESTIONABLE	PROBABLE
T Jared Gaither (neck)	CB Chris Carr (groin)	DT Haloti Ngata (back)
	LB Tavares Gooden (shoulder)	S Ed Reed (knee)
	LB Jarret Johnson (shoulder)	WR Demetrius Williams (illness)
	WR Derrick Mason (neck)

Practice

BENGALS	WED	THUR	FRI
T Andre Smith (foot)	OUT	OUT	OUT
RB Cedric Benson (hip)	DNP	FP	FP
LB Rashad Jeanty (finger)	DNP	DNP	OUT
LB Rey Maualuga (knee)	DNP	LP	FP
S Chinedum Ndukwe (hamstring)	DNP	LP	DNP
DT Tank Johnson (foot)	LP	LP	LP
DT Domata Peko (chest)	LP	LP	FP
CB David Jones (foot)	FP	FP	FP
S Roy Williams (forearm)	FP	FP	FP
S Kyries Hebert ()	--	LP	DNP

RAVENS	WED	THUR	FRI
T Jared Gaither (neck)	DNP	DNP	DNP
LB Jarret Johnson (shoulder)	DNP	LP	FP
WR Derrick Mason (neck)	DNP	LP	LP
WR Demetrius Williams (illness)	DNP	DNP	LP
CB Chris Carr (groin)	LP	LP	FP
LB Tavares Gooden (shoulder)	FP	FP	FP
DT Haloti Ngata (back)	FP	FP	FP
S Ed Reed (knee)	FP	FP	FP

How To Beat The Cincinnati Bengals

Bruce Raffel — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 14:14:36 -0000

More photos » by Elise Amendola - AP

2 months ago: Baltimore Ravens wide receiver Kelley Washington (15) pulls in a pass reception over New England Patriots cornerback Shawn Springs (29) during the first half of an NFL football game Sunday, Oct. 4, 2009, in Foxborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

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Facing a battle for the lead of the AFC North, the Baltimore Ravens will need to bring out their defensive supremacy, while showing the Cincinnati Bengals that their offensive explosion this season is not a mere fluke. While the offense has put points on the board in record numbers, the defense has surrendered them in numbers that normally would be for twice the number of games they've already played. While that might not change like it did against the hapless Cleveland Browns, the Ravens will have to win the turnover battle to put a Baltimore 'beatdown" on the Bengals.

(More on "How To Beat The Cincinnati Bengals" after the 'Jump')

This is not the "Bungles" team that we saw last year, when the Ravens easily swept both games from them. Cincinnati has greatly improved a defense that was better than most people thought last year. A healthy Keith Rivers plus the addition of rookie Rey Maualaga has made the linebacking corps more like the Ravens' group that Cincy coach Marvin Lewis used to rule over. The addition of Roy Williams at safety helps their already good set of cornerbacks. The health of Carson Palmer plus an offensive line that should get even better when they see the return of first round pick Andre Smith in a short time. When Palmer gets time to throw, he has a solid group of receivers led by some guy with a number for his name.

So what do the Ravens need to do on both sides of the ball to win this battle for first place of the division? Not much, just "play like a Raven" pretty much sums it up. Let the offense continue to move the ball, but put a little more emphasis on the run game than they did in New England, where they showed they could gobble up huge chunks of yardage at will. Throw the ball to keep the defense off of the line and when they creep up to put eight in the box, the air it out to make them pay.

Defensivlely, keep the Bengals out of the end zone. Bend but don't break between the 20's and force Cincy to kick field goals when they get into scoring position. Shut down the run game as usual and put lots of pressure on Carson Palmer, both with four rushers as well through a mix of stunts and blitzes. Don't give Palmer time to set up with deep drops and make our DB's look any worse than they've been already. Allow Ed Reed to provide help and start his run of picks that he did late in 2008. No long plays on offense for Cincinnati, much less Special Teams.

Speaking of Special Teams, we should get a needed boost from rookie Lardarius Webb, who will take over the kickoff return duties from Chris Carr, who has looked less that average since his arrival here. Carr will continue to return punts for now, but something tells me that once Webb gets confidence returning kickoffs and has some needed success, he should take over the punt retuning duties as well.

With these thoughts in mind, and played out on the field, the Baltimore Ravens should be able to expose the Cincinnati Bengals' early success as one that could have easily been 1-3 or even 0-4, more than the one that currently sits at 3-1, soon to be 3-2.

Practice Report (Thursday): Cincinnati Bengals (3-1) at Baltimore Ravens (3-1)

Kirkendall — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 13:17:41 -0000

Every Wednesday, Thursday and Friday evening, we'll (TRY TO) update the practice/injury chart leading up to Sunday's game. The chart is pretty self-explanatory. If the player is listed as out, they're out for the game. If they did not participate, they didn't practice. If they were limited, then they only participated during a portion of practice (typically means missing 11-on-11 drills). If the player is listed as full participation, it simply means that they practiced fully and that the only reason they're listed is because injury was an issue the week before.

Practice

BENGALS	WED	THUR	FRI
T Andre Smith (foot)	OUT	OUT
RB Cedric Benson (hip)	DNP	FP
LB Rashad Jeanty (finger)	DNP	DNP
LB Rey Maualuga (knee)	DNP	LP
S Chinedum Ndukwe (hamstring)	DNP	LP
DT Tank Johnson (foot)	LP	LP
DT Domata Peko (chest)	LP	LP
CB David Jones (foot)	FP	FP
S Roy Williams (forearm)	FP	FP
S Kyries Hebert ()	--	LP

RAVENS	WED	THUR	FRI
T Jared Gaither (neck)	DNP	DNP
LB Jarret Johnson (shoulder)	DNP	LP
WR Derrick Mason (neck)	DNP	LP
WR Demetrius Williams (illness)	DNP	DNP
CB Chris Carr (groin)	LP	LP
LB Tavares Gooden (shoulder)	FP	FP
DT Haloti Ngata (back)	FP	FP
S Ed Reed (knee)	FP	FP

What is Wrong with the Tennessee Titans?

hal41605 — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 20:31:03 -0000

More photos » by Bill Kostroun - AP

Have Jeff Fisher and the Titans ever fallen so far short of expectations?

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"And you may ask yourself: Well....How did I get here?"

-David Byrne and Brian Eno

Nothing about the Titans season has gone as planned. A team that most people expected to at least be among the 10 or 12 best teams in the league sits at 0-3. On the bench, one of the most respected coaches of the last two decades holds in his hand a roster that returned all the crucial, marquee players, save one, from a team that went 13-3 last year. It's a roster full of Pro-Bowlers and other assorted veterans, some of whom have rings on their fingers from their previous destinations. The rookies on that roster belong to a highly regarded draft class that provided much to be optimistic about during the preseason.

The Titans lost a coordinator, but promoted from within in hopes of maintaining a great system. They lost an All-Pro, but put trust in the best in the business, Jim Washburn, to turn another nobody into a somebody, yet again, as he has done so regularly throughout his tenure in Tennessee. The players were steaming mad and itching to complete some unfinished business after squandering one of the easier roads to a Super Bowl one will ever see last season with the fiasco at home against Baltimore in early January. This was a team that had absolutely every reason to come storming out of the gates, tough schedule or not, and assert themselves as a contender early on.

And they now sit at 0-3.

The Titans have problems, big problems in all three phases of the game. Some are personnel based, some are errors in execution, and still others are coaching related. After the jump, my take on the State of the Titans and what must happen, starting on Sunday with Jacksonville.

Special Teams

Special teams is by far the worst unit on this football team this season. It is basically impossible to find anything good to say about special teams, as their dead last DVOA ranking would suggest. The Titans have allowed a blocked kick, missed a kick, and done worse than nothing on both kick and punt returns. Football Outsiders gives separate values for each phase of special teams, and an examination of each phase tells you exactly what you already know if you have been paying attention. The best parts of the Titans special teams are the kick and punt coverage units, which both rank near the middle of the league. On field goals and extra point kicks, only 5 teams have done worse so far this season. On kick returns only the hapless Rams are worse and no team in the league is below the Titans on punt returns.

Plenty has already been written about the Titans decision to go without an experienced return man this season. The decision to let Chris Carr walk was, I believe, justifiable based upon his insistence that he have a regular role on defense in the secondary-a role he simply wasn't that good at. But Chris Carr signed with the Ravens on March 18^th. There is no excuse whatsoever for not using the next 5 months between losing Carr and the beginning of the season to find a guy who can return kicks and punts. There simply isn't. This is the first of two massive blunders that the front office made this offseason that should have never been allowed to happen. The Titans recently went crawling back to return specialist Mark Jones, whom they cut after an injury plagued training camp, but how effective he is going to be remains to be seen, considering he failed a physical in Carolina less than a month ago. It must be said, however, as long as he doesn't fumble away touchdowns for the other team, he's an upgrade.

Pass Defense

The Titans pass defense, which has been infuriatingly inept, is currently ranked 29^th in terms of raw yardage and 26^th by Football Outsiders' DVOA metric. From where I sit there are two causes, one schematic, one personnel. In terms of scheme, the Titans are trying their hardest to stick with the Schwartz system of only rushing four lineman 90% of the time. While I have no problem with this being our core philosophy, Defensive Coordinator Chuck Cecil has to do a much, much better job of recognizing when our four-man rush simply isn't getting the job done and blitzing more accordingly. When Roethlisberger was getting all day on every single play in the second half against Pittsburgh, Cecil's failure to adapt and do what was necessary to get more pressure was a huge part of why the Titans lost that game. It should be noted that our four man line ranks 10^th by DVOA against the pass and is towards the top end of the league with 7 sacks this season. It is not the case that our line can't get pressure on the QB, it's that they cannot do it consistently and they cannot do it late in games when they have spent the majority of the game on the field. The line misses Albert Haynesworth, no question, because he made everyone better, but I still think this defense can be just as nasty as last season with a little more imagination in regards to how they bring pressure.

The personnel aspect of our passing defense woes begins and ends with Nick Harper. When you have a cornerback averaging almost 9 tackles per game and who has no pass defenses in 3 games, you have big problems. It has become obvious that Nick Harper simply does not have enough left in his legs to be effective. The pass rush may not be as potent this season, and I do think that is part of the problem, but Nick Harper is leaving receivers open early and often, so it's hard to imagine that he would be serviceable even with more QB pressure. In fact, several times when the Titans have blitzed, it has been Nick Harper's man that served as the safety valve on a quick slant. Through the first three games, it is almost impossible to avoid the conclusion that Harper, at 35 years old, simply cannot play corner effectively in the NFL anymore.

The decision to let all of the experienced back up corners walk this offseason, when they knew they had a starter who was going to be that old, was, in my opinion, the biggest blunder made by the front office this offseason. It is no secret that once a corner loses his legs he is next to worthless in this league. Wide receivers are just too fast. By letting our depth at that position walk, especially Eric King, and only adding rookie replacements, the front office went "all in" on the bet that Harper would be fine this season. It looked like a sucker bet during the offseason, but the events of the first 3 weeks have cemented the choice to not pursue another quality, experienced cornerback as an unmitigated disaster.

While there have certainly been other scheme and execution problems in the secondary, such as Michael Griffin and Chris Hope simply not living up to their Pro-Bowl performances from last year and simply not being as good when asked to cover longer than last year, not having a good 2^ndstring option with which to replace Harper has been, and may continue to be, a fatal error. Now that Vincent Fuller and Cortland Finnegan are both banged up, this blunder will only become more and more costly, as replacing Harper will not be possible if the Titans are too busy dealing with injuries to other players at the same position. If the Titans go quietly into the night the season, this will be as much the reason as anything else.

Offensive Scheme

There are always plenty of opinions about the merits of having a "game manager" at quarterback and even more opinions about what, exactly constitutes a "games manager". Well, Titans fans, the answer is simple. Last year Kerry Collins was a game manager. This year, he is not. The distinction basically centers on how many and what kinds of throws the quarterback is asked to make every game. Last year, Kerry made very few passes deep down field, and got the majority of his completions through tight ends and running backs. As a result, Kerry was among the best at protecting the ball last year and not taking sacks. He made quick, precise throws to short and mid-range targets and it was exactly what a team with a dynamic rushing attack and a bruising defense needed: a game manager.

This year Kerry Collins is no longer being asked to be a game manager. Last season he attempted roughly 26 passes per game. Through three games this season he has attempted 35, 33, and 37 passes, on average 9 more passes per game than last season. Last season, 150 of the team's 265 completions went to people who didn't play receiver, or 56.6%. So far this season the count is 30 to 28 in favor of receivers, or 51.7% in the other direction, a swing of over 7%. Going forward, the Titans need to reestablish their low risk brand of passing game, and getting Bo Scaife and Jared Cook into the game plan after injuries will be key.

Simply put, Collins is being asked to make more plays in the passing game, and make plays he has-both good and bad. Kerry only threw 12 TDs all of last season but is on pace for 21.3 TD passes this season. Last season he averaged 167 yards passing per game. This year he is averaging over 40 more yards per game with 210 yards per game. It becomes clear that when you ask Kerry to do more, he can do more. But what has not yet been said and what most people have probably been thinking while watching the games is that Kerry is also making a lot of mistakes. Kerry was only intercepted 7 times all last season, roughly 1.7% of his passes. This season he has already been picked off 4 times at a rate of 3.8%--more than twice as often as last season. The other big change has been in the sack department. When you make more throws to wide receivers down field, the quarterback is asked to hold the ball longer. Kerry has already been sacked 5 times after being sacked just 8 times last season.

So the situation seems clear. When we ask Kerry to throw the ball more often, especially down field to wide receivers, we get a lot more production of every sort: more yards, more TDs, more critical mistakes. The Titans have seemingly forgotten what made Collins so successful last season and are currently asking him to do more than he is capable of doing without significantly increasing the number of negative plays he makes. Last season, Collins threw less than 11 incompletions per game. This season he is up to almost 16. The Titans have lost the time of possession battle, a crucial stat for a Jeff Fisher team, in every game this season. Adding 5 clock-stopping incompletions per game is part of that. The other part of that is what we aren't doing when we are busy throwing the ball too much.

Last season, Chris Johnson and Lendale White combined to average just over 28 carries per game (remember, Collins averaged 26 passes per game). That number is down over 3 carries per game this season, and it's Lendale's carries that are really suffering. He is down to only 7 carries per game from his average of 12.5 carries per game last year. So not only is the increased load on Collins' shoulders causing him to create turnovers that we cannot afford, it is also contributing to the marginalization of Lendale White, and is thus neutering the vaunted 1-2 punch in the running game.

Lendale is in a contract season, lost all that weight and now we are choosing to pass the ball 35 times a game instead of milking our running game like we ought to. Lendale has NEVER been this good, and the Titans have never used him less. In a word: stupid. Our mediocre at best run blocking (a dark secret about this team that is rarely talked about) has been less than effective much of the time, and a lot of that has to do with the fact that Chris Johnson can't move the pile or wear down defenses. Astute ESPN columnist Paul Kuharsky pointed out how almost half of CJ's touches have gone for a yard or less. Chris Johnson is that fastest man alive in football pads, but Lendale, slimmed down though he may be, delivers a load that Johnson cannot begin to simulate. The Titans desperately need to get him more touches, especially early on, in order to keep the ball moving forward on the ground and to put a strangle hold on time of possession. Lendale's touchdown run against the Jets was an absolute thing of beauty, showcasing an incredible mixture of strength and agility. A big part of the reason why we are losing games late instead of winning them is because we aren't pounding the rock on offense, milking the clock and wearing down the other team. For someone who has watched the Titans ever since they existed, this seems like Jeff Fisher Football 101, but astoundingly this version of the Titans have seemingly forgotten that lesson.

Coaching and Management

As someone who generally regards Jeff Fisher as the best coach in football without a ring, this final section is particularly difficult to write and think about. The simple fact is that, besides the draft, the coaching and player personnel staffs have done a borderline awful job since the end of last season. From a coaching standpoint, this team has been terrible at making in game adjustments. Beyond that, this team has lost its identity.

On offense, the smash mouth, run first philosophy that defined this franchise has gone out the window in favor of a near 60/40 split in favor of the passing game. The Titans have trailed this season, but never to a large enough margin to justify abandoning the run. Offensive Coach Mike Heimerdinger needs to get his head back on straight and remember what it is that this team does well. Yes, the Titans have upgraded their wide receiver corps substantially, but none of those additions comes close to justifying this kind of swing in philosophy.

On defense, the coaches should have realized that losing Albert Haynesworth would hurt our pass rush, at least to some degree. If you know there is a pretty good chance that there will be a decline in quarterback pressure, leaving a 35 year old out there at corner with no quality backup is foolish. I don't think Albert's departure has to be such a big deal, but if the coaching staff continues to use the exact same scheme as if he were still on the roster, the impact of his departure will continue to be magnified.

From Here on Out

As far as I am concerned, last year was a blueprint for exactly what this team needs to be about: clock control (via a run first attack and a safe passing game), winning the turnover battle, stuffing the run and not giving up big plays. The Titans, through three games have failed at three of those four key tenets. Looking at it that way, it should be no surprise that this team finds themselves exactly where they are at this point of the season- on life support. There is simply no way to be successful when you combine a team straying from its identity with the killer lapses in execution on the field. If these Tennessee Titans expect to right the ship and make something of this season, it is imperative that they take a good long look in the mirror and remember what made them tick last season. It is by no means too late to turn things around, but it has to start Sunday against the Jaguars. Stop asking Kerry to be something he is not, reintegrate Lendale into the offense, figure out how to bring more pressure through blitzing, and hope that Mark Jones can get the job done.

Ravens 53 Man Roster: My Picks

Bruce Raffel — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 11:00:24 -0000

Here are my picks for what the Ravens will end up doing later today when they announce the 53 man roster that they will be trimming down to when they release 22 guys to get down to the NFL max.

Offense

QB: Joe Flacco, Troy Smith, John Beck

WR: Derrick Mason, Mark Clayton, Demetrius Williams, Kelley Washington, Justin Harper

RB: Ray Rice, Willis McGahee, LeRon McClain, Jalen Parmele

TE: Todd Heap, L.J. Smith, Davon Drew, Edgar Jones

OL: Matt Birk, Ben Grubbs, Jared Gaither, Chris Chester, Marshal Yanda, Michael Oher, David Hale, Oniel Cousins

Defense

DB: Ed Reed, Dawan Landry, Fabian Washington, Domonique Foxworth, Haruki Nakamura, Tom Zbikowski, Chris Carr, Lardarius Webb, Frank Walker, Derrick Martin

LB: Ray Lewis, Terrell Suggs, Jarret Johnson, Tavares Gooden, Jameel McClain, Brendon Ayanbadejo, Paul Kruger, Prescott Burgess, Antwan Barnes

DL: Haloti Ngata, Trevor Pryce, Justin Bannan, Kelly Gregg, Dwan Edwards, Brandon McKinney

Specialists

P: Sam Koch

PK: Steven Hauschka

LS: Matt Katula

That’s only 52 guys and my final spot is a tough one to decide upon. I am looking at one of the following guys:

Yamon Figurs, Jason Cook, Jason Phillips, Joe Reitz, Kelly Talavou

Figurs still has the speed and with Webb looking a bit shaky on returns, Yamon gives us another option behind Chris Carr. Jason Cook gives us another fullback along with LeRon McClain. Jason Phillips was a 4^th round draft pick in 2009 and Ozzie doesn’t like to release draft picks. Perhaps Phillips will be IR’d to keep our hands on him (I expect the Ravens to IR undrafted rookie LB Dannell Ellerbe as well). Joe Reitz gives us more depth on the offensive line as well as Kelly Tavalou does the same for the defensive line.

I don’t want to take the easy way out by only selecting 52 players, so I will have to go out on a limb and make my selection and therefore the 53^rd spot on the Baltimore Ravens roster goes to Yamon Figurs.

The other players I was undecided about go onto our Practice Squad, where we can have up to eight players. Of course, I would expect the team to peruse other teams’ cuts to add a player or two to either our roster or Practice Squad, and vice versa for the rest of the league. However, in advance of that info, my Practice Squad would look like this:

Cook, Reitz, Talavou, Foster, Riley, Peerman, Smolko, Stallings

Additionally, as I stated earlier, the team would place both Dannell Ellerbe and Jason Phillips on Injured Reserve (IR), which would end their 2009 seasons, but ensure the team retains their rights while giving the players their full 2009 salaries, which do count against the team’s salary cap. However, being rookies, that should not be much of an issue.

Your thoughts and comments on those last few slots?

Ravens' Secondary: Who Stays, Who Goes?

Bruce Raffel — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 14:54:11 -0000

The Baltimore Ravens will have to make a cut or two today to get down to the NFL maximum of 75 players. On Saturday, they will have to declare their 53 man roster by making a bunch of painful decisions. Today, we will be looking at the team's secondary, and predicting what the team will do with their cornerbacks and safeties.

With the recent announcement that veteran cornerback Samari Rolle will begin the season on the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) List, it makes it a bit easier to look at the list and determine who will stay and who will be let go. Rolle's status on the Pup List is not counted against our roster total, so that actually allows the team to keep another player that might have either been on the bubble or cut had Rolle been ready to go from opening day.

Last year's opening day roster included 10 defensive backs, although there are always a player or two that is placed on the Inactive List for that week's games. Looking at the current Ravens roster of defensive backs, the list includes the following no-brainers who should be starting on September 13th against the Kansas City Chiefs at M&T Bank Stadium:

Ed Reed, Dawan Landry, Fabian Washington, Domonique Foxworth

Adding in those players who figure to be in the nickel, dime and dollar packages, that should ensure the safety of:

Chris Carr, Lardarius Webb, Frank Walker, Haruki Nakamura, Tom Zbikowski

While many Ravens fans seem to think that the often penalized Walker should be more on the bubble than safe, the Ravens still like his physical play and he figures to get a lot of playing time, espeically during the time that Samari Rolle is unavaillable.

That puts nine players in the secondary on the team's roster of 53. If they decide to keep at least one more player, then the choice is whittled down to one of three remaining defensive backs:

Derrick Martin, Evan Oglesby, K.J. Gerard

Of those three, Martin looks to be the choice, as he is more versatile than the others and has been playing mostly at safety this summer. Oglesby has been burned on a regular basis this pre-season and is probably the first of this list to be cut. However, while Gerard intrigued the coaches with his ability to be around the ball in OTA's earlier this spring, he has not made the impact they were hoping for since Training Camp and exhibition games have begun.

We will see the first round of cuts completed by later today, and while the secondary is a major interest to the team, I still doubt the team will make any cuts today in this area, waiting to see how the guys on the bubble perform in Thursday's final exhibition game before making their final decisions by 5 p.m. on Saturday, September 5th.

Poll

If the Ravens have to cut two of the three following defensive backs, who will be safe?

Derrick Martin

311 votes

Evan Oglesby

139 votes

K.J. Gerard

111 votes

561 votes | Poll has closed