What's Wrong With The Ravens, Defense Edition

I've found that both the Pass and Run D have a similar main problem, they are passive. There's been an insane amount of rushes with only the D-Line going this season. That might have worked in the past but not anymore. Aside form Ngata, our D-line is mediocre at best. Gregg and Pryce have both "lost a step" and Bannan and Edwards just aren't very good.

So if you don't have that great of D-Line why don't you use 4 fantastic linebackers to help. They'd close up lanes and put more heat on the quarterback. But no! You use a mediocre line. That's what wrong with the Ravens' defense.

What's Wrong With the Ravens, Offense Edition

On Sunday the Ravens suffered a embrassing loss to Bengals, the 17 to 7 score didn't show how overmatched they were by the Bengals. Every facet of the team needs to improve if we want to have even the slightest chance of making it into the playoffs.

Pass Offense- It's getting over used. Joe Flacco is a good QB, don't get me wrong, but he's not ready for throwing 30-45 passes a game. We beat Denver because we were balanced, Flacco threw only 25 and completed 20 of them. You're not going to get beat when your QB has an 80% completion percentage. Reduce the load on Joe and give the three headed monster more work. Speaking of the three headed monster...

Run Offense- The three-headed monster isn't using two of it's heads. I love Ray Rice, he's so agile, so bouncy and just all around explosive, but he's no where near being a downhill runner. McGahee has been nothing more then a benchwarmer during 1-4 run, and McClain hasn't come in much at all. The part with McClain particularly bugs me, if McClain isn't in then that means the Ravens are running with no Fullback lead blacker is usally a bad idea. Rice has been getting hit more in the backfield then anytime before that. If you put McClain in there, he should give Rice way more lanes and more opportunities for him to do his thing in the open field. You can't be successful when you have three good running backs, and only one of them is being used often.

I'll share my thoughts on what's wrong with the Ravens defense tomorrow.

Ravens Fans, Leave Steve Alone

For the past 24 hours, anybody I talk to who has a clue about football has said something about Steve Hauschka. The most common phrase was "Stover would of made that."

If you look at Stover's stats the past few years, you'd see that Stover was far from Mr. Reliable from beyond 40 yards.

Stover missed 4 from 40+ last year, he missed 4 again in 2007, and missed 3 in '05.


You have to also remember this, Hauschka is in his first full season as a kicker and every kick for him is a learning expirence. It was his first shot at a game winning kick. He'll improve with every kick.

You also have to look at Hauschka after Brad Childress called the timeout, he was a nervous wreck and looked to be sick to his stomach. I don't know of anybody who can perform a task when you're right in the middle of having a panic attack that you'll mess up said task.

So please Ravens fans, leave Steve alone and cut him some slack.