Week 04 - 10/3 - Baltimore

[Finnegans Wake]

Yeah, I thought a bunch were coming back that never got called.  

Terrible load of penalties against us, which were called and deserved to be.  PIs, false starts, etc.  We played messy, but made up for that by being lackluster and stupid in playcalling and time management.

Batch had an OK game, but his internal clock sucked.  Has to know, as a vet, when to fire those passes.  And for all the love with his throws to 17 last week, not a one of his throws to 17 was on.  He needed to get the ball another 5 yards downfield and didn't; this made Lard Webb look better than he was, and was a reason that TD got clawed out of MW's hands.  

Mendy looked pretty good, liked the fact that he's getting some looks in the passing game.

Two weeks in a row the end-around gets sniffed out and is a complete FAIL.

Defense looked in 2009 form late in the game.  Well, all game really: McFadden and Ike both looked lost.  Willie Gay probably had the best day of any CB, sadly.  Pola didn't do much.  Farrior was juked on the TD run and elsewhere was slow to fill, just slow.  Kept hoping for 92 and 56 to make Fucco cry.  

How do you let Fucco keep hitting Heap and Mason?  I mean, how are those guys not getting covered?  Way too many holes in the coverage.  No anticipation.  Replays showed Cameron kept calling the same calls and our CBs sat in coverage like unconscious lumps, unable to get the jump.  It was almost like Cameron was taunting our guys to pick six, and they were just politely refusing.

Well, 3-1, a bye, Ben is back.  I'd love to see this team, under Cowher or Tomlin, not get lazy and satisfied when things start going well.  FFS, it's the Ravens.  How do you not get up for that?

[jonzr]

FFS, it's the Ravens.  How do you not get up for that?

Word.  I was showing more emotion from the effing recliner than those guys in the friggin' game.   

[Finnegans Wake]

Not too upset about the loss.

I am.

They fuckin' gave that away.  It was like both teams spent the afternoon saying, "no, you take this game...no, you take it."  From the getgo, they just looked like a team that was perfectly willing to go into the bye 3-1 instead of really curbstomping this division a quarter of the way in.  A loss is effectively like losing a game and a half in the standings.  Instead of being up 2 and change, they're tied with Balty holding the tiebreaker.

Fuck.

I don't know what it is about playing this team that makes the coaches turtle it up.  Be frickin' aggressive, man. 

They've seen the way Balty's come after Ben, and had visions of Charlie shattering?  I dunno. 

Reason I can't get too upset is that the Ravens looked very, very, very beatable.  I know they get Ed Reed back, maybe, sometime, but we get BBR back now, with 1/4 of the season's wear and tear excluded and a 3-1 start.  I think that barring utter coaching insanity and the boys sleepwalking in Balty, that game's a blowout win.  I'm not impressed by Balty or Cinci, at all, period.

Figure the O picked the worst time to revert toward its B-Asinine mean, and the D couldn't keep its level of thrash forever.  OK.  Still think we've got the best AFCN team.

[give'emthaboot]

Was it just me, or were there several plays where Oher was up and out of his stance before the ball was snapped?  I figured the refs were feeling bad for him or something with that whole Blind Side thing.  Me, I was just bitching at the TV.  Anyways, I was wondering if anyone else saw this?

I was actually 100% sure Ike's pick wasn't going to count for that exact reason.  I'll take the result, obviously, but I don't know how that isn't a false start.  It looked in real time like Flacco thought there was a false start too and was just throwing the ball up for the hell of it, but the replay showed it was just a terrible throw/decision.

Completely off topic, but props to Willie Gay for stepping his game up this year after an awful '09; the guy has made quite a few big plays this year (including a couple yesterday).  He's playing like he did in '08, but it's pretty obvious after last year that nickelback is his natural position in the pros.

[LambertsFrontTeeth]

Completely off topic, but props to Willie Gay for stepping his game up this year after an awful '09; the guy has made quite a few big plays this year (including a couple yesterday).  He's playing like he did in '08, but it's pretty obvious after last year that nickelback is his natural position in the pros.

Yeah, I've noticed that. Gay is a solid nickel-back, but should never be allowed to be on an island as a starting CB again.

[P4P]

Well, at this point in life could he be worse than Bryant Scott...er...McFadden?  Gay made 2 key plays when the chips were down. 

[LambertsFrontTeeth]

I kind of always thought McFad was overrated...thought he got away with too many not-looking-for-the-ball breakups. Didn't see him as a no-brainer as a starter.

But then a season of Gay starts made me realize that Bryant really is superior at CB (relative to how bad Gay was at corner).

[Preacherman0]

I'm really wishing we had resinged Deshea.  Or, singed some other CB.  I'm not as down on BMac as some, but he isn't anything special either.

[P4P]

When you trade a SB MVP for a 5th round pick that we then traded for McFadden...yeah, Imma judge his ass.
Holmes for McFadden.  Bad tradeoff.

[Finnegans Wake]

When you trade a SB MVP for a 5th round pick that we then traded for McFadden...yeah, Imma judge his ass.
Holmes for McFadden.  Bad tradeoff.

Thanks for not mentioning the multiple drug dings. 

Next time, Smoketonio gets a year vacation.  That doesn't factor?