NY Jets at Baltimore, 9/16/2007

[BaltimoreTerp]

Good half so far.

Boller has done well, as has McGahee.

Nice catch by Heap for the touchdown, and nicer review by the officials for not blowing the call.

Defense has dominated, as expected.

And, thanks to Cleveland, everyone can stop complimenting Cincy's defense for the six turnovers last week :p

[BaltBird 24]

Is there any chance, barring a major breakdown, that we don't see Kyle Boller back next week? The offense looks much better with him behind center than McNair.

[gallden]

How the heck do the browns drop 51 on cincy, and we can't even drop 20 on them. (we didn't have more than 20 did we)

[The Wedge]

How the heck do the browns drop 51 on cincy, and we can't even drop 20 on them. (we didn't have more than 20 did we)

We had exactly 20.

[Objectivity]

How the heck do the browns drop 51 on cincy, and we can't even drop 20 on them. (we didn't have more than 20 did we)

From the sound of the announcers today, four of our six turnovers were directly related to an injured McNair. Too bad he didn't step up and step out earlier.

[OregonBird]

Kellen Clemens is playing well versus the vaunted Ravens defense, has about 230 yards passing. Not the best effort today from them.

Boller has been solid but I'd still like to see more aggressive playcalling. 20 points on the Jets seems low.

[gallden]

23 yards this quater seems low.

[Camden_yardbird]

Any defense would get figured out if it had to be on the field this much. This offense needs to figure out how to score points...and if they can't do that they need to figure out how to burn more than :25 seconds off the clock.

[ixcuincle]

!st and goal for the Jets...from 20-3 to this? Damn!

[BaltBird 24]

Samari Rolle is still no good.

Also, pretty much a non-existent offense here in the second half. I don't even recall us with a first down this half, though I'd imagine there were one or two somewhere.

[ixcuincle]

Interception! That'll do it.

Good win.

[BaltBird 24]

Raaaaaaaaaay!

[Pedro Cerrano]

This game was waaaay to close for comfort.

We got zero pressure on Clemens during those last few drives and often we sent 5-6 guys.

[The Wedge]

Christ, that was close. When will this team learn to start making second half adjustments?

[ccbird]

Thank God McCarins can't catch. They score there and I'm real sick because they have all the momentum.

Well played game til the 4th Qr. I like how Billick stayed conservative running McGahee 26 times and having Boller throw short quick passes. Boller managed the game well. He struggled with his accuracy on passes over 15 yards.

Sucks Pryce broke his wrist. That is a big injury as he has been really really good the last 2 years. Hopefully it's something where he can not miss much time and maybe wear one of those big casts and be fine.

[Sports Guy]

The Ravens thought they had the game won...The players played like it and the coaches coached like it.

Hopefully they learn from this because this game should have gone into OT but McCareirns dropped the ball.

Pryce injury is big but i would assume that he won't miss much time...He will wear a big clubbing like cast on his wrist i assume and be able to play.

[Mark Carver]

Let's face it... the no-huddle offense utilized by the Jets worked. Not having the ability to make substitutions especially in the 4th Quarter was key.

[gallden]

Let's face it... the no-huddle offense utilized by the Jets worked. Not having the ability to make substitutions especially in the 4th Quarter was key.

I'm afraid other teams are gonna learn alot from this.

[Sports Guy]

I'm afraid other teams are gonna learn alot from this.

This has been able to work on the Ravens(and many other teams) for years...Nothing new here.

[Tony-OH]

I'd love for the people who went crazy last week when Billick passed with a 1 point lead to come back and still support their reasoning. See what happens when you try to sit on a lead?

And we're talking about 14 points against the Jets, not one point against the Bengals.

No one is going to discuss the with you because you obviously don't understand the situations. If you don't understand why almost universally people questioned Billick game calling last week than nothing we are going to say will help you to understand now.

I have a teenager, and I know that they think they know it all and nothing is going to change their mind.

Either way, from what I hear Billick again had some questionable game clock management late in the the Jets game again. Just par for the course with a Billick led offensive club, apparently regardless of who actually calls the plays. Billick and his coordinators are pretty good at making half time adjustments, but they struggle with in game play calling and clock management.

[Mark Carver]

No one is going to discuss the with you because you obviously don't understand the situations. If you don't understand why almost universally people questioned Billick game calling last week than nothing we are going to say will help you to understand now.

I have a teenager, and I know that they think they know it all and nothing is going to change their mind.

Either way, from what I hear Billick again had some questionable game clock management late in the the Jets game again. Just par for the course with a Billick led offensive club, apparently regardless of who actually calls the plays. Billick and his coordinators are pretty good at making half time adjustments, but they struggle with in game play calling and clock management.

Here's their possesion with 3:12 left on the clock. The Jets have 3 timeouts still. What should he have done different?


1-M.Nugent kicks onside 22 yards from NYJ 45 to BLT 33, out of bounds.
1-10-BAL 33 (3:12) 7-K.Boller pass incomplete deep left to 87-D.Williams (36-D.Barrett).
2-10-BAL 33 (3:10) 23-W.McGahee left guard to BLT 38 for 5 yards (25-K.Rhodes).
Timeout #1 by NYJ at 02:55.
3-5-BAL 38 (2:55) 7-K.Boller pass incomplete short right to 85-D.Mason.
4-5-BAL 38 (2:47) (Punt formation) 4-S.Koch punts 62 yards to end zone, Center-70-M.Katula, Touchback.

If Billick runs on all 3 downs, the Jets still will call a timeout after each play. The Jets ended the game with 2 timeouts unused.

[NewMarketSean]

Here's their possesion with 3:12 left on the clock. The Jets have 3 timeouts still. What should he have done different?



If Billick runs on all 3 downs, the Jets still will call a timeout after each play. The Jets ended the game with 2 timeouts unused.

The Jets eventually used all their timeouts.

As for the game, it was a good win but a little too close for comfort and still leaves me a little worried going forward. Boller looked pretty good, although he was inaccurate on deep passes. Other than that he was the least of the team's problems. The defense worried me a bit, especially with the big plays they allowed toward the end of the game. If the Cardinals come in here and use the no-huddle offense that the Jets used, we could be in trouble.

As I was leaving the game, I heard some fans say that "Billick has no feel for the game." They must have been reading Mike Preston articles. But the more I thought about it, the more I agreed. He seems to do the exact opposite of what the usual play would be in a situation. This is a good/bad thing, but we usually only see the bad side of it.

All in all a good win paired with a Bengals loss. I hope the Steelers aren't for real but they are playing well. It'll be interesting to see what they do against some of the better teams in the league.

[Mark Carver]

The Jets used all their timeouts.

Ok, yeah, they used them when the ball was turned over by the Lewis interception.

With 2:38 minutes left on the game. And from the Jets 20 yard line, they drove down the field to the Ravens 7 yard line with no timeouts used, which is more or less at what I'm getting at.

[The Wedge]

What about the Boller bashers? He had a few hiccups, but he also showed marked improvement in judgement, hanging in the pocket, and in short pass accuracy. Weirdly enough, his strong point was his weak spot yesterday, the deep ball.

[NewMarketSean]

How does a coach with no feel for the game win a Super Bowl and have a winning season almost 4 out of every 5 years?

How does a coach with a SB ring and the playoff appearances not know to run the ball at the goal line when the game is on the line?

There are plenty of things to question Billick about. He's always been that kind of coach. He wants it that way. Luckily, most things have worked out in his favor but they could easily start to turn on him too.

Let's hope they don't.

[MPK76]

The game got a little too close at the end. To me it looked like the secondary, especially Reed, were trying for the highlight reel hits instead of just trying to make the tackle. It almost seemed that when Pryce went down, we weren't getting as much pressure on the QB.

Boller had a decent game, and let's hope he can build on this start. In my opinion, he has a good chance of starting again next week.


Ravens quarterback Steve McNair said "it's too early" to tell whether he will be able to start Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/football/bal-sp.mcnair17sep17,0,6583735.story

[AgentOrange]

Boller did well. It was a good first win.

I would have liked to see him build off his first half momentum with a solid second half, but we didn't get it. He didn't do anything to cost us the game though and it was nice to see him take some downfield shots. I think D. Williams is the real deal. The kid can leap out of the building.

[Mark Carver]

What about the Boller bashers? He had a few hiccups, but he also showed marked improvement in judgement, hanging in the pocket, and in short pass accuracy. Weirdly enough, his strong point was his weak spot yesterday, the deep ball.

Post game interviews from the players, saying that whereas in the past Boller would try and force a pass into coverage, yesterday he would just dump it off if nothing was available.

Week 1 = 6 turnovers
Week 2 = 0 turnovers

[Mackus]

I hope Boller starts again, he looked pretty good, and that was without connecting on any deep balls.

Did Demetrius Williams get hurt badly on that play where he fell on his wrist? I didn't hear anything about it after the game, but it looked to me like he broke it for sure. It was a pretty gruesome injury.

[TGO]

What about the Boller bashers? He had a few hiccups, but he also showed marked improvement in judgement, hanging in the pocket, and in short pass accuracy. Weirdly enough, his strong point was his weak spot yesterday, the deep ball.

I have to give credit to Billick and Boller here. Billick called plays that seemed better designed for Kyle than the ones he had him run against Cincy. In the Cincy game it looked like Boller running a McNair offense. Yesterday it looked like Boller's offense. Good gameplan by the coach and good execution by Kyle.

I do think we could have run more, which might have helped the defense late. They were gassed. They also just plain played poorly in the 4th. The tackling was positively atrocious, and the Jets finally figured out the blitz. Rex needs to re-adjust when they adjust to what we're doing.

A win is a win, though, and we dominated most of the game, so I'm happy.

[TGO]

I hope Boller starts again, he looked pretty good, and that was without connecting on any deep balls.

Did Demetrius Williams get hurt badly on that play where he fell on his wrist? I didn't hear anything about it after the game, but it looked to me like he broke it for sure. It was a pretty gruesome injury.

The Sun said he bruised his arm. I thought for sure he would have a dislocated shoulder the way he landed.

[Mark Carver]

I hope Boller starts again, he looked pretty good, and that was without connecting on any deep balls.

Did Demetrius Williams get hurt badly on that play where he fell on his wrist? I didn't hear anything about it after the game, but it looked to me like he broke it for sure. It was a pretty gruesome injury.

Bruised arm... so far, from The Sun (http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/football/bal-ravensreport0917,0,1285732.story)


Defensive lineman Trevor Pryce (right) broke his left wrist and did not return. Williams has a bruised arm, and tight end Quinn Sypniewski complained of a sore neck.

[NewMarketSean]

Post game interviews from the players, saying that whereas in the past Boller would try and force a pass into coverage, yesterday he would just dump it off if nothing was available.

Week 1 = 6 turnovers
Week 2 = 0 turnovers

Thats what McGahee brings to the table too. Jamal was a poor pass catching RB.

[Miller192]

Did anyone notice the absence of Mark Clayton yesterday? In a lot of the two receiver sets it was Mason and DWill. I am going to assume this was an adjustment Billick made because Boller was starting.

I hope this isn't a trend.

[Sports Guy]

Did anyone notice the absence of Mark Clayton yesterday? In a lot of the two receiver sets it was Mason and DWill. I am going to assume this was an adjustment Billick made because Boller was starting.

I hope this isn't a trend.

Clayton is still hurt.....They shouldn't even be playing him at all right now.

I thought Williams was going tohave a hyperextension of the elbow when he landed.

I hope Pryce can play through the wrist....No coincidence that the Jets started doing things when he left the game...He is a beast up front for us.

[Hank Scorpio]

I'm pretty sure Demetrius Williams is fine.

Sypnewski's neck is jacked up, couldn't turn his head after the game. LeRon McLain has a back issue but I think he's okay. Trevor Pryce dislocated his wrist and had surgery last night. McGahee and Clayton are both slightly dinged up. And apparently, Samari Rolle is having foot issues again.

I was impressed with the offensive line yesterday. You're looking at a line that's playing two rookies in Grubbs and Yanda, both of whom are performing nicely. The running game isn't quite where it needs to be, but it's close.

Losing Trevor Pryce hurt us b/c we couldn't get as much pressure on Clemens. When TP and Ngata are both in the game, our defensive line is extremely good. We completely forgot how to tackle late in the 4th quarter and it almost cost us. There was a lot of miscommunication late as well. Corey Ivy had a rough game.

The Jets have the hottest sound girl in the history of the game. You know those people who hold those sound catcher things? Well, this girl was staggering... my buddy comes up to me and goes, "Did you see that soundgirl? That chick's RIDICULOUSLY HOT, dude!!!!!!!!" Turns out she was standing like 5 feet behind us, with the sound catcher thing aimed right at us, laughing to herself. Oh yeah, she definitely heard.

Nice job, dummy.

[Hank Scorpio]

Clayton is still hurt.....They shouldn't even be playing him at all right now.

Yup, he is. He did throw a filthy block for Boller in the 2nd quarter, though.

[NewMarketSean]

I'd like to hear what he has to say about that to be honest. Maybe he saw something in the defense? Who knows. Don't forget 2 guys dropped potential TD passes in Heap and Mclain (sp).

Hey...I'm not saying I disagree with you there. I probably would have ran it myself. But I just don't see how you can say without thinking that you are really, really taking it to another level, that Billick has no feel for the game.

I didn't say it point blank, I just agreed with the statements that others have made. Billick exposes himself to a lot of flak because of his decisions. I don't think you can say that you can't question his calls or say he does have a feel for the game.

It's like the God argument. Who should prove to the other one that God does or doesn't exist?

It really comes down to opinion. You look at the accomplishments, the SB, the playoff appearances, etc... and say Billick is fine.

I look at the on-going questionable game calling, the no-playoff wins since 2001 and I am worried about him as a coach.

[NewMarketSean]

I am sure most fans question their head coaches.

As for "winning a playoff game last year" what did that come down to? Turnovers and playcalling.

At least that's what most people are saying.

[Mackus]

As for "winning a playoff game last year" what did that come down to? Turnovers and playcalling.

At least that's what most people are saying.We lost last year because Steve McNair played worse than I would have played against Indy.

[Tony-OH]

Look, we just have two ways of seeing things. There are good objective football fans that can see the flaws in Billick's game management over the years, his struggles to make good play calls in key moments or games, and the fact the Ravens offense has pretty much stunk every year he's been here. Then there are folks like Ravenbird and Mark Carver who think the sun rises when Billick wakes up. :D

Just kidding guys, don't get too upset. :) But you guys really are the cindyluvsbrady of the Ravens board. ;)

The God's honest truth is I would like Billick as a head coach a lot more if the team just hired a real offensive coordinator and let him install his system and let him call the plays. I think he's a good motivator and his eye for talent for the most part is pretty good, I just get tired of the same old, same old with the offense and it's always been Billick's system, regardless of who is calling the plays. All I know is that Billick's system put up 20 points against a defense that allowed 51 to the Browns yesterday and then barely eeked out 20 points against a weak Jets defense.



Oh, and Ravenbird, I have changed my mind about things. I personally think Boller is the better choice to QB this team as long as McNair is the other option right now. It doesn't change the fact that bringing in McNair last year was the right things to do. In retrospect, had Boller had a few years to learn instead of being thrown into the fire when he wasn't ready, he may have developed much faster.

[Tony-OH]

It really comes down to opinion. You look at the accomplishments, the SB, the playoff appearances, etc... and say Billick is fine.

I look at the on-going questionable game calling, the no-playoff wins since 2001 and I am worried about him as a coach.

The Billick lovers really, really don't get this point. This is 2007 and yes the Ravens have been competitive for the most part, but they can't win the big games with his system. Billick has made a lot of money and fans based off his Super Bowl win. Take away his Super Bowl team and he has one playoff win in seven seasons. Read that again slowly and let it sink in:

Since taking over the 5-11 Patriots in 2000 (the year the Ravens went to the Super Bowl) Bill Belichick has 12 playoff wins alone.

In his last seven season in Pittsburgh, Bill Cowher recorded seven playoff wins.

Last seven years:
Andy Reid - 8 wins
Tony Dungy - 7 wins
Jon Gruden - 5 wins
John Fox - 5 wins
Mike Holmgren - 3 wins
Mike Martz - 3 wins

In fact, the only coach I would say that has been as dissapointing in the playoffs is Broncos coach Mike Shanahan who for all the good things said about him has one just one playoff game win in the last eight seasons and without a quarterback named Elway.

So without going on an anti-Billick rant, let's just say the record speaks for itself.

[ccbird]

The one thing I think some of you will come to realize is that Billick is not going to open up the offense with Boller behind center unless we fall way behind. I believe he doesn't trusts him to make proper reads and quickly progress through his reads. He called the conservative short, quick, passes yesterday with the occasional deep throw and it was successful in the first half.

As long as Boller is starting and Billick is running the Offense he is going to be asking him to manage the game and not take a lot of risks. I know a lot of you disagree and want to see the 3 and 4 wide sets and throwing the ball downfield a lot more with Boller back there but it isn't going to happen.

[Hank Scorpio]

The one thing I think some of you will come to realize is that Billick is not going to open up the offense with Boller behind center unless we fall way behind. I believe he doesn't trusts him to make proper reads and quickly progress through his reads. He called the conservative short, quick, passes yesterday with the occasional deep throw and it was successful in the first half.

As long as Boller is starting and Billick is running the Offense he is going to be asking him to manage the game and not take a lot of risks. I know a lot of you disagree and want to see the 3 and 4 wide sets and throwing the ball downfield a lot more with Boller back there but it isn't going to happen.

I think part of the problem is that we go out there and try to pound the ball over and over and over again with 2 receiver sets.

Put 3 out there to spread out the defense a little bit and then run the ball. We hardly ever do this.

[Miller192]

Brian Billick knows how to win football games. His style is a conservative, ball control type offense that looks to eat the clock and keep the ball out of the other team's hands. We get a couple of TDs a few Stovers and we try and hold the other team to 14 points. This is not withstanding turnovers.

In this offense, I really don't think it matters much who the QB is. It's a dink and dunk style, run the ball and don't screw it up. Crazy legs did a good job of that yesterday and did what was asked.

I do question BB's play calling at times as well as his clock management. However, they guy is just as good of a head coach as anyone out there. That being said, I'd rather seem him remain a head coach and not an offensive coordinator. He needs to find the Rex Ryan of OCs and turn it over to him.

[ccbird]

I'm not sure about this. I think he was conservative, but it started out as Boller's first game so he may have just wanted to get him in rythm, and then we were up 20-3 and 20-6 on a terrible team. No need to air it out.

I actually thought we would go downfield more with Boller. He certainly has the better arm for it. If they can trust that Boller can get out of the pocket and will throw it away necessary, which is what McNair brought to the table last year over Boller, then I think they will certainly open up the playbook for Kyle.

It's the same way he has always called games with Boller behind center. Remember when people would complain that Boller wasn't throwing downfield and dumping the ball short of the 1st down markers constantly on 3rd down. I know a lot of people thought it was either Cavs fault or because we simply didn't have the Wr's to get down field and seperate. Not that those things didn't play a part but a lot of it had to do with Billick just wanting to stay conservative with Boller and have him manage the game. Keep in mind I'm not just talking about rookie Kyle Boller but 2005 3rd year starter Kyle Boller.


Another misconception about Boller is that he is good at throwing the long ball. Yes, he has the arm to throw the deep pass but he has never been very accurate throwing the ball past 20 yards.

People want to see the spread offense and chucking the ball downfield. I get that, I would like it too but the truth is we don't have a QB on the roster who is good enough to do that on a consistant basis. McNair doesn't have the arm and Boller doesn't have the accuracy or awareness. With the Qb's on this team you are going to get a ball control, methodically marching down the field offense. That is the way Billick plans to do it and if we can make it effective like we did for the most part last year we can be successful by keeping the biggest strenth of the team, the defense, off the field.

[Objectivity]

We lost last year because Steve McNair played worse than I would have played against Indy.

We lost last year because we had an aggressive defense that was told to not be aggressive because they were playing a top opponent. That's the Ravens' biggest defensive problem. They play aggressively against lesser teams and "equals" and then in big games against top opponents they play passive and let the game come to them.

Regardless of McNair, last year's game would have had a totally different outcome if they had played the way they usually do.

I don't know if it's Rex Ryan or Brian Billick, but whoever came up with that idiotic defensive plan is the Mike Martz of defense, overthinking their team into defeat at every possible moment.

[square634]

We lost last year because we had an aggressive defense that was told to not be aggressive because they were playing a top opponent. That's the Ravens' biggest defensive problem. They play aggressively against lesser teams and "equals" and then in big games against top opponents they play passive and let the game come to them.

Regardless of McNair, last year's game would have had a totally different outcome if they had played the way they usually do.

I don't know if it's Rex Ryan or Brian Billick, but whoever came up with that idiotic defensive plan is the Mike Martz of defense, overthinking their team into defeat at every possible moment.

I thought the defense was excellent against the great Colts offense. They had a couple of interceptions and only gave up 15 points.

[Mark Carver]

We lost last year because we had an aggressive defense that was told to not be aggressive because they were playing a top opponent. That's the Ravens' biggest defensive problem. They play aggressively against lesser teams and "equals" and then in big games against top opponents they play passive and let the game come to them.

Regardless of McNair, last year's game would have had a totally different outcome if they had played the way they usually do.

I don't know if it's Rex Ryan or Brian Billick, but whoever came up with that idiotic defensive plan is the Mike Martz of defense, overthinking their team into defeat at every possible moment.

Huh? The defense played great! They stopped Peyton Manning who was 15 for 30, 170 yards, 0 TD's and had 2 interceptions. On average in 2006 Manning completed 65% of his throws for 275 yards per game, 2 TDs per game and 0.5 interceptions per game. The Colts were in the Red Zone twice and the defense stopped them from scoring a TD.

The reason why they lost the game against the Colts was as Mackus stated. It was solely on the shoulders of Steve McNair who was 2 for 11 in 3rd down conversions, who was 18 for 29, 173 yards with 2 interceptions.

I really don't see how you can lay the blame on the defense for the lost...

[xKHx]

The Billick lovers really, really don't get this point. This is 2007 and yes the Ravens have been competitive for the most part, but they can't win the big games with his system. Billick has made a lot of money and fans based off his Super Bowl win. Take away his Super Bowl team and he has one playoff win in seven seasons. Read that again slowly and let it sink in:

Since taking over the 5-11 Patriots in 2000 (the year the Ravens went to the Super Bowl) Bill Belichick has 12 playoff wins alone.

In his last seven season in Pittsburgh, Bill Cowher recorded seven playoff wins.

Last seven years:
Andy Reid - 8 wins
Tony Dungy - 7 wins
Jon Gruden - 5 wins
John Fox - 5 wins
Mike Holmgren - 3 wins
Mike Martz - 3 wins

In fact, the only coach I would say that has been as dissapointing in the playoffs is Broncos coach Mike Shanahan who for all the good things said about him has one just one playoff game win in the last eight seasons and without a quarterback named Elway.

So without going on an anti-Billick rant, let's just say the record speaks for itself.

So Billick would be in the middle of that pack with 5 P.O. games won since 00'. None of those coaches have been fired except martz. I am not saying his play calling is odd at times or even wrong but if this truley is Billicks system I don't see how a jeff george and randall cunningham could flourish in it throwing the ball when none of our qb's can grasp it. You may say what worked then doesn't work now but look at gibbs offense. Even with the KC guy running the show now hes been doing it forever. One person you could put blame on is Ozzie if anything. For not drafting a Randy Moss/Chris Carter combo Billick had in Min to work with.

[mweb]

Don't you think all coaches have their play-calling and game management questioned though?

And we really shouldn't have won a playoff game since then until last year IMO.

I think many here would disagree with that as it seems as the Ravens are picked to go far by most on here every year. Picked to win the SB by a few every year it seems.

[ccbird]

Don't you think all coaches have their play-calling and game management questioned though?

And we really shouldn't have won a playoff game since then until last year IMO.

We have been to the playoffs twice since 2001. 2003 and last year. 2003 was against Tenn, we were favored and playing at home and should have won that game. We should have won last year too. I am fine with Billick as the HC but his playoff games since 2000 have been disappointing.