Kicked The Crap Outem

[Hooded Viper]

I mean seriously, we just beat the snot out of an undeafeated team. The best team in the NFL comes from the AFC North. Certainly the toughest! The Ravens are the ShIO{!

[olehippi]

Yeah.....that was a fun game to watch. The Ravens made the Bronco's look like the Browns.....:clap3:

[Miller192]

I think the Broncos probably want to get back into those AFL uniforms as soon as possible.

[Miller192]

I met Josh McDaniel's family today. They were really nice people and some of them were telling me that he should've came to Baltimore.

[ccbird]

I met Josh McDaniel's family today. They were really nice people and some of them were telling me that he should've came to Baltimore.

I think I'm glad that he didn't. I'm not 100 % sold on Harbaugh but I'm more sold on him than McDaniel. I'm happy with Harbaugh if for no other reason than he got Cam. I read somewhere recently that Cam said he only took the OC job here because of Harbaugh. IMO, Cameron has had the biggest impact on this team the last few years with his playcalling, schemes, and work with Joe.

[Hank Scorpio]

I met Josh McDaniel's family today. They were really nice people and some of them were telling me that he should've came to Baltimore.

I thought his head was going to explode right off his neck in the 2nd quarter. He literally almost leapt down one of their offensive lineman's throats.

[Dr. FLK]

The defense looked like the Ravens' defense again. That was complete domination.

[Hank Scorpio]

They've made some changes defensively.

[NewMarketSean]

Awesome performance today. More pressure on the QB, better coverage, ST was a lot better...just an all around great win and much needed after 3 losses and a bye.

Bring on Cincy!

[Mashed Potatoes]

They've made some changes defensively.

What changes specifically?

[Icterus galbula]

What changes specifically?

Yeah, Hank- you talking personnel, scheme changes, or who calls the plays?

I'm no fancy ball boy like Hank, but one thing I heard is that my boy Dwan Edwards takes Pryce's place on all running downs. We saw Webb in the secondary more than before too.

[NewMarketSean]

It seemed like Ellerby played more than Gooden too.

[Sports Guy]

It seemed to me that you saw less secondary blitzes yesterday...Maybe they played more of the cover 2 scheme?

Blitzes seemed to be disguised better as well.

[Stevo5278]

Some of these were already covered but I observed the following changes while watching the game.

1. Pryce & Edwards are splitting time.

2. Brandon McKinney and Justin Bannan spelled Gregg and (to a lesser extent) Ngata inside more than they have previously.

3. Ellerbe got substantially more time than Gooden and seems to be a good, aggressive addition to the defense.

4. On 3rd and long there were more speed rushers on the field. Pryce lined up over the center. Suggs and J. Johnson lined up over the tackles. Jameel McClain rushed from the outside. He looks MUCH more comfortable to me as an OLB than an ILB.

5. The secondary played more 2-deep zone coverage with Reed and Landry dropping deep and letting the CBs and LBs cover the underneath.

6. Foxworth and Washington played more aggressively.

7. Reed appeared to freelance it less than usual and stick to his assignments (just my guess).

8. The blitzes were disguised better and were more aggressive. I've been critical of what I call the "half-assed blitz," where (usually) Carr or Nakamura would charge in and then lighten up once they hit the line of scrimmage as if to protect against a QB scramble or screen. This time they just charged in at Orton. There were overload blitzes a la the Rex Ryan days. Other times it would look like they called an overload blitz and then the apparent blitzers would drop into coverage.

Bottom line is that the defense was active, aggressive, and set the tone of the game. The vanilla, read-and-react style of earlier games was nowhere to be found on Sunday, and I loved it!

Perhaps Greg Mattison is less of a Brian Billick, and more of a Cam Cameron, and has the ability to swallow his pride and change his schemes to match the talents of his players.

[Hank Scorpio]

They just changed a few things up schematically (to use a Billick-ism.)

[Stevo5278]

They just changed a few things up schematically (to use a Billick-ism.)

Hank or Miller,

Did Mattison call the defensive plays on Sunday or did another coach have a hand in it as has been rumored elsewhere.

[primetime]

They just changed a few things up schematically (to use a Billick-ism.)

On the opening play, we lined up in a 3-4 front and that allowed JJ to come free. I saw us is 3-4 front on somewhere between 10-15 plays (IIRC), that's a pretty big change from the fairly static 4-3 we've been running this year. It allows you to be deceptive with your 4th and 5th rushers, which is why 3-4 alignments give QBs so many fits.

Another thing I noticed yesterday was our DBs actually made plays on the ball. Maybe they were sure that DEN wasn't going deep, so they jumped a couple of routes but also, they got a hand in and knocked down a few passes. Of course, that's not scheme, maybe it was just coaching or a matter of being confident and attacking.

Even though DEN didn't really challenge us deep, it was good to see the secondary have a good game, merely for the confidence factor going into Cincy.

[Miller192]

Hank or Miller,

Did Mattison call the defensive plays on Sunday or did another coach have a hand in it as has been rumored elsewhere.

Mattison called the plays.

Lewis and Reed can audible out of it however.

[RShack]

Mattison called the plays.

Lewis and Reed can audible out of it however.
History tangent...

It used to be that QB's and MLB's mostly called the plays. When did that stop? And is there any one coach who lead the way on that?

[Stevo5278]

Mattison called the plays.

Lewis and Reed can audible out of it however.

Good deal. Honestly this is how a defense should be run with great players like Lewis and Reed on the field. It's no different than how Indy runs their offense. Tom Moore (OC) gives Peyton an idea or generic play call and then Peyton makes the final decision at the line.

[Miller192]

History tangent...

It used to be that QB's and MLB's mostly called the plays. When did that stop? And is there any one coach who lead the way on that?

Maybe I'm not understanding you here. They still do call the plays but they are sent in from the defensive coordinator.

I'm thinking back to Tom Landry and his designing of the 4-3 defense. Those Giants and Cowboy defenses left little room for any sort of freelancing by the defense.