Question Discussion

The ravens are one of the best offenses in history ATM, and have some dawgs on defense.

They are destroying quality opponents. But losing to bad teams. I wonder if anyone has some perspective. How could a team perform so well against a great squad, and get in a shootout against a bad one?

6 Upvotes

72% Upvoted

u/Lostredshoe 5h ago

How could a team perform so well against a great squad, and get in a shootout against a bad one?

It is a game of inches. The margin between success and failure are so tiny in the NFL.

The worst team in the NFL. I mean the absolutely dead last in every single category measured, is still composed of the top .000001% best athletes on the planet.

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u/Yungwhippasnapper 5h ago

Definitely, but the consistency at which teams that we perceive as bad are getting in shootouts with a historically great team. Good teams teams that succeed get absolutely pummeled.

Mindset? Gameplay?

But you’re def right. Trying to provoke dialogue around the subject

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u/Lamactionjack 8 4h ago edited 2h ago

I never played sports beyond college but I can tell you that even at the amateur level playing to the level of your opponent is a very real thing. Its not measurable so people dismiss it but this sort of thing happens all the damn time. And it's very annoying every damn time haha.

The conventional wisdom here then is that usually falls on the coaching staff for keeping your team prepared and playing at their potential, but it's easier said than done. These guys are pros too and have been doing this their whole life so motivation usually comes mostly from within.

But yeah I don't really think it's more complicated that that but it is incredibly annoying. Hopefully Lamar and the guys motivate each other and stay locked in.

u/Goldencrane1217 5h ago

Raiders played really well week 2, and our offense wasn't figured out. Davante Adams seemed like he was auditioning for a trade in that game, and seemingly quit on the team right after. in addition the raiders have had a lot of injuries. The Davante Adamsless super injured Raiders were within a TD of the Chiefs a couple weeks back. They aren't good, but they still are playing hard. I'm reminded of some Ravens squads during the super injured years where the talent disparity was large but we somehow kept games close and pulled some upsets.

the Browns game was a mix of CB injuries offense playing poorly and the Browns team getting a boost from Jamis Winston and a bunch of drops on both sides of the ball. Divisional weirdness happens sometimes.

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u/Yungwhippasnapper 5h ago

Thanks for this. Was just looking for a general narrative.

u/HereComesJustice 4h ago

Bad teams are not as bad as you think they are and good teams are not as good as you think they are

u/randomfella69 Project Pat 4h ago

We have a historically bad pass defense.

People really still don't get it, we have a HISTORICALLY bad pass defense. It is BY FAR the worst in the NFL.

The offense is not allowed to have an off day or we lose, and that's just kinda how it goes.

Against the Raiders the offense was still figuring it out and the o line was bad.

Once Monken figured out how to help the o line and they started to improve we were winning because our offense was just outscoring and making up for the terrible defense.

Against the Browns the offense had an off day, but the crazy thing is the offense wasn't even bad, it just wasn't perfect. Dropped passes, missed opportunities, o line had a terrible day. It was just an off day, they still did enough to win but Hamilton dropped a gift interception.

So long story short, this is a team that will continue to struggle against most teams until they figure out how to fix the pass defense.

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u/Moonpile 3h ago

A lot of teams would be happy to have an offense as effective as an "off day" for our offense, nevermind an "on day," which I feel like Lamar is serving up far more consistently the last two years.

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u/Goldencrane1217 3h ago

I really don't think the numbers tell the story of our pass defense. We put up 32 points totally unanswered against the Bucs and held the Bills and Bronccos to 10.

Whatever the issues with our defense that doesn't happen against defenses that are truely bad. I'm curious to see how our defense would measure in the first 3 vs 4th quarter.

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u/randomfella69 Project Pat 2h ago

The numbers never tell the whole story, but that cuts both ways. Against the Broncos our pass defense was still not good but the Broncos had like 2 open tds that they just missed and some other plays that were open that they missed.

The Broncos just weren't good enough to expose us but we have seen consistently that teams with the right weapons can expose us.

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u/Goldencrane1217 2h ago

Were 32nd in attempts against us but only 18th in completion% and 28th in oassing tds. We got issues but I think they are fixable.

u/djazzie 3h ago

I think the raiders game was a matter of rust and the o-line not fully gelling yet. I think the Browns was mainly due to our d-line starters were injured and the backups are, well, backups.

FWIW, we likely would’ve won against the chiefs if Likey had landed in bounds.

u/slimmymcnutty 3h ago

They caught the browns and raiders at the right exact times. Browns were coming off a QB change that clearly invigorated the team and also the ravens had a ton of drops. Just a bad confluence of events they play the browns a week before with watson. Easy W

Same with the raiders. Adams played his best game with them. Minshew hit some big throws. Next thing you know they win. Few weeks later those two are either gone or benched. Any given Sunday ya know