Mango

I think this was always a bad match up for Tennessee. They can’t score any points. They can’t sustain drives. They’re big, strong, and play good defense. But the Ravens aren’t just explosive they’ll grind it out and pound the shirt out of the defense. I think the Ravens are sneaky good this year. I really wanted them to kick that FG.

Fair point, but I also don’t think championships need to be neutral. But it is more important to a one and done game too. Worth noting that home field advantage in the NFL has been on the decline since before COVID.

The Lamar hate is out of control. He’s a good player. People act like you’re either Allen/Mahomes or you suck. Also OP started this GDT to cover up his criticism of the league only to start a thread about that a few minutes later. His whole schtick is everything sucks and everything’s the worst. And if it is t the worst the world is out to get us.

I have always thought the higher seed should host every year. No different than any other American sport.

We’re not even through the first quarter and the Ravens are a much faster team than the Titans any day of the week on any field on the planet. I also think the Ravens are a very good team flying a bit under the radar this year. I have little faith in the 2023 Titans. There is a reasonable discussion to have around this but a 3-3 game in the first quarter and a “faster” Baltimore team isn’t great evidence of anything at all.

I mean, he stormed out of the building after the Bengals game. Then there was the whole hoopla around camp. The next time Brady or Bill refuse to meet with the team after a bad game give me a call. I’m glad it’s going well. But this isn’t just about tossing a tablet. It’s about those two large gaffes and now everything else is being piled on. It doesn’t mean everything is a sign of something terrible happening. I think the London thing was a total nothing burger. But Stef has also done some things to create some smoke, so people are quick to yell fire. I wish it would go away. I don’t think this moment was a big deal. But I also get why he is under the microscope. It is what it is. All we can do is create enough good credit to make it go away.

I agree to an extent. Some things get wonky when one person roles into the other. But COO and General Council are both fairly high on the totem pole. The issue I think is the general council more so than a workplace violation. I worked somewhere where our SVP of Sales dated and married our general council. They were basically told “we can’t keep you both, it’s a conflict.” And we let the GC go. Assuming they were fairly forthcoming about it I’d give them time to work it out.

My thought is that Diggs is spelled with 2x g's.

There is no way they let BB go mid season. And he won’t ever be “fired”. He’ll “retire”.

Elam and Benford are the youngest guys in the room in their second year. Everybody else is in between their 4th and 11th seasons. This isn’t a young team. And it is definitely not a young secondary. There is no need for “veteran presence in the DB room”.

Elam felt a lot like Leodis McKelvin. Regularly in position, but had no idea when or where the ball was coming from. McKelvin was an idiot, Elam seems much smarter. This feels like something he can get better at with more playing time. I would rather work through that issue than try and get 57 year old Josh Norman to drink from the fountain of youth. We'd be better off spending our time trying our hand at alchemy. Honestly. Norman has absolutely nothing to offer at this point.

It has been a minute, but it feels like Josh Norman was toast in 2020. There is absolutely no way that he is the best option. Zero.

I think getting Cook, Kincaid, Harty, and Sherfield a minimum of 2 catches per game forces the defense to cover everybody, which should help open up the run game and make life easier on Diggs, Davis, Knox, and the RB stable to spring some big plays in bigger moments. I don't need everybody to be awesome. I just need them to get the ball a few times to keep the other team honest.

I was a little confused on that play. I thought those 50/50 balls went to the offense. Watching the replay they showed on TV it looked like there were 4 hands on the ball until they went to the ground....but once they hit the ground the play should be dead, play over, since they are down by contact. Maybe I missed something on the replay on TV or maybe there weren't 4 hands on the ball. I don't know. But that was my thoughts watching it live.

I tend to agree with this. One of the traits of the EP is that we sort of reinvent the offense on a weekly basis. I think we need to start leaning into a core offense and adding on as we become more proficient. I truly believe that Allen, Diggs, Davis, Knox/Kincade, and our stable of RB's are more than good enough carry this team. But under both Daboll and now Dorsey we keep trying to reinvent the wheel every week. Pound the rock, run play action, spread the ball/field out. If teams stop us they stop us. I would rather that than to have guys not understanding our ever changing concepts.

10) I think Elam surpassed any reasonable expectations anybody can have for a CB4 on the outside. I will say it for the 100th time after the game, I don't understand how in all 6 receptions Elam seemed to have exactly zero safety help over top. Why leave your CB4 so exposed against Calvin Ridley? Another poster noted that it seemed like Elam was targeted every time we had a DB blitz on the opposite side of the formation. It seemed like Elam held his own until late Q3/early Q4. Jacksonville seemed to pick something else we missed. 11) Taron was lights out yesterday. I cannot believe the NFL shared the video of the field going in this week. That was an immediate red flag for me. 12) That still is the 3rd down play to Cook I believe? I think Diggs was also open with a slightly quicker release for a first down as well. But to your point that play design was a head scratcher for me in the moment as well. I have been pounding the drum to spread the field and the ball out more. it allows for more big plays, opens up the run, and makes the job for the entire OL, Allen, and Diggs much much easier. When we run everything tight, we complete tight window passes, for tough catches, and hard yards. For everybody who wonders "why other teams..." I think this is a big reason why.

The offense looked disjointed more than anything else. There were some inopportune drops, but by and large drops weren't "the issue". We have had those games, and this one didn't seem like it. But that could be the early AM cocktails clouding my memory. Knox had the worst day with 50% catch. Davis and Cook had a drop each on third down that come to mind. Otherwise both those guys had good days receiving minus those two moments. I will be curious to look at the A-22 this week. I recall one or two throws were Josh looked at then away from open receivers. Off the top of my head the Cook drop was one of those decisions. But by and large this game didn't feel like it was on Josh. And it didn't feel like it was on the receivers either. It felt like a culmination of a handful of small moments and decisions across the entire offense. https://www.espn.com/nfl/boxscore/_/gameId/401547228

Because it was an early AM game I made bloody mary's, which means I didn't use my standard can coozie made out of the old turf from the Ralph. I realized this at half time. But it was too little too late.

He forced ETN inside for a big Ed Oliver stop on the first drive. I agree, I’m splitting hairs. But it was a good play.

FWIW, as somebody who’s done some stuff with international sport this is what was always told to me. To Turks point about 2 weeks is the preference. The Bills played a team with about two weeks in London. So it’s not so much a “the Bills got it wrong” as much as it is “The Jags were able to stay in London”. Land, hit the ground running, don’t nap, and immediately assimilate to the time change is standard practice for the world championships and the Olympics.

And they didn’t show a replay of the first one. A buddy of mine in NYC texted me this am and said “looks like you have the same crew as Jets/Chiefs”

Losing Milano sucks. The one thing that go me today was that at one point we were missing 6 starters on defense. Tre Jones Groot Milano Ed Taron All those guys won’t be gone all year. But it felt so ominous.

I thought Dane Jackson had a great game. Very physical out there today and a couple of big stops in the run game.

On the bright side he never really got burnt by Ridley. Hopefully more play time gets his head on a swivel.

It doesn’t feel like we lose a guy in the divisional and get them back for a Super Bowl or something like that. It’s always in the middle of the year and we wait to see them again next year. I think the intent was for Von to get a lot more than 5 snaps but guys started dropping like flies.