asyranok

This reminds me of the opposite of a Titans forum experience I had. During the Titans game where they beat the Ravens a few years ago, they started a thread to mock Todd Heap, our previous big Tight End of the 2000's. They made fun of him for backing his SUV over his daughter and killing her. Not one of the Titans fans said... maybe this isn't cool. Then I went to a different Titans forum and saw another similar thread making fun of him. It's not like Heap even had anything to do with that Ravens team... Sociopaths. As a result, Titans fans are the only fan base in the NFL that I can say I hate.

You know what I mean. No need to be pedantic. The cumulative failures of the Ravens cost them the game and Allen could have scored again in regular or overtime, but the easy dropped catch to tie at the end is naturally going to be called the "play that cost us the game". Doesn't need to be taken too literally.

It's very nice that members of your fandom organized/are donating to Mark Andrews' Diabetes charity in support of him after his... mistakes that cost the game. He's gotta truly be feeling awful. As indicated by him skipping the post game presser and taking the fine. That kind of drop can crush a soul. You guys rock. Very few fandoms with that kind of empathy and willingness to reach across the isle. (Also congrats on your win. Beat KC please, for the love of all that is holy. Get voodoo dolls of the refs if you must.)

Oweh isn't the one doing the rush stopping though (not often). That's Pierce and Roquan primarily. The Ravens best strength is running straight up the gut, so I'd recommend against that. Wide runs that test speed tend to do better. The keys to beating the Ravens: 1) The Ravens don't rush the QB often. Especially at snap. When they do, they get a high rate of sacks, so overall the sack total is around 5-ish, if I recall. But the percentage of pressure plays is insanely low. That, coupled with Allen's stout protection means he could have more time to wait for receivers to get open, which leads to #2 2) Pick on Stephens. He is a slow, unreliable corner. Don't try to force it into whoever Wiggins or Humphrey are covering. But try to force it into whomever Stephens has. He will eventually lose a step on most receivers, especially if you have an extra second to throw each play. 3) The Ravens defense has the most pathetic number of EASY dropped interceptions that you would have ever seen in a season. I know you might not know this if you don't watch every Ravens game, since they wouldn't be on the highlights. Other than Hamilton and Humphrey, the other Ravens defenders seem literally incapable of holding onto a balloon drifting gently in a breeze. In one game alone, Eddie Jackson, who was released immediately after the loss, dropped 4 interceptions. Three of them, a geriatric old lady could have caught. Straight to his numbers. And the last three of them, if he had caught ANY of them, the Ravens would have beaten the Browns in that game. Additionally, Hamilton dropped the easiest interception of his career on the Jameis Winston pass one play before the touchdown that gave them their final lead. Four total game winning interceptions dropped in one game. Meanwhile, Wiggins dropped about 6 very easy interceptions this year before finally getting his first (a pick six) against the Browns in week 18. I also have counted at least 7 interceptions that most free safeties would have nailed, but Ar'Darious Washington must not have the ability to move his fingers since it looks like someone trying to catch a football with two 2x4's The point: Don't be afraid to throw passes that would be easy interceptions for most NFL teams. The Ravens might get their hands on it but they almost certainly won't pick it off. Again, unless it's Humphrey or Hamilton (or apparently Michael Pierce and his could-have-been thick six).

lol. What drives betting lines again? The current numbers of bets coming in? "That's all I needed to see. The Bills just finished crushing a great Broncos defense. I've changed my bet. They don't stand a chance against a slightly worse overall Raven's defense."

They did not play with a lead for most of their games. An enormous number of games this year were very close all the way to the end. Even, that 34-17 game against the Steelers was painfully close until the last quarter. Yes, the Browns game in week 18, or the Texans games were blowouts from the start, though. No, the real reason the Raven's run defense is overrated is because of how godawful... truly legendarily bad... the Ravens pass defense was until after week 11. It was the worst pass defense I've ever seen in all my years of football. Why focus on running against a pretty good run defense when you can pass at will? Granted, the Ravens made major changes after the first Browns loss and turned the legendarily bad pass defense into the best pass defense in the league over the final 7 games... somehow. Still, the run defense held up fairly well during that stretch. Really, the Ravens rush defense, if our pass D wasn't so bad for most of the year, would probably be around 3rd. It's still very good. Since Denver is 3rd, your comment isn't far off the reality, though. But you might find it's a little harder to run against us next week than Denver. Granted, we also haven't played a ton of teams with insanely mobile QB's either, so maybe the Allen run factor will open it up a lot for Cook.

I think their agenda is purely bandwagoning. They pick one team from each conference each year and then go all in on spit shining their shoes. I don't think it's because they want to influence anything, it's just that they suck at being objective and love to latch onto narratives and bandwagons. For a while there, they were all in on Allen this year. But then (giving me whiplash), they suddenly were all about Lamar.

I read that in one place, then checked betting apps and other websites and saw it was Bills -1.5. So I think that was a typo. Where did you see it? I think I saw the typo on ESPN. Not sure. Oh damn. Ok. That's getting confusing.

Quoth the Ravens?

Keep in mind, Allen crushed the Ravens in the 2020 playoffs. There's a revenge factor there too. Why does everyone keep saying the Ravens are favorites? The line is -1.5 Bills. I understand wanting to build an underdog mentality because it makes it feel like your disrespected, but the reality is that the Bills have a better record, and you have home field advantage where you are undefeated this year. The betting lines will favor the Bills until kickoff, though some pundits will go both ways, sure.

That TD was so embarrassing on the replay... The Packers linemen... Especially the inside DT's... They made no attempt to break around the line. They even stopped for about two seconds and stood there... Every time I've ever seen that total lack of passion, the entire team ends up reflecting it and loses the game. I got the feeling they are not pumped, and they don't care if they win.

It's almost like he ran around behind the line of scrimmage for a good fifteen seconds, making defenders miss the sack, until the receivers make their fifth change of direction to get wide open. It's kind of hard to guard a receiver who's ran their route and started improvising.

Last year has no bearing on being MVP this year... (other than voter fatigue). If you think Lamar's stats are a mirage, you haven't actually watched him play. His plays have been AMAZING. Much more impressive than even his 2019 season. His pocket awareness was absurd this year. So many times he was forced from the pocket and has decided NOT to run it like he used too but then launches amazing TD's instead. The stats he has earned have been just as impressive as Allen. I think Allen probably should get the MVP, and Lamar is my favorite player ever... I mostly think that because he shouldn't have gotten MVP last year. Was unearned. Probably should have been Dak Prescott. But it's pointless to act like he hasn't been in the same league as Allen with how impressive his play is in the process of getting those stats.

Herbert had one awesome year, but he is mostly just a "very solid" QB who is very safe with the ball, not trying to do too much. Like an early-Joe Flacco who throws a lot less interceptions and doesn't have the same kind of defense to bail him out. (To be clear, I think he is overall MUCH better than Joe Flacco ever was. But one thing that Flacco had/has on Herbert is how... unphased he is about everything. It was impossible to get him seeing ghosts or get him rattled. Doesn't mean he wouldn't go out and lay an egg, but he failed with confidence). Which makes it a thousand times more surprising that Herbert threw 4 INTs in one playoff game, when he threw less than that ALL regular season combined. I didn't see that coming. He just... choked. Allen was always clearly, to me at least, a better QB. At least, he had a far higher ceiling in my eyes. I saw Herbert as quickly racing to his ceiling and being comfortably good. Whereas Allen had to get his head into it and cool his jets a bit before it would really click for him. I really don't want to hate Herbert for this one game, but it was borderline bad enough of a game that I am wondering about his future.

Interestingly, this was the officiating crew that threw the most offensive holding penalties all year. I guarantee if you are looking for it, every single play, no matter the team, you will see something you'd argue is holding. GUARANTEE it. The difference here, is that you hate the Ravens, and are looking for an excuse for why they are overrated, so you are explicitly looking for the holds, seeing something, and getting mad. In reality, the Ravens are one of the most penalized teams in the league, including for offensive holding. Has been their greatest weakness all year next to the pass defense.

This is the first year the Ravens have EVER used team captain patches in their history. Lamar, and any franchise QB, will always be the offense's team captains.

Might be from Vick, since he was a lefty? A lot of the most athletic QB's were lefty's for some reason, up until the last decade and a half.

I don't think it's pedantry to point out that he didn't lead in touchdowns when we're talking about the MVP race. Seems pretty important. But okay.

Allen didn't lead the league in TD's this year...? He had 28 passing and 12 rushing for 40 total. Lamar had 41 passing, alone.

I think this is going to be closer than we imagined just 2 weeks ago. It was clear that Allen had more-or-less equally good overall stats to Lamar, but also had the narrative. And the narrative is arguably the most important factor to get the MVP. That narrative was driven by two factors: Being clearly on a pedestal of his own from a "carrying the team on his back" perspective. Lamar had Henry, though I'd argue that Lamar was critical in getting Henry those huge stats. I'd say without having the Lamar threat to handle on runs, opening up situations for Henry, that he probably would have been more like 1,300 yards and 10 td's, rather than ~1900 yards and 16 td's. Voter fatigue. People don't like seeing the same team win the superbowl every year... (looking at the Pats and Chiefs), but they also don't like giving the same person MVP every year, or multiple years in a row. Unless the person is just undeniably the one and only MVP. But something changed around the narrative in the last week or so, I'd say. I'm hearing plenty of pundits saying that "Lamar is the MVP this year". Not "It's close. It's a toss up". Obviously seeing just as many pundits name Allen the clear MVP too, but I think it's really evened out, which I think means the winner could win by less than a 5 vote difference. I'll be really happy if Lamar wins. He's my favorite player ever (besides Todd Heap, oddly enough). But I am going to be really happy if Allen wins MVP too. Allen is my favorite non-Raven player and has been since the draft. Bills are the only other team I'd root for any given week. So it's a win either way.

Bills 31 Denver 20 The only thing the Broncos have going for them is Bo Nix. But he isn't a world beater. Play smart, pressure him plenty, and don't try to do cutesy stuff, and he will not blow up a Bills defense. On offense, unless Allen and Cook have off games, it should be easy pickings.

Saying that didn't happen is gaslighting. Plain and simple.

Joe does.

It took a very long time for Lamar to shake off the hate. From before he was drafted, until well after his first MVP, he was often disrespected by a lot of media personalities. After his MVP, the "he can't throw the ball at all" narrative became a "okay, he is doing fine now, but he will age/get injured and won't be able to use his legs as much. And without him being a dangerous runner, he won't be able to throw the ball well enough to be a QB in the league. He was compared to Cam Newton unfavorably etc. But he kept proving these people wrong, and eventually by around 2022, a lot of the haters gave up the hating. Maybe some of them felt bad that they were so wrong, so they started drooling over him and treating him with kid gloves. Idk. But he definitely was not always adored/given unending media praise.

lmao 🤣 I play the long game. The thread was a compliment. I'm glad complimenting your team and QB annoys you. I get to be nice to you guys AND be the troll that gets at least one of you upset - at the same time. Nice.