Ravens @ Rams Review

[Merlin]

Rams in scoring range here

Another trips right formation with empty backfield and the TE/RB to the left. Call me crazy but I really like this look vs the Ravens' defense

At the snap it looks like Goff's first read is Higs and Goff likes what he sees

At the drop Goff has 3 strong options. Higbee is drawing the safety but already has him beat. Gurley underneath for what should be a first down. And Woody coming in where the safety bailed midfield.

As Goff winds it up the DB knows he's beat too for what should be an easy TD to Higs

Goff misses though

 

[Merlin]

Situation: last gasp for the Rams before halftime and a chance to get back in this thing with a lift before the break

Pre-snap there's a concern up top left side with 3 defenders close to the LOS where there are two blockers. Goff doesn't seem concerned though and probably because Gurley will slide left to assist

At the snap you have Everett blocking Judon up top which is a mismatch so I presume Gurley is supposed to assist him here (I doubt they would expect Everett to solo block on Goff's blindside). Whit will need to handle a rusher so he's not an option.

A second later Everett is beat, Gurley doesn't seem to realize it though

At the drop Goff has no idea what's coming

Route combo here is a man coverage beater with Cooks breaking outside and underneath the other routes for what should be a smooth first down. It's there but the throw won't get out.

QB sack and fumble (Rams recover ball and end up kicking field goal to end the half). This was one of the handful of very strong impacting plays that you usually see in a game, huge there for Baltimore to snuff out a potential TD prior to halftime. Ravens will score again on their next possession instead.

 

[thirteen28]

Man, you must like pain to re-watch an ass-beating like that. I get it for coaches who need to figure out what went wrong, but as a fan, when shit like this happens, I'm done with it as soon as it's over.

 

[Merlin]

Man, you must like pain to re-watch an ass-beating like that. I get it for coaches who need to figure out what went wrong, but as a fan, when shit like this happens, I'm done with it as soon as it's over.

I didn't review it during the season for the reason you mention. But at this point I'm fucking bored discussing the OL or the scheme or the coaches for the eleventy-millionth time.

And believe me I get it too if posters see this and click on by. It's all good man cheers.

 

[Reddog99]

Man this is great I missed the Rams vs Ravens game for whatever reason I cant remember now but this gives me an understanding of what happened in that game. After seeing the final score and hearing how it went I couldn't force myself to even watch the highlights. So thanks @Merlin!

 

[Merlin]

Man this is great I missed the Rams vs Ravens game for whatever reason I cant remember now but this gives me an understanding of what happened in that game. After seeing the final score and hearing how it went I couldn't force myself to even watch the highlights. So thanks @Merlin!

Glad some are enjoying it lol.

The second half is rough man. So many examples of poor comms on defense, guys pressing, and our lines being manhandled there's not too much to learn there really. I think this was one of the games that convinced them to bring in Robinson and beef up the DL.

 

[thirteen28]

I didn't review it during the season for the reason you mention. But at this point I'm fucking bored discussing the OL or the scheme or the coaches for the eleventy-millionth time.

And believe me I get it too if posters see this and click on by. It's all good man cheers.

Well, thanks for taking on the extra pain so that the rest of us don't have to - your sacrifice will not go unnoticed

 

[Reddog99]

Glad some are enjoying it lol.

The second half is rough man. So many examples of poor comms on defense, guys pressing, and our lines being manhandled there's not too much to learn there really. I think this was one of the games that convinced them to bring in Robinson and beef up the DL.

It seemed like the D had trouble staying on the same page last year. I hope that shit is behind us now that we have a new DC and a retooled defense. Of course I dont expect all the answers to be solved but the team never seemed to be consistent with Wade as our DC.

 

[oldnotdead]

Defensively last year I really didn't like what I saw. Poor play calling defensively, and poor schemes. Wade simply did not believe in his rookies to contribute. He assumed Rapp who was pressed into playing by an injury to Johnson was a fluke. It was his pressing I'm sure that got Weddle and Mathews signed, two vets with empty tanks.

In doing so he sidelined Ebukam and Christian who outplayed Mathews and Weddle respectively. He continued to play SJD despite clear
indications that Gaines was outplaying him in his limited snaps. These are the kinds of coaching decisions that got Wade fired. He continued to play Brockers as a 3 down DE when it was clear he isn't. Their pass rush was AD and Fowler. Brockers and Mathews benefited from their play.

Wade continued to play Hill when it was clear he was hit or miss from play to play. David Long only played 10% of the defensive snaps. His performance was mixed. But it's clear Long has upsides lacking in Hill and Troy was clearly all he was ever going to be after 4 years of coaching. He should have played Long more and allowed him to acclimate to the speed of the game which can only be replicated by actual game experience. Some of Long's struggles were simply the rookie thinking his way through the play slowing his reactions.

Wade could have replaced Brockers with Ebukam on passing downs but knew Mathews could not play SAM as he was a coverage liability. Wade would pull the NT leaving a soft middle on passing downs, knowing that Littleton was not aggressive enough to cover the gap.

The point I'm making is that 2019 laid bare serious coaching deficiencies as much as positional player problems. Wade used what players he had poorly. Kromer and Dickenson simply dropped the ball in their o-line coaching and McVay for all the good things he has done with McVay was beginning to become overprotective and retarding the growth of Goff.

It's why I'm glad they added both O'Connell and Staley. Now they need to look at replacing Kromer and Dickenson if the o-line continues to struggle. They already have a good candidate in Whitworth who is already coaching up the young guys. IMO the o-line improvement toward the end of the season had more to do with Whitworth than Dickenson and Kromer. Whit understands the nuances of execution in ways Kromer and Dickenson apparently don't. If the o-line struggles with their technique and execution the aforementioned duo should be the first out the door.

This team is loaded with talent. Failure at this point and I would look long and hard at the assistant coaches because I would bet that film review would show execution issues over scheme related issues. Execution issues normally have two components. Technique related (coaching) and player limitations (i.e. playing out of position and to his weaknesses not to his strengths). We saw a perfect example of that in playing Noteboom at LG when you had better options like Brewer or Shelton on the roster. If you were going to play someone Noteboom early then they should have played him at swing OT and then replacing Havenstein with Boom when Rob struggled. Those are the kinds of brainless coaching decisions that lead to seasons like 2019. Things like playing Edwards at RG when you have Evans who is built like an OG. Edwards struggled at times playing too high due to his 6'6" height vs Evans at 6'4" with his 34.75" arms.

 

[rdlkgliders]

The most exciting part of this game was trying to get there. Little did I know that being under 5min late would mean I messed the only part of the game the Rams would be close. Disgusting!

 

[matt30]

Oh man I was at this game. I didn't like the offensive play calling at all. Ravens had a heavy zone look all game and we were relying on these long developing routes to get yards. That in combination with the effective blitzes and this game turned into a nightmare.

The defense got fooled at night as well. It was clear the ravens watched film and had a gameplan.

 

[Karate61]

I bought 11 tickets to this fucking game for my whole family to go. Spent about $3k getting everyone together (travel, hotels, etc.) What a waste of money that was!

 

[Snaz]

But Kupp got held and it wasn't called, and that focus on him prevented Goff from seeing what could have been a big play.

A QB could throw it at the feet of the held receiver to get that call.

 

[Snaz]

Situation: last gasp for the Rams before halftime and a chance to get back in this thing with a lift before the break


QB sack and fumble (Rams recover ball and end up kicking field goal to end the half). This was one of the handful of very strong impacting plays that you usually see in a game, huge there for Baltimore to snuff out a potential TD prior to halftime. Ravens will score again on their next possession instead.

Don't even know if a planned roll out to the right would have saved this one... RT looked like he was beat too

 

[So Ram]

Welp I'm bored and it's too hot to work in the yard so gonna put up some notable plays in the week 12 ass beating we received at the hands of the Ravens. Notable being when a guy doesn't do his job or does his job with smashing success, although in this particular game I can't recall if any plays included the latter lol. Probably not. But anyway let's see if we can find some good among the bad...

Situation is first play from scrimmage, it's gonna be a run
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Pre-snap shows a favorable box for a handoff
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Zone right at the snap
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Now in a straight-up zone read the idea is Blythe should get a stiff-arm into the armpit of 98 to help out Edwards and when he's got his guy move second level. I would guess that Blythe's read here is to take 48 but he's still moving laterally with zero awareness of 48 crashing the LOS. And btw if Edwards was struggling with 98 it would be understandable but he's got 98 locked down.
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Blythe realizes it here but it's too late
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Nothin kills a run game like penetration
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Blythe watchin his dude wrap Gurley
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Blythe obviously missed the block bad. Whitworth & Corbett did well.Edwards as well.
My question though is why it takes so long for Todd Gurley to get started ? Plus the play action or jet sweep would have worked.

 

[So Ram]

Situation
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Pre-snap Ravens showing blitz
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At the snap I presume Kupp is the hot
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At the drop the OL is doing a fine job with 6 rushers but Goff knows he's gotta get this out quick
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As the rushers break through Kupp is enduring a nice hold courtesy of 22. Uncalled of course. But unfortunately Goff doesn't see Woody's guy hitting the ground for what would be a very nice gainer...
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Throw to Kupp is out and will be incomplete. Poor choice here IMO by the QB who allowed the D to speed his clock. Check out Woody midfield
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Look at B. Cooks guy & how open he would have been if he runs an out as soon ass the defender turned his back ? The guy had no idea where Goff was. He just didn’t want to get beat deep.