http://www.baltimorebeatdown.com/2015/11/18/9752036/scouting-report-rams-offensive-weapons
Ravens vs Rams: Scouting the Rams offensive weapons
By
Kyle Barber
@KylePhoeniX34
Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports
Who will gash the Ravens?
The
St. Louis Rams, not very known as of late as an offensive powerhouse may now possess enough weapons to punish the
Ravens through the air, and on the turf.
The starting depth chart for the Rams consist of:
WR:
Kenny Britt,
Tavon Austin,
Brian Quick,
Wes Welker
TE:
Jared Cook,
Lance Kendricks
RB:
Todd Gurley,
Tre Mason
Reading through the names, you're not quite terrified of these players, yet we should be. Mainly because we don't have any defenders capable of stopping these players. The wide receiving corps consisting of two lightning fast players (Tavon & Wes) will be damaging a sluggish and embarrassing Ravens secondary. Welker on nine snaps was targeted six times. He made 3 receptions for 32 yards, and was undoubtedly helpful with less than two weeks of playbook under his belt. This can only mean he gets better.
Alongside another bolt of lightning Tavon Austin will use all the agile possible to duck, dodge, dip, dive, and dodge Baltimore Raven tacklers, and we all know how badly everybody is at that besides Will Hill. Expect the short passes to become first downs, painfully caused due to bad coverage and worse tackling. Kenny Britt is another threat the Ravens will hope to contain as his route tree is almost complete. His short, intermediate, and deep routes are all available, and his size mixed with speed is adequate in playing.
Jimmy Smith can match up well, but don't expect him to be shadowing all game with the Dean Pees defense.
The most impressive rookie back out of the draft so far, Todd Gurley, will be making his first appearance against the Baltimore Ravens, and in my mind the defense has the capabilites to clamp down on the run game. Although Todd Gurley is ranked the 10th best back by PFF, even with his missed games, Baltimore's run defense is still very capable, especially against a middling O-line. Expect
C.J. Mosley to have direct orders to stare down TGIII all game, and
Brandon Williams to dominate any attempts at the run.
Tight Ends will be the wildcard match-up as the Ravens linebacker depth are nothing special, and the tight end strength for St. Louis is nothing overpowering. Jared Cook is a good tight end, but nothing amazing. Yet, in games I've seen him blow up over 100 and multiple scores.
This is a big factor. So far this season Cook has been very mediocre, with 22 catches for 290 yards and not a single touchdown. To compare
Crockett Gillmore looks very similar at 24 catches for 284 yards, but 4 touchdowns. Both good, but nothing special.
Another huge factor will be the quarterback situation.
Nick Foles has been benched and
Case Keenum will be the starting quarterback. This is neither good nor bad for the Ravens as Foles has been mediocre to bad, and Keenum doesn't seem like the player to absolutely devastate the opposition. Yet again,
Josh McCown didn't either.
Overall, a big factor will be Keenum attempting to get the ball off quickly and getting Welker, Britt, and Austin room to run, and forcing the Ravens to not load the box against Todd Gurley and the running game.
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Uh Oh
Cook hasn’t had a good game all year?
Sunday he gets 2 TDs 100 yards
Any other player who hadn’t done well? He’ll bounce back against us.
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Gurley is an absolute monster, cannot wait to see what he looks like in person.
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http://www.baltimorebeatdown.com/20...de-receiver-chris-givens-tops-the-depth-chart
Ravens wide receiver Chris Givens tops the depth chart
By
Matthew Stevens
@MatthewS_balt
Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
With veteran wide receiver Steve Smith Sr. out for the season due to his torn Achilles tendon, the
Ravens needed to figure out who could replace him. No receiver on the depth chart could match his intensity or production thus far into the season, but the Ravens needed to put someone into his spot and hopefully make an impact in the coming 7 weeks. We introduce
Chris Givens to the mix.
Checking out the latest depth chart, wide receiver
Chris Givens is starting at the right wide receiver position, opposite
Kamar Aiken.
It is interesting given that Givens was a receiver the Ravens traded for in week 4, giving the
St. Louis Rams a 2018 7th-round draft pick in exchange. Since that trade, Givens has quickly gotten used to the offense and gained a reporte with quarterback
Joe Flacco.
In the 4 games as a Baltimore Raven, Givens has caught 6 balls for 106 yards. If Joe Flacco was more accurate this season, Givens would have right around 160 yards on 7 receptions and a touchdown to boast about. Even without Flacco's underthrown ball, Givens averages 17.7 yards per reception at this time, putting him well above the other receivers on the team in that stat.
A former high school track star, Givens clearly has the speed that the Ravens have lacked on the outside since the departure of
Torrey Smith to the
San Francisco 49ers in the offseason.
While not exactly the second-round pick that Torrey Smith was, the Ravens get a player that matches up about as close as you could ask for, all for a 7th-round pick. I'd take that all day long if I were Ozzie Newsome.
Givens has been in the league with the Rams for 3 seasons, sliding further down the depth chart as he went along. However, a lot of that can be attributed to poor quarterback play on a team that just wasn't very good. Givens' rookie season was his best, putting up 42 receptions for 698 yards and 3 touchdowns. With a larger armed, and without question better quarterback, Givens should be able to see at least that level of production. He is already beating the yards per catch average he had in his best season in St. Louis by over a yard per catch.
Few people would look at Chris Givens as think that he will be able to replicate the success of Steve Smith Sr. or even Torrey Smith, but if given a chance like he is right now, he might surprise all of us. At 2-6, the Ravens don't really seem to be in a spot to not give shots to their young players to see who can ball.
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Flacco can finally play with his brand new toy
In all seriousness Givens looks to be a huge boost. Not just the speed but his back shoulder catch was one of the best of the season.
Defenses will be stacking the box for the next couple of weeks so Givens will be really valuable
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You guys got a speedster for sure
I’m glad to see he’s going to get a chance to shine in B-More…something they simply don’t allow in St. Louis.
Good dude too. Wishing him the best of luck.
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He's got one route. A go route
And he’s damn good at it. I picked him up in fantasy. Hope he does well! Except against us of course
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Defense will still blow our 40 point lead
Foles will throw the game winning dagger with 0 seconds left
And I’ll cry under my bed all night long
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Janoris Jenkins will have something to say about that
No, literally, in a tweet after the game.
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Givens is a nice receiver. He'll do you well.
His limitation is the first couple times running new routes. He seems like he tends to think more about the route than catching. Once he gets the route down and plays, he’s an extremely valuable guy. St. Louis Rams have had more issues than they have fixed on the offense. Fans complain about the receivers, but smart passes are a bigger issue.