keeping faith

[CurBeatElite]

That loss was frustrating... though, some positives came out of it:

 

1) Wentz looked very good for the most part ( a couple plays I thought he held the ball too long or didn't make the right read, but just a handful... for the most part, he was very good, I was glad to see he was so poised on the last drive of the 4th Q, putting us in a position to win on a 47 yard FG attempt).

2) Our OL looked very good despite not having Q, B. Smith and having Kelly banged up (again, a couple plays weren't good, but for the most part, they looked very good against a tough D -- if you count STs, their worst two plays of the game, IMO were the last two field goal attempts, letting Campbell get that far inside -- he went right over Glow both of them, blocked the first one and if Rodrigo kicked the next one straight, it looked like it would've gotten blocked again),

3) Our WRs looked impressive  -- Baltimore is a tough team with a very strong D, and our WRs did well for the most part,

4) Our RBs looked very good -- Taylor had a very solid game, so did Mack... Hines was OK in limited time,

5) Our D looked solid for 3/4 of the game -- I won't have time to rewatch anytime soon, but for now, I'm not sure how much of the 4th Q/OT meltdown is on Flus, how much it is on having the secondary so banged up, how much it is on the fact that Lamar Jackson is a legit MVP candidate year in and year out the past few years and there's only so long you can hold an offense led by him back, etc.

 

Some major negatives:

1) Our injury bug is ridiculous -- it's been going on since preseason.. but it seems like it is hitting us at almost every position now (again, I imagine some of that 4th Q meltdown was the fact that we were without a huge chunk of our secondary),

2) We may have a major K problem -- if Blankenship is truly hurt/injured, I expect we'll see him IRed tomorrow and his replacement brought in... even if he's not, I gotta worry about his confidence now and never thought he had a strong leg to begin with... we have been spoiled as most of the Vanderjagt years and all but his last year, the Vinatieri years, we had one of, if not the best, kicking games in the league... it's never good when we're losing games due to missed PATs and FGs from within 50 yards,

3) Our LB pass coverage -- I thought they tackled OK... but Andrews (TE) gashed us up... I thought the coverage from Okereke on him, especially on the goal line in the 4th Q was pathetic.

4) Some dumb penalties -- the first that comes to mind was the pass interference against Pittman.  I like Pittman, but it seems like he has at least one dumb play (penalty) too often.  Not that our other 4 penalties were any better, but at least some on the OL I hope can be chalked up to the fact that we're missing 2 starters, still welcoming Fisher (his false start was bad), and at least one of our other starters (Kelly) is playing banged up.

5) Earlier this year, we let R. Wilson (a mobile QB) throw for a perfect passer rating against us... last night, Lamar had probably the best game of his career.  Other than his fumble and his slow start.... the 3rd/4th quarters and OT, he absolutely scorched us.  I get it, we were playing with a very banged up secondary.  That said, if we make it to the playoffs, we're doomed if we can't figure out how to deal with mobile QBs, as we'll likely have to face Mahommes, LJ, Allen from the AFC (all of whom are mobile QBs who can also throw).

 

A point I think is moot:

1) Offensive play calling and Wentz -- we played very well against a very strong D for most of the game.  Other than the fumble, and maybe a few plays where he held the ball a bit long, Wentz played well.  There were one or two plays where I thought he should have audibled out of the play he called, but otherwise, Wentz was solid.  Reich and  Brady, I thought, did a heckuva job on the offensive play calling.  For all those complaining that we should have gone for a big play on 3rd and 8 before Blankenship had a FG blocked, I guarantee if we turned the ball over (INT or fumble), if Wentz got sacked and moved us back a few yards, if we had an offensive penalty, etc... you would be the same ones saying Reich was dumb for not going for a first down on a 3rd and long and settling for a FG which would have put us up by two possessions and made it pretty impossible for us to lose.  Also, Blankenship missed a PAT (which stinks) and then up 22-3 we missed a 2 pt conversion which also stunk.  That said, making the 2 pt conversion puts us up 3 TDs.  For those calling for Reich to be fired because he went for 2 pt conversion instead of going for PAT, you all would have been just as bad had we gone for the PAT and Blankenship missed again.  I'm sure Reich remembers last year when we held Balt to 7 points in the first half and gave up 17 in the second half and was thinking (aside from Blankenship possibly being injured) that 24-3 is way better than 22 or 23-3 with how explosive LJ and the Ravens O can be.  

 

Why I remain hopeful:

1) We have 5 very winnable games in a row with Houston, 49ers, Titans at home, NYJ, Jax.  Should be realistically able to go 5-0 during this stretch... so if we are 6-4 going into Buffalo I think we'll be in a good spot.  Then we have a tough TB at home, and Houston.  Very realistically, I think we can go into the bye week at 7-6 .. after our bye, the only concern I have is AZ.. so I think a 10-7 record is very feasible for us (if not better, assuming we don't lose any games we should win, beat the Titans in the rematch, and potentially get a win over Buff, TB, or AZ).  As bad at HOU and JAX are, I think our only competition in the AFC S if TEN.  At 3-2 (with a loss to the lowly Jets), they have the Bills, Chiefs, us, Rams and Saints in the next 5 weeks... while I think we can legit go 5-0, assuming we beat TEN, I think the best they will be able to do is go 1-4 in the next 5 (with losses to Buff, KC, LAR and a win vs. the Saints).  That would put us at 6-4 and them at 4-6 after 10 weeks.. assuming we beat TEN and I'm wrong on a  couple games, it's very possible we both go into week 11 at 5-5.  

 

2) We should, hypothetically, get healthier.  I assume Q and Braden Smith will come back, that Fisher will continue to improve and that Kelly will stay as is or get healthier -- so our OL should only improve moving forward.  We should get TY back at some point, which should help our O, especially if he comes back and is able to play healthy down the stretch (his major knock the past few years is that he was so banged up down the stretch).  We should get Ya-Sin, Carrie, Paye, etc. back on D... I don't know how the injuries to X. Rhodes and all the other DBs that got hurt last night are, but assuming they come back healthy, our D should continue to improve (that said, I think if BoPete Keyes and Chesley are our CBs moving forward, we're in for some trouble).  

 

3) I'm encouraged by some of our guys who are in kind of 'prove it' years.  A couple examples: Tyquan Lewis, IMO, is playing by far his best football of his career.  Turay is making impressive plays each week.  As we get a bit healthier and these guys start gelling more, I think we'll continue to see improvement.