DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Pure Football Forum Can We Beat the Ravens?

On paper, we can beat absolutely anyone and that is beyond the "any given Sunday" rhetoric. There is no team in the NFL that this roster does not match up favorably with, as-is.

The potential is there; we just have to put it together and actually do it.

We will catch the Ravens when we consistently at least split with them.

I agree with most of what you are saying here, but I think from game one we will be better on defense than we were last year on our best day.

We will get better as the season wears on that to me is a given.

I could care less how our enemies come at us will be ready.

I'm not overly impressed with their offensive line acquisitions. Zietler isn't the guy he was here and their new RT from the Steelers is as soft as they come. Ben Cleveland is fun but he is boom or bust to me.

It all comes down to Lamar. Can they contain him on the ground and keep their discipline defending him? Some teams have mastered that ability while others still have struggled. I look at what the Bills did to him and I think the Browns will run out something similar to what their defense looks like.

As for the Ravens defense, it's typical Ravens. Blitz a ton, grab and hold in the secondary. Will they be fast enough to hold OBJ? Is Queen going to be able to be a quality LBer? The Ravens defensive line isn't great and I don't think they can stop our running game very well.

If the Browns had a better defense last year, I'm not sure this would even be a question. I have no doubts the Browns can beat the Ravens. This year.

Pretty much everyone can see HOW to do it, you just have to have the players that can actually do that. We did not have that last year.

Lamar is still the QB he was the last time we beat him. He is still wildly inaccurate throwing to the outside. Take away his easy throws over the middle and up the seam, and contain him in the run; don't give up those easy off-tackle runs that they set up with motion and don't give up the edge. Push the pocket into his face with edges set. He'll still get his, but with better athletes out there, we'll get ours more often than he gets his.

We almost beat them in the 2nd game last season. If we can "almost" beat them with the talent on D we had I think we have a very good shot with the D we NOW have. JMO

We have a Dline that can create a push and leverage up front without help from a blitz. Which is part of Wood's strategy mostly.

You get 4 hungry guys to hold the front.

Secondly you now have 7 guys who are rangey and can fly all over the field. All these guys indicate that they can play in space. They can cover. And they know how to tackle and wrap up guys in open field. They're also really smart and can anticipate plays and sniff them out before they get going. What you need against RPOs and just the normal option as well.

Who would you consider to be built that way? One thing we have in our favor is that the coaching staff is pretty adept at creating mismatches and exploiting weaknesses. If we do get outmatched on D, our O should have enough fire power to keep up. It'll be interesting to see. who we match up well against and who we don't.

My guess is that JOK will have a spy role in this game with orders to stay on Lamar's outside shoulder.

Other than that, the game plan will be the same as most teams had last year. We'll try to rack up points early, forcing him to stay in the pocket and throw.

One great quirk of this season is that after the first game, we get a bye week to digest what happened and prepare again for our 2nd game against them.

I like our odds in both games outright, but I'd be shocked if we didn't win that second one.

(Thread Title?)
I remember, may have been Dennis Green, with the post game speech to his team.
" If you want to Crown em, Crown em!"
You want to Crown the Ravens??

It's possible both teams could beat the other, the Browns and Ravens both have advantages in those games.

Sure, why not? We have some heavy hitters on the roster.

I know we have suffered through a lot and when expectations were high we were let down. But we finally have a roster to believe in. Yes we can beat these guys.