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Ravens preview with ‘Ravens Insider’ Aaron Wilson

ObsiWan

Hall of Fame
Contributor's Club
Thanks for the link.

What do you think are the strengths of this Ravens’ team?
“They have a potent running game with Pro Bowl runner Ray Rice. They have an occasionally dangerous passing game, albeit an inconsistent one so far this year. Their defense is unpredictable and tough.”
And fans concerns with Ravens team?
“They worry about the injuries in the secondary eventually catching up with them and the lack of a proven, healthy wide receiver opposite Anquan Boldin.”
Ray Rice against our run defense and Anquan Boldin against our secondary scares the bejeezus outta me; especially with no Mario and a DeMeco who I'm not convinced is 100% back.

I'm hoping we can start fast again and keep it going throughout the game and maybe that will minimize Ray Rice's carries if they're playing catchup.

Hey, I can hope can't I?
:shades:
 

thunderkyss

Just win baby!!!
Staff member
Contributor's Club
Ravens preview with ‘Ravens Insider’ Aaron Wilson

This Q&A turned out well. Aaron is solid on NFL stuff. Nice numbers there too.
Got a question. When you said this,
Will be interesting to see if the Ravens defense is for real, or is artificially high after beating Rams (31st), Jets (25th), Steelers (10th) and losing to the Titans (7th) on the road. (Football Outsiders’ offensive numbers).
But earlier you said,
Texans: Overall (14th), Offense (8th), Pass offense (12th), Rush offense (14th). Defense (16th), Pass defense (8th), Rush defense (27th), Special Teams (8th)

Does that Titan's (7th) relate to the Texans' (8th) the way I think it does?
 

CloakNNNdagger

Hall of Fame
The Ravens' pass rush will be a b*tch. But one point that has not been emphasize is that despite the bye week, the Ravens' secondary is somewhat of a rag tag outfit. They already lost Domonique Foxworth to IR. Despite the bye week, three other key members of the secondary. Chris Carr , Jimmy Smith, and Tom Zbikowski will be MIA in this game. If the Texans can somehow beat the pass rush (and that is to be seen), the path to the EZ may not be too obstructed.
 

Vinny

shiny happy fan
The Ravens' pass rush will be a b*tch. But one point that has not been emphasize is that despite the bye week, the Ravens' secondary is somewhat of a rag tag outfit. They already lost Domonique Foxworth to IR. Despite the bye week, three other key members of the secondary. Chris Carr , Jimmy Smith, and Tom Zbikowski will be MIA in this game. If the Texans can somehow beat the pass rush (and that is to be seen), the path to the EZ may not be too obstructed.
the problem is that our main weapons out of the receiving game are TE's. Pollard is going to replace Zbikowski Sunday.
 

CloakNNNdagger

Hall of Fame
the problem is that our main weapons out of the receiving game are TE's. Pollard is going to replace Zbikowski Sunday.
Still, once the ball is out of Schaub's hands, Pollard should also become a liability for his memorialized poor coverage skills.
 

amazing80

Hall of Fame
I think Pollard on OD is a mismatch. Hopefully we make Pollard look silly and pound the rock with AF. Should be a great game and I am excited!
 

Texans_Chick

Utopian Dreamer
Got a question. When you said this,


But earlier you said,



Does that Titan's (7th) relate to the Texans' (8th) the way I think it does?
Those are Football Outsiders efficiency stats. Currently the Titans efficiency numbers are better than the Texans. Without completely understanding their proprietary stats it is likely due to: 1. Doing better against better defenses (TN over BAL); 2. The Texans offensive numbers went down because they struggled against the Raiders defense whose efficiency stats weren't very good before last week.

Early year numbers are very skewed because limited opponents.

The Titans offense numbers are odd because their passing numbers have been much more efficient than their running numbers.

The Texans offensive numbers are pretty balanced. (12th)/(14th) which ends up with an overall number that is higher relative to other NFL teams offensively, who are usually very good passing or running but not both.

Ravens only have 4 games. The Steelers aren't quite the Steelers this year for a variety of reasons including using traffic cones for an offensive line. The Rams are terrible this year. The Jets offense is pukey. They've had a bye week and they loss to the Titans. Very limited sample size.

The Texans defense actually had one of their better games against the Ravens last year. The Texans offense struggled but found themselves in the 4th quarter--Raven had trouble in a lot of 4th quarters last year. What killed the Texans last year was their special teams that game was TERRIBLE. Offense dug a hole but the special teams made it worse. They could never get the field flipped.
 

hradhak

Veteran
Pollard's strength is in run support and rushing the QB. I think we can throw against them but I'm more worried about our run game. We no run = we no win.
 

Nawzer

Alienz
Pollard's strength is in run support and rushing the QB. I think we can throw against them but I'm more worried about our run game. We no run = we no win.
The obvious guess would be that the Texans will need to have an excellent passing game to win against the Ravens. But I think the run will be an important factor specially modified running plays like the screen play and short dump passes to Foster. Foster is liable to break a big run every time he catches the ball out of the backfield and he's not an easy guy to bring down. With all that said, I think the Ravens front seven is so good that they will shut down pretty much everything unless Texans play out of their minds. Our best hope will lie with how well our defense plays. Imo they have to force a few turnovers and if the defense can score it'll be great for us. Field position will also be a factor.
 

hradhak

Veteran
The obvious guess would be that the Texans will need to have an excellent passing game to win against the Ravens. But I think the run will be an important factor specially modified running plays like the screen play and short dump passes to Foster. Foster is liable to break a big run every time he catches the ball out of the backfield and he's not an easy guy to bring down. With all that said, I think the Ravens front seven is so good that they will shut down pretty much everything unless Texans play out of their minds. Our best hope will lie with how well our defense plays. Imo they have to force a few turnovers and if the defense can score it'll be great for us. Field position will also be a factor.
Fortunately, the Ravens offense has been inept many times through this season. They thrive on getting easy points from turnovers (see Jets game). I'm less worried about the consistency of our defense because so far only 1 quarter this season has our defense been beat, and that was against an offensive powerhouse. For the most part they give up TDs when the offense gets too many 3 and outs in a row.

I'm hoping that the Raiders game was an anomaly in that they were able to shut Foster down. I dunno if the Raiders found a weakness that other teams can exploit also or if that was unique to the Raiders. Either way, I do think our offense (and this holds true for the rest of the season) has to be the one that maintains consistency for us to win.
 

Lucky

Ride, Captain, Ride!
Staff member
I'm hoping that the Raiders game was an anomaly in that they were able to shut Foster down. I dunno if the Raiders found a weakness that other teams can exploit...
Put 8 men in the box and force Schaub to beat you. Foster beat the Raiders last year, and they were determined not to let that happen this year. Despite 400+ passing yards, it looks like they had the correct strategy. Or the Texans were too inept to take advantage. You make the call.
 

TheMatrix31

Hall of Fame
Turn Foster into Marshall Faulk. I'm going to be furious if we don't use Arian in the passing game quicker. Took forever for them to call screens and dumpoffs for him in the Raider game.
 

Texan_Bill

Hall of Fame
We win!! That's my preview!! So, move along, nothing else to see here.


Well except for the fact that the next time I'm right about this Texans team will be the first!! FML!

:toropalm: Bill!


*EDIT*

PS. Steph thanks for all your great work!!
 
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