Open Thread: Ravens @ Bengals

David Jones
Antwan Odom
Chinedum Ndukwe
Eric Henderson
Levi Jones
Jason Shirley

John Thornton will start at end.
Chris Crocker will start for The Duke at safety.
Anthony Collins and Nate Livings will start on the left side of the line.
Fletcher at corner.

Ravens quarterbacks coach Hue Jackson, a former Bengals receivers coach, jumped in the air to greet Chad Ocho Cinco, the man helped get to three Pro Bowls and AFC receiving yardage titles. Then he put him in a playful headlock.

Nice catch Chad.

First play of the game, good rainbow pass from Fitz to Chad for 18 yards.

Second play, deep bomb down the right side. I like that. We need to do more of that, completed or not. Bad pass though. Fitz really doesn’t have that deep pass arm. Or are we just spoiled by Palmer?

Run to the left. How did the Ravens see that coming? Couldn’t be tendency, could it?

Pryce was being “blocked” by Ghiaciuc, who couldn’t maintain his blocking. I love Ghiaciuc.

Ghaiciuc – can’t block.
Shayne Graham – can’t kick when it counts.
Fitzpatrick – can’t stay in the pocket long enough to read defenses.
Chris Perry – can’t hold on to the ball.
Levi Jones – can’t walk anymore, much less block.
Thornton – “leader” of defense that can’t lead, shed blocks, or tackle consistently.

What is Zimmer thinking? That is giving away the first down.

Flacco had to roll out after Fanene looped around the tackle on a stunt. Flacco completed a pass to Mason for 8.9999 yards (bad spot).

No hope of a stop here.

But it’s dreadful to watch them. I get less and less enthusiastic for them each week.

Missed tackles by the first defensive player on each. The last one was Brandon Johnson — not sure the first one.

McClain = no speed. Get him stuffed in the middle and he is completely ineffective.

Thanks to Marvin White crashing down the line of scrimmage.

I mean, he wasn’t blocked. But still.

And they call a time out. Haha, our defense confused ’em.

Crocker. I’m likin’ this guy! We blitzed two, with three down linemen.

Wow – I forgot what that looked like. I’d go for it if I were Harbaugh.

Give the Ravens something they don’t expect.

Uggh.

And the Ravens defensive line was unmoved. They moved down the line and the Bengals offensive line couldn’t create a gap for Benson. They just piled bodies.

Another batted ball on third down. Utecht unable to block a defensive back, who rushed the QB and simply pushed Utecht back into the quarterback, knocking down the pass as it’s thrown.

I don’t know who to blame. When your center gets driven backwards into you every play, that has got to be tough. But a mobile QB should find passing lanes. I don’t know why Brat does not give a waggle look more often and move the pocket.

another player I would cut after the season.

When Flacco is pressured, at least for today, he’s not completing passes, which is similar to what we did to McNabb.

Flacco should have run.

Nice grab by Clayton. Other than lacking a pass rush, allowing Flacco to sit in the pocket, that’s not on our defense. Just good play by them.

Good coverage by the Bengals, forcing him to rollout and just ditch the play as an incomplete.

he is always in good position but can’t seem to do much this year.

Who pressured Flacco? Blackstock or Brandon?

the best chance they have to score is a good KO return.

1/5 for 18 yards.

Two rushes, three yards.

Three tackles, 0.5 sacks (sharing with Crocker).

I had to go to dinner last night with my extended in-law family. ALL from Baltimore.

C’mon.

Fitzpatrick goes to throw the pass, and fumbles the ball. Rain. Whatever. LOL.

Ugly.

Fitzpatrick looks to throw, scrambles left, keeps his eyes downfield, then runs up field for an AWESOME 5-yard gain.

Bengals have 21 yards total.

Good coverage by Hall.

What are we going to lose?

Handsoff to Rice. They called a timeout for that?!

Flacco in shotgun, looks left, then right, snakes out of a Fletcher sack, who then runs down the right side lines for the first down.

That wsa HORRIBLE.

Eight seconds in the pocket, not going down. Typical Bengals.

But he just can’t bring people down one-on-one.

Bengals blitz, Flacco hits Mason running a short out route. Mason turns around after catching the short pass, realizes that NO BENGALS player was on him, and dove for the first down.

I don’t know how much longer I can watch this.

THey should have ended this damn drive plays ago.

Three missed tackles?

Pat Sims takes control.

Heap finds a hole in the zone, short on the sidelines to the right. Brandon Johnson chucked Heap, but didn’t follow, leaving a wide open hole in the zone. Heap caught the pass after Johnson attempted to swat it with a swan-dive, and Heap picks up 23 yards.

Several beyond five yards.

THe Bengals came out flat, clearly don’t want to play. TJ dropping balls. Fitz dropping balls before he even throws them. Defense allowing Ray Rice (yes, the same Ray Rice that was too small to be an every down back in the NFL) to run them over. Idiot D-backs missing easy sacks by not coming in under control.

Bengals offense has five plays for three yards.

Clutched the RB’s legs in the backfield.

Bengals.com lists him as inactive.

Thornton, dependable tackler of quarterbacks while in zone coverage.

He made the play that I thought Sims made. He locked up on the blocker, moved him, and made first contact deep in the backfield.

the coaches came up with an even worse than normal game plan.

Fake pass left, and good yardage. Outruns Peko, who shouldn’t be on kickoff return. But that’s just me.

We gained yards on the ground. Seven yards.

Now we have third down. Which means we’ll run the ball again… in double TE formation.

Fitz, in shotgun, and the ball is batted down.

Third time the pass is batted down on third down.

he is awful. Unacceptable.

that guys is a cheap shot artist. Remember when he hit TJ out of bounds two years ago?

He lined up right DT over Bobbie Williams. When he jumped, Williams was starting to focus on the edge rusher that Stacy Andrews was caring for rather than punching these guys in the gut when they get their arms up. PUNCH THEM IN THE GUT.

Specifically the left side of the line. They’re holding up well again. Collins has decent feet, keeping the edge rusher at bay.

Brandon Johnson pushed Flacco out of bounds one-yard short of the LOS. That gives him another sack. He has 1.5.

Allows McClain to pick up nine yards.

TJ made a catch!

We stopped them on third and short. Sims limps off the field. Looks like Fanene made the initial hit, mostly clogging the line of scrimmage.

12 plays, 33 yards. After the first play that went 18 yards, we’ve got 15 yards on11 plays.

or Scott Covington? or Craig Krenzel? signing someone off the street would be better than Fitz.

Fitzpatrick completed his second pass.

Bad pass, floating when his arm was hit.

the guy who admitted he intentionally hurt Reggie Bush last year? couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.

Looks like the pressure came off the guy that Collins was blocking. He got his arm into Fitzpatrick’s throwing arm. Collins just didn’t move his feet deep enough.

Falcons/Chargers.

Steelers/Patriots.

where is the leader in the huddle who will look his compatriots in the eye and challenge them to do better?

The past two rushing plays, after McClain picked up gains of five and 10 yards, dropped McClain after gains of four and one.

That should have been a pick.

Crocker was in Flacco’s face, when he just released it for Clayton, covered by Fletcher who didn’t turn his head quickly enough allowing the completion.

And the ball goes out of bounds. In 2005, we recover that. But we don’t get the breaks. Not this team.

Flacco finds Heap at the back of the end zone. Marvin White trailed Heap the entire time. Our safety was outran by their tight end.

and the Bengals make them look like all-Pros on offense.

sophomore slump here we come!

Eric Ghiaciuc blown up again by Pryce.

Ravens sack Fitz.

Fitz should go back to I-banking.

Somewhat. He kept looking inside, while Collins was forced to pick up either Suggs or Scott. He picked up Scott, well. Livings didn’t look out at Suggs, who broke free easily.

19 plays, 20 yards (18 picked up on the first play of the game).
0/6 on third down.
One first down.
Six punts in the first half.
Five straight three-and-outs.

Ravens: 19:46 – 39 plays
Bengals: 7:53 – 19 plays

If we shaved it, would have lose his power, like Sampson?

Give Ravens time to reset for their two minute offense.

sort of like in the Titans game when Johnson broke that huge run.

In order to continue streak of three and outs.

Crocker is a keeper.

Think we can pick up a first down?

We have done decent in two minute offenses in the past.

Fitz INT for a Baltimore TD? Fitz fumble for a Balt TD? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

T.J. made a crack back block on Ray Lewis. Lewis ran over him. LOL.

Why couldn’t he break his jaw?

TJ!

Hellz yea. Wake up guys. WAKE UP! Ed Reed pushes him out of bounds inside the 20-yard line.

Inside the 10, Bengals spike.

Fitz, throws a missile to the left to T.J. about 2-3 yards short of the touchdown, Bengals call a timeout. Their last one.

Can’t get sacked. Can’t fall short of the touchdown. Or time expires and the Bengals miss a FG chance.

Fitz, in shotgun, throws to the right on a rainbow pass to T.J. on a fade route towards the right sidelines. Pass went out of bounds.

Fitz just overthrew it.

be back after halftime.

It’s good to have points on the board. Damn good.

Here.