On Sirius NFL Radio, I earlier today heard Adam Schein say something like: "Well if I'm the Ravens, looking at that offensive line, I'd be attacking Anderson."
Yeah. We got a terrible offensive line, Adam. And the Ravens never blitzed or anything. Terrell Suggs just sort of felt sorry for the hapless Joe Thomas. Uh-huh.
Told ya! It couldn't possibly have anything to do with an offensive line including two pro-bowl alternates, a top draft pick, and two solid starting journeymen. Had to be the Ravens not bothering to put any pressure on Anderson.
...who also permanently sucks and must never improve.
Adam, the Ravens were blitzing all day, and the Browns offensive line (and Te's and RB's) simply shut their pass-rush down. And they did it (now read this slowly, three times)...because they're GOOD. This after an unprecedented three games together. They protected well against the Bungles (yawn) and the Raiders, as well. They're getting better not just game-by-game, but quarter-by-quarter.
They might still need some work on the run-blocking, although using data from games against the Raiders' and Ratbird's defenses might not be very realistic. And you saw the hovoc Jason Wright wrought...(hmmm...)
Of course, they've looked much better starting in the second half of the Pittsburgh game, when a quicker-firing Anderson replaced Frye, whose best game might be CHESS.
Bart Scott said, essentially, that the Ravens gave up big plays, and cast the blame on their own poor performance. That's ok, coming from a player who has to believe in himself and his team. I just get sick of hearing crap like that from analysts like Adam Schein. (Adam is actually very smart, knowlegable, and insightful...normally. But he has a real blind spot concerning the Browns, and was among those calling this team one of the worst in the NFL.)
To his credit, he admits when he's wrong, and has done so again, as he did when the Browns beat the Ben-Gals.
Pat Kirwin this morning demonstrated a little more thought. He said that Anderson was "grossly" underrated, and commented about how his quick releases have helped the offensive line.
Now, the issue is how long can Anderson hold off Brady Quinn? Before, it was how many games did he need to lose before the Oxbow bunch in fandom forced Quinn into the fire? (The fire? Implication: The offensive line, despite it's OBVIOUS depth and talent, would, for some inexplicable reason, never be able to protect any quarterback.)
Joe Thomas expressed what I've said: The offensive line is glad to have a QB who gets rid of the ball quickly. He makes their job easier (unmentioned: the idiots in the stands don't know a six second sack from a three second sack). They're all pros, of course, so they automaticly do their best--but we all know how that somehow becomes a little more when your fearless leader makes it easier on you. They appreciate it. They play at a different level for a QB like that, vs. one who they secretly resent.
Thomas also mentioned Lewis, saying that he's his own best blocker. They get a lot of satisfaction when they get him to the second level.
That was seasoned veteran top-flight pro-bowler Chris McCallister that Edwards burned repeatedly. His 79-yarder was on a play-fake which (I surmise) was good enough to make him hesitate. After all, Ray Lewis had them all convinced that Jamal had to be punished for his vicious insult.
But this shows another aspect of the offense: play-action WORKS when a defense fears the run. That's all Edwards or Winslow need, you know. Just a little hesitation. If either gets behind the guy trying to cover them, it's all vertical and all over from there. 6'5" and 6'3" respectively with a QB who can drop it over the defenders.
When Chud came in, he spoke of an attacking offense, and I now truly understand what he meant. It's really cool. Everybody knows that the running back's job is to hammer a defense until they have to stick an eighth guy in the box. But what they don't realize is that this works both ways.
The Ravens probably started out with eight in the box to stop the vicious slanderer Jamal Lewis, so the offense adapted to this and went for the throat over the top. That quickly forced the Bengals into shell coverage and enabled Lewis to steamroll them, and our big recievers to tear them up underneath. Against the Ravens, they stuck to stopping the run first, and paid for it a different way.
In short, it works, and Chud adapts well.
Anderson has now faced the Raiders and the Ravens defenses. Late in the Raiders game, he just about salvaged the victory, and if you go by quarters, you could say that you see progress through the last six, vs. elite talent.
Anderson himself might have been shooting for professional survival. Any QB with starting experience, who is young and cheap, is a good candidate to back up a stud QB somewhere. This is how Kelly Holcomb survived on the bench after coming out of college. And this is how most of them end up: Retiring healthy, and needing only splinter-extraction surgery and a gold-plated clip-board.
Now? Now, he realizes that he is pretty good. Good enough to start. He knows that the writing is on the wall for he and Quinn, but he's got to be working hard to make it impossible for the Coaches to replace him.
He has proven something here. Everybody (see Pat Kirwin) has noticed. This is another Kelly Holcomb here. (Well sort of. Anderson is stronger, Holcomb more accurate--but I just mean the carreer path.)
After these last two defenses, expecting him to regress is unreasonable. He's had a taste of Dick LeBeau's 3-4, so even the Pats defense shouldn't represent too many curve-balls for him.
Don't get me wrong: They WILL confuse him, and lure him into mistakes. I never said he was Peyton Manning. But it shouldn't be a total disaster.
After all, he has this great offensive line, Edwards, Winslow, and Jurevicious his security blanket. Those guys can out-reach and out-muscle people fighting for the ball, and turn a mistake into a mere incompletion, or even a big play. I don't doubt that on some of his dumb throws into coverage, he just felt that his guys would keep him out of trouble.
Waittilnextyear projected 8-8 this season, and I now think he's right. This whole thing is coming together. The defense is lagging a bit, but forcing turnovers and shutting people down in the red zone. Cinci and the Ratbirds were no flukes. From start to finish, they outplayed those teams. The Raiders game was infuriating, but attributable to youth; notably in the QB. Pitt? Hell, the first game of the year. Frye. Bad mistake by the punter. Poor coaching. O-line together for one week.
Now they've got their feet on the ground. They've beaten two GOOD teams. They no longer expect to lose.
I'm almost ready to even mention the "p"-word. I mean, clearly I was wrong about Pittsburgh--they appear to have a dominating team destined to win this Division. But Cinci? Baltimore? Let's do it again. We really ARE better than them, in their back yard or ours.
With San Diego in a tailspin, Denver looking very average--who knows?
Yep. Yep, the Browns are officially ahead of schedule. Why wait til next year?
THIS JUST IN! A couple posts by Craven fans. One is a homo sapiens. The other is not. See if you can see which is which:
1ravensfan
AOL
The ravens are the only team who go play action to throw a 4 yard pass. Get the damn ball to Mgahee he is good. he is definitely not one dimensional like J lewis. lets go back to the Cinci loss. Billick had * downs to get less than five yards and threw the ball. Get him the hell outta here. The defense will come back but imagine if our offense put up 27 points a game. the defense can then gamble and blitz more and create turnovers. we are playing tight on defense!!! Cleveland should never put up 27 on any team in the league. Don't be so hard on Mcalister he is solid and don't give up many- remember what Marvin Harrison did to Prime Time??
ScottG
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