Finishing 2nd in the division would be a nice consolation at this point. Especially with the amount of hype that the Ravens and Browns got coming into the season. Oh yeah, did I mention that I hate both those teams?
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Finishing 2nd in the division would be a nice consolation at this point. Especially with the amount of hype that the Ravens and Browns got coming into the season. Oh yeah, did I mention that I hate both those teams?
The ravens basically pulled a 2020 Steelers
A few weeks ago the division had 3 teams in the playoffs, now just the Bengals. Ugh.
The Ravens have lost four in a row since Jackson went down. I think it's all injuries for them.Originally Posted by Fire Goodell
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Who had Ravens finish last in AFC North?
Crow shouldn’t ever ask the status of the AFCN ever again, the ravens totally went downhill after that lol
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They weren't any good with Jackson either.
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Well, they probably win the division without a couple key injuries, hell we probably win the division with a healthy Alualu and not losing Ben for the tie game . . . But the Ravens got hit pretty hard, lost pretty much all their DBs and RB, then their QB (as much as I don’t see him taking them anywhere and only being viable for 2-3 more season as a runner, this offense is built around him)
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Chances are very good that with a 4th place schedule, a healthy secondary, and a healthy stable of RBs, the Ravens may win the whole thing next season. And with less than 20 passes attempted per game. LJ is their best RB. Andrews is their receiving corps. And Tucker is money.
Like others have said, they had a ton of key injuries, but I think the Lamar Jackson situation is getting to a crossroads.
With a running QB, the opposition always has a key objective of "hits on the QB". It takes a toll and eventually he becomes less effective due to the hits. Just like Randall Cunningham and Bob Griffin the 3rd, even Mike Vick. The QB that is used more as a RB has to eventually evolve to a pocket passer to prolong his career and if he isnt effective at it, then he washes out like Bob Griffin, but if he can make the transition then he has a chance to be a real passer like Cunningham.
I just dont know if the Ravens are going to steer away from using Jackson as a RB as much as they do and try to improve his passing effectiveness, or if he can improve as a true passer. Basically the formula for beating the Ravens is becoming, score some points so that the Ravens have to put the game on the arm of Jackson, rather than the legs of him and expect him to throw some incompletions or INT's.
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I’m hoping that both Mayfield and Jackson get signed to long and lucrative extensions that put the Browns and Ravens in cap hell for many years!
I think the Ravens will with Jackson. Hopefully the Browns will cripple themselves with Mayfield at QB, but I dont think it happens. I think they found out the past couple years that he isnt gonna be worth what they pay him next year on the option. I honestly believe that if they played the last 6 games with Case Keenum, the Browns could have made the playoffs.
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Keenum > Mayfield. I'm just not sure if the Browns know how to get out of their own way and realize that too. History indicates they don't.
I think the Ravens made a mistake with how they built around Jackson. They went for a fleet of "big play" WRs seemingly figuring that Jackson could just out-throw coverage rather than read coverages. Partly because that was not a great idea and partly because Boykin and Brown are not what was promised when they were drafted...it hasn't looked really good. But Jackson has looked okay throwing to Andrews and Bateman. If the Ravens had signed Juju this off-season (like they tried to)...I think Jackson can succeed in a version of that Ravens offense.
What is the ceiling for that success? I don't know. Annual playoff contender? Sure. SB champion....that is a bit hazier.
It’s looking like the bengals are the new power in the division. Ravens and Steelers will be competitive at least (we don’t even know who the Steelers QB will be but the defense will be lights out, and the o line and running game should make a big jump next season
browns maybe stuck at the bottom with mayfield. I don’t know what the browns saw in him. He’s small, gets his passes batted down too much, not particularly accurate, not a great arm. Maybe he’s good at running for first downs???
Last edited by Steeler-in-west; 01-14-2022 at 06:27 PM.
He teased with success his 2nd season a bit. So I get they have to give it a chance in year 4 to see if he can return to some better play, especially when they picked up the 5th year option. It was like Artie Burns. Burns flashed a few decent plays as a rookie and they kept trying to see if he would be consistent and improve, when in the end....he was a 5th round CB with 1st round athletic traits.
So Mayfield will get a chance next season unless the Browns can unload him for something, like the Rams did with Goff.
When Mayfield is in there, he tries too hard to make things happen and it ruins the offense. When Keenum is in there, he just does what he’s supposed to do.
But then there’s the aspect of the play calling and personnel. They have one of the better RBs in the league and refuse to use him.
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I'm hoping he has a good year and gets that extension!
RAVENS:
The Ravens got a free play and an incredible bounce to beat the Lions. They got a timely fumble (when the Chiefs could have run out the clock). Yes, they had a ton of injuries… but, they really shouldn’t have been the #1 seed at any point. Where they ended up makes sense.
BROWNS:
Supposedly Baker wants to be traded…
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I hear the same thing on other QBs. They have always relied on their physical gifts vs their level of competition. But once they get to the NFL everybody is on their physical level. These QBs either learn to play neck up football or their neck down mentality puts them out of football. Baker has a good enough arm and he's accurate enough to work from the pocket. As you say, once there is any pressure he wants to try to make things happen on his own rather than stick with the play. It's the bane of athletes who play the QB position. Plus, Baker isn't big enough to take NFL hits and he's no Russell Wilson when it comes to avoiding hits, or LJ when it comes to outrunning hits. So he gets hit. Bad things happen when your QB gets hit.
Maybe its because "he woke up feeling dangerous" that day, so he has to show people how great he is and can will things to happen on the field?
All joking aside, I think there may be something to his attitude that makes him force things that he should not, try and do things that he cant. There is a difference between confident and cocky and I think Mayfield's attitude causes a lot of problems for him as a player and teammate.
So you just throw out the college completion percentages of 68.5% by Mayfeild as part of the eval process, because he was a system QB that thinks on a scale of 1-10, he is a 22. But you look at a guy like Josh Allen who only completed passes in the 50% range in college, but is humble and eager to learn and improve, but still confident in his abilities. Free agents want to goto Buffalo and play on a team with Josh Allen, while players want to leave a Browns team quarterbacked by Baker Mayfield.
I personally think alit of his problems this year was playing through injury and still trying to do what he could do healthy.
But, even healthy he's just an ok QB
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