I don't really know who should get the Shame (part of me wants to say the O-line, really, because as several people said already, we really never got any push in the run game and had much more difficulty with pass protection in this game than we did in the first game with Baltimore, which really surprised me, regardless of Baltimore's defensive skill; part of me wants to still put it on Penny, though, because as BingeBag says, I also
truly believe that if Chad doesn't throw those picks [or whomever/whatever you want to place the blame upon for the INT's], we would still have been in that game...the defense really did play well for the most part), but I think the fundamental problem for our difficulties against the upper-echelon teams such as Baltimore of this season are the lack of interior strength/push/whatever you want to call it by the o-line as well as a lack of overall explosiveness by the d-line/front seven outside of Porter, who truthfully kinda disappeared down the stretch (not only a lack of sacks but also a lack of big tackles/plays with the exception of the FR yesterday).
Pennington has to get the shame. It's hard to suger-coat 4 picks.
But that aside, we got no pressure, and we couldn't get any push from our O-line, either. This wasn't just today. This has been an ongoing problem with us all year.
It's amazing that we were even in this game near the end. (We were in FG range with about 5 minutes left, that would've put us within 8. The Ravens were unable to move the ball.) That Ginn fumble play that lost 15 yards really killed us.
I leave this season really happy that we're able to win games where we're outmatched, but I'm still concerned that the most basic of building-blocks (offensive and defensive lines) are still suspect.
I probably should have inserted this post by Dave prior to my spiel, but yeah, essentially I agree with you, Dave. We really were still in this game (I think it was actually still 8 minutes of game time left when Ginn fumbled the reverse) at that point, but as crazy as it might have been, I think we would've had a shot if we could've scored a TD on that series, regardless of whether we went for (and got) a 2 point conversion. Even assuming we went for and didn't get it, that would've still made it 15-20 and I would've liked to see the way both sides played with all of the momentum in Miami's favor and the pressure really on Baltimore at that point.
Also like you, I'm still concerned about those two different aspects of our two lines. Generally (though it didn't happen so well this past game), I think our offensive line pass protects well, but I also think they hardly ever get the regular, consistent run-blocking push needed. The only instances where they seem to do well run blocking is short-yardage situations, particularly "quick hitters" like the fast handoffs to Polite and/or Cobbs. I'm fine with that, it's great to get firsts on 3rd and short rather than getting stuffed, but with our offensive player skillset, I think it'll also really help us if we can run the ball on 1st and 10 and consistently get 4-6 yard runs rather than 0-3 yard runs like we would against even only average defenses. Speaking of the offensive skillset, I am pretty satisfied with what we have, especially down the stretch. That's hard to believe coming into this past season, but I think we'll be fine there, particularly if Camarillo can come back healthy.
As for the d-line/front seven, I think we need to be able to get better penetration (that's what she said, right?
) on both run blitzes (it seems we never really get negative *gains* or no yardage gained except on 3rd/4th and short situations) and definitely known passing situations. We were seriously generating
no pressure on Flacco yesterday, and I can just see New England, whether it's a banged-up Brady or Cassel, going to town on us in both games next season unless we can do a better job in that regard. So, yeah, basically I've turned this post into a "who we should draft?" post that should have been in the other topic. Sorry about that, guys!
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