Dear Coach Harbaugh,
First off, sorry I missed you last week John. It's been a long offseason and I want to go on record saying that my week just wasn't the same without our spondence (missing the corre, of course, because you've never actually reply to me. At least not in writing. But we both know you read John. Oh yes, we both know.)
But congratulations are in order, John. You and your Balmer Ravens (because there is no longer any doubt that they are YOUR Balmer Ravens) are 2-0 and came away with a colossal win over a fine opponent in the San Diego Super Chargers.
But I don't recognize your team, John. A 31-26 win? Four offensive touchdowns? Allowing Philip Rivers to toss the pigskin around for 436 yards? What exactly is going on, coach? Should us Baltimorons be worried about that D?
Nah.
1) We'll get to the offense, coach, but first I want to let you know that I'm not concerned about a defense that has already allowed 50 points this season, including 24 against the Kansas City Chiefs in the season opener.
First of all, the defense allowed only 17 points against the Chiefs. The other seven came on a blocked punt. And one touchdown, by the way, was on a drive that started inside the 10 yard line after a Joe Flacco interception return.
OK, so your defense has still allowed 43 points, a total that is considerably higher than we'd expect from a Balmer unit. And let's face it, San Diego could pretty much do what they wanted in the air on Sunday.
But Rivers is an elite quarterback. And Vincent Jackson, Chris Chambers and Antonio Gates are big, physical receivers.
Chris McAlister isn't in town anymore. The Raven defense doesn't have that shutdown, physical corner. What it does have is too speedsters in Dominique Foxworth and Fabian Washington who should be able to run with most receivers.
Where the corners were beat most often on Sunday was in their positioning -- a fact directly related to the sheer physicality of the Chargers receivers.
The good news? I don't know if there's a group of receivers in the NFL that can stack up to San Diego's in those terms.
Yeah, Hines Ward and Pittsburgh. I'm talking to you.
2) Greg Mattison isn't as in love with blitz packages as Rex Ryan was, John, and that's OK if that's the system he feels this team is best suited to run. The new defensive coordinator probably doesn't want to put those corners on an island out there, certainly not while the secondary is trying to learn to play together with Foxworth and Dawan Landry joining Ed Reed and Washington from last season's unit.
But if that's the case for now, the front four need to find some way to get a little extra push.
Trevor Pryce can't help that he's 34, John. He was solid in 2008, but a far cry from the force he was in 2006 when he accumulated 13 sacks his first season with the Ravens. To expect Pryce to carry the load and get penetration on every snap is asking too much.
It's not asking too much, however, for Terrell Suggs to be a more consistent contributor.
Suggs missed all of training camp battling injury and probably isn't yet in game shape, so again John, I'm not worried. Suggs has never missed a game in his career -- including last season in the playoffs when he really earned that new contract of his -- so he's going to be out there, 100 percent or not.
Once No. 55 gets his legs underneath him (he looked a step or so slow coming after Rivers more than once in the fourth quarter), much of the pressure problem will be solved.
3) Offensively, John, I'm loving this team. And that's why I don't recognize it at the moment.
We're passing, through two games, more effectively than at any point in franchise history, with the possible exception of the Vinny Testaverde years.
But the running game is the thing I'm most excited about, John.
I know, I know. All through 2008 all I wrote to you was "Give the ball to Le'Ron McClain! He's a man! He can leap small buildings in a single bound! He can run through a brick wall! Give the man the ball!"
I still want you to give the man the ball, John. He's a beast. But you got me, coach. I'm a fan of this running back by committee approach.
Willis McGahee was churning out the yards yesterday, so he got the majority of the carries. Ray Rice was productive in the passing game. McClain picked up a few first downs in short yardage situations and continued showing that his Pro Bowl berth last season wasn't just because of his yardage total; the man can block.
These three players make the running game almost slump-proof, John, much like the New York Giants attack from the last few seasons.
If we can get the yards by committee, and not have to extend any of the backs to 20-plus carries, how enormous an advantage will that be come December and (hopefully) January?
For now, the 30-carry back is an extinct species in Balmer. You've converted me, John. I've moved over to the Dark Side.
4) Flac has, so far, shown that he is inches away from taking over this offense.
This is what a real quarterback looks like, Balmer. When he's been given time, he's hit receivers. When he hasn't been given time, he's improvised and hit receivers. It's an amazing thing to watch a quarterback grow into a playmaker and a leader after years of stopgaps (Steve McNair, Jeff Blake) and failed experiments (Kyle Boller, Chris Redman).
Flac's played well, but he has thrown two interceptions in two games. I'll predict, John, that Flac throws quite a q few picks this year as his confidence grows and he takes a few more risks than he might have as a rookie.
I'll also predict, John, that the plays he makes with his arm and his legs will outnumber the mistakes at season's end.
5) Dan, Zak and I touched on this in our podcast (which should be posted to www.thebaltimorons.com (tell your friends!) soon), but Steve Hauschka's fourth quarter, 33-yard field goal was huge.
It forced the Chargers to go for the touchdown at the end of the game and set up one of the top plays in All-Pro linebacker Ray Lewis' career.
If nothing else, we should all be thanking Hauschka for hitting that kick so that we got to witness No. 52's enveloping stuff of Darren Sproles, a play that may live on in Balmer football lore forever.
John, tell Steve nicely done. Keep hitting those big kicks and, one of these days, he'll be able to get through a week of media and blog coverage without seeing the name Matt Stover near his.
We have Cleveland next, John, and a divisional game seems a likely candidate to bring the Ravens back to their defensive football ways. This would be a good opportunity, at home in Balmer, to show that the purple still represents hard-knocks defense.
That's not to say I'd be upset with another 400-to-500 yard day from the offense, of course.
Your pal,
ap
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