The Q4 Heroics, the Tackling, and the Season is Over

[rossihunter2]

If you had a choice between Orr or Monken being fired only , I would have to pick Orr. I think Monken will stay and yes he's had some pretty bad games this year but Orr ,geez,he is terrible. If Harbs isn't fired and I don't think he will be, the only coordinator that will get canned is Orr. They won't do both.

my preference is Harbs and cleanhouse

but yeah, if we pick 1 coordinator to move on from, it has to be Orr

 

[rossihunter2]

On monken, I’m good with handing it off on first down as often as we did, sure take 2 of those and make it a play action, a quick hitter that gives us more opportunities to hand it off to Henry. If you have to fall back on feed Henry well that’s a solid plan every time, I’ll die on that hill.

With Orr, I just don’t understand how we’re dropping 8 against a team with no WRs, and there is nobody covering the middle of the field, and freiermuth has wide open inside leverage way downfield and gashes us. How is the game plan for 4 quarters “clear out, dump off to 14” and it continues to work? You call a defense that prioritizes short completions and rallying to tackle, yet you can’t stop a fucking spam of dump offs? And WHY with the free releases? When Hamilton interfered in the back of the endzone, it’s like why, why do you let him free roam up the seam and decide to press cover when the ball is in the air? You were in position to play the ball, and we see it again and again with the free releases absolutely killing us, it’s simple pitch and catch against this defense, just run to green grass and make the catch because the opportunity will ALWAYS be there for at least one guy due to these free releases.

i think Monken's scheme is good
his play-designs are good

playcalling was poor at times - but i think that's partly because he was calling plays for the offence we'd designed and not for the offence we had (which you could also say is really poor coaching too)

but give him more consistent IOL play and another receiver who can win in the structure of the offence other than just Zay and i think this offence is explosive again

but the only guy who wins early in the play outside of Zay is Bate who's been injured and not played well this year even when he wasnt injured

 

[Sandtown]

Its gonna be same shit next season with them two if they both stay

If the ravens acquire better talent in the draft and free agency when it comes to addressing issues in the trenches on both sides of team I don't know how we can confidently say it be the same results as last year.

 

[Simba]

Exactly this. Why is it so hard to incorporate the run game in the pass game and vice verse? It’s why I don’t like monkens offense by design, all year long I’ve said you gotta be able to pass out of your run personnel because this OL isn’t built to take on a heavy rush 40+ times a game, but no if we have run personnel, we’re running it 99% of the time, and if we have pass personnel, we either pass or run in a long developing, option(or option look), and it’s underblocked and typically gets blown tf up

Feels like some level of arrogance too and forgetting the struggles we currently have. Like yeah, maybe you could line up and say we're running and dare them to stop it in 2023 and 2024, but that has not been the case in 2025. Still feels like we approached everything with that same confident mindset and ended up looking dumb on more than one occasion.

 

[JoeyFlex5]

Feels like some level of arrogance too and forgetting the struggles we currently have. Like yeah, maybe you could line up and say we're running and dare them to stop it in 2023 and 2024, but that has not been the case in 2025. Still feels like we approached everything with that same confident mindset and ended up looking dumb on more than one occasion.

Arrogance is exactly what I think it is. Seems both coordinators have a “trust the process” mentality in regards to their gameplans, they have a vision for their side of the ball, and they stick to the vision despite seeing results in real time. Monken believes in his ability to call a certain type of offense and sticks with it, and it’s almost like someone is telling him “ok we have to run the ball now” so he just picks up a whole separate playbook for the next handful of first and second downs, then when Henry gets gassed he goes back to “his” playbook.

Offense severely lacked structure and identity all year because we couldn’t mesh the run and pass games in any meaningful way. I just can’t understand the lack of play action, it should have been our best friend all year.

 

[QtR Nevermore]

i think Monken's scheme is good
his play-designs are good

playcalling was poor at times - but i think that's partly because he was calling plays for the offence we'd designed and not for the offence we had (which you could also say is really poor coaching too)

but give him more consistent IOL play and another receiver who can win in the structure of the offence other than just Zay and i think this offence is explosive again

but the only guy who wins early in the play outside of Zay is Bate who's been injured and not played well this year even when he wasnt injured

Harbaugh aside, probably, I think Monken is the only one on the staff who could conceivably be hired by another NFL team. (DC, O Line, Special Teams, Pass Rush coaching is all garbage).

However, the gameplan yesterday was horrible. (That's a the consistent feature of the Harbaugh era so maybe it's not all on Monken.) Not allowing Lamar fucking Jackson to throw beyond the line of scrimmage until Q4 was criminal, when we saw how easily he ripped them apart when we just got receivers out and let him buy time and find them.

 

[rossihunter2]

Give us an OL, and if Harbaugh and monken stay, Harbaugh needs to grow a set of nuts and establish an identity, be systemic about it, hammer into monkens head that a certain style of offense helps keep us in rhythm and that’s a good thing, and that demanding Lamar be Superman all time is unsustainable. More quick hitters, more dump offs, less of the varied formations and alignments and do more to make the defense honest, and stress less high-low reads to keep us ahead of schedule and give us more shots.

the actual most obvious manifestation of how much worse the culture and coaching is vs 2019-2023 is how cowardly we've become in key situations - i know fans don't love going for it on 4th down but the ravens were at their most scary offensively when we had that feeling of inevitability that even if you managed to stop the ravens in 3 downs, you had almost no shot at stopping them in 4 downs

this team doesnt go for the jugular, and isnt a bully anymore

and punting and kicking FGs is a big symptom of that

the decisions harbs has made this year in key situations have been consistently cowardly and purely on that basis, we deserved to lose some of those games

 

[Carptom1]

So as a Chiefs fan I was able to watch that crazy game for what it was. I looked forward to it all weekend. Couple observations

1. Henry had something like 112 yards in the first half and ended with 126… that alone should get the OC and head coach fired. I understand that the Ravens were still scoring but that battering ram will take the want out of a team in the 4th quarter. Inexcusable.

2. Hamilton getting hurt cost you the game. He is an amazing talent.

3. Anyone wanting to trade Jackson needs to switch sports to women’s badminton. The last touchdown play where he split the rushers then directed his receiver to go deep was unreal. He is not the problem, he needs better schemes.

4. Your pass rush, similar to ours is a problem. Rodgers was way too comfortable last night. He still can drop a dime when given the chance, he is getting crushed next week.

5. Fuck kickers…. After the Boswell miss I thought you were good, until the decision was made to not get a few more yards and pin your hopes on a 44 yard kick by a rookie. I told my wife that is not a gimme. Wow what a choke.

6. Welcome to the offseason, we have been here for awhile.

 

[OURavensFan]

So as a Chiefs fan I was able to watch that crazy game for what it was. I looked forward to it all weekend. Couple observations

1. Henry had something like 112 yards in the first half and ended with 126… that alone should get the OC and head coach fired. I understand that the Ravens were still scoring but that battering ram will take the want out of a team in the 4th quarter. Inexcusable.

2. Hamilton getting hurt cost you the game. He is an amazing talent.

3. Anyone wanting to trade Jackson needs to switch sports to women’s badminton. The last touchdown play where he split the rushers then directed his receiver to go deep was unreal. He is not the problem, he needs better schemes.

4. Your pass rush, similar to ours is a problem. Rodgers was way too comfortable last night. He still can drop a dime when given the chance, he is getting crushed next week.

5. Fuck kickers…. After the Boswell miss I thought you were good, until the decision was made to not get a few more yards and pin your hopes on a 44 yard kick by a rookie. I told my wife that is not a gimme. Wow what a choke.

6. Welcome to the offseason, we have been here for awhile.

I’m so sick of Monken. I’m convinced he’d do the 6 runs again in the championship game with Henry

 

[rmcjacket23]

Harbaugh aside, probably, I think Monken is the only one on the staff who could conceivably be hired by another NFL team. (DC, O Line, Special Teams, Pass Rush coaching is all garbage).

However, the gameplan yesterday was horrible. (That's a the consistent feature of the Harbaugh era so maybe it's not all on Monken.) Not allowing Lamar fucking Jackson to throw beyond the line of scrimmage until Q4 was criminal, when we saw how easily he ripped them apart when we just got receivers out and let him buy time and find them.

So I generally agree. However, I'd also say that yesterday's gameplan is precisely what I heard the majority of fans say they wanted. If you want Henry to run the ball a ton, you can't throw the ball a ton. It's just not possible. 2nd and 9, which isn't a running down, became a running down. That's what fans wanted. And if it was 3rd and 2 and you dare throw the ball, people are asking why you're not running the ball.

I had very little issue with the 1H play calling. 3Q it became clear that the way to beat PIT was to throw the ball. I'd say we were late to make that change, but I'd also point that the Ravens only ran 8 total offensive plays in the 3rd quarter.

Games like this aren't won by opposing your will in the run game. That's great to do when Huntley is playing GB on the road. These games are won by playmakers, like your QB, making plays. He made on big one in the 1st quarter, took Q2 and Q3 completely off, and then came up big in the fourth.

The offense made plays (finally). The defense never did.

 

[JO_75]

It’s 9:20 and we haven’t fired Harbaugh yet

It is 10:15 and we haven't fired Harbaugh yet. Someone should wake Steve Biscotti up.

 

[rmcjacket23]

my preference is Harbs and cleanhouse

but yeah, if we pick 1 coordinator to move on from, it has to be Orr

For me, it's fairly simple:
1. You can't keep Orr. He's extremely easy to replace.
2. If you're planning to change OC's, you might as well change the HC. I don't see many scenarios where you keep John and find a better OC. The actual good OCs are either already OCs for somebody else, or will likely be heavily in the HC cycle. Good OCs who aren't HCs quickly are rare.

My guess is they keep Harbs and Monken, and fire Orr. Which would make sense.

 

[rmcjacket23]

It is 10:15 and we haven't fired Harbaugh yet. Someone should wake Steve Biscotti up.

You might want to prepare yourself for disappointment now, because I don't think he's getting fired at all.

 

[QtR Nevermore]

So I generally agree. However, I'd also say that yesterday's gameplan is precisely what I heard the majority of fans say they wanted.

I want my coaches to be smarter (at least about football) than the majority of fans. Have you met people? They're fucking idiots for the most part.

 

[JO_75]

Give us an OL, and if Harbaugh and monken stay, Harbaugh needs to grow a set of nuts and establish an identity, be systemic about it, hammer into monkens head that a certain style of offense helps keep us in rhythm and that’s a good thing, and that demanding Lamar be Superman all time is unsustainable. More quick hitters, more dump offs, less of the varied formations and alignments and do more to make the defense honest, and stress less high-low reads to keep us ahead of schedule and give us more shots.

Getting rid of Monken & Orr or one of them isn't going to solve the problem. You know what they say about cutting the head off the snake? How many different coordinators are we going to keep changing only to lose the same way every year? That's a John Harbaugh problem.

 

[Michael M.]

Despite everything, amazingly they still could have won. That's what's so painful and perplexing about being a fan. It all came down to a rookie kicker having a bad case of nerves....

 

[JAAM]

 

[Davesta]

After sleeping on it, I am glad they at least blew it now and got a better draft pick out of it vs. telling this same story in the playoffs

Yup.. going into the game, I was already done with the 2025 Ravens. We wasn’t going to do anything in the playoffs.

If this leads to a new coaching staff, it’ll be worth it.

 

[JAAM]

Harbaugh is suck a fucking joke

 

[rossihunter2]

I don’t mind the idea of it, but you also had the looks. If we’re equating this to Madden again… I see I have 2 or 3 guys outside with 1v1 looks consistently, I’m checking into a play that can beat that.

Offensively, I think I’m mostly frustrated by the all or nothing approach we seem to take. It’s rarely in rhythm with the game. Always feels like it’s either run Henry to death or forget he exists and live with the consequences when it’s crunch time.

To be clear though, I think we should just be gutting the whole staff. I’m not sticking up for Orr by any means. Just don’t think Todd is the future at this point either.

philosophically it all just seemed unclear and changing

why are you persevering with running derrick henry for 1-3 yard gains in the first half when nothing's doing, only to not reap the benefits of that in the 2nd half by stopping running him at all - you either need to stick to the gameplan or adjust earlier - by doing what they consistently did in 2nd halves and 4th quarters, they got the worst of both worlds consistently

didnt get the big play offence they wanted
didnt get the bully-ball wear them down offence they wanted

just ended up with a low success rate running game and a choked and consistently behind the chains passing game