#Nevermore

  3 hours ago, Crusader said:

Who knows who this Ravens crew will pick. Did anyone have Perriman on their list or any other of their first rounds?

I haven't predicted the first pick correctly since Jimmy smith in 11'. 13' a bunch of mocks had Elam but I thought we were going Teo or minter. 

15' I was in shock because I was so dead set on hoping character concerns would drop Ray or peters to us that I forgot many had top 15-20 grades on Perriman. 

This year's surprise picks which I'll call now are going to be either Corey Davis or Cam Robinson. I just have a strange feeling if Wagner leaves this is how it could shake up. 

Yeah Jimmy was a sure lock.

In '13, I had us picking Eric Reid.

I definitely had us picking Peters, I knew he would be a special talent. I was so mad when the Chiefs picked him. I didn't even know he was on their radar. I didn't like Perriman in the 1st round. I had him mid-second, third round. He moved to the first round after the combine when he ran a 4.3. I don't like receivers who can't catch. He couldn't run routes. He would just run past people. I didn't see much in terms of an immediate impact.

If I were him, I would go though to hear Ray Lewis give a passionate speech since he didn't get the chance while he was playing. I just would participate.

I didn't want him to play anyway. Heal up for next season.

If I were DeCosta, I would be gone. Nothing against Baltimore, but I think it is a better situation. He has the chance to put a team together around a great young quarterback. Luck will be around for at least another 10 years. That would be an accomplishment. If your desire is to build franchises into winning organizations, that's a great start. Baltimore is already a great organization.

It would be great if Ben & Brady retired. Add in the fact that the Bell, Brown, Shazier, Villanueva, Tuitt, Timmons and the rest of the WR corps are going to be free agents this year and next and they'll either be gone or the Squealers will be in serious salary cap hell....

I don't want them to retire. I want us to actually put a competitive team on the field year after year and compete with them for the Lombardi. The AFC championship game winner which features, Brady, Ben and Manning since 2001 has me sick (I know Manning retired). Flacco has one appearance. That's pathetic. We have to be better.

  On ‎1‎/‎24‎/‎2017 at 11:04 AM, ellicottraven said:

With the way we are playing on offense and defending a rare lead near end of games, coupled with unimaginative coaching and drafting, we are staring at Mr. Doom (not Elvis, the other one)! I think we need 'TALENT' on this team.

Talent on the coaching staff with young, creative minds coordinating both our offense and defense and a HC that is also an Xs and Os kind of coach. Motivation can only take a team so far. Belichick is a classic example of a grumpy man who doesn't care about overt motivation (like John does) but focuses instead on the opponents' weaknesses and puts together a game plan (exploiting even limited talent he may have) to defeat the opponent. That is the kind of coaching temperament we need. Harbaugh doesn't bring it for no fault of his. He's simply not that type of coach.

As for player talent, we're severely lacking in that department as well. Okay, so the Patriots may not be talented across the roster as well you may say. But, then they have a cerebral, angry and motivated QB who'll whip them into shape or else... we don't because Flacco seems to believe that all his fellow offensive players are old enough to understand because they're professionals and paid like him too (very logical thinking but...). It's not going to cut it in this uber competitive NFL. So things must change in that we need to amass playing talent at every level of the offense for us to even think of challenging to be SB champions year in and year out.

Finally, the front office is stuck in the rut of mediocrity for too long. I cannot fathom the reasons for this slide. But my guess is the answer lies in these 3 scenarios. A) Ozzie has lost his magic as has Eric DeCosta and Horitz (unlikely).
B) Harbaugh is too involved like is rumored (insists on taking players with high moral character and special teams participation over pure talent and ability - very likely cause). C) We have lost too much scouting talent to poaching by other NFL teams (likely). Or it could be some combination of all three. Unless we figure out which of these reason is the cause for our mediocre to less than mediocre drafts lately, we are facing Mr. Doom all over again.

Your Statement is kind of loosely represented, I'm not sure that calling it Talent is deserved. Lets discuss your power points, I see your objections but some of your points may just be circumstantial and others might be a bit viewed unethical by some in the "sports industry". That is what makes this comparison so interesting.

first You use Doom as an example; Ok he came to the Ravens on a bit of a controversy, if you remember. But do really remember why that story received so much press? Because the Patriots were interested in Dumervil. Thats right, they were in the mix, so if the Ravens deal which was described as a "broken fax machine" problem, could have been called back, and then Denver ends up not making a deal it after all, it allows The Patriots to back door the entire situation. ahaaha.
this is called the power of high market press.
As far Dooms talent it was obviously unchallenged when he came to the team, i would say he may not even be back in 2017, don't be surprised.

2nd - Talent on coaching Staff , there really is not much difference here except that Mr Belichick has the experience and simply has the upper hand when it comes to his assistant coaching staff currently and for the past 9 years. However, The Ravens have 2 Super bowls since 2001 and the Patriots have 3 so the difference in total end game can be argued.

3rd, IF player development were an issue, why do we have the most Pro Bowl selections since 2006 and why do we lose our players to other teams for huge amounts of money?

4th, If the FO is stuck in mediocrity, why would we need to have to draft new players? to replace the sucky ones that no one wanted, but that is not the case? they would still be here from the year before. Somewhere along the line The Ravens would either be Drafting #1's all the time because they have the suckiest team, or they would be firing players for making the pro-bowl.

So I think what you are really trying to say is the Patriots have managed to deal well with their "average" players and possibly injuries have not hurt them quite as bad as The Ravens when looking at the timing of contracts.
As far as Brady, and the Patriots over all practices..i will just say, there is a clear difference in below 12lbs of air and 13lbs of air in a football.

I will agree with your assessment of roster talent and FO acumen. The Ravens and Patriots draft similarly. They hoard draft picks and believe more picks give you a higher chance of drafting better players. They also draft players that fit their particular scheme. Every once in a while you draft a Richard Seymour or a Marshal Yanda. But because you keep moving back in the draft more often than not, you pick a Segio Kindle or Courtney Upshaw. That is also why the players they have work well for their teams and play poorly for other teams.

Pro-Bowl spots mean nothing. No one wants to play in that game. Zuttah was just given the nod for pro-bowl this year and he didn't deserve it.

But the biggest differences between the two clubs is coaching and quarterback play. The creativity of the Ravens coaches on offense and defense is laughable when compared to the Patriots. Both staffs have had turnover and the Patriots keep winning and we are losing. Also if you think the air pressure of a football is the difference between Brady and Flacco, you're joking. I don't like the Patriots, but I'm a realist. They work their craft well. The Patriots actually have 4 SuperBowls since 2001 and it may be 5 by next season. The Ravens have 2. So however you look at it, there is no argument regarding the end game, 4>2.

The Ravens have to get better. This article lays it out flat. No sugarcoating the facts, get better or be humiliated.

In the attention paid to Donnell Pumphrey I think we see one of the Ravens current problems. Awhile ago they hired a numbers guy (statistician) to help them find value. This has resulted in them taking players who set NCAA records, regardless of having the physical characteristics necessary in today's NFL. Pumphrey is 5'9" and 190 lbs. No amount of "motor" is going to make him able to succeed long term for the team. Unless somehow he was sick, which prevented him from adding muscle, and he is now cured. Heart and motivation are necessary, but they are not sufficient.

They are looking for a 3rd down back that can break a long run...obviously they are not looking for an every-down back.

We need to draft better period. We will have a first second and two third round picks. Also next year, with Williams and Wagner leaving we may get another third rounder for one of them. We need to use the capital to go up in the draft and sign some playmakers. We have to pull the trigger at some point. Instead of building our team with 30 something year olds, we need to draft and develop our players. We need to supplement our young roster with veterans, not rely on them solely. We have to be bold and get the impact players.

I have given Dean Pees a hard time for the last few years. The blitzes he deploys are elementary and redundant. The corners play way too far off the line and he doesn't make many adjustments during the end of games and at the end of the halves. It is not all his fault. The Ravens have not given him any quality corners outside Jimmy Smith. So if you don't have quality corners you don't want to blitz and leave your corners on an island. Also the corners are afraid to get beat deep so they give a huge cushion.

My full expectation is that the Ravens will address getting quality corners early in the draft and possibly free agency. Even with rookies out there I expect Pees to blitz more, bring more exotic pressures and make those guys press more. Let them learn from their mistakes early in the season and by the end of the season, they will be ready for the playoffs.

If the knee didn't bother him (which I believe it did) that is even more telling about how poor his performance was.

22 hours ago, TheConquerorWorm said:

C'mon man.....talent on this team? There is no Zeke/Dez/Witten, no Bell/Brown, no Brady/Edelman/Blount, no Julio/Freeman/Coleman. West, Dixon, SSS, Wallace are #2 or #3 guys on those play-off teams.

And you're grading a coach against one of the best coaches in the history of league in Belichick. That's like saying Weddle has to go because he's no Ed Reed. Great players raise the players around them so it's Weddle's fault that Wright sucks? We missed the play-offs cause Wright couldn't cover Michael Crabtree and Antonio Brown.

I said the talent on this team is good enough to make the playoffs. You are telling me that the Ravens have less talent than Miami or Houston? We may not a superstar, but we are good enough to be in the playoffs.

Comparing Harbaugh to Belicheck was in response to another post. Which was to say that Harbaugh is not a good coach because he can't get the best out of his players like a Belicheck. Without Brady, they go 3-1. When we have a full squad, we are 8-8. It's ridiculous. Once Harbaugh is gone next year, he will always look back on the great opportunities he had here and wander how he squandered them.  

I bet Rick Dennison is going to be a good offensive coordinator for the Bills and the Ravens miss another opportunity to sign someone who knows west coast system.

My feelings exactly.

  On ‎1‎/‎19‎/‎2017 at 11:04 AM, ellicottraven said:

  On ‎1‎/‎19‎/‎2017 at 9:02 AM, The Greek said:

hope harbaugh does not promote hewitt or horton. go out and get somone with a history of success. college ranks possibly?

Harbaugh's lack of a great network (being a special teams coach and because he has only coached on 2 NFL teams) and the fact that he is fiercely loyal even if at the cost of improvement means he'll promote from within.

I think you are failing to consider both his father who is well entrenched and his brother, who is still getting NFL coaching offers, then yes he is limited. But he has already shown he has no problem hiring people who coached for both his brother and his father which opens up a number of quality coaches in the NFL. It doesn't matter, to the naysayers, Harbaugh could have gone to the playoffs 9 years in a row and won a super bowl and some of these so-called Ravens fans would want him fired because he only won one super bowl in 9 tries. Everyone wants to win every year and if the fans had their way, only Bellicek would have a job and 31 other coaching jobs would be terminated for lack of production. Thank goodness the fans don't run things.

He has brought in coaches who worked with his father like Greg Mattis and he is where he belongs...in college. He is too loyal to guys who have won nothing.

Belichick is the only current coach to win multiple Superbowls. He knows what he's doing and it's not just luck. Harbaugh has not gone to the playoffs in 9 straight years that again would be Belichick. Harbaugh has missed the playoffs 3 out of 4 years. Do you see the difference?

My point is that Harbaugh has been given a pass long enough. The talent on this team is good enough to be in the playoffs. I think coaches are supposed be at least as good as the talent they have. Great coaches get more out of their team than the talent allows.

  On ‎1‎/‎18‎/‎2017 at 0:40 PM, Space11jams said:

As someone else mentioned it is way to early to cast those two off. Especially since one of those guys didn't see a single snap because of injury. The two big names you speak off didn't do much this year and one of them is a HIGH injury concern. Ozzie was smart to pass on him and the Jags has the cap to draw a big name if necessary so it was a high risk high reward type deal with them. We don't have the time or money for that.

You have to question how in the hell a guy is considered an edge pass rusher through the draft process and then day one of camp is moved to the inside

When you figure that out, let me know. I have been asking myself that same question. Then he doesn't play well at the inside position and everyone calls him a bust. SMH.

All the talk about what we lost after the super bowl season revolves around the obvious departures of Lewis, Reed and Boldin. Rarely do I ever hear anyone mention Matt Birk. That guy was a mainstay in the middle of our O line and was one of the best FA pickups we've ever had. Our run game has basically not been right since he left, with the disastrous promotion of Gino the following year and the up-and-down performances from Zuttah. 

I agree with you. Birk solidified the o-line. Also he made the protection calls. That skill has been sorely missed since he left. We need a smart center to call the protections, because for some reason, Flacco won't use his hard count or a dummy count to find the blitzes. He even looks surprised when he gets blitzed.

I'm sure that has happened all over the league. Scouts and coaches on staffs who think that a player who turns out to be a superstar or HOFer will be and the team goes in a different direction. Let's just hope it doesn't happen too much with this club.

On ‎1‎/‎14‎/‎2017 at 7:13 AM, Rav'n Maniac said:

You would let Wagner walk? By doing so at present, you would be letting the #1 top ranked free agent tackle in the NFL leave which creates another spot we have to fill with an unknown. Also, who knows if Lewis can even handle the RT position. Has anyone seen him perform there?

How much bigger of a left guard do you want? At 6'6" & 315 they don't come much bigger than Lewis.

Wagner is going to command too much money. I thought Wagner played solidly, but I wouldn't pay him at the top end. He is not dominant. Lewis can play the RT at a much cheaper price. He played LT while Stanley was out, I'm sure he can play right tackle. I'm not saying bigger than Lewis at LG, my assumption is Lewis would be at RT and we need to bring in a big LG.  

I think we can get Chance Warmack as a free agent and he would be good at the LG spot.

20 hours ago, RaRaRavens said:

Yes, that is true. #1 priority should be getting playmakers, dosen't matter if they are "good or bad guys". But it seems we have at times skipped on players with incredible talent because of some character flaws and made a safe choice with some "choir boys" whose ceiling talent-wise might not be as high. That's the main issue.

 

As to your intimidation factor, it does somewhat matter on defense. Usually the guys who won't help the other guy up after the play also hit harder because they don't care about being nice or polite. If they have the possibility to choose whether to lay a knock out punch with a hard shoulder hit or just wrap the guy up and pull him down, they will go with the big hit. Polite players typically just pull him down, cause they don't want to risk an injury to the other player and with the possibility to get a flag. That's my point at least on the defensive side. Yes, opponents are afraid of playmakers and on defense it often means delivering punishing tackles. Polite players with great sportsmanship tend not to hit as hard.

I don't know how you came to the conclusion that "Polite players with great sportsmanship tend not to hit hard." That is not the case. I have seen Thomas Davis lay wood on people and help them up and pat them on the helmet and he won Walter Payton Man of the year award. Charles Woodson won the Art Rooney Sportsmanship award, I guess he didn't hit hard either. I'm not buying that argument.

Hester played like that because he was going against his former team. He didn't know it would be his last (he would still be playing if Seattle won). He was pumped. When I saw him, my mouth dropped. This dude was nasty. Every now and again, Father Time releases his clutches for a game or two.

2 hours ago, RaRaRavens said:

I think you misunderstood what most people, at least me, mean as opposed to the choir boys. I don't mean we should draft felons, drug dealers or wife beaters. But at the moment we have the politest players, ever. Juice for example can deliver some pretty mean hits from time to time. But after the play is over he goes to the guy he just ran over, offers him a hand, pulls him up, dusts him off. Good thing he doesn't apologise for trucking him. And yeah, it's just good sportsmanship and makes guys like Juice very likable, but I don't care for any of that if we are playing some of our arch-enemies like the Steelers or the Patriots. You can high five each other after the game all you like, but during the game I want to see our guys, at least on defense, be the bad guys. Someone from the Ravens of Old, might even have been Ray Lewis himself, said it the best: "From the first kickoff until the final whistle we are not friends we the guys opposite of us. They want to hit us and we want to hit them back even harder."  That's the mentality I want to see returned.

I understand. You want our guys to not shake hands and play a little past the whistle at times. That's good and all, but that doesn't mean anything. What difference does it make when you give up a fifteen yard pass and you help the guy up or not. We have to draft better players. That was my point. I don't care if they are choir boys or thugs. Guys are not intimidated by you just because you don't help them up or you talk smack. They are intimidated by your play. There are a lot of guys who talk, but at some point you have to back it up. 

  5 hours ago, phil3197 said:

I would love to know why the crackdown on TD celebrations. I don't know a single person who doesn't enjoy seeing them. Stuff like TO dancing with the pom pom's is classic and so entertaining. What is wrong with that? Can't dunk over the goalpost any more?! Seriously, who sees that and gets appalled or offended?

I agree but the PC people thought it was too close to taunting and once someone bent the goal posts when they dunked on it.

SMH. Those celebrations were great!

I don't necessarily think that good guys, "choir boys", or guys with no off the field issues are any better or worse football players than guys with baggage, DUIs or off the field issues just because of those issues. Reading the comments, I assume the correlation (specifically on defense) is that players who are better (whatever that means-more aggressive, harder hitters) are players who have had a checkered past. The correlation is not there for me. You can make a case for both sides. Looking at great defenses, Warren Sapp was a great player with off the field issues, but Derrick Brooks and John Lynch were great players with spotless records. If you look at the Seahawks, Earl Thomas, Bobby Wagner and Kam Chancellor are excellent, but so was Bruce Irvin.

It all comes down to the Ravens drafting better players. We need to start favoring quality over quantity. Also I think we need to draft players who are great at one thing and then develop them by letting them grow into doing more as their careers progress. I remember Dean Pees saying that he gave Elam and Brooks too much on their plate starting out. They had to learn both safety positions and the nickel position. They are doing the same thing with Kamalei Correa. The guy was a pass rusher in college, let him rush the pass and later on down the line he can move to inside linebacker.

Flacco led game winning drives in the 4th quarter against OAK (twice), NYG, PIT, WAS & JAX this year. Yes, he has some warts but that tells me he can win games in the 4th quarter with the game on the line. Despite what PFF or TQBR or any of the rankings say, that's better than half the QBs in the league. I'll go to battle with a guy that I know can win games. Might not be pretty at times, is definitely not a HOF QB like Ben or Brady and will never put up fantasy stats but is a good QB.

I'll take a $24 million QB that wins over a $22 million Stafford or a $20 million Tannehill or a $19 million Luck or $19 million Osweiler that doesn't.

You'll be broke and a loser.

  11 hours ago, The Greek said:

start perriman and lets see if he can develop into the all around beast we need and play moore plenty as well. we keep bringing in these aging vets which stunts the growth of the young guys we have because of the lack of real game reps they receive. alshon is only 26 so he would be an exception but he has been injured lately and had the stupid suspension this season so that should be taken into consideration.

I like that idea Greek, Start Perriman and Wallace. Moore is definitely worth keeping as a 4th. So if Aiken goes, which he probably will, the idea of picking up a 5-8 year Vet is a good one. Some times teams just dont have the room to keep them. I would consider a guy like Jeremy Maclin who went to KC and had his best 2 seasons after leaving the Eagles, then this year drops off mainly due to less targeting. The guy has plenty in the tank and would be a great #2/3 for the Ravens organization. Keep your eye on him or the likes of Pryor, Jeffrey, or even work a trade for someone like a Travis Benjamin or Tavon Austin where teams have receiver options.

Both comments are right on the mark.

If we are to go after a WR, I'd like to see us go get Alshon Jeffrey, DeSean Jackson or Michael Floyd.

D Jackson would be great. He fits Marty's West Coast scheme and he is fast and shifty. He won't have any trouble getting separation. He is a playmaker.