ajf3030

Needs are going to be pretty similar year to year until we prioritize the premium positions. Crazy how much fans love to talk about 'when are we going to get a #1 receiver?!'...go ahead and name your top 5 receivers in the league, and then count how many times they've won the super bowl. Having great players at QB, Tackle, Corner, and the pass rush positions is the most effective way to build a team. Runningbacks and receivers are nice and exciting but they don't win championships

  4 hours ago, dirtybird66 said:

if your in position to get an all pro shutdown corner,yeah you give up a third rounder every time,STANLEY'S good but the RAVENS failed in this draft,i don't care what anyone says,we were in line to have the best draft as the JAGS did,a shutdown CORNER and another RAY LEWIS? STANLEY for those two/ i'll take that every time.

give this draft class a few years before making a judgement on them. i believe you will feel differently by than

This is a laughable/absurd analysis even after I get past the fact that you're judging a draft class two games...TWO GAMES... into their careers. Beyond the fact that even the biggest Myles Jack fan never called him 'another RAY LEWIS' and beyond the fact that Ronnie Stanley could very well turn out to be the best player in this draft- what he's done as far as starting at left tackle his first two games is historic in itself- I'll throw out a few names of players who had as little an impact as Correa has in their first TWO games who were drafted in the top 3 rounds: Jamal Lewis, Todd Heap, Ray Rice, Torrey Smith, Jimmy Smith (95% of you wrote him off as a bust), Paul Kruger. Give it some time

To me, it makes zero sense to trade Monroe. Media talked heavily about how the injury to Flacco put an exclamation point on how important it is to protect the QB. The injury happened because our backup left tackle, who I believe is the worst player starting at any position in the entire league (when he starts) was pancaked into Flacco's knee. I am fully aware that Monroe has been 'injury-prone' and Ronnie Stanley has not, but it only takes one freak play for anyone to be knocked out for a year. If we trade Monroe (a good player when healthy), and Stanley gets hurt, we're right back to where we were when Flacco was being [un]protected by Hurst. I would understand if it was early in the offseason and we needed the cap space, but by now, almost all moves have been made, we're going to save even more money on this year's cap if/when Tucker gets an extension, and any signings between now and the start of the season are going to be low-money deals

I would LOVE to never see these awful 'who are we rooting for'/'who ravens fans should root for' articles ever again. I don't care who wins this game. I'm a fan of the league and of watching great football. I root for the ravens, and when they're not relevant, I could not possibly care less regarding who wins between division rivals. I hope both AJ Green and Antonio Brown put on a show today. Would be excellent to not see these stupid 5th grade level "articles" anymore

billiejean- Not really true. I'm also not saying he will be a Raven this year, but timing is half the battle in free agency, as we've seen in the past. For example, we let Boldin go because we think we'll need that money to sign starter-quality players at other positions, then we end up signing Huff, Spears, and Canty for a total of about half of what we saved cutting Boldin, and Huff and Spears are off the roster by week 2. My point is, if we tag Osemele, he'd be tagged as a Guard, which would then buy the Ravens time in extending him. That's relevant because the longer they have to work out numbers, the better idea they'll have of how much they're going to spend elsewhere. Right now, without Flacco yet being restructured, the possibility of Pitta retiring/being cut, other roster cuts that could happen in the spring or post-June 1, there's no way to know if KO could be retained or not. If we tagged him, that would give time to potentially find a trading partner for Monroe, which takes some of that money off the books. There are so many possibilities, it is certainly worth being optimistic that KO could be signed.

Ravensfansince03- what is a 'true safety'?

Well, the comments below this are pretty terrible/hilarious. I'm hoping we work out an extension that allows us to extend Tucker and KO, and also hoping that both ravens4life86 and rmcjacket23 are no more than 9 years old

RiseNConquer- Wish I could've given you 21 's. I'm actually surprised at the amount of negative comments about Webb. I can't really add anything that you didn't mention, but for anyone that knows football, it's clear that Webb is extremely valuable, mostly because of his versatility. Smith will be a great corner again next year, but we've rarely seen him in the slot. Law215- I'm not sure why you think 'he's done' and that he can't play the run; Webb is one of the best run defending corners in the league which is another reason that he's great in the slot. The only weakness to his game, which I realize is a big one, is his change of direction ability has declined due to the ACLs. That's going to prevent him from being the great corner he was from 2010-half of 2012, but you don't need top end speed and quickness to be a good safety. I guarantee you Webb right now is much more athletic than Charles Woodson, and Woodson was leading the league in interceptions for much of this year at free safety

law215- don't overlook coaching and schemes; they impact the secondary more than any other defensive unit. We've got nobodies like Lawrence Guy and Zachary Orr coming in and playing very well in the front 7, but we're throwing everyone in the secondary- guys who have been very good players in the league- and none of them are playing well in Baltimore. Baltimore isn't like a cancer for DBs, we've had great ones- what's being done in the backfield needs to be adjusted. Webb and Smith both have sky-high potential. Don't judge Smith based on a year where he was coming off a Lisfranc injury and had no threat of a playmaking safety behind him. Webb had a pretty good year at corner this year, but once again, when there's no threat of a safety coming over the top to take away the deep ball, that makes a corners job much harder

Ravensbest52- The schemes and the way he's used is going to be up to Pees, but he's been getting more and more snaps at free safety each of the past several weeks, and if you watch his postgame, he pretty much says that the decision to make him a free safety going forward has been made. I have thought for a couple years now that playing in a Woodson-type role (which extended his career as an elite player for years) would be great for Webb and the defense as a whole, but I also think its obvious that other things need to change in the secondary. Jimmy Smith indicated that the foot was a huge problem for him, and Arrington was just flat out bad, but the secondary still didn't play anywhere near their potential this year. Pees has some great blitzes dialed up sometimes, and great gameplans occasionally (see Pittsburgh), but there's no reason for us to have the talent we do have in the secondary and come up with 6 interceptions all year, and give up all the big plays that happened. I'll never forget the game-winner Green caught (which one??) where Kendrick Lewis was lined up in press coverage on him in the slot. That call was so bad, because Dalton obviously knows we're not putting our safety in man on AJ Green, so we pretty much told him that we were in zone. Green runs right by Lewis and right between Smith and Hill. Conclusion: An offer for DBs coach needs to be extended to Edward Reed

Feels kinda crazy to say this, but its true- The offense is pretty set for next year with the exception of adding one receiver, and possibly a tackle depending on what happens with KO. Our runningbacks and tight ends going into next season look really good. I think the first pick almost has to be a defensive back, and Ramsey or Hargreaves would make the defense so much better immediately. In regard to cbrook1892 saying we have a need at safety- in Webb's postgame he seemed to indicate that the team is going into next season with him penciled in as the starting FS, moving to slot corner when they play nickel- that will take snaps away from Lewis and Hill, and essentially sures up the safety position and creates a need at outside corner, which sets up well for them to take either of the top 2 players with the 6th pick

I'm trying to figure out what people think a '#1 receiver' is. Steve Smith was on pace for 92 catches for 1340 yards and 6 tds, but those are the projections if he had played the full first 8 games. He really played about 6 games.

The overreaction in these comments is crazy. Mallett definitely showed a command of the offense, a poise, and a level of throwing ability that Clausen and Schaub don't have that showed he is the best choice to be the backup next year. But some of you are actually insane in thinking this could cause a 'QB controversy'. There are many reasons why Aiken and some other guys have played better since Flacco went down, and also why we may have played better LAST WEEK with Mallett than if Flacco was playing. Teams have had zero gamefilm on our offense since Flacco was injured, because we've been playing a new quarterback, different group of receivers, new offensive line combination, and some new backs each week. That will lead to disasters, and occasionally, if those players play well, it can lead to a win. Think about a finals series in basketball. There are players who can shut down other players, and teams that can beat other teams, in one game. But those same teams would have no chance in a 7 game series. Mallett was great Sunday, Pees gameplan was great, and the receivers were good, but if we played Pittsburgh another 5 times with that same personnel, we're not winning 3 out of 5. You see backup quarterbacks come in all the time and win a game, and Mallett is one of the most talented in the league, but the biggest difference between starters and backups is consistency, not talent, which is why we hear that guys like Kirk Cousins, Brian Hoyer, amd Ryan Fitzpatrick (prior to this year) are great/terrible every other week. Flacco, when given protection (and Mallett was protected very well) good receivers, and a decent running game, is an excellent quarterback

Thought it was a great move to give KO a little trial run at LT. If he shows he could be an answer there, we could justify paying him. We'd much rather be looking for a guard this offseason than a left tackle. As far as the corners, I know they don't look good but I refuse to believe that they 'aren't good corners' or 'need to go'. Jimmy Smith was one of the best in the league last year before the injury- he's clearly just not healed. Webb is a really good player. They're only two of several individual players on our defense who are underperforming. We have two safeties (sometimes three) on the field every play, but neither corner ever seems to get help in the deep middle. Mosley does not look anything like a second-year version of a guy who almost just won rookie of the year. Kendrick Lewis has created one turnover and Will Hill is not as impressive in coverage as he was last year. To me that all points to coaching... We have more talent on defense across the board than MANY teams with who are playing better defense. Gotta hit on a defensive playmaker in the draft

@Colorado RavensFan: No question the fumble was terrible. But the 10 players surrounding him in the second half after Smith came out was worse than the offenses that Cleveland and Carolina field each week. Flacco was out there with rookies- as many as FOUR at a time just at the skill positions- and second/third-year undrafted free agent unproven players who can't get separation. Also the worst left tackle in the league getting blitzed time after time. The throw to Aiken on 3rd and 10 with a DB coming at his blindside at 100 mph was unreal.

Everyone always wants to talk about 'football games are won and lost at the line of scrimmage' but then when we analyze a game, we forget that. The Ravens are having problems in the secondary, and somebody on the outside needs to make plays other than Steve Smith, but they are losing on the line of scrimmage. Don't blame Flacco for throwing off his back foot when Hurst is probably the worst player starting at any position on any team this year- no exaggeration. PFF gave him a -10 grade in Oakland and a -11.2 yesterday. That is embarrassing and you can't win like that. Don't blame Forsett for not breaking tackles- our line is the same as it was last year, but it looks like it did in 2013. You can have Melvin Gordon, Adrian Peterson or Jim Brown and if you can't even get to the line of scrimmage before contact, you're not going anywhere. On defense, we have NO PASS RUSH. None. With the exception of Dumervil's sack when they unexplicably let him go 1 on 1 with Eifert, the ONLY times we get hits on the QB are when we blitz DBs. Upshaw is not an edge rusher, Smith is not ready to be that guy yet, and all teams have to do is double Dumervil and they have all day. It's making our corners look much worse than they're playing when they have to cover all day and the QB can step into every throw. How many throws could Joe step into yesterday and drive down the field? Maybe 7 out of his 49 attempts? We're not losing with Jimmy Smith or Kamar Aiken or Forsett, we're losing on the line of scrimmage, and Trestman and Pees need to figure out how to fix that because our roster is FAR more talented than 0-3

Perriman will have a better rookie season than Jimmy Smith did. Was Jimmy Smith a wasted pick?

WNC-Raven: Where in this article was there a quote saying that Suggs said he would play elsewhere?

Reading Ray's quote just lays out so well how good Suggs is. I've never understood why people call him a 'passrusher'- he's probably been the most complete Rush End in the league for the last 10 years. Not the best passrusher, but plays the run, and defends the screen pass better than anyone I've ever seen. I appreciate Ray's perspective, but I'm still optimistic about what the defense can be without Suggs. The concern right now is on offense- we have so much talent really at every single position on defense, and Pees was calling some great blitzes utilizing that talent- I honestly expect us to still be a top 5 defense going forward

Just scrolled down and read a long list of whiny misplaced overreactions... imagine if Smith catches the touchdown- are Denver fans sitting at their computers talking about how Peyton needs to retire and Kubiak's new offense is a failure and CJ Anderson was a one-year wonder and the offensive line is a joke and they're hopeless with their current personnel? Maybe, but if so, they'd sound as stupid and ridiculous as all the complainers on here. We just played ONE GAME. Flacco has these games every year. Aiken proved to you all last year that he's a very good player, but no receiver is going to catch passes when the QB has .04 seconds to get rid of the ball. Besides that, Harris and Talib are one of the best corner duos in the league. Get over it, move on to next week- We're still Super Bowl contenders.

Does everyone forget that Daniel Brown made those plays against 3rd/4th stringers last night? Great plays, would love to have him on the team, but can't believe there are a billion comments under me talking about 'Brown absolutely deserves a spot over Aiken'. Aiken has played against 1st and 2nd-teamers only this preseason. And if you're talking about special teams, he also returned a blocked punt for a touchdown last year.

You guys know with most of these injuries in training camp and preseason its not the players' choice to practice or not- its the doctors. If it was Perriman's choice to practice, I'm sure he'd practice. If it was up to the players, you wouldn't see guys who are on the roster bubble fighting for potentially their last shot at their dream, sitting out with minor injuries, like Steven Means currently is.

fusuymada- Butler was a huge letdown? The defender kicked the ball out of his hands, which is a complete unlucky fluke. He made a great play on the ball. He also made another nice catch and run on a playaction pass. Waller looked surprised? He CAUGHT THE BALL. Against press coverage on 3rd down. I can't imagine how you'll ever be pleased if you're criticizing a guy for 'the way he looked' after doing his job perfectly. He also drew 3 pass interference flags... Tom Nelson was playing against 4th stringers man.

If you have been in M&T, and don't agree with Billick being in the Ring of Honor, you have some sort of problem. Michael McCrary is in the Ring of Honor. Billick was a 'terrible coach'? It doesn't matter what kind of talent you have in the NFL, 'terrible coaches' don't win the Super Bowl. Billick won a Super Bowl with the consensus worst starting QB to ever win one (even though I love Dilfer), a rookie runningback, NO legitimate threat at receiver, and an offense that went 5 games without scoring a SINGLE TOUCHDOWN... in his 2nd season. He's a terrible coach because he had some sub-par seasons? If you coach 9 years and win one super bowl, that's a successful coaching career. Furthermore, while we did have the greatest defense of all time, the majority of coaches would have tried to make that team something it wasn't and cost themselves a Super Bowl. I've always thought that Billick was the ONLY coach who could have won a Super Bowl with that team because of how he embraced the character of the team.

You can't fill your entire depth chart with proven players at every starting position. That's just how it goes. Yea, an injury to Steve Smith would leave unproven players playing every snap at receiver. But every team in the history/future of the league has had/will have that situation at some position(s). You get 53 guys, not 100. For 22 positions. I'd say right now on paper (and we're a rare team who is almost always better on the field than on paper ) we are the most complete team in the NFL