KidNme

Terrible news, I can't even imagine! Very sad.

I think Decosta will make a great GM but Ozzie still has work to do yet.

Ya, Jernigan had potential however, he also has potential to cost us a lot of money if he performed lights out this year. I believe we can get more long term value at that position in the draft and moving up as far as we did with that trade will help us immensely. Don't forget, we're allowed more players this year in the off season process so we'll have more opportunity to get that star player who can be coached up and be here under a reasonable contract for 2-3 years. I hate losing him but I do believe we'll get the better of the deal when all is said and done.

This is great news. Webb did start off the season last year, not on top of his game but after Harbaugh and the team called him out on the carpet, his play changed dramatically. This is a great signing as it gives us a vet backup if needed.
I got his Jersey signed and framed last year and then he got cut. I got Nghata to sign a Jersey, right before he left too so I was starting to think I couldn't wear the jersey of anyone I wanted to stay any more. (It started with my "Boller" Jersey but that departure turned out OK :-)
(If only I had that kind of pull!)

  14 hours ago, whobilly said:

  19 hours ago, CQ1 said:

"Other teams catching up"?.....Well its all about perspective. You can view it from the Eisenberg angle, and I'll view it from the CQ1 angle- or the ROFO angle (kudos from a member that said I should go root on a Royal Farm related team......that's a classic; for now I'll root on their chicken :)
Quite frankly, since Flacco's emergence into the league, the entire team chemistry has since quickly eroded. Until we can figure out all of the pieces- and, or weapons that are needed to seemingly nurture- or as I tend to see it, pacify him, from the fans point of view. As long as Joe continues to constantly check down, stare down and or stay in the pocket to long- other teams will continue to catch up. I cant wait to hear what the purple-fluff, excuses are going to be this year. Off to Rofo :)

Just curious. How did you feel about Joe when Lee Evans couldn't hang onto the ball in the endzone in the AFC Title Game against the Pats in 2011, when he lead them to great wins in the playoffs and the Ravens captured the ultimate prize, when the D could not hang onto a 14 point lead against the Pats in the playoffs, or when the D couldn't hang on vs the Steelers last year. Wow. That's what I call erosion. You must have loved Chris Redman, Elvis Grbak, and Kyle Boller.

Flacco played on some truly stacked teams. That's why he made the Playoffs 6 times and won a SB. We have overpaid for his talent and now we sit in a position where we can't always retain the guys we need to and we can't add the talent we need to on both sides of the ball in Free Agency. January Joe is a better QB, but don't forget who we lost since 2012. Ray Lewis, Ed Reed, Ray Rice, Haloti Ngata, Boldin, Birk, KO, Pollard, Ellerbe, Corey Graham, Pernell McPhee, (Pitta's not the same), (Suggs is no longer in his prime). We need cap space to reload and stack the Roster. Flacco's greedy contracts take up too much Cap Space.

Yes, Flacco played on some stacked teams but that's what the FO does and is trying to do again this year. Surround our franchise QB with enough talent to make the playoffs. It's not a one pony show out there.
As far as Flacco's "greedy contract", I don't remember him demanding anything that wasn't promised to him or deserved at the time. He was the starting QB in a SB so that puts him in a short list of QB's, regardless of how you think he got there.

Ya, all the FA's, the draft and some of the young guys getting a chance to play this year is all good but it just seems like every year, we have a multitude of things happen that shake our roster down to just a couple potential play makers at best by the start of the season. Perriman and Kindle come to mind right off but of course, there are plenty more I can't think of right now (Davis). The storm of training camp and pre season and who goes to jail between now and then, plays a huge part to how our roster pans out, not just who we pick a lot of times. So while a great draft will do wonders, it's only on paper until they get through their first few games of the season. I'm just hoping for a good draft and a healthy preseason. If we can just do that, we're better off than the last couple years.

We're cleaning out the fridge so we can put some new stuff in there. Ya, we're throwing some stuff away that may still be good but why take the chance when you could have a fridge full of new healthy stuff to choose from that's going to last you for a while.
This is the draft to do it I think and we're moving up to improve the quality of our picks. I like it.

Ya John, our Defense let us down a few times but they were on the field for 45 out of the 60 minutes played and exhausted. Offense has to stay on the field long enough for the defense to get a breather.

IDK, it's hard to believe they'd have a place to put a full 100Yd football field on the cruise ship, especially one that departs from Baltimore because they have to be in the smaller classes of ship to get under the bridge.
I do like the idea of having the whole team being able to bond and all but are they taking a plane back? Seems like you'd have the same time adjustment thing going on for week 4. I'm smelling a April fools thing here.

Ya, we were going to be creative with these guys last season but it just never happened. Got to be healthy and not suspended to play and this group just hasn't cracked that code yet. We'll see what happens in training camp. I think Waller could be good. Watson is old and coming off an injury. Pita is Joe's favorite so we'll see if Waller gets the chance or if he gets buried in the depth chart. Gilmore has shown flashes but his injuries have held him back from reaching his potential thus far. Boyle is a great blocking TE and we could sure use him in that regard but until his drug issues with the league are behind him, he's a big question mark.
I do think a great combo 2 TE set would be Waller and Boyle but we'll see.

I believe Perriman will blossom into a great receiver. He's had a lot to deal with but now he's had plenty of time to learn how things go and how to work out and the boy has some talent. If we lean on him more this season, I think he'll rise up.

  3 hours ago, KidNme said:

Blaming our entire season on Joe or how much he's paid isn't the answer. I don't like that a guy makes a gazillion dollars for playing a game but that's what Pro NFL players get paid, it is what it is.  Having said that, he did take us to 2 SB's and as someone else mentioned, out played Brady more than once so it's not all on him.
 

Two SB's?  2012 and ? 

That's right, it was Trent Dilfer in 2000's Super Bowl, I stand corrected.

For those of you who are down in the dumps about our beloved team, I must remind you.
Our missing the playoffs has much to do with our on field personnel as it does with coaching and game time decisions as well as our schedule, timing and a slew of other things that all have to work together to have a playoff inducing record for any team.

Blaming our entire season on Joe or how much he's paid isn't the answer. I don't like that a guy makes a gazillion dollars for playing a game but that's what Pro NFL players get paid, it is what it is. Having said that, he did take us to 2 SB's and as someone else mentioned, out played Brady more than once so it's not all on him. Our O-line has been in flux for years for various reasons heck, Yanda was playing out of position most of the year as were a couple other players.

Joe's mechanics suffered when he was hurt but he also had 300+lb guys trying to take his head off with suspect blindside and up the middle protection a lot of the times so I understand being a little flustered in the pocket.

I will also remind everyone about the slew of QB's we've had here.
Eric Zeier, Tony Banks, Stoney Case, Anthony Wright, Steve Mcnair, Troy Smith, Jeff Blake, Chis Redman....
Remember Testerverde who while throwing for the most yards in Ravens history, had the knack for snatching the defeat out of the jaws of victory. Or how about Kyle Boller who we drafted in the 2nd round because we had Chris Redman and Jeff Blake who couldn't throw more INT's than TD's if they tried so Boller had to be thrown right into the fire his first year. He started like 8 games before he got injured. While being thrown into the fire like that didn't help him develop into the franchise QB we imagined him to be, don't forget, Flacco did it and then some.

Many of us will also agree that we've never had a great WR tandem. The Elam's, Kendricks and Kindle's haven't helped our cause any either but in the FO's defense, these college kids are being tutored on how to act and what to say, how to prepare for scouts and combines etc, way better than they ever have so it's not easy. The reasons each of those first and 2nd rounders failed varies as much as the positions they've played. We drafted Suggs the same year as Boller and we all know how that turned out so while our coaching may seem suspect at times, they are still top coaches in the league which is evident by the fact that we lose more of our coaching staff every year than players it seems. Look at how many coaches we've had that are now or had been head coaches. We're constantly poached so we have to be doing something right.

All in all, we have a pretty darn good owner and FO. They have a great collective head on their shoulders and they operate with integrity so that alone, lends itself to being optimistic about this season and how can you not be excited about the draft this year? We always get ONE of our top picks to be a Suggs, Stanley or a Mosely!

So, while drinking Purple Kool-Aid in Purple Shades all the time may be a bit obnoxious to many, there's certainly no reason to not wear the rose colored glasses every once in a while. There's hope in everything, if you look for it and I'm hoping we'll see a new team this year and it wow's us. If not, I'm looking forward to them putting them puzzle pieces together quickly enough during the season that we burn into the playoffs and knock N.E. out with a fury unknown to mankind then Joe Flacco can sign the game ball and give it to Brady for his retirement gift then give him a ride in his new car to take him out to dinner at Denny's cause Joe's cool like that! :-)

He was pick #17 in the first round so I'm not surprised. Can't wait to see who we get to be a Raven for life in the 1st rnd this year!

Weddle is the type of driving force this team needs with SSS gone. Weddle and Suggs on defense, Tucker and his ratpack are the stars on ST now, we need another couple guys on Offense with the same type attitude, drive and desire to round out this happy little family and push it to the playoffs. It would be cool if it were someone in house to step into that role like Wallace, Perriman or maybe Woodhead but would be even sweeter if it turned out to be our first or second round pick this year. It would be nice to have an offensive weapon with some swagger.

I could see us taking a TE this draft but not in the first 3 rounds although, this guy does seem like a "Play maker". His lack of great blocking skills probably is more of a "play maker, wanting to be a play maker. Not necessarily a very bad thing if he's that dangerous when he gets his hands on the ball.

  29 minutes ago, sami said:

Its not the receivers job to "strut his stuff" or be a loud mouth, crying for the ball all the time. Its the coaches job and the QBs job to recognize the talent that's there. Aiken only had 12 yrds per catch cuz he was used mostly as a 3rd down option and the short over the middle throws don't get you much more. ( what was Pitta's YPC this year?) We underused a really good talent. He proved to be a reliable receiver and we just tossed him aside.

Yeah the YPC is a pretty unfair evaluation of Aiken. I also agree that John's characterization of what we need at WR is a little off, but I do understand what he's driving at. Rather than a soft spoken talent, we need a guy with fire, passion and attitude - who just refuses to get beat, who will not back down against anybody. That's the kind of guy we had with Boldin and SSS. That is different than being a drama queen who wants to show up his QB and his team with in game theatrics. Problem is, I'm not sure where we're finding this guy.

Was going to post a similar sentiment but you nailed it balfan23.
I think Perriman will come into his own too. With being essentially a rookie with very little playing time, hard to strut your stuff until you have the confidence to do so. We need to put him in the fire now and use him as a #1 or #2 WR. I think he can handle it.

21 hours ago, bioLarzen said:

IMHO, if nothing else, the sheer fact that dome teams will get an unfair advantage with the extra point for kickoffs through the uprigths, renders this proposal hopeless. Dome teams play at least 8 games with no wind hindering their kicker's accuracy, while non-dome teams play a handful at most.

That's a good point Bio. I didn't think about that. I think it still works though because they play 8 games out of a dome while playing away games (unless they're playing another dome team), so it should pretty much be a wash right? I'm just glad they're trying to improve the game. The big money people have squeezed the heck out of it for the last few decades and they can see they've reached the saturation point of what we'll put up with to watch a game.

Nah, Tom Flacco is not Joe so comparing catching passes is moot, Davis may be a good pick but it doesn't add anything that he caught passes from someone else named Flacco 

I like the new kick off rule. I think it will add a little more drama to the game by giving a team more choices. Kick it out of the end zone and they get it at the 25 or try to kick it through the uprights push them back the extra 5 yards. It adds a little extra incentive for kickers and fantasy players. We'll see if it's an advantage or if there's any inherent risk like shanking the ball by trying too hard to split the uprights or by passing up the chance to kick it short to try to get a strip and fumble recovery near the end of a tight game.
I also agree with the call on the unsportsmanlike conduct for multiple fouls to manipulate the clock. I don't blame us for using the loop hole but it does feel "cheap" to win a game that way. Let's keep integrity a part of this sport as much as we can.

With Juice, I think it was what we were doing as an offense and the other weapons we had that were higher up the chain of known reliability (and the money of course). For Aiken, he ended up where he belonged on the depth chart, given his body of work when gauged against his competition as well. I see their respective team changes having drastically different results. Juice will flourish while Aiken will realize he's 4th on the depth chart again because he's setting the bar even higher for himself now.
I wish them both well though.

There has to be more the the Aiken story we don't know on why we let him go. After him having the semi-breakout year he was expected to have, I'd be willing to bet we let him shop around for a good reason though. Now, that puts a little higher priority on getting a veteran in here but I'd also be willing the bet they have something in the works for that as well. I also believe we'll be using our RB's and TE's in the passing game a lot more so, if we can get a good vet WR with a couple years left in his legs in here, on a 1 or 2 yr deal, we could use him to mentor a high draft pick on a promising WR maybe?

IDK, I'm starting to think we won't take a WR or a Corner in the 1st round. A DB possibly. Of course, it all depends a lot on how the board works out during the draft but I believe we'll start with a stud for our O line, be it a Center or Guard. Could even be a RB if a top flight guy is there at 16. I know it's not a sexy pick but if nothing else, my guess is probably as good as any.

Just a thought,
As far as our offense goes, we need to protect Joe so he feels comfortable in the pocket. We can't ask him to be Rothlesberger and he'd not getting any younger either. We have a pretty good line now but need to bring in a stout guy or two,
to fill in our offensive line. I believe since it is so hard to find a true #1 receiver, I think we'll rely on a lot of 6-10yd Playaction pass and run plays to our RB's, TE's and FB's and an occasional deep ball to Wallace and Perriman if, one of them beats coverage, then Pound it into the endzone if need be with our Elite RB behind an Elite front line.
SOoooooo,
If we're not sold on any of our RB's being "The guy" then we need to get one in the draft. That being the case, I see us drafting and RB and a LB very early. A WR or CB of quality can be found later and if they can't start and produce right away, it wouldn't be too bad because or offense is geared more towards the TE's, RB's and FB's and we picked up some vets in FA for our 2ndary that makes us better than last year I think.

Great!
We're picking up the veterans in some needed spots so we can draft replacements and have these guys groom them to take over. I Like the move!