Ravensfan23

Yea, it'll sound strange but I see this offense being a lot like the 2006 defense. That Organized Chaos type. Now obviously an offense can't move around as freely as a defense, but what i mean is that each week the Ravens offense could look different dependent upon what defense they are facing. Now of course they'll be a foundation to the offense and I think it'll be a Joe Flacco featured offense. If the defense can force turnovers and 3 & outs the way i expect, I can see the Ravens being a lot more aggressive in the passing game. I really expected to see Kubes take full advantage of Flacco's big arm with play action passing but he didn't do that. Not sure way. But I definitely think Marc will take advantage of matchups more so then Kubes did.

I agree it's too early to write him off but we can't act as if he's not missing precious time right now. We hold training camp in high regards because we see it as "real football" while OTAs is run in shorts and shells. However there is a reason that coaches put so much emphasis on these "Voluntary" practices. However TC is only a 2 week process, in terms of competition portion of TC. After the 2nd week of TC, you start to move onto installs for the season and the guys who you determine will play a large role in what you wanna do going forward will have much of the focus and practice time. Right now, ever WR will be catching passes from Joe and Schuab, but during a certain point in camp, you'll have guys that only work on the back fields as 3rd team guys. Right now opinions and impressions are being formed and Camp isn't in a position to help his cause. It's a very important time. Let's say at the time that Carter was added to the mix of Camp and Robinson, the coaches formed the early opinion that it would only be room on the roster for 1 of those guys, even before practices started. Now Carter is the only guy that can make a statement that says...i'm you guy as a returner and can handle the slot role as well. So if that is the case where coaches say, hey we only have room for one of those guys(not saying that's the case), then right now Carter has a huge opportunity to make that impression on the coaches so once training camp does start, guess who's getting the bulk of 1st team reps and now unless Carter just sucks in camp, he'll probably have an upper hand. Now i'm not saying we should write Camp off, but I think the injury is a huge negative to his chances of making the team right now and he may just be too far behind in TC to even prove himself. We'll see.

To hear Aiken is doing well is not a all surprising, but I too am glad to hear it and hope he can be more of a playmaker this year. Last season was a great starting point for Aiken and I hoped he'd follow that up with a strong offseason/preseason of work. It looks like he's doing just that right now. I've based a lot of my opinion on what the offense will look like based on what I've seen from the Bears the last two seasons. However that's a mistake imo. We won't really know what this offense will look like until we see Trestman put together game plans to highlight certain players. I think he could go to a WR heavy WCO like he had with the Oakland Raiders when Tim Brown, Jerry Rice and Jerry Porter all had over 50 catches with the RB having 90 catches. Now i'm not saying any of our guys are HOF type WR, with the exception of Sr. but I do think we could have a offense were 3-4 WRs catch 50+. But I could also see a TE/HB heavy type offense, then we also can't forget the 3 headed monster we seem to be forming at RB. So i'm excited to see what Trestman will be able to do with the offensive pieces that Ozzie has provided. The fact that Marc is throwing everything at the guys right now, tells me that he'll be a lot more creative and multiple then what Kubes was. No knock to Kubes because I loved what he brought to the team and wished he would have stayed. However i go back to last season and there were times that the offense just looked stagnant without a clue of how to get on the right track. Now that's not to say Kubes did anything wrong in those situations, but Trestman seems like the type of OC who's really good at making tweaks to an offense and taking it to the next level. Many say that the 2002 Raiders team was more of Gruden's offense then Trestman, but Marc definitely helped take it to another level. I can't wait to see what tweaks he'll make to the offense this year.

Doghouse alert!!!. lol But seriously, that's kind of a good and bad thing I guess. It's not good that the coach has to tell you to keep the franchise QB clean and you're celebrating it. But on the other hand, it's great that this guy is healthy and showing that explosiveness. Now by my understanding there were no Yanda, Wanger or Zuttah at practice and also there were no pads, but it's still encouraging. If Urban, KLM and Davis all play to potential this year, to go alone with Timmy and BW that would be a sick front line, Of course you'll have a couple more guys to add depth and fill out the rotation. Everyone will be watching the WRs this camp, but I'll make sure to keep a watchful eye on the young guys on the DL.

This guy will fall in line with other who have had solid NFL careers but came to Baltimore and took their games to the next level. I can't remember the last time we had a ball hawking defense that forced turnovers seemingly each game. If i'm not mistaking Ngata and CJ lead the team in INTs last year and that's sad lol. I think this guy could change that and help give our defense that fear factor back again.

Brown came in as a very smart guy but much like Terrence Brooks he just over thought thinks too much as a rookie. Also he was undersized. There are certain things Brown would excell at like being a coverage ILB but as has been stated, CJ and Buck are just too good as a duo and they both cover fairly well. I like the idea of Brown getting better and if he can improve his ST play he'll still be a guy we hold onto with hopes that he and CJ form a long term duo.

Only signing i see is a value veteran returner. I think Carter should be able to handle it, but if a guy who already has experience is cut by his team, much like Jacoby i think we bring him in. I think we might, and that's a shaky might, sign a return specialist. Can't really trust Ajax, Webb nor Camp with injuries and I'm not sure you wanna risk Perriman back there. Sr has experience and i could see a scenario where he becomes that guy especially if the young WR set up enough to take offensive snaps from him, but not now it looks like we could us a specialist if a quality one becomes available.

It's more of a risk reward factor. First off if you bring those guys in right now you gotta cut someone. With such a young team, nearly everyone has an opportunity to showcase something that catches coaches eyes. Secondly what you saw with your own eyes means a lot from a coach and talent evaluator standpoint. The coaches saw the work that guys like Brown, Aiken and Butler put in last year. They see the improvements they've made thus far. It's hard to make a call on a guy outside the organization if you don't think without a doubt he'd be better then what you have and/or add to your offense. Now if the current WRs don't impress, then you start looking. But for right now i don't think Ozzie or Harbs would see a need to shake things up any. But remember Lee Evans wasn't traded for until mid way through the preseason when Torrey just wasn't looking good.

3. Things from this article. 1. So Steve Smith with Cam Newton doesn't make the top 100 is viewed as old, slow and shipped out of town. Steve Smith SR. with Flacco is the 54th ranked player but Flacco is only good enough for 97 while Cam is like 77? What a joke, i promised i would watch that stupid list this year and I'm glad I'm sticking to it. But it does make me wonder, if losing Steve Smith and watching him put up greater number with Flacco helped Cam Newton, i wonder how much better Matt Ryan would be if ATL shipped Juilo Jones to play with Flacco. That would probably drop Joe off the list and push Ryan up to the 30s with another 7-9 record and missing the playoffs. 2. I'm so stick of these last of the Mohegan defensive players trying to hang on to the Baltimore Ravens football is defensive driven. Newsflash the offense has been carrying this team for some time now. I'm so sick of the keep the offense balanced so we can get some rest talk, how well did that rest help when the D blew two 14 point leads? How much did that rest help when the Pats started using school yard trickery to beat us. How about the defense force more turnovers to give the offense better scoring chances? How about not giving up late 4th quarter leads in both Bengals games? Canty needs to be worrying about how he can have a better season and not get pushed off the roster by these young hungry pups we got coming up, instead of what Trestman is doing with the offense. This Defense is big brother mentality has to end. If Trestman wants to tweak the offense a bit to make us more aggressive so we can start to put our foot on teams throats so be it. 3. So glad to hear that Brooks is ahead of schedule. I'm a huge TB fan but i hope he doesn't push himself too hard. He's a very smart guy so i trust his judgement, but with the addition of Lewis and Hill having a full off-season, i don't think we need him right now. I'd rather he make sure he's 100% definitely before coming back to avoid minor setbacks each year. I know it's a huge season for him but the quickest way to derail that is nagging injuries that forces you to miss a couple days here and there. That's more frustrating to a coach then a guy who misses a stretch of time. But I'm so gald to see he's making a speedy recovery and if he is ready to contribute, i think he fits in well as that 3rd Safety.

There are a few teams that can pull it off and acutally run it but i don't think anyone uses it as a base set or even uses it enough to even have a large impact on the game. Most teams use it as jumbo packages and in run heavy short yardage situations. However i think we will see this offense look a lot like the Pats a few year back when they had that killer duo of Gronk and AH, ok that wasn't funny. But my point is we have a ton of talent at the TE position and a guy like Juice, we'll be able to run some sets that really force teams to say in that base defense while we s attack their LBs ans Safeties. I could see that 2TE set really being a staple of the offense and if all 4TEs still healty and can contribute, it's gonna be fun watching this group work. With 4 solid to very good TEs, a swiss army knife at HB, and WRs who can work every level of the field Flacco and Trestman will have a ball with this offense. Defenses will be losing sleep over game planning for this offense if everything comes together.

We gotta remember Maxx is like 20 years old. Yes he's officially a pro but he's now competing and running with grown men who have jobs to win. It may just take Maxx a bit of time to develop. Now I'm not saying he is struggling or that he won't do well this year, it may just be a case where Maxx mat have to get a bit stronger or it might just be a case where reporters are more surprised at what a guy like Boyle is doing becauae he's looking just as good as Max but you kind of expect it from Maxx as a 2nd round guy, but if you looked at Boyle's as a small school blocking TE, but now you see some Dennis Pitta traits in him, that's worth reporting about.

I think some are really sleeping on what Juice will be able to do in this offense. I actually don't think we'll get a ton from the WR position in terms of a bunch of guys getting catches, which is one of the reasons i only see us keeping 5. I think we'll see Trestman using a ton of multiple TE sets with Juice as a mismatch out the backfield. Even if Pitta doesn't play i still see the Ravens passing a lot more these season then last and because of that they'll be more catches to go around. I can see Juice having 30-40 catches this year with a couple TDs.

I think the AFC is wide open to any team with a decent enough QB. I personally think Peyton is done, i mean he'll still put up numbers but I don't see the Broncos being able to compete with KC and SD down the stretch. That Pats no long have a cupcake division, but it's still pretty weak just because the Bills nor Jets have a steady QB. But their defenses will be very tough. I like the Colts but the Texans will be though on them. The only reason I can't see the Ravens running away with the AFC is because the North is so damn tough. Even the Browns will be tough on teams, but they don't seem to have a pass game to go alone with a good run game and defense. I think at some point Andy Dalton either has to get better or his luck just runs out. I think the Steelers will be tough but I don't see them as much of a threat honestly. I think they'll continue to hang around the top of the AFC and will probably be a wildcard. I think 1 game or 2 will separate teams 3-6 this year. It'll be a matter of who wins their division.

I can see this. Typically i'd look at the schedule and say 4 losses might be a little too optimistic, because we tend to allow at least 2 games we should we get away from us. But honestly I don't feel it this year. I think it will be hard for Harbs to tame the aggressiveness of Trestman's style and he won't want to once he sees the success of the offense. I think we will see Flacco finally get his wish of keeping their foot on the peddle when they are up by 10-14 points in the 3rd quarter of games. Also I think the teams in the East and West have gained enough ground that the Pats nor Broncos will have their usual cake walk and that'll be enough to get the Ravens that #1 seed. The scariest part about the Ravens is that we are young with Flacco right in his prime. It's time the NFL has an honest hard working Dynasty it can be proud of, not that I care what the NFL world thinks but the Ravens will be in position to win a few Super Bowl on the next 5+ years.

This sums up much of my point on Aiken's production getting better and better every time someone talks about it. haha Now I must admit i've been poking some fun in this thread with how much love Kamar gets. I really like the guy to and would love nothing more then him to improve upon last season. I think you may want to go back and view the play again. Aiken ran a simple misdirection route. It was a play action that sucked the defense in. Joe put the ball in front of Kamar and allow him to catch it in stride. Kamar did his job by catching the ball and didn't get touched by a defender until the 5 yardline. There weren't even 3 Pats defenders on that side of the field It was just Aiken, his defender, Revis and Smith Sr. Almost as soon as Aiken caught the ball Smith started blocking Revis(who didn't make any attempt to get in on the play) and all Aiken had to do was beat his man to the endzone. Again he did a good job of breaking the initial tackle but he didn't have to fight through 2-3 guys it was just one and he was never even close enough to the slideline to consider running out of bounds, which you suggest Torrey would have done. Don't wanna seem like i'm beating up on Aiken here, but it was a simple play to be made and Kamar made it but nothing special, at least in my opinion. Had I not actually watched that play, based on your description of it, I would have probably said it was a great play, but in reality just a simple play.

Yea definitely, i remember that drop we really needed that TD. If nothing else he's consistent and that's great now just gotta carry it over to this season. Also i think that stat maybe a bit off. I remember him failing to come up with a square in pass, but that was kind of low so maybe they blamed Joe. But overall Kamar Aiken did exactly what was asked of him last year and that's all you can ask for. But sometimes in the NFL that's just not enough based upon what the coaches want. For example Marlon Brown was very effective with redzone targets in 2013, however for whatever reason Kubes only targeted him 1 time inside the 20 all season. This time last season i would have thought if nothing more Marlon Brown would be a redzone guy, but apparently Kubes didn't view him that way. So how exactly does Trestman view Aiken and all the other guys for that matter? We'll see

Yea we view being clutch in a different light. Those were really good plays by Aiken no doubt. Maybe it's the consistency factor. Life is made full of people who can do a good thing once or have one solid performance but then don't back it up. This is not to say Aiken can't or won't, it just seems that what he did was solid last year but it get magnified among the fan base. The playoff TD whie good, wasn't a big play nor clutch imo. It was a play that honestly i'd trust any WR we have right now to make because it was more of an result of the play making it's self all you have to do is catch the ball. Again don't take it away from Kamar because he could have been takled at the 4 yardline. But i just viewed it as a nice play nothing more. It wasn't a play were you look and say, man if that wasn't Aiken I'm not sure that play gets made. Just to let you know, clutch in my view is coming up big in the biggest moments of a game. That wasn't really a big moment imo. It was 1st and 10 and the Pats didn't have an answer for the script Kubes had. Clutch for me would have been Daniels making that endzone catch for a TD and putting us up by 7 instead of 3. That's a clutch moment to me, but Aiken deserves credit for doing what he was asked. I just don't think that gives him the label of proven. He had a decent year now it's time for him to stack a strong camp ontop of that.

You aren't saying anyhting that i didn't. If there is no point in saying if Aiken is outplayed he could be pushed off the team then why even argue the point? You and others have taken a simple statement of, if Worthy plays well i think he'll be that UDFA to make the team and i could see Aiken being pushed off the roster, if he doesn't perform well into something much difference from my point. You guys think Aiken is a lock because of his 24 catches, i think it was a solid start but he'll have to come to camp as a better player this year, because he and others will be pushed by some talented young players. For the record i think Aiken will continue to be tough and consistent this camp. You say he could possibly fall to #6, how is that any different then me saying he could be outplayed in camp? You asked me to name 6 other WRs better then Aiken, well who's the 5 others that can push him down to #6? I've actually made the comment that i could see only keeping 5 WRs if Pitta is ready to go. If you have Pitta, Maxx and Juice all as options in Trestman's offense, judging by his history your #4 and #5 WR won't see much action anyway. So if Aiken did slip down to your #6WR in camp, which would suggest that he didn't have a good camp imo and a guy like Worthy plays extremely well, bringing things to the WR position that Aiken can't, you don't think that final WR spot would be be invested into the future? Again even though it's a different situation, a top backup in Josh Bynes was placed on PS in a surprising move to keep Zach Orr. This time last year if someone were to say that Orr would outplay Bynes and push him off the roster, I'm sure that would have sounded crazy to 95% of the fanbase. Fact is we don't know what or how the coaches think.

your trying way too hard with the Doss and Brown part. I've said plenty of times that I not only have Brown as a lock but I have him catching 65-70 balls this year. Please show me one post or even comment for that matter where I said Aiken was a bum and in serious danger of getting cut? The simply fact that you translate me saying he'll have to compete and "it's possible" that if he's outplayed he could be cut, is why i make the Aiken being a legend comment. The fact that you are so willing to call a guy who has 24 career catches a "proven target" is why i make a mock of the Aiken being a legend around here. Ok so this is getting ridiculous, so I'll keep it simple. Are you telling me that if Kamar Aiken has a rough camp and others play very well that based on his 24 catches 200+ yds and 3TD from last season he's safe from getting cut?

You don't have to tell me how using Doss is flawed, he was only used as an example of how a slightly productive WR with Special Teams value was cut. You can wait for the 6 WRs until the end of camp because that's when I'll know just like everyone else. Also i never said Aiken wouldn't make the team i simply said he'll still have to compete and show the coaches a lot in TC despite being in the Flock's HOF it seems. If you wanna reply to my actual point of IF AIKEN IS OUTPLAYED, he could be cut then fine, but there's no point in going back and forth over a point i never made.

Oh no doubt Aiken did exactly what he was supposed to do, take full advantage of his opportunities. I honestly can't remember him coming up clutch or even making a play on a big spot but maybe my definition of those moments differ from most. As for who i see making the team. Right now i have Aiken making the team but i gotta see more from him before crowning him like many seem to wanna do. I think Cam Worthy if healthy will have a Marlon Brown type impact at camp where he forces coaches to give him first and second team reps. He's listed as the same body type as Aiken but i think he brings more of a downfield presence to the offense then Aiken and that's something that Kubes didn't really emphasis last year but Marc certainly will. Worthy was a strong ST player at ECU so that shouldn't be a tough transition for him. Again right now neither he nor Carter is on the team for me as IDFA because i haven't seen them play in a Ravens uniform. But i could definitely see a scenario where Worthy amd Carter push Aiken and Camp off the roster.

Again I'm not pitting Aiken vs Worthy for a roster spot. It's about the 11th WR on the roster having just as much opportunity as the #4 WR because none of these guys arw made men other then Mitty, Perriman and maybe Brown but even he'll have to show and prove in Camp. We are so quick to give guys title and guaranteed spots on the team. We have seemingly a new ST ace ever year and now Aiken is one after only one year? Can you honestly tell me right now you would have picked Zach Orr to make the team over Josh Bynes who was a top backup and a key contributor on ST? The funny thing is a guy like Aiken gets cut every year in favor of some talented the rookie the coaches don't wanna lose and we fans make the same comments the very next year...oh i can't see that guy getting cut for a vet because he's a ST guy and Harbs loves ST. Again I'm not saying Aiken is a goner, all I'm saying is that i believe Cam Worthy will really impress in camp and make the final decision on a roster spot a tough one.

When did Aiken and Camp become such legends? The story of Aiken and Camp is like that legendary story that gets bigger and bigger every time someone tells it. They had 24 and 9 catches respectively. Have we had such bad luck at the WR position that we salivate over a total of 33 career catches by a combination of two guys? I mean I'm excited for their potential as well but what did they really do last year? Honestly? Im not saying you in general but if anyone thinks that any player not names Smith Sr or Perriman can be cut if outplayed in camp, i think they are sadly mistaken. As for Doss, whe he was brought back to the team it was as an #3 or #4, not as a starter. In 2013 Doss played 295 offensive snaps and was targeted 36 times in 15 games, that's about 19 snaps and 2 targets per game, hardly starter numbers. In 2014 Aiken accounted for 273 offensive plays and was targeted 32 times in 16 games. That's 17 snaps and 2 targets per game. Doss numbers in 2013 19recs 305yds 0TDs, while Aiken in 2014 had 24rec 263yds and 3TDs i believe? Other then the TDs which Aiken was placed in favorable position to receive i might add, there isn't much difference between the two. The offensive rolled last year and much like the defense everyone looks good when the entire unit shows out. I take nothing away from Aiken because i like him, but he still has so much to prove.

Yes it is important but at this same time last year, Sr. Daniels, Aiken nor Camp had chemistry with Joe. Two years ago this time Marlon Brown didn't have chemistry with Joe. So how big of a factor is it really? Steve Smith said it was really easy to get on the same page as Joe and I've heard several other WRs say the same. I don't wanna make it seem as if I'm beating up Aiken cause I'm not, if he prove good enough to make this team again great, but i don't think he's in a position where you'll give him a spot over someone that out performs him just because of what he did last year.

There is not enough history on guys like Aiken and Camp to sugguest they will just be better the next season. I as much as anyone else am excite about the potential talent of guys like Brown, Aiken and Camp, but lets be real here. None of those guys did anything particularly special that makes you say "ok we know exactly what to expect from that guy going forward". As much as i think Marlon Brown will have a large impact this year, he can suffer the same fate as Tandon Doss who just couldn't put it together and got cut. Speaking of Doss he basically had the same type of production in 2013 as Aiken last year and far more success as a WR and returner then Camp and he was cut. So for people thinking that a guy like Aiken is safe, he's not. Now i'm not saying Worthy will push Aiken off the roster, what I'm saying is there is room for 3-6 and maybe even 7 because nobody has those spots locked