gooftroop

Look, Belichick knew he could only get away with this for so long, and he knew part of the plan was to fool not only the defense, but the refs- that's why he waited until he was in trouble, in the biggest game of the year, against an opponent who had given his team fits.

I have nothing against Brown was just wondering about him cause I'm not really sold on him as most.  I'll be watching for him though.

Seems reasonable to me. I mean, how could anybody be "sold on him"? Too early to call him a bust, but, considering where he was picked, how could he be thought of as anything other than a disappointment so far?

Looks like the NFL will take Brady's advice and "study the rule book and figure it out". On a side note- didn't the league already institute some changes after the Ravens-Pats game? Something along the lines of not allowing a last-second change in eligiblity, and making sure the refs give the defense time to react to the change?

We've also seen very little of Tyrod Taylor, but to your own admission, that doesn't mean he can't play. 

But it did mean he couldn't play well enough to play.

All this talk about Matt Elam being a bust, what about Arthur Brown?  I know its to early to tell because he hasn't been on the field.  

 

Does anybody here believe he might take a step this next season?  Play special teams at least? Beat Darly out of his spot or score some defensive snaps?

Maybe we should be glad he hasn't been on the field.

Hard to say he's not a bust when he already has a reel full of lowlight moments in his brief career.

When's Glazer going to issue a retraction?

I hope we still get a WR in the 1st or 2nd even if we sign Steve Smith.

 

1. Torrey

2. Steve Smith

3. Marlon Brown

4. Jacoby

 

Wonder where a top rookie wr would fit in, hard to believe we re-signed Jacoby just for him to return kicks and be our 5th WR

In case the wideout we draft isn't quite ready to be a #2, or that go-to slot guy.

Steve Smith really doesn't solve our WR woes. Our WR core is extremely weak and Smith is coming off a 700 yrds season. He makes us better and might help our younger WRs, but if we don't draft a WR in the first 2 round with all the great talent that is available in this draft at that position, then we're making a huge mistake.

Agreed. I like Smith (a lot) as insurance policy, but, unless a different position player we absolutely love unexpectedly falls in our lap, we need to take a wideout.

 

Adam Schefter ‏@AdamSchefter  1m

Here we go: Former Panthers WR Steve Smith is scheduled to fly tonight to Baltimore to spend Friday meeting with Ravens, per source.

 

Not to change the subject but perusing Schefter's tweets I was glad to come across Woodley's signing with Oakland. Not what he used to be, maybe, but I'm happy to not see him twice a year, anymore.

I figure about three weeks before he decks Flacco

I know you're joking, but I don't get this "Steve Smith will be too intense for Joe Flacco" stuff. This was a team of grown men when Flacco arrived and it seemed to work out ok.

Having an excellent return man seems important if you can't sustain drives. I'm glad JJ's back.

A guy who can get open! Scheme and playcalling play a part, of course, but our guy don't get open. I get sick watching other team's games and receivers are running free all over the place.

Not that it means much, but according to the owner of Jimmy's Seafood in baltimore, Gary Kubiak and his wife were in town tonight eating dinner there. Could just be a coincidence obviously, but it could also mean we have an interview planned. 

 

https://twitter.com/JohnnyCrabCakes/status/423307661682413568

 

 

(Fun fact: He said he saw Mike Martz at BWI tonight as well. lol)

Well, unless all coordinators and ex-coordinators love crabcakes, I think it all means something.

I'll say this a lot of Schaub's problems came from him just making some boneheaded mistakes which we don't see from Flacco. Yes the guy will force some throws that he shouldn't but I'm talking about a guy in Schuab who throw off his back foot in his own endzone resulting in an game sealing pick 6, or a guy that tries to attempt a left handed pass with the game on the line. If Schuab can succeed in this offense Joe will thrive.

 

In this system Schuab has completed over 63% of his passes in 5 of his 7 seasons and it's not because he has razor sharp accuracy. It's because that offense creates so much space and even when working against zone WR either find a lot of open space or one on one matchups. I hate how many contested throws Joe has to make, we saw in 09-10 how accurate Joe was when he had guys who could get open. In Kubiak's system I think Joe could easily be a 65-66% type guy.

 

Then you look at Schuab's passing numbers for all those stats lovers. In every season Schuab played a full 16 games, he completed at least 64% of his passes, throw for at least 4,000yds and 23 TDs.

 

If i'm looking at building a team around a QB i just paid 120.6M to, I'm looking at these numbers and calling Kubiak in for an interview no doubt.

Yup.

I definitely want someone who can make in-game adjustments, you have to be able to do that in the NFL. A lot of what I've heard about his lack of in-game adjustment has come from the fans and i'm always hesitant to put much stock into what us emotional fans feel about something when things are going bad. But if true I don't like that.

 

However I feel with everything comes good and bad. If we can get a offense that designs our guys to work in as much space as that Texans offense did, i'd be willing to live with the in game adjustment hiccup. Btw, Whenever the Ravens played the Texans I don't recall having a feeling that we had a handle on their offense because they didn't adjust, so I'm not sure how much of an issue it is.

 

But just look at this highlight video and look at all the space and creativity of that offense off the playaction. I just think with what the Ravens have been trying to do in recent years, ZBS running game, deep passing game, open things up for your QB and now you can add a strong play action game which Flacco is really good at, he makes a lot of sense as our next OC. Plus he's an aggressive play caller even when his team has a 14-17 point lead and Flacco has been asking for that the past 2-3 years. His entire playbook is built around the ZBS and it looks like we're keeping that with Castillo so I don't see why this wouldn't be a perfect match.

I agree with everything you said, and you can make the argument that Flacco and Schaub are similar in type. Joe's just a better qb, physically.

Sorry, Caldwell has got to go. One season of the most rudimentary and unsophisticated playcalling in the league is evidence enough.