runcontrol

It's kind of funny that Downing would bring up the idea that they would use the shotgun more when Russell Street Report had an article last week that said they probably won't use it that much. That was based off the idea that Flacco's stats playing from the shotgun position isn't very good, but a lot of that comes from the offensive struggles of 2013

Yeah, that's pretty much what I was about to say. They ran a lot of plays out of shotgun because the oline was one of the worst in the NFL and the run game was constantly putting the offense in bad situations. They had to go with the shotgun formation to give the receivers time to get open. People forget how injured that offense was. I always say the team had no tight end, no running game, a horrible oline and not much at receiver. Receivers were Torrey Smith, Marlon Brown, Tandon Doss and Jacoby Jones. And Jones missed a lot of games early in the season after the safety fell on top of him while he was trying to catch a punted football.

On another site someone brought up the fact that his full first name is Ikemefuna, which evidently means "May my struggles/efforts not be in vain.

Proof that the media is buying into the fantasy hype of the Colts. Luck, Hilton, Gore and Johnson are seen as fantasy football stars, so to have all four on a real team must mean the team will be great. I am so sick of hearing about how Luck is the next elite qb. The guy has yet to post a 62 comp% and he usually has too many interceptions. Sure he throws for a lot of yds and tds when all his receivers are healthy(his numbers dropped when Wayne missed half of 2013). But until last season his comp% was been terrible. If Gore still has something left in the tank and the Colts use him enough they have the ability to be a scary team. Their one downfall will be their defense.

I am hoping that's all it is. Some people are brushing it off as a cover up for getting beat, others are reporting it as a real injury. Either way it doesn't seem like a serious injury. Like you said Waller ran a 4.40, and Webb ran a 4.35. With such close time I would think any kind of slow down by Webb would result in Waller beating him. Maybe he got a bad jump, maybe practices are catching up to him. I don't know, but hopefully he staus healthy and continues to play well

I was kind of hoping the deadline was the start of the preseason, but part of me knew it was too late. Originally I was going to ask, but I was going out and I wanted to post the comment before I forgot.

Has that been confirmed? I have seen several news outlets report that he could be done for the season. But someone said it's a 12 week injury. Why not put him on the PUP list. He would have about 15 weeks to recover before the team would have to make a decision.

You can make the argument that he helped the team get to the Super Bowl, but he is the reason they almost lost that game against San Fran. The 49ers were able to recognize Pollard's lack of coverage skills and used that to march up and down the field.

For some reason I thought Smith's contract was over in 2016. But even if his contract is until 2018, to think a guy who is currently 33 is going to play four more seasons of football, at a high level, is a big assumption. Right now, considering Brown didn't really play last season I find it hard to believe a team would give up anyone useful, or even someone that would even make the roster. But I am optimistic. I still think Brown can be a better linebacker then McClelan or Orr, He has just proven he has no business blocking for special teams

I guess I am going to need to buy preseason tickets to get my first look at the team this season. Mondays are one of the nights that me and the wife drive up and visit with her great grandmother, who is recovering from a stroke. Even if there is a little bit of traffic I wouldn't make to the stadium until after 7:30 I remember a few years ago they did a Saturday afternoon practice at the stadium, I wonder why they changed it to evening practices during the week.

Its a possibility. Last season I had Butler beating Aiken for a roster spot. Clearly I was wrong, and both will probably make the roster this season but I like hearing these rave reviews about Butler.

Two years ago didn't 98 Rock's morning show want to fly a banner over the Steelers practice? I think they were asking listeners to donate money to a GoFundMe(or something like that) page because they the hosts didn't have the money to do it on their own. But the station put an end to it because it won't look to good that the station that broadcasts the Raven's games was taunting the Steelers like that.

They kept Tommy Streeter around for a while. I don't seem them getting rid of a guy that was a higher draft pick and seems to have more talent. Waller's problem is, he is still raw. When he got to college he was a safety but after he continued to grow taller they switched him to receiver. As a fan I would like to see them make room for 7 receivers and keep him, but i think there is a good posibility they will put him on IR and stash him away for next season. Last season they seemed to do the same thing Butler and there have been nothing but rave reviews about him.

Yeah, i was going to say the same thing. I have no idea where steelcityraven got the idea that Butler hasn't been consistent. People forget that Butler was pretty consistent last season too. I was even predicting that Butler was going to beat Aiken for the last roster spot. With Butler looking better than he did last season I would be completely shocked if he didn't make the roster.

I still don't think its that black and white. We all already knew he was one of the top offensive linemen in the NFL. The questions are: Are the Ravens willing to pay a lineman the kind of money Yanda would get on the free market? Do they want to save a couple million by signing a great player, instead of signing the best player? Would they rather invest in a player that will be around for 4 or 5 years, or a player that they think they could keep around for 8-10 years(yes, i know there is no guarantee he will resign with the Ravens in 4 or 5 years, but that has to be on their mind)? Personally my gut tells me this is a team that likes to invest in the future and would rather save money so they can sign other players, so they are probably going to resign KO. But with KO's back injury in 2013 and the games he missed in 2014 I think he has some red flags and Yanda might be their best choice.

I don't know, from year to year AP's s stats never really change that much, with 2012 being the one exception. Even when Brett Favre was the qb his number of carries didn't really change but his ypc kind of dropped. No matter what Bridgewater is doing AP will still get around 21 carries a game and average over 90yds a game. I do agree with you, ypc could be an interesting battle, but I think both will finish with around 4.7yds Yes, Peterson will have more yards simple because he will have more opportunities. Without a running back to take carries from him and a passing game that still has a lot of questions AP will probably carry the team the majority of the season. What qb and wrs are you talking about? Unless they give him more control over the offense Bridgewater is as much a game manager as any of the other past Viking qbs. And their receivers didn't do much last season, so why should they expect more this season? Sure Wallace should have a few more yds than what Jennings had last season, but outside of that I don't see a big change. Like I said in the previous comment AP's ypc actually dropped in 2009 and 2010 when the Vikings had a good qb in Brett Favre and some good receivers. So, if he is able to repeat his 2012 season it will because he sat out most of 2014 and got healthy. But as of right now I expect the normal 4.7ypc 1,400yd 10td Adrian Peterson. That's a good point. I know Forsett caught a bunch of passes last season, but I felt like that was something that was missing from our offense. Rice was always such a huge part of the passing game and it was weird not having a running back filling that role. If he can catch more passes I think he could beat AP for more yards from scrimmage.

I don't know, I just feel like Russell fell into a perfect situation for him to succeeded. He plays for a team that has a dominant defense, he has a beast for a running back that has is known to control the game, and he plays on a gimmick offense that is pretty much custom built for his skill level. I have seen him throw too many passes that had no business being complete. He floats these balls up that should be intercepted or knocked away, but because teams are so worried about him or Lynch running the ball the DB is completely out of place to make a play Just watch the first Green Bay game and than the playoff game. In the first game the Packers defense didn't stick to their receivers and they got burnt. But in the playoff game the changed things around and got 4 interceptions and should have won that game. Seattle's defense kept that in the game and despite the fact that Russell looked like garbage 75% of the game he got all the credit for that win.

In the beginning of the offseason I made the argument that Brown might not make the roster, simply because he didn't seem like he grew as a player from 2013 to 2014 and they drafted a similar receiver when they drafted Waller. But Waller hasn't done much and Brown seems to be having a good offseason. If Brown can learn to use his body and his height to beat corners he has a bright future, but if he continues to struggle with that he will always be a rotational receiver that plays limited snaps.

I just find it hard to see the Ravens keep 7 receivers, especially if they keep 4 tight ends(like many have predicted). Right from the beginning I have seen the receivers as a one on one competition, based on their size and skill level. Smith and Perriman have already make the squad and don't really have any competition but Aiken vs Butler, Camp vs. Carter and Brown vs Waller. Aiken and Butler seem to be neck and neck and are pretty much the only other two that we know for sure will make the squad. After that things get a little interesting. Camp has been injured but based on what we have seen out of him when he is healthy he is probably one of the better receivers on the team and he has experience on special teams. While Carter got a lot of hype early in camp it seemed to go away as things went on. Than we have Brown and Waller. Brown had a good rookie season but had a down sophomore season. And Waller is a guy that has redzone threat written all over him but hasn't made a big impression in camp. I just find it hard to not have the roster of SSS, Perriman, Aiken, Butler, Brown and Camp(if he is healthy). Waller is a draft pick so he will probably end up on the IR to save him for next season. I think Carter will have to really impress as a receiver and on special teams to make the 53 man roster. I think he could also end up on IR, but don't be surprised if the team tries to put him on the practice squad and another team grabs him up.

Seriously, letting Boldin go kind of made since. He was on the last year of his contract, he is an aging receiver and until the playoffs he was kind of a disappointment. Not to mention keeping him around probably wouldn't have changed the 2013 season. There was just too many other injuries on the offense to have any real hope that season. Now Bryant is the kind of receiver you build a team around. He is one of the top receivers in the league and is just now entering his prime. Letting him sign with another team should get every fan of this team fired up. The only exception is if somehow drafted his replacement during the 2014 draft. Yes, Bryant's deal will probably reach ridiculous levels, but to fans, and anyone outside of the front office that doesn't understand the Raven's budget would expect the team to pay whatever he is asking.

Was it his idea to deflate that balls? Probably not Did he know about it? Most likely. I have been saying since it the news broke that the NFL doesn't believe Belichick had anything to do with the deflated balls. "I don't think the janitor the works for the Patriots goes to the restroom without Brady's knowledge and Belickick's approval. "

Did you see the list of qbs? Its one of the worst I have ever seen. It was like he threw darts at all the qb names and based on the order of the throw is the order he went with. On that day he stated that Flacco was so low because he had too many incompletions, while playing on a team with a qb friendly offense. Philly, Atlanta, Indy(Luck's and Foles' comp% is lower than Flacco's), those teams have a qb friendly offense, i don't think Baltimore does. But playing in a west coast offense definitely helped Flacco. But in a completely separate article and tweet, he talks about how Flacco had too many interceptable balls. Not balls that were intercepted, balls that he thinks should have been intercepted. I have never heard of such a ridiculous way to measure a qb in my life. Unless the receiver is completely wide open you can make the argument that, that ball could have been intercepted. But according to him he went back and watched every NFL game, except the Lions because their videos wouldn't play, and kept a tally of every interceptable ball and when it happened.

You know, out of all the Pats vs. Ravens games that one sticks out in my mind more than any other one. Yes, the Lee Evans dropped pass hurts the most but to watch the team pull themselves up and punch the Patriots in the mouth was great to watch. I remember the Ravens wanting all their fans to wear their black jerseys, so it would be a black out at the stadium. I remember the commentators calling out the refs for the questionable timeout. And I don't remember if it was the play before or after but after another failed attempt to get the first down the Pats got another try because one of the tackles lined up in the neutral zone. One of the guys calling the game said something like "he's been lining up there all game long, why call it now?" This is the game the fans should have started the bs chant, not the game a few years later when the replacement refs were calling the game.

I was thinking the run defense dropped a lot when Ngata wasn't playing but Miami and Jacksonville didn't really run that much against us. Both of their lead runners only had about 50yds. The Texans ran the ball a lot, and Foster had 95yds but he didn't even average 4 ypc. When you can stop one of the top backs in the league for less than 4 yards than you did something right. It was the Cleveland game that the run defense struggled with to make stops. NFL.com did an article on Jernigan about a week ago, saying he as one of the players to make a leap this season, and I thought this was an interesting quote. "PFF graded Jernigan as their sixth-best 3-4 defensive end in run stop percentage with a 10.1 stop rate. The rookie rated second at the position in pass rush productivity, behind only J.J. Watt. " Even though I think they are flawed, PFF grades is what most people use to guage how well a player performed.

This was posted at the top of LFW June 26th Editor's Note: "Late For Work" will be on vacation next week along with the rest of the Ravens office. Don't worry, we'll be back soon. Training camp is around the corner.