TXRavensFan

When do we get to see the results?

I think Tank is probably more correct on this issue, and that you're misunderstanding his argument. I'm pretty sure he's not saying that QB performance is entirely dependent on the receivers, but rather that the quality of receivers has an effect on passing stats. Therefore, your example is a bit off base. If I understand correctly, he's not implying that a back up QB (Schaub) would have the same stats as the starter (Flacco) just beause the targets are the same. Rather, given Flacco's talent as a baseline/constant, he would have better stats throwing to a group of highly talented receivers than he would throwing to a corps of replacement-level receivers (and the same would hold for Schaub). However, because Flacco is more talented than Schaub, he'd probably have similar/better stats throwing to replacement-level guys than Schaub throwing to all-pros. To get back to the original example, taking Ben's talent as a constant, I doubt there's a question that he puts up better numbers with Brown, Bell, Wheaton, and Bryant than he does with a bunch of scrubs. The way I see it, while a good QB can elevate the game of his receivers, a good receiver can also elevate the game of his QB. The last factor that needs to be taken into account is the offensive scheme in which the QB plays. I doubt anyone would argue that a QB in a pass-oriented scheme would put up better numbers than if he played in a run-oriented offense. Football is a team sport. Even so-called individual passing stats will depend on at least the above three factors: talent of the QB, talent of the receivers, and offensive scheme.

Both Bryant AND Thomas have both reportedly turned down offers that average over $12M/yr. We're tight against the cap now - can you imagine what the offseason would like like trying to get the Bryant deal done too? Those kind of numbers almost guarantee he wouldn't be getting a second contract from the Ravens. Apparently, both receivers are looking at Megatron's contract as a starting point rather than the exception (thanks Detroit!), so it will be interesting to see how these contracts pan out. If Perriman tuns out to be a stud, we may be looking at some huge numbers in four years anyway (hopefully without the drama - Breshad seems to be a pretty grounded and humble kid).

There's nothing more annoying than seeing "you hate us 'cause you ain't us" 100 times on any post concerning the #Gatetriots on NFL.com or ESPN. Newsflash - we're glad we ain't you.

My responses in red: Have to go, so I'll respond to the rest later

McNally was the Officials' Locker Room Attendant, not a member of the equipment staff. The deflator's duties did not include preparing balls for game day in any way, shape, or form - that was the responsibility of Jastremski and his staff (of which McNally was not a member).

Gotta hand it to Pats fans - they really stick to the official talking points. What they all fail to consider (regarding the phone records) is that Brady may have emailed or texted people other than Jastremski or McNally regarding the footballs (Bellichick, perhaps?), and such records wouldn't show up on the latters' phones. In addition, I have yet to see a Pats fan actually provide evidence that a leak originated from the NFL offices. They all refer to this "2 psi" figure that was mentioned in some article, but I have yet to see anyone trace this figure back to the NFL league office - it may well have come from there, or it could have been something made up by the reporter, we just don't know. Either way, it's a poor excuse. In addition, while the NFLPA may have recommended that Brady not turn over his phone records, this is not a criminal investigation, it is a workplace investigation: the closest analogy is to a company that conducts bag searches of employees to prevent theft. The employee has the legal right not to open his or her bag, but must then face termination or punishment as described in the employment contract. Brady chose not to cooperate, and therefore received a punishment. A few finals points: first, the ideal gas law "science" doesn't explain the statistically significant differences in the deflation rates between the Patriots' and Colts' balls at halftime (let's forget for the moment that there was a guy on the Patriots staff who called himself the "deflator" who took the balls into a bathroom against protocol, and who also referred to receiving a needle to use). The official talking points here rely on the AEI report to disprove the Wells Report findings; however, if you read the AEI report, the only way the attempt to discredit the findings (they say that the Exponent results hold in 3 of 4 statistical models they used) is by assuming the Colts' balls were overly re-inflated by sitting in a warm room longer. Unfortunately, this assumption is not supported by facts. If the assumption that balls that sat in the warm room longer would have higher air pressure, one would expect that the last Patriot ball measured would have a higher reading than the first Patriots ball measured, and would also be closest in pressure to the first Colts ball (measured immediately afterward. Unfortunately for the Pats, neither was the case and is why the AEI report falls flat. Second, while not part of the statistical models, one thing that I find extremely interesting is the post-game measurements. When a random sample of balls from the Colts and Patriots were measured after the game, the Colts balls had essentially the same measurements as the readings taken at halftime and were all within regulation. However, the Patriot balls (re-inflated at halftime) all measured within regulation as well. If the ideal gas law can explain the deflation at halftime, why weren't the balls similarly deflated at the end of the game? What was the difference in the handling of the Patriot balls before the game started and at halftime?

Elvis gets a bad rap, but he was far from the worst. He led the team to a 10-6 record and the playoffs, even after Jamaal missed the entire season with a knee injury. Sure you weren't thinking about Scott Mitchell?

Yep, and really, how concerned should we be when the highest praise he has for the professional athletes he's now playing with is that they are....athletes? That's pretty much the equivalent of setting up a buddy on a blind date and telling him that she's got a great personality.

Not necessarily disagreeing with your post, but just wanted to mention that ALL fan bases do this.

If you look at the quote in red closely, it actually supports Eisenberg's premise. In context, remember that Ngata's main role for the Ravens was to basically control two gaps and eat up linemen to stuff the run and so that the linebackers could get to the QB on passing plays. Detroit, however, plays an attacking 1 gap 4-3 defense, so he'll now have the chance to go after linemen one-on-one and try to penetrate into the backfield more. From Ngata's perspective, why wouldn't he be excited to learn a new scheme that gives him more freedom to be a play maker? That certainly wasn't his role, and he in fact, never played in a defense like that here. Further, if you notice, all of the players he listed were defensive linemen (if he had included their linebackers or defensive backs - especially safety - you might have a point). I suppose one could go way out on a limb and say the comments were disrespectful to maybe Williams, Jernigan, Gregg, Price, etc. etc., but it just seems like a case of him talking up his new line mates, rather than putting down any of his former team mates. Another poster had the best analogy: "Every guy tells his new girlfriend that he's never had anyone like her before."

It was a funny visual LOL

um...missing?

My favorite part of the play is how the Punt team just destroyed the 49ers trying to get to Koch, since penalties didn't matter.The best were Dickson holding and Considine totally tackling his guy. LOL Jimmy Smith could have done a bit better on his guy though.

True; in the back of my mind, I'm still holding out hope that they can get all three done, so any extra cap room is a plus.

Yeah I'd go with Anthony Wright or Stoney Case before Banks.

Even so, any extra savings against the cap gives us more room to get contracts for Tucker, Yanda and/or Osemele done.

'nuff said

That's what I was thinking, but wasn't sure. I have to say though, a worst-of-the-worst tournament, while possibly more depressing, would be more interesting to me.

Honestly, I don't quite get it. Is the tournament to decide which is the worst Ravens team of all time (in which case the loser of each match-up advances) or the best among the worst Ravens teams?

I don't know how anyone could be "blamed" besides Torrey. When thinking about the play call, the Ravens were being aggressive, which I would argue is the reason they're so good in the playoffs compared to the regular season (I'm of the opinion that if they played as aggressively in the regular season, we'd be seeing a lot more division championships and home playoff games). I also think most fans want to see the Ravens attack more on offense, so talking about wanting to methodically drive down the field (assuming that it would lead to a score) is nothing more than hindsight (the bomb didn't work, so obviously they should have went for the "easy" first down). As for the play itself, it was a pretty good throw considering that Hurst put his guy on the ground right where Joe was going to plant. so he threw it off his back foot. All Torrey had to do was keep his eye on the ball and make a play for it - it would have been an incompletion at worst, since he would have had position on the safety had he not put his head down and thrown that weak shoulder. Torrey simply gave up on the play. But had it worked, everyone would be praising the aggressive play call.

Saw this comment on an article about Austin Collie's CFL debut. If anyone isn't aware,he suffered at least 3 concussions, and no NFL team offered him a contract. It perfectly sums up how I feel regarding Pitta's comeback: Obviously, a hip injury isn't life-threatening, but you get the idea.

Now that was a Texan proposal!

Vacation this week.

161st measured against expectations based on his elo score, and 28th based on expectations with a replacement level QB.