jravens13

  7 hours ago, ravens4life86 said:

Eisenbeeg Premise is both right and wrong. Right, because this is Flaccos team now and he hasnt ever been given the offensive weaponry of a Big Ben,Rodgers,Brees etc to win mainly mainly on his arm an put up MVP type seasons.
Eisenberg is wrong, Defense wins championships. Just look at recent history with LOB and Denver. Secondly Ravens franchise philosophy is Defense first, and balance on offense which lends itself to more "Team" success then individual success.
Last its widely accepted the 2 most important holes to fill in the draft are transcendent Pass Rushers, and Gamechsnging WRs..so you can improve both sides of the ball and not have to be 1 dimensional team

I think a talented CB to go opposite Jimmy is more important than a pass rusher is going into next season.I know Suggs suffered a serious injury and is a year older,but he and Doom played at a crazy high level when they were both on the field together.It's hard to believe that they won't even be good enough playing together next year.Our pass rush looks like it's at the least good enough to win a SB.As is,the secondary doesn't look like a superbowl winning secondary,IMO.

Hargraves is the guy for that. We could pick up a pass rusher with our early 2nd Rounder too. Kevin Dodd and Leonard Floyd would be nice!

We have to invest in our Defense. We will not be a consistent team unless we have a playoff level Defense. We will never become the Colt's with Manning, Marvin Harrison, Reggie Wayne, Edge James and I am okay with that. That team STILL had a losing record in the playoffs.

The Broncos should not be a template....We are the Ravens and defensively we need to get the swag back and offensively we need to play smash mouth ball PERIOD. Cram the ball down opposing teams throats.

Agreed!

We'll have to see how combine shakes out...

But if I had my dream draft right now..
Rnd 1, Bosa, Ramsey DB, Treadwell WR
Rnd 2, Dodd,Calhoun DE/OLBrs, Coleman,B.Miller, W.Fuller, Doctson WRs, Sua Cravens,K.Brothers, LBrs
Rnd 3, Cyrus Jones, K.Russell, Darian Thompson DBs,
Rnd 4

No 1st Round WR!!
Round 1: Tunsil, Bosa, Ramsey, Jack, J. Smith, or Hargraves III
Round 2: Kevin Dodd, Leonard Floyd, Emmanuel Ogbah, Karl Joseph, Eli Apple, Josh Doctson
Round 3: Sterling Shepard, Cyrus Jones, Adolphus Washington, Pharroh Cooper, Tyler Boyd, William Jackson III, Rashard Higgins

Miles Jack and Jaylon Smith would also get this defense it's swagger back. I think Gurley might help teams make a think twice about passing on a future star (Jaylon Smith) and they will wait to get paid their dividends for the long run. How can you rule out Jaylon Smith for the season when he injured his knee in January 1st? Flacco says he will be back by training camp and he injured his knee in November 24th.

1 hour ago, Tenacious Faulker said:

I disagree. Mannig did that too in his own way. He can be fiery too, be just doesn't sermonize like Rev, Ray-Ray. There are a lot of similarities between their final season (especially the tome missed and timely return due to serious injury) if Manning does choose to hang'em up.

However, it was far more classy and epic that the best inside linebacker to play the game said at the beginning of the season that he's retire and went out with a bang. Bettis chose to call it quits after at the beginning of the playoffs and Elway did so after a short period of reflection after his last SB win. To me Lewis' "last hurrah" was the most epic as the team rallied around him and won despite being an underdog every step of of the way in a storybook season.

No who has played this game has motivated players at much a Ray Lewis. Look at how many coaches he promoted under his wing, look at how many players got big contracts while playing under Ray Lewis. You don't see teams stealing defensive guys now. Manning was just a benefactor of a dominant defense. He played awful and they still won. He didn't get them fired up. The Denver offense played horrible minus a few nice running plays. The defense stole the show. That game goes to Wade Phillips, John Elway and the bunch of wild dogs getting after it. 

Wait. Was it 4 or 5 reasons to draft Ramsey if available? Sometimes in an effort to seem clever, writers get confusing. Not that I need a 5th reason for Ramsey, but let's just keep it simple here. It's football...not exactly a Pulitzer Prize category.

There is only one real scenario why the Ravens don't draft at #6 and that's if one QB or less is drafted in the top 5 and Bosa, Tunsil, Hargreaves, Treadwell and Ramsey are all gone. The only thing that changes that is if a team gives up a stupid amount of picks that Ozzie would be foolish to turn down.

Treadwell no thanks. We can find value at WR in the 2nd and 3rd Round. Ozzie has failed at WR too many times to take a risk this high and WR isn't a top priority with Smith coming back, Aiken developed into a starter, and Butler looking like he can hold it down in the slot. I think we should sign a Veteran WR if we want to add depth.

Hargreaves is too small for me to take that high, and he got smoked in his bowl game by a speedy WR. I think physical WR's will take advantage of him. And he doesn't have great recovery speed/length.

Now Bosa, Tunsil, Jack, Ramsey, or Jaylon Smith is what I'm rooting for. Those guys will bring attitude to this team. And they are freaks.

Deepest RB class was definitely the 2008 Ravens when we ran heavy because Flacco was a rookie: Le'ron McClain, Willis McGahee, and Ray Rice. I loved that team. We were so physical on both sides of the football...We lost our physicality ever since the SB, and the retirement of Ray Lewis.

Our defense will not be good enough unless we address it heavily through the draft, FA, and underperforming players are willing to take pay cuts, which is unlikely. I think the Trestman offense is all about stats, and does little for the win column because we fail to control time of possession. I think we are somewhere around 8-8, but we get the easy NFC East which could propel us to 10-6, only to get bounced out of the playoffs quick.

19 hours ago, billiejean said:

believe it or not Harris was a UFA. sure does play like a first rounder though.

Wow, I did not know that. He pretty much stepped into stardom in his second year. It is amazing that somehow he fell through the cracks. 

Ray Lewis meant a lot more to this team than Manning did. Not in term's of play on the field, but instead motivation. He always made everyone around him better. Manning only cared about dropping some poor taste Budweiser ads.

Flacco is elite, see the company he was with at the SB salute to MVPs. A national poll will only reflect the garbage the media puts out to belittle Flacco's accomplishments. I mean with his resume, it is ridiculous to even realistically question him. But....Raven haters keep hating, and unfortunately Big Joe gets the...bad....end of the stick. Besides, he is OUR QB, so let all the haters go... jump in a lake (it's hard staying PG-13 with comments lol)! GO RAVENS!

Elite is a meaningless adjective to label a QB with. There are so many other moving parts that affect the play of a QB: Offensive line play, the offensive game plan/play calling, WR's play, the running game, the defense, Special teams play, field position, penalties, playing through an injury, and the most underestimated of them all: LUCK.

Cam Newton is the closest thing I have seen to a QB putting a team on his back, yet he still had a dominant defense, an excellent play caller, good kicking game, and played with great field position. Even with all that in place, we all got to see how that fell apart when his O-Line, Running Game, and WR's vanished.

QB is the most important, yet overrated position in the NFL. If that makes any sense. Keep handing out the $100M dollar contracts to mediocre QB, and watch as more and more average QB's win Super Bowls. The money could be better spent. I would rather spend a 1st Round pick on a QB than pay one $25M a year.

Newton not diving on that fumble, combined with the lackadaisical offense that had ZERO concern for the clock when they were down in the 2nd half made me question the credibility of the entire game. The Panthers offense looked gassed out at the end of the first half, and normally they get stronger as the game goes on. Maybe the pressure of Denver was just that overwhelming, but it almost looked like the two teams were drinking different Gatorades on the sideline...Conspiracy? Who knows...

But to break down Denver's Defense is is much more than two dominant edge rushers (Ware and Miller) They also have THREE 1st Round picks as their starting CB's (Roby, Talib, and Harris). They have interior lineman that are stout, yet also capable of generating a rush (Derek Wolfe, Malik Jackson, and Sylvester Williams). They have ILB's that were late draft picks (Marshall &Trevathan), but can absolutely fly sideline to sideline, because they are undersized compared to the history of the position. Their speed also gives them an advantage in coverage, and in blitzing situations. They invested heavily in their SS TJ Ward, and their FS (Darian Stewart) is a journeyman who played well for us last year. They also have some decent depth at certain positions, DE and OLB where they can keep guys rushing the passer fresh. Credit Elway the QB, for adjusting to today's Pass happy game and getting personnel that will terrorize opposing QB's and a coach with a history of bringing pressure (Wade Phillips).

On their Defense they had (6) former 1st Round Picks, and (2) 2nd Rounders.

Our defense is not built anything like this:
Former 1st Rounders: (3) Suggs, Mosley, J. Smith
Former 2nd Rounders: (3) Upshaw, Daryl Smith, Jerrnigan

We clearly haven't invested enough in our defense over the last 5 years, as we have emphasized adding to the offense. And our offense is still just mediocre. Elway has the modern recipe for what works on defense. Ozzie might be living in the 2000s still.

14 hours ago, outkast1 said:

But their are no locks in the NFL. You must first play at an NFL level with equal talent.

I don't know what your last sentence means. But there are a few locks in this draft: Miles Jack, Jaylon Smith, Leremy Tunsil, and Joey Bosa. This class reminds me of 2011 where there were a ton of pro bowlers. 

Was 52 in his prime? Check. End Discussion.

Congrats to Owen Daniels, Darien Stewart, and Gary Kubiak!

And he has the qualities of a true Raven. I am a fan of this guy already.

Pick Monster is a great nickname.

9 hours ago, outkast1 said:

1st round picks are not a lock in the NFL. Your second round pick could be better than your first. The Ravens picked up some really good players in last years draft. Revis couldn't win the jets a super bowl and I know Marcus Peters is not the answer.You ended with Michael Oher as an example ? Oher would still be here if that move was great.

All I am saying is that we have not been aggressive enough in the 1st Round, trading up for guys who in my eyes were locks. Oher I knew nothing about, but Peters had the making of a lock down Corner. Perriman was raw, and notorious for drops in college. I didn't like the pick at the time, but I still have high hopes for him based off his size/speed. I would have preferred Peters all day. One player is never the answer. I never made that claim. The guys I named were guys I thought we could have easily traded up for based on where we were drafting. Dez Bryant, Ogletree, and Peters stand out the most to me though. 

DEFENSE wins Championships...

And a STUD LT. LOL

DEFENSE wins Championships...

I think Shepard will be a legit NFL WR. There is something about those undersized guys that want it more than everyone. Steve Smith, Antonio Brown, Julian Edelman, Odell Beckham.

Yes we are. Defense wins championships and we don't have a playoff caliber defense. We could have been aggressively trading up to draft the Defensive Rookie of the Year: Marcus Peters who showed all the signs of being a star coming out of Washington. Swapping the 26th Pick for the 17th would have cost us our 2nd Round pick and in return we would have received the trade partner's 4th Rounder. How much better would our team have been this year if we had Peters starting at CB with Jimmy Smith instead of Breshad Perriman and Maxx Williams? No doubt, Maxx Williams looks promising, but we found value in TE in the 5th Round.

I think Ozzie needs to get more aggressive and trade up for the guys we truly covet at high impact positions. This wait and see what happens approach has let us miss out on 2015: Peters, 2013: Desmond Trufant, Alec Ogletree, Sharrif Floyd Xavier Rhodes, 2012: Donta Hightower, Chandler Jones, 2010: Dez Bryant. Lats time we traded up for a player in the 1st Round was 2009 Michael Oher. We can't miss in the 1st Round.

I'm reluctantly rooting for the Panthers to stomp the Broncos.Even though I know it would kill Smitty to see the Panthers win it all without him so soon after he left,I hate Elway and Kubiak a little more for what they did to us last off season.

Cam Newton is going to destroy Denver.

D Stewart one of the top S in the NFL this season???? HMMMM wonder why he couldn't cut it here. JIhedigbo had a great season in Detroit...hmmm wonder why he couldn't cut it here????? K Lewis played at a pro bowl level last year... hmmm wonder why he couldn't cut it here. KArrington the most sought after CB in this seasons FA class (not named Reevis) hmmm wonder why he couldn't cut it here??? Can anyone tell me why not a single DB can find success in Dean Pees system??? it is insane... but we get more of Pees excuses! SMH

Stewart and Ihedigbo were both great players for us in Baltimore. They were just older vets who weren't draft picks. The coaching staff, along with Ozzie decided that they were the scapegoats for the poor corner play, or thought that our young guys Elam and Brooks could replace them for less money. Will Hill belongs on this team, but I didn't see why Kendrick Lewis had all that hype watching him play in purple this year. I would have been fine rolling with Stewart and Hill.

  1 hour ago, jravens13 said:

The Pitta, Monroe, and Webby contracts are killing us. So we have to hang on to a mediocre, injury prone LT because we can't cut him? Or a guy who hasn't suited up in 2 years because he won't retire? Or a guy who is clearly not a top 64 CB yet he is getting paid like a top 10 CB because we continue to back load contracts and we can't get out of them???

Those contracts really weren't backloaded at all though, especially Monroe's and Pitta.

Most long-term deals are hard to get out of in the first three years due to the guaranteed money and signing bonuses attached to them, which is the case here.

Plus, in Monroe and really Webb's case, there's also a lack of realistic, replaceable options available.

Pitta's base YR1: $1M, YR2: $4M, YR3: $5M, YR4: $5.5M YR5: $5.5M (Looks back loaded)

Monroe's Base: YR1: $1M, YR2: $5.5M, YR3: $6.5M YR4: $6.75M YR5: $6.75M (looks back loaded)

Webby signed his original deal in 2012, but took a pay cut and they guaranteed more money for him in the out years. He is now a Safety so we need a corner. Osemele can play LT. But we clearly never worked him out there until had already traded and signed Monroe. Our mismanagement of funds has been almost as bad as our recent 1st Round draft history. I'm just waiting for things to go right for a change because it has been a while since we handled Free Agency and the Draft properly.