fusuymada

I don't think it is odd the change came at 3-2 because even the three wins were barely wins. Just as we could be 5-0 we could also be 0-5 very easily. I was on twitter screaming for his termination after the Washington game because it seemed like we couldn't stand success. Whenever something was working it was almost like we deliberately did the opposite on offense. Flacco skills werent being utilized, instead he was asked to do those things that didn't suit his style. I think the big thing with Marty is what he said, identify our strengths, identify their weakness and keep them off-balance. I believe Mark had a system in his mind and didn't take into consideration that his style didn't suit the moving pieces he had to work with. There was clearly a level of frustration with the players and when players are frustrated, that shows in their play and to me it was obvious. I think that we will do better, not because of changing for changings sake, but because I believe Marty better understands the moving pieces and as such will be better able to use their strengths. His experience in the league will help him identify the other teams weaknesses, giving him a much better understanding of what needs to be done. I look for the Ravens to just plain be a better team.

Did you see what Dumervil did last game? Yeah, me neither, no loss. Judon was far more productive when he was active. Lewis should go to right tackle if Yanda and Wagner are out putting Jensen and Urschel beside Zuttah as guards w/Stanley and Lewis on edges. Think that is best chance for success. Eli and Joe both crawl up into a little ball under pressure and are not effective at all. The team who can put more pressure on the QB will win. Ravens have 10 sacks, Giants have 4. Watched Mornhinweg in 2013 and 2014 w/Jets and he definitely did what he said was important during his presser yesterday. Play your strengths against their weakness and keep them off balance. I think the biggest change will be that with Trestman when the team lined up, you knew what he was callling. When Marty lines up, you can get anything. Also, Marty does a better job of utilizing formations to create space for receivers, something that never crossed Trestmans mind.

"Giants HC Ben McAdoo was a grad assistant at Pittsburgh when Joe Flacco was there and remembers him running over linebackers in practice." 10 years, 120 million dollars and a knee later, Joe isn't that player anymore. However, I do remember a game back in his first year or two, I think it was against the Jets, where he took a QB draw up the middle and leveled a linebacker before he plowed ahead for another couple yards. Those were the days...

At one point in time the way to succeed in the NFL was to not sign free agents, let your free agents walk, gather as many draft picks as you can and use those draft picks wisely. That whole mentality hinges on taking the best advantage of those draft picks as you can. We haven't been doing that. Another thing is there are only 53 roster spots. It makes absolutely no sense to have 13 draft picks when only 6 or 7 will actually make the team, if that many. That means you passed up on free agent players to save a few picks that don't turn into quality players and you have to cut. Or the team didn't make trades and trade away those draft picks that would have been cut anyway so we get nothing for those slots. This draft was the first in awhile that we actually acquired a number of good players but even so, we still cut 5 or 6 of the draft picks that we valued so heavily. What sense does that make? I say that because at this point there are alot of teams out there who are already out of it and looking to next year. We should consider doing a number of trades to strengthen the O-line and strengthen our secondary. Its going to cost a developmental player or two and a couple of those draft picks that Ozzie likes so much, but the strategy that worked for so long when we had a good core of players isn't working anymore because that core is gone. We are in rebuilding mode, even if no one else will admit it. If we want to turn that around into being a competitive team, we are going to have to do some dealing and pick up some other players. Dumpster diving for players that other teams have discarded isn't going to make a super bowl team. Sorry to tell you all that.

I just want to point out something that has been totally lost in the Trestman debacle. Why did we get rid of Monroe? Because he couldn't suit up for half the games. How many games has the new left tackle missed? Half of his games. So we alienated the only good backup we had, he had just had surgery and was ready to play. If he was eliminated because of his stance on medical marijuana, that just dumb. If he failed a drug test, that something different, but he didn't. So here we are, starting Hurst again allowing him to show why he got beaten and allowed Flacco to get hurt last year. Then we put a rookie left tackle out there who did okay but certainly not a pro left tackle. Sometimes I think Harbaugh is afraid of success. Everytime we have the players and seem to be moving in that direction, he dismisses players we absolutely need and keeps people that couldn't start on most college teams. Sometimes I don't get his strategy and if Ozzie makes the final personnel decisions, he is ultimately responsible and does he want his legacy marred by a coach who has a questionable personnel background as a special teams coach.

I watched Mornhenwegs work as OC with other teams and I think all these pundits and bandwagon fans who are blaming Ozzie, Harbaugh, Flacco, our receivers, etc... will be surprised with what Marty does compared to what Trestman did and some will have to eat their words. It is amazing how so many who know so little are so eager to tell people who have been successful in this business how to do their jobs. I guess those who can't do, criticize those who actually get and keep the jobs doing it. Isnt (sniff, sniff) that right (sniff, sniff) Vinnie (sniff, sniff) Cerrato.

I am in the process of going back on NFL's Game Pass and looking at the 2013-2014 Jets, which was the last place Marty was OC at before coming to the Ravens. He had Ivory and Bilal Powel in the backfield with Santonio Holmes, Kerley and a couple other unknowns at wide receiver with Geno Smith as QB. In what I have seen, I have seen a play caller who is much better at utilizing the run and throwing down the field. I think in the first four games I watched so far, there were just a handful of times that Smith checked down and threw short of the sticks. Its not so much calling run, pass or whatever, it is when he utilized each part. First thing I noticed was with Trestman you could almost tell exactly what he was doing from the formation, with Marty, I was constantly guessing. Smith is a comparable QB to Flacco and in the first four games I watched, I saw a system that looks to fit Flacco well. Once again with Trestman, what he did may have suited Cutler but Joe Flacco isn't Jay Cutler. First thing different is Joe wins, Cutler is more about stats. Second is that Marty's play calling suits Flacco. I don't care if we have a pro-bowl QB like some others. I don't care if we have a great #1 receiver, or a superstar running back, I just want to win. I think with the talent Marty has and with the defense we have, we will do well. One other point, we talk about how bad the punt coverage has been but if you score touchdown and kick field goals you don't have to worry about punt coverage. Just saying.

So much to discuss on a lot of different points but I have had this same discussion with other people and listened to Cerrato today on the fan (good friend of Trestman) claiming that the issues aren't Trestman, the problem is Harbaugh and deep rooted. But they seem to have the narrow view of how things work. First, lets start with the offensive line protecting Flacco which seems to be an issue that people distance the OC from and blame others for. In my mind, if the O-Line is a problem, you don't clear the backfield and tight ends and leave just 5 guys to protect Flacco. The catch in the middle of the game that Perriman should have caught and the one he did catch at the end that he didn't get his feet down was a max protect. Flacco hit Perriman on both those throws. Flacco had time, Flacco had good mechanics, Flacco was accurate, Perriman should have caught them. The OC is responsible for protection schemes when he designs plays. If you don't design protection into your plays then your not going to get any. Thats on the OC. Second, its a little hard for Flacco to have good mechanics and step up when item number 1 isn't taken care of by the OC. Its amazing that Flacco won a super bowl MVP and was so successful under Kubiak but then all of a sudden, everything he did good just disappeared. Maybe its like that idiot Cerrato said that Harbaugh couldn't get a hold of Joe on Monday because he was with his kids and therefore Flacco is a bad QB and a bad teammate because he spent his off day with his kids instead of studying film. SMH. If he didn't say it I wouldn't believe it but you know, Joe spent time with his kids before and it had no effect on his mechanics. Once again protection and that is on your OC. Last is playmakers. Luke Jones cites Wallace and other players as not stepping up and making plays, but if your plays are so vanilla and your formation are so simple, your not going to fool many people making it much harder for receivers to get open. We have more talent in skill positions than we have ever had yet they aren't as successful as a bunch of the people we had before that didn't even stick in the NFL. Bunch formations for receivers, crossing patterns, etc... None of these things did Trestman utilize. We never looked at match ups on the field and took advantage of mismatches, we just ran the same old plays over and over. Cerrato made the comment that under Trestman, Cutler, Forte, Jeffries, etc... had the 8th best offense in 2013 when he was HC of chicago and Cutler's stats were better than Flacco's. Where was Trestman in 2012, I know where Flacco was, in the Super Bowl. Did Chicago make the playoffs in 2013? No, so great job on the stats. Where was Trestman in 2014? Not in the playoffs because he was fired from Chicago. Where was Flacco in 2014? Back in the playoffs. I would much rather have a team that wins and gets in the playoffs, than one that has great stats and is so bad the HC gets fired. For these reasons I think Trestman deserved to be fired, probably should have been last year. For those that think there are deeper issues, the Ravens expect an apology when it becomes evident that Trestman took a bunch of talent and completely wasted it because he was head strong and had tunnel vision and he was going to do it his way, regardless of how much the HC told him to change and regardless of how bad his offense actually was.

Good for Steve for taking the high road and not saying anything about Trestman but the answers to those questions should be pretty obvious. First, if your running back is averaging 9 yards a carry you don't stop feeding him the rock and secondly if you pay a 120 million dollars to a QB whose strong point is throwing the ball downfield you don't stop throwing it downfield. Don't blame the O-Line because there are ways to help your O-Line like the play downfield to Perriman where the team went into Max Protect and let Wallace and Perriman go long. That was the first and last time I saw that this year. All year, Trestman hasn't used a TE to chip outside rushers, the running backs provided little protection because they are the favorite people Trestman wanted to throw it to. If you have a line to protect the QB that allows the TE and RB to go free and not chip, thats fine, but when you don't, you just don't ignore it and keep doing the same things over and over. I think its pretty obvious that we will run as long as the runs are there and will play-action when they start filling the box to stop the run. Also, pounding the run will help slow the pass rush. Its almost like Trestman just ignored the fact his O-Line was pieced together and he just ignored that they were constantly getting beat and Joe was getting beat up. Its almost like he was going to do what he wanted to do and he decided the skill of the players or the skill of the defense, or the score of the game, wasn't going to factor into what he wanted to do.

How do you know that? It didn't change when Cam left; it didn't change when Caldwell left. The only person who did anything differently was Kubiak, and we all knew he wouldn't last. Thats just blatantly false. "It didn't change when Cam left;" - Do you remember that when cameron left, Caldwell won the Super Bowl. "it didn't change when Caldwell left" It did change when Caldwell left because it was Kubiak and you said "The only person who did anything differently was Kubiak", which makes no sense after saying it didn't change after Caldwell because Kubiak followed Caldwell. You argued your point and then proved you were wrong. You need to go back and look at what you said because you are just flat wrong and obviously a very confused person when it comes to the history of the OCs for the Ravens.

Moseley's sorry he made that blunder play in the endzone, Perrimans sorry he dropped the ball saying "he has to make that catch", Flacco is embarrassed by the offenses plays (should be embarrassed he hit more feet than hands), Harbaugh said he coached a lousy game (but won't apologize for his stupidest decision) and it seems like everybody is saying I did a crappy job which is great but these same guys have been saying the same thing for the last 5 weeks. Enough of the "my bad" crap we have been hearing and lets stop the stupid plays. No more "MY BAD", do your darn jobs the way you were coached to do them. Okay, now, everyone made Trestman the scapegoat and he deserved the axe, but I could have seen this game easily be a 28-16 game on the plays missed by players, not plays screwed up by the coach. Of course, ultimately its the coach, but now that they chopped Trestman, Harbaugh, Perriman, Flacco, Wallace and the O-Line don't have anyone else to blame, they better start producing or their rear ends should be next.

For all the Trestman supporters, an interesting fact. In the games that Trestman has been OC the Ravens have scored less than 18 points in over 65% of the games. 18 points in the NFL isn't going to win you games, which is why we were 5-11 last year and headed in that direction quick this year. Trestman's record as an OC at other places doesn't mean diddly squat. Trestmans problem from day one is my way or the highway. In other words, this is my system, you are going to run it, even if the QB isn't a dink and dunk qb and although we don't have quick twitch receivers (other than SSS who did well) he still tried to hit the receivers under 10 yards when they can't get open in that area. On third downs, Trestman has called for passes that were thrown short of the sticks 90% of the time. Our offense isn't great, but our talented players are not having their strengths utilized, its almost as if he thought robots were out there and everyone did the same things at the same proficiency. He was a genius who knew he knew everything and he wasn't open to doing things differently. We have all heard Flacco and Harbaugh the last three weeks about running the ball and throwing for chunk yards, yet Trestman does whatever he feels like. I said last week, does Trestman think he is long for this job when he totally disregards the HC. This is overdue from last year, we should have never put up with it through 5 weeks of this year. Kudos to John and Ozzie.

Trestman has shown that he not only hates to run the ball, when your successful he just doesn't do it at all. if he does run, he waits until 3rd and 11 but throws screens and drop off passes on first and second. Trestman has to go. We have an offense we all agreed had the best players in skill positions in the history of the Ravens and he still can't score. It is the fault of the OC who doesn't know how to run an offense. I'd rather have Brian Billick back as OC. Trestmans play calling is pathetic at best. Flacco has complained, Wallace and smith have complained, Aiken has complained, West has complained. Trestman is a bum and needs to go. I don't care what he has done before, he clearly can't lead this team.

I did a little parsing of Trestman's press conference and heard a few interesting things that kind of slipped out and no one has mentioned. First was a question regarding Alex Lewis playing on the outside at left tackle and then about Urschel and Trestman said he played well last year and he expects he will do so again this week. Also when asked about Dixon he said he showed well in preseason and we will see when he starts this week, plays this week. That means Lewis and Urschel on the left side and Dixon starting. That's what I heard, it will be interesting to see if they were slips or misspeaks.

I think that this article nails the rivalry on the head. It frames what is clearly a family rivalry based on geographies. The Steelers and Eagles are in much the same boat, it isn't a rivalry built on life and death divisional games that create an animosity between teams that a simple geographic rivalry can't match. Every game matters but divisional games weigh much heavier because of the overall playoff implications and what really matters in football, getting to the big dance. That road travels through your division, playing them twice a year for decades. I would categorize this as a soft rivalry. With the Colts leaving Baltimore, many fans who loved football had to choose to stay with their Colts, or go to the Steelers and Washington team, I'll admit, I those lean years I rooted for that same Washington team. I would wear Burgandy and Gold quicker than I would ever wear Steelers colors. Many fans didn't return to their Baltimore team when they returned, choosing to stay with the new teams they chose. So in Baltimore we see those Washington logos and those Pittsburgh logos quite frequently and when I see them I tease the Washington fan and curse the Steelers fan. So one week every four years it just seems odd to want to have to hate them.

I said they would put Williams on IR two days ago when everyone was having cows over activating Daniel Brown to fill Forsett's spot and everyone was clamoring over what they will do when Waller comes off his suspension. When the Ravens have been in this position before they wait until the last minute because the suspended players get a roster waiver for a week and the Ravens don't have to make a decision until Saturday night. I guess it is some sort of super secret NFL subterfuge to fake out the other team, but if they didn't fake out someone who just reads the web site, they certainly didn't fool the Redskins who I am sure knew exactly what they were doing.

I am in the same boat as you. Whats the story with Urschel? He is a better center than Zuttah but is being ignored, he is better than Jensen at guard and he is being ignored. He has been a full participant in practice but inactive during games. My theory based on Harbaugh; Urschel must be in the doghouse. He must have studied too much math over the summer and not football and that ticked off Harbaugh, or Urschel may not play special teams which you know ticks off Harbaugh, or he is an NFLPA rep that routinely busts Harbaugh for breaking CBA rules and ticks off Harbaugh. If he was hurt, like earlier I would buy into his being inactive, but he has been practicing at full bore for over two weeks now and has yet to be active. There is something going on here, what it is ain't exactly clear. But I have a feeling based on previous history with our head coach.

LOL, That's a good one Sami and oh so true. He also needs the so called help over the top to be there and it hasn't. I disagree. Jimmy Smith has the same pass rush and the same help over the top. If you are just talking about the help over the top on the last Crabtree TD then I will say yes, Kendrick Lewis is horrible and was out of position as usual. Good thing he was, if he would have been any closer, he would have just ran into him and got a PI call like last year but thats neither her nor there. Help over the top with Weddle has been great this year and the safeties cheat to Wright's side because he needs more help than Smith. Wright got lucky in the first game where he made all those tackles, and then he went back to being the Wright we knew from last year. Time to move on and try someone else. This is who he is, get used to it, this is why he ended up here because if he had great value as a CB the other teams would have kept him. Good corners are hard to find and no team is going to let a good corner go. They may not be able to afford them, but they wont just cut them loose for a song and a dance.

Okay, we signed a safety and we didn't released Lewis. The guy is atrocious. He was one of the main reasons we were so bad last year. Once again, I am confused as to who we are keeping and why and the guys we let go. We let some pretty talented guys go to keep some real stinkers. As far as Terrance Brookes goes, he is on the Eagles practice squad last I heard and he could have been signed off their practice squad if the Ravens wanted him for nothing. Any team can sign any player off of any team's practice squad as long as they put them on the active roster and they can not then be put back on the Ravens practice squad, he would have to be released if they didn't keep him.

Either Harbaugh isn't going to Trestman and telling him his style of play calling doesn't suit his personnel and it has to change or Trestman is ignoring him. Either way, someone is at fault here. It is the job of the Head Coach to make sure that the game plan ties into the strengths of your team and takes advantage of the weaknesses of the other team. I don't think there is a Pop Warner coach who doesn't utilize that strategy. Yet Trestman continues to call plays that baffle the mind, fail to utilize Flacco's arm, Wallace and Perriman's speed, the zone blocking experience the line and backs have and just plods along with the same strategy he used in Chicago. Hello, Trestman, you're in Baltimore now and you just can't use the same plays and the same calls you used with Cutler. If I am Bisciotti, somebody is getting an earful and maybe everyone from Ozzie to Trestman need to get an earful because I started saying this two weeks ago, since then virtually every pundit and analyst has said exactly the same thing and Hensley basically tweets out exactly the same thing, Trestman doesn't know how to use Flacco's arm.

They will put Williams on IR. Much like Campanaro, he has had one issue after another. This is what happens when you decide you need a tight end in the draft when the draft doesn't have any good tight ends in it. AND we moved up to get him. I can't imagine, as productive as Waller was in preseason, and that other than Gilmore, he is the only other tight end who can block. Had Watson still been here, Waller may have been in trouble, but with the loss of Watson, the lack of anything from Williams, we know Pitta is a receiver and not a blocker and the running game needs another big tight end we can put in there with Gilmore for two tight end sets. I like Daniel Brown, but he isn't as polished as Waller is at this point.

Because of Dixon coming off injury is an unknown, you almost have to have all 3 backs active on Sunday. If Dixon goes down on the second run of the game with a relapse of his knee injury, then you can't expect West to carry the entire load. And lets not forget that West has come out of the game after getting pounded a couple times and so three backs will be a necessity.

I like Brown but I think there must be another move coming with Williams because although Waller ticked them off, his production in preseason was off the hook and he deserves a spot on the roster. Brown has a lot of upside and spent alot of time in a lot of different positions in training camp but so did Waller. I think adding them both allows for more flexibility in their offense however, if Trestman can't draw up better plays and make it so Joe can actually throw the ball down the field then it doesn't matter who is out there, Joe isn't a dink and dunk qb. Too bad we don't have an OC on the practice squad we can elevate or at least someone who will sit him down and make him watch tape of what Joe does well, because clearly Trestman doesn't know Joe as well as half of what the people in the comments section know him (and that is not sarcasm, I'm serious).

Butler is on Tampas practice squad or should I say WAS on their practice squad as they promoted him to their 53 man roster this week. They knew the Ravens were going to make a WR move and would probably take him from their practice squad but they squelched that by activating him. When I blasted the Ravens for keeping Forsett, Hurst, etc... and letting Butler go, everyone said "no one signed him to their 53 so he must not be that good." Well, good enough that Tampa chose to elevate him rather than allow Baltimore to take him. A lot of subterfuge for someone who is "no good because no one signed him to the 53."

We all know Joe, we know who Joe is, we know what type of guy he is as far as speaking his mind. For Flacco to come out and say anything, and this is the second time he has said something about chunk plays, must mean that there is really a problem. Joe is a quiet guy so for him to come out twice now, once in a press conference and once on the sideline to Trestman, it would be like any other player standing on a table and screaming. Trestmans offense is not a good fit for Joe and his arm. Joe is not accurate short. However, he used to hit Mason on 15 yard out routes with no issue, he used to hit Pitta down the seam for 30 yards, he used to throw over top to Torrey Smith, he used to drop a pretty 30 yard wheel route out to Rice. These are all historical examples of what Joe is capable of and is good at. Nothing that Trestman has Joe doing is something that favors his skill set. Now it is drop off here, quick slant, wr screen, end around, flea flicker, trick plays. That isnt Joe Flacco. If the offense, with this much talent, more talent at the skill positions than we have ever had, if this offense doesn't do anything against the Redskins who are ranked 30th against the run, then they have to reconsider whether Trestman is the guy to get it done here. Lets fact the fact that Trestman just cant change who he is overnight and what we have seen is who Trestman is, so to instill change, they are going to have to get a better OC, or at least one whose ideas mesh with the talent the Ravens have. Trestman is a supposed genius, but I haven't seen anything that I haven't seen 1000 times. Because he made this system work with Cutler, doesn't mean its a good system for Flacco.