balfan23

Yes.

The previous poster is saying that anyone who thinks we should have taken Hargraves over Stanley would be crazy. Ozzie's reputation on drafting was earned over the years, but most understand (including Ozzie himself) that he has made some pretty questionable picks in recent years. Stanley would not appear to be one of them.

Aside from your post, I have to include @RavenManiac#7 @raven4evr @bigcatfrank In general, when a comment is followed by an ellipsis ( ... ) it sort of indicates sarcasm. I am not sure I've seen a single person who is "excited" to see us move forward with this status quo. I certainly AM NOT. Again - I kind of get the argument for keeping Marty. I think Pees has run his course and the run game has basically been crap for years and I don't understand how Castillo isn't held responsible at some level for that.

I scoffed at this thread when it was created. But really, back in Oct, he really was not. The season was still in front of us. We needed to see where we ended up when all was said and done for 2016. It was conceivable at that time that we could get to the playoffs and maybe do at least a little damage. The way this season unraveled ... missing the playoffs on a pretty spectacular collapse ... the seat is now officially hot. So - is 2017 a playoffs or die season for Harbaugh? I certainly think so. If we manage a 10-6 and get squeezed because the Steelers/Bengals catch fire and take the division and we lose on some tiebreak on a WC spot, it would make the decision tougher. I think missing the playoffs with a 9-7 or less - no matter the number of injuries, or number of bust draft picks, or any other excuse will save him.

That's not going to happen. From a previous article: "Harbaugh said he’s excited to move forward with all three coordinators, including Defensive Coordinator Dean Pees and Special Teams Coordinator Jerry Rosburg." We are all excited as well ...

I wouldn't count on that. Announcing the firing of an assistant and then later announcing the firing of the coach above him is highly unlikely. If Castillo were to be dismissed, it would have been announced first or at the same time as the assistant.

I know so many likely saw the title of the article and immediately looked to see if Castillo was one of the 2. Since his assistant was, one has to think that John feels that Juan's doing a heckuva job and any issues that existed were due to an assistant not being on board and that Juan is here ... at least for this year. It would make no sense to announce the dismissal of an assistant and then later decide to part ways with Castillo. Whatever ... it's John's call and it's John's job that is on the line. So if we just see more of the same, fans won't have to worry about what coach will be fired next off season, The entire regime will be gone. Just hope we're not delaying the inevitable for one more year ...

That's a lot to upgrade ... particularly since we've been netting about 1 or maybe 2 starters per draft of late. Gonna have to get really creative with bringing in low cost starter quality players ... which is easier said than done.

That's who SI has us taking, but I'll be stunned if we go WR with our first pick. Not saying it can't happen, it just isn't the way our FO seems to operate on draft day.

In the end, it is John's call (as it should be) and he clearly thinks he has a better shot at getting us to where we need to be by standing pat on both sides of the ball. He has to know that this is a make or break season, so to think he's doing it out of loyalty to anyone on his staff is kind of crazy. I'm still glad we have an owner that doesn't dictate football decisions on coaching staff and players to his HC and GM. But he will make the decisions on whether changes need to be made at HC and GM level at the close of 2017.

I really think the title of the article needs to state specifically "Offensive" coordinator, because I think standing pat at "Defensive" coordinator is easily as big a risk. The valid arguments for keeping Marty (get at least some degree of consistency and give the guy a chance to have a full offseason, camp and season to put his stamp on the unit) do not apply to the defense. We've had consistency in coordinator on the defensive side of the ball and our coordinator has put his stamp on that unit. So to think that our shortcomings there are going to get corrected in 2017 seems naive.

But why did we look like a bottom 5 defense for the last 4 games of the season? I'm sorry. I was really excited about our D through the early going, but even then, if we'd take a lead, we'd give it up or allow things to get really scary. Then they flat out disappeared. The defense in 2016 was a tease and then disappointed big time. It is valid to be asking questions as to why this is happening, because the late game issues have been with us for years.

"If they don't fix it now, they'll miss out on the postseason again." And if that happens, I really have to think it will be the end of the Harbaugh era. Steve is completely right, as long as he feels he's willing to retain Harbaugh, that he lets John make all coaching staff decisions ... but then the end result is on him. I have to think another season like this one, where we sooo close, yet we see so many instances where we just let things get away from us, that it will be the end of the line, I don't think we're a franchise that is cool with break even record over the past 3 years. make it 4 and I think the grace points earned in a SB victory are gone.

I really do agree. While Marty hasn't given me a lot of reason to get excited, I'm not entirely surprised that we've retained him. We've definitely got issues with consistency on that side of the ball and got to find a way to get better in the run game, but defensive collapse has become a Ravens hallmark of this team since 2013. So many times at the ends of games when we need to stand firm, the opposing offense cuts through us like a hot knife through butter. If the offense finally clicks and gets us a late lead, it will be gone on the next possession. I don't know how that is OK. Injuries have been used as an excuse over recent years, but I'm sorry ... we can't just say Jimmy's out so we're going to fall apart. There is something missing on the defensive side of the ball and I don't care what our ranking is. We play good teams, they slice and dice us and not matter who we play, the end of games we freeze up and get abused.

Don't forget that we got boot stomped through the last 4 games in the run game. That was supposed to be our strength. It has little to do with Jimmy. Don't forget the Philly game. That was a travesty on defense that we only narrowly got past.

Agreed ... as frustrating as the offense has been at times, the defense is what has really caused me to lose my mind. The collapse of the defense at the end of the season was breathtaking and is what cost us a playoff berth. IMO, I would actually have felt that Pees may be more likely to be let go than Marty. I seriously doubt that will happen either. We're just going to roll with status quo and hope something changes.

Fine - maybe retaining Marty is the right move. Maybe having him go through an entire offseason as the OC, he'll show more ingenuity than we saw during the course of this season. Maybe he'll realize that when you have a commanding lead late in the game with the ball on the 12, you'll run the football rather than allow Joe the opportunity to throw a devastating pick or when you're 1st and goal from the 3 that you might try to run the ball to get it in or to at least get closer. Perhaps he'll draw up plays to try and get the ball into the hands of his playmakers (Wallace and Perriman) in space, rather than asking them to go run around and see if they can get open. I'll be the first to admit I don't know the Xs and Os of this game to critique an OCs game calling and neither can the majority of fans, but they can see results and this has been a weird season. Is it Marty or is it Joe? I don't know ... but the number of times we've thrown the ball a mile in front of the sticks this season was mind-boggling. IMO - I'm not terribly surprised that we've kept him and, had I been forced to bet, I'd have bet that we'd keep him. But if the results next year look like they did during the latter part of the 2016 season, I don't think it will be Marty who will be answering for them.

Players would be fools to publicly say anything but that they are in love with their coaches. What good would it do to speak out? In the end, fans are saying that they are tired of seeing lack-luster performances. They are tired of seeing an offense that has underperformed. They are tired of seeing a defense that will play well at times and the collapse when they are needed the most. They want that to change and aren't sure how we're supposed to achieve that by doing the same thing over again.

Bisciotti is giving Harbaugh one more season. Despite the opinion of some who believe Steve has stepped in before and forced a member of the coaching staff out (most notably Cam), I don't believe that for a minute. Decisions involving coaching staff have always been and are still now John's to make. If John wants to keep Marty and Pees, that's his choice. if the team fails this coming year, it will be the end of John's stay in Baltimore, in which case you can say goodbye to the entire lot of everyone. The question is - what will qualify as failure? Is an 8-8 season going to be deemed a failure? If we are 8-8 as a result of this injury or that, does that excuse it? I know must of us will view anything short of a playoff appearance as a failure, but will Steve see it that way? I suppose we will wait to find out. I hope it doesn't come to that, but I fail to see how the status quo is going to change the outcome that we've seen over the past couple years.

All the talk is about whether to stand pat with Marty, but I'm really concerned about the total collapse of the defense to finish the season. Injuries have been the excuse as to why the defense has let us down in recent years, but we continue to invest in that unit through the draft and in FA and we see this result. I don't want to hear that losing one player - Jimmy Smith - should cause the entire house of cards to come crashing down. Last year, Harbs gave Pees a pass because, despite the defense being terrible for the majority of the season, he cited that they were highly rated to finish the season. Please don't cite the defense's ranking for the overall season this year, when they finished out the season in such horrible fashion. I'm not just talking about the embarrassing performance in week 17. Despite the offense having its ups and downs, it is the defense that cost us a playoff berth this season. I just don't think we can ignore the fact that, when the game is on the line, this unit fails more often than it succeeds. Is it not fair to question that this is a failure of coaching?

So do we know what the SOS is for these teams? I can't seem to find that. ESPN has one but it only does the worst 10 teams.

This doesn't fit any of the draft threads and I'm not sure where else to ask. We have several teams looking to go 8-8. Obviously want to drop under them and pick higher in the draft. Here's what we have: TEN, Indy and MIN are already at 8-8. Hoping to see DEN and NO join the fun. Any idea how the tiebreakers work here?

The Good: I have to think Dixon rolls into next year as our lead back, with West (should we retain him) spelling him at times. He just look like he's ready to be a real positive asset The Bad: The fact that Joe couldn't get the ball to WRs almost at all. Pitta, check down, Pitta, check down all game (and all season) long. They get one ball to Perriman in even a little bit of space and he (basically) takes it to the house. Play calling or Joe - I don't know, but that makes for a sad offense. The Ugly: Aside from SSS having a terrible send off, I think the biggest ugly will be if that injury to Mosley is serious. I can see wanting to win and playing your starters to go out with a positive, but at the point when we failed on 4th down deep in our territory, every player of real note should have been on the sidelines. We can't have Mosley starting the season on the PUP next year, because he tore his achillies in the waning moments of a meaningless game that was already lost.

Every player and coach should be in line to apologize to him for this travesty.

Or I could understand if his time here was on a team with a level of success that he had not seen in his days at Carolina. That has just not been the case - through no fault of his own.