bioLarzen

And it's not just him. Aiken is all but officially gone, Brandon Williams will, by all likelihood, be gone too - and I'm not sure we can keep both Rick Wagner and Juszczyk...

The #1 Picks have not provided that much either. 2009 Oher. 2010 Kindle. 2011 J Smith. 2012 Upshaw. 2013 Elam. 2014 Mosley (PLAYER) 2015. Perriman(????) 2016 Stanley(PLAYER) Kindle was Round 2, Upshaw was not a #1 either. They were both "#1" though - in the sense that they were the first picks of their drafts for the Ravens.

The curse of a mediocre season: too good for a really good draft spot, not good enough for the playoffs. The worst of both worlds.

I expected better questions from you bio. These are all inflammatory gotya type questions that are more about getting your opinion across than getting serious answers. Seriously, you are better than this. I would still like to hear his answers, because those would tell us a lot about what we can expect in the future. Also, since I'm a simple fan not invited to the presser, it hardly matters how appropriate my questions are, doesn't it

Please, tell us how Flacco is to blame for the D allowing 4 game winning drives to the opponents... If 2 of those don't happen, we'd be in the playoffs now.

By that logic no coach should ever be fired - as they aren't the ones losing on the field.

How could you possibly know this is what's happening?

OK, so Kubiak has apparently made it clear that he's retiring from coaching in the NFL in general, not just from being a HC. So, I guess we can put the idea/hope of luring him back, to sleep right here.

I wish there was someone at the season concluding presser who would ask the followiong questions from Steve: - Do you agree that what the Ravens showed this season was mostly mediocre? - If you do: do you accept mediocrity on the long term - especially after one of the best off-seasons in team history, with a draft and free agency that might both go down as among the best in team history? - If you don't accept mediocrity on the long term - how do you plan to stop it? - What exactly do you see in coach Harbaugh that gives you hope that things will turn around, after such a promising season - a great roster with few injuries - was lost in such an unacceptable fashion? - What gives you the reason to believe Harbaugh will somehow get the hang of how to spot a good OC? He had 5 OC'S, and four of them - Cam, Caldwell, Trestman and Mornhinweg - were obviously NOT good enough. And worse: the tendency is worrying: the last two ones were the worst by far. What makes you think this tendency won't continue? WHY wouldn't it continue if the same man is allowed to pick the next OC who picked the previous ones? - Aren't you afraid that the Ravens are gonna lose more and more fans if the Ravens continue to be a team that's seldom fun to watch - even when they win? - What's your stance on Flacco's performance in 2016? - If you agree that it was easily his worst season ever, how do you plan to make him seem like a QB that actually wants to play and win - like he used to do? - Do you think we, Ravens-fans deserved this seasson? - Do you agree that it was shameful,. borderline insulting for Steve Smith to have to end his career like this? And most importantly: - What has to happen to convince you that Harbaugh is not what he used to be, anymore? That he's been wasting good, potentially successful seasons since the Super Bowl? You see, I agree that continuity is a great asset and that it should never be underestimated. But it shouldn't be overvalued either. I'm afraid that insisting on prioritizing continuity will come at the price of prolonged mediocrity for the Baltimore Ravens. As the owner who finances all this mediocrity - is this really what you want? Is this what you're willing to settle for?

... and the same crap begins. The Ravens don't need MANY changes. They need a few, but QUALITY changes. Mainly in the coching dept.

At least that would be an NFL-first Firing both OC and DC mid-game

Whew, I'm relieved. Cheeky fellow Harbaugh got me thoroughly scraed - I thought he really meant winning an utterly meaningless game was really more important for him than a better draft position... Now I see he was just kidding Also, congrats for stuffing Steve Smith on his last NFL game! Way to make it memorable.

1. No proof that either of those guys would be a better HC. Was there any proof in 2008 that Harbaugh would be a better HC than Billick? And, it's a moot point anyway, as Harbaugh's contract has just been extended - so he'll stay.

First off, the FO gets rid of players. Perhaps Harbaugh will have his say, but I'm not sure who it is that we got rid of solely because they bumped heads with Harbaugh, who would have otherwise been a great service to the team. Please don't say Boldin, because there was no indication that he and Harbaugh didn't get along. That IMO was purely an Ozzie move. Who else are you thinking of? The enforcer of the secondary AKA the patriot killer. Does Bernard Pollard ring a bell? Does James Ihedigbo ring a bell to name a few? Pollard was reported to be a real locker room pest - and also, as great a SS as he was, he was also a flag magnet. He gave the opponents a huge lot of free yardage.

OK, so Harbaugh's been extended. I was hoping for the opposite - but at least there will be no guessing games going on. Though I was hoping for finally getting rid of what I believe to be the biggest obstacle between the Ravens and REAL success - I still trust Ozzie's and the owner's decision. They're in the best position to make the best decision. If they think it is keeping Harbaugh, then be it.

This season was not lost on Sunday in pittsburgh - it was lost in th Bank v the Redskins and in the Meadowlands v the Jets. Those were the games that showed crystal clear that this team is terribly coached. And those tow games where the D ghave up those last minute TD's to lose the game (v the Raiders and Giants). Those games (together wiuth a good handful of other games) showed that the problem with the Ravens is not the roster - it's the system-level mishandling of the roster. Continuous failure to play to the roster's strengths and to avoid getting oits weaknesses exposed... continuous failure to make good game plans and show in-game flexibility. A plethora of bad and downright awful coaching mistakes and decisions. Harbaugh's failure to address obvious and recurring problems. This team will finish 8-8 (or 9-7 if the Bengals care less about the game - or want a better draft position more than we do) because the roster is so good - in spite of the coaching. I simply cannot fathom how anyone can still argue for keeping Harbaugh... There are simply NO explanations and excuses for this season. He was given a great roster with first class FA-additions and what may grow into one of the alltime best rookie classes of franchise history... And this time the injuries won't be there to hide behind. ... OK, of course I know he'll stay... Still.

That's utter nonsense. The D should have stopped them...

... and it's the morning you wake up realizing it's 8 months until the next meaningful game for the Ravens. ... and also, next week is probably the last game with Brandon Williams in purple... Gulp...

If we take all playoff and other other implications of the game away, it was actually a pretty good showing - especially compared to how the team fared most of the season. Shame it all came to nothing. A "fun" fact: as much as the O has been (mostly rightfully) scrutinized all along the season while the D has been (equally rightfully) lauded for being a top D of the league, I cannot help noticing and noting that last night marked the third time this season that all the D should have done was to stop the opponent's O one last time - and they failed. We had the lead on the Raiders, the Giants and the steelers with no more than a two-minute drive - or even less - left from the game - and yet our heralded D allowed them to march down the field and score. And then we didn't even mention the pats game where we didn't have the lead, but were within sight to at least tie the game... If anyone's still wondering if this D is to be compared to the legendary 2000 D - this isn't what truly great D's do. So, the season is practically over for us - who cares about the Cincinatti game now, honestly... But this might actually be a blessing in disguise. I know I'm probably nowhere near reality, but I sooooo hope this was the last season we had to endure Harbaugh at helm. It was a great run, he led the Ravens to a Super Bowl victory, and had in general a really successful stint - but apparently it's over, he's flamed out. Blatant playcall, time management and other decision-related blunders, his obvious inability to address the problems at OC... and an apparent neglect of the O side of the game altoghether... I do believe his time in Baltimore should be up. It would be the best for both parties to move on. He'd surely have a new job in 5 minutes (the Rams or the 49ers would probably scoop him up right away), and he would be great once again - something I don't think he can be in Baltimore anymore. And the Ravens could have a fresh start. I'm sure there are coaches out there who would at least bring the promise of something this team was sorely missing the past 3-4 saeasons: to play to the roster's strengths. Of course I'm nowhere near the position to make justified suggestions, but coaches like the young Shanahan guy, with Norv Turner at OC (though I believe he'll land a HC job...)... or other coaches we don't even know about... Honestly, how many of us knew John Harbaugh even existed before he was appointed HC? Who knew the ST coach of the Eagles? Not many of us, I'm sure. And he worked out big time. I'm sure there are a handful of such coaches, hitherto nameless and unknown to most of us fans, who could work out just as well as Harbaugh has. I know I'm being a dreamer here about his firing. His overall figures are still impressive, this season's not gonna be a losing one... it's only the tendency that's worrying. His first non-playoff season could be explained away by the exodus of leadership after the SB win. His second non-playoff season could be explained by the massive wave of injuries. But this time, there's no explanation. I firmly believe that this is at least a playoff-caliber roster, and this time even the injury bug was merciful on us. Nope, this time it was entirely on the coaching stuff - and the buck must stop at the main guy: Harbaugh. Unfortunatrely, it probably won't. It took a massively losing season to fire Billick, when it was bloody obvious for seasons that he had been depleted. I fear Harbaugh will get a third and then a fourth chance to ruin a perfectly good opportunity. The fact that we've missed the playoffs could be used to our advantage: we could start looking for a new HC ASAP, not with a month handicap when most of the best possible candidates are already taken... If Steve does decide to pull the plug on Harbaugh, I'll happily take missing the playoffs as the price. This team needs a new HC - and NOW. And I'd wish Harbaugh all the best and success with his next HC gig - preferably not in Cincinatti...

At least it's stragihtforward now. It's basically the playoffs starting today for us. If the guys can't handle this, they don't deserve to be in the playoffs. If they can, they do. Simple as that.

It's been reported that the Bengals plan to hold Green out of the final two games. If true, it would improve our chances of winning Week#17. Luckily, it seems that missing the playoffs the Bengals are apparently tanking for a better draft position.

It's surpirsing how few analysts list penalties as a critical factor in this game. I'm pretty sure thatr our chances of winning start and end with limiting the number of penalties - especially the unnecessary ones - and now I'm looking at you, Vlad Ducasse, Timmy Jernigan and Steve Smith...

The guys won't play well or badly because of what we're writing here... I guess the vast marority of them don't even red us here.

What I'm really afraid of about the steelers ghame is not Roethlisberger, Bell or Brown - it's the penalties. We kept racking up them - and often totally unnecessary ones - against lesser opponents. One cannot but fear how penalties are gonna be kept in bay against the steelers in Pittsburgh...

On the other hand, if he starts vetiong the OC's calls, not many really good OC's will be willing to come to Baltimore... You see, there's always a tradeoff...