bioLarzen

Last season we had one of our best seasons health-wise - so it would seem that the guy who was in charge then, kinda figured it out, wouldn't it?

You read stuff like this before every single season. For every single team. It means nothing. It's words. Let's see how the boys do when the games start. As our very own Johnny U said: "Talk is cheap. Let's play ball."

Just curious: do you know what pick package Ozzie should give up to trade up to, let's say #7?

Wait... are you implying losing some of the key players doesn't leave any team weaker?

I think I remember something about the Ravens surely not having a home game in London as the stadium contract says all their home games must be in the Bank? Somebody with a better memory than me (not an especially high bar)?

Most pundits predict a lousy seasoin for the Bengals. They let their two best O-liners walk, with no clear successor, for example...

6-3? I think 8-1 is more likely. I know all the haters will disagree, but if we do really well next week, and get even average coaching, I see 7-2 at worst heading into the bye Making predictions about NFL games 5-7 months in advance is like trying to predict the exact weather for those game days: guesswork and little more. A huge lot of things can happen in the summer. We can have a brutal "injury epidemic" like 2 seasons ago. Or our opponents can have one... It could turn out that Mohrningweg's own offense system is even worse than Trestman's was... Things like that... Could it be 8-1 or 7-2? Sure. Could it be 2-7? Yes. Likely? Not, but possible. Was there anyone predicting before the start of the 2015 season that after week 7 the Ravens are gonna be an 1-6 team, losing to the Raiders, the Browns in Baltimore and the lowly 49ers? Nobody. And then it happened. It's way, way, way too soon to make meaningful predictions about the season.

I agree. It's not an especially "favourable" schedule - it's simply a fair one - and I think this is how it should be. It has its flaws and bright spots - but you don't make an NFL schedule which won't have any... it's just impossible. So, having a fair schedule is the perfect scenario.

3. In the 2014 season we hosted the Browns on Week#17.

"The last time the season finale between these two teams was at M&T Bank Stadium was in 2010." Man, what a rotten game that was... won by us 13 to 7, but could have easily been a L if Carson Palmer actually cares to win the game, and throws a decent pass at the end of the game...

Ladies and gentlemen... a good schedule! As for the particulars: let's divide things into four categories: Great/Good/Bad/Very Bad. Very Bad: - Weeks 3-6 with the two interplanetar trips sandwiching the Steelers game. That stretch is brutal. Bad: - The GB trip in mid-November. It's gonna be cold there... I was hoping for a fall trip. But hey, it's still not December, so it could have been worse... - A road opening game. Not a tragedy, but it would have been nicer to kick it off in the Bank - especially that Week 3 will take us accross the ocean... - Most of the "easier" games packed together in the middle of the season. It would have been better if they're spread out more evenly throughout the season... but once again: it' nowhere near a tragedy. Good: - A SNF game in Pittsburgh. It's gonna be 10 Dec, more than 7 months away - and still we can be sure it's gonna be a classic one, maybe even deciding the division... Who would it any other way? - The Texans as our MNF opponent. Playing the MNF game in a currently-hot team's place has gotten kinda very old if you ask me... - Two of our 3 prime-time, nationally televised games are gonna be played in the Bank. Nuff said. Great: - A home MNF game??? Am I dreaming? - CIN Week#17 - but in Baltimore??? Am I dreaming? - Mid-season bye. Week 9 would have been the perfect one, but Week 10 is also good. - The home/road rhythm is very good. No 3-game home/road game stretches, only one 2-game road stretch, and even that is wrapped around the bye - and two 2-home-game runs, both in the second half of the season, including 2 home games to close the season out... compare that to last season's end with road games in PIT and CIN... Or compare our schedul with that of the Pats who have a stretch (W10-15) with 5 of 6 games on the road... fankly, that should be illegal ... or the Bengals who will have a 3-game road run followed by a 3-game home run (W9-14)... that's also quite far from perfect... So, to sum it up, with only one really unfriendly detail, I don't think we have much to complain about...

Do you really think a QB is going to say "we need better WR's " in public? And a team that's won a SB and been to the playoffs 6 of the last 8 years is not "mediocre" And imagine Wallace saying "yeah, we need more receivers!" :D

No matter how many wideouts you have if you don't have an O-line that can give the QB time to throw. And, at this point it's not an O-line I would trust...

I remember how a lot of fans and pundits said picking Ronnie Stanley at #6 would be a colossal reach, because this and that... We"ve seen how much of a "reach" it was... The same could be true about Robinson. I for one, would be happier to see the O-line addressed in the first round than the WR corpse added to... I don't think out WR need even compares to the glaring holes at OL...

Or, more exactly, they need a first round level rusher more than a first round level WR. I think the likeliest scenario is that Ozzie trades down 6-8 or even 10 spots, picks up an extra 2nd rounder and picks one of the Zay Jones - JuJu-Godwin trio in the late 2nd/early 3rd round.

I just don't think Ozzie will pick a WR in the first round, even if either (or both) of Mike Williams and Corey Davis is still available... So, I hope both of them will be off the board at #16 (or wherever Ozzie ends up picking), because if either of them are there and Ozzie picks an OT or ILB, there will be a riot here...

Wouldn't surprise me if the NFL doesn't listen to the Ravens request and schedules the bye after the London game. The truth is that so, so many things go into making an NFL roster, that, contrary to what a lot of fans like to think, it does not require any kind of ill will towards an organization not to be able to take its requests into consideration. Not many fans know, for example, that the tv schedules factor in heavier than teams' individual requests - the channels have a say in what teams they want/don't want as home teams for MNF/SNF games - and even regular games. They may even go as far as saying "I would really like to broadcast the Redskins takew on the Cowboys take on in Week 16, prime time". And then that game kinda fixed in that slot. And so do scheduling restrictions lik no 4-game home or road stretch - and 3-game stretches are only allowed if they cannot be avoided (they cannot)... Creating the schedule is a 3-month process - and it means 3 months of actual work, not just a 3 month period with a 1-hour scheduling session :) It is a VERY hard task, even without taking on extra ties like trying to deliberately screw with this or that organization... Who knows, maybe this time the scheduling gods give us a home MNF game... and a non-@-Cinci Week#17... I know, I know... ;)

The problem is that there's a fair chance a considerable portion of that huge TE group will be gone/injured/inactive on game days. We don't know what we can expect of Ben Watson; we cannot really trust Gillmore to stay healthy; we have yet to see Maxx Williams become what he was drafted for to become; we don't know if Boyle can stay clean this time; Waller is promising - but he is depth at this point. And there you go with Pitta once again It can be a hugely rich crop - and just as well a seriously diminished one... no way of knowing.

So, you think we are in a better position to judge this than those two are?

It's a little strange claim - considering he has just had a 16-game season...

I'm not sure we won't get a road game for Week#1 - a short trip like CLE, CIN, PIT or even TEN. But I agree, two home games before the London trip sounds more reasonable.

This trade would not make the slightest of sense for either trade parties. Sorry to be so harsh, but this is the truth. Let me explain why: by giving away your franchise QB and replacing him with the likes of Kaepernick or Cutler (which alone, in itself is madness, as we already have a QB - Mallett - on our roster at least as promising as these two, and already familiar with the system, playbook, language and personnel, unlike his two afore-mentioned colleagues) would essentially mean giving up on the 2017 season - one where heavy investments have already been made. How would you rationalize all this investments to the owner for a season you then give up by removing your franchise QB? And then you do it all in hope of finding a QB next draft who MAY BE able to replace Flacco... Nope, sorry, this would be by far the worst move Ozzie would ever make... and I think maybe even the last one he made as the GM of the Ravens, because it could easily get him fired.

And, finally the version I call "realistic": neither too great, nor too much of a pain In this scenario we see some of thew recurring themes well... recur: a road MNF game, a game in CIN to close the season out; we open the season in the Bank v PIT - a classic one; we have a TNF game before the London trip, and an easier home game after that; we have a wave of home games (4 home games in W 1-6) in the opening stretch and a run of road games (4 of 5 games on the road W 5-10) in the mid-stretch (meaning no home games between 15 Oct and 19 Nov) and a fairly evenly distributed home stretch; we are granted the later bye (Week 9); we have the OAK trip after the bye, giving us ample time to allow smooth time zone switch, and what might be the easiest home game (v CHI) after the trip; sadly, we go to GB in decem,ber - albeit early; we have a road MNF game, but a winnable one ( in MIN); our closing stretch is if not brutal, it's not really kind: trips to GB, PIT and CIN and home games v DET and IND; (Sorry for the small image size, there is a total file size limit)

The schedule is released tonight. Although trying to guess an NFL schedule makes about as much sense as trying to correctly guess all the draft picks correctly - no chance that it - it is at least fun... I've made three schedule scenarios: a "dream schedule" in which everything goes our way (realistically, of course...); a "nightmare" version, where nothing goes our was (once again, realistically), and a third one I called "realistic" - which is neither particularly favourable, nor particularly unfavourable for us. First, the "dream" schedule: The dream version has us open and close the regular season in the Bank; it has no run-ons of home or road games: no three-game runs of either; it gives us home MNF, SNF and TNF games; it grants our requests not to have our bye after the London game; it sends us in Green Bay in the front side of the autumn, when it's not a frozen tundra there yet; it has the TNF game before the London game, bringing us 3 more days to get acclimated to the London scene and time zone; it gives us an easy home game (v MIA) after the London trip; it gets rid of the "Week 17 @ CIN" routine that's older now than Tom Brady, and sees usd close out the season v the Browns; it brings us to Cincinatti in Week #2 when the Bengals are hopefully not gelling so greatly, improving our chances of finally winning one there; the distribution of easier and harder games is quite even. Now, the "nightmare" version: The "nightmare" version is the one we get after the scheduling guy discovers his wife has cheated on him with a Ravens-fan. It has us open and close the season out on the road. We open at Heinz Field - nuff said; we get a SNF game before the London week, giving us 3 and ahalf days less tiome to prepare than the "dream" version; we are not granted the later bye, it "stays" at Week #4; we have a series of home-game and road-game runs; we close out the regular season with two road games: in Green Bay... IN DECEMBER!!!, and - you would never guess - in Cincinatti...; Only our SNF game is a home game, our TNF and MNF outings are on the road, the MNF game being the Week#16 clash in the ice field of the Lambeau; most of our easier games come in the first half, with most of our heavy weight opponents (PIT, both CIN games, OAK, GB, MIN, IND) coming in the back stretch; the OAK trip is a TNF game, giving us minimal time to shake the jet lag off; our SNF game is v the Lions - not an especially classic one... As for the final, "realistic" version - I'll get back to it in another comment, as apperntly I'm only allowed to upload two images worth of data in one comment.

What Flacco and the O needs is not more weapons, but some stability and continuity at last...