RaRaRavens

"John Harbaugh said Tuesday that the Ravens will look to surround Mornhinweg and quarterback Joe Flacco with a talented staff." What have they been doing so far?!?

I was literally sick to my stomach and had issues today because I saw we're keeping all the same coaches. I am just so unhappy about it and feel helpless. I think it's worse than one of our stars going down. We need a whole new staff. This is insane. This year could not have been coached any worse than it was. Wth STEVE???? 100% agree with you. It's as if they don't want our team to become better in 2017.

For many years I figured the same. That these are professionals at the top of their fields and know what the issues are. I'm not so confident anymore. Year after year the same players present the same fundamental or mental shortcomings, game plan presents the same kind of issues year after year, play calling keeps failing for the same reason game in and game out. I think at some point it's fair to ponder whether the issues we the fans think our teams has and we discuss on these boards - constantly vanilla offensive playcalling, abandoning the run game (especially this season), inadequate quality of play from Flacco considering his experience and salary, defense failing to put away games with Pees' bend-but-don't-break style (manifested itself again in the last quarter of this season) to name just a few - are the same issues Harbaugh and the FO determine to be the reasons for our considerably below average performances after the team's SB win (with the exception of 2014). Because if year after year we stubbornly run head first into many of the same kind of problems as the previous year, then either the braintrust of our team has different idea of issues that need to be fixed or they are incapable of fixing the problems.

State of the Ravens press conference ought to be fun. Can't wait for the plethora of cliche excuses and slogans. "We are close to being a really good team", "Only need couple of tweeks", "We'll be back better in 2017". What a load of hogwash it's gonna probably be. This is why I'm slowly starting to lose respect for Harbaugh. I would respect an honest, straight to the point HC way more. I wish John would just say: "Hey, here's the deal. Offensive playcalling was garbage the entire season, defense failed miserably in December and needs to start receiving some serious value from its young players, especially pass rushers, and our most expensive "franchise" player performed far below average considering his salary, experience and pieces he had around him. Wouldn't hurt to have some WRs getting open once in a while and DBs who don't fall on their fat slow arses covering slant routes. These are our issues and we'll focus on them this offseason.". I understand it might seem as if throwing someone under the bus and might rub some people the wrong way, but Harbaugh has been covering up the shortcomings of many of our players and staff members for many years now and it has not led to better results. This approach is obviously not working. By pinpointing the issues with straight forward attitude, Harbs would at least create some belief that we actually might fix these problems and maybe, just maybe deliver the message to his team as well. Instead, we're probably gonna be hearing a lot of big empty words for 9 months now, and hope everything will get better by doing the exact same things we've been doing for 5 years. That's the definition of insanity, I think.

Also, state of the Ravens press conference ought to be fun. Can't wait for the plethora of cliche excuses and slogans. "We are close to being a really good team", "Only need couple of tweeks", "We'll be back better in 2017". What a load of hogwash it's gonna probably be. This is why I'm slowly starting to lose respect for Harbaugh. I would respect an honest, straight to the point HC way more. I wish John would just say: "Hey, here's the deal. Offensive playcalling was garbage the entire season, defense failed miserably in December and needs to start receiving some serious value from its young players, especially pass rushers, and our most expensive "franchise" player performed far below average considering his salary, experience and pieces he had around him. Wouldn't hurt to have some WRs getting open once in a while and DBs who don't fall on their fat slow arses covering slant routes. These are our issues and we'll focus on them this offseason.". I understand it might seem as if throwing someone under the bus and might rub some people the wrong way, but Harbaugh has been covering up the shortcomings of many of our players and staff members for many years now and it has not led to better results. This approach is obviously not working. By pinpointing the issues with straight forward attitude, Harbs would at least create some belief that we actually might fix these problems and maybe, just maybe deliver the message to his team as well. Instead, we're probably gonna be hearing a lot of big empty words for 9 months now, and hope everything will get better by doing the exact same things we've been doing for 5 years. That's the definition of insanity, I think.

Ergo, more of the same in 2017. Ofcourse Flacco and Pitta would like to have Marty back, they could keep passing only to Pitta for the entire season.

I think SSS might have at least contemplated returning over the next month or two, if he had seen any promise whatsoever on this team. Instead, in his last game of professional football his dimwitted QB was dumping the ball off to his bff literally the entire game, failing to see any other open receiver and even forcing throws to Pitta into impossibly tight coverages, one of which resulted in a costly INT. I really think the performance of the rest of the team made SSS' decision about retirement very easy. As to the rest of the team that FO has now assembled, with SSS gone there is literally noone on this team who any opponent is afraid of, talent wise and competition wise. That's what you get when you focus on quantity over quality in drafts and FA moves and don't use high draft picks for skill positions. We might actually be the least dangerous team after the Browns. The worst part is, unless for some reason Kubiak returns to be the OC with his magnificent game plan (or we find another equally brilliant OC), I don't see us being better in any way in 2017. Too many holes to fill on the roster.

I honestly think SSS might have come back for another year, if we made the playoffs and he saw that this team has potential to come back at least as strong or even stronger in 2017. The sad fact of the matter is, there will be just too many holes to fill after the coming offseason and no real young playmakers (that was painfully evident in comparison with the Steelers on Sunday) on this team outside of couple aging veterans to make a difference. Therefore, no reason for him to come back and but his body through even more for a slightly above average team to wash all his hard work down the drain. Like I've said many times before, I envision multiple season like our this year's campaign before we are back in serious playoff competition. That is, if our FO makes nencessary changes and is capable of rebuilding this team. Recent drafts (with the exception of the last 4th round) have not indicated that.

HEARTBROKEN. That's all I can feel. Even now, 3 days from the game. I can't even be mad at our OC and defense and whoever, I just feel crushed. Very similar to the 2011 AFC championship loss. However, the difference is, this time around we do not have a team leader like Lewis was in 2011 who was able to turn the bitter bitter loss into motivation that ultimately sprung us to SB. We do not have a leader like that anymore on this team. And that has been one of the main things missing from this team. A true leader. Suggs is a leader in a different kind of way, as is SSS, Weddle etc. But we are missing true face of the franchise.

“We’re very close to being a very good football team. We can be a great team. But we’re not there yet.” Yes, this is true and we do need more young playmakers. But the reason I'm most devastated is, next year we will not be in a better place young talent wise. We are probably going to lose B.Williams, Wagner and maybe even Juice. SSS will be gone, so we will be without our only player who deserves to be a WR. Probably Suggs and/or Doom will be calling it quits. To replace them all, we are going to probably bank on our young guys develop into studs over the offseason (unlikely in most cases) and Oz having incredible draft (judging by last couple of drafts, with the exception of last year's 4th round, he won't find immediate impact players). Therefore, I'm most dissappointed in our season ending, because I'm afraid we won't have another season that matters any time soon, at least not next year.

the main thing i demand answer to - whose fault is it that flacco has been dumping the ball off every game this season, including the most important one this season agasint the steelers?! OC cause of game planning? Flacco cause of decision making? on of them must be accountable. and whoever it is, they cost a SB caliber team talent wise even a playoff berth, therefore the season. bottom line PATHETIC

Martys plays might be OK but his playcalling is complete garbage. We could use randome play generator and would get better results. At least would run the ball more.

To even have a shot on Sunday, our defense needs to perform like it did for the most part of the first 14 games. We must completely shut out Bell, force Ben to look for Brown and pray we can limit their aerial assault w/o Jimmy in the lineup. Otherwise it might not matter if we were to rush for 200 yards and throw for another 400. We would still probably be out performed offensively. My point is, we can't allow it to become a shootout. Even if we could keep up with the Steelers in that style of game, it would come down to who can score more TDs. And I haven't been exactly filled with confidence when watching our offense go at it in the red zone.

To even have a shot on Sunday, our defense needs to perform like it did for the most part of the first 14 games. We must completely shut out Bell, force Ben to look for Brown and pray we can limit their aerial assault w/o Jimmy in the lineup. Otherwise it might not matter if we were to rush for 200 yards and Flacco threw for another 300. We would still probably be out performed offensively. My point is, we can't allow it to become a shootout. Even if we could keep up with the Steelers in that style of game, it would come down to who can score more TDs. And I haven't been exactly filled with confidence when watching our offense go at it in the red zone.

You're completely right. Harbaugh and the coaches should have been able to predict it. That's they're most important job during the week, to analyze and gameplan against the opponent. Which begs the question, what did Harbaugh and his staff do the entire week. And it's not first time either when Harbaugh fails at his duties as a HC. It's ridiculous. Same thing with what he said about Marty calling a pass on that Flacco INT that led to the comeback of the Eagles. He said "he should've vetoed it". Yeah, you should've. That's your entire job as the HC, so why didn't you?! In the last 2 games it probably would not have made a difference if Harbaugh was at the game or not. It definitely would not have made anything worse, because he just didn't do anything and was only wise at the post-game press conference, talking about things he should've done. That's some Jeff Fisher type of head coaching right there. But the players grinded it out and got a W against the Eagles that, once again, covers up most of the errors of Harbaugh.

Harbs again with his "should've, could've, would've" stuff. It wasn't the first game of Marty, it wasn't the first time he's completely abandoned a perfectly solid run game either. This should not have been a surprise to Harbaugh. Why then did he let it happen?! Everyone are wiser after the fact, but a HC should be the one person who prevents these tings. I'm really starting to get tired with Harbaugh not having a grip on his staff. He talks about player discipline, yet fails to have his OC running the ball, like he has emphasized he wants to do the entire season. Responsibility starts from the top, so if we fail to make playoffs, it's most of all on Harbaugh. Not on coaching staff, not on the offense, not on players. But first and foremost on Harbaugh for failing to have his team execute the things everyone knows they should be doing.

Amen, brother! Good to see some fellow fans being realistic for a change. Surprised you have not been downvoted to oblivion, though. Usually people on these boards prefer to live in a pink fantasy world. I completely agree with the Dolphins game being a fluke for the offense. We manage to squeeze out one truly dominant performance every year. That's usually it. And it's funny to see people being like "I don't think Dolphins game was an aberration...". WHAT? Like, are these guys for real?! For 11 games before that, and the next game immediately after that, our offense showed absolute zero signs of productivity and explosiveness. What on earth gives these people any reason to believe that we will be scoring more than 2 TDs a game, let alone winning anyone by a blowout anytime soon is beyond me.

AwwYEAH! I can attend my very first Ravens game!! Hell yeah!

I think I figured out what my problem with Flacco is, when watching him compared to Brady. Flacco and Brady are both veteran QBs, yet one of them is capable of reading the defense before snap, detect weaknesses and holes in coverage, audible into the right play to take advantage of those weaknesses and make the defense pay for their play call. The other one dumps the ball off to the closest receiver, usually a RB near the line of scrimmage. Guess which one is which. Yes, it is partly because when Brady gets to the line of scrimmage he usually has about 20+ second to work with and adjust, Flacco has 10-15 seconds at best and that's totally on coaching (another example of how we got outcoached). But when has time to audible, he changes the play into a run play that goes straight into an obvious blitz or some other bs play. Brady was at least twice able to audible into huge plays, one of which decided the game. And that is not talent, it's a pure skill obtained through hours and hours of tape study and hard work. Why Flacco, one of the highest paid players in the league, can't put in the same effort is beyond me.

Couple of thoughts: 1. Getting outcoacched was painfully evident. Harbaugh is a solid HC, but no mastermind like Belichick. From the way NE went uptempo early in the game and completely exhausted out our league lading D-line which allowed them to push us around with the run game the rest of the day, to couple of trick plays just at the right time, and even to the last play before 2 minute warning in the end of game, where they passed since it the clock was gonna stop anyway and caught the entire defense off guard - our team was just not ready for anything in this game. And the saddest part is, our entire team from coaches to players seemed to be baffled and surprised by the things NE did. As if we haven't seen it year in and year out. Our Harbaugh&Boys just got schooled, period. 2. Flacco and Brady both veteran QBs, yet one of them is capable of reading the defense, detecting weaknesses in coverage, audibling to a right play to take advantage of those weaknesses and make the defense pay for their play call. The other dumps the ball off to the closest receiver, usually near the line of scrimmage. 3. It was actually pathetic to see Ravens attempt nohuddle uptempo offense next to Brady and Cheat-a-lots. NE was on the line scrimmage ready to snap 10-20 seconds from the end of last play and our defense could not even get into their stances. Our "uptempo" offense never managed to get a snap off with considerably more than 10 seconds on the clock. Absolutely no urgency late in the game, we just wasted time between plays. And when running our regular offense, our guys got lined up with 10 second on play clock. How in the hell if Flacco, even if he is capable of that, make any audibles with so little time remaining?! How in the hell can other teams get ready to run a play at least 10 seconds faster than us?! That puts our offense in a disadvantage even before the snap, damn it!

Exactly as I suspected - the Dolphins game was a fluke for the offense. It's the same thing nearly every year. Flacco and the offense play crappy all year around, then they have 1 good dominant game and every fan, pundit and "expert" start blaring how this was the breakout game the offense needed to get jumpstarted, the entire league better look out. Only to have Flacco and the offense go out next game and look like high school team.

Flacco is getting paid more than Brady - let that sink in for awhile.

What game are you watching? In every aspect our team seems baffled. As if they're playing NE for the first time ever without seeing any game tape before.

This game is done. We got whipped like sissy boys, from top to bottom. Absolutely nobody showed up tonight. Might as well stayed home.

If it gets 16-0 and this game is done. We are looking worse than Browns. What the heck?