jazz1988

That applies to every team out there...

 

 

How does that make sense what you just said? Our best corner is built for press coverage and yet you say we're not built for press coverage at all? You have any numbers to back up those claims? % Wise how do we stack up against the rest in the NFL? And don't you think it had anything to do with us not having a decent safety back there to cover deep? That we were forced to play off a lot because of that and not because Jimmy is so great at it? Our safeties were horrible covering deep, we got beat like a drum with deep balls, that's why we played off, not because Jimmy excels in off coverage. He doesn't. If he did and if we played it so often he'd have around 10 interceptions by now. He's the furthest thing from a good off corner. Guys like that need tremendous instincts & awareness, a lot of experience and a natural feel for routes and being able to read QB's. That's not what Jimmy does.

 

And you just basically pointed out the obvious. Jimmy is a press specialist. What exactly is the point of not playing press with a guy like that? Yes, we play off here and there like everybody else in the NFL (mainly because we had to, in my opinion), we don't just play ONE coverage 100% of the time. But that's our bread & butter. Jimmy is not an off corner, he's built to play press with his size, his long arms, how strong he is and his lack of experience/instincts to excel in zone or in off coverage. You sprinkle in some off coverages to balance it out a little here and there to help your safeties a little maybe, but anything more than that is a waste of talent and skill. Look, if we had Earl Thomas back there or a prime Ed Reed we definitely would have rarely played off coverage, and even then it would have not been played because our corners excel in off coverage but because we have to balance things out and keep offenses on their toes.

Our best corner may be bulit for press man coverage  but that doesn't mean all the rest of our cornerbacks are. How does one cornerback determine all ?. I don't consider Ladarius Webb as a press man cornerback but can he be a effective press man cornerback from time to time ? Yeah but he really excels in off man coverage and zone coverage.

I really don't believe we completely  use zone/off man coverage just because we don't have  a solid free safety. It's really something we like to overall use and we like to be versatile . I think Jimmy Smith skills in  off man coverage  looked very much improved last year. I can really tell he's been working on his game to be more than just a press man cover cornerback but does that mean he  doesn't excel in press man ? No .

I disagree. Teams like the Lions, Cowboys, Raiders, Texans, Redskins to name a few all have a need for a number 1 or 2 corner, and most have more cap space to work with. He would defiantly see more playing time on any of those teams then he would here, baring injury.

Well the  Texans don't need a number a 1 or 2 cornerback because they pretty much set with Kareem Jackson and Johnathan Joseph. I think the Redskins don't have enough cap space to target Flowers. The Lions just released one of  their starting cornerbacks to get more cap space in order to sign their first round rookie Eric Ebon but I guess they still could  go after   Flowers. The Raiders have the most cap space out of the fives teams you mentioned and could definitely sign Flowers.

I like the idea of Florence. He's a guy that can be an adequate #3 for us, but also a guy that you don't have to guarantee playing time to if Chykie or Asa step up. He'd be good insurance for us.

I don't know alot about Florence but Dominque Franks kinda interests me as possible signing or we could even bring back Chris Johnson.  I don't think we going to be able to sign Brandon Flowers but anything is possible.

I think if we really bring him in, I can't see him being our nickel corner. He will be one of the two starters in my opinion

He would most likely be our number 3 cornerback if we signed him. The Ravens could ask him to play on the outside along with Jimmy Smith when opposing teams decide to go 3 wr sets or more and of course have Webb cover in the slot. I just don't see him starting over   Smith or Webb since there's so much invested in them and I can only imagine how upset it would make either player if that would happen.

And I highly doubt that they'll be as good as Flowers was before his scheme change... If we could get THAT Brandon Flowers then our defense would be a top 5 one.

We technically run the same type of scheme the cheifs run. We asked our cornerbacks to play more man coverage since we have such great pass rushers in Suggs and Dumervil. 

I would hardly say he's a lot better. He's solid, but it's not like he's this amazing talent that we should all be in awe of. Terrance Brooks was considered a top 40 to 50 talent. Many scouts said they wouldn't take Clinton-Dix until the second round. He's solid, but not special. Again, benefitted from having like no competition at the safety position. Ozzie wanted a rangy, single high, playmaking free safety. Neither Dix nor Brooks is really a playmaker, but considering that Brooks is far newer to the position, and far rangier, it's more than likely that he'll improve his hands and become the bigger playmaker. He's always around the ball and he has a few stellar interceptions, so the potential is there. Just needs to keep his hands on the ball.

 

If the Ravens run the 4-3, they sure needed Mosley. Daryl plays strong side linebacker and Arthur would play weak side linebacker. Do you want Josh Bynes starting at MLB? Please. 

 

Cornerback is traditionally a position that takes quite a while to develop (three years), and Webb has the slot on lockdown, so the Ravens would be looking for an outside cornerback, something that historically isn't easy for younger players to handle.

 

As for receiver, if Kubiak's offense looks anything like Houston's did (we'll know soon), then the Ravens would run a lot of two WR, two TE. With Torrey and Steve as the one and two, the rookie would be competing with Jacoby Jones (who the Ravens did not just pay to be a return man) and Marlon Brown. That's too many cooks in the kitchen. 

 

How can you say the Ravens didn't get better offensively? A healthy Kelechi, a healthy Yanda, they traded for Zuttah, they re-signed Monroe, drafted Talieferro (a total Kubiak pick), brought back a healthy Pitta, brought in Owen Daniels, brought in Steve Smith, drafted Crocket Gilmore, and drafted Michael Campanaro. How is that not better than having Marlon/Jacoby split the number two role, having Dallas Clark and Ed Dickson play as the tight ends? How about Gino and AQ go back into the starting line-up? That's not even mentioning getting Hammock, Engram, Dennison, Pariani, and Kubiak. How can you really say the Ravens didn't get better offensively? That's just ignorance speaking because the Ravens didn't draft your favorite offensive prospect.

I think people really under rate how good it was for us to get a new offensive coordinator not just a new offensive coordinator but a real good one with a different offensive scheme instead  of the go vertical all day every day offensive scheme we been running since Flacco became our quarterback. The Bengels game(The last of the season )  was the most frustrating game because we refuse to use slants, rub routes or screens  to not only slow down their pass rush but to make it alot easier on Joe .

Our passing game was so predictable and beyond quarterback friendly.  Gary Kubiak offense to suppose to more quarterback friendly and I overall just like that he's bringing in a totally different offensive  scheme .

Josh Bynes started much of last season at ILB next to Smith and there is a reason why we traded up to take Brown last year.  I thought it was a position that could have used a late round pick or UDFA to compete for a last roster spot, but using a first round draft pick was a poor decision imo. 

 

Taking HHCD in the first round would have allowed for the addition of a much better player at a position of serious need like CB. 

I thought Josh Bynes played well last year when he started. He wasn't bad  and he  wasn't great but he did well.We did take Brown but we also didn't have Daryl Smith at the time and may have expected Brown to start right away but that didn't happen. I don't know how The Ravens view Arthur Brown right now but honestly him and Mosley could potentially make up for a solid inside linebacker duo and if they really impress maybe we can trade Daryl Smith to a team like the Broncos in the future or something if they still need help at  inside linebacker.

I thought we would have drafted a inside linebacker in the later rounds or obtain one that went undrafted but I can't honestly think of which one whom would had provided the same full package as Mosley. I never was a big fan of HHCD and thought he would of been gone by the time we pick.

Just a thought, not really relevant to anything...

how many of the people who do not like the Mosely pick wanted us to take T'eo?

I wanted us to draft T'eo and I thought he had the potentials to be the next general of our defense. We eventually drafted Arthur Brown instead and I thought he would  be  the guy but honestly he doesn't seem like a leader type guy and he hasn't shown yet that he can be every down type linebacker. Mosley isthe full package because he gives you leadership, can defend against the pass and run effectively and is really smart.

Stone hands little? Really?

He Could add solid competition  for our young receivers especially the udfa receivers we just signed .

With the thread jokes aside, I actually do agree with this. If Andre is willing to take a bit of a payday to play on a contender, I could really see us as a likely landing spot for him and as you showed, the numbers could easily work if we gave him a 2 year extension. Depends however on how much Houston wants for him, that is if they are even open to trading him and if another team is willing to offer more either in money for Andre or picks. We do not have a 5th or 6th rounder next year so we couldn't give up that additional pick unless we went with a 3rd and 4th which I don't think we would do.

Yeah I think Ozzie is done with giving up picks. I would be highly shock if we gave up even more picks this year.

Latimer was the guy I wanted.  I wanted to come away from this draft with a freakish athlete, we lack athletic mismatches on offense.

We may not have that freakish athlete on offense but I wouldn't say we don't have players that can't be mismatches. Just putting Marlon Brown in the slot is a mismatch in my opinion or even Steve Smith against those less physical/smaller nickel cornerbacks. If Gary Kubiak can mix it up / be creative with his playing calling like we never had from our previous offensive coordinators than there's no way he can't use Torrey Smith, Steve Smith, Marlon Brown and Jacoby Jones in ways so they can be mismatches in certain offensive packages.

Been on vacation so I realize this is a bit late but for me, the 2nd and 4th round selections REALLY messed up this draft. 

 

2nd round - WRs Latimer, Robinson, and Landry were ALL there, any one of them especially the first 2 would have been excellent WR selections and we went with a DT instead... that kills me

 

3rd round comp - OTs, and a multitude of high upside corners and RBs and we went with a blocking TE... I'll never understand that one, he would have been there much later

The defensive tackle we drafted  was just better value than getting Latimer or Robinson. I'm still surprised Landry even went in the second round especially after his poor performance at the combine and during his pro day. No way should The Ravens had drafted him at the spot they were at in the second round.

I strongly doubt the tight end we drafted would have been there later for us in the fourth or even sixth round. He was mention as a fourth rounder at the latest  and The Ravens probably could have  still drafted another blocking tight end but most likely none of them would have the same  upside as Crockett Gilmore .

And this is how you do optimistically cautious. Not the pom pom crowd.

 

I can agree with most everything you've said here. I was big on the S. Smith signing - you can check the thread out from the day we did that one. I wouldn't have been quite so happy about it if I knew it meant we were going to ignore any long term answer at WR though.

 

My biggest concern isn't even production to be honest. It is that unforseen injury - do we really want to be relying on Crockett Gilmore if Pitta or Daniels goes down? That sort of thing. We currently have no depth at TE or O line and what the depth we have at WR is pretty much late round or UDFA unknowns.

 

Optimism is great - and I hope our offense kicks up some dust this season - but that doesn't mean I don't think going all in on defense with the high picks was the rigth strategy for the long term health of this team.

Right now I think training camp and preseason will give us a better understanding of Crockett or even the late round receivers along with the udfa. I said this before but I think Crockett has the upside of Brandon Pettigrew and I think he has the potentials to be a solid compliment to Dennis Pitta . He may be raw as a receiver but we drafted him in the third round for a reason and he may be more ready than we know. 

I was disappointed that we didn't get one of the top receivers in this draft but if there was ever a young receiver we were grooming or have hopes for it would be Marlon Brown.  I would be highly surprised if he some how   didn't improve and then there's Aaron Mellette whom most thought would have been drafted in the fourth round. I think it's fairly reasonable for The Ravens to have high hopes for him and it's no telling what Micheal Campanaro will bring but The Ravens really like him. I'm just excited because we have new wide receiver coach and he may be able to help develop these guys alot better than Jim Hostler.

You really have to put down the purple shades for a moment and look at what we've realistically got on offense.

 

An aging vet coming off his worst year ever. An aging TE coming off injury who failed his medical. Pitta coming off a serious hip injury. A solid #2 WR in Torrey. An UDFA that surprised last season. A solid #3 WR in Jacoby. A 7th round WR (99% of the time - a project) A vet center also coming off his worst graded season and is only average prior to that, KO coming off a back injury, Wagner who was less than impressive at RT, Monroe (yay!).

 

About the only thing we can safely assume is a definite upgrade is Kubiak.

 

Sure if everyone comes back from injury back to their old selves - we're good. That is a pretty big "if" though.

The Panthers offensive coordinator is Mike Shula. Shula hasn't had a good history of ever being a great offensive coordinator or even a good one. Stevie Smith was also target alot less than in previous years which may mean they became more of a run first team . I'm not denying that Smith on the decline but it quite possible his production went down due to play calling and 2010 was actually his worst year ever.

The Owen Daniels situation is tricky cause he does have trouble staying healthy at times but there no doubt in my mind that he still  a solid tight end.I'm not sure if Dennis Pitta hip situation should be much  of a  concern and he definitely still has alot more time to  heal up to reach 100 percent if he isn't already. Marlon Brown definitely suprised last year and i expect him to continue to get better also Gary Kubiak loves big receivers so it may be interesting to see how he use Brown in his offense.

Jacoby Jones is indeed a  solid number 3 receiver and he also had better production in Gary Kubiak offense. I think Jones hands and route running ability has improved  since his Houston Texans days and he probably alot more mature as well. I'm interested to how  our  seventh round pick Micheal Campanaro pans out and was surprised he fell to the seventh round because I thought for sure he would had been gone by the end of the fourth or atleast the early portion of the fifth round. The way The Ravens traded back in to the seventh round to get Campanaro must mean they have some form of high hopes for him but we shall see how he pans out. The rest you mention is understandable but the new center we got is still better than what we had last year .

He's not even your non prototype that you can work with.  He needs a power scheme with Gs pulling or FBs blasting straight ahead.  He hasn't the patience for zone blocking.

Pierce stays healthy all season and Im fairly certain they go 50/50 and Pierce becomes the bellcow in the playoffs.

2010  was probably the year where Ray Rice was more of a patience runner than anything but for some reason he got away from that. I think Ray Rice would fit in a zone blocking scheme pretty well and we have been running it for the past two years.

I still can't believe we took a backup QB in the 6th before we took a CB. We had 4 CB's so that is just stupid, especially the way this league is now. Jackson could easily be gone with another failed drug test and Chykie hasn't shown he should be a no. 3. So now we're going to count on UDFA's and cap casualties (completely unknown who will be there and if we can even afford one) to fill out the roster. And I haven't even mentioned how both our starters have extensive injury histories. There's no depth at the position where you have to be deepest at. Makes no sense to me. 

The Ravens weren't very high on this cornerback class. Ozzie said the only time they thought about taking a cornerback was in the first round. I thought the cornerback class was pretty deep with talent but hey if Ozzie and crew don't like it then I'm fine with that. There were alot of cornerbacks that I thought would easily be  drafted in the second or third round but went alot later than expected. 

Asante Samuel or Terrell thomas(medical?)

The Ravens usually like for their third cornerback to be able to play on special teams. Should be interesting to see how these udfa cornerbacks fair.

So here is why we don't have Terrance Bullitt...

 

Terrance Bullitt ‏@Tbullitt1 5m

Although I passed my physical with the baltimore ravens I was told after further evaluations on my shoulder I was too high of a risk. (cont)

 

Terrance Bullitt ‏@Tbullitt1 3m

Therefore god closes one door for another one 2 open, I appreciate all the support n I will wait patient to see what the next page in (cont)

 

Terrance Bullitt ‏@Tbullitt1 2m

Life is for me. My head is up and spirit is up. All I want is a shot to show that I'm fine and ready to play. Thanks again everybody

 

Terrance Bullitt ‏@Tbullitt1 10s

Also thank you baltimore for the chance of a lifetime, no hard feelings toward you guys.

 

Really liked the guy from that video I saw.

Wow that sucks . I wanted him on the team 

We've sighed one solitary CB after the draft? It beats me. I understand that there are 31 other teams recruiting, but is it such a hard sell to land a CB to such a CB needy team such as ours? I wouldn't think so. Why then are we losing recruits to other less needy teams??

I guess we don't have much interesting in the top undrafted cornerbacks or maybe we did show interest but they decided to pick another team over ours.

And the big one is down...

 

Ross Jones ‏@RossJonesFOX  29m

Rams announce they signed Florida CB Marcus Roberson.

Wow that sucks.

We all know Ray can't block. Which of our draft picks is going to help with that?

I think it's a little too far to say he can't block because I have seen moments when his blocking  was pretty good.I would say his blocking is inconsistent.

Aaron Wilson ‏@RavensInsider 1m

Ravens are signing former Albany State (Ga.) safety Dexter Moody, 6-1, 217, 4.4 speed, 19 reps 225 pounds, 34-inch vertical

Hope he can play cornerback 

firmly believe lee and robinson could have. Matthews might have as well.

I agree but they were all gone before we could pick. I thought Robinson or Latimer would fall in the third round but I don't think any one expected the Jaguars to trade back in the second round to get Robinson and for the Broncos to do the same to get Latimer. 

Flacco got a huge contract after he led us to the SB throwing the ball to Boldin and then we promptly traded away Anquan for peanuts. Two drafts went by, one with the deepest WR class in years another with Keenan Allen falling past us in the draft twice, and we have yet to adress the Boldin trade in the draft. Just like last year we're hoping, that the guys we have will fill in that role. I don't see it.

You don't need a franchise QB to play good defense and run the ball well, yet that's all the Ravens seem to be interested in doing. That big contract makes less and less sense to me. 

We were able to re-sign one of the best left tackles in the NFl, traded for  a better center from the buccs, get  a older but still productive player in Stevie Smith, re-sign  Joe Flacco security blanket Dennis Pitta,sign  a solid tight end in Owen Daniels whom probably could be a number one tight end for some other teams,  bring back Jacoby Jones, still have Torrey Smith, have a promising young receiver in  Marlon Brown,and most of all finally get a above average offensive coordinator.

I can't really say Ozzie has not worked hard this off season to cater to Joe. Of course I would have liked for us to get one of those play making receivers and I thought for sure Jarvis Landry would have been there for us in the third round but surprisingly  he was gone before the third round even started. I would have liked for us to have drafted Allen Robinson or Cody Latimer over Timmy Jernigan in the second round but Jernigan was guy whom was rated very highly and I can see why

 he was  picked.

i'd go roberson/reynolds: Hampton/Purifoy have legit legal concerns

Right now Hampton legal issues were resolved .