birdseye

Literally had the exact same thought, great move by the ravens!

Here come all the arm chair GM's.... probably same turds who hated on the ronnie stanley pick last year. we have 3 more picks today, if we can somehow manage OLB, WR, OL then were talkin'.

Great article. I would argue one point though, which kind of goes hand in hand with what you are saying; that KD and TW can't break a long run. How many times did either back make it through the line of scrimmage before contact. Its impossible to break runs with any consistency when you have to fight just to get through the line of scrimmage every run. If Dixon has the holes Zeke has in Dallas he would have popped numerous long runs, he is faster than ray rice was coming out of school and RR could flip the field.

All good points, but remember, we were 2 inches away from being a playoff team this year. We don't need to fill every hole but upgrading the Oline is, imo, the key to turning this offense around (along with a commitment the run game). The defense is 1 good cornerback away from being a playoff defense. if the offense turns itself around I'm confident the ravens will be a playoff team in the weak AFC. Certainly shouldn't be impossible to land a starting CB and C between free agency and the draft. Also, John says he wants to have the best of everything, just typical coach speak.

Here me out here on my dream/fantasy/ideal unfolding of events. Roman hired as TE coach and not OL coach... Titles don't mean much I suppose, but I have to think John wants to utilize the plethora of tight ends this year since our WR corps will be lacking, or maybe, less than ideal, with or without an additional "complimentary" receiver. Roman has been a TE coach in the past and our tight ends are not very good at blocking sans Boyle and Gillmore. He also got a lot of production out of Vernon Davis in SF (13 TDs). OJ Howard in rd 1 if that is the plan, he is a unique talent (watch him go 1v1 blocking Myles Garrett in the TA&M game) and he could be special, maybe if Alabama ever used him. In that situation go two tight ends all year, another staple of Romans offenses..... Ah well, a guy can dream right?

Great hire, best news of the offseason so far, Roman will help this team

yeah I'll believe it when I see it... I dont trust anything our coaching staff says because they are all talk and no walk. John says what he knows the fans want to hear, but his actions suggest otherwise? We need to run the ball more, we need to run the ball more efficiently. yet we retain a pass happy OC for his entire career. Sounds like he's doing a friend a favor

Apologies for being long winded. Now frustration is starting to kick in. I'm almost always an optimist regarding the ravens as I have a lot of faith in our front office, but the status quo wasn't CLOSE to being good enough this year, so lets keep the same? Sadly, Joe is completely oblivious to his own shortcomings (and the offenses as a whole for that matter)... Its honestly insulting that he thinks the Raven's Flock is THAT stupid to accept such an answer; that situations dictated abandoning the run game all year leading to the skewed stats. News Flash, ravens fans know football and were tired of hearing the same crap out of your mouth when the games that we are watching with our own eyes don't support your comments? All Joe wants is to have the stats so that the sports world will finally call him an elite quarterback. his answer to the play call that almost cost us the Philly game is as close to admittance as you'll ever see when using coach/player speak. My eternal optimist side is saying that perhaps Morningwheg was handicapped by Trestman's flawed offense and had no choice but to tailor his game-plan accordingly, but his history as an OC suggests otherwise. If we do not have a hammering run game next year, complimented by play action and explosive plays, Harbs gets the door. Much less optimism after listening to his press conference this morning.

I might be reading too much into this, but I did think it was interesting that they did not start Alex Lewis at LT: is that an indication we are going to try and resign Wagner, maybe they see Lewis' future as a G, or possibly he just wasn't 100%? definitely the biggest storyline of the offseason will be retaining him over BWill. We all saw how ineffective Joe is without a quality line (which will be more important if we hire Greg Roman). Our run D isn't made or broken by one player so we can overcome losing Williams better than Wagner.

In reference to the check downs point. I Think what were missing is the fact the NE did this all game and we never adjusted. We had only had 3 people running routes (outside of the checkdown) vs their 7 guys in coverage... do the math, Joe ain't Mike Vick. Thats is called being a step behind the D coordinator and having a predictable gameplan. Marty clearly isn't the answer, Make a move for Norv Turner this offseason!!!!!

Let me preface this by saying I've always been a huge Flacco defender and dont want to trade/cut him by any streatch. That being said, I'm seeing more and more evidence that Ray has a point, and an important one. Joe clearly loves football, you don't achieve the kind of success in the NFL without loving the game. Tony Lombardi from RSR explains the reality of the situation in his "word on the street" podcast. Flacco realizes this is his job, he wants to win, and puts in some extra time to be better and to make sure his job is safe. He doesn't however, have the necessary passion/fire/ambition whatever you want to call it, required to be the best. Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, Ben Roethlisberger, and Phillip Rivers have that and that is why he will never be as good as them. You could argue he is more talented than all of them, but that is only half the battle. Love Flacco, he is a very good quarterback, but that doesn't mean he is above criticism.

I think this might be the single biggest development this season... if Tavon's stellar play continues our defense will legitimately be enough for us to get to the postseason, god knows our offense wont be helping in that regard.

give this kid carries against the starters tomorrow!

Its a combination of both. You can be a "winner" and have done nothing for your team to contribute to that win. We've seen Joe do that in the playoffs (against Brady no less). That's the problem with applying team stats to individual players... it in no way attempts to indicate what contribution that player made to that win. Enter stats... one method that people can identify how a player contributes to a win. Why do you think QB is literally the only position where people care about whether the guy is a "winner" or not? And Tim Tebow is a "winner"... What playoffs were you watching? Joe has the 7th highest playoff QB rating in history, 25 TD's vs 10 INT's and propelled an old and declining defense to a SB title. Dont get me wrong Flacco does lay some eggs almost every year in the regular season, but there's a reason people inside and out the league associate QB play to the success of a team, its not just a random statistical phenomenon. Yeah team stats dont dont necessarily indicate a players contribution, but that doesn't prove that individual stats do. How does Joe get passing yards if his line doesn't block, his receivers cant get open, and our running game cant threaten them enough to stop playing nickel or dime defense? This is a cyclical argument because the fact is there are no individual stats in football as it is the ultimate team game. Lastly, Tebow is a winner? that's why he sits behind a desk now and couldn't get a second contract right?

Ideal 3 round mock draft for me, really 3 (a, b, c) mocks depending on which players we choose in previous rd. rd1. a. Ramsey b. Tunsil, c. Buckner rd2. a.Noah Spence b. Chris Jones c.Mackensie Alexander rd3. a. Sterling Shepard b.Cyrus Jones c. Kyler Fackrell