bucketonuts

Well, the good news is we'll essentially have two first round players come next Fall because barely anyone has seen him play yet.

Assuming he plays.

Why do we need to add another TE to the roster? Are we fans not being told something, again?

Probably just going to use him on special teams. We just cut two special teamers.

Unfortunately, the Ravens organization has done terribly with their early round picks for the last seven years. I don't see this changing unless they change their scouting and coaching staff. They've tried to change this team into an aerial threat and have failed miserably with poor draft picks and allowing their seasoned veterans to leave because they can't afford to keep them (right Flacco?). They've populated the O line with marginal talent and have put a horrific D backfield together.

The high draft picks are not going to win Super bowls right out of school but they are supposed to develop and keep your team competitive. They haven't for the last seven years. They've stunk. This team now stinks because of it. It will take a lot more than just high draft picks to turn it around.

Ravens get hit with costly Bogus Penalties every week.

As far as the call on jimmy- we always get burnt by atleast one horrible call every game that usually hurts us pretty badly. Not an excuse for losing - but it certainly doesn't help. Seems like this year if it wasn't that it would've been something else.

I was irate after the penalty on Jimmy Smith. They showed a replay only once and I was like "that's a legal bump within 5 yards of the LOS". But now, after seeing the video posted here several times, I can see that the receiver's torso is turned as he's making a move to get away from the bump and i cannot see Smith's right hand. I can no longer assume that Smith did not hold.

As far as Boldin's no-call - ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!! >

PalmBayRaven.... I hear what you are saying and I also wanted to expect so much more out of Flacco this season. He has the tools and he is an 8 year veteran with a ton of post season success and experience. He is growing and I was hoping to see the best Flacco we have ever seen but I also had to remind myself... that this is Joe's 4th OC in 4 years! 4 new systems in 4 years. 4 new ways of doing things---- 4 new play books to learn. That has to slow development at some point. We have to expect a learning curve to some degree. Next... I remembered that we have a 36 your old # 1 WR and a rookie # 2.... and a bunch of unproven players behind them. A couple of injuries to our # 1 and #2 and all of a sudden we have a veteran QB in a new system with little help. No targets and a OL in front of him that is also learning a new system and had some difficulty protecting him early. Joe has took more of a beaten this season then I have ever seen him. IF we can get another year under Trestman, add a few legit weapons at WR.... give those young TE's a year to develop and lock up KO or add depth on that OL... I expect Joe to have a career year next season... this season seemed to be too much stacked against him (and he still may pass for record yardage)!

To be fair, Flacco did throw two perfect passes to receivers in the end zone who didn't catch them this weekend. True, the stupid interceptions hurt. He admitted it but he never said anything about his teamates dropping his passes.

Wanted to put out something though that you overlooked...

 

I put in bold the actual selection number of those players, as it matters significantly, since obviously historically, the better your draft pick is the better the player is likely to be.

 

If you'll notice, of the 15 players taken in the first round from 96-08, 8 of those players were taken with draft picks in the top 12 of the draft, with 7 of them coming in the top 10. Generally, speaking the most common method of obtaining a draft pick in the top 10 or even in the top half of the draft is by losing more football games than you win the previous season.

 

If I go ahead and lump 2008 in with the latter half of the group to separate the "Harbaugh era" from the other group, you'll see that the average draft position of the former group was roughly 16th, while the average draft position of the latter group is 25th, with only one first round pick inside the top 20 in the last 7 years.

 

If you'll notice, with the exceptions of legendary players like Ed and Reed (who don't really exist in football anymore and were drafted in some cases almost 20 years ago), the "elite" group of players drafted on that almost exclusively come from the top half of the draft.

 

Your Suggs, Ngata's, Boulware's, Jamal Lewis', etc. aren't that easily found in the back half of the first round in most cases.

 

So what does this all mean? Well, frankly, in my opinion, its a trade off. If you want stud first rounders every year, you either better trade up to get them (borderline impossible from the 20s) or you better start losing a lot of games. 

 

Win you win more, your draft picks generally get worse, and vice versa. There's a direct correlation that still exists today for this.

Excellent points. Very well put. I was just pointing out that our first picks in the last 7 years have done little to nothing for this team (except for Mosely). Our first picks, the most costly and most important, whether it be 1st or 2nd round, in the last seven years have been awful (previous exception noted). Only three first picks in the last seven years are even playing.

Also remember they traded away Ngata

Ngata left for more $$.

We have to stop bringing in mediocre players and then talking them up like they're starting material. Perfect example is our safeties. We went into game 1 with two under achieving career starters that combined to have 6 INTs in the last 8 years of combined service. Both were let go by their previous teams because they were not productive. Why do we keep thinking under achievers will come here and do better than their previous teams? We don't have the coaching or leadership for that kind of mentality any more fellas... Hopefully we'll have enough money after getting out of salary cap hell to make a splash and bring in some top talent and not guys with "high ceilings" and low talent.

My thoughts exactly.

Here's what's gone wrong with the Ravens.

From 1996 to 2008, their first round picks were

1996 - Jonathan Ogden & Ray Lewis

1997 - Peter Boulware

1998 - Duane Starks

1999 - Chris McAlister

2000 - Jamal Lewis & Travis taylor

2001 - Todd Heap

2002 - Ed Reed

2003 - Terrell Suggs & Kyle Boller

2004 - No pick

2005 - Mark Clayton

2006 - Haloti Ngata

2007 - Ben Grubbs

2008 - Joe Flacco

In 2003, the Ravens traded their 2004 1st round pick to the NE Patriots who took Vince Wilfork. The

Ravens got Kyle Boller with the 19th pick in 2003.

Except for Kyle Boller, this was a Super Bowl class of picks.

Since then, their first round picks have been

2009 - Michael Oher

2010 - No 1st round pick

2011 - Jimmy Smith

2012 - No 1st round pick

2013 - Matt Elam

2014 - C. J. Mosley

2015 - Breshad Perriman

Except for C.J. Mosely, the latter group are all busts. Courtney Upshaw has as much agility as a turtle and Jimmy Smith is overrated and can't cover on 3rd down.

What happened to the scouting department that prompted them to make such terrible picks early on? Sure, the first pick is not always going to be the perfect pick or turn out to be Pro Bowl caliber but they are always the most expensive and these busts have cost the Ravens dealry.

Two more things -

1. We need a new receivers coach. Somebody needs to teach the receivers that the ball doesn't come to them. They need to go to it.

2. Who let Cam Cameron back onto the sidelines? Really? 3rd & 3 and you go long? 2nd and long and you run 90% of the time? It's no wonder we're in the bottom ten in 3rd down conversions.