Derrel

Recently, they let these players leave and it shows on the field. IMO, they don't have a coaching staff competent enough to develop guys like the Pats.

"Since starting from scratch in 1996, they’ve become a Baltimore institution". Not really, they started with the a Browns team that was already in place and had some draft picks that they turned into important players.

While I admit NE's offense was getting it done in the 4th qtr, Atl. lost the game with poor coaching decisions. Same as NE's win against Seattle. Coaches lost that game. The Atl. players must be overwhelmed with anger.

Bigger and more physical players are needed in the O line starting with the center position. Speed and size in the secondary.
Ozzie may get the big bucks but he has lost his touch when it comes to the draft. He needs to trade up and get the best player we actually need, not what he thinks is the best player on the board. The past 4-5 years have shown that plan just doesn't work. Look at all the WR's, TE's and DB's he has drafted. Except for 1 or 2 they are just second string at best.
Maybe Ozzie just needs to retire, hire NEW and BETTER scouts?????

meanwhile Pittsburgh has drafted a number of top line players to improve their team.

should have kept Osemele

Rather they spent more money on players

Should have kept Osemele

Maybe Ozzie and DeCosta can hire some consulting help this year. Their last 5+ drafts have been bad. Maybe the Steelers could help us out. Likely end up with another Perriman type guy.

If there's one we'd like, I'd go QB in first round! That would put fire under Joe and let us groom our future QB. If not this year then we'll be doing it soon enough I think.

not sure Joe would care that much. The competitive fire has gone out of him. He's been paid and seems to be on the downside.

A reality check last night watching the Pats take apart the Steelers. Bell wouldn't have made a difference.

"When one door closes, another opens" .... absolutely true.

Pats on the ropes after the 1st half. Pats coaches make adjustments on offense and defense and blow out Houston in the second half. Anybody in the Ravens FO watching?

  46 minutes ago, whobilly said:

  15 hours ago, Utah_Raven said:

Yeah it was time for a change at that position. I'm excited to for the future of the O line. Now if the team would get a new WR coach.

They actually NEED WR's first.

That's been the case since the Ravens got here. This past season, Joe had arguably the best receiving talent he's ever had, yet the offense failed to take advantage. That's either the play structure, play calling, route-running, lack of protection, or Joe not feeling comfortable with his primary downfield read and defaulting to a dump-off. I think it was a combination of all of the above.

Perriman, Aiken and Smith...???

If Flacco was as capable as Brady, Manning, Rodgers he could help define the offensive approach. After this many years, Flacco still can't read defenses effectively. With that said, for most of his career there hasn't been one big game receiver on this team, let alone a couple. The Steelers have quietly drafted and traded for big game receivers and a runner. They are the most dangerous team in the playoffs, IMO.

  1 hour ago, Derrel said:

I hope the Ravens FO guys were watching the Houston DB's working yesterday against Oakland, albeit against a 3rd string QB. Regardless, they covered the Raider receivers. Fantastic backfield play. As the article says, the Ravens have suffered from poor play from our guys for years, even back to Reed's final days. This is a passing league and you have to stop Brady, Ben, Rodgers etc. Ozzie has seemingly ignored this for the last few years. The trade for Weddle was a decent attempt but he wore down after 8-10 games(couldn't make the big play against Pittsburgh). IMO, time to make Jimmy a backup. He doesn't stay on the field. Ditto with Weddle. Rest are worth keeping. While on my soap box. the LB's can't cover receivers either. How many times did we see number 57 and 50 chasing down a guy after a 20 yard gain?

I like Weddle and he tries really hard, but he's slipping too. Sometimes he doesn't seem strong enough to bring down some of these big, muscular receivers or RBs. We always get good playmakers on the end of their career so we don't get much benefit from having them. It's like they say, "you get what you pay for."

absolutely true. IMO, Weddle's technique against Brown was the reason he couldn't bring him down. Trying to take anyone down by grabbing him around the shoulder area was the reason this small receiver got that touchdown. He made a hero out of Brown. he needs to be a backup at this point in his career.

I hope the Ravens FO guys were watching the Houston DB's working yesterday against Oakland, albeit against a 3rd string QB. Regardless, they covered the Raider receivers. Fantastic backfield play. As the article says, the Ravens have suffered from poor play from our guys for years, even back to Reed's final days. This is a passing league and you have to stop Brady, Ben, Rodgers etc. Ozzie has seemingly ignored this for the last few years. The trade for Weddle was a decent attempt but he wore down after 8-10 games(couldn't make the big play against Pittsburgh). IMO, time to make Jimmy a backup. He doesn't stay on the field. Ditto with Weddle. Rest are worth keeping. While on my soap box. the LB's can't cover receivers either. How many times did we see number 57 and 50 chasing down a guy after a 20 yard gain?

I heard that CSN was dropping coverage of the Ravens to concentrate on the Redskins. If true, that's a shame. As an out of town fan, I enjoy watching the pre and post game programs as well as the Harbaugh Monday press briefing. Also, Touchdown Baltimore. A shout out to Preston who always tells the truth about the state of the Ravens. Hope all of these programs come back.

I'm starting to believe our billionaire owner is losing interest in owning this team. In one of the biggest games (Steelers) of the year for his team, he decides to stay home. I know it was Christmas, but it just seems a little odd. I could never imagine Jerry Jones or Bob Kraft missing a game of that magnitude. And I know Art Modell would never miss a divisional game that could possibly decide the division champs, not to mention a game against your arch rivals.

I just don't think Steve B cares as much, as we the fans, think he does.

I think this team is run totally by John and the owner has put a lot of trust and faith in him. That is why, I believe, John is not that concerned about his decisions or what the fan base thinks. I believe John's relationship with Steve is closer then anyone elses in the Ravens organization. Even closer then Steve's relationship with Ozzie. If push comes too shove, Ozzie will go before John will.

Even if things go south in 2017, I think John will still be the head coach of the Ravens, but the surprise, to a lot of us, will be the firing of the entire front office.
John is "a do gooder" and he and Steve have a lot in common. For better or worse they both see life the same way.

When watching that joint news conference on Tuesday, watch how uncomfortable Ozzy looks sitting there while John is in a comfort zone knowing that his boss is his "bff". He and Steve are of the same mindset. John will have no problems throwing people under the bus while Ozzie is going to be very calculated with his words. Ozzie totally understands the situation that he is in.

Of course this is just all my opinion, and that's all it is, an opinion.

I've always thought Harbaugh was a 'corporate' guy. He has never impressed me as a solid coach on the field. His focus is on relationships with some coaches and the owner. There's a reason Belichek and Andy Reed win. Anybody ever see the program showing Belichek's last years in Cleveland? Very impressive to see him run meetings with his coaches back in the day. Some significant players mailed in the Cincy game....Flacco, Suggs, Dumerville, Williams, all the DB's. Not a good sign for the coaches.

  11 hours ago, OzzieBisciotti said:

We had the easiest schedule in 2016 because we were so terrible in 2015- so our defense wasn't really top ranked because we recently played against so many inferior teams

Am I in an echo chamber here?

The worst season; statistically speaking, for the Ravens defense under Pees was 2015 and I can just as easily toss out that season because that was the IR-season where just about everybody on the team was on IR.

So you toss out that anomaly and this past season and the Ravens defense has been no worse than 12th in the league, and also finished 6th in the league. The stats say what they say. They only tell you part of the story which is my point.

If you simply look at the stats and rankings as an outside observer you'd be wondering why fans are calling for Pees to be fired. Ravens fans know though because we actually see the team and how they perform on a play by play basis and we see time and time again how this defense blows games for us.

Can I break it down any more than this? You realize we agree and you are saying the exact same thing I am?

losses on the defense: Jets, Giants, Cincy, Pittsburgh....can't hold a lead

Wonder what Smith thinks of this team as he moves on? He likes to talk so after the smoke settles on his exit someone on the Ravens press core should ask him.

The team totally quit on their coaches and fans today. Absolute let down and I'm totally disappointed.

it would be hard to play in the NFL......Flacco must feel bad....at least until he gets to Fiji for 4 weeks with his family.

Pees should be fired. The defense seems to have lost faith in him as their coordinator.

the players play the game but maybe a change could help....Pees likely to retire.

Weddle didn't deliver on the most important play of the season. He talks alot but didn't bring much this year. There's always a reason teams walk away as SD did with him. Maybe a slight upgrade over last year but not good enough. Does he stay?

  2 hours ago, OzzieBisciotti said:

No offense but I think way too much is being made of our "#1 defense." I think the point that needs to be recognized is that we played an easy schedule this year because of our terrible losing record last year- so does playing much inferior teams, where the majority of our wins came from teams with losing records, really make our defense that good? No because our defense looked good because we played so many teams with losing records so technically I'd argue that our defense wouldn't be #1 if we played more avg teams or teams with winning records. I think this #1 defense statement is highly misleading because when you look under the band aids, you'll see that the defense doesn't impose it's will on anyone like the old days and that we still have third tier corners starting for us and an old corner (webb) who should be at home watching games on Sundays.

our D is not Rated #1

our D was good against poor teams and couldn't stand up against Cowboys, Pats, Steelers, Redskins and Giants.

9 wins is much better than 8. It's not meaningless! With all the off season babble, we'll feel much better about that 9th win.

9 wins 8 wins, it's a losing season.