descent into the maelstrom

One thing that I haven't seen mentioned with respect to round 1 is that Humphrey, Allen, Howard and Foster were possibly the best 4 players available at the time we were on the clock and all from Alabama. We all know about Ozzie's Alabama connections. He would have had more insight into each of these players than possibly anyone else not involved with their program. That is the reason I simply cannot knock the decision to take Humphrey above the other three. He had all the information when making the pick.

I'd pay my share to keep the board going. I don't post much because I don't watch college football, film, other NFL teams or NFL network (I, too, find it unwatchable). Because of that, I mostly lurk, but enjoy the insights of many of the posters on here and enjoy participating when I have something relevant to add to the conversation. Because I'm no longer living in Maryland, I enjoy the connection to the team that this board provides. I'm disappointed that it's going away.

Maybe the Ravens will take him on as a coaching intern. As a player who went undrafted, he might have some knowledge that would be helpful to others regarding work ethic, technique, etc.

I wonder if the Patriots pick him up. He's clearly better than what they have.

And just to prove your point, here is a thread starting post from mid-December 2012: "This brand of football we are putting on the field lately is pretty bad to watch, the word is PUTRID. Mistakes all over the place. I have to look at the top for the undiscipline that keep costing us games. In a word, Playoffs? How?"

If this is true, as I'm sure it is not, I say, fix away. So far they have fixed it so that the Ravens are the only team to have made multiple Super Bowl appearances without a loss.

I'm amazed that the 49ers are last. Since having gone to 3 straight NFCCG or better, their front office has made even the Browns' look spectacular.

I can't imagine that any coach or gm cares enough about whether they start the game with the ball or get the ball to open the second half so much as to risk injury to one of their players - and to do so each and every week. Something different to earn the first overtime possession might be interesting, as long as it is not a serious injury risk. I'm not even sure about that since each team gets a possession if the first team with the ball fails to score a touchdown. I'm fine with a coin toss.

I've been sympathetic to Monroe, but hearing that he chose not to play a playoff game after having been cleared makes my blood boil. That could have made the difference between winning and losing that game - which essentially is the difference between getting to the Super Bowl and getting knocked out of the playoffs. Re the Le Clos/Phelps picture, that is really out of line. I'm glad Phelps won and hated Le Clos' pre-race antics, but the guy simply breathes to his side. Nothing "loser" or "focused on winners" about that, though I recognize the picture can be fun to be taken out of context in the manner that it has been.

One guy who was a Raven for a short time and spent 2 years on and off the Steelers' practice squad amounted to something: James Harrison.

I read the article about Nembot and I think I've found a new favorite underdog. Even more of a longshot (pun intended?) with the signing of Long. Just curious about what people who actually watch film think of him.

I wouldn't trade my life for playing in the NFL + the money that goes with it + CTE. I feel for the guy being worried at age 29 about his future health. I wish him the best. I think it says a lot about people who actually take the time to write derogatory remarks about the guy.

I wasn't using Graham as an example of a first round pick. Only as another example of a player wanting to play somewhere else. Re Grubbs, that is heading to a discussion of if we should overpay a first round pick to stay, and I'm not interested in going there. My point was only that we weren't clearly outbid, unlike the case of KO, for example. (And yes, I know KO wasn't a first round pick.) I think we can agree that we hope CJ doesn't have a childhood fantasy of playing for the Bengals.

I did it that way for my first Ravens game and "best available" for 2 seats together ended up being in the very top row of the upper deck. Since then, I've always use the reseller's sites and have no problem getting the tickets I want, though I pay a price since I get front row or at least low and close to 50 yard line. Re going to games out west, I've worn a Ravens jersey to San Francisco, San Diego and Denver and have had zero problems. And on topic, the only game I'm getting to this year is in Dallas.

I've seen Ben Grubbs mentioned in a lot of posts as an example of a player we lost because we couldn't afford him. That example is not proper, as we offered him essentially the same as New Orleans. Grubbs just wanted to play for them. Corey Graham was another player who simply wanted to play for a different, specific team, though I don't recall how close our offer was to the Bills'.