PurpleReigning

As has been pointed out elsewhere online, what Ray possibly meant was the "passion to be great". And not one coach or player who's ever been through this organization has stated that Flacco has that. There are no "stories" of countless hours spent as Flacco's house, or some place he rented in Arizona to work with receivers in the offseason. No lore of Flacco hours before games throwing over and over. And apparently there have been whispers that he's only a 9-5 QB. And I'm sorry, QB's with his arm talent who put in extra hours with recovers simply DO NOT MISS AS MANY OPEN RECEIVERS as he does on a regular basis. Many in this town still have Bowler-syndrome. So happy to have a decent QB that they don't want to call it how it is. The Ravens are 5-4 because this guy misses 5-8 open receivers each game when he has ample time. Ray deserves a ton of slack because it was his defense that would get the ball back and give Joe another shot and he would eventually hit it. The difference now is he's still missing those throws, but there are no hall of famers on defense. Those throws are worth 7-10 points a game, and lo and behold, the Ravens used to win by 7, now they lose by 7. Of course, back then, Flacco wasn't making $20 million.

The idea that Elam should start out behind Webb and Lewis is silly. Webb has lost like 7 steps, and is no more proven than Elam at that position. The only thing Lewis has proven is that he CAN'T play. At worst, It should be Weddle, and then the other spot should be completely open to competition in camp.

We wouldn't have cut him if not for the suspension. But Weddle at his age is a short term fix. And Webbie probably is also. Which means.......We have to get some mileage out of Brooks or Elam, or another bargain young player at some point. Might as well be now.

The punt return situation reminds me of the decision to cut Stover. It's a transition year. Ravens lost 1-2 games the next season because of that decision. Hopefully Harbs learns this time. Cutting Jacoby wasn't wise without a replacement that could be trusted. A fumbled punt is two big a deal. And with an unreliable returner, it's likely to happen more than once.

When they threw the flag, I just laughed. When he made the FG, I just laughed again. Why? Because if you watched this game, folks, it was bad football. 2 bad teams, playing bad football all day. The Ravens leave a TE completely uncovered running down the middle of the field! lol!!! And the Jags are so bad they don't even throw it to him! Flacco repeatedly going deep to Aiken-who's not a deep WR, and he's making how much $$ again? Ross fumbling-again. A FG that was missed from a distance that is now shorter than the extra point...I mean, it was horrible. Of course it would end that way. It was appropriate. We stink. Go Ravens. Let's get a new DB coach, and a high draft choice, and some good speedy mid-round WRs.

I don't even see the debate. It wasn't a great throw. And on top of that, it's the same thing you just tried in the end zone against the Broncos. Flacco, and Trestman in particular are too freaking predictable. If we at home know what they're going to do, what do you think guys who get paid millions to study tape are going to come up with? Red zone, Gillmore in the slot, empty set, what do you think is going to happen? The whole thing is telegraphed, which is poor.

Great article about Flacco and the Ravens on Grantland.com via the espn website. He's been part of the problem. No question.

It took the Saints two days on Drew Brees shoulder to get a second opinion from James Andrews. It's been 3 months and we haven't gotten one on Perriman?

Lots of issues. Does the Baltimore media have the nerve to ask Flacco about the bad throws? Flacco personally left two touchdowns on the board yesterday. He under threw the rookie down the sideline on what should have been a touchdown. He then threw a bad pass to a wide open Steve Smith with the game on the line which caused b Baltimore to have to settle for a field goal. He had a third bad pass to a wide open Aiken that would've cost them a touchdown, but the Ravens scored the touchdown anyway. Flacco had a great day, but he shares some blame in this loss. I don't know about the defense at all. Defense is also about emotion-especially in Baltimore. They don't have any emotion without Suggs out there. He was the last link to Ray. Mosley and Smith play like zombies. They're good, but they're not inspiring. The only one who brings energy is Will Hill. There's no 'fire' on the D, and you can't play D like you play offense. It just doesn't work.

Monroe has not justified the investment. He played soft when he was in the lineup last year. Not one big game has he shown up. Doesn't mean he won't, but up to this point he hasn't. You can say concussion all you want, but the coaches are starting to get frustrated. They won't say it because it's a concussion, but he was healthy enough to play in the playoffs-and they didn't put him in.

People here need to calm down. The biggest issues on the offense right now are Perriman and Monroe. There are very few right tackles who can stand up to Von Miller. If you also have a weak LT, you can't slide to help the RT and you're immediately in trouble. The super bowl year, the Broncos came to M&T and annihilated the Ravens because they couldn't block Miller and Dumerville. The difference in the rematch in the playoffs was McKinnie started, and Oher held up on the right, and Flacco had time to throw to Torrey. Eugene Monroe has been a bust of an acquisition. I've never seen an offensive lineman hurt so often. It's crazy. Big games against the Steelers, Bengals, Patriots, and now Broncos, he hasn't shown up yet. And I kept saying over and over and over last year to keep Deonte Thompson. And a bunch of people on these comment threads kept talking about Aiken, and Brown and these other people. You can't teach speed!! With those two dudes back, the offense will be above average.

I recall saying on these exact pages last year many times that they needed to KEEP Deonte Thompson at all costs! He has a skill set (true 4.3 speed) that cannot be replicated. You can get a big WR anywhere. Aiken is a dime a dozen. But if they kept Thompson, they'd have another guy to stretch. SMH.

Here's the other thing...Hard to blame a guy for getting hurt...but we are quickly approaching the 2.5 year mark, and there hasn't been one big game, against a big-time pass rusher that Eugene Monroe has shown up for the Ravens. No games anyone can point to and say 'yeah, this is why they got him.' He missed the playoff run, he missed the big matchup with the Steelers, best pass rush of the season yesterday, and he's out on series 1. I'm just saying, he needs to become more durable to justify the investment at some point.

Sounds like a lot of predictability to me...how are you running the same looks you did in pre-season, in big spots?? I don't get that. Trestman's gotta do better.

Aaron Rogers rules for not throwing pics: 1) No premeditated throws 2) Never throw blind Joe broke both of those rules throwing it to Talib. It was an inexcusable interception. PERIOD. He's making $20 mil per year now, so he gets no room for that kind of mistake. Yes, Smith dropped the ball. Yes, Gilmore could've made the contested catch. Yes. Darryl Smith should've squeezed the interception. But they don't make 20 MILLION!! The reason you pay the QB and you give up the quality depth, is for him to not make boneheaded plays. I'm not saying it's his fault the Ravens lost, I'm saying, more than anyone else on that team, he cannot make that play. And he makes one HUGE mistake every.....single.....game. I've said it on this very page for years.

The idea that the Ravens have receivers with good speed without Perriman is hilarious. They could NOT get separation from the Eagles aggressive man to man last week. They'll look better against DC because they're just not a very good team. Truth is, they appeared to have misdiagnosed this from the beginning. They need to fly him down to Alabama to see Dr. Andrews for a second opinion. It's been a month, and they don't know what it is . That is unacceptable...and strange.

Folks hating on my comment about Flacco not working out with his receivers is hilarious. But I played ball a long time. It's the truth.

Absolutely nothing wrong with criticizing Flacco for not throwing to receivers outside of OTA's. If you think that it doesn't factor in to Torrey or Steve Smith having to slow down just half a step, or the ball being just a yard overthrown on those deep balls, then you don't understand timing. That's where the lack of practice shows up. His receivers almost always have to adjust to the ball when it's deep. And that's because they don't work together enough. You don't see that with Rogers, or Brady, or the other QB's nearly as much. When they get a step, it's a touchdown.