AvianBrain

Matt looked a lot like Joe last night...overthrew Boyle open across the middle and underthrew the deep ball to Givens with 5 yards of separation from the defender. Luckly, the defender played Givens and not the ball. 2 int's on par with Joe for the year. Came away with the win and that is all that matters!

Joe, come back strong in 2016. Hopefully, there will be some quality draft picks/free agent pick-ups eager to catch the ball from you next year. Matt, it's your team for the rest of the year. I will keep hoping for a win no matter who is under center!

Every week on game day, I start thinking...today is the day the Ravens will break-out and everything will fall their way and they will come away with a big win. I start watching the game and start thinking...it's not this week. Next week comes and I start all over again and I will continue through the end of the season because I am a Ravens Fan. Win or Lose, I will watch them until the end of the season. I will read all the articles, follow the draft, and wait anxiously until next year starts and begin hoping all over again. I moved here from PA and grew up an Eagles fan, and I am immune to disappointing seasons. The Ravens have won 2 Super Bowls...the Eagles went to two Super Bowls. Time to start thinking about Sunday afternoon...

I was hoping they would put Melvin on the practice squad, but it does not look like they left a spot open for him.

How did the Ravens get here? If you watched the pre-season you could see this defense has no depth. Once the key first-team players left the game the defense could not stop second and third team offenses. With the injuries, that is exactly what happened. And what is with the salary cap "shell game"? Who writes contracts to require paying for players that are no longer on the team? Or is that some insane league rule to counts the money even if it is not paid out? Only bright spot on this year is that we have a lot of young players getting valuable playing time. They will either come back better next year or be cut because they don't have what it takes to play like a Raven! High draft picks in every round will not be such a bad thing as we look forward to 2016. After my hopes are dashed as we lose games in the fourth quarter, the prospects for good draft picks and a better team next year gives me reason to hope.

Tough game all around. At least they did not get blown-out like the 2013 game. Respectable for the first game of the season against another top tier team. Maybe SSS should have made the catch, but the defender was clearly face-guarding on Gilmore on the next pass. He never turned his head around and just put his hands up to prevent him from making the catch.

How can anyone judge the WR's from this preseason? Joe has barely played a quarter and most of the top tier WR's only saw limited action with Joe against 1st team defenses. I prefer to be optimistic that the first team will shine as the regular season games go into the second half and defenses wear down from the run and possession passing game.

I must admit to being a Marlon Brown fan. His production went down last year, but I saw him make some SSS-like moves that shows he is learning from the best. However, after that errant pass on Saturday, I am concerned he may not be a tall enough target for Joe ...think we could get a few 7' tall receivers in the draft next year?

Nothing personal Ngata, it's just business...It's sad to think what free agency and crazy money has done to football. I am not saying these guys don't deserve it after what they go through to play at such a high level and with the injuries they face. I just wonder how many championships the Steelers, Cowboys, and 49's would have won if they had the turn-over in the 70's and 80's due to free agency and salary cap casualties.

Especially with SSS running free across the middle. Joe has a great arm, but hits stats go way down on the long balls. I recall a few where the receiver was hit in stride, but mostly I remember the balls either over-thrown or under-thrown and contested. Torrey probably drew as many penalties as catches on the deep balls from Joe.

Looks like the Ravens left their game on the practice field. It's performances like this that fuel the elite QB debate.

Waller may be a little less polished than Perriman, but he did a reasonable Torrey imitation by drawing penalties and he also drew coverage that allowed Campanaro to catch a 45 yard TD pass. Let's not forget that the Patriots and the Chargers moved down the field on the Ravens last year with short possession passes. I am not sure why anyone would believe the Ravens can't win any games without a polished deep threat. Anyone running down the field is going to draw coverage and the team has a crew of receivers capable of catching the ball. That along with a grinding run game will win games. I would prefer to see the offense wear down the defense and run down the clock rather than the quick scores that bring the Ravens defense right back on the field.

It took Kubiak the better part of the season to figure-out what worked and what didn't last year. His play calling in the playoffs was nothing short of brilliant. I know Trestman will want to work within his own style of play-calling, but I just hope he can pick up where Kubiak left off. On paper, this team has the potential to grind down team defenses and put up big numbers and shut down the opposing offense with a smothering defense. This fan is hoping the practical matches the theoretical.

They should have posted video of his touchdown from the wildcard game. Pure power and determination! There were Steelers bouncing off of him and I think there were a couple stuck to his cleats by the time he reached the endzone! Playing like a Raven...a 275 lb Raven with an attitude! Can't wait to see some more of that!

It's great to have a good punter on the team with a long term deal. But, let's hope his punting attempts go way down this year while the number of holds for extra point attempts goes way up!

How about the Raven's get SSS an SB ring so he can go out on top like Ray! Or maybe two!

It is hard to evaluate the rookies until the pads come on. Ed Dickson looked great until he took a few shots and developed alligator arms. He could make spectacular catches in space, but in traffic he was clearly concerned about protecting his body first. Last year Gillmore showed he liked to hit and run over people and let's hope he continues this year. If the newbies don't have the mental toughness, the physical abilities will not matter.

There is no doubt that CJ is a playmaker, but if he has a weakness, it was apparent when he was covering Bell coming out of the backfield. Watch the second Steeler game and you will see Bell consistantly eating his lunch and breaking his spork. It's not that he couldn't cover Bell, he was on him, but he didn't anticipate the pass that was coming out quickly because the line was getting to Ben. If he would have gotten his head around, he would have easily batted down or even intercepted some of those passes. He was also burned on a few trick plays in other games but he is good enough to have learned from those mistakes and certainly will improve in that area.

Joe put on a touchdown clinic at Tampa Bay last year. Let's hope he repeats that performance 19 more times this year!

I know it was just pre-season, but he led the league in pre-season rushing last year and had some long runs. I can't say I know if the pre-season rushing yardage was due to his ability or the quality of the Ravens back-up OL and/or lack of quality in the opposing DL. He found the gaps and moved the chains and that says something about his potential. You never know what the coaches see on the field, so I will let them decide if he becomes the number 2 or 3.

The no. 2 RB needs to block as well as Forsett. I don't know how many times I saw Pierce whiff on a blitzing LB. Run all you want, but when it comes to crucial passing downs the Ravens need a #2 RB that can run, catch, and block. Hopefully, Forsett can school LT and Buck and both will be equally effective on all downs.