griffrb

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Posts posted by griffrb


  1. True, there's always turnover. However, look at the losses of designated "core" or "key" players and those who were expected to be vital backups that didn't meet expectations. Seven, and potentially, eight DBs being released. This however, is a rebuild to get much younger and faster. They will never admit or call it such. The younger players must simply grow up, play, and perform if we have any opportunity to move beyond mediocre. The same goes for the coaching. They too must perform better, assess better, and give players the opportunity to grow by putting them into position to be successful.

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  2. You know it's slow when beat writers copy and paste other writers news articles. LOL! Every player doesn't fit every system. Every team has a different environment and personality, so every free agent doesn't flourish with a new team. Look at when we signed S Michael Huff. He didn't make it through the season if I remember correctly. It was a rare mistake and I think he admitted it was very difficult for him in B-more. Every team makes the same mistakes with FAs.

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  3. I appreciate the optimism, Kevin. But this has been the same optimism every year we haven't made the playoffs as well. Everyone always says "The Ravens have a had a sneaky good offseason", yet we fall short.

    The Patriots have visibly good off seasons, and they remind us every season why they are better than us. They beat us on, and off the field. They outcoach us, proof of that can be found in every trick play they've ran against us (Edelman pass, blocked FG stunt).

    Lastly, we didn't fall by short by inches because Antonio brown reached over the line, we could tell all season the Ravens were not championship ready.

    Exactly.

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  4. Nothing personal. Strictly business. No love lost. We can't keep them all, or most, or even the best of the players we draft and develop. We just simply need to draft better, keep developing players, and just manage the situation as best we can and simply don't expect more than 4 to 5 years from any player we draft. I think we need to stop relying so heavily on free agency every year and paying others anyway, and grow Ravens.

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  5. John, you're spot on. Good to see an article from the team's writers that isn't looking at the team through rose-colored glass, but as it truly is. I think some of the writers have lost credibility.

    It's not an alternative fact that we're not amongst the AFC elite. We have a ways to go in putting the proper bricks in place to return to that level and sustain it. It could very well take several more years just to get back to the playoffs. That's not a popular thought, but it's a very real possibility.

    Every season is a major rebuild for us, not just a reload, because we lack franchise altering players who are in their prime. Joe is a good QB, but he can't carry a franchise. Sugg is very good for his age but he's past his prime. CJMosley is very good but isn't dominant yet. BWilliams, he'll prosper and anchor someone else's defense for years to come. JSmith is injury prone thus is unreliable.

    Every year it's discussed how we lack explosiveness and the need isn't filled. We sign stop gap players for a year at a time and they just collect check. We draft players who can't get on the field and stay like MElam who after 4 years will be gone and thus wasted a 1st round pick. The only dominate area of our team is the kicker JTucker. The kicker?

    We have seven players selected for the Pro Bowl when only 3 are legit: Yanda, Weddle, Juice. I can't count a long snapper and barely can count Juice, though I like his play. Orr was a better ILB than Mosley was this past season. His loss will be felt on the defense next season, but glad to know he has a full quality of life ahead of him.

    So, we'll wait through the off-season, read the stories of who is released, who is signed, and who is drafted. We'll wade through the mini-camps and OTAs and hear how good the players and the team is. We'll get pumped for the training camp and see a few preseason games, which actually is a great indicator of what type of team we have, despite Ozzie saying it takes 4-6 games to assess. I differ with him on that. The 2017 season will start and we all drink the purple drink and say, "Play Like a Raven!"

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  6. The game is in the trenches. Blocking and tackling. If we want a better defense that will hold up over the season, we need a stronger defensive line that can stuff the run and get pressure on the QB at will. No secondary can hold up if a QB can have 4+ seconds to survey the defense. The pass rush simply did not exist the latter half of the defense. Fix the trenches and watch the chain reaction.

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  7. I don't know how impactful these moves will be. Looks like the resolution of friction between personnel with the same responsibilities. I do note the difference in blocking scheme from 2014 to the past couple of years has been a negative in the run game. Strength and conditioning impact on significant injuries: leave that to luck. Oh well.

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  8. I'm curious, when did Harbs have time to research coordinators? The season ended on Sunday. Must have been after the Steelers loss. Something isn't right with that response IMO. I initially thought Marty Ball would be a good fit, but when you look at his track record over time as an OC, what we got was who he is. Andy Reid ran the Eagles offense. Rick Dennison would have been a very interesting consideration. Would he consider a return as QB? Unlikely, unless he's not kept in Denver in some capacity. Oh well. Still a fan, but Harbs is a broken record, and I won't be paying any attention to them or the beat writers this off-season. Once the State of Ravens concludes..........

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  9. LOL! Such "positive spin" articles are annually spit out by the team's media machine: with a few more younger, faster players, we'll be pretty good; this or that draft pick will make us dominant, etc, etc, etc. Each team that is built is different every year. An injury or three can derail a season. An over the hill veteran who the team is relying on, under performs. Highly touted draft picks cannot get on the field and when they do, they're overwhelmed. Poor coaching decisions. We've scene it all. Some changes work and some changes do not. Each season is a gamble. This season, the offense failed to show up for the most part and the defense couldn't sustain it's performance against strong teams. Let's be real: we weren't good or lucky enough to win the division and/or make the playoffs. Next season: there is no guarantee we will be "pretty darn good." We didn't win the division; We didn't make the playoffs; thus we're not competing for the championship. Bottom Line John: we underachieved. We're not interested in improvements. We're about competing for championships. Don't lower the standard with soft, cushy articles.

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