beanfigger

I wonder how realistic this Alex Mack talk is. How high would we have to go to outbid those other teams with so much more cap room? Would we have to sacrifice any chance at other signings (D. Smith, S. Smith)?

I'm guessing this is the deal the FO put on the table a while ago. Jacoby tested the waters a bit just out of curiosity, but he wanted to stay as long as some other team wasn't going to break the bank on him. Good deal.

safeties! Mos Def Safeties there you last line of D.

I think I agree with you, but we do need at least some savvy linebackers to call plays and audibles.  Safeties are definitely becoming one of the most important positions on the field for defenses in today's game, though.

What's a more risky young combo, middle linebackers or safeties?  It seems we are leaning towards using two guys with fewer than two years experience for at least one of these spots.  Hopefully not both.

Thats interesting.

In case anyone has lost track, without Jacoby Jones it would be very easy to make a case that we lose the last 3 games we won.

At Detroit his late Kickoff Return and Clutch catch on the winning Field Goal Drive. There were earlier great returns as well.

Vs Minnesota, Do the Raven's even get to the last winning series without his Kickoff Return for TD? Maybe, Maybe not.

vs Pittsburgh, Jacoby's certain T.D. is cheated away from us by Tomlin, but the field goal becomes the difference in the game.

You have to hope our Front Office is tuned into what is making a difference, but considering

their recent record there is no guarantee of that.

Jacoby is certainly clutch and plays very big in big moments. I want him back, and I think it will be easier to keep him than, say, Ellerbe or Kruger last year.

It is hard to play the "if" game, though. Perhaps if we had a stud receiver in Jacoby's place, we make enough plays throughout the game that we don't even need Jones to come to the rescue at the end. I'm sure glad he has done what he's done the past few weeks, though. My guess is he stays.

Not only are there several great receivers in this year's draft, but there are not a bunch of teams that will be drafting before us that will likely take a receiver in the first couple rounds.

Having said that, I would very much like to keep Jacoby.  I don't know that he would be flooded with huge offers from other teams, and I do believe that he is enjoying playing in Baltimore.  I think we can keep him, but if we don't I do not believe it's a killer blow.  It hurts, but it doesn't terminate.

He is definitely our most clutch player outside of Joe and Justin.

I don't think anyone thought differently.  The question in training camp was would he would ever play football again.

 

Edit;  Well I see there was one person who may have thought differently. 

I had long, spirited debates about this with at least four different people this offseason.

In my defense, and I know we debated about this lol, I was operating under the assumption that Pitta would not play football at all this year, so no one would know how well he recovered.

 

If I had even thought that he'd be back, which I didn't think was possible with the original prognosis, I would have agreed with you that he'd get 2 or 3 years in a new deal.

The reasons why you were wrong are not as important to me as the fact that you were wrong.  Just kidding, kind of.

It seems like everyone is finally coming around to what I've been saying since training camp. Pitta will get multiple years at 4-6 million. It will either be from us or someone else.

Maybe this has already been answered, but does anyone know if Reed being cut by the Texans affects any possible compensatory draft pick we might have received?

This guy Joyner is a stud, and he will be a stud on Sundays, plain and simple.  FSU players, aside from QBs, transition to the NFL extremely well, traditionally.

They just said on Redzone that Aldon Smith has cleaned out his locker and been suspended indefinitely.

Is the NFL substance abuse program open to all players, regardless of failed or passed drug tests? It sounds like it would do him some good. I hope this is an isolated incident of incredibly stupid behavior, and not a sign of regular behavior from him. As much as I've had my laughs over Hernandez's fall from grace, I still don't want to see anyone throwing away a career they worked hard to achieve over their own demons...

It's the second time for him with all this.  Unfortunately, it isn't just an isolated incident.

Player to watch for from FCS:  University of Delaware receiver Michael Johnson.  6'2", 205 Lbs, he's putting up huge games for us this year.  He was one of the most heavily recruited receivers out of high school in Florida.  He had all the SEC schools going after him until he had a knee injury senior year.

He's only a junior at UD, so he will likely wait another year before entering the draft, but he should be someone you pay attention to the rest of this year and next if you can.  Oh, and he also returns kicks and excels in that area, too.

Do these players know that the NFLPA created an app for their car service?  They don't even have to memorize a number anymore.

I don't know.  He held Super Bowl MVP Flacco back for years.

Right, but he can't hold the guys back once they leave him and enter the NFL.  He's great at developing QBs through the early stages.  He just needs to pass them off to someone else after that so they can make the next step.  Joe Flacco is my favorite player, but he wasn't Superbowl MVP Joe Flacco when he started with Cam.  Cameron definitely helped him early, but couldn't help him recently when it was clear that Joe was ready to make the leap into the elite.  Young college QBs will really, really benefit from Cameron's coaching.

Yep. I agree so much with this. I've thought that this was the best move for him. He can't hold guys back because they'll be gone.

To be honest, if he gets a good QB there and coaches him up for four years, I'd bet he'd come into the league NFL ready.  It wouldn't take long for him to develop into an NFL star after that.

I just heard "Less predictable" and "Cam Cameron" in the same sentence, now I am legitimately confused.  Les Miles must not be letting him call plays.  I was always confused why the so called 'Mad Hatter' hitched his wagon to Conservative Cam.

It looks as though Cameron is good for LSU.  I can't say I'm surprised by this.  He seems better suited for college because he can only develop QBs to a point, then they need someone else to take them to the next level.  That's what college is all about.

Kyle Friend, Temple's Center, looks like the real deal today. He's doing well against Nix from ND. Only a Sophmore.

I was surprised North Carolina's offensive line held up against Clowney.

They barely had to do anything.  He could barely even get into his stance before plays.  He spent a bunch of the game on the sideline.  I guess being the greatest player on the planet excuses you from actually working out and getting in shape.

Not that it was against a big time team, but my Delaware Blue Hens put on a rushing clinic tonight in a 51-35 win.  Watch out for some line prospects that could sneak up the boards from this school in the coming years.  3 backs over 85 yards, and all 7 players that had rushing attempts averaged over 5 ypc.

Even if some miscarriage of justice frees Hernandez, I can not see a single team that would touch him after all that has come out. 

Don't underestimate the idiocy of the NFL.  It's not like there aren't dozens of criminals and substance abusers already in the league.

I saw The Place Beyond the Pines the other night with Bradley Cooper and Ryan Gosling. It was one of those movies definitely worth seeing if you like character study films. It is almost like three separate stories in sequential order about people from the same town crossing paths in very explosive circumstances. If you enjoy the performances of the male leads, then you will be in for a treat because their roles drive the movie. If you prefer a film that leads up to a clear climax and has a nice, tidy resolution, then this isn't the movie for you.

I also watched The Awakening on Netflix last night. Quality modern ghost story. In the same vein as The Orphanage, although not an instant classic like that gem proved to be. Worth a viewing for anyone looking for a mysterious, mildly chilling movie.

Hahaha omg Tom you gotta come out of the closet! Looks interesting, but I can wait until it comes out on DVD. I have Rammbock: Berlin Undead coming probably Wednesday from Netflix. Actually been watching some extremely low-budget zombie movies on YouTube lately. Some pretty good ones. Also watched Zombieland before I went to sleep last night. I'm about halfway through Dawn of the Dead 2004. Probably finish that in a bit. Just having zombie show/movie withdrawals lately. I'm probably gonna force myself to see WWZ, but I'm not sure. It's gonna be tough since I'm doing the Summer Language Program for Arabic.

Zombie lover's unite! I just re-watched Let Sleeping Corpses Lie. I hadn't seen that in so long, and that's a crime as it is one of the early classics in the modern zombie genre. Watching Dead Snow again right now. I usually zone out during the beginning of this one like I am now because it starts so slow and I've seen it a few times. I can't wait until the kill scenes later on, though. They're awesome. Have you seen Fido? That's one of my favorites.

You must have put in crazy hours. You don't get overtime, do you?

My deal and rate vary job-by-job. I certainly don't get overtime after 8 hours or anything like that, but my deal isn't always as awful as it used to be when I first started. I work way too many hours when I'm on a feature, but it balances out when I'm in between movies doing commercials and such. That's like vacation.