Arch Mage

Let's not forget that the center often moves the ball when getting ready to snap. The line is where the Down Maker is, but a ref may be looking at the ball instead. Our player reset after the center had picked the ball up.

It will be very interesting to see if the MNF ESPN reporters will have as clear a view on the long term Ravens' issues as Mike Preston has.

This would be a great time to have one of those miracle backup QB's whom we can trade away next year for high draft choices when Joe comes back, but our front office doesn't work the way some of the other teams do. No one will want Schaub or Clausen next year. Let Renner play!

Has Peter King gotten through his concussion protocols since he picked the Ravens for the Super Bowl?

The Ravens ask different things from their 4 linebackers, and Upshaw has been playing well for years. I believe this is the last year of his rookie contract. I hope we have a plan!

Joe is out for the rest of the year......

Others have talked about the "money." But one part of the "money" game that gets swept under the rug is very specific to the Ray Rice incident: Alcohol! Is there anyone here who thinks that the fact that those two went through bottles of alcohol (bourbon was it? supplied by the casino?) that night had nothing to do with what happened? The NFL, and sports in general, is married to the alcohol industry. Anheuser-Busch is one of the league's largest sponsors, spending $149 million just on Super Bowl commercials from 2009-13, according to Adweek. It is also a local sponsor of more than three-quarters of the 32 teams. In 2010, the NFL signed a sponsorship deal with Anheuser-Busch, worth $1.2 billion. But why don't we hear about how alcohol played a part? Could it also be that the sports TV gets so much of its sponsorship from alcohol industry too? We allow this link between sports and alcohol to grow. College sports are discussed in the same programs that have alcohol advertisements. And now with teens watching to see the high school sports that are beginning to crop up nationally, the promoted linkages will get even worse. A-B realizes there is a problem for them with domestic violence. They don't want the causalities to get out.

Remember the Billick era ban on the word "playoffs?"

If the Raven's can pull off the rest of the season, if our receivers will not be denied, if the secondary can look like it knows what it is doing (and intercept a few), if we have true leadership on this team, if we see signs that our recent draft classes are coming into their own, then WOW; we have made the transition to the post Ray and Ed Ravens!

How does Joe look now? ... and compare what he did against that Denver defense after watching Aaron Rodgers last night!!!

With all the camera angles on the field, it is becoming more apparent that refereeing is not taken seriously by the league. The league office can see the same video. I would hazard a guess that 20% of the ball spots are wrong. And those are not the controversial calls. Cameras showed me a face-mask by Fitzgerald, a Cardinal runner getting about 10 more yards after he stepped out of bounds around the 17 yard line. Others have pointed out the tackle eligible and non-tackle calls. Of course I see the calls that would benefit the Ravens! Are we still on record for the most penalties in a league year? It was news at the beginning of the year.... Are the referees just enjoying the celebrity of being on the field too much chatting up players and couches? They have a job to do, and should be concentrating on that. No one is making them be there. (Are clocks still handled by the home teams? We know communications are. Maybe both should be league jobs.)

I would change John Harbaugh's influence on whom we draft. The owner, Steve Bisciotti, made a lot of money doing personnel work, and he should be able to see what is not working. Granted, the NFL is a very high stakes place with only 32 "companies," and we have seen the Jerry Jones of the world be unsuccessful on the winning part of the equation (but not the $$$ part). I had to leave this, b4 I finished, to get to church. I don't want another Jerry Jones or even worse, a Dan Snyder. But Steve should see how the brain trust has been picking the wrong players and change the parameters on the draft choices. John likes players who will not rock the boat. The idea of leadership by example does not work if the players are neither observant nor introspective. For a Torrey Smith who is a bright guy, it worked with an Anquan Boldin as an example, but that kind of relationship has been rare on the Ravens. Someone needs to supply the fire. A good head coach can manage the fiery characters, he does not try to avoid them. Steve gave Brian Billick a talking to and Brian changed his style for one year, the last winning season Brian had. Maybe John Harbaugh will prove smarter that Brian was, but someone has to change the attitude at the top, and it should be Steve.

Reps are hard to get with the newer NLFPA contract.

Joe has been invited to the Pro Bowl (Jan 2015), and he has declined.

To get the whole story on scheduling, we need to look at the Orioles' late season schedule, as they get priority! If they have a Sunday home game, the Ravens have to play away. It is about traffic and parking. The Stadium folks and the transportation people could get together and build more parking. Light Rail and MARC are at Camden Station and the lots could become part of a bigger commuter center for people coming into Baltimore from the south. Some colleges have parking space licenses and a formal tail gate area could be amazing. and an additional source of revenue.

If it were just Oz, then maybe we would be better. I suppose we can say the Patriots are all about their QB and coaching. but they usually draft after the Ravens, and we know how well they stay at the top.

It is nice to list the players we have drafted, but how about listing the staff who drafted them.... Something has shifted in our selection process, and it has not been a change for the better. I am glad the article pointed out something I have been "saying" here for a while, that the Ravens are getting most of their impact players as free agents. Most of the people who talk on TV are so clueless, spouting off the Baltimore rep rather than reality. They talk to other pundits rather than doing ANY research. (But news has become that everywhere.) "Ravens = defense and great drafting" is the story, now becoming a myth. Obviously it can be turned around: teams do it all the time. But the front office will not reveal is own introspection, and John Harbaugh's press conferences will become more and more annoying because we didn't care what he said while we were winning. We are now a.500 team since the Super Bowl and since Ray, Ed, and Q left.

Joe is just not as consistent these days. His Super Bowl run was pretty good though, but he had receivers. I DO like how the Packer helmets stand out in that bright yellow color which seems to make them easier to spot down field. Joe could use any help he can get.

Tom has a super model wife who made $47 million dollars last year. Are you suggesting that Joe should should get a divorce and marry for money so he can be as "team oriented" as Tom?

John H thought he could pull off another OC change like in our Super Bowl year: new coach, old system. It did not work this time. Kubiak understood the system; Pressman does not. (Look at the Seattle defense that is supposedly running the same systems as before but with a different coach, no luck.) Losing Kubiak has hurt us so much on offense; losing Ed and Ray has hurt us so much on defense. Coaching IS important. Pees has to go, and we need yet another OC! Gee can Kubiak and Pagano both get fired? Last year we had 2 very good receivers who complemented each other. To think that SSS could carry this team until a rookie found his feet was unrealistic. And without Perriman, we have never looked comfortable on offense and probably will not all year. (Re: Injuries - The NFL and NFLPA need to come up with practice rules that help newly acquired or promoted players acclimate.) Bad luck with Kubiak, injuries, and add to that the poor coaching. This is the ultimate team sport. The coaching staff is a team, the coaches and the players for whom they are responsible are a team, and then there are the players and how they team up. We have all seen a player change teams and not have the same effect as the system is different, the coaches are different, and he has different teammates.

Let's give Joe some help. In watching the Green Bay games, I have noticed how well those bright yellow helmets stand out on the field and, seemingly, make it easier to identify Packer targets downfield. Can we redesign the Ravens' helmets to a color that stands out better?

John is a great guy. He holds a very exclusive position. He is 1 of 32 who is a head coach in the NFL. We can say the same about Pees for the 1 in 32 part. Watching the difference between the Saints defense before and after they got a new coach (Rob Ryan) is an interesting tale. (MNF is quite the spotlight) In the past few days I was reminded by a post, here, about how the former player leadership (Lewis, Reed, Pollard) had to have a heart-to-heart with Harbs to save our season in our Super Bowl year. Certainly John has been part of the Ravens success, but since Ray Lewis retired and Ed Reed left, we are playing close to .500 ball. No one can doubt that they were coaches on the field and have not been replaced on the sidelines (way up in the press box - Hmmm) or on the field. Something needs to change. We can see Pees's weaknesses - 2 years of mediocre defense in 3 and then this year. Maybe we are seeing Harbaugh's now too.

"Since a strong performance Week 1 against the Broncos..." The Denver offense is not exactly setting the world on fire with 2 games having NO offensive touchdowns.

If Vick played against us as he did last night, we could be 0-5. If Pittsburgh has the kicker they had last night, against us we would be 0-5. I love the Ravens, but there are no leaders on this team, and I think it is because of a change in philosophy in the draft room. When we have to get a Boldin or a Smith from some other team to provide the fire, that should tell us something. It took John H a while to learn to live with Ray and Ed; I wonder if we would have drafted them with a John H as coach.

Vegas sets the spread to make money, not because of what they, themselves, think of a team. The spread is based on what they think the uninformed expect. Vegas thinks that we will think the Ravens are a good team. Then they make money as reality happens.