Arch Mage

We saw what thin ice we were on in the preseason when the 2's and 3's lost most of their battles. Even John H pointed that out. So for us, injuries were expected to be a BIG problem. How anyone could have picked us to excel with no receivers ( first year receivers have about, what, a 1 in 10 chance of really making a difference?) other than Smith Sr, is a mystery to me. The cap space issue is interesting and sad. And I wonder if we have too many "nice" guys on the team now after this many years of John H input on the drafts. Maybe Ozzie has changed?

The player we didn't resign has haunted us a few times in Raven's history. Priest Holmes after our first Super Bowl because Jamal Lewis got hurt. Anquan Boldin after our 2nd (He may play longer than Steve Smith Sr). Torrey Smith as Perriman is hurt (and we should have known that Breshad Perriman might have taken some time anyway). But I can't blame Ozzie for those results because of the luck involved with injuries. I do miss those San Fran receivers! Have we drafted any future Hall of Fame players since John Harbaugh arrived? Players with an edge seem to be lacking from the list of our draftees. Most of the holdovers who had one have been let go. John is a nice guy who realizes that football is just a game. He is quoted as saying something to the effect that lots of our players are facing life challenges greater that being on a 1 - 4 football team. That is true. Character counts. I have written before that we would see what John Harbaugh is made of after Ray and Ed left. T Sizzle is not on the field; he is the last leader of the pre-Harbaugh era. Can this troika (owner, GM, coach) find a new pattern and draft players like a Steve Smith or Ray Lewis (would this era of Ravens management even have kept Ray after his troubles?) or will we see that now that this is John's team, we have run out of the mix of players that worked as a football team. That is John's job, to win on the field. He is one of 32 in a very rare position in the world. I really like John as a person. We can see how stubborn and controlling he is with his answers to questions. Can our owner nudge him as he did with Billick that one year? What happens to the power structure after Ozzie retires? The 3 paint such a picture of "mutual decisions" at press conferences.......

Last night we saw an offense working really well in the Green Bay Packers. The comparisons between the footwork of Rodgers and Montana was very interesting. Their feet are always moving. The short passing game they use is a version of a "long hand off" running game. And yet they still were about 50/50 in actual runs v passing. I know that is not our philosophy. We need our Joe to STEP up! Back to the articla at hand: 'Forsett said. “I think it’s little details.”' That is what coaching is about. Telling Picasso to paint like Degas wouldn't work, so why would Tressman being told to imitate his predecessor be expected to work? If good offense could be learned by imitation, then we would have a much bigger pool of successful coaches in the league. Who owns the offense this year? Is it Harbaugh? Castillo? the running backs coach? Tressman? Joe Flacco? No one??!? John Harbaugh set this up (yes he was scrambling after gary left). His answers to the press saying what he does not know (whether it is about the running game or our number one draft pick) are wearing very thin.

The first 2 games could have gone either way. We are looking more like the Giants than the Patriots. Right now I am wishing we could have all the Broncos who used to be Ravens (including the coach) back with us. I saw a "Low Hanging Fruit" segment on TV showing how well coached the Patriots' rookies on the offensive line are looking. If our OL can't get it going, we need to examine what has changed since last year.

New offensive coordinator, same line coach. Was it Kubiak or Castillo who turned the offensive line around last year? Are we going back to 2013? I hope not. The offense did not play much during the preseason; I am glad we have 15 more games in the regular season to get things worked out. Tell the 49ers we want either their Ravens' receivers or their U MD receivers back!!! Go RAVENS!

It could not have been a worse scenario than starting off the season against last year's OC while trying to use his plays. To use the cliche', this is a copycat league. Now every DC will be able to see how to blunt the Ravens' running game. Fortunately, not every team has the players Denver has, but looking at San Fran last night, I see some teams do. The good news is, we were still in position to win the game! We saw a good to great defensive effort (losing a future Hall of Famer is sickening - Step Up Ravens). The 16 game season allows teams to learn and grow (remember KC and NE early last year?) and the first teamers did not play much in preseason. We knew the passing game would be a work in progress. Oakland may show us more of who the Ravens can be this year. Here is hoping this 2nd training camp on the West Coast cures a lot of ills. Ravens win Super Bowl "L"!!

I would rather be playing Denver after P Manning has worn himself out! Instead we are going up against our former coach who has had weeks to prepare for the season opener. Last season's success was a bit of a surprise to me, without our starting running back and all the injuries, so I hope I am pleasantly surprised again this year! Go Ravens!

I feel the need for speed!

To me the most important question for tonight is: can we stretch the field and get Denver to have to prepare for it? Players get hurt in "real" games too.... and those losses are just as bad as ore-season ones.

Will you all stop asking questions that you know will get the no-answer answer. Harbaugh is not going to tell what he knows. Can we please stop writing 3 or 4 articles a week on this too! Old is not "news."

"Maxximus" would be a way to continue the Gladiator theme from Ray Lewis!!!

We know the pattern with the Ravens; there is always a starting linebacker who becomes the odd man out when the Ravens look at whom they have to keep. I guess we wish for such a great year from Upshaw that he more than prices himself out of the Ravens future plans. Let's get one more great year from him.

This is a Harbaugh team now. We can't fault the kinds of guys the Ravens have drafted since he came on board. When looking at the veterans who have come not through the draft, the ones with an "edge", I wonder, are they just so rare, or are they guys the Ravens would not have drafted because they did not fit the John Harbaugh mold. Have we drafted an outspoken, edgey guy in the Harbaugh era?

We know the off season is slow but that would seem to mean that an article like this might be filled with useful information, like "the Ravens like his speed..." Or "Trawick is being kept around because....." All I remember about him is injuring another Ravens player.

I wrote that they enjoyed "getting out of the shadow of the Ravens defenses' reputation." I did not say they did well afterwards on the playing field. They thought they might do well in another system, thus they "enjoyed" leaving, but not necessarily what happened after they arrived smewhere else. The list of those who enhanced their own reputatin by leaving is very short.

We have seen a number of Ravens enjoy getting out of the shadow of the Ravens defenses' reputation. I think we are seeing a little of that in this case, but I think the real thing is something that Ngata said about how he got complacent in Baltimore. Going to Detroit for him is like having his blinders taken off. I don't begrudge him living in the moment. In our Fantasy Football delusions we get hung up on stats, but like the U.S. unemployment numbers, stats are manipulated in the sense that they are given a label and then everyone forgets how the statistics are actually gathered (hey I think there is a conspiracy in this country to get us to hate math so the powers-that-be can pull the wool over our eyes). Number 1 Defense = fewest yards, not points, not take aways, not giving the offense the best field position, not most 3-and-outs, not.... Pees has a reputation for "bend but don't break" kinds of schemes. I doubt that we will ever give up the fewest yards under him. But doesn't he have a Superbowl ring? Let's just get healthy, stay that way, win a few more games and beat NE in Baltimore in the playoffs this year. Maybe Ngata will be one of the few defensive players who left Baltimore and did well. For us, as they say, the best revenge is living well.

I hope Marc Trestman truly sees what John Harbaugh, Ozzie Newsome, and Steve Bisciotti have built here and stays a while. Maybe he has reached a point where he can resist the urge to "prove" himself as a head coach. Do we tend to loose our coordinators because the rest of the NFL does not see John as having offensive and defensive coaching strengths of his own?

Don't worry, someone on an ESPN NFL show yesterday said the Ravens are in trouble because of all the changes on their offensive line. The three others picked Pittsburgh or Cincinnati to win the AFC North.

Suggs will Sizzle when the whistle blows. Let the man mourn a bit the loss of one of his fellow "warriors." He is a vet. He can handle it! Maybe he will be a bit more serious this year, but that is not necessarily a bad thing.

The NBA season is too long. Players grind down and there is way too much contact. (And there are too many lousy teams.) So we get playoffs when it is not the best going against the best, just against whomever is left standing. ---- Please NFL, make note of all this and don't add any more games or teams.

"...Joe Namath's oft-forgotten fade into the sunset with the Los Angeles Rams," wrote USA Today's Jim Corbett... ------ FADE? I recall reading that Namath never beat another team with a winning record after January of 1969.

it would be nice to have the kind of receiving corps that helped Joe gain attention in the last Super Bowl run. Maybe we let them work more in preseason so we can start off with a win in Denver.

You go Steve Smith, Sr. I hope you can see that being a coach to all these young guys may be the biggest contribution you can make in OTA's. We need you on the field in September!

I have a good feeling about Carter! Either he or Campanaro will have an impact on the Ravens this year. I hope Carter shows his hands and speed in thr kick return game too. If we can attack all 4 levels (screen, short, middle, deep)with the passing game, it will complement our running. Running is key to keeping the other teams offense off the field and our defense rested. And "long hand-offs" in the passing game work with that. Then we hit them dowm field.

with another signing, doesn't someone have to go?