JamesA119

"The QB is supposed to be the leader of the team. When your QB is throwing two interceptions per game, it is obvious that he is not committed or invested in winning. That poor attitude and level of commitment is filtering down through the entire team. Harbaugh needs to get a handle on it quick. wrong. It's not a problem with attitude or commitment. It's simply a lack of execution mixed with a tough string of injuries. add in a tough start to the schedule . And it's kind of funny to say that he's not invested in winning when he's tied with manning for the most wins in the nfl since 2008. That's over Brady, Rogers, and so on." Flacco's so called win total is one of the most misleading statistics in sports. You know as they say "statistics is like a bikini, it shows a lot but it does show everything" Flacco is a beneficiary of a great defense that ranked in the top 10 for about a decade. Flacco never carried the defense. The defense carried Flacco. The best segment of Flacco's career was the 2012 playoff run. In fact most will argue that, that was his only good run. Flacco is not going to carry any team. If you believe that, you will be continually disappointed.

"I'd love to see an article on how our past 4-5 drafts have not been fruitful. Instead of reloading like the Pats, we unload and try to make amends with other people's garbage." Couldn't agree more. I commented on this a couple of seasons ago, but was negged because everybody thinks Ozzie is God. How could you keep losing talents like, Arthur Jones, Ellerbie, Macffie, Boldin, Torrey Smith, Ngata, Kruger, year in year out, (Interestingly could you believe that all these guys were on our roster at the same time) and expect to win. I know you can't pay everybody but it seems to me that Ozzie takes pride in saving money even if it means losing talents. Teams that find ways to keep talents, I believe win enough to justify the money they spend. What happens to all the money Ozzie saves? Goes right back to the garbage carrousel that we have become. In the end we save no money.

I don't mind losing seasons here and there - hey, they're bound to happen - I just hate that Steve Smith Sr. has to go out retiring on one. Especially after spending all those years losing in Carolina. Should have been a Raven from day 1. No one deserves a Super Bowl win more than SSS. Sigh. Yeah, right? Look at this guy, 36 years, playing with broken bones and still being one of the top wide receivers on the league, and certainly our MVP alongside Yanda." He is the only one that resembles a Raven. How far has the mighty fallen!

This is clearly a bad team. They will always find a way to lose. What did the pundits see when they thought this was a Super Bowl team? This team is clearly full of itself. It got away from the basics. If one looks back to everything it's easy to see how this team was reading and believing the headlines and forgot that games are won on the field. I know this might look like piling up, but Harbaugh became too cute. Those teams' joint practices were a waste. Getting away from the tradition of playing away games and coming right back home to get ready for the next game might have did us in. He really believes that he is the smartest guy alive. No one can convince me that this team is better coached today than in previous years.

Wow! The 49ers didn't look like a 1-4 team. Kaeppernick is a great passer. Could that have anything to do with the Ravens?

Hue Jackson would make a great coach for the Ravens. John Harbaugh would be a great fit at USC.

"If Joe had three Jerry Rices type wide receivers and two Gronkowski's on this team do you think that will improve the DEFENSE? COME ON MAN!" Defense is not the only problem on this team. For a long time the defense held the Browns 3 points. We had many opportunities to go 21-3. Then on the final drive of regulation we needed a TD . We were 1st and goal on the 9 yd line after Justin Forssette's run but only got a field goal. Do you guys ever hold the offense especially Flacco to any type of responsibility? To answer your question; 3 Jerry Rices, and Gronkowski would not change who Flacco is.

I agree with most of the points in the article, but he (intentionally) left out one of the most important one; The highest paid Raven Joe Flacco is an underachiever. It is clear to me that he is not a student of the game. He appears to put in just the minimal amount of time needed for film study. He is an expert at backyard football (that's where he excels) however he is not interested in mastering the intricacies of the mastery of the game. Playing in his 8th season, he still cannot read complex defensive alignments. This can allow him to put his players where they can win the match ups. A great QB does not need Calvin Johnson, A. J. Green, Julio Jones, Dez Bryant etc. Brady only played with 1 hall of fame QB - Randy Moss, and Moss had just flopped in Oakland before resurrecting his career in New England - what a coincidence! Flacco has the authority to change 100% of the calls pre-snap. He isn't taking advantage of that because he isn't up to par. All the Ints these season were not the WRs fault. Why am I saying all these? Not that I am interested in bashing anyone, but because I believe that Coach Harbaugh has the will and know how to fix this team's multiple issues, but he can't change who Flacco is. The defense will be back, great WRs will come, but Flacco may not change. If he doesn't change, our hopes will continue to get dashed. He rode the back of the best defense ever, and consequently didn't go through the fire. He progressed at a very comfortable pace.

@ Bat- mite other teams do it. The Ravens can figure out a way to keep and pay good talents if they wanted to. Something like 43 out of the 53 players on the Bengals have been together since their rookie season. The Ravens philosophy is "right player right price". Sometimes, it is penny wise and pound foolish. It seems that Ozzie gets a kick out of not paying players a lot of money. Instead it appears that he would assemble cheap no name players and try to win with them. I remember when we let Cory Graham walk for less than $4M/yr, however by the end of that yr we had gone through many different horrible CBs that in the end it didn't really save any meaningful money. Having players like Ray Lewis, Ed Reed, Haloti, and Suggs allowed Ozzie to get away with that philosophy. Those incredible talents are gone. That philosophy has to change. Also for a long time people wondered how valuable Flacco is to the organization. Well it's clear now that Flacco's value is limited in terms of wins/losses. As a position that is very difficult to replace, he is valuable. This team won with defense. Remember we won a Super Bowl with Dilfer too.

Pees definitely has not followed in our tradition of excellent DCs. It's probably a good idea to make a change at some point. I also believe that years of shopping at "bargain basement" and letting proving talents we have developed walk, have finally caught up to us. On the whole team right now, there's probably less than 10 first rounders. In the past also we had strong leaders. I know a lot of players that busted their butts so much because they did not want to disappoint Ray Lewis. If we do not make the playoff, Flacco would have to agree to restructure his contract, to allow the team to bring in good talents. We are essentially fielding a JV team against other teams' varsity and this is irrespective of the the injuries.

"After watching the preseason i thought a healthy ravens team was a superbowl contender now were a laughing stock... we can sulk but i mean weve been so good for so long maybe a year of bad play cant be avoided" Do you realize that if we miss the playoff this year, it would be 2 out 3 yrs missing the playoff? And last yr we barely made it into the playoffs even though we played well in the playoff once we got in last yr.

Is he really the best option out there? I'm not so sure. The FO. hasn't been aggressive in bringing in top talent except through the draft.

Joe Flacco is not elite. I expect the defense to fix its problem, but the offense will always be the weak link. He will over throw, under throw, lob, and throw interceptions when it hurts. If he plays a great game, expect a stinker to follow it up. He is as elite a QB, as Trump has a grasp on important issues.

I'm usually the first to point out the flaw's of the RAVEN'S organization,because I care,I care about the PRIDE of the TEAM,I care about the PRIDE of BALTIMORE and the PRIDE of our fan's.but I watched very closely and I didn't see anyone QUIT on that team,yeah,they looked stunned and dejected because of their PRIDE,but they didn't QUIT.it's a fine line between winning and losing in this league.there are key member's not playing out there,yes without SUGG'S we look ordinary on defense,and the guy brought in to streach the field like TORRY did isn't playing.yes it's gonna be a long year,HARB'S is basicly coaching with one hand behind his back,but I didn't see them QUIT! and they won't QUIT!" Sure lets give them the Lombardy trophy because they didn't quit. SMH

Why has Flacco fallen in love with lob passes? It cost us touchdowns last week and this week.

"JamesA19.....maybe u should try throwing with defenders hanging all over u....make no mistake, this was an O line fail....not a Flacco fail. Did u watch the game? Flacco was being hit, sacked , hurried all night." O line was definitely atrocious, (I mean the O line looked worse than we've seen in a long long time) however that doesn't mean Flacco has to mail it in. The O line had a job to do and Flacco had a job to do as well, and neither did a good job today

O-line or not, Flacco has to play better. That first interception was a horrible throw, and the second was just floated up there. He looked totally frazzled

Real question on offense. Lack of WR and RB depth.

NCMan Flacco may not show consistency in the regular season, however he is arguably the best big game QB playing today.

There isn't any QB in the NFL that I would take over Flacco.

"Well, nobody's perfect. Everybody makes mistakes - so, you don't trust anybody?" [[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]] Bio that's funny. It's not a matter of trust or no trust. It's just stating the facts.

"JamesA119 Graham is not worth the contract he is getting anyway. he was a 3rd corner, not irreplaceable. You can't pay everybody. We also have a GM named Newsome. Hes got this." {{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}} Well that's the problem. I like Ozzie, but there appears to be this blind faith in his decisions. What happened with Spears, and Huff in free agency last year? Cody, Kindle, Dickson etc., in the draft? How about always losing players in their prime? - Ellerbe, Redding, Jarret Johnson etc., I think all these years we got away with it because we had the "equalizer" Ray Lewis. The Ravens are not alone in this regard. The Patriots seem to get away with it too because of their equalizer - Tom Brady.

I'm trying to find the upside to losing Graham, but I can't. Someone might step and do well, but that's a 50/50 proposition. Why do we want that problem? - Again. We had just finally fixed the CB position with the departure of Cary Williams and the emergence of Jimmy Smith. Get ready for the FO to tell us at the end of next season, after a disappointing perfomance at the slot CB that we have to build a strong CB position. We might end up spending more than $4M. Neg me all you want, but I think we're being penny wise and pound foolish.

Up to this point, the Ravens haven't added any player to the last year's team.They have however lost 2 of the better players from last year - Arthur Jones and Corey Graham. It's hard to imagine us getting better if this trend continues. The best free agents at every position that were available appear to have already been signed. Are we then going to depend on the draft for a quick turnaround from last season? Generally rookies take a few years to become impact players. Even then it seems like we always develop them and let them walk in their prime.

"McClain coming back makes Daryl Smith less of a priority st this point. Theres no way Ozzie and the FO doubts Nick Saban in having a positive influence over Rolando this past year.. The kids only 24 and 700,000 I believe is his Salary?.. It must be Raven Nations birthday because thats a gift." The Ravens are not going to dismiss Smith because of McClain. It's not even close. McClain has proven nothing. To say that the Ravens might abandon Smith or stall him in favor of McClain is preposterous.