Tenacious Faulker

Really, Big Mike?! Really? Seems to me that the rights to his life story would do a lot to take the pressure off - at least financially. He's set for life and he's worried about what peope think? Seems like he should pipe down, practice harder and just enjoy the ride and forget what others think. BTW - I'm NOT one who thinks he's a BUST, but I'm starting to see a whiner.

I just can't see Pees as the problem unless he he somehow was responsible for all the injuries that occurred. What they gave him as replacements and what he did with it is vdery commendable. Could the other DC's have done as much without their 5 and 6 Pro Bowlers each season? Dubious on that. If you think he's the "weakest link, I still thank that's a pretty strong link for any club. Again, if you had a viable name since 2013 that became available who would you have replaced him with? Obviously Harbs and Ozzie didn;t think there were any better, so again, Pees is doing the job he was brought in to do. If not they'd have fired him just like Cam. But he's still here.

Hayday? Aren't we in a hayday now? We're winning more now than when Suggs came into the league, 5 years since and he got his Super Bowl Ring in this era, not last. Hayday?

The PI call was a strategy that Harbaugh/Kubs came up with after realizing that the Torrey Joe connection wasn't very reliable. It worked with Torrey's 4.4 speed and the mere threat of a homerun play made DBs opt for the PI just in case. I think that at least half of Torrey's PI would've gone for catches, significant YAC and TDs. However it erase the fact that he was still not reliable down field as they had hoped. His rookie year in 2011 was showed that they were going to dish him the deep ball (remember the Steelers game?) and it often took several attempts to make that happen once in a game, if it ever did. However, by 2014, Joe wasn;t under throwing him much at all. In the end he was a decent mid-field receiver with a nose for the end zone and a potrential threat of going yard IF he caught a long ball.. Very true although technically he was tied for the most (10) with D. Thomas and K. Benjamin. Still, no one complains about Smith Sr. despite being one of the worst every season for drops. http://www.sportingcharts.com/nfl/stats/drops/2014/

RIP Damion.

Checkmate

I wrote some article on Torrey Smith's league leading PI yardsbased on an article I read last Oct about him with 123 yards then. I had to go back thru each log to find out the 2014 total which would've put around 1100 yards. A later article later coonfirmed he was the 2014 PI yard recipient leader.

I pretty much disagree with all of this - from your assement as to how the defense is run all the way down to your picture depicting Ozzie Newson as a Red Kangroo. Firstly, if you quoted my post calling it crapola, you called me out. Don't backpedal and hide from me now. Secondly, you don't have to agree with the chess vs checkers anology. I understand one has to know how to play chess in order to understand that comparison. All you have know is that Pees is managing his resources extremely well given the circumstances compared to Rex. Thirdly, Pees calls the shots even in the booth -- especially in the booth. Players get his signal and then the defense calls timeout, resets the line or even scraps the coordinator's call IF they see something out of the ordinary. Happens all the time on good teams with experienced players. Fourthly, comparing the Ravens to some ancient Bills playoff team is not a way to build an arguemnt. The game has evolved into a passing offense oriented game and the Ravens (not Pees) made that call. Pees is only doing what they hired him to do.

Pretty much YUP. Too mnay fans can;t separate the nostalgia from results and too often forget that as good as historical defenses and DCs were their teams usually ended up giving up the big plays. That's why we had trouble with the best QBs - stack the box and let the corners and FS defense one on one. I do wonder what Pees and Pagano would be like if he had the same proven level of talent as Lewis and Rex.

Couldn;t have said it any better. +20 if I could.

Seems fair to me although even I think is perhaps a little high. Still he's accomplied a lot with very little and everyone seems to forget that. Glad it was recognized by someone somewhere. The weakest link on this team is still a compliment. It's not a bad thing to be the "worst Raven". I'd take that over the best Raider. That was my quote. See the above reply to arnie_uk and just know that Pees is the best we can get right now. Fire him and who will you get to replace him? Austin isn;t coming here for a lateral move, Rex is a HC again and Pagano (my favorite) is too. The only "crapola" is what you think you know about defensive coordinators. Pees had far less to work with than Rex every had. Rex has been proven to be nothing without a slew of star players at his disposal, while Pees HAS. Hence the checkers and ches analogy is more valid than your well thought out "crapola argument" Cheers.

We had the 3rd best rush-D last year and the best in the red zone. I doubt that was a factor. Also, I've sen speculation of Canty possibly being cut on these boards. I doubt it happened since the Ravens need his experience at least for the first 8 weeks. He's the only one on the defensive front with more than 10 years experience. Further to that the Ravens would save just $205k by cutting him this year asn opposed to the $2.2M by cutting him next year. I think he sticks around for 2015 and will be a situational player.

RE: Jerome Bettis - Intersting to see Bettis' stat line against the Ravens - 16 GAMES, 969YDS and 2TDs. That's about 60 yards a game and a sub-1000yd season. The 2 TDs paint an even uglier picture for him vs Bmore. If they're trying to fuel the rivalry or intimidate us, you'd think they'd honor a guy that did better against this team than that. Instead they should honor him in week 1 when they need a running back against the Patriots - maybe even ask him to play in place of LeVeon Bell.

OK. maybe I jumped too far ahead with my response. Oher had enough penalties along with subpar play to be effective. The good folks at PFF ranked him almost dead last for starters in his position, BUT you don't have to be a stat geeks to see that he wasn't winning enough battles in games to overlook the penalties. Yanda may have his share of false starts but he is consistently ranked among the best (if not the best) by PFF, coaches, his peers and even fans who know enough about poor OL play when the see it. I loved having Oher here. I had high hopes. But he lacked the necessary desire to compete consistently. I'm gld he got a SB ring while here - it makes a nice topper to his life story in football. However, I think we've seen his best. When you start using outside excuses for your "failures" (in lack of a better word) you're not being a professional. Professionals get the job done no matter the obstacles. The movie may have trumped up his abilities in the public eye because that's what movies do, BUT his failure to be an effective tackle on either side was on him. With or without a movie, Yanda would likely never have let it deter him from being as great as he is.

No offense taken and I beg to differ with your classification of my post. I'm not taking anythingthing away from him - just diagnosing his situation. Understand, I like Oher and defended him against fans that were down on his play from his sophomore season on. What he did to even get to the NFL is nothing short of amazing. However, as a former high livel athlete myself I can tell a lack of desire when I see it. His natural ability allows him a to play in this league, his lack of desire makes him average. After his rookie seasson, he felt he had nothing to prove anymore and his production and development curtailed. So they moved him to the strong side. He was adequate, but did not live up to the draft position. He had a brief renaissance during the SB run and then proceeded to demonstrate very little value in 2013, a contract year; a period when most players redouble their efforts to get that big, veteran contract. Being great (which he had the potential for) and more money were not motivating factors for him and by all accounts still aren't. What else is there in this league? He's Jon Ogden was not great just because of this size and athleticism, he had the mentality to dominate the competition. Bryant Mckinnie was a mean SOB, but lacked the dedication to stay fit. Jared Gaither had the had the physicality, but was undisciplined. Eugene Monroe has the least physicality of those players for the position and is oft injured, BUT he is dedicated to his craft, intelligent, reliable in play, and is a selfless team player. After his rookie season something changed in his attitude toward his role in this sport. I just don't think he's as passionate about it as he perhaps once was. The book/movie is not the real reason, but because of it he was 1) comfortable before he even got the the league, and 2) possibly better in touch with himself than most players who look to the league as a way out of poverty as oppososed to competing at the highest level. One lasst point: Ramon Harewood and John Urschel. Harewood had the physical size and was intelligent - enough to major in Pre-Med and aspire to ne an Orthopedic surgeon after football. That came sooner than later. He didn't want to smash dudes in the mouth any longer than he had to. After years and >3 seasons of training in the league he's out. Urschel is prime example of the opposite. He had a high level mathmatics degree and is already well enough accomplished to leave football for a gentler life and be comfortable in an intellicual career. However, he likes to flatten people. His desire is there and he said he needs football for that reasson. He is not the prime speciman for the position, but he's doing everything he can to get on field.

Nice write-up, kid. Glad to hear that they're teaching good life skills as well as football skills. Keep up the nice work!

Yanda and K.O. are different types of players than Mike. They constantly work on their craft tot to get better. The NFL wasn;t a final destination for them - just a beginning where they can learn to improve their technique even further. Oher didn;t do that. IMO he swallowed his own kool-aide and felt like he didn;t have to work hard to get better at the NFL level. He saw it as a destination and rest on his laurels after his rookie year and never learned to advance his game in order to keep up.. That's desire. He doesn't have it

He was, but did his best work before the NFL merger which is when the median stats for prinary QBs was started. Yes, but not surprising. Remember this is not an "elite" discussion. Dilfer was clutch in a sense -- he didn;t make many mistakes and was clutch in the play-offs. He was the right guy at the right time and made the most of his one year with Bmore.

Lardarius Webb as a kicker returner...in a word...NO.

Oher needs to just dummy up. I have nothing against him and don;t think of him as a bust. Bu that movie gave him wealth and notariety outside of the league, so he's set for life even without Pro football. He was a good, not great, player that peeked in college and was less than stellar in the pros. He has a SB ring. If he wants to leave his mark and live up to his draft status and not the movie's image, then he's going to have the stop complaining and work for it. Otehrwise, pipe down and enjoy playing a game for a living. The pressure is off - it just depends on how you look at it and stop giving a crap about what pther people think.

Yep, I stand corrected. I keep attributing him to the Saints because of Keenan Lewis. Brian farts. Thanks for correcting. We've always turned a "bronze" Houston player into gold. No reason to think that he'll be differrent given his play in the league so far.

Anything is possible, but it's unlikely they let both walk. They too damn good for Ozzie to let that happen. Only if he's getting some major profit from that "loss" will he let that happen..

RE: Prediciting the offensive starting line-up - This season I think its the easiest in 2011 to predict the line up. The biggest questionmark is receiver and whether Pitta will be mediaclly cleared to play. I'm going out on a limb and guessing (b/c prediction is just a guess at this point) that Pitta will be cleared given his practices thus far and TE will be him, Gillmore, and Williams. Boyle's only chance is if they decide to carry 4 TEs in the 53-man roster OR Pitta becomes "unavailable". At Receiver they'l carry 6 - Smitty, Perriman, Aiken, Brown, Waller, and Camp. If Camp has not recovered then it will be Carter at least until he returns.

Re: Osemele deal - Yanda and KO are both looking for good deals. One or the other will one and assuing that Yanda is good for another 4 years signing eiter is a "push". Having the both is preferrable, but will Flacco take enough of a restructure in 2016 to make that happen? Ozzie has worked miracles, but with Urcshel and Hurst, they may not need to overpay to keep both. Sad to say, but that's the nature of the biz.

Re: Webb doing returns - The uber fan in me says "NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!" remembering that it was kick returns that did him in 2 of his 7 seasons. However, I don't think he has the same impact as a secondary player as he once did and in his best years he benefitted greatly from having Ed Reed terrorizing QBs. Should he get injured on return duty a 3rd time I believe the team has several nice options on the depth chart who can fill in nicely for Webb at this point of his career.