Tenacious Faulker

Its a damn shame.  The week that both Gillmore and Williams get injured he gets pinched for PEDs.  When it rains it pours; this is our season in a nutshell.Fo

rtunately it looks like Williams passed the concussion protocols can play vs Seattle.  He's practicing today with a red jersy, but he might be totally fine.  He looks like he'll see a great many snaps if healthy.

Only if you're talking about Matty Ice. Joe Cool and Matty Ice entered the league together. Have been prospected to be 2 of the next 'elite' class and haven't had continuity at the OC position throughout their careers (Organizationally problematic at best).

 

Now (for our Ravens only), throw-in a 2nd string journeyman QB and ask him to pick-up on the system in real-time, over 1/2 way through the season. Schaub is on an island. Recently, I feel sorry for the guy, but I'm impressed with him, as well. He keeps fighting and pushing-on under incredible odds with less talent around him than we had earlier in season. Some how we've still managed to stay competitive. We've got to give him that - at the very least.

Since Matty Ice is not a factor here, I don;t feel the need to debate that.  Joe has been the better QB unless you prefer stats over wins.

In

terms of Schaub and Flacco, this thread becomes absurd.  Schaub also isn;t a journeyman.  He's a Pro Bowl QB with 3 4000+ yd seasons, something Joe has never done.  But again those are just stats and not wins which Joe still has an advantage despite Schaubs longer career.

The problem OC is really more about quality than continuity.  Kubiiak blew all the others away and this worked for Joe, justy as it did for Schaub all those years Houston.  They are similar players that way, but Joe has a bit more of an advantage in terms of physical ability.  The only OC worth keeping was Kubiak and that wasn't possible.  Trestman may stick around due to his LACk of siccess here.  Had the Ravens made the playoffs he too mught be gone in 2016.  Unfortunately I think we get continuity at OC by default with Trestman and I'm not sure I want that right now.

Where is this coming from. Allen had a decent game against a crummy defensive team in the Dolphins and an average game against a horrible Browns team. A runner like AP would have had 200 yards against the Browns. Are you serious with Terrence West? That guy is a joke at running back and always has been. A grand total of 792 yards in his career? He has more fumbles than touchdowns. Come on Man

Firstly, I'm not sure why you put AP in the mix.  no one even put him in that category so try not to use extreme examples to make an arguement.  Allen has shown great improvement in terms of body control, tenacity and vision.  He's not Matt Forte yet, but I see thepotential in him, especially in a Trestman run offense.  He has all the outward traits of Forte anda similar offense to prove himself in.  Could he fail?  Maybe, but I'm not seeing any quitin him and only improvement to this point. 

Further West amassed those stats mostly in 3 RB committees.  Jeff Fisher is a dolt of a coach and the game has passed him by.  Cleveland is a cesspool and can never capitalize on the advances it makes.  They fall flat on their butts either by the end of the season or by the start of the next.  Both Rams and Browns have been the death of the careers of many top draft picks so I wouldn't measure West by these standards.  At least here in Bmore we'll see what his best is.

Ok so what happens if clausen gets hurt?

Sam Koch.  He's the next man up when all the other QBs are down.  And he can probably do better than Clausen...using only his feet.

"Of the whopping 58 experts below, not a single one predicted the Ravens will beat the Seattle Seahawks..." This has trap game written all over it, and this exactly why we will win on Sunday. Our team may be all banged up, but I believe the boys we have out there don't know the definition of the word "quit," and will play their hearts out until the final whistle. I might be wrong... But I might be right.

While it has trap game written all over it its more likely than not to be a "crap game" which is why it was flexed out of primetime.  I've waited a few years to see what the Ravens could do vs the Carroll/Wilson Seahawks (because I thought they could really win) but not in the state that his team is in.  A healthy, SB caliber team against what amounts to Keanu Reeves' and his team in "The Replacements" is the stuff of fairy tales. 

Ouch. No Surprise that zero pundits picked the Ravens to win against Seattle. Can't be any more of an underdog than we are this week. However, if the Ravens could scrape their way to a miracle win, I would be almost as excited as a playoff victory, given how few and far between the victories have been this year and that the Ravens are given no shot at all to win this game. Any given Sunday.....

See above comments.  It would be nice to pull this off, but there's more chance of me being stung by killer bees in the North this time of year than a win against a resurgent SB caliber team.  Furthermore, I would expect this to be a one-score loss this time either.  It's no wonder that many Vegas oddsmakers closed their books on this one.

...and Don Cheadle does a great African accent. Ever see Hotel Rowanda? Will Smith is a box office heavy hitter, but not a better actor.

Change will happen at LT, but question is do we have that person, will we draft that person or acquire him in FA?  Also, how will he cost to cut?

ha, well, some of us believe Flacco is a glorified game manager along the lines of Cutler, Cousins, etc...I'm wondering if we should require mental fitness testing before you are allowed to post

Are we STILL having a "is Joe vs Matt?" debate?  All these pick-6's should've settled this by now.

Buck could be a future stud for us.  He has all the tools with the right combo of speed strength and grit.  He could be our Matt Forte.  Give him a better OL like Forsett's 2014 OL and he's a stud.  Now with West backing him up, we have a valid 1-2 punch. 

Forsett has an equal chance of being cut as he has to stay as a #2 or #3 RB.  He's $2.3M cap savings if cut but Ozzie doesn;t like to cut good character guys.  Same for Taliaferro coming back.  He's a $500k savings and has been fragile with a capital F.  That said, he IS just $675k and Ozzie might let his contract play out.  But it really depends on how well everyone else plays the comparatively next season.

That walk off kick-six was one of the most exciting plays in football that I've ever watched live and it will probably go down as one of the best plays in Baltimore Ravens history. So I was wondering. What was your reaction to the play?

I hate to say it, but I called it.  My wife was complaining that she couldn't stay awake if they went into OT.  At first I said, "maybe they'll getg a pick six on this last Cleveland drive."  She laughred at me.  Then I said "maybe they'll force a FG, block it and run it back for a TD".  She gave me the "side-eye".  Lo-and-behold that's how it ended.  I should of bet her...something...

Are we really having a "Is Schaub better then Joe conversation?"  What bthe hell is wrong with you people?

I've always liked Forsett but without Kubiak his play has fallen way off.  He's more of a system player who excells in certain types, but not in others.  I hope he sticks around, but he will become expendable next season as his cap vs dead money constitutes a $2.3M cap savings if cut. 

From what I've seen so far Allen and West are looking good without Forsett.  Will that last?  We'll know by the end of the seasson.  I don't expect the team to cut Forsett, but the younger guys are the future.

Here we go again, bad talking new players. When will this ever end?

Did you know he was cut from Houston for bad performance, attitude and missing the team plane for an away game?  The dude has a million dollar arm and a 10 cent head.

I've been saying the same thing for a while. I've argued with Ravens fans over this and can;t believe that with this team's success they would prefer a miserable season for a risky draft pick. I'd rather go 8-8 and miss the play-offs than lose out just to pick in the top 5. Why? I'm glad you asked:

1) Rd1 picks don't always work out. 70% don;t live up to their pick and many are flat out busts.

2) The Ravens have had great success and haven;t had a losing season in the Flacco-Harbaugh era. I don't want that to change. Some things are sacred and winning is one. 8-8 is not a losing season but it will be a victory if they can achieve at least that mujch.

3) The Ravens are not yet out of the playoff picture. If there's even the slightest chance then they need to go for it. Granted, it doesn't look good with Seattle, Pittsburgh and Cincy on the schedule but they've proven to be beatable.

4) Who in this draft is worth an abysmal record? If Fournette was in it this year I might be tempted to Fail for Fournette but this isn't the year for guaranteed super studs. I'd rather have the bragging rights of winning than take a 70% shot at a bust.

Let's stop the loser talk. It's not smart football management and is at best a whiner's way out of the season.

Mallet is worse than Clausen. He's the epitome of the "idiot quarterback". He might have the physical traits of Flacco, but he's no Flacco. He's not even Schaub.

I think I'd prefer Tim Tebow over Mallet at this point.

This was an epicly bad season for the Ravens. Some of that could have been from bad luck (injuries, bad calls, etc.) but a lot has come from lack of disciplined play (execution, penalties, focus drops, blown routes, lack of turnovers, etc.). That primarily goes to the coaching and management and the players second.

When I look at the Patriots (a team I loathe) I still see a team that overcomes major losses each season to win while managing their cap very well. Their players are not premium talent yet they always end up making key plays when they matter most. THAT is what the Ravens have NOT been able to replicate.

Good team minimize the impact of their losses. Not so with Baltimore. The Ravens were in trouble even before it lost its 4 best players; their losses only accelerated the overall failure of the season. Everyone gets a bad year. Hope they spend this off season planning like they used to. Seems like they dialed it in for 2015.

Hope he tears up his former team for their lack of faith. Not that the Browns defense is that great or anything but it would be nice to see if he still has it.

Terrible blow for Forsett and the team. His season is over but at least her'll be healed by the end of February.

Other things to look at:

Terrance West. Will he play better now that he's back home where he said he wants to be?

More Juice? With Boyle out today, Kyle could assume more of his role. He's been used well in a bubble screen and has racked up chucks of yardage catchin out of the back field.

Should've happened years ago. Webb hasn't had the physical tools to be a consistent starting CB in the league iin a while. He has the experience to move into the position abd to back up the younger more physical corners. He won;t be an Ed Reed, but has got to be better than what we now have.

The mission is money. They should ride the wave, because less kids are playing, and the wave will eventually die out on its own.

 

Game integrity is largely irrelevant, considering people only complain about it but never act upon their complaints. When that actually happens (and I doubt its even remotely close to happening), then something might be done.

That might be a "pragmatic" view, but a short-sighted one.  The NFL has been remarkably short-sighted on a great many issue, concussions being chief among them, but officiating is a big deal.  A bloated rule book that requires game refs and HQ to decipher it (and critically fail more times than is acceptable) is the opposite of game integrity.  This will ultimately errode fan confidence.  If you don't believe me just ask the MLB, when the NFL over took them in the 1990's. 

Eventually it WILL catch up to them.  They need some changes that streamline this game.  But don;t expect Goodell to figure it out.  That idiot sees dollar signs, not X & O's.   He'll overexpose the league, put a team in London and ignore cincussions even more until the is as league broken as last century's baseball.

I never considered that the NFl would overturn its mistake despite the fact that the last 2 plays never get played if they called it right. These officiating mistakes are ruining my experience of the game and I'm rapidly losing interest. Goodell is a lame commissioner and worries more about overexposing the league than about the game itself. I may watch the Ravens games whenever possible, but it will no longer be a burning desire and I will certainly put the other games on the back burner. My NFL buddies all feel the same. This league is quickly getting to be a joke.

Where was the helmet to helmet call on Kuechley for his hit on Aiken that lead tot he INT? SMDH. The officials weren;t the worst part of this game but they suck as bad as the Ravens do...and that's pretty bad.

But the idea of "quality of product" is inherently subjective, so you can't develop a factual argument saying that the game is better or worse.

 

There's a large segment of the population that thought the "quality of product" in the NFL a decade or two ago was really bad, and the current landscape of the NFL offers much higher quality of play.

 

Yes, you or I can say that we personally think the game is going downhill, but again, the NFL itself looks at their data and basically laughs at that notion, thus making it unlikely we see changes towards where we might like to see the game.

The NFL and Goodell can stuff their data!  When will it come back to being about the game and NOT so much about the money?!  That's ALL Goodell is focusing on and its ruining the game.  The rule book reads like is a like a legal code and not one of their people get it right even close to 100% of the time.  And they getting over exposed with Goodell trying to put a team in London and move 2 to LA.   

Eventually their metrics will catch up with them.  Right now they're riding the bubble and it is going to burst in the near future.  when more people like me start another activity on Sunday during the season their metrics will eventually reflect that, but like too many things with the NFL it will be too late.  They already have more money than they know what to do with.  Now they need more game integrity.  That will only come with a new commissioner that is more mission driven, not money driven.

I was wondering if football is starting to lose it's luster with anyone other than myself?  I get it, it doesn't help when your team isn't playing well, but regardless, I feel as though these games are borderline unwatchable.

 

There are flags on what seems like every play, I can't tell what a catch is anymore, most every hard hit is a penalty, QB's are nearly untouchable...

 

It is tough for me to enjoy watching any game now.   Anyone else agree? Disagree?

I wholeheartedly agree.  I mean, these penalties are ruining the game.  They get it wrong on field way too frequently and the NY crew backs them up waaaaay too much for me to think that this is just a coincidence.  Either these games are as rigged as a WWE match or the league simply can't oficiate its own rule book at this point.  It's dedfinitely one or the other because there's no other logical reason that the Cheatriots get so many calls that go their way.  That ODB "non-catch" this week was as bogus a call as I've ever seen because it was ruled a catch and the NY changed it.  The rules are murky on the subject. 

At this point I give the Ravens a casual eye and I stopped watching most of the other matches.  Something stinks in this league and and there is no integrity to this game imo. 

Never coached?? If you think Ray Lewis was just a player all these years then I don't know who you've been watching.

 

Why do you think his teammates called him the General? Who do you think switched defenses in-and-out at the last second when he didn't like what he saw ? Who do you think Ed Reed learned from? He taught Ed Reed how to read the film in a new way, and Ed Reed became a Hall of Fame safety. Imagine what he could do if he taught film session to an entire defense...Seriously dude? You dont think Ray Lewis could handle calling a play?  He did it for 17 years...

 

I gotta say I'm a little shocked by that. But whatever floats your bubble, bubble boy

There's a differece be tween being an X's and O's strategist and a game day tactician.  It's one thing to fire up your teammates and to mae on field adjustments, but its another entirely to prepare a game plan fo the entire defense all week, give assignements and run drills. 

Like I said, make him the LB coach and see where it goes...and also, he doesn;t want to coach right now, like RaineV1 said.