atomicfront

I watched the whole press conference. I think there were to few questions to Ozzie  and too much focus on Steve.  He seemed to answer the same question over and over again about what is his criteria for keeping the coaches and GM.  I think he did a good job but I think the press did a poor job with the questions.  

I do think that Steve is right.  Firing coaches, firing the GM and getting a new Quaterback are the simpleton fans answers to all the problems.  I mean Tressman was fired a couple of weeks and the same people who wanted Tressman fired now wanted  Morningweg fired  It is tiresome. Like firing a coordinator over and over again until the offense improves is the answer.  

Most of all I agree with most of what was said. But I do have two big disagreements.

When Arthur Brown was drafted I watched all his tape and I new he wouldn't succeed at the NFL level.  He was way too small and was running sideways a lot.  I just didn't think he was NFL material. If I could see that with my limited knowledge I think Ozzie and company should have known better.

The thing about Boldin wasn't really true.  The team signed a bunch of free agents that season who didn't contribute at all.  Were even cut before the end of the season.  Boldin could have been afforded easily.  Saying they screwed up on that one would be the appropriate response 

5 hours ago, Ravens4Real said:

First time I have ever heard one of the higher ups come to terms that Flacco, in the regular season, is just not cutting t for what he's paid. Too many times Harbaugh has come to Flaccos defense and used an excuse.

The real question is, what if Flacco performs like this next year? Could they possibly make him take a pay cut? Or even more than that? We will see. Because if he has many more regular seasons like he has, this team won't make it to the playoffs again.

The first time they would have any leverage with Flacco is in the 2020 season.  If they cut Flacco before the 2020 season they would save 20 million dollars of cap space. If they cut Flacco before 2018 season they would lose 4 million of cap space and Flacco's cap hit would be 28 million.  Flacco's contract was just extended. 

Flacco is your quarterback the next 3 seasons whether you like it or not and he will be taken up a large portion of the team's cap. 

On 1/9/2017 at 10:43 AM, Neal Could Block the SUN!! said:

Whether we draft for D or O, can we still trust in Ozzie?

 

Not sure that any of the present powerhouse teams follow the "best player available" approach to the draft.  Perhaps instead looking at our needs and deciding which players are available and building based on strengthening weakness will serve us better.  How many years of decent drafts filled with "the best player at the time" can we continue through and still not be a solid team?

 

We don't draft best player available.  We needed a Left Tackle urgently this year and we drafted one.  The thing is with all the injuries you have and free agency every position besides Punter, Kicker and Quarterback is a need.  You can't draft a Corner back at pick 16 if there are no first round quality Corner backs available.  You can only trade up or down if that is the position you are in and you want a corner back.  

Seems like our needs are Center, Right Tackle, Running Back, Outside Linebacker, Wider Reciever and Cornerback.  And if Webb is released we need a safety.  So we have needs all over the place. I would focus on improving the offensive line and get another legit cornerback.  If you have offensive line that can protect the quaterback you will have a productive offense.  And when Jimmy Smith was out the defense was hurting.  

I really see zero point for calling assistant coaches to be fired.  Harbaugh is the head coach whomever he selects as coaches is fine with me.  He should be responsible for the results along with Ozzie.  The team just fired Tresmsn and now they want his replacement fired?

I would let the new head coach pick the defensive coordinator.  It makes no sense to fire the coordinators but keep the head coach.  What kind of coordinator is going to sign on with Harbaugh on the hot seat? 

I would say Stanley.  Has the team even won a game without him playing this year? 

Arthur Brown, Kindle, Correa, Dan Cody.  Whomever is in charge of drafting linebackers in the second round needs to be shown the door. 

11 hours ago, RaineV1 said:

Yeah. Doubling the salary cap would just lead to doubling the size of contracts.

The NBA has plenty of players that publicly speak out on social issues that can be seen as controversial. It doesn't hurt their ratings.

Different demographic of fans between NFL and NBA. 

10 hours ago, FlocksGottaFeed said:

Truth of the matter for the ratings decline is not very simple at all. It's multifaceted.

1. Deflate-gate - Went on for over a year and sucked-up NFL fan interest til the well went dry. In-Season to Off-Season to In-Season. For what?
2. Hall of Fame Game - The one that never happened. Fans are creatures of habit. Sure most HOF games are barely watchable, but we wait the entire off-season to get there. It's tradition...sheeezz. No season begins without it...until now. We deserve better and if the NFL doesn't find it's opening game to be important enough...than why should we be excited about anything following that 'bush' league garage?
3. Technology - We don't watch 'one' football game to it's duration in front of the tube in the living room anymore. Playstation, Ruko, Smart Phones, Sports Bars, PCs, etc. We watch as many games as we can while switching back-and-forth to avoid commercials and boredom during slow games.
4. Fantasy - Yes, the NFL did it to itself pushing it out there with multi-million dollar ad campaigns before once thinking, "How are we going to increase viewership when the fans have less interest in teams and more interest in individual stats?". That happened.
5. And last, but not least - This has been the most watched election cycle in history brandishing, obscenely record numbers of viewers. All other ratings outside of football have suffered equally.

That said, it has very little to do with any players. It has more to do with the under-performance of a multi-billion dollar conglomerate with very little foresight or intellectual fortitude to build their product and keep fans engaged while doing so. The NFL dropped the ball. Nobody else. 

 

All those things existed last year. None of them explain the dramatic decrease this year.  It is clearly the Anthem protests.  but for some reason people try and search for other reasons. 

On 11/1/2016 at 0:52 PM, PurpleHorseman said:

Karpernicks political agenda is hurting the ratings for sure. Of course if you disagree with him you are turned off the game. But even people that agree with him, watch football for entertainment. To escape all the political talk. And he is pushing that on people. He is at work. His crusade should be on his own time. What would happen if anybody else took their political agenda to work? Even if you agree with him, who wants to see that and hear about the backlash while trying to enjoy a football game with friends and family. Football brings people together.

Yeah he is making 25 percent of the country angry at the NFL.  If he doesn't want to stand for the Anthem he should stay in the locker room until it is over.  I really don't really care whether he wants to stand for the anthem or not.  But it is hurting the game.  The NFL is sitting still while they destroy their brand.  And the other 75 percent are going to decrease because one thing people like about the NFL is discussing the games with others at work the next day. If your co-workers aren't talking about the game on Monday morning you might lose interest as well.  I have no idea why the league is allowing this to continue. 

1 hour ago, rmw10 said:

You're absolutely delusional if you don't think every team in the league is doing this.  I'm not denying that it's a problem, but it's not just a Ravens problem, it's a sports problem.

I am saying how is that an argument?  Everyone else is doing something horrible it is OK that we are doing it too? Players should not be playing with opioids in their system.  

37 minutes ago, rmw10 said:

This is more of a sports issue than anything else.  You'd be hard pressed to find 1 team in any league that doesn't prescribe pain killers to try to numb the pain and get them back on the field.

I don't follow other teams.  I follow the Ravens.  This guy was a Raven.  I don't think everyone else is doing it so I was just following the crowd defense.  

23 minutes ago, Moderator 3 said:

Because, in reality, it's really about drugs.  Good, bad, whatever.  Perhaps it could have gone to Other NFL but whoever put it here thought this was the place.  I'm not going to argue it. Either decision has its pros.

There is a lot of misinformation, innuendo, and one-sidedness about this article.  Although I think he has some valid points, I think the article is overly dramatic.  Keep in mind that he isn't playing in the NFL at his own choice.  He had at least 2 offers.  He just lost his heart for it.

Yeah he decided not to play because of the pain and injuries involved he was last a Raven.  Like I said I don't care about the Marijuana aspects other than the team giving him 10 different drugs at one time and then the league suspending players for Marijuana.If the league wants to continue to ban Marijuana I don't really care.  But I think everyone can agree opioid addiction is a big problem in this country.  Surprised the league/Ravens not only don't test for this but are supplying the players with the drugs.  

The point is it is about the Ravens. The Ravens gave him drugs and wanted him to play injured not other NFL teams.  

I think bad news for sports all around.   Most sports networks are supported by cable subscribers who never watch the channels.  For example I was reading how the Wizards averaged 25,000 viewers a game but they were getting paid 30 million a year for their broadcast rights.  Makes no sense at all.  Comcast  Sports is charging every cable and satellited subscriber in the DC/Baltimore Area $4.50 to have that channel in their bundle.  Sports have leeched off society for a while.  With taxpayer built stadiums.  Forcing people to pay for sports channels most cable subscribers dont' even realize exist.  

Just think it is ridiculous how the Ravens get a free stadium yet make millions upon millions a year and pay Flacco what 25 million a year? If you can afford that salary you can afford to pay for you own stadium. 

The Marijuana part wasn't what I found interesting.  I was more interested in how the Ravens are pushing players to play hurt and giving them Vicodin.  And how Monroe was punished for sitting out a game with a high ankle sprain.. And his concussion incident.  I  wonder why this was moved to the off-topic forum. This is Ravens related not off-topic at all.  

ESPN Eugene Monroe Article

The drafting has been poor and the we have made mistakes extending guys who we shouldn't have.  We should have gone in full rebuild mode this off season.   I guess we will have to do it after this season.  Hopefully the front-office wakes up and Ozzie takes control of the draft or hires someone who knows what they are doing.  Otherwise we will become the Browns. 

1 hour ago, K-Dog said:

It is funny.
People here talk about cleaning house.  Harbs, Ozzie, Pees, and Marty on down the line.
That would be completely insane.  It would take so many years to rebuild after such a shake up. ( see Browns )
The best H.C.'s, GM's, OC's and DC's are not going to come flocking to Baltimore to get in line for an interview.  Many of the best are under long term contracts and sometimes love the organisations they work for.  It is not like Biscotti is going to stroke a half a dozen checks and and we will have a world class staff.  It just doesn't happen that way.  That is not the real world. 

Broncos fired John Fox after he went 13-3, 13-3 and 12-4.  If the Ravens go 5-11 Harbaugh is gone.  You can't fill the stands with a team that is losing all the time.

No but unless they get their offensive line healthy the losing will continue. 

If you fire offensive coordinator and their is no improvement next one to go is the coach and if still no improvememt next it is the GM.  If we end up winning less than 7 games I can't see Harbaigh keeping his job.  Ozzie and the rest of the front office could be gone after the following year if we have another 6 wins or fewer season.  Three straight pathetic seasons and tickets won't be a hot commodity anymore.

Wallace, Elvis and Webb will be cut saving 16 milllion.  With the 14 million the team has doesn't seem like they will have any problems with the cap.

I guess Tresma wasn't the problem.  I was against giving Flacco the extension as it was just kicking the can down the road.  Anyway I missed the game today as I took a walk in the park with my daughter.  Looks like I dindt miss much.  I thought with Geno Smith starting we would get the win.

On 9/16/2016 at 4:53 PM, PurpleCity5 said:

Plus, how on Earth will we lose 9 straight games in the final minute this year? That was an NFL record at the time, I see us winning half, or maybe even more than half of our close games this year. 

Coaching. 

41 minutes ago, Moderator 3 said:

Has anyone considered the possibility that these "aggressive" calls are an organizational decision?  Pretty much everyone in the FO has expressed a desire to score more touchdowns as opposed to settling for FGs.  Perhaps John has the full support of Ozzie and Steve in these choices.

I had no problem with any the previous calls. But if you run three times and can't score why do you think you would score on the 4th play running the ball.  Seems to me even if you want to be aggressive that wasn't the place to do it.