Maryland

42 minutes ago, Steve0x said:

Breaking News! Jaguars fire offensive coordinator Greg Olson. Can the Ravens hire him? 

Why on earth would we want anything the Jags have on their coaching staff lol. I guess if we want to earn some top draft picks we'll bring 'em in. (Jaguars have had a top-10 pick every year since 2009; they've had a top-5 pick every year since 2012)

3 hours ago, JoeyFlex5 said:

I agree on most of your points but it is reasonably speculated that Carl Davis actually went to the "phantom ir" because he played horrible in the preseason. He was facing guys who will never sniff a regular season snap and was totally invisible. Considering his reputation of laziness and lack of desire to improve its a bad sign that he showed flashes as a rookie and then regressed so badly in year 2 that he did literally nothing against the soon-to-be stockbrokers and insurance salesmen of the preseason 4th quarters.

The only thing we can really hope with Davis is that getting IR'd sends a message that he's as good as gone next year if he doesn't start trying. Shame that a guy with that physical skillset lets it all go to waste by not trying. 

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I think that, in general, Ozzie and co. draft too heavily at lower-impact positions while under-drafting at higher-impact positions. Yes, interior DL and non-rush LBs are important positions, but they are not as impactful as edge-rushers, WRs, DBs, or RBs. We've not drafted enough of those first 3 positions imo, and the 4th one, RB, we've drafted seemingly one per year since Rice and missed every time (hopefully Dixon changes that). Even TE could be seen as a lower-impact position, considering we almost exclusively use our TEs for blocking outside of Pitta, yet we've drafted more at that position (4) in 2014 and 2015 than any other position. 

We always hear Ozzie say "you can never have enough pass-rushers," but you wouldn't know it from only drafting Z.Smith, Brent Urban, and John Simon from 2012-2015 (4 drafts), all of them being day 3 picks. From that same period, Terrance Brooks and Matt Elam are the only DBs they've drafted before the 3rd day of the draft--both safeties, no corners. From that same period, Perriman is the only WR they've drafted before the 6th round. They are ignoring the most impactful positions on the field, and missing when they do address those positions.

Bring some competition into the mix. Like others have said, take a page from the Bengals and Vikings and attack the draft to restock one of your weakest positions. Stop over-drafting at low-impact positions and get some edge rushers, DBs, and WRs. Imagine if we had attacked edge-rush with the same tenacity we did the TE position--we might be stacked at the position. And stop cutting good prospects because they aren't excellent on special teams... /end rant

6 minutes ago, kjbmore said:

Maybe because we haven't had the other horses around them to allow them to be successful. When you're sliding into a defense full of pro bowlers, HOF guys and young studs, you just need to do your job and you probably have the luxury to cheat and play a bit more aggressively.

when you're sliding into a unit in flux, don't have the same cushion

case in point darian stewart

I'm honestly amazed Darian Stewart became such a good player at Denver. Granted, some of that is due to scheme, some of that is due to having a great defense around him (especially a great pass-rush), but it still surprises me, since he just looked so slow here. 

36 minutes ago, ALPHA said:

Was he on our radar, wasn't his hype primarily based around his workout?

I'm pretty sure he was one of those players who blew-up the combine. I'm almost certain he broke the combine record for the long-jump and had a huge vertical. 

I think part of the question was whether he'd be a safety or a corner in the pros. He seems to be doing well as a safety. 

You can ask whatever question you want at the presser, but without some sodium pentothol (aka "truth serum") to get a straight answer, he's just going to say something like "that's a bad question" and move on, or answer your question obtusely like usual. 

So I'd ask a ton of questions related to recent drafts, like how high were they on player x, which players were they close to trading up for, which player did they really want who got sniped.

And I'd want to know how the interview process goes when they look for a new OC, like how did it go when they hired Trestman--how much input came from Ozzie, Steve, Flacco, etc., or was it mostly his decision. And I'd want to know if he thinks his control in selecting the future OC will be tempered by the Trestman fiasco.

Oh, and I'd ask about Flacco, like whether he really is hard to coach, and how much time does he put into studying the game and improving himself. Is he really a "9 to 5" QB as some have suggested? 

27 minutes ago, The Raven said:

Yeah, but outside of those five (coverage) sacks he produced little to no pressure at all and lacked any kind of speed. Those sacks look good on the stat sheet but he wasn't passing my eye test. If you actually watched him he was slow as molasses and ineffective. All of his sacks were coverage sacks that came five seconds or later after the snap.

Agreed. Those sacks by Suggs certainly showed a lot of effort in keeping with the play, but he wasn't getting instant pressure like old times.

In watching the Titans/Jags game last night, I was reminded of what a real pass rush looks like. Their pass rush just burst off the line, gave Bortles little time to think, even when there were guys open. It reminded me of the 2014 Ravens when Doom, McPhee, and Sizzle were balling, getting to the QB a second or two after it's snapped. No one on our current team gets instant pressure like that anymore, at least not very often (Jernigan does sometimes). The kind of pressure that masks a bad secondary--we don't have that. 

I have to wonder how the search during the upcoming offseason might go differently than last season now that John has failed with one of his hires in Trestman (Trestman was recommended by Jim Harbaugh, and then it seemed to be John's decision to bring him in over someone like Shanahan).

Might Ozzie have more say in who our next OC is? Maybe Steve gets involved too, though I suspect not (it was rumored Steve intervened when Harbaugh wanted to make an in-house promotion after Caldwell left, but who really knows). Maybe they have Flacco in on the discussion too, which seems important since if Flacco is not going to respect the person we bring in at OC then it'll just waste everyone's time.

In other words, I guess I'm wondering if John might have less say in who becomes our next OC compared to previous seasons, even though John should still have a strong vote on the matter.

I guess we should start looking at which failed HCs with a background in coaching offense will be fired at the end of this season to get a sense of who our next candidates will be lol. We might be looking at Bill O'Brien (yuck), Ben McAdoo (too similar to Trestman), Chip Kelly (lol), Mike Mularkey (meh), Jay Gruden (maybe). I could also see a scenario in which Detroit promotes Cooter to HC just to keep him from being poached by someone else (similar to what TB did to keep Dirk Koetter by firing Lovie), in which case Caldwell will be back on the market (yuck).

I don't know... I get that his injuries made him miss practice, but I kind of expect him to have it in his memory how to actually field a punt/kick by now. He's been doing this for 11 years in the NFL + his college years, seems like it should all be muscle memory at this point how to catch a punt.

Ideally, you're only signing a key FA here and there to fill a single roster hole and not building your roster through FA like the Redskins and Dolphins of late. Ideally, this is because you're drafting so well that you don't need to fill your roster with FAs, so you are instead able to allocate most of your cap space to re-signing your own key players and not someone else's.

I would rather be in a position where we're drafting so well that we don't need to sign a lot of FAs. Hopefully we get back to excellent drafting, and get away from having to fill roster holes with FAs after guys like Terrance Brooks, Matt Elam, Arthur Brown, and others disappoint. 

I'm hoping Harbaugh pulls some kind of trick play and it actually works for once--anything that results in more humiliation for the Steelers. Maybe a surprise onside kick. 

I fully expect a volley of negs to come my way after advocating one of John's zany trick plays btw, so no worries

1 hour ago, Steve0x said:

Why don't you play offensive lineman and come back and tell us how simple it is.

 

Hah! Gotteem.

17 hours ago, reed20 said:

It at least soothes my soul that nobody drafted after perriman in the first is doing anything anyway.

Byron Jones is actually a pretty big reason why Dallas's secondary is pretty good. And Malcolm Brown seems like a solid interior lineman for the Pats, at least I think he was pretty disruptive his rookie year--haven't paid much attention this year.

But you're only looking at 6 players anyway lol. 

(not sure where else to ask this and doesn't deserve its own thread)

Are we allowed to post (that is, copy/paste) espn insider articles here? Thought about remaking the "mock draft thread, not mine, not yours" thread and posting Kiper's latest big board for those w/o access

On 10/24/2016 at 9:43 AM, OUravensfan said:

Watch us play the best game of the year vs Pitt, it takes Pitt to remind these guys they're in the NFL I guess 

I honestly think Pees uses too many vanilla blitzes during non-divisional games just so he doesn't tip his hand before playing the Steelers. He always seems to save his best for the Steelers, perhaps to the detriment of all other non-divisional games. 

To "fix" Flacco, I'd like the following to occur over the off-season:

Hire a new QB coach. Mornhinweg wasn't getting good results even as the QB coach; it seemed like Flacco actually regressed under him. 

Hire an OC who will install a "run-first" offense that operates heavily off of play-action passing (run-first in quotes because obviously I don't want a Cam Cameron run-run-pass offense lol, just someone who runs an offense that is committed to the run). If they could hire someone in the same mold as Kubiak or Shanahan, that would make me happy, since our OL is built for a ZBS, which is what they run. 

Improve the OL. It would be nice if we could upgrade Zuttah, but that may be unlikely. And we're going to need a new LG with Lewis most likely replacing Wagner at RT for 2017. 

11 hours ago, usmccharles said:

Ironic to see Torrey trade rumors to the Eagles

I was listening to my Eagles friend saying "finally, someone who can catch the ball" in response to the Torrey rumors and just lol'd. 

The Alshon Jeffrey rumors seem to have more weight behind them though. 

27 minutes ago, PurpleReign22 said:

i can recall at one point in time webb actually used to be a sure tackler but it looks as if those days have come and gone he doesn't look willing at all and the thought of him roaming deep with that speed or lack there of scares me, i honestly feel like he is our weakest link in the secondary. Shareece is not far off but i'm sure none of us thought he'd be anything more than a serviceable with up and down weeks from time to time, webb however had the vote of confidence from the front office so there was at least some sliver of hope that he'd be at least semi dependable but that isn't the case. What good is his football IQ if he can't even get into position to make the play he diagnoses, just doesn't seem useful at all. I for one would rather see if the TC talk on Elam was all hype or if it was legitimate, maybe we can have a late breakout guy like GB has with Nick Perry this year.  

Webb definitely used to be a good tackler. In fact, he was very willing to go up and tackle the RB in his prime years as a slot corner, which many attributed to his years as a safety in college. However, it seems like now, when a tackle is there to be made, he's taking poor angles, probably because he's too slow. 

5 hours ago, Tru11 said:

we need high IQ players.

those guys usually play faster and better then guys who have just speed and athletic ability.

So true. Terrance Brooks was really fast, but was late on every play because he lacked football IQ. Such a shame.

As for the OP, you're definitely not the only one getting frustrated with Webb's performance. Many of us here have noticed how he's often late to provide help over the top and makes a poor effort to tackle. Given his poor play, there is little doubt in my mind he's cut after the season is over, since 5.5 mil in base salary is waaay too much for a player of his caliber. I just hope Ozzie doesn't succumb to his loyalties and keep him, even if he accepts a pay-cut. He just doesn't seem to be worth a roster spot, though I say this with the opinion that keeping a young player with upside is preferable to keeping a declining veteran--if both are competing for a backup spot, that is, which Webb would be for 2017. 

Elam might actually improve our safety play, and I don't think it's far-fetched to say that. Though he looked bad his first 2 seasons, we've heard nothing but positives every TC since then. How much worse than Webb could he really be? The big knock on Elam was that he couldn't tackle, but Webb is rarely even in position to make a tackle anyway, so... yeah, I'm ready for Elam. At the very least, we'll get closure regarding whether Elam has a future in the NFL or not. 

15 hours ago, PurpleCity5 said:

I liked Breshad and I have high hopes for him. That said you can't rely on the guy next season as a "step up guy". What I mean is that you can't expect him to break out next year because he has not shown much this year. Not dissing him because he's missed so much time but I don't think we need to be bit by this "O well we can expect this guy to step up because he's shown bright spots" mentality that has killed us and has been part of the reason we're in the situation we're in right now. 

I feel like this is one of those sensible opinions that inflames fans for some reason. I feel like you can depend on someone like Judon becoming a contributor next season, at least as a DPR, since he's already showing talent, but you can't depend on guys like Perriman or Correa until they show something promising. You're not saying that they'll bust, just that you can't feel comfortable depending on them playing major snaps next year; their spot on the roster shouldn't preclude you from signing or drafting someone at the same position, since their development is uncertain right now.

9 hours ago, GrimCoconut said:

I don't think Webb or Dumervil make it unless they take paycuts because they frankly don't seem to have the value anymore unless something really changes between now and 2017. With our pass rushers in Correa, Smith, Judon, I am sure we will draft another one high, and I don't see us keeping Dumervil unless he goes on a tear. 

Honestly, I feel like taking Doom off of PUP turned out to be a huge mistake, since it ultimately kept Ochi off the roster due to a numbers game. Would much rather have a possible future DPR than an old, injured DPR on the last year of his deal. I hope they move on from Doom at the end of this season just to free-up a roster spot at rush-LB for a young prospect, presumably someone we'll draft in 2017. Additionally, I wouldn't let Z-Smith keep me from drafting more rush-LB depth, either; he has shown nothing this year to give me hope that he'll become a good pass-rusher.

And I'm not really depending on Correa becoming a good pass-rusher at this point in time, though I think it's still possible he does develop into one. 

The only way it would make sense for a player to take a pay cut would be if they are in danger of getting cut. As it stands now, Joe has all of the leverage, and the FO has no reason to cut him right now.

A more likely source for a pay cut would be Dumervil or Webb, who are each due a hefty base salary for 2017. This salary could be cut and then potentially earned back through incentives. 

1 hour ago, GrimCoconut said:

I understand exactly how you feel. It's frustrating to watch them play. I've sort of accepted that we may not be very good this year. It is honestly looking that way. Pretty sad state of affairs. 

I'm also coming to accept that we just haven't been very good. However, I'm not willing to accept that we can't be at least average until I see our starting OL and SS89 out there. If we're still struggling with our starters on offense, then I'll concede that we're just not very good. 

2 hours ago, Willbacker said:

I don't know but Id bring Jim Zorn in here quick.Somebody better tell him to plant the feet.

So much this. I get that the OL is terrible, but I guess the fear of pressure has him so shell-shocked he's using poor mechanics even when he doesn't have to. Marty Mornhinweg really didn't seem to do a good job with his mechanics, so I hope the next QB coach isn't just him again. 

Just now, terps85 said:

For what it's worth, Roethlisberger said he would have played today if it was the playoffs according to Nantz/Simms. Wouldn't be surprised if he plays in 2 weeks.  

I hope he does decide to start so we can make him regret his decision. 

This bye couldn't come soon enough. So many injuries. Really hoping to get our starting OL back for week 9--that's the source of most of our problems on offense. Get better starters in there, get less penalties, less pressures/sacks, better movement in the run game. At the very least, if the starting OL goes out there post-Bye and still struggles, it'll give me closure that this team just isn't very good even at 100%