Fullblack_RAVEN

I hope steve smith can repair his relationship w/ the panthers organization and retire as a panther. Imagine if ed reed and the ravens split on bad terms and reed retired as a new york jet. That would be tough to watch as a diehard ed reed fan watching him for all of those years as a raven. Steve smith is probably the greatest player in that franchise's short history. He also has a shot at the hall of fame. It would be a shame if the panthers can't introduce him into the HOF because of a little tiff at the tail end of his career.

The great thing about rashaan melvin (and tray walker for that matter) being on this team is they can both lean on jimmy smith for advice & tips. Being a 6ft corner is hard in the nfl because they usually have problems w/ quickness and hip fluidity. Jimmy knows exactly what they need to do to get better in those areas. Jimmy started off his career w/ those same issues. Coaches can only do so much. Sometimes, it's more effective to have your learning supplemented by an active player who went through & conquered the weaknesses you have.

Let's just face it. Campagnaro's injury prone right now. Hopefully, he can get out of this injury rut and have a long, productive career. I think he still should make the team because he's the type of wr flacco can progress w/. He is a solid route runner w/ really good hands & strength for his size. He has a bit of burst, too. If anything, just put him on IR.

It's game 2 of preseason so i'll take it for what it's worth. They didn't practice against the eagles' tempo offense all week. The eagles went slow & vanilla per the ravens request. When the eagles unleashed it come gametime, the ravens weren't prepared. That's understandable. A few things irked me, though. - When flacco gets off to a slow start, it's very hard for him to rebound. This has been evident especially in the last 2 seasons. It seems like he can't get himself out of a rut. Conversely, when he gets hot at the start, he usually stays hot. That's why he's so good come playoff time. He gets amped, starts off hot most of the time and stays hot. He isn't as resilient as i'd like but is still a top 10 qb. I'd take him over many of the guys people put ahead of him(matt ryan, russell wilson, eli manning and tannehill... sigh, flacco>>>tannehill). I just think that's one of his weaknesses. - This team lacks reliable speed on the outside. Perriman will have to be healthy & good throughout the season. W/O his speed, this team will have to revert to throwing short, contested balls the majority of the time. That is not joe flacco's forte. I also am having major concerns as it pertains to injury. Steve is old. Camp battled injuries his whole rookie year & had one occur this offseason. Perriman is battling a knee injury and has injury history dating back to college. All the hoopla around this team's WR depth means nothing if perriman can't go. It would mean more if this team had another reliable speed option to take the heat off of its possession guys. Waller will take a while. - Serious question here: Is kendrick lewis that talented to where he's the lock at FS for this team? I'm not asking this q solely because of his performance in this largely meaningless preseason game. I'm asking this because i've never seen him as a solid starter in all the time i've seen him play. Admittedly, i only watched him last yr because i wanted to see the JJ watt and clowney show (sadly, clowney was injured but JJ was awesome). Will hill came to the ravens after a yr where he was one of the best safeties in the league. He just had problems pertaining to personal conduct. Although kendrick came to the ravens w/ more experience, his talent level doesn't really match up to being a guaranteed starter. Hopefully i'm proven wrong. Either way, i believe terrence brooks is the FS of the future for this team. Everything wasn't doom and gloom, though. - Tray walker and rashaan melvin are tall, play w/ ferocity and seem like they'll be mainstays for a long time w/ this team. If one of the 2 can break out by 2016, the ravens can end up emulating the corner situation the seahawks had a couple of years ago. I believe jimmy smith is a top 5 corner already so if one of these 6'1+ guys can play well alongside him, we'll have a nice thing going here. This team's corner depth seems like it won't be a problem going forward. Tray probably won't be ready to play until 2016 but if guys get injured, he could see time earlier. - Magee probably won't make this team. He still ran his you know what off. He plays w/ more speed & explosiveness than buck allen. Buck has good vision though & is a really good cutter so we'll see how he develops going forward. - Nelson's going to end up making someone's roster and end up having a long nfl career. It sucks that this team already has a bunch of possession wr's but hey... at least he's putting good game tape out there. Preseason G3 will be against the redskins. Remember, it was the ravens who started rg3's pro injury carousel w/ ngata almost killing him (i miss ngata). Hopefully the ravens show up for that game and play well. 1 more thing. The ravens going against the eagles' uptempo O this game will help them come game 1 vs. denver. I think the ravens will beat denver. They won't be catching the ravens off guard this time. Go Ravens!

Perriman Update: He was watching practice again in a knee brace. He supposedly has been diagnosed with a sprained PCL according to jamison hensley. IMO, that type of diagnosis is worrisome because if he heals and then falls on that knee again (which is likely as he is a fast, physical WR who goes up for a ton of jump catches), he could easily sprain it again or worse. I wouldn't be surprised if he plays this upcoming season w/ a knee brace. They've probably known this for a while. That's why he didn't watch practices in baltimore. He was most likely using that time to rehab in the pool & such. The ravens probably didn't want to use the eagles' rehab facilities which is why perriman's able to watch practices from the field out there. PCL sprain info - http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/posterior-cruciate-ligament-injury

So sad. From what i've read, he had an invaluable impact on children & the community as a whole. I didn't know or meet the man personally. However, anyone that dedicates that much time and effort into raising the spirits of ill children is top notch in my book. Rest in peace, Leonard.

Perriman had osgood-schlatter disease growing up. His father & brothers had it too. One of its symptoms is knee inflammation. People usually say they grow out of that type of disease after their teenage years. I believe his knees were weak to begin with due to that disease & aggravating that joint affects his body more than others. Hopefully they're just being cautious w/ him. It could be worse... he could be having surgery to address a stress fracture like kevin white did. Heck, i know it's a different sport and all but kyrie irving was misdiagnosed w/ tendonitis when he was in fact dealing w/ a stress fracture which gave out in the finals. Hopefully breshad gets better soon.

I think it's a good time to remind people that perriman struggled w/ osgood-schlatter disease as a kid. I'm not sure if that type of condition leaves you permanently or subsides as you grow older. I just know that it's a form of knee inflammation. Maybe that the team being super cautious with these guys are the reasons why he is missing so much time. Perriman and marlon brown have no timetable to return so we'll see what happens going forward.

Well, Damn. Pulling 4 ya, elam!

I'm rooting for elam. It'll be tough because will hill is the better player w/ a better resume to boot (minus the drug problems). Elam will probably see limited time early because of that. He's going to have to prove it to get playing time. He'll have to capitalize on every single opportunity. It seems like elam will be the odd man out at the end of the day because the other safeties on the team seem to fit the ravens' style better. Kendrick lewis, will hill and terrence brooks are all big, physical safeties with range. Elam is diminutive in comparison but is probably the fastest safety on the roster. Unless kendrick lewis bombs, elam will probably get spot work this upcoming season.

For crying out loud... Matthew freaking stafford>flacco? Really? Unbelievable. Matthew Stafford isn't that good. I'm sorry. All you have to do is watch him 3-4 times. He's a side arm thrower whom misses on a bunch of easy throws due to overthrowing his targets. He throws to all of his wr's like they are calvin johnson. Oh, did i forget to mention that he actually has calvin johnson, a guy that makes up for his inaccuate throws? Jeez... It's funny how dan discredits flacco because he played with an elite defense most of the time (then again, the defense was average when the ravens won the superbowl but ofc he wouldn't go into that). What about the FACT that flacco has never played with a pro bowl/gamebreaking wr in his prime? Having a guy like that makes it much easier on qb's to succeed. Almost every top qb has one. Flacco doesn't yet still performs. The only pro bowlers flacco has connected w/ came to the ravens past their primes (boldin/steve smith for example) Give flacco julio jones, calvin johnson or dez and he throws for 4500 yards just like those other qb's have. I'm very confident in saying that. Hopefully perriman can become an elite wr one day but we'll see. It's just ridiculous how these analysts can spew off and not account for the fact that flacco hasn't been given the offensive firepower those guys have been given.

I don't see why people are so shocked at perriman's drops so early in minicamp. The scouting report on perriman clearly said that he had a tendency to drop balls. You don't go from doing that in college to automatically catching everything in the NFL. Breshad is going to have growing pains. We shouldn't stress out as fans. Did the torrey smith experience teach some of you nothing? Perriman said the biggest difference between rookie minicamp and legit team minicamp was the speed of the game. It's possible that he had more drops than usual earlier in practice because of that. He adjusted and caught tough ones later on in practice. I'm not worried about breshad, mainly because i knew he'd have growing pains in his rookie season to begin with.

The rebuild is finally complete. It took 2 full seasons to finally recover from the 2013 offseason roster purge. The ravens look deep & talented at their weakest positions from last season. Safeties: Will Hill, Terrence Brooks, Kendrick lewis & a 3rd yr matt elam. Corners: Jimmy smith, Lardarius webb, Kyle arrington, Rashaan melvin, Asa Jackson & Tray Walker (I assume that tray will make the roster but if he is p-squaded, he'll make a difference next season). Tight Ends: Maxx Williams, Crockett Gillmore, Pitta (if he plays; i expect him to be on the pup list), Nick Boyle Wide Receivers: Steve Smith, Kamar Aiken, Marlon Brown, Breshad Perriman, Darren waller and mike camp (hopefully) I haven't even mentioned some of the bubble guys whom wiil surely get snatched up by other teams due to how talented they are. I don't know if the ravens will keep 7 wr's due to having so much d-line depth. It'll depend on if they keep that shifty, talented wr steve smith likes so much as a special teams returner (his name escapes me right now). In conclusion, the ravens strengthened their weaknesses by getting healthy & acquiring talent via FA & the draft. The ravens' strengths continue to be strengths. Both lines of scrimmage are strong. The qb is strong & with a better wr/te core, he'll be even better. The RB position looks good. I really like what buck allen and a slimmer LT will bring behind justin forsett. The linebackers still look strong. I hope the injury bug stays away from this team. However, even if it does strike, it seems to me like this team will be well equipped to make up for losses here and there. Jimmy smith is probably the most important injury prone player on the roster. If he can play all 16 + playoffs, the ravens will have a great shot at being in serious contention for the title.

Whoa. I didn't expect the ravens to get arrington. I thought some random team would outbid for him. I'm happy he's a raven. I have to be honest... this team from a talent perspective looks like it could be just as talented as the 2011 squad that got billy cundiffed and lee evans'd out of a SB berth. The addition of arrington pushes guys like asa jackson and rashaan melvin back to the bench which in turn gives us some nice depth. 3 vet corners manning the secondary is much better than having a young guy in there learning on the fly. Heck, the 2011 squad had cary williams starting w/ lardarius webb and corey graham. Jimmy was off the bench (injured too) and was able to be eased into the rotation which helped his development. If breshad perriman and maxx williams have good rookie seasons, this team could do what the 2011 team couldn't. I'm very excited about this. Hopefully injuries don't crush this team like they did last year. The only position i have a concern with is strong safety. I believe that will hill will be fantastic manning the FS position w/ 1 year of experience on this defense under his belt. IDK what kendrick lewis, terrence brooks or matt elam will do. Terrence is coming off of a serious injury. I have my concerns with matt considering how terrible he was last season. Kendrick lewis is an unknown to me at this point because when i watched the texans last year, their secondary was terrible. However, that could be due to scheme. Bernard pollard was a part of one of the worst secondaries in the history of pro football before he came to the ravens. He came on board and the ravens secondary was really good. Save for injuries, the SS position will ultimately decide if the ravens are in the SB or not this upcoming season. It's crazy because matt elam's 2 missed tackles vs. the pats were probably the difference in that game & contributed to the ravens not getting to the SB last season. I just hope the best man wins there. Go Ravens!

LOL, wow. Tannehill isn't on flacco's level at all. Ryan tannehill is a short route throwing qb who is still learning the game after coming from a spread option college offense. He can't throw deep/intermediate routes w/ accuracy which is one of the reasons why they traded mike wallace. The dolphins thought a player like tannehill would benefit from having a deepball wr. The opposite happened. Mike wallace was angry the whole time he was in miami. He was the fall guy for that offense not doing better when in reality, it was tannehill & his non deep ball throwing ways that angered him. Flacco would have made mike an 1000 yard wr like he was in pitt. Tannehill is one of the best qb's in the nfl at throwing on the run. He isn't as effective in the pocket, though. People look at his completion % and act like that is the ultimate measure of throwing accuracy. Well, it isn't. When all you throwing are short routes, you can prop up your completion %. Andrew luck has a 61.7% completion rate but is much more accurate than tannehill, imo. The numbers can lie. Heck, rg3 completed 65% of his passes in his rook yr. Why? Short, option route passes. Tannehill is in the same class as andy dalton. Both were spread option qb's in college and have problems with intermediate throws. Dalton luckily has aj green, a guy whom covers for a lot of his mishaps. Andy could throw an inaccurate intermediate throw and it won't matter because aj can adjust to the ball mid flight and catch it (until the playoffs of course where andy routinely overthrows his targets by 5-10 yards). NFL.com has some idiotic posters. How does tannehill throw more routes than flacco when the miami dolphins don't even utilize intermediate/deep patterns? It makes no sense. Teams that need to run option plays here and there do so out of necessity because of the limitations of their qb's. That's what the dolphins AND bengals do.

Ed is my favorite football player ever. HOF lock. Best safety of his era.

Breshad is the ultimate feast or famine pick. His physical and athletic profile are just as good if not better than most of the wr's out there. His problems are drops and stiffness while running routes, two things you need your first round WR to be good at. He also has small-ish hands compared to some of the other top flight wr prospects which might be troublesome. Thankfully, he seems like one of those go get it wr's that plucks the ball out of the air. Our WR coach has a huge task on his hands, pun intended I don't think people here realize how much of a boom or bust pick this kid is. He has all of the physical talent in the world. However, if he doesn't fix his 2 fatal flaws, we could be in for a rocky ride. Thankfully, watching torrey smith these last 4 or so years will help us ease through perriman's growing pains. Also, i'm scared when teams pick dudes due to their 40 times when they don't play that fast on tape. Perriman didn't look like a sub 4:3 player when i watched him. Absolute worst case scenario - darrius heyward bey (look at their physical and athletic profiles coming out of college. They are almost identical.) Absolute best case scenario (i'm being very optimistic here so don't laugh!) - A less refined Terrell Owens (i know, ha ha ha! remember, though! Although owens became a really good route runner & technician, he had a problem w/ drops his entire career! please don't judge me! ) Most likely scenario - vertical, physical deep threat w/ iffy hands who will fight for the ball & stretch the defense (pre-injury Kenny Britt w/o the legal troubles) All in all, i like this gamble. Why? The ravens have like 8 or 9 picks left. If there is a position of need in the 2nd/3rd round and the ravens really want said player (whether it be darby or even randy gregory), the ravens can easily trade up and get him. This 1st rd pick is the ravens betting on this kid's physical talent, work ethic and football lineage along with our coaches to build a special player. I compare it to nba teams picking the superior athlete w/ upside over the polished nba ready guy. If the athletic dude reaches his potential, you'll have a multi-year star on your hands. If he doesn't reach his potential, he'll probably end up being a flat out bust. Let's hope the former happens! I along with others on this board have said all along that the ravens need a star offensive skill player to help take pressure off of flacco and the others. Sometimes you need to take gambles to attain said player. Lets hope this gamble pays off. Go Ravens! Get darby on day 2!

OH BABY! This is an amazing move. Not only is this a talent addition but a leadership addition as well. Although i'm a major ravens fan, i've followed the panthers as well. I have watched most of the panthers games since cam newton got there (i'm an auburn tigers fan) and let me tell you.... steve smith is the most intense wr in the entire nfl. His presence alone demands accountability. Now, i mean instense in a good way. He won't air out the qb or anything like that. post delhomme and pre-cam the dude had to suffer playing with qb's like clausen, derek anderson and brian st. pierre. if he were to air out those guys along with a young guy like cam they would wither. The accountability steve demands is from the receivers. He challenges his teammates and makes them better by example and by motivation. The ravens truly need a guy like this especially post-boldin. The behind the bench segments on ravens tv will show his leadership style and intensity level. I believe that he will automatically make our other receivers better. Also, he is not one to back down from anything. Steve brings identity to this offense. He will also be able to do major work in the slot (where even he feels that he belongs at this stage in his career). Man... this is such a great move. I know he's 35 but the benefit he will give to our team in terms of identity, accountability and respect is major. Think about it this way. before the panthers 12-4 season, steve smith addressed the team. He blatantly told them that they were NOT going to lose anymore. They started off slow. Steve smith then became more vocal to the offense and riled them up. They went on to end 12-4. Greg hardy was on first take the other day (watched it on youtube) and pretty much confirmed this. Steve is the man and will do wonders for this team in terms of leadership as well as on the field production!