donkeyking64

3 hours ago, FlocksGottaFeed said:

Does Our Organization Really Want to "Help Joe"? Really?

Here's the deal: If we really wanted to help Joe the 1st thing to do is to acknowledge and accept who he is. He will never likely be a top-tier QB by the end of his career. He is a reasonably efficient QB who if put in the right conditions can have 'top-tier' QB games from time to time. I'm still a fan of Joe's, but I think our organization is completely missing the boat on what it would take to elevate his play and make it more consistent. More play makers, coaching continuity and dedication are good, reasonable wishes, but Joe's more important need is urgency. It's mental beyond everything else.

1. Firstly, have him admit to himself that he's not a top-tier QB currently although he's had a few great games (playoffs and SB). This will only challenge him to work harder to get to that goal and/or humble him enough to know that he must sacrifice enough to help the entire offensive unit to become top-tier. This may mean giving-up some of his salary to procure more talent around him (i.e. - Brady).

2. Coaching/Continuity: The Marty-thing was a mistake. It won't help Joe to get there at all. The best move would have been to keep Marty as a QB Coach (only). That's adequate continuity. He should have just remained as a season fill-in and continue his earlier role because of his amicable relationship with Joe, but change is needed.

3. Bring-in a new OC that runs the current system, but lights a fire under Joe and doesn't allow him to dictate his play, scheme or even allow him to over-assess his development. Start with the most difficult variations of the current scheme during the off-season and stay with them.

4. Lastly, address his ego before it's too late. Yes, Joe has a huge ego. Examples of this are the "I don't want to be lining up at Z and X. I want to line up behind center..." wildcat rant even though the play averaged over 10 yards per attempt, on the ELITE question "I mean, I think I’m the best," he said back then. "I don’t think I’m top-five, I think I’m the best. I don’t think I’d be very successful at my job if I didn’t feel that way. I mean, come on." and his consistent insistence on not audibly out of bad play calls, work with the entire receiving core and skill players during off-seasons and generally not accepting critic even when it's due.

This said, it's mental. If the organization wants to truly help this soon to be 10 year veteran QB and elevate the team as well, challenge is resolve - don't pander to his comfort-zone. He performs better in that role and so does the rest of the team.

I think one of the problems, actually the only problem I have with any debate on Joe:

1. Salary - get over it everybody please. The going rate for QBs is not $90 million for 7 years anymore ok. When you look around the league and see the Ryan Tannehills and the Jay Cutlers and the Colin Kaepernicks signing for $100+ you should realize that. [profanity deleted] Ryan Tannehill man. Jay. Cutler. These dudes epitomize mediocrity. A QB great, good, mediocre - they are top dollar. Be grateful that at least your $100+ million salaried QB has several playoff wins to his name as well as a Super Bowl

2. What is top tier? You only need your QB to convert on 3rd downs, put the offense in position to score 6 or 3, take care of the football, and then of course give you a shot to win playoff games. That's top tier. List all Super Bowl teams since 2000 and tell me HOW MANY of those teams had QBs who played like "Top Tier".

Point #1 - There have been 16 Super Bowl teams but that's only 6 of them. Did the other winners have "Top Tier" QBs or are you going to tell me the 1st 2 Pats teams had top tier QB play from Brady as did the 2016 Denver Broncos from Manning?
Point #2 - does Joe make that list for you (same can be asked of Eli)? He had a VERY underwhelming regular season, then played top tier in the playoffs. <----you see where this is going? How many times has Matty Ice Ryan played "top tier" during the regular season and then looked like a kid sucking his thumb in the playoffs? Alex Smith? Andy Dalton? Cam

Did you know that Joe Flacco ranks 10th All Time in the NFL with playoff wins? Only current players ahead of him are Brady and Roethlisberger.

Joe (10) is ahead of Eli (8), Aaron (7) and Drew (6).

I won't even go to Top Tier, let's just ask if Joe is a competent QB??? Cause if playoff wins define what makes you competent, he's got more wins than all these dudes that people have been claiming are Elite for years.

This is where most people respond by saying - 'well Joe's been on better teams when he made it to the playoffs' or 'the defense won those games' which takes me back to the million dollar question - how do you define "Top Tier" QB. Because if teams that allegedly have a "Top Tier QB" can't figure out how to win with that guy even though he is Top Tier and Elite, what's the point of having the conversation???????????

3 hours ago, jazz1988 said:

The last time i checked only Cam Cameron and Marc Trestman got fired so it hasn't been three offensive coordinators.  Adam Gase was willing to work with Jay Cutler and Cutler hasn't been the  most consistently good quarterback for the past 3 or so years . The idea that any  sane offensive coordinator doesn't want to work with Joe Flacco is crazy  especially considering the past offensive coordiantor he has work with .Jim Caldwell and Gary Kubiak have all got head coaching offers base off  how well Flacco and the offense played  .

Maybe he was throwing Jim Fassell into that mix and/or Mike Cavanaugh...???

5 hours ago, BOLDnPurPnBlacK said:

No i dont think he did great - but i also understood going into it, coming in mid-year, the conditions werent there to really expect a great overhaul.

Its not an enviable position to take over an offense thats been horrible for 7 straight games and a team on a 4 game losing streak with 1 week to prepare.

And, even less so when youre stuck with another guys playbook and verbiage which is similar, but not your own. Not many guys really succeed in that situation. When a coordinator gets fired theres usually a lot more problems than just the coordinator. He might be the head of it, or the most noticeable one, but NFL Coordinators didnt get there and get new jobs by being bad. So usually a lot more than just them goes wrong.

And marty inherited all those problems in a less ideal situation than an OC starting in the offseason. And he improved the team, although marginally. And if youd have told me at any point weeks 8-14 that our offense would be the unit to carry us to wins in Miami, and go drive for drive with one of the most explosive offenses in the NFL (Pitt) i wouldve never believed it.

Not consistently good. But enough to analyze and like. There were a couple really good game plans... and some really good instances of playcalling. Situationally we were never good, but thats the part that suffers the most when youre running another mans offense. In your own offense you know all your plays and the verbiage to call them in. So, if an unexpected situation arises you can quickly pull the perfect play from memory to beat that defense, or win in that situation.

In another guys offense you might know what you want to do, but if you didnt pre-select on your menu of plays youre not gonna know what that play is called in his offense. Or the route combinations might not be there to attack defenses teh way you want to.

I mean some guys like to attack horizontally to set up the vertical. Some like to attack vertical to open up underneath. Some like to attack multiple levels with route combos. Some like to use bunches and motion. Some like to use the run followed with playaction and bootlegs. And while all those types of plays are likely in Trestmans offense, if they werent emphasized in the offseason and performed with a series of repetition, the design doesnt matter all that much because if the understanding or the timing with the players isnt there - its not going to be successful.

 

So - i saw improvements. Situationally we need to be better - but i think that improves just with the comfort of Marty being in Marty world. 

If the QB cosigns and endorses the guy.... and hes our franchise player... who am i to question? 2 of the offensive leaders got out in front of this to say they see no reason for Marty to go and want him back. That tells me they see more to the story than just Marty sucks... and they see something with him that they can succeed with. Bc no QB and TE are going to want an OC that going to get them cut in 2018.

 

And if youre going to live and die by your QB... whose clearly suffered from an OC carousel to this point in his career, and doing that hasnt helped the offense aside from 1 year... why would you purposely ostracize your most important player?

As a leader you have to trust your franchise QB to know whats best for him. If you liked Marty to begin with and that guy cosigns it - then lets go. Its on you guys to fix it. And im very much ok with rolling the dice on that. Bc the man deserves to go out on his own terms. Give him a fair shake and then lets judge.

Wow you went dissertation on me. After reading your response I will fall back on my disdain just a bit. After all, he did make the Jets look decent when he was OC there before coming to Baltimore as QB coach.

That said, the bolded part is where I'm still salty...or concerned with him about. If you're going to pass the ball 40 times, it shouldn't be fore 2 yards 20 of those times. Receiver catches the ball and if a man is close by he gets tackled for a 2 or 3 yd gain. *sigh* You know what I mean?

Perhaps it wasn't 50% of the time, but I saw that more times than I care to see in a game. And perhaps the Pitt game while it wasn't the very last game of the season, certain plays are etched in my memory.

If Joe can throw the deep ball, let's see some of those attempts frequently. When I saw that Breshad would be getting a lot of playing time, I thought that maybe Breshad would be on the left side with Mikey Fresh Wallace on the right. Or perhaps both of them lined up on the same side of the field where both go deep. <-----that forces the defense to go step for step with one of those guys or when they are on opposite sides of the field, the safety has to figure out where/who needs help over the top. That may sound pretty generic or "Fans just make statements like that without knowing in game circumstances" blah blah blah blah, but it's just a numbers game. Make them figure out who they have to cover. They can't cover everybody. This type of alignment or play had to have been in Trestmans playbook. Go deep down field to fast guys.

Is my thought process wrong on that? If not, we didn't really get that out of Marty. And when you got the 2 guys going deep, somebody ought to be underneath. And the thing with Torrey was if you threw the ball 3 times and the result was 0 catches, you were likely to get a PI 1 of 3 times. When I played they used to say the only defense against speed is PI

8 minutes ago, BOLDnPurPnBlacK said:

We went 5-4 with Marty as OC.

Cinci game, glad we lost bc i prefer the higher draft pick. The team wasnt there and it was obvious. If it was a meaningful game i bet we win. 

Even without it we were a defensive stop from being 6-2 with Marty at the helm, and then giving us a ton to play for in the Cinci game. 

Lets say we that did play out and we're 7-2 under Marty heading into the playoffs. Or lets say we still lose the last one and we're 6-3 and no playoffs. Are we really trying to fire the coaching staff that went 6-3 with two losses against the NFL's best two teams, and one in meaningless game?

If not, in essence the defense stopping Pittsburgh with a minute left is the only difference between hating Marty coming back, and being ok with bringing back your OC who coached you to a 6-3 record with only 2 real losses to the best 2 teams in the NFL.

Is perception really that razor thin? I know it can be. Just kind of thinking and asking out loud here.

Was your perception that he utilized the personnel at an optimal level?

Sounds like maybe you think Marty wasn't so bad, so I'm just curious. 

17 minutes ago, rmcjacket23 said:

There were some games certainly where I thought the balance was lacking in terms of us having the opportunity to run the ball more and just doing it. The Redskins game notably comes to mind.

But there were plenty of games where fans THOUGHT we abandoned the run, and we simply didn't. I think fans far too often just wait until the game is over, go to the box score, see that its like a 2:1 pass:run ratio, and then say "we didn't run enough".

Cowboys game is a textbook example of why that's untrue. People thought we abandoned the run in that game (mostly 2nd half), yet I challenged people to tell me where we could have run the ball more and nobody came up with anything, because there really weren't any other opportunities.

Game circumstances change everything. We're down 14 points almost immediately against the Bengals. Is running the ball a lot going to help us get out of that hole?

That's not my thought process. I'm with you. I understand.

And I guess I didn't properly articulate. I don't think 2nd and 1 means run the ball and I don't think 3rd and 2 means run the ball. I think if you ran for a big chunk of yards on 1st down. Then run again on 2nd as opposed to getting a big gain on 1st down, then passing on 2nd for an incompletion where you are now not really forced to pass, but the defense knows your tendencies.

Those would be the game circumstances where I get frustrated. Obviously, this is not the team of the late great Zeus and Ogden and Casey Rabach and Mulitallo. But you also have some real agile backs in West and Dixon. Also, you could very well call a pass to a runningback a pass play you know what I mean. We have 2 backs that can both catch the ball out of the back field. We just didn't give either one enough touches and that also is part of the problem.

I'm not saying West/Dixon ought to be a focal point of the offense, but if you told me the two of them combined for 40-45% of offensive touches, I would not be upset. I don't even think that was the case at all.

1 minute ago, rmcjacket23 said:

If all this team did was run the ball for 2 yards a play 40 times a game, we may not have won a single game. You can't win the way we did in 2008, because we aren't built to win that way, don't have the personnel to win that way, and you have to be able to adapt your gameplan to attack the weaknesses in the oppositions defense.

Didn't mean that at all. The balance was not even close in 2016. Someone said earlier it looked like the team had no intention of running.

I saw it in the Cincy game - Joe drops back again and again and again and the defense realizes we can sack him pretty deep in the backfield. It just makes you predictable. It allows for the cover guys to better anticipate cause they know you're not really committed to gashing them with the run.

Like who didn't see that INT icoming in the Colts Saints Super Bowl. Colts had dropped back to pass like 5 or 6 straight times. You had to see it coming from a mile away. Didn't mean to go off on that tangent but you get what I'm saying.

Who doesn't know that the run sets up the big play pass. It's never been the other way around. So even if there is some part of your run game that isn't efficient or effective, that's still no excuse to have like 60/40 or greater pass/run ratio. I don't know what the ratio was for the season but I'll bet it was something unacceptable

2 minutes ago, Moderator 3 said:

That's why "fix" was in quotes.  There were times when it seemes we couldn't run and times when it seemed we wouldn't run.  The whole run game debacle needs to be "fixed".

I see now

5 minutes ago, PurpleCity5 said:

This is hilarious. 

So you keep Marty, fine, but the fact that you didn't tolerate other candidates and hold interviews just baffles me. Not to mention that Harbaugh was "pleased" with the improvement the offense made in the final stretch? LOL wuht? What was impressive about games vs New England or Philadelphia? I would love to ask him what the hell happened in that awful, disgraceful performance vs Cincinnati. 

Seriously, this could be something that gets him fired next season. If that's the case, my hope is that Sean Payton just holds out for another year in New Orleans and we could bring him here. 

This - over and over and over!

5 minutes ago, rmcjacket23 said:

I mean at the end of the day I think this whole "he's too loyal" thing doesn't really matter or make sense.

Here's the way I see it... who is the HC in this league that consistently fires his assistants or coordinators frequently and still keeps his HC gig? Who is the coach that faces constant struggles with coordinators and still manages to be a HC year after year? I'm not talking about coaches who have coordinators leave for better gigs, because we have no shortage of that.

When you start seeing a lot of coordinator and coaching changes, the thing you typically see next is a HC change. That's the way things work. If you're constantly hiring the wrong people, then the people you are hiring stop becoming the problem.

This is not to say that Harbaugh should be fired, because I don't think he should. I'm just starting to wonder why so many fans are convinced that changing coordinators every year is the solution to anything?

In this regard, I understand the "loyalty" that he shows to his coaches, because I think he knows that being un-loyal to his coaches can be equally or more devastating than being loyal to them.

I may be the only person, but I think this team had enough offensive talent to contend. I think the issues at the Center position, and missing Alex Lewis really hindered the offense at the end of the day.

But when you have a Steve Smith Sr, Perriman, Aiken Wallace, Pitta, Waller, Dixon, West, Juscyzk, I think you have some guys that can score points. You play to your strengths. They did not utilize the strengths of Perriman and Wallace and Flacco. Go deep. That's what those guys do well. All those guys could play for other teams. They could start elsewhere.

For me it is a matter of competency. You have to commit to running the ball. That 2008 team would go play Pittsburgh and would just try to run on Pittsburgh on like 65% of the plays and get 2 yards most times. Same for their team against us. Committed. Dropping back 40 times a game is not the right philosophy.

3 minutes ago, Static said:

 The 2013 defense wasn't even a good one.

Ray retired after the 2012 season. Ed went elsewhere

52 minutes ago, BmoreBird22 said:

It's not that the Ravens couldn't run the ball; they just flat out chose not to and that's very disturbing.

This This and This.

Everyone can debate back on forth about going for it on 4th and whatever and say the coach needed to do that for the defense's sake because players were getting banged up and knocked out blah blah blah, but there isn't much debate on calling a pass play in the vein of aggression when you can choose to be SMART (see Eagles Game). Rookie OC's can figure that much out. This was not MM's first rodeo as an OC.  

That's actually why it's good to promote either the RB, WR, TE's coach or get an upstart guy from outside. Unknown coaches are just like 5th and 6th rounders. They are hungry and ready to make a name for themselves. Marty has been around for a while and his coaching track record speaks for itself.

48 minutes ago, Moderator 3 said:

If they can "fix" the run game, then play-action comes back.  We can succeed with that.

Is the run game broken?

I think we need a new center for sure, but how can the run game be broken if it isn't utilized?

2 guys that specialize in going deep (Perriman/Wallace) or at least 2 guys that have the ability to go over the top aren't given the opportunities to go over the top. Instead a chunk of pass plays originate from behind the line to gain. How many times in the last few weeks did you see that kind of pass?

I think it is an issue of the approach to offense as opposed to fixing this or that. You fix those things from week to week. And if we are saying we need a new running back or new center that's one thing....but I don't think that's what you're saying. I could be wrong. We all know that Vlad Ducasse is not a starting Right Guard. But that doesn't mean the blame or issue is the run game

1 hour ago, LosT_in_TranSlatioN said:

It won't. We will probably continue to abandon the run. What we'd need to do is improve the oline but I don't think it will matter.

 

its honestly the worst decision we could have made. I have 0 faith in marty

indeed

  18 minutes ago, jravens1313 said:

We never used any of our playmakers the proper way. Our offense had 1 good game (Miami) the entire year. Lets bring Marty back...WOW Lets throw the ball 70% of the time some more. IMO we pick top 10 next year unless we fire Marty early.

what playmakers? still waiting for the front office to draft some

This offense probably had the most playmakers in the history of any Ravens offense.

Steve Smith Sr
Mike Wallace
Breshad Perriman
Kyle Jusyczk
Terrance West
Kenneth Dixon
Dennis Pitta
Darren Waller who probably outplayed Max Williams in his small handful of games compared to Max's 2015 season
John Boyle never does bad things when he's on the field

What more do you need. Josh McDaniels, Mike McCarthy, Sean Payton, Gary Kubiak - all those coaches would kill to have this personnel. These are coaches who are accustomed to playing with 3rd and 4th stringers or castoffs that wouldn't make starting lineups anywhere else. In fact, if Crockett and Ben Watson don't get injured, some of these guys would have been playing key downs for another team

In my humble opinion, that's more than enough talent to move the ball and get 1st downs. Any high school coach could dial up some plays against the most complex Rex Ryan or Chuck Pagano defense and still manage to convert 3rd downs.

What the heck more do people want on offense

Possibly one of the Top 10 Worst Announcements in err...

Check that, possibly one of the Top 3 Worst Announcements in All-Time Ravens History. At least one of the other 2 was announcing that Cam Cameron would stay on (2011). Perhaps the other one would also include the news about Cam Cameron (2012).

Why does this team always have this cloud over their head when it comes to issues pertaining to the offense. QB, Receiver, OC...it just doesn't ever pass

On ‎11‎/‎23‎/‎2016 at 3:48 PM, rmcjacket23 said:

At the time he was hired... of course. I don't even think you could make a case he wasn't viewed as such.

His basis of hiring would be the exact same as Payton's...

 

Was he an offensive genius?

Or did he just have All World Talent?

And did his timing of All World Talent work to his favor?

I think it's CENTER, Corner, Pass Rusher.

I don't know what kind of playmaker you need for Joe. This season Ravens had a plethora of options.

• I love Crocket but I'm not sure what needs to happen if he's never healthy.
• Camp same thing - we get to see what he's capable of but he's never healthy.
• ZoBot (Taliaferro)has been around for 3 seasons and every year ends up either on IR or not suiting up.

I don't know if Joe had too many options and therefore didn't know who his go-to-guy is. One day it's all Wallace. Another it's all SSS. Another it's all Pitta. I think there are pass catching options and Dixon is going to breakout just like RR broke out in his 2nd season. Waller showed us what he can do and John Boyle showed us he can block and make plays. Max Williams will be there as well so someone can even be used as trade bait if necessary. Man - Benjamin Watson may even be there.

The issue is one of efficiency and balance. And as you stated, if we get an INTERIOR LINEMAN - specifically CENTER, we may be able to run the ball and control games the way the Cowgir....boys are doing right now.

But to be 100% honest, the pieces are there on offense. They need to be utilized in the most effective way. The Cowboys have an explosive RB and Dez Bryant gets double teamed all day long. If you play your offense right, you don't really need "an explosive" whatever whatever. Certainly is a nice to have, but not required.  

Playmakers are needed on DEFENSE. Judon is a baaad baaad man in the making.We need our version of Khalil Mack or Von Miller opposite him. And we need another version of Tavon.

And I would not be salty if the entire draft class was interior lineman, corner, pass rusher. Maybe I'd take when running back since ZoBot is probably not going to be around again

52 minutes ago, VermontRaven said:

Disagree with this. I say bring him back on the "lame duck" deal. If he proves himself, he gets paid (no salary cap for coaches). If he dowsn't and misses playoffs again, THEN you bring in a new guy. Worked out pretty well for us when Flacco was in a 1 yeaf "prove it" situation. Now it's Harb's turn!

I agree Marty needs to go, but Pees had a topped rank defense when it was healthy. We meed another solid # 2 corner and another pass rusher. Imagine if we had Jimmy plus another solid #2 (or #1) corner with Tavon going to his natural slot corner role. If we lose Jimmy or the other CB we have seen Tavon can hold up.

Rounds 1, 2, 3, 4 of the draft should include corner, pass rusher, center. Just don't know what goes 1,2,3,4 and how many pass rushers vs corners

Jerraud Powers and Brent Urban (aside from his long arms that block 2 kicks and 1 last year) stink

Judon did great things and may have made more plays on tape than Z

I think now that he's had a full season, he will hunger and thirst for greatness.

He has the physical tools and has the great intangible of having a father who actually played the same position...and he grew up around Michael Irving and whoever else.

Remember this - OBJ, Mike Evans, Amari Cooper were all anomalies. Sam Watkins and Brandin Cooks to an extent as well.  

2013 was more like it. Remember how people on this board were clamoring for Tavon Austin?? He went #8. Cordarelle went 29. Neither have done anything. Keenan Allen went in the 3rd round and as the 2nd most productive WR from that class, he's never stayed healthy. DeAndre was the big prize but even he didn't blow things up immediately. He got to learn in year 1 from Johnson. Breshad was injured all year 1. And in year 2 he got to make some plays while learning from Steve and Mike.

Everybody pump the brakes on calling him a bust.

Would certainly help if we had competency at the OC position but unfortunately the year started off with Trestman, only to end with Marty M.

Would be awesome to bring David Shaw back to the Ravens as an OC...but unfortunately the most logical move for David Shaw when he returns to the league would be as an HC.

Maybe they could lure Mike Munchiak from the Steelers. An o-line guy will almost definitely focus on the run game.

He won't be relieved of his HC duties, but I would take Hue Jackson.

You guys see where this is going? Too many ifs. Everyone that could make sense is in a stage of the coaching carousel where the timing isn't working out for Baltimore.

Pep Hamilton wouldn't be a bad move. I like where your head's at with the in-house guys and I especially like the idea of a Running Backs coach getting promoted to OC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Did Norv Turner just peace out completely? I mean, has he not been a competent play-caller wherever he's been. He may be pass happy, but he's at least efficient and effective with his pass plays. Or is that just my inaccurate assessment.

I think Marty is trash. You say he passed too much with Andy Reid, but Andy Reid passed too much when he was calling plays so that's probably more of the same mindset as opposed to Marty's own. And it's not that he passed too much, but when that's what he called, there weren't enough downfield balls.

I said something earlier this season about throwing the ball behind the sticks and then someone chimed in with something like 'oh all these people that complain about not throwing the ball to or past the 1st down marker....' ok...but how many times in 1 game do you need to throw the ball to a receiver for him to gain 1 or 2 flipping yards from the LOS? That doesn't make sense. 2 deep pass threats + the most accurate deep ball passer = 0 downfield attempts.

On 12/15/2016 at 2:56 PM, BR News said:

The Eagles quarterback’s FCS background (North Dakota State) didn’t prevent him from being the No. 2-overall pick in the 2016 draft, becoming an immediate starter and jumping out to a 3-0 start. But Wentz has since come upon tougher times. The Eagles want to follow the Ravens’ model.

View the full article

Yeah because there was never any other small school QB (Ben Roeth, Steve McNair, Brett Favre, Chad Pennington, Rich Gannon, Andy Dalton, Blake Bortles) to be taken and play well in the league.

Typical nonsense homer article. Probably why there's only 7 replies

1 hour ago, Tank 92 said:

No, your right he did say he was a great leader. He called him The General.  lol   Guess when you have air time to fill you, well, you have air time to fill. 

http://www.baltimoreravens.com/news/article-1/Ray-Lewis-Passes-Torch-To-Joe-Flacco/d903bf58-4e53-4ae2-97b2-50bbfce2c6b7

3 hours ago, Purple_City39 said:

This.

Ray Lewis criticism of anyone has gotten very old.  He manages to mention himself every single time in some way and clearly just likes to hear himself speak

In this latest criticism did he mention how "I played 17 years in this league"...did he drop that soundbyte??

Further to my last post, all he had to say was something like 'Joe isn't playing like a $120mm QB'

...and if he really wanted to "light a fire" the way some folks are suggesting it, the better way would have been for him to say something like

a. Joe isn't playing at the same high level he played at in my last few years with the team...
b. Joe can do better and he should...expect him to bounce back
c. This isn't the same Joe that took us on the epic run...I expect he will change that

Anyone of those approaches would have been much better than whatever he said

Man I knew I'd check out this post amidst the Ray Lewis comments and people would be slurpin (not trying to be mean mods) up Ray Lewis. For the LOVE, can 90% of the contributors once just say that Ray needs to chill?

Notice I didn't say 'say that Ray is wrong' cause I know that'd be waaaaay too much to ask. This is the same man who when he was on the team would claim this and that about how Joe is our guy and he's always been a leader and 'I've always been a Joe Flacco fan since day 1' and then the minute he's no longer an active player has to provide criticism RE: lack of leadership, Joe's personality, blah blah blah.

Yes - as a media guy now, that's his job. But there's a right way to do it. Just say the man has played inconsistent and we need him to do better. No need to suggest that his personality is why he doesn't play well after the last 5 seasons you played in the NFL the man helped the team win at least 1 playoff game and play in 3 AFC Championship games!

When was the last time a Baltimore Raven past or present suggested something about Ray Lewis's personality in a negative connotation??? Cause Lord knows all my non-Ravens friends have something negative to say. He needs to chill.

Hey MODs and content providers/beat writers, would it be too much to get a section of the site or article every week that highlights who got injured during that week's game?