merryjman

I like him: great run stopper, tough, hard worker, reliable, good locker room presence. But he is pretty clearly not a pass rusher and our defense needs that badly. . In other words, not good enough to justify Dumervil-level money, and too expensive to keep as merely an edge setter.

This is a lame article about a lame interview. You think previous coaches didn't run punchout drills and coach a "takeaway mentality??" Or do we think that Ed Reed's instincts plus his avid film study are something that can be coached?? Ed and Ray took it upon themselves to study film above and beyond what was usual or expected; that knowledge fed their field intelligence, and guided their instincts. Turnovers happen when the defense overpowers the offense, puts them off-guard. That almost never happened last season because we couldn't pressure the quarterback. If you don't force an NFL QB to do things like throw off the back foot or while on the run, then he's gonna be accurate almost every time. If you can't set the edge and contain a runner, then you're not gonna have a brute nearby who's strong enough to pull the ball out of his grasp. And most pertinent - no secondary can possibly do its job if the QB gets all the time in the world to find someone open. I honestly don't think the secondary was as bad as everyone else seems to think - at least not during the times their personnel was healthy - they simply had an impossible job to do. Our pass rush was almost nonexistent, and that was the root of our defensive troubles. Not anyone's fault, really, that's just how it shook out.

I don't get everyone's obsession with Campanaro. He's played so little that I don't see how people can call him a matchup nightmare. All he's shown he's good at is getting hurt.

So you're saying that if e.g. Dante Fowler had been available they would still have picked a receiver? The only thing they don't talk about is who they have highly graded on their draft board, and how much they'll veer from their needed spots just to get somebody they love. They're almost always honest about what they need, because everyone can see what they need. Take CJ Mosley: ILB was not really a position of need for us, at least not compared to some other glaring needs. But they felt CJ was the best person still available and they took him. Dude makes Pro Bowl first year, puts up almost identical stats the next year.

"We've waited for some guys." Right away I thought of Arthur Brown and Matt Elam.

I've been saying it a lot on these message boards, but I think almost all of our defensive issues boiled down to pass rush. In other words, for the most part I don't blame Pees or the secondary. Any QB with enough time can find an open receiver, no matter how good the secondary or the scheme. All our opponents had to do was double team Elvis Dumervil, and we were shut down. So in the beginning of the season we saw good run stuffing, and huge plays given up in the secondary. Second half of the season, run defense was a lot worse but we shut down some pretty impressive QB/WR combos. Coindicence? Of course not. As mentioned in these articles, the LBs went to a zone scheme, CBs did a lot of M2M, and so the run defense had to suffer as a result. Pees's fault? No, just trying to plug the biggest hole in the dam.

Ditto on a pass rushing OLB. Most of the defensive issues that were getting blamed on the secondary were due to the QB getting a lot of time to throw. QBs get intercepted when they get hurried, and so the lack of turnovers can be directly attributed to lack of pass rush, both in terms of strip fumbles and INTs. Am I the only one who is still holding a tiny candle flame of hope for Arthur Brown? So disappointed he hasn't broken out.

This just points out how impossible it is to be a defender in today's NFL and not break one of its myriad rules. Hit a guy who catches a pass? Even if you led with your shoulder pad, half the time it's a defenseless receiver penalty. Swat a receiver's arm when he pushes off you? Pass interference. Hit the QB a microsecond too late, whether it's after he slides or he runs out of bounds or he throws the ball (in each case after the defender has committed to the hit)? Personal foul.

That was a great article about Sam Koch. Never had a clue he was doing any of that stuff, just knew he was kicking butt and occasionally winning games for us due to the quality of his punts. In retrospect, maybe he should have gotten the Raven's unsung hero award last season.

Dunno, I'd much rather be signing this guy at Guard pay rate than LT pay rate. Look at how much Monroe got paid by us, and that was for a guy who was dumped when Jax used their first round pick on another LT.

Anybody got cleats in size 12? Think I got a good shot to make the team right now.

Well said. I don't know much about Harbaugh's relationship with him, but we did draft him and CJ to address the missing / old people at ILB. I think the upcoming Miami game would be a good time to put him out there and see what he can/can't do. As you said, we even traded up in the second round to get him, and he was widely regarded as the best player still remaining at that point. And there's no doubt he's fast, just watch some of his work on special teams. Seems like he would be the natural fit for pass coverage.

I don't get why the NFL gets to have this sort of reach into peoples' personal lives and affect their jobs like this. Manziel is an idiot (or maybe just an alcoholic) for doing this so soon after his other issues, but: he didn't show up to work drunk, didn't do anything illegal, get arrested, anything! He was drinking at a party, period.

There was serious pay inflation after the Ravens won the last super bowl, where we lost a lot of guys who got contracts they really didn't merit. Too bad there's not a lot of contracts up for renewal this year, so that we could benefit from the opposite effect.

People are clamoring for corners in the next draft, but in light of what we've seen re turnovers, isn't it obvious that a pass rush is what we need the most? BW stuffs the run, CU sets the edge, CJ does well against the run, etc. but without a pass rush, it doesn't matter in the slightest how good our secondary is: someone is going to get open if the QB gets enough time to find them. And I don't think more receivers are the answer either, considering we are averaging 24 points per game. With an average like that, we should win a lot more games than we have. And so I think OLBs are where we need to look in the draft.

Another gem of an article from Captain Obvious!

Hm, if he works on those snaps, we might have a Matt Birk 2.0 on our hands in the middle of the o line. Good blocking plus brains equals better protection for Flacco, who seems to struggle with reading blitzes and could use the help.

Typo! It should have said "don't be surprised to see Flacco underthrow Chris Givens more in week 8 versus the Chargers." I am not a Flacco hater. But at some point we need to admit that despite his cannon arm, he cannot hit receivers in stride to save his life. Deep threats are only threats when they get thrown catchable balls.

I am still pretty baffled by the refereeing in that game. I'll grant that blaming the refs for a loss is a loser move, but there are three plays that made a really big difference: the fumble, the CJ2K run, and the Urschel pass. Pretty egregious mistakes.

I think what I like most about this losing season is that Bisciotti is not panicking and firing a bunch of staff the way othe rlosing teams have - he trusts the coaches and GM, and recognizes the obstacles the Ravens have had to face in terms of injury and dead cap money. This is a rough ride so far, but we the fans should show the team and staff the same respect that Bisciotti has, and not start calling for so-and-so to be fired or released.

It should be "rein in," not "reign in." As in horses, not kings

Jimmy Smith has played very well when not hurt. He and many of the others have been plagued by injuries. Smith was picked at the end of the 1st round of the draft, and nobody else in that secondary was picked higher than the 3rd round. So I don't think it's really justified to blame Pees when he's working with mediocre talent, and the few talented members he does have can't stay healthy. It's also not fair to give credit to the individual players who are doing well, and to state that Pees and the other defensive staff only deserve blame for the bad and no credit for the good. By the way, Brandon Williams was picked at the end of the 3rd round, so I think "super high talent level" is a bit of a stretch.

Look, I'm as disappointed as everyone else, but I have to again comment on just what Ozzie is facing in terms of salary cap. Dennis Pitta has a $32 million contract, half of it guaranteed, and his total salary for this season is $12.8M. Over 10% of our salary cap is being spent on injured players. Over FIFTEEN percent of the cap is being spent on players who aren't even on the team any more (Rice, Ngata and J Jones are the top three) and there was no way (or no point) to keep them. So this is what we're left with: no ability to sign good free agents, and literally no talent to fill the many empty roster spots, because the money just isn't there. It sucks, but they had to deal with the collateral damage of all those cap hits. The good news is that the 2016 cap situation looks much better: No more Rice, No more Ngata, and Pitta will be dealt with one way or another by then, at most tying up a mere $6M in dead money. Flacco will have to restructure, as his agent indicated immediately after that $120M contract landed. And then, Ozzie and Decosta will do what they always do: find value in the draft, and make smart free agent moves, and do their best to insure against disastrous injuries. We the fans will just have to be patient.

SBL ought to be fun to watch on that nightmare of a field.

Such good news. That guy is incredible. I remember when he was getting voted the unsung hero, then people started noticing just how good he is, and now he consistently gets the highest ratings not just at his position, but among all offensive linemen. He deserves every penny and then some.