bburnham89

Didn't they get it wrong about Cundiff? He didn't only spend time with the Ravens in 2011. He took the job over from Hauschka and was really beloved by all fans the rest of 2009, all of 2010 and part of 2011 (up until the AFC Championship), eventually being cut in favor of Tucker. He at one point led the league in touchbacks (I think he at least tied the league regular season record in the 2010-2011 season?). Don't get me wrong, I love Tucker and wouldn't want anyone else (he's easily a Top 3 Kicker). But Mink is making it sound like Cundiff was only here for a year. He should probably fact check himself a little.

Flacco definitely needs to take a paycut. But I want to put some names out there. Brady, Roethlisberger, Dalton, Palmer, Rodgers, P. Manning, Ryan, Romo, Cutler. These are all QBs getting paid big time money (and playing well), and yet their FOs and GMs are still managing to surround them with talent. Those guys definitely make the players around them better right now (except for maybe P. Manning and Cutler). But the players around them are already all pretty great. The only QB getting paid big time money right now that is doing great with almost nothing around him is Cam Newton. Other than him, all the other QBs are being asked to take guys with already great talent and make them excellent players. Our FO and coaching staff (and when you think about it, especially us fans) are asking Joe to take mediocre and bad weapons (particularly at WR) and do the same. With so little help on the perimeter, RBs who are up and down (including Forsett who I think is coming back down to Earth a little bit), and good yet really young TEs, I honestly think a lot of the QBs I mentioned would even struggle. There is a lack of quality scouting at the offensive weapon positions, and a lack of talent as a result. I think the best comparison is Aaron Rodgers' contract. Even bigger than Joe's (granted he's a better QB), but they still have managed to surround him with guys like Nelson, Cobb, Jones, Adams, Lacy and Starks. Then they manage to shore up their D enough. Ravens FO and coaching staff need to step up and figure this out.

I'm a little conflicted about that INT. I feel there's 2 ways to look at it. 1) He should've moved out of the pocket away from that unblocked pass rusher and bought some time to make a better throw. 2) But if he does that and pass falls incomplete, there's a great chance you've run the clock out trying to make something happens. So, if that's what Joe was thinking, he goes ahead and lofts it up there towards his tallest, strongest player and hopes he comes down with it. That being said, I can't seem to decide if Gilmore should've done a better job of locating the ball, or if Joe could've taken an extra second to step into the throw instead of off his back foot. That pass rusher wasn't quite in his face yet. What say the rest of you? Granted, it doesn't come down to 1 play for this game. The whole team is playing bad right now, the cap situation has really been a huge impact this year between dead cap and injuries, and the DC and OC can't seem to get the team prepared.

All that being said, Joe and SSS seem to be the only 2 guys on offense that can really make magic happen. As good as Forsett has been he's not a true superstar (though still a solid starter). It's nice to see Joe getting more comfortable with Givens. We need to start him and SSS at WR because Aiken isn't scaring anyone and Brown is dropping too many passes. Hopefully Perriman does get to play at some point this season because if he doesn't, you wasted a valuable roster spot by not putting him on IR.

If it's Salary Cap issues or any other mony problems, I suggest you ask or get with Mcjacket on it. No joke, the man has got it covered and is quite accurate with it.

At the risk of sounding like a complete idiot/doofus, what or who is Mcjacket?  I have no idea what you're referencing, haha.

The main culprit is their cap money situation. Some moves they have made the past year or 2 may have been in anticipation of not being able to re-do Joe's deal to be more cap-friendly (if it does get redone there's always a chance it still won't be "friendly" enough).

Nonetheless, take a look at some of these numbers. They currently have $21,913,933 tied up in dead cap from player cuts or trades (some of whom are cut, brought back, and cut again, and may even be brought back again! Canty and Asa are great examples of this). Rice, Ngata, Jacoby and Canty add up to $20,291,667 of that money. In addition, they have $15,489,045 tied up in players on IR, IRDTR, and PUP, and $13,880,212 of that is going towards players that were expected to be large or major contributors (Suggs, Elam, Will Davis, Urban, Taliaferro, Campanaro, and Pitta). In total you have $37,402,978, nearly 26% of their total allotted cap space, tied up in players that aren't playing for this team right now or are playing but are being compensated for previous cuts from the team. That's insane. Hopefully that's all this year is, the result of so much dead money and little room to go and get talent. Next year Rice, Ngata and Jacoby are off the books and that's gonna be a huge help.

You can look these numbers up on Spotrac.com.

Is leadership an issue? Definitely. Joe and these other guys don't have to rah-rah guys doing the crazy chants pre-game and all that kind of stuff. But him and the other guys that are supposed to be leaders do need to communicate with guys on the sidelines between drives, gather them around, talk, plan, get in their face, whatever, and light a fire under all their asses. They do need someone to rally around. Joe, SSS, Forsett, the O-line the D-line, and J. Smith are the only one's who seem to play like they care right now. They need to wake everyone else up somehow.

But ultimately leadership can only get you so far. And as long as the cap situation is this bad, it might not matter how much leadership there is when you have no money to shore up the pitiful depth (if you can even say there is depth) on this team. Hopefully next year they have a better game plan.

Also, can someone please tell Trestman that on the occasions where they come out throwing and Joe's completing 1 pass after and getting in rhythm, don't take the ball out of his hands. Keep the foot on the gas in that situation. As long as he's passing well there's no reason to get cute. These past 2 games they came out looking pretty good and then they seem to take it out of Joe's hands at weird times when it seems like they shouldn't have. I don't want Joe throwing more than like 35 times a game, but if it's working, he's the only guy capable of carrying this team right now, don't take the ball out of his hands!

Not sure why this didn't post before, but here goes. If I was an OC in today's NFL, I would develop a game plan where the expectation is to reach at least 30-35 points. The majority of games this year seem to have both teams reaching 20 points at least, and quite a few into the 30s. So to me at least, 30 points is a reasonable expectation, and our team's D should take care of the rest. So if that's the case (and granted, maybe it's not), a DC should game plan to hold an opposing team to 20 points or less. And the D has failed to achieve that goal. Every now and then they get a big stop or turnover and put the Offense in good field position, or even a TD themselves (at least 1 that I remember). But mostly, they're not achieving their goal. Having said that, is that on Pees? The players? Ozzie and the personnel department? Harbaugh? The honest answer is probably a combination of all 4 (though I think it's mostly Pees and the players). Ultimately the whole team needs to play better. Definitely the D, but so do Joe and the Offense. Even ST, as we shouldn't forget they could improve, and Tucker has even missed 2 FGs (difficult ones, but still misses). Btw, before people come down too hard on me for that, let me just say I want the Ravens to make him the highest paid K in NFL history. Is Joe struggling to find his usual clutch factor? Definitely. It seems to be missing this year (though I think he needs more talented players around him to get it back). Everyone says the best QBs make those around them better. That's true, but nonetheless, look at the weapons the best QBs have! Denver, Pitt (with BB), GB, AZ, Cincy, Atlanta, and NE (I mention them because they're having success). They probably have the best QBs right now who undoubtedly make their weapons better (though in Denver it may be the opposite right now). But they're making good weapons great, and great weapons excellent. The Ravens brass is essentially asking Joe to make mediocre into great and bad into good (at least with the WRs not named SSS). We've seen Joe elevate his play and that of the rest of the Offense, and even team, before. But he can't be a miracle worker. Shore up the D and get him some playmakers next year. It'll be tough, but you should be able to do it.

I don't think having Monroe will help that much at all. He's an upgrade over Hurst for sure, but he can't stay healthy, and by the eye test, he just doesn't seem to play angry or nasty the way the other 4 OL do. He just hasn't panned out the way we thought he would. I think they should consider bumping KO out to LT and put Urschel in at LG. I know we like KO at LG, but I think he can play LT better than Monroe.

They were talking about this on 105.7 earlier. I like how they pondered it. They just simply looked at it as who would you take over him. Don't just strictly look at stats, just in general, all things considered. My thoughts:

I would take Rodgers, Brady, Roethlisberger and Brees over Joe. I would almost say Luck but he throws too many interceptions. And then Rivers to me is basically the same guy without the playoff successes. So those 3 (Flacco, Luck, Rivers) are all kind of a coin flip for me. That being said, it's all really just discussion because it's never gonna happen. Joe's our QB and couldn't be happier.

Another thought:

Crockett Gillmore is a seriously underrated pass catcher (he even underestimates himself by saying he's more of a blocker). I can't wait to see him, Williams, Juszcyk and Boyle step up this year. Hopefully Pitta too, but we'll see.