The Raven

On 12/23/2016 at 11:43 AM, FerrariFan87 said:

Rogue One was amazing... go see it!

On 12/23/2016 at 3:28 PM, darklight1216 said:

I saw it and I liked it, but I didn't love it.

I'm really glad that Disney took a risk doing something so different with the Star Wars universe and I hope they will do other things outside of the Skywalker-focused box. However, this movie failed to make me connect with the characters so I was, consequently, not as invested in them as I had hoped (no pun intended  )to be.

It wasn't bad, but it was one of those movies where I felt like I kept waiting for it to get to the good part, and it didn't come until those last 20 minutes or so. I don't know what it was missing, but the big thing, I think, is that I wasn't at all invested in the characters.

2 minutes ago, arnie_uk said:

Wouldn't mind kyle. A younger up and comer with an offensive mind.

I've wanted harbs gone for years. I think this is the point of no return.

He either gets a 3 year extension or is gone now. I cannot see him playing out the last year of his deal

He's sometimes a little too cute and pass happy (like Marty), and I think I've heard that he can be arrogant and abrasive, but he's got to be the hot commodity in coming years. 

The system he runs, too, is the same system that brought Joe Flacco his best season. He's a guy to seriously consider.

2 minutes ago, rafahash said:

Just curious here: why not Josh McDaniels?

Just to be clear, I don't think Harbs should get fired. But if he does and we're talking about hiring an offensive mind, why not consider McDaniels?

Actually, I'd be very much in favor of Josh McDaniels.

Before any crazies jump on me, yelling about Josh's terrible stint as Broncos head coach, I'd argue that McDaniels has probably matured a lot in the years since then, especially working under BB. Working under BB is a huge plus for me. Hate him all you want, and I know people will, but Belichick is surpassed in coaching talent by nobody. Sean Payton, Gary Kubiak, and Mike McCarthy are close behind him, but yeah.

And, by the way, even Belichick was a sucky Browns head coach before becoming the Emperor of the NFL. I wouldn't be surprised to see McDaniels take a similar career arc.

8 minutes ago, arnie_uk said:

With 2017 being John's last year of his contract, I highly doubt he will play out a lame duck year. Neither he nor the ravens will want that. 

This leaves 2 options.

1. He's fired or leaves

2. He's extended

It will be interesting to see how this plays out. Personally i think both coordinators need to go, and when changing everything, a head coach change now might just be the correct time.

What says you?

Kyle Shanahan 4 Head Coach

Half kidding, but Shanahan fits the mold of what I want our next head coach to be. Realistically speaking, Joe could be playing til he's 39, like Brady is. We still need a guy that can get the best out of Joe. That's an offensive guru a la Kubiak or Shanahan, not a special teams guy whose best asset is rah rah motivation.

That seat is on fire.

7 minutes ago, LosT_in_TranSlatioN said:

Although I don't support it, it wouldn't surprise me at this point tbh. Question is who would replace him 

We asked the same thing when Billick was fired, and I think every team asks the question.

Ideally, we come away with an offense minded coach (I'd hope for a BB or Payton disciple) who actually implements his own system and teaches Joe how to be a damn QB. Ideally, someone who can run an offense/

6 minutes ago, rmw10 said:

I hate to say it, but I think I might be in agreement.  Same issues year after year.  I'm not sold on the move if it does happen, but I wouldn't be in the least bit surprised if we see aa shakeup.

Ya know, it really is the same issues year after year.

6 minutes ago, Ravenseconbeast said:

Harbaugh is one of the best HC out there.  Keep him here.  He is not the issue.

But you'd cut Joe, which would result in a massive cap penalty that would severely handicap the roster? Nice! Keep on keeping on with those sharp critical thinking skills.

One playoff appearance in four years mean cleaning house.

I've been an ardent supporter of Harbaugh but I think the time has come. Head coaches simply don't survive these kinds of situations.

5 hours ago, Virginia 55 said:

We can do better at Head Coach and Qb or we can do cheaper, neither one of these guys has proven to be irreplaceable.

They are not very good at what they do.  I'm tired of making excuses for these two in particular.

So yes. even if we win a Bowl I still want them gone.  The Harbaugh/Flacco era needs to end immediately in Baltimore. 

You do realize, like, the whole object of this game is to win the Super Bowl... right...?

This is starting to sound more and more like you have a personal problem with Harbs and Joe.

On 12/16/2016 at 2:10 AM, Desert said:

lmao, Suggs has Never been the "General" on this team. He Plays at half speed now, Even takes plays off, Just like Ngata use to.

Can't seal the edge, too slow. I was shocked they brought him back this year. When will we get younger at the edges?

This current lack of pass rush has been exposing our week secondary for the last two years now.

You're right tbh.

But... Suggs has always taken plays off. If we're talking about this year though, Suggs took off the whole Patriots game. He's got eight sacks on the year which is ballin', but he only made one tackle against New England and he didn't record a single statistic against Pittsburgh... Where's he been when it's mattered? He didn't record a state against Miami either, and that was a blowout. He's on the decline big time, and if you can't see he's taking more plays off than ever before, well... smh.

And he ain't never been the "general" of anything. Generals lead. Suggs just talks loud.

If you ask me, Weddle looks like the general right now, which is sad since he's a transplant. People flock to him. They respect him. He made a big mistake against New England but doesn't take plays off. He grinds and he leads.

And Suggs? He's just too busy crawling on all fours wagging his tongue like some kind of man child pretending to be a dog (that actually happened, by the way). He's always liked the attention more than anything.

1 hour ago, Cawtious said:

He was not given a chance to work at that position during camp.  He was thrust into playing guard without the prep, is what I am getting at.  He spent most of camp working as the backup center.

 

Go take a look at Filmstudy's grading of Ducasse over the last three games and show me on Jensen's grades where he was worse that what Ducasse has shown this year.  Ducasse is abysmally worse.  I spend a lot of time watching line play and he's not better.....not by a long shot.  I trust Filmstudy over my own opinions, and yours......no disrespect intended.....just props to what Filmstudy does.

He's been a pro for, what, four years? He's had chances. C'mon now.

As someone who once played line, I think Filmstudy's grading is mediocre and his system is misguided. I think it's a wash between Jensen and Ducasse, but Jensen's pass pro was definitely worse.

Just now, BmoreRavens732 said:

Our whole defense got wrecked

starts up front

After this last game Brandon Williams doesn't even deserve to be on the Pro Bowl ballot fam he got wrecked.

Flacco

2 hours ago, ellicottraven said:

Flacco is 1st in pass attempts in the league, 5th in passing yards thrown, 25 in QBR. Says it all for our season. Run game is talented and strong, but yet we rely on Joe throwing the ball. I don't know if it is the coaching, Joe's pressure on them to let him throw or Marty's ineptness at being OC. Any way you cut it, we look doomed.

No it's not

52 minutes ago, Cawtious said:

Urschel did have the opportunity at guard.  Jensen did not.  He was practicing at Center.   I think Jensen was getting looked at C for competition to drive Zuttah.  Not sure what the process is or is going to be going forward.  I scratch my head as to why they keep bouncing him around and not let him settle in at a position.....but all I can come up with is they don't want/need him to be a starter and look at him as a backup only.  Comparing his play to Ducasse, I would take Jensen......hands down.

 

Yes he did. He got play time there.

And... Ducasse has overall been better than Urschel and Jensen, to me. Alex Lewis is a bit better in pass protection but it's kind of a wash. 

10 minutes ago, BmoreBird22 said:

I'm actually really curious to hear your take on the run blocking, recently, of Zuttah and Stanley.

Better but not great.  Lately, I've been a little buzzed during games so I'm not that attentive, but the primary issue seems to me like Stanley, Ducasse, and Zuttah are doing better at making their blocks but not staying on their blocks. We're consistently getting 2-3 yard gains. That means we're hitting blocks and not missing our assignments. But, we're not staying on them and finishing them. That's how you get those 4-8 yard gains. 

How do you stay on your block? Good hips, good pad level, good feet, good balance.

Also: on defense, nobody commanded double teams. I know everybody has a lovefest for Brandon Williams and Michael Pierce but they both had crap games. They got killed all game by one on one blocks. (And by the way, NTs who don't demand double teams don't get paid...) Which brings me to my next point.

A cursory, passing look at our run game shows a reliance on double teams on inside zones. We're not getting off our doubles fast enough, which means we're not getting to the second level, which means we're getting tackled in the backfield or for no gain.

The Eagles sustained one on one blocks with quick-hit double teams. We couldn't sustain blocks at all.

Stanley has done better than others at sustaining blocks but he doesn't get a lot of push. And that was kind of my one gripe with him out of college. He's a dominant pass protector but when it comes to run blocking, he's just gonna be the kinda guy that walls off defenders and gets in the way.

@BmoreBird22 man did you see the way the Eagles almost took control of the game with that running game today? Really shows why it's important to run the ball and be good at running the ball. That's what you were saying all week.

And I'll tell ya this, if I'm the Eagles, and I'm going for two, I'm running the ball. Why they passed is beyond me,

6 hours ago, EdTheMythicalOne said:

Comprehension....

Yes of course he threw flat routes to Ray Rice and stick patterns to Pitta, but they weren't doing it 30 times a game. It was part of the game plan, not THE gameplan.

Yeah... No. It sure looked like the game plan.

6 hours ago, EdTheMythicalOne said:

I am sorry. I thought most people would understand that it means you focus on one thing. You don't try to reinvent the wheel every couple of seasons.

No, Mr. Know It All. What the hell does a "singular focus" mean when it comes to offense? Comprehension.......

Can you actually explain what you meant by that instead of defining the word and then using an idiom that doesn't really seem to relate? 

Do you just throw expressions around and hope they stick?

6 hours ago, EdTheMythicalOne said:

Let's just compare NE's 2015 starters to 2016 starters.

QB: 2015: Tom Brady 2016: Tom Brady

RB: 2015: Nobody listed as starter, Dion Lewis and L. Blount both started 6 games: 2016: L. Blount

WR: 2015: Julian Edelman/Keshawn Martin 2016: Julian Edeleman/Chris Hogan

TE: 2015: Rob Gronkowski 2016: Martellus Bennett

LT: 2015: Sebastian Vollmer 2016: Nate Solder

LG: 2015: (rookie) Shaq Mason (meaning he replaced somebody)  2016: Shaq Mason

C: 2015: (rookie) David Andrews (meaning he replaced somebody) 2016: David Andrews

RG: 2015: (rookie) Tre' Jackson (meaning he replaced somebody) 2016: Joe Thuney

RT: 2015: Cameron Flemming/Marcus Cannon 2016: Marcus Cannon

That's just offensive starters in one year. Remember when you see the word "rookie" by a starter's name, that means they obviously weren't on the team the season before that, thus, a new player. I think that should go without saying, but since people seem to be pulling a Bill Clinton these days and asking what you mean by the word "is," I figure I should leave no doubt.

One year does not a trend make. Really? And are you smart enough to realize that most of those changes are due to injury, not roster turnover? Guess not! If you look back to the 2000s and really up until 2014, the Patriots roster could be placed next to word "stability" in the dictionary.

Very rarely do I draw any real meaning from anything you say. You might say things that make grammatical sense but the logical depth is often shallow.

48 minutes ago, Steve0x said:

And Harbaugh didn't challenge that illegal field goal that might changed the momentum of the game. So if Ravens fail make the playoffs fire him!!! 

Not a challengeable play. You can't challenge the ref's lack of calling that an illegal block.

On 12/15/2016 at 7:37 PM, EdTheMythicalOne said:

I thought Harbaugh might be on the hot seat if this team had another losing season. There is a chance that can still happen this year.

The other thing is if the ownership feels this team didn't perform up to reasonable expectations. You can call last season a bye with all of the injuries they had it was no wonder the team did so poorly. But this year they have been mostly healthy and what were the expectations? 9-7, 10-6, and the playoffs? This team certainly has the talent to be a top notch team in the division, they've shown it in spurts here and there. It has just been stupid mistakes that the team keeps on making every week and horrendous play calling and clock management issues I've seen for the past few seasons now.

Anybody think Harbaugh's tenure as HC might be tied into how much longer Suggs stays on the team?

The division was wide open for the taking this year and the Ravens more often than not beat themselves in many of their losses. Surely that has to be taken into consideration.

I think Harbaugh, along with Suggs, has one more season to get into the playoffs and win at least one game after this season. Anything short of that and I think it is bye bye Harbaugh. At some point just staying stagnant is not good enough anymore.

Not really, and I don't even know how you reach that conclusion. A coach's tenure is linked to a player who isn't the QB? I've really heard it all now.

7 hours ago, EdTheMythicalOne said:

The reasons: The Patriots were running a "confusing" zone defense and disguising their blitzes SO much that our OC couldn't make any in game adjustments and all of the "go to audibles" were all check down Charlie routes. Is it on Joe? Have we ever seen Joe do something like this before? I can't recall it. Then again he's having a funky year anyway that could be due to the leg and having 2 more OCs in the same season...again. What other team does that?

I am hereby calling for a ban of any pass that involves hitting Juice while he's right at the line of scrimmage. You either hit him 3-4 yards down field or while he's swinging out of the backfield so he can get a little forward momentum going.

If you don't remember Joe frequently checking down to tight ends and backs, you must have started watching this team during 2014. 

23 hours ago, EdTheMythicalOne said:

I agree with you. Since Flacco has been the QB they've gone from a run first smash mouth, twin TE offense to a trying to be a 3 wide/spread offense to a zone running west coast offense. Meanwhile Flacco is not a good fit for a west coast style. He's not extremely mobile and he's not exactly laser point accurate. He's at his best when the running game has beaten up on the defense and doing play action.

The offense needs to get a singular focus. Bring in somebody that is a guru and then bring in a disciple behind him to be an offensive position coach or something so he can learn the offense as well. You know darn right well if the Ravens have a winning season and a decent to good offense that guy is head coaching material. Then you have that guy's replacement waiting in the wings. Perhaps this is what happens when you have a ST coach as your head coach. Then again Billick was a superstar OC in Minnesota and during his run we were a defensive powerhouse. Go figure.

What does "singular focus" even mean?

On 12/15/2016 at 5:13 PM, EdTheMythicalOne said:

I don't think I ever said consistent change has no impact on a team. In fact, I think I say the exact same thing you're saying.

The Ravens had their nucleus on defense with Lewis, Suggs, Reed, and Ngata. They also had McAlister, Adalius Thomas, and Peter Boulware around for long periods of time. They hadn't really put together a mainstay O-Line because when guys get good they get paid. They had Ogden at LT, Grubbs at LG (who went on to have a pro bowl career and was signed away for big money, Jason Brown at C; who also got signed away for big money and was pretty good, Mulitallo they had for a long time at RG, and then they had/have Yanda.

And in a couple more years when contracts come up for guys in Pittsburgh they will be scrambling to keep it all together and will have to let guys walk.

In NE, they are constantly changing parts of the OL and offense. The one constant is Brady. He's good enough and the system is so good that as long as you find smart players that can work in that system you're going to be fine. That's not an easy thing to do.

Obviously stability will breed more chemistry and better results. I never said it wouldn't. I am just saying that it isn't easy to keep guys around for 10 years anymore.

Yeah, that's not really true at all. For years the Patriots have had incredible continuity across the board for NFL standards. Very minimal turnover. 

12 hours ago, BmoreBird22 said:

West and Dixon combine for the third fewest carries in the league. 

The Ravens are dead last in first half rushing attempts. 

The Ravens are running the ball LESS under Marty, producing LESS yardage, and are LESS efficient running under Marty.

The Ravens are on pace to finish with their fewest rushing attempts ever, but lead the league in pass attempts.

The Ravens have rushed the ball fewer than 20 times in four of eight Marty games. 

Marty said the Ravens had a game plan against the Pats, but got away from it as the score got higher. This simply isn't true as the offense forced three three-and-outs, but 14 of the first 16 plays were passes.

All of this together and Marty has to go. Absolutely zero desire to run the ball and could not adjust to the Patriots zone coverages.

Question from an olineman to a DB. How do you beat zone? It looked to me like they ran a lot of tampa 2 and cover 3 against us. They did a good job at watching the flats and even the seams. What did they do and how do you beat it?

I've always heard that one way to beat zone is to take what the defense gives you, throw short, and break tackles -- that's what the Pats did to us -- but we couldn't do that. I realize that the weak spot of tampa 2 and cover 3 is behind the backers and in front of the safeties, but our run game was so nonexistent that the LBs dropped back there.

Are there any former receivers here that could provide insight, too?

Oh, and who the hell is Bernard Pollard? Isn't he the guy that had one of the top five worst coverage ratings of all starting safeties in 2012? He's the one that's been cut by every team he was ever on, right? Yeah. Good times. At least he hit hard and screamed a lot. At least he had passion, amirite?

19 hours ago, Steve0x said:

If Cincy fires Marvin Lewis hire him! 

So you think Tom Brady is the reason Belichick is good (despite Bradyless-Pats in 08 going 11-5), you want Harbs fired, and you want to hire Marvin Lewis.

I think I've reached my capacity for stupid posts today.