BigUgly

PalmBay: Flacco's Wonderlic was a 27. Slightly better than Carson Palmer (26) and Roethlisberger (25), but way below Eli (39), Romo (37), Rodgers (35) and Brady (33).

Our Quarterback whisperer is not, apparently, enforcing proper mechanics or decision making. Flacco isn't stepping up in the pocket, is holding the ball too long, and is throwing off his back foot again. Terrible.

Calling out Shareece in the presser is Harbs' way of calling out Ozzie for allowing the secondary to crumble for the second year in a row. Hope is not a strategy, and hoping for Webb to stay healthy is foolish. To be fair, the Ravens were in cap hell. Just need to chalk this one up as a rebuilding season and make every decision with next year in mind, when we will have significantly more cap space.

This was, once again, a team loss.  Offense missed opportunities for TDs, Flacco is throwing off of his back foot again, and Trestman refuses to commit the running game.  Tucker missed another FG.  The defense?  No surprises really.  Blown coverages leading to 2 TDs.  The only bright spot is that the penalties weren't as catastrophically bad as the last couple of weeks.

On the bright side, Ozzie ought to be able to re-sign guys like Tucker and Upshaw at a discount.

Phew. Flacco almost screwed up our top 5 draft pick there at the end.

This team needs some leadership in the locker room for it to do well, and some better coaching on offense and defense to compete next year.

Harbs is a very loyal guy, perhaps to a fault. It took pressure from the FO to move on from Mattison & Cam Cameron and to hire Kubiak. It will likely take similar pressure to force the issue with Pees. I still think Harbs fits what Biscuit is looking for in a head coach in terms of energy, preparation and mentality. He just needs to take outside counsel from time to time (which he is mature enough to accept).

Gotta put things in perspective. Even for great franchises like the Ravens, sometimes it just isn't your year. We've got dead money on the books piled high this year, injuries at key positions, and we are feeling the effects of several poor drafts prior to 2014. Give Ozzie some high draft picks and some cap space, and get a new D Coordinator, and we'll be back in business.

Bengals are a more complete team, and their coaching has improved. They will run away with the division. Best hope for the Ravens is that the Broncos, Bengals, Pats, and Colts run away with their divisions while the rest of the teams float around .500. That's the only way the Ravens have a shot at the playoffs.

This will likely be a "make or break" game for the FO. If they lose in the typical fashion (giving up late 4th quarter leads, offensive miscues leaving points off the board), I would expect to see some pressure to move on from Pees, stash more guys on the IR, and maybe even work a few trades for conditional picks (Smith Sr, Osemele). If we win, we may have a punchers chance at making the playoffs in a very diluted AFC. Either way, they should probably bite the bullet and fire Pees in favor of a guy like Schwartz.

This is clearly a rebuilding year, which is why so many guys with minor injuries are getting stashed on the IR. We have a tremendous amount of dead money that gets cleared off the books next year. The best thing the Ravens might do now is tank the season to reload in the draft (love the thought of Ozzie being armed with a pick in the top 10). If Smith Sr. is going to retire, may as well trade him to a contender for a conditional pick as well. Same goes for Osemele too. Hate it, but sometimes you just have to play the hand you are dealt. And oh yeah, you can go ahead and fire Pees now and sign Schwartz as our D Coordinator.

The uncertainty in the backfield will entice Trestman to chuck the ball on 75% of the snaps. Never a recipe for victory with the Ravens. I say run Juice like Mike Alstott and pound these guys.

Brown is too small to set the edge in a 4-3. I do agree, though, that they ought to find a way to use his speedometer to be Disruptive. Not seeing the kind of creativity on defense we had wonder Rex, when "athletes" like Adagios Thomas were put into position to leverage their strengths, and there really was no consistent label for the defensive scheme other than attack, dominate, and intimidate.

This guys is about as funny as streptococcal pneumonia, only I can't get an injection to make him stop.

Best outcome for the Ravens, short of miraculously making the playoffs, is to have a top 5 pick and leverage that to reload. Way too many gaps. Two edge rushers on the wrong side of 30, no healthy serviceable WR (again), a running game built around one over 30 RB not used to the workload of the primary back, and a secondary that is almost comically bad. This may take more than one bad season to rebuild, come to think of it.

Flake doesn't have clutch problems, he has touch problems. He can't seem to adjust his velocity or arm angle to hit open receivers consistently. What makes it frustrating is that he usually makes about five nearly impossible, totally amazing throws per game (usually clustered in the 2nd or 3rd quarter).

We have the best owner in football, a quiet leader who knows how to build an executive team focused on getting the most out of the potential of an organization's talent. Most of all, he will expect accountability all the way down the chain. When Smith Sr. said that some players were not investing their hearts into the team and were "just happy to be here", that set off some major warning bells. Morale may be high because guys are still getting paid and don't care as much about wins and losses (after all, you get paid the same regardless). This needs to be fixed, and is a function of who they draft, what personality and leadership is allowed to exist among the players, and how they get focused and motivated to play. Remember when Suggs was the immature goofball? Well, since Ray and Ed left, he's what passes for a locker room leader. I hope Harbs realizes he can't fill the leadership void himself.

Glad we at least got a comp pick for Ellerbe, and glad to see him do well last night. He's a great player, but just like the rest of the Ravens this year, he can't stay healthy.

The Juice may have to get loose to spell Buck at HB. Most worried about a rookie in pass protection for Joe. Too bad we weren't able to hang on to Toussaint or Rainey.

NFL needs to expand both the active and the game day rosters. They also need to see if there is a correlation between the rate of injuries these last couple of years and the new collective bargaining rules against offseason organized team activities.

Torrey's production was more replaceable than a potential shut-down corner (aside from Joe's reliance on the patented pass interference-based offense). Smith isn't lighting it up in San Fran, and Jimmy Smith isn't lighting it up here. I suspect the common culprit in each case is coaching.

Wow, this team really seems to get banged up. I think it is a contributing factor that they have so many old guys at key spots. They need those guys because, prior to the 2014 draft, the Ravens had several very sub-par drafts that didn't produce much talent. Everyone harps on guys like Ellerbe and McPhee, UDFAs that make it big. Well, that's a great story but it is also indicative of the guys drafted ahead of them not panning out. Hopefully our last two drafts are a positive trend.

Nice "Lookout" block by Monroe in that final shot in the 4Q. Also, Zuttah got manhandled (again) all game. When the Ravens get a high draft pick, and if a legit stud left tackle is available, they should nab him to lock down the left side of the line for the rest of Joe's career.

With a name like Shareece, you know he's gotta be tough. There's a Jay-Z Johnny Cash remake song of "A Boy Named Sue" on the horizon.