VermontRaven

Jamison Hensley ESPN Staff Writer Ravens' WR update: Steve Smith (ankle) not practicing Wednesday and Mike Wallace (ribs) wearing red non-contact jersey Mornhinweg and the offense could have their work cut out for them if these 2 can't play!

Yeah, I agree. I trust the FO as well. And it took over 5 regular season games for a team to pick him up. That should tell you something as well, given how hard it is to find a decent backup LT in this league.

Definitely will be interesting to see what the OL ends up looking like this weekend and beyond. Right now there are a lot of questions with Stanley and Wagner and uncertain pecking order at G with Lewis, Urschel, Jensen, and Ducasse. Seems like C is the only position we know the definite starter-Zuttah. The other positions have multiple options that may end up starting: LT-Stanley, Lewis (Hopefully not Hurst) LG-Lewis, Urschel, Jensen, Ducasse RG-Yanda, Urschel, Jensen, Ducasse RT-Wagner, Yanda, Lewis, maybe even Hurst

What about the "Mile high miracle" to Jacoby Jones. Last time I checked, that was a bit over 30 yards.

Definitely a solid veteran. Gives some competition for Lewis/Jensen/Urschel.

You can complain all you want about not having All Pros (which is very subjective by the way)...you still couldn't even give 1 example of a team that has drafted 5 top players--since there are 31 other teams, your argument is pretty weak if you can't name 1 team. The draft really is a crap-shoot...sometimes you hit and sometimes you miss. Nobody is going to "hit" on all or even a majority of their draft picks. The college game and the pro game are very different and it is hard to predict what players will find success at the NFL level.

Honestly I just used my observations. Some of them it is hard to get a read on based on what weapons they have--particularly Carr and Ryan. I am curious as to who on my list you disagree with.

I went through all the teams and came up with 8 guys based on performance that I would rather have then Flacco. They are (in no particular order): Brady Rodgers Brees Roethlisburger Luck Carr Wilson Newton. ---However I could never support a team with Roeth or Brady on it due to personalities, etc. Other QBs that I think are on par with Flacco based on performance Ryan Palmer Manning Rivers That puts Flacco between #10-13 in the league.--These days, you are going to pay mega bucks for a QB in the top 20, so I do not think the Ravens overpaid for Flacco (based on market value for good-respectable QBs) Other QBs in the league that I feel Flacco is better than (in no particular order): Wentz--Too early to know what the Eagles have there Cousins Prescott/Romo Bradford Stafford Cutler/Hoyer Keenum Gabbert/Kaepernick Winston Brees Tyrod Taylor Fitzpatrick Tannehill Siemian Alex Smith Osweiler Bortles Mariota Whoever the Browns line up any given week at QB Dalton

I wouldn't count out our secondary. GB had a banged up secondary and they held their own last night. As with all Ravens games this year, I see another nail-biter...hopefully we come out on top in this one. Maybe the offense makes the game-winning play late and sparks some confidence!

Looks like a W then! Hopefully this is the spark the offense needs to take off. Commit to the run more and hit a couple of these big plays we have been just missing. A win here could really propel the team back in an upward direction. I'm not giving up on this Ravens team yet. If we can go 7-4 the rest of the season, that puts us at 10-6 and a decent chance at the playoffs.

I'm shocked as well. I'm glad Harbaugh had the guts to do it as well. We'll see how much it helps, but Harbs obviously felt the season slipping away. I thought we'd wait until before the bye week after Giants and Jets games. Hopefully this sparks the offense and we can get a W against the Giants and start building some offensive confidence!

Thought we would go with the black jerseys for the "pink" game. I guess we are trying to see how many consecutive weeks we can wear purple. (Although we will most likely be wearing white next week vs Giants)

Any word if we will wear the black jerseys? I know in past years, our "pink" game we wore black.

Can't go on PUP, but very well could be headed to IR

They'd probably move it to Monday if it was too bad.

I certainly see your argument. However, you could argue that after last game, Aiken isn't getting it done on special teams or on offense (with those increased snaps). If Waller can replace Aiken's special team duties, I think it is a possibility Aiken become inactive. (Moore is definitely a possibility to be inactive too) Moore did play some as a kick returner in preseason so that might be one reason to keep him active if something were to happen to Hester (I know Dixon did as well though) It depends on what is going on in practice, etc. Aiken obviously had a horrible game, but if the Ravens feel he can contribute more than Moore, he would certainly get the nod.

Depends on how much they value Williams for blocking and ST. Wildcard would be to inactivate Aiken...would put us at 4 WR (5 if you count Hester) but Waller could play there in a pinch

I agree. I think it's time to move on from Aiken. He's just not cutting it right now on offense or special teams, plus there is almost zero chance he is with the team next year. I could see Aiken being a weekly inactive (hold on to him in case of injury to another WR), unless of course some other team was desperate enough for a WR to give us a draft pick for him

Yeah, I agree about Watson. I think if PItta stays productive and healthy, we find a way to keep him because of his connection with Flacco.

Maxx can't catch a break! From Late for Work article: Maxx Williams’s Season In Jeopardy? Second-year tight end Maxx Williams has a lingering knee cartilage issue that popped up again Sunday afternoon and prevented him from finishing the game. Harbaugh said it’s unclear at this point what the best course of action is. Williams could play through the injury, but the head coach isn’t sure whether that’s the right move. “Williams’ injury could open the door for tight end Darren Waller’s return to the 53-man roster,” wrote Brown. “Waller has served his four-game suspension for violating the NFL’s substance abuse policy. He is eligible to be activated up until Oct. 10 before his roster exemption expires.”

So even you, who are obviously very pessimistic, suggest we might be good enough for 9 wins?....heck....that means steal 1 or 2 more games somewhere and we're a playoff team....Scratch and claw to find a way to get into the tournament, then January Joe shows up and we're looking good!

Wow! That's a pretty pessimistic attitude! Are we flawed? Yes. But, all fazes of our team have shown glimpses of productiivity...Run game, pass game, defense, and special teams. If we put them all together, there is reason to believe this team can come together and play strong in December, January, and hopefully February...lots of new pieces take time to build chemistry. And remember, we are 3-1! Our one loss we were in it until the last minute, despite not playing our best and having 2 backups on the left side of our line. Here are my thoughts for our remaining schedule: Home vs. Redskins -definitely a winnable game. @ Giants --tough game, HUGE test for our secondary @ Jets --definitely winnable--have you seen Fitzpatrick the last 2 weeks? home vs. Steelers -always a close dogfight home vs. Browns -definitely winnable but sucks having a Thursday night game after a sure-to-be extremely physical contest vs. Steelers @ Cowboys --Tough game, but winnable---their strength is their run game and we are pretty good against the run home vs. Bengals -should be a tough, close divisional game home vs. Dolphins -definitely winnable--Dolphins are not looking good @ Patriots --very tough game. Never say never, but I would be shocked if we pulled this one out Home vs. Eagles ---tough to gage at this point....let's see how Wentz is looking after a few more games. @ Steelers ---tough divisional battle @ Bengals --tough divisional battle The way I see it, 10-6 might get us in the playoffs, 11-5 almost certainly gets us into playoffs....Therefore we are looking at 7-8 more wins needed to get in--here's the path I see to that: Beat Redskins, Jets, Browns, Dolphins -Split with both Steelers and Bengals -Come away with 1-2 more Ws somewhere---maybe @ Giants, @ Cowboys, vs. Eagles

It will definitely be interesting to see what the Ravens do here....I think these are the top possibilities (in no particular order) -Waller gets cut and we hope we can get him on practice squad -Forsett gets cut -Carter gets cut -A CB gets cut (7 is a lot to carry on the roster---my guess would be Powers or Price) -Someone is more banged up than we know about and goes to IR -Longshot---we trade Aiken to somebody for a mid to late round draft pick since he isn't getting much playing time and it is highly unlikely he re-signs after this season--maybe a team desperate for another WR will make a trade based on his numbers last year

Nice tackle Moore!

wizard1 Veteran Members 979 posts Posted September 9 · Report post Ok I have been reduced to predicting game results through the weekly game thread so here we go. This was a fairly easy game to predict since we already have injuries which will affect our overall production. However injuries have nothing to do with an opening day home loss. Buffalo comes in here with a chip on it's shoulder and something to prove and we end up have no answer for Tyrod Taylor and Rex Ryan's blitz happy linebackers. Final -- Buffalo wins 23-13. -3 The Wizard lies again.