Ravens2343

While I agree with everything you said, as I am also in favor of firing Pees, Harbaugh may not know who to hire to take his place yet? Who is to say we will promote within, maybe Harbaugh is looking outside the organization for a replacement. I want Pees gone as much as the next guy, but Harbaugh is never the coach to panic.

How far we have fallen this season compared to how we finished last year is astonishing. If injuries cannot be used as an excuse then the only likely excuse is to make a drastic change. I agree Pees must go and it is time for it to happen. They shouldn't wait for the bye week and it should not fall on Harbaugh's shoulders alone. It should be a FO/Coach decision with Steve on board and move on. The only positive thing about being 1-4 is that we have nothing else to lose, we can make drastic changes without affecting the playoff race

No way Harbaugh is or will be anytime soon on the hot seat. He has turned this team into a perennial super bowl contender since he got here. I agree Pees should be let go, but Harbaugh cannot just fire him after a bad string of games without a contingency plan. Maybe he is waiting for the bye week or he is meeting with Pees to discuss scheme changes and such. Pees has been successful in the past and I for one are in favor of releasing him of his duties, but I wont place that blame on Harbaugh yet. I am sure he meets with Steve or Ozzie regularly to talk about everything and they probably agree collectively on coach firings

The only players making over 4 million that are worth keeping are Flacco, Yanda, Suggs, Dumervil and Jimmy Smith IMO. Guys like Zuttah, Canty, Webb (although he has played better, he is older and injury prone) and Daryl Smith need to go. We need to get younger and more importantly faster at many positions. I wont ever fault a player for getting as much money as he can, but Torrey Smith has to know he made a mistake. I hope we can nail a few of our picks this year and get guys who play hard and are relentless.

I think it is a lack of talent in some regards. Since Flacco and Harbaugh have arrived we have constantly picked at the bottom of the rounds due to our success. We have lost numerous coaches due to our success as well as many players who were overpaid due to our success. The FO routinely is strapped against the cap due to paying our top players and sometimes getting burned on bad deals. We always have to settle for "past their prime" free agents who were cut from their prior team. It is actually amazing how well we have done during that stretch compared to other teams. We certainly have enough talent to make the playoffs, but injuries to key players have hurt and we don't have the depth to stay afloat. This offseason should be a turning point for our team and hopefully we can bring in more talent to lead us through the next 5-7 years

I agree we need a new wide receiver and I would love Garcon and then pick one high in the draft again as well. We need to revamp the whole team, but I think the DEFENSE needs it more then the offense. A Unrestricted Free Agent is free to sign with any team he chooses once the new league starts. A Restricted Free Agent can sign a contract with another team but his current team has an opportunity to match the offer. If they do not match the offer then whatever tender designation they put on the player before Free Agency is rewarded to them by the team who signed their player. We generally stay away from Restricted Free Agents as they rarely ever switch teams

Its almost comical at this point. We played a very good first half yesterday, the corners were aggressive and we stopped the run well. We come out in the second half and completely changed the gameplan on defense. I have no idea what is talked about at halftime between coaches, but I highly doubt Harbaugh or anyone tells Pees to play conservative on defense to hold the lead. I really hope Harbaugh makes the call and fires Pees, I know not everyone is in favor of that but honestly this season cannot get much worse from a performance or viewing perspective

It makes sense that they are not playing for Pees, but they should be playing for Harbaugh and their teammates then. I don't think its a lack of effort from the players, Jimmy Smith has looked visibly upset after this loss and the Cincy loss. I think it is Pees scheme and gameplan that has us in this position. Injuries play a major part as well, but our defense is built to be aggressive and physical. Players seem to be confused about playcalling also, Hill and Arrington looked confused on Gabriel's long catch in the 4th quarter. We definitely need a change at D-Coordinator, but we flat out need better and faster players at some spots. Losing Webb and Davis killed us yesterday on top of everything else

You make good points. From what you and I have discussed it has become clear to me that our defense is in a ton of trouble this year and moving forward. Idk if the replacing Pees is going to fix it but I would surely like to find out. The linebackers were not this bad at covering guys last year, I know Smith has lost a step but still. What type of defense we run will probably depend on who we target to replace Pees (assuming we move on from him at some point in the near future). Maybe just an energetic, motivating D-coordinator is what this team needs. Whoever our new D-coordinator is, I would love for them to coach from the sidelines.

I don't necessarily agree with all of that. Mosley is in his 2nd year and will have chances to improve in coverage, I would not say he cannot cover. I am operating under the assumption Daryl Smith will be gone next year. What about Arthur Brown who played in a 4-3 at K-State? Zach Orr could be serviceable as well. Our only chance of being able to maintain a 3-4 defense is to get a high pick and hit on a good outside linebacker, because replacing Suggs and Dumervil is not going to be easy. Suggs an Dumveril may not cover a lot themselves, but I saw Upshaw and Smith both cover plenty yesterday and looked absolutely lost and overmatched. Id rather draft 4-3 linebackers and switch then watch what our future holds once Suggs is gone (which sadly could be next year) There are plenty of good 4-3 linebackers in this years draft that are capable of covering tight ends and Rb's.

it would help Suggs and Doom long term with a move to a 4-3 defense because all they would be responsible for is rushing the passer. Upshaw should be gone after this season so you are right we don't need to worry about him. Arthur Browns strength is apparently coverage so playing him at OLB in a 4-3 would help him. A starting D-line of Jernigan, Williams, Davis and Urban sounds pretty good. Then have Suggs and Doom rush from the ends on passing downs and you have Guy, KLM and whoever else we draft or sign as depth

I agree they have to be able to cover the tight end, but a lot of his failures yesterday came when he was tasked with covering Johnson or Crowell out of the backfield. Nonetheless you are right that it was on him a lot yesterday and he will surely come around since he Is still very young, but my point is this. If this keeps continuing with this defense, then Pees should go before we starting purging our roster.

I meant eliminating covering for our OLB's now like Suggs, Dumervil and Upshaw. IF we switched to a 4-3 it would have to be in the offseason and guys like Upshaw would not be here. I think Doom and Suggs would be good 4-3 DE's who could come on obvious passing situations. We could still allow them to rush standing up from time to time as well, but have our base defense be more of a 4-3. The depth would be weak at first but we would have to build it up through the draft and add key veterans in free agency.

It wouldn't hurt to bring in a 3rd safety from time to time to help out covering, especially when its 3rd down and long like we had them in quite a few times yesterday. There is no easy fix to our defensive problems, but we need to find ways to eliminate putting our OLB's in coverage. Mosley and Smith have been good coverage linebackers for us, but Smith has seem to lost a little bit this year. Maybe give Orr and Brown some reps to help rest Mosley and Smith. Mosley plays every snap every week and then at the end of the game he is tasked with covering Duke Johnson. I wish I had all the answers but Pees needs to find a way to adjust, I didn't think losing Suggs would derail our season but it certainly has played a big part.

Mosley is one of our best and most consistent defenders. Most inside backers will struggle covering out on the flat. In one instance he had Duke Johnson who ran a flat route, forcing Mosley to run across the whole formation. I think a lot can be blamed on the scheme and play call. Having our OLB's cover is an absolute joke though, what good does Pees think it does by having a rookie 4th rounder and Upshaw try to cover running backs and receivers. At one point Pees had Upshaw on Andrew Hawkins in the slot. Harbaugh said it best yesterday in the press conference. "the coaches have to put these players in positions to be successful". Pees has not done that for quite some time now and it is time to make a change and then we can start to blame some players if it continues

I think we should consider switching to a 4-3. Williams, Davis and Jernigan could all play the DT spots in the 4-3 and Jernigan could even see time at Defensive End. It would help with our lack of coverage from the linebackers and I think Mosley and Arthur Brown would be really good outside linebackers. It is easier to find 4-3 pass rushers then 3-4 OLB that can rush the passer, set the edge and cover. Replacing Suggs will be the hardest thing for us moving forward. Our defensive line is the best part of our defense and they have great depth, in a 4-3 we need great depth there and could carry 8-9 guys

We have a relatively young team outside of a few older veterans. Canty and Smith will be gone next year and at this rate it wouldn't surprise me if we let go of Daryl Smith too. Those are 3 of our oldest players, we have a lot of young talent and I think it times we start playing them to see what they have. Give Arthur Brown and Zak Orr chances In relief of Smith. Brooks should be given a chance to start over Kendrick Lewis. Waller and Givens should be our starters outside of SSS. Marlon Brown should be demoted to the practice squad if he is eligible or flat out benched, he is awful. Flacco, Forsett, the Oline are a good foundation on offense and our defensive line looks to be dominant for the foreseeable future. We need to start cutting guys and letting young players get opportunities

I agree with this

At times he has been guilty of doing that, but I give him a pass yesterday considering who he had to throw to. Aiken and Brown are not even top 3 type receivers. Flacco avoided making the big mistake yesterday and moved the ball efficiently for almost the entire game. Trestman's playcalling at times was mind boggling and put Flacco in tough spots. This team overall is pathetic right now and Ill remain a fan of theirs no matter if they are 0-16 or 16-0, but changes need to be made and blame needs to be placed, but I am not going to put any of that on Flacco at this point

I like his blitzing that he has been doing more lately, but you are right that the secondary cannot hold up its end. I cannot believe I am saying this but we really missed Webb after he got hurt. People can say what they want and I think he is overpaid at this point, but Webb has been playing pretty well this year considering everyone wrote him off at the beginning of the year

Considering who he had at receiver I thought he managed pretty well. He made some good throws and he definitely missed some also. Trestman hammered the run in the second half and got very predictable in his play calling later in the game. I give Flacco credit for not turning it over and producing 3 touchdowns with not much help at receiver or tight end

The positives of the game are the o-line and the running game looked great today. Flacco looked pretty good also and our receivers created separation frequently. Wish Givens would have gotten more involved but his slow start was expected. How we didnt score a touchdown at the end of regulation when we were inside the 5 is beyond me though

Not being an emotional guy is one of his greatest qualities and one of his worst at times. I love Harbaugh and hope he is the coach of the Ravens for the next 20 years, but hopefully he makes a change midseason like he did in 2012. The playoffs may be out of reach, but lighting a spark in this team and seeing what a lot of these young guys have may be the best course of action right now. We are a relatively young team with the exception of a few veterans, some who wont even be here next year (SSS, Canty, Daryl Smith or Webb?) I care more about our team fighting and making changes then overall wins and losses. Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results is insanity and thats what our defense is doing right now

I agree and that starts with the players, but having a fiery defensive coordinator who calls plays from the sidelines might be better for this team. The Browns D-coordinator was on the field congratulating his players after big plays and firing them up. We need that out of our defensive coaches. Brandon Williams and Lawrence Guy were the only two players on our defense today that even showed up, losing Dumervil was huge because he was applying a lot of pressure. I would be surprised if Pees or one of our coaches is not let go this week

I agree with you that Hewitt should be getting the same treatment as Pees. I was left speechless in the second half of this game on how drastic Pees changed the gameplan. I understand losing Webb, Dumervil and Davis hurts significantly, but we played a very good first half of football and the second half the whole defense looked horrendous. I hope Harbaugh realizes what is happening and takes action this week, we have way to much talent on defense for this to be happening