Raven1995

  16 hours ago, jazz1988 said:

  17 hours ago, Filmstudy said:

It's fairly obvious the State of the Ravens comments were directed at Zuttah. I don't think the Ravens can start 2017 with him starting at center with the interior DL size in the division with Shelton, Atkins, Hargrave.

It would be nice to have some depth as well, but that's the spot that needs to be improved.

The free agent market concerning  the center position isn't really all that attractive. The best free agent center that will be available is JC Tretter who only has one season where he was healthy out of fours year he's been in The NFl and then there's Stefen Wisniewski who i'm not sure fit's what The Ravens are looking for since they said they want to get bigger on the offensive line. Overall it seems like they going to be stuck with finding a future starting center in the draft  and even the draft isn't all that appealing at the center position to my understanding. 

 

 In my opinion The Ravens are going to  have to hope Jeremy Zuttah improves and maybe even get stronger by hitting the weight room. A rookie or maybe someone already on the roster maybe  the answer to what they looking for but it's just not clear right now that will find a  immediate upgrade over Zuttah.

A smaller Center might be a fit for the Ravens, they had a great Center for 12 years by the name of Burke who was about the same size. Its about talent and maneuverability as a Center. Keeping Wagner and Jenson, adding Wisnieski if he can make the grade at center, and drafting a young G/C is actually a great move. The Team has already experienced what Zuttah can/cannot do for 2 years and its not worth exposing this O-line to a poor start to a possible Play-off season.

Matt "Birk" played 10 years for Minnesota and 4 years for the Ravens. He was at the tail end of his career but his strength was in calling blocking schemes. When Gradkowski started in 2013 their was a big dropoff. Zuttah has been with the Ravens for 3 years. Zuttah will be in his 10th year, I don't think the weight room will Help.

  11 hours ago, JamesA119 said:

  14 hours ago, ellicottraven said:

With a 9th ranked O-line we had Joe Flacco of 2016? We better have the betterO-line for the coming year for us to even sniff the playoffs. We need to give Flacco a running game that he can use consistently and to get out of blitzes where he's prone to the worst mistakes and turnovers. A top O-line and having a beastly run game will win us time of possession against the opposition. This will also tremendously help the defense knowing before they can catch their breath there was a real chance in 2016 that our offense would go 3 and out and get off the field. I really want our offense to be led by our running backs moving forward, like it used to be when Jamal Lewis was the face of our offense. Personally I wouldn't mind going RB if eiher Fournette or Cook are available when we pick, but we may have to trade up to get one of them.

Imagine that! 9th ranked Oline and all the "apologists" did was blame the Oline for Flacco's ineptitude. Many a QB could take a 9th ranked Oline deep into the playoffs
I just get tired of hearing"Joe needs this, Joe needs that" I guess we need 10 starting first team pro bowl players on offense around Flacco to make the playoff.

Its 9th ranked by PFF... who, while are very valuable for individual player ratings, seem to vary wildly on the OL ratings as a whole. Yes, #9 ranked, but we never ran the ball so their terrible run blocking didnt bring their grade down as much as it should have.

And, i believe the #9 ranking is the rating of the 5 starters together - so Stanley, Lewis, Zuttah, Yanda, Wagner.... who played a sum total of 4 games together. 4 wins by the way.

So, actually, yes. thanks for pointing it out - with a #9 ranked OL Flacco does win. It's when you have to put out 8 different starting OL combos in the other 12 games with guys like Hurst at tackle, they struggle. And not just Joe, the run game as well.

New York Jets game was our Waterloo. The Jets were in the backfield on every play. We need to keep Wagner and Draft a center and another guard or Backup tackle. If Wagner or Stanley gets hurt, do we move Lewis around or bring in Hurst?

Pats are a good club, not that I am a fan. However they also have greatly benefited from being in a division where the competition is not great enough to really challenge for the division. IMHO this accounts for 3-4 wins every season, which is also the difference of making the playoffs and not, as well as having home field advantage versus not. My point is, while a good club, they have a lot of outside factors that also play a big role to their success. Any team that can win their division so many years in a row, pretty much uncontested does not play a very competitive division. Competitive implies the skill/talent level is roughly the same (overall). The reality is the Pats division is so far from competitive, and to be a team involved in several rule breaking scandals only adds salt to the wound and sullies the reputation, rightfully so.

More like 5 to 6 wins every year. We have 2 teams, Cincy and Pitt that give us fits. Brady is like 30 and 2 against Buffalo over 17 years. Cleveland always plays us tough and was even competitive in 2002 and 2007. Jets have had a few good years and Miami had one good year back in 2008 when Brady was out for the year, go figure. Those extra wins guarantee home field advantage. In 2011 if we had a Home game against NE we would of been in the Super Bowl.

Maybe we re over critical of the center position/

I don't think so. When Atlanta got Alex Mack it changed everything. I remember the Falcons coming to Baltimore in 2014 and their offensive line got pushed around and Matt Ryan had no time to do anything. Suggs Safety was pretty cool too.

Zuttah got in after Pouncey pulled out injured. How is Zuttah in there !? are all the 15 other centers injured??

Anyone want to trade for a pro-bowl center ??

13. Zuttah 1, Pouncey 2, and New England's center 3, is going to the Super Bowl.

Mel Kiper had Matt Elam going at pick 31 in the 2013 draft to San Francisco, I wish he was right.

  4 hours ago, bioLarzen said:

Julio Jones... Can't help remembering the YUUUUGE pack of picks the Falcons gave up to trade up and snatch Julio Jones. And the chances Ozzie will ever even consider such a trade... Never.

I'm not saying he's wrong - it was a huge risk of the Falcons that could have crippled their development for years if Jones doesn't turn out to be the star he is now. I'm just trying to gauge the chances of the Ravens getting an elite WR through the draft. Our "luck" is that the year we had a top-10 pick was the year where there was no elite WR in the draft...

And even if we got a WR like Jones... with the dismal offensive play calling we saw this season, he would hardly be anything close to what he is in Atlanta...

And talking about Atlanta... another thing I can't help remembering is how we could have had Shanahan as the new OC replacing Kubiak, but went with Trestman instead...

Even with Julio being a stud, it cripple their development.

Roddy White, Julio Jones, Tony Gonzalez - how does that team not win more than 1 play-off game in 8 years with those guys in their prime?

You're memory is fading.....Shanahan signed with the Falcons on Jan 18. On Jan 11th, the day after our play-off loss to the Pats, Kubiak said he was staying in Baltimore. The Broncos asked to interview Kubiak on Jan 15 and Kubiak left on Jan 18th. We couldn't have had Shanahan.

And Shanahan's offense was horrible last year even with Julio. Let's see how good the 49ers are next year with him at the helm....

When Kubiak left it was when all the good coaches were gone . Only 2 people were left Trestman and Adam Gase and Harbaugh didn't want to go with him because he thought he would of been one and done.

  42 minutes ago, potomacpitbulls said:

Except for one play, he was perfect this season.

THAT COST US THE GAME

Not tackling Antonio Brown cost us the game.

Deep CB, C and RB pools for the draft probably means Ozzie isn't gonna pick any of these earlier than mid-round - 3-4th rounds maybe. Also, I see no way the top 2 WR's are still on the board at #16, and they seem to be the only WR's worthy of a first round pick...

This means it's gonna be an OLB or ILB guy if Ozzie picks in round 1, IMHO...

Please no more CB's from the 3rd to the 7th Round. Only 2 have worked in the last 14 Drafts, Webb and Young.

Sign Him do not let him go. Get the Run game going and that will help Wallace have a better year. Also, Use out of the back field more than last year. You have all that speed and not using it is terrible.

  40 minutes ago, TorryGundy said:

Every time we have a run game conversation I get confused.

Here are my questions. If everyone says 4 out of the 5 parts of our line was so good, can a bad center really wreck an O line or are we over valuing some of the other parts?

Why did we not run behind our full back more?

Why are all of the coaches surprised we did not run more, don't they call the plays?

Why are we staying an a Zone scheme when it only worked the Kubiac year, our line was made to maul not finesse?

We had 9 different starting O-line combinations this year. And yes a bad center can wreck an o-line (pressure up the middle destroys any offense)

Because Juice is a horrible run blocking FB. Good pass blocking, good at catching out of the backfield. horrible at run blocking (See 4th & Goal vs. Giants or Safety vs Pats)

You call the plays based on game situations. 2nd & 3rd and long because of penalties - you don't run the ball. Down by 20 in the 1st Quarter to the Browns, you don't run the ball. Down by 17 to Brady in the 2nd quarter, you don't run the ball. Defense has 9 guys in the box, you don't run the ball. Defense is run blitzing, you don't run the ball. It's not until the game is over that you see the stats.

No team runs just one scheme (just like no team plays just a 4-3 or 3-4 defense). We ran plays in a Zone scheme & a Power Scheme.

I agree on everything except not running in certain instances. The Philly and Cincy game at the goal line. Both times should of run. I think the coaches are in a bad mind set and try to out think the other team instead of going at them. They have great success on pitch outs and WR sweeps but they only use it once or twice a game and abandon it.They need to throw the kitchen sink at defense's. Run Campanaro 3 or 4 times a game, Run Wallace a few times, 5 pitch outs, and Flacco's Knee should be better, so "Make" him run 4 times a game. Juice and Pitta are Horrible Blockers so Maybe have Boyle in the Backfield on a 5 or 6 plays a game. This is just off the top of my head, and don't get paid to coach so the Offensive coaches are on the Hot Seat from Day One in September, see you then.

This is getting redundant, and it’s extremely irritating. Fix it permanently or stop talking about it. Drafting has been horrendous the previous three years and quarterback play has been mediocre ( we let go of Tyrod who actually could have helped us). We are one dimensional and every team is aware of the game plan before the game even starts. Stop serving us “pee” and calling it lemonade!!!!!

Tyrod's Coach lost his Job, I don't think Tyrod could of helped us.

RAY LEWIS would bring back the passion and the NO whining rule and 9-5pm player's we have here,funny how we had way more penalties on offense than ERIC WEDDLES defense,thats hard to do actually.WEDDLE spends way more time as the defensive play caller than our offensive play caller-FLACCO! we need a qb in this draft-PAT MAHOMES and another great cb-DESMOND KING opposite TAVON YOUNG.then bring in one of the SKINS many talented recievers they have to let go,or better yet,KURT COUSINS if they let him walk!

Nice wish, if we did get Cousins nobody is gonna take Joe Flacco's contract, and if you cut him that is 25 million Dead money for 2 years and a third year of a little lesser dead money.

if sss was drafted by the ravens he would have been another bum. this team cannot draft or develop receivers for some reason.

Yep. They would of used him to return punts and then thrown him to the curb.

  11 hours ago, ellicottraven said:

  12 hours ago, Zeus said:

This is great news! Harbs losing his buddies

lol! Now if we can rid Joe of his buddy Dennis and save a good amount of cap, all will be well in Baltimore!

Pitta's contract is almost worse than Joe's. I really hope we cut him. Not to mention he's a liability on the field and blocks worse than Jimmy Graham. He definitely does not play like a Raven. Too many softies on the Ravens these days. What happened to drafting nasty guys

I agree he doesn't block great, but does not play like a Raven is way off base. He has taken a lot of tough hits, and came back from 2 Hip Surgeries. I just think Joe shouldn't throw to him so much. If their gonna do a check down do it to a running back. Use Dixon like they used Rice

1 hour ago, DENNYK said:

This all sounds like Political Correct bull to me. Fix the damn problems once and for all. This town does not accept losers plain and simple. If people need to go then they should. Do your job well and keep it just like out there in the real world. Avg. ticket price $112.11 per game for an average team if that can be what a fan sees each weekend. The way that the team plays in the last 15 minutes should dictate a rebate for all who pay to see this week in and week out. Harbaugh should be a politician with all of the bull he is peddling.

The Ravens were 6 and 2 at Home, that's a 75 % winning percentage, how didn't you get your money? Watching the games on the road and on TV was the Tough part.

  1 hour ago, TheRavengers said:

Best part is how everyone who is running the organization is putting everything down and setting the record straight.

Also like how no one is excusing Flacco for his play while also acknowledging that there were other factors in play for all of their offensive woes. Like a logical person should.

Don't tell Mike Preston that though... 

Preston's got to sell papers. He lines Harbaugh, Ozzie and Joe up and runs them over with a bus.

A "run-first" offense with a $120 million dollar quarterback? Lol. And all because of a miraculous 4 game stretch. 

Steve Bisciotti said If Joe Had a Great season in 2012 he could bang on his desk and demand a great contract. Joe didn't put a gun to his head, so ultimately that falls on the owner.

6 hours ago, Raven1995 said:

8 hours ago, BigUgly said:

  12 hours ago, JamesA119 said:

In a word "Trestman". That's what he does wherever he goes. Dink and dunk passes are his run game. That surprising thing is that Harbaugh didn't nip it in the bud.

I'm surprised Harbs didn't do his research on the guy before hiring him. We could've had a smoother transition from Kubiak into a similar scheme had we hired Kyle Shanahan, but Harbs was enamored of Trestman's "genius" to retain Kubiak's terminology and "improve" his offense. The result was a shambles, and Marty didn't do much to improve it.

Our passing game essentially served as a running game, since the routes were so short and called so frequently. Unfortunately, a short passing game doesn't set up play action, and it clearly didn't set up a deeper passing game. No threat of a deep ball is a waste of Joe's talents, and the speed of Perriman and Wallace.

As for the O-Line, scheme is the first culprit, then technique, then talent. With the 8-8 team of 2013, we passed like crazy and couldn't run the ball with an O-Line essentially the same as the SB (and that was with KO). The following year, we turned a journeyman RB into a pro-bowler with essentially the same line. Now, we are back to ineffectiveness. I'd like to see Roman come in and Castillo ("Run Game Coordinator / O-Line Coach") let go, since Juan seems to be the next accountable common denominator in our run game woes. Meet need to sweeten the pot for Roman if the Browns are offering him the QB Coach position.

The O-line wasn't the same in 2013 as 2012 SB Year. KO only played in 7 games and had a bad back, people were saying he was a bad draft pick, a bust, couldn't stay healthy or play right tackle. Mckinney was traded to Miami after a few games, and Gradkowski was awful. Matt Birk called out blocking assignments and sized up the defense when he was their. So no it was not essentially the same unit.

Whoops I forgot we Had AQ Shipley at left Guard in 2013 for 9 games.

8 hours ago, BigUgly said:

18 hours ago, JamesA119 said:

In a word "Trestman". That's what he does wherever he goes. Dink and dunk passes are his run game. That surprising thing is that Harbaugh didn't nip it in the bud.

I'm surprised Harbs didn't do his research on the guy before hiring him. We could've had a smoother transition from Kubiak into a similar scheme had we hired Kyle Shanahan, but Harbs was enamored of Trestman's "genius" to retain Kubiak's terminology and "improve" his offense. The result was a shambles, and Marty didn't do much to improve it.

Our passing game essentially served as a running game, since the routes were so short and called so frequently. Unfortunately, a short passing game doesn't set up play action, and it clearly didn't set up a deeper passing game. No threat of a deep ball is a waste of Joe's talents, and the speed of Perriman and Wallace.

As for the O-Line, scheme is the first culprit, then technique, then talent. With the 8-8 team of 2013, we passed like crazy and couldn't run the ball with an O-Line essentially the same as the SB (and that was with KO). The following year, we turned a journeyman RB into a pro-bowler with essentially the same line. Now, we are back to ineffectiveness. I'd like to see Roman come in and Castillo ("Run Game Coordinator / O-Line Coach") let go, since Juan seems to be the next accountable common denominator in our run game woes. Meet need to sweeten the pot for Roman if the Browns are offering him the QB Coach position.

The O-line wasn't the same in 2013 as 2012 SB Year. KO only played in 7 games and had a bad back, people were saying he was a bad draft pick, a bust, couldn't stay healthy or play right tackle. Mckinney was traded to Miami after a few games, and Gradkowski was awful. Matt Birk called out blocking assignments and sized up the defense when he was their. So no it was not essentially the same unit. Whoops I almost forgot we had AC Shipley at LG, where is he now?

Biggest error we made when evaluating Kyle Boller out of Cal was justifying low comp % by criticizing the talent he had around him. That's about 14 years too late. That draft pick set back the team 5 years. Thankfully we had good drafts in 2006 thru 2008. We could of used the 2004 pick we gave up on Vince Wolfolk or been in position for Ben Rothlisberger.

The Defense got left hangin in several games so do not throw them under the bus! The position that is suspect and affecting this entire team is the "QB" position! Our Defense is missing that intensity that Ray Ray brought not saying Sizzle isn't getting it done but the MLB gotta be the heart and soul of the "D"! But like I said the Offense left the Defense hangin making Justin Tucker the MVP SMH! Offense had games within reach but choked every time!

The Defense got killed in the last 2 minutes of several games when the offense handed them a lead. The Giants game, come on, 2 players running into each other, they scored in 28 seconds. The Pittsburgh game 1:19 left. Also, the Philadelphia game, people forget they ran all over us, and if they kicked an extra point we might of lost in overtime. Also, the Raider game they ran the field in what do you know 1:19 for a score. The New England game easy touchdown in the 4th quarter. Blaming the Quarterback and saying we need Ray and Ed is nonsense. Saying we need a Good Offensive Coordinator that will commit to the run and keep passes under 35 a game would of been a great statement. The Defense had the Game within reach but choked several time's.

I completely agree with Eisenberg on this Defense must have improvements.

No.1 priority is Bonefied GameWrecker Pass Rush.
Last year they passed on studs like Noah Spence and Yannik Ngakwe for bums and high character Harbaugh guys like Correa and Koufusi.

Look how that turned out, 1 cant get on the field and other broke his foot.
Everyone knows a great rush helps a secondary. Combined sizzle,jernigan,Dum had 15 sacks this year. Mostly from sizzle 8 sacks.

So 1st round must be a Gamewrecker sizzle in his prime or Von Miller type edge rusher, whether its Barnett,Williams,Harris,McKinley etc
And I might take 2 in the 1st 2 rounds because lets be honest Dumervil is getting cut and sizzle has 1 maybe 2 years left probably

Its still to be seen what they can do. I'm sure Koufusi didn't mean to break his leg, Also, trading down got us Judon who I think might be the best of all.

and yet the Ravens made him the second highest player on the team next year.

Webb is counting more against the Cap then Smith

The offense was so bad that the defense spends too much time on the field ! You can't blame a top 7 to #1 defense when your offense keeps doing a 3 an out.A 27th ranked QB with a 21st ranked offense causes stress to your defense.
The defense just ran out of gas with two over 30 pass rushers and a prevent defense.

The offense had 2 Offensive coordinators that gave up on the run. I think the 4 game losing streak in October scared the team and if something went wrong in the game they abandoned the run. When Joe threw under 35 times he was 3 wins and 0 losses. Joe is not built to throw over 40 times a game and they are telling him to throw over a 40 and 50 times a game which kills play action. An Offensive Coordinator is supposed to put his Quarterback in the best position to succeed and they asked him to be Drew Brees, Well they succeeded they are both out of the playoffs.