EdTheMythicalOne

Most QB's would look like crud with no running game and no talent at WR.

It doesn't matter how big you actually are, it matters how hard you hit the hole and how heavy you run. Some guys run behind their pads and explode into defenders. You going to sit here on this forum and tell me LDT was a pitter-patter back? If it was all about size why don't nose tackles just run the football all the time?

It doesn't make sense to him. He's going to jail for poking somebody in the eye, that doesn't make sense to him. Then he's fighting a police officer, that doesn't make sense to him. Then he spits in the face of somebody trying to assist him, that doesn't make sense to him. Then he goes to jail, that doesn't make sense to him. He'll let it all play out in court and it won't make sense to him when he's found guilty again and gets off with a slap on the wrist and a fine he can easily pay while the NFL looks the other way while he collects another huge paycheck he doesn't deserve the right to earn. If he didn't know how to play football this guy would still be in jail.

How about the Commissioner being forced to do a show featuring him having to cover all of the arrests of the NFL players over the past season? How about trying to explain how a man like Adam "Pacman" Jones (because I don't want to besmirch the name of our Orioles CF'er Adam Jones) who is a habitual offender becomes one of the keynote speakers to the rookie welcoming committee? Yes, THIS guy was chosen to be a speaker to all of the young, impressionable minds out there as how to behave. And how about explaining how Micheal Irvin and fellow dirtbag Warren Sapp were telling rookies that if they're going to screw up, "...you need a fall guy in your crew..." you know, somebody that will say they did it so you don't go to jail. Unlike Hard Knocks, I'd actually watch that kind of a show. But, this should be incentive to go to the playoffs or fire your underperforming head coach.

Blount in NE, David Johnson in ARZ, Latavious Murray in OAK, If you want to bring up Jamal Lewis I would bring up Adrian Peterson and LaDanian Tomlinson. And I am not talking about Jamal Lewis. He was a bell cow runningback that we ran into the dirt. And if we're talking ancient history, so's he. And he was only that guy up until his 2,000 yard season. After that he was a shell of himself and a completely different runner with the Browns. So you don't think scoring the football is the area of opportunity? You're fine with kicking field goals all the time because our RB's can't get two yards to pick up the first down or we can't punch it in from 3 yards away from the endzone? We had a speedy scat back in Forsett and he worked in the right system. I think West and Dixon have enough speed for the edge, we just have to stop being cute about it. They can run off tackle, but not with a pulling G, a TE that can't block, and asking Juice to run half way across the field to make a block on a counter run. We need a banger. We need somebody that makes you pay for tackling them.

I think part of the issue to try to make Flacco into something he isn't is self-inflicted. Bisciotti wanted to go with Matt Ryan. Say what you want about Ryan's post season record, but if you look at the overall stats I think we can say that Matt might be a better pure passer than Flacco. If you put Matt Ryan on the Ravens, chances are he'd probably go to playoffs and win some as well, maybe even a superbowl. The Falcons never had a great defense. He wanted Ryan so badly he was telling his team to stop "coveting picks" (he used more colorful language) and to trade them to move up to get Ryan at #2. The front office sold him on Flacco. They said he was the guy. Now, Flacco did a great job when they used him in the proper system. He could manage a game with a good ground game and he could make big plays with the right blend of targets to throw to. He wins a superbowl, he gets paid. Now the front office is trying to prove to their owner how right they were and turn Flacco into something he isn't. Flacco isn't Peyton Manning. Flacco isn't Tom Brady. I do not like Tom Brady on a personal level. But I can't knock what he gets done on the field and he gets it done because he works his butt off. He took the position of his draft and placed that big chip on his shoulder and said, "I'll show them." He studied, studied, studied and continues to study to this day until the day he went all ice in his veins and daggers in his eyes to Drew Bledsoe and was like, "You slipped. You let me play, now you're not getting this job back." "Cool Joe" doesn't seem to have that same kind of blood. The other thing I don't see is coaches challenging or speaking to their players after an idiotic play. Where's the accountability? Flacco tosses a pick in the endzone in Cincinnati...the cardinal sin. What do you see after that? He's sitting on the sidelines with a tablet that looks like something my 3 year old nephew uses talking to some other player (wasn't even a receiver...think it was a RB) and he's not looking upset at all. In fact he's got a smirk on his face as they talk about something. Where's the OC? Where's the QB coach? Where's the receiver he missed the connection with?

First of all, you need to identify what your team is. This team is currently not constructed to be a pass first, West Coast offense. We don't have the personnel at almost every position to run this. Flacco is not a WC QB. He's a strong armed gunslinger in the mold of Favre. He believes in his arm, sometimes to a fault. We don't have an agile zone-blocking line. We have road graders. Our backs are not speedy scatbacks. They are one cut and go types that can (if they choose to) pound it between the tackles. We didn't have fast/agile TE's that can run around underneath and create mismatches and then make something happen after the catch. Waller just can't catch the ball consistently enough and Maxx wasn't on the field. And....we have a full back. WC offenses do not use a FB. What I am saying here is that the first and most important thing you can do to help Joe Flacco is to turn this offense into a system that fits him and not try to make him fit a system that goes against virtually everything he is. 1: Coaching Improvements: This is already a fail because you didn't improve in the first major area and that would be OC. So now you want creative position coaches? Huh? Last time I checked the RB coach wasn't calling the offensive game plan. I guess Harbaugh just eluded to what we are all thinking. He wants Marty's replacement already in house when we finally realize 5-6 games in the season that nothing has changed. I do believe we need a new WR coach. Our WR's can never seem to get open and when they do, they drop the balls that hit them in the hands. I can understand not catching a pass you need to dive or jump for. But no excuse to drop passes CONSISTENTLY that hit you in the hands. Dennis Pitta; despite the things he can't do, can do one thing extremely well. He reads zones and knows how to get open in that coverage. It seems that none of our Wideouts know this. 2: Better Offensive Line: Just drafted franchise LT, You still have Yanda who is one of the best in the game at RG, Wagner was pretty good overall at RT and is most likely walking. LG/RG was an iffy spot with Alex Lewis (rookie) and Vlad Ducasse (journeyman) being your best options. Lewis was a rookie starting next to another rookie and was playing out of position. I believe he will make a better RT. Yanda is supposed to move back to RG. I don't see anyone in house being a great option to go to LG which means two things. 1) You draft another rookie. 2) You sign a good veteran, but probably wind up paying a premium and keeping him a couple more years past his usefulness. At Center Zuttah was decent until this season while he was completely banged up. Bad back and ankle issues. His replacement might be on the team in either John Urschel or Matt Skura...might. You can't turn over the job of center to somebody that doesn't know what he's doing. The LT might be the most critical position on the line because of the job description, but the C is the QB of the line and is the one supposed to make all the line's protection calls. There is quite a bit of work that needs to be done here. 3) Healthier Knee & Chemistry: Well, unless we're Dr. "Bones" McCoy from Star Trek, there's nothing anyone can do about Joe's knee. It will heal on its own time. I am also wondering what the deal was with his throwing shoulder and if that is still an issue. It clearly was affecting him for two games and perhaps it was a lingering thing from then on. The only thing Joe can do is workout and rehab as much as he can. As for chemistry, well, that's on Joe as well. How about hanging out with the guys on a voluntary off season mini passing camp? 4) Getting more Playmakers: Been hearing this for years yet we strike out in the draft and we don't sign premier guys in FA, instead we sign cast offs and guys at the tail ends of their careers. Keeping Aiken would be a mistake in my opinion and just repeating the past issues. There's nothing special about him. If you want a sure fire possession guy, bring back Boldin if he doesn't retire. THAT is a possession guy. He will make the tough catches. He will catch things that hit him in the hands. He will catch things you think he has no business catching. He's tough and he will run guys over. He is a redzone threat as well. Brandon Marshall if he becomes available is a playmaker. There are some question marks about him being healthy/motivated. I think playing for the Jets and a jerk of a QB like Cutler can certainly destroy your motivation and happiness. One thing Marhsall has proven is that he's a playmaker and he scores the football. The players will be out there, the question is if the Ravens will pony up what it takes to get them? As for the running back they want to add, I've said it before and I will say it again. They're looking for a Blount-type runner. Not necessarily to be the bell cow, but to be a red zone/short yardage/goal line pounder.

I think I need to start off by stating a couple of things: 1) Joe Flacco is better than an average QB. He's not below average. Take a look around the NFL and see what kind of jokes there are as starting QBs that are getting paid big money just like Joe Flacco is. 2) Joe Flacco is not Tom Brady. You're paying him like Tom Brady because that's the going rate for an NFL starting QB. He's not Tom Brady so stop trying to make him something he isn't. 3) The revolving door at OC under Flacco is a legit statement. How can anyone be consistent when the OC changes all the time? Learning new offenses all the time? 4) Think his health was a major issue this season and not just his knee. He was dealing with something in his throwing shoulder this year too. In the interest of trying not to write a novel, I'll make another post about what I think about this article.

Because Steve Bisciotti was telling his front office that they should, "...stop being draft pick [profanity deleted]s." (and moderators, that was a direct quote from him, his words, not mine), and essentially do whatever it takes to trade up to #2 to draft Matt Ryan. He said they better be SO sure that Flacco was the man.

We must've been watching two different teams then. Let's remember a few things: 1) He never made an catch in the NFL before coming to the Ravens. Buffalo had him and turned him loose. New England had him and turned him loose. 2) He caught the ball by default in 2015 because he literally was the only healthy body on the field at the time. He wasn't the number one guy in that season. A healthy Perriman (would have started over him) and Steve Smith did start over him. His other receiving mates were (and kudos to you if these names are instant recall for you) Jeremy Butler (where is he now? Caught 2 whole passes for 11 yards for SD), Chris Matthews (where is he now? IR for 2016), Marlon Brown (where is he now? On the IR for the Broncos. Why did we let him go? Because he kept getting hurt and couldn't get open.) Chris Givens (where is he now? Didn't even play in 2016.) Jeremy Ross (who? and where is he now? Caught 4 passes for 37 yards, 1TD for Arizona), Kaelin Clay (Where is he now: IR for 2016), and of course Campanaro who couldnt' stay on the field. 3) Any wonder he had his best season ever when he was the only guy on the field? 4) Stop comparing Ravens to Ravens. This is a guy who is a roster bubble guy on any other team that doesn't have a huge need at WR. If he was better than Steve Smith Sr., Mike Wallace, or a healthy Perriman, he would have been getting snaps over these guys. I can see a WR hungry team like the Jets (if they let Marshall go) or the Browns giving him a shot at being a starter.

I find this rather funny and sad at the same time. We're seriously asking ourselves what in the world we're going to do without a 37 year old WR that was coming off of a double Achilles tendon tear because THAT guy was our BEST receiver? Funny: Because we've had that guy over the years in Mason and Boldin and they put up better numbers than Smith did here. Sure, passion and all is great, but give me results. I am sure there is a WR out there wearing out his welcome coming into the twilight of his career that we can milk for a few more seasons and turn him into something more than he really is because on our team he'll be a #1 option when on other teams he'd be relegated to 3rd. Sad: Because we have to sign guys like this because we can't draft or develop well enough to stop from having to sign guys like this. Side note: Seen Kenny Wright's name being mentioned and he's interesting. He had a couple of good season in Tennessee before falling out of favor due to injuries and then missing team meetings. He might be a nice slot option because I don't think we can count on Campanaro's health. Brandon Marshall's time in New York may be done. I know he's had some issues, but if the team is doing well and he's getting the ball like he should, he's proven to be more than just a solid receiver. His price tag might be pretty heftier based on his past results. You definitely have to keep him happy and motivated, but when you do you get a proven playmaker that scored the football. It might also help that he's 6'4'' 229lbs.

I mentioned this in another thread that one consistent theme over the last few years has been WR coach Bobby Engram. Same coach, same issues. Our guys do not know how to get themselves open versus press or zone coverage. The only guy that could read zone and get open was Pitta and that's something he's been able to do all his career.

Apparently you haven't seen guys like Gerald Riggs or Craig Heyward run. Those guys are out there and teams find them. The Ravens haven't. They've been too busy trying to find the next Ray Rice rather than a straight up banger.

Am I in an echo chamber here? The worst season; statistically speaking, for the Ravens defense under Pees was 2015 and I can just as easily toss out that season because that was the IR-season where just about everybody on the team was on IR. So you toss out that anomaly and this past season and the Ravens defense has been no worse than 12th in the league, and also finished 6th in the league. The stats say what they say. They only tell you part of the story which is my point. If you simply look at the stats and rankings as an outside observer you'd be wondering why fans are calling for Pees to be fired. Ravens fans know though because we actually see the team and how they perform on a play by play basis and we see time and time again how this defense blows games for us. Can I break it down any more than this? You realize we agree and you are saying the exact same thing I am?

Right, I think I said that in my post. People that don't actually follow the Ravens might wonder why the fans here in Baltimore are sick of Pees when he turns in a top ranked defense. Well, they'd have to watch the team to understand.

Dixon is a great runner, he's got work to do in other areas and he's got to stay on the field. He's not great at blocking or picking up blitzers; but that can be corrected with some time in the film room. He's a rookie so he probably didn't have to do a whole lot of that in college. Not many rookie RB's come into the league knowing how to do this well. Even so, I want a BIG power back I can count on to pound the rock in from the 1 yard line. I want that guy that the other team knows what is coming, but still can't stop it. I want the reincarnation of Gerald Riggs. I want a guy that doesn't pitter-patter his feet behind the line of scrimmage (hello T. West) and just slams it up in the gap and carries guys with him on his way to picking up 3-4 yards. We don't have that guy and this team has been looking for him for a number of years.

No, he's not. There were plenty of times he didn't move the pile. Just because you might measure up to be fairly big doesn't mean you get the leverage or "run heavy."

The funny thing is they line up like that to prevent getting beaten deep...and they wind up being beaten deep or just getting completely trucked over after the receiver catches the ball short and then runs for 25-30 yards down the field. Every time I see that alignment I yell, "free play."

I want partial credit on this topic I see the time stamp of Eisenberg's article and look at the time stamp of my post: Posted 3 hours ago · Report post 1) Biggest change needed on offense: Since we know it won't be the OC, I would say it is the philosophy. You have two backs churning over 4YPC and you barely used either one of them. Your passing attack did not take advantage of the skill sets your players have. Our whole off season with Bobby Engram (WR coach) should be teaching our wideouts how to get open against zone coverage and how to beat a press and emphasize fighting for the ball. It is ridiculous with some of the size/speed mismatches we should have that nobody is getting open. Just kidding, but I think this topic is pretty obvious to every Ravens fan. We figured the best way to get a new philosophy is with a new OC. Kubiak ran a zone-blocking scheme. It might have been "west coast" influenced, but it was run to set up the pass, which a true "West Coast" offense is not. The pass compliments the run and is part of the running game. Biggest question: Why run a scheme that our personnel does not fit? Our runningbacks do their best work when they have a FB or two tight ends blocking for them. Not in a single back 3 WR set. They are power run type runners. One cut and gun. Our offensive line are more of the big mauler types save for Stanley and not the agile zone scheme blockers you need to run that type of offense. Our wide receivers consist of one trick pony speedsters and guys that don't run great routes and don't seem to know how to get open in zone coverage. What do you run in a West Coast offense? A bunch of short and intermediate routes designed to beat zone coverage. Our QB is not a a West Coast type QB. He's got a cannon for an arm and he's not exactly the most mobile guy in the world. He showed an extreme lack of touch on short routes. We have a FB that blocks well and isn't exactly fast or agile. He has great hands which helps, but is essentially why we use him like a TE. If he's going to be more of a TE, you might as well get another bigger body and better athlete and just put him in the backfield as a blocker. Darren Waller as an H-Back I think would be interesting. Unless they plan to completely overhaul the pieces on this team; which isn't very likely, then they need to make the philosophy fit the talent, not the other way around. Power run, heavy package FB+TE or "Diesel (twin TE) packages) for the run game. Set up play action pass. Let your burners go deep. Get Camp and the TE's working underneath. Your RB's are weapons out of the backfield if you use them correctly and aren't running screen plays every other down without any ground game to set them up first.

1) Biggest change needed on offense: Since we know it won't be the OC, I would say it is the philosophy. You have two backs churning over 4YPC and you barely used either one of them. Your passing attack did not take advantage of the skill sets your players have. Our whole off season with Bobby Engram (WR coach) should be teaching our wideouts how to get open against zone coverage and how to beat a press and emphasize fighting for the ball. It is ridiculous with some of the size/speed mismatches we should have that nobody is getting open. 2) I say Williams, Wagner, and Guy are all gone. 3) Dumervil, Watson, Lewis, Wright, and Arrington are all gone. Zuttah might be a late cut if either Skura or Urschel can beat him out for the C position. Webb's not getting cut unless they find a replacement for him first, but that guy is not on the roster. 4) Dixon, West, new blood. I think they are going to draft a pounder. They thought Taliafero could be that guy and maybe he could've been if not for all the injuries, but we need a bulldozer and we don't have it. 5) How can you not address one of your most glaring weaknesses? The Ravens have been trying to address it for years but they just haven't struck gold yet. They'll do something to try to address it again whether that is a key FA signing or a spending a few more draft picks on the position. I think this year the top pick they have goes to a pass rusher. They got their 1st pick O-lineman last season. We've done horribly bad with 1st pick WR's.

This doesn't seem to make much sense to me at all. On one hand you want to change your identity on offense...be creative, and run the ball more, but you keep the same guy who didn't do a good job of any of that. How is a position coach being creative going to help you with offensive game calling? The only thing that would make sense to me is if Marty was essentially keeping the same playbook as Trestman so that the offense wouldn't have to learn a whole new offense part way through the season. That his gameplan would be something different. It is hard to argue the stats to make a case against Dean Pees if you just looked at the stats. A top 5 run defense and a top 10 pass defense and a top 10 overall defense. It isn't until you watch the games and see how this team loses that you begin to understand what the issues are. Late in games the defense went into "cover 0 zone" or something because the one thing you should never do is let a man get wide open deep with less than a minute left in the game...and that's precisely what happened over and over again. The day,night coverage of the secondary when Jimmy Smith plays or not was a huge issue. The team failed to generate a consistent pass rush, something that has been said since Dum and Suggs had their awesome tandem year. The team did generate more turnovers though, a lot more, which is something that was highly emphasized. The Special Teams unit were not really all that special. Koch is a very good angular punter and Tucker is one of the best kickers ever to play the game. The coverage units were pretty decent this year. The return game has been an issue since Jacoby Jones left. So, if this is what Harbaugh wants, let him have it. It will be his job to lose if the same results happen. Maybe he proves us all wrong, but I for one am not really excited about our team going into the off season as I was coming back from the injury marred 2015 season. This team should have been so much better.

It is all going to come down to what these players ask for and what their markets actually are. Some DT's that didn't really put up amazing stats got paid last off season so apparently they are back in vogue as "playmakers" even if they aren't getting a bunch of sacks. Somebody will probably pay Brandon Williams and if that is the case, the Ravens will move on. I think they've seen enough out of Pierce to think he can step up and we still have Carl Davis, Willie Henry and Timmy Jernigan on the roster, plus you can always draft a big body in the 4th-5th round and usually get a rotational player or better out of it at the position. I like Lawrence Guy and think he's one of those unsung hero types, but he's about to make some money at a place where we can skim due to depth. We already have Carl Davis who could play there, Brent Urban, and Bronson Kaufusi when he gets healthy. Plus you can always find a guy like Guy off of another roster release because that's how we got Guy in the first place. I think Juice comes back. I don't think he will cost too much and I think everybody understands that nobody will value him or use him quite in the same way as Baltimore does. If he wants to simply become a bowling ball for another team, then that's his choice. Kamar Aiken is gone and good riddance. Classic Ravens overachiever. Let some other team pay a high premium for mediocre talent. I think there will be some changes to the TE position. I think Ben Wallace is gone and Gillmore may be gone too. I think Pitta played himself into a #2 TE spot behind a healthy Maxx Williams...but I can also see Pitta getting axed to make way for Maxx, Boyle, and Waller going forward. I think Rick Wagner is gone. He will get paid by somebody and we have in house options. I think Alex Lewis moves to RT, Yanda may move permanently to LG, and we have a few guys around to fill in at RG. Of all the positions to fill on the OL, I think RG is the easiest. I like Yanda the vet playing next to Stanley the youngster. I expect massive depth overhaul to the secondary again. No big moves, just more 3rd and 4th CB types to replace the ones we replaced already. I see some people saying Matt Elam comes back. No way that happens. He looked awful every time he was on the field. No matter how cheaply he comes, you can't afford to have him on the field. He costs you points and games, the most expensive price to pay. I see Kamar Aiken and Matt Elam read my post.

I think the Ravens should break their mold and actually trade up higher in the 1st round for one of those "can't miss" type players at edge rusher if there is one in this draft or a shut down CB if there is one. We've got a lot of picks coming in later in the draft and our 2nd round choices haven't been so great lately. 1st and a 3rd pick to move up within the top 5 from 18th pick...I'd do that deal if that's what will get it done. If it is the absolute right player, I'd give up our 2nd instead of a 3rd. We need to get an impact premium player in this draft at the very top of it.

You don't draft a guy in the 2nd round to be a place holder. He is the Ravens TE of the future (Maxx Williams). Pitta's time is done and if the Ravens bring him back it will be with the intention of him being the #2 TE behind Williams. That would have happened this season had Williams been healthy. Pitta is not going to get better with age, he's not fine wine. Oh, sorry, an old guy coming off of a shredded Achilles tendon is what you want...and he signed a two year deal last season meaning he's got one year left; which would be next season. Despite all this and even if I concede all those points to you; which I don't, there is the whole notion of position value. Nobody is going to give you a premium pass rusher (which is a premier position in this league) for two tight ends, one of which is young and injury prone so far, and the other that is old and coming off a major injury. Even if they were both completely healthy, a TE is not as valued as a DE/OLB pass rusher. You can find decent tight ends in the 3rd and 4th rounds of the draft..Pitta himself was a 4th round pick.

Kind of hard to see more of a guy when he's spending a 10 game suspension for getting busted for PEDS...for the second time. Boyle is a glorified blocking TE that manages to catch the ball once in awhile. He's not particularly big and he's not fast. Gillmore offers more if healthy because he's 6'7'' and has long arms. I just don't know after being as banged up as he was all of last year if he will be much more of a player going forward. Some decisions to be made at this position because you can't keep all these guys: Dennis Pitta, Ben Watson, Nick Boyle, Darren Waller, Maxx Williams, Crockett Gillmore.