So You Think You Know What's Wrong With This Team...

[JonM229]

You mean 2-4.

[austrianravensfan]

the worse thing is that there isn' t done anything, every week we make the same mistakes, but nothing gets changed

[ReED jucate]

I guess there is such thing as football karma. This season proves it. We should have never stolen the Browns from Cleveland. We've become the Browns!!! This week the 'new and improved Browns' will be making a big statement against us. I hate to say it, but the way we've been playing this year, we deserve to lose. This is karma. Trust me. We deserve it. We are the laughing stock of the division. Sure the Bengals are in last place, but who did they beat twice this year? That's right! Us! When it is all said and done the Bengals will finish in front of us and we will be in our rightful place at the bottom of the division. It's karma!

Ha we didn't steal anything. Clevleand refused to build a new stadium so Art got tired of dealing with Ohio and B-more was like heck yeah I will build you guys a big stadium. The browns got to keep everything, name, franchise records, stadium. You wanna know how to steal a team ask the Colts.

[Cartoon_Cartooon]

hopefully big c-mac can go this weekend to line up against braylon....cause if not.....derrick martin 5'10, braylon edwards, 6'3......need i say more

[purplepassion]

Ha we didn't steal anything. Clevleand refused to build a new stadium so Art got tired of dealing with Ohio and B-more was like heck yeah I will build you guys a big stadium. The browns got to keep everything, name, franchise records, stadium. You wanna know how to steal a team ask the Colts.

Yeah? Explain that one to someone from Cleveland. I have a feeling they would feel the same way you feel about the Colts. I guess perception is reality. Either way, this week Cincy is our pimp daddy. So, it doesn't change a thing. We are still a worthless dump of a team. I wish they'd send these losers back to Cleveland, so we could steal some other city's team. Yes, I am that jaded. This season has made me this upset. Arrrrggggh! Who Dey! I hate those darn Bengals!!!! Arrrrrggggh! I want revenge!

[ReED jucate]

Yeah? Explain that one to someone from Cleveland. I have a feeling they would feel the same way you feel about the Colts. I guess perception is reality. Either way, this week Cincy is our pimp daddy. So, it doesn't change a thing. We are still a worthless dump of a team. I wish they'd send these losers back to Cleveland, so we could steal some other city's team. Yes, I am that jaded. This season has made me this upset. Arrrrggggh! Who Dey! I hate those darn Bengals!!!! Arrrrrggggh! I want revenge!

For being named PurplePassion you really are downing our team man. Thick and thin, good and bad, stick with our boys.

[theFRANCHISE]

This sarcastic comment was the one thing I didnt agree with about this post.

I think martyball would do good here. Our formula for winning is ball control on offence and a dominant defence. A conservative aproach is something that would do better here than our pathetic attempt at an 'aerial assualt' offence.

Also I truly believe that our defence( healthy and rested ) is a greater scoring threat than our current offence.

But i do agree firing the coach midseason would probably be counter productive to the team long term.

Though I was using Martyball in the broadest sense of the phrase just for sarcasm, in all seriousness, Marty Schottenheimer is a GREAT head coach. Despite his "cursed" playoff losses, he's a great talent evaluator and a good judge of character, which is something the Ravens emphasize in the scouting process. However, Schottenheimer's style just doesn't mesh with the personnel available to the offense. Schottenheimer is a proponent of taking what the defense gives you, and although it SEEMS at times as if that's Billick's aim, Billick isn't gun-shy about calling plays with deep patterns, as opposed to Schottenheimer, whose conservative approach may not cut it when playing from behind. And before this goes into another debate about the quality of Billick's playcalling, keep in mind that the success rate of a play falls on the execution by the players as well as the design.

Yeah? Explain that one to someone from Cleveland. I have a feeling they would feel the same way you feel about the Colts. I guess perception is reality. Either way, this week Cincy is our pimp daddy. So, it doesn't change a thing. We are still a worthless dump of a team. I wish they'd send these losers back to Cleveland, so we could steal some other city's team. Yes, I am that jaded. This season has made me this upset. Arrrrggggh! Who Dey! I hate those darn Bengals!!!! Arrrrrggggh! I want revenge!

This pessimism KILLS me. "Worthless dump of a team," though? You wanna send these "losers" back to Cleveland? First off, there's only ONE player still on this roster that was the last of the original Cleveland Browns, Matt Stover. Secondly, looking at the Super Bowl-winning roster, only TWO players were in that starting lineup that had transitioned from the original Browns: Rob Burnett and Matt Stover. So by the time the Ravens had made it to the Super Bowl, they were NOTHING like the Cleveland Browns when they first moved to Baltimore. People try to stay things like, "Oh, Ray Lewis and Jonathan Ogden would've been Cleveland Browns instead of Baltimore Ravens if Art Modell hadn't moved the team." Guess again. Player decisions are made based on circumstance and the staff behind the scenes. Had Ted Marchibroda not been the head coach, and had Ozzie Newsome not been named the director of player personnel, the team could've gone in an entirely different direction with their entire first draft, period, if they had stayed in Cleveland. There is no reasonable way to predict what would've happened to the Cleveland Browns if the team had not been relocated to Baltimore by Art Modell. No sense in harping on what COULD'VE been. Meanwhile, have a little more faith. This team has been good to the fans in the past. One bad season following a phenomenal season should not make or break fan appreciation.

[ravenpride]

So angry! How about 8 bad seasons of offense...tell me why that doesn't upset you FRANCHISE?????????

[Cartoon_Cartooon]

man i cant even play madden anymore with this sorry a** offense lol but hey maybe we'll start seeing troy smith in the 4th quarter soon since hes going to be backing up kyle boller since mcnair is injured

[theFRANCHISE]

So angry! How about 8 bad seasons of offense...tell me why that doesn't upset you FRANCHISE?????????

Because, as much as I love the team, there's more to life than being angry over something out of my hands.

I love this sport too much to let my frustration override what I appreciate about the game.

When I became a fan of the sport and of the team simultaneously, it was never with a passion for offense. The offense had all the glamorous positions. I loved defense instead because the nature of defense is both violent and strategic at the same time. The intent of defense is to simply protect, and it fed into my natural instinct to protect my loved ones (in other words, it plays into my psyche).

With that said, because I never had much interest in the offense, I've always been numb to the offense's miscues. But at the same time, looking back in hindsight, things weren't nearly as bad over that span of time as you or anyone else may make it out to be. The year this team went 6-10 was the ultimate low-point in poor performance on BOTH sides of the ball. This year may match it on the offensive side, but that doesn't mean I've never felt this heartache before.

As much emotion as I invest in the game, I don't allow it to override my daily life and interfere with my mentality or my spirit. Yes, I'll be upset after a loss. But I take things in stride, rather than allow them to consume me. After all, why allow something to eat away at you that you have no control over?

The emotion I invest in the team is a direct correllation to the passion I have for the sport. I feel what the team feels, but I won't beat myself up worse than the team will because I simply can't. You think it's hard on the rest of our fellow fans? Try imagining how the players must feel, putting in their best effort, and all of that being for naught?

I simply refuse to get angry over something I can't control, period. The players are already beating themselves up over it, why should we? Simple as that.

[Slick]

i can't even begin to describe how I feel about the way some fans are turning on this team. This has been a rough year no doubt, but don't insult the fellas. The Ravens get me more excited and have given me more to cheer about in the past 11 years of my life than the O's have since I was born. I don't care that we're having a bad season or that our offense is relatively stagnant right now. I see the potential for a great team that has been hindered by circumstance and injury. Sure, playcalling and penalties and poor discipline could cause some anguish but Billick is certainly right about this team. The Ravens have character

I have never seen the Ravens simply give up on a season, and I don't expect them too now. There is no way I won't cheer for a team that gives it their all every time they hit the field with the fiery passion that our Ravens do. Don't knock 'em, they'll be back on top in no time. This year we could've made a run had so many factors not contributed to the position at which we currently are.

Pointing fingers and calling for staff/player changes is not the way to cheer on your team, and in fact will only hurt them more than help.

If my job was to give 110% whenever I work, to bring happiness to millions of fans, and to set an example for all those who aspire to join your ranks, I wouldn't want to hear everybody calling for an upheaval of the system that brought Baltimore a Super Bowl in its infantile years. We are still a new team but we have done and can do so much better than some of the oldest ones.

If we go 6-10 this year

I'll still cheer

And I'll still be here

Next year

[ravenpride]

I am sorry but i refuse to support a coach that has had more than enough time to shape up our offense problem. As for being a fan.....I will be cheering them on even in their darkest hour. I love the Ravens and my fellow fans. It's all in good fun. But my God enough is enough...turn this offense around my goodness.

[Slick]

I am sorry but i refuse to support a coach that has had more than enough time to shape up our offense problem. As for being a fan.....I will be cheering them on even in their darkest hour. I love the Ravens and my fellow fans. It's all in good fun. But my God enough is enough...turn this offense around my goodness.

Patience is a virtue

our offense really has come a long way, we just don't have the stats to show for it. our recievers can do better, our QBs CAN do better, our O-line can do better, and our RBs can do better. if all of them click then this team would be on fire right now. things haven't gone our way but now is not the time to say that a major restructuring of this team is in order.

we were 13-3 last year and we can still pull off a winning record this year. The bright side is in the future maybe injuries won't hit as hard, maybe our rooks will settle down and our team as a whole get flagged less, and maybe we'll have a QB who can pressure the other team rather than our own. We're almost to that point, and Billick has led the way. i think he can get us to that level, if not this year then next. I think people are focusing too much on the now and too little on the then and the still to be. This season sucks, now doubt about it. It has not been pretty for fans, coaches, or anybody watching monday night football while we're on. Last year we were 13-3 and had no injuries. This year we're 4-5 after near-crippling injuries on both sides of the ball. Most teams who lose their starting QB, cornerbacks, star d-lineman, 3 veteran o-linemen for any amount of time cannot boast a 4-5 record. Sure we could've been 7-2 or even better, but that's the thing, we really could have. so why all the negativity? we're having a rough year, so maybe it just wasn't meant to be this year. Next year we can come back stronger, smarter, more prepared, and more healthy, ready to dominate and take the NFL by storm. If we do happen to place in 3rd or 4th in the division, that means an easier schedule and more of a chance for us to pull off another great year with potential superbowl aspirations.