State Of The Ravens

[RavensAllTheWay]

http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-network-path-to-the-draft/09000d5d81ed370c/State-of-the-Ravens

A very interesting point made by Jon Jansen that occured to no one. Flacco will never be the leader of the team as long as Ray is here, he says.

Thoughts?

[ryan23945]

the whole team? no, the offence? yes, and there is nothing wrong with that, and i think joe realizes this as well, all the players have that respect for ray, joe isnt looking to make this team "his team" so it works

[berad]

Ray's a once-in-a-lifetime kind of player and leader. Nothing Joe can do will overcome Ray while #52 is still in purple...

well, unless he leads us to a 19-0 record with comeback drives at the end of each game and wins SB MVP. Then... maybe...

[ed.s52]

Thats because Ray Lewis is Ray Lewis. If Ray Lewis was on any other team they would have the same predicament. And either way Ray is a better leader than Flacco and most likely always will be. Thats no knock on Flacco, but its just Ray Lewis.

[codizzle]

[quote name='berad' timestamp='1300589342' post='656706']
Ray's a once-in-a-lifetime kind of player and leader. Nothing Joe can do will overcome Ray while #52 is still in purple...

well, unless he leads us to a 19-0 record with comeback drives at the end of each game and wins SB MVP. Then... maybe...
[/quote]
nope still not lol unless joe invents a pre game dance better than ray's and he does said dance before every game of the season that we go 19-0 as u said. ..

[berad]

[quote name='codizzle' timestamp='1300590165' post='656718']
nope still not lol unless joe invents a pre game dance better than ray's and he does said dance before every game of the season that we go 19-0 as u said. ..
[/quote]

Joe Flacco dancing

I think I would actually die of shock if Flacco came out and did the dougie or something, of course to the soundtrack, too.

[ed.s52]

[quote name='berad' timestamp='1300590255' post='656719']
Joe Flacco dancing

I think I would actually die of shock if Flacco came out and did the dougie or something, of course to the soundtrack, too.
[/quote]


What you talkin bout fool.....

If he's doin anything he's doin the cat daddy

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWZwLCKyR1Q[/media]

[Ed_Reed20]

[quote name='RavensAllTheWay' timestamp='1300588079' post='656696']
[b]A very interesting point made by Jon Jansen that occured to no one.[/b] Flacco will never be the leader of the team as long as Ray is here, he says.

Thoughts?
[/quote]

I think what Jansen said is pretty obvious. No young QB is going to be the leader of a team known for it's defense, especially when the leader for the longest time has been a supernova like Ray.

[PWNEDbyDEANO]

Aside of the leadership issue that they stressed, I was quite happy to hear that they didn't bang on about "Baltimore's weak secondary...". I've heard way too much of that this past year.

[Ravens Lover]

[quote name='ryan23945' timestamp='1300588690' post='656699']
the whole team? no, the offence? yes, and there is nothing wrong with that, and i think joe realizes this as well, all the players have that respect for ray, joe isnt looking to make this team "his team" so it works
[/quote]

I think that is one of the best traits about Flacco Ray a couple years ago called Joe thwe humblest guy you could ever meet, so yes Joe will need to take over after Ray leaves, but he will never have a Peyton kind of feel onm the team cuz thats just not him

[RavensAllTheWay]

[quote name='Ed_Reed20' timestamp='1300607835' post='656748']
I think what Jansen said is pretty obvious. No young QB is going to be the leader of a team known for it's defense, especially when the leader for the longest time has been a supernova like Ray.
[/quote]
Right, but does he think were better off without Ray is what I'm wondering.

[berad]

[quote name='RavensAllTheWay' timestamp='1300631817' post='656764']
Right, but does he think were better off without Ray is what I'm wondering.
[/quote]

No. Who says your quarterback has to be your leader? Plenty of teams have won championships without that being the case, without their QB being the "unquestioned leader". 2000 Ravens. 2001 Patriots. 2002 Bucs. 2005 Steelers. 2007 Giants. Those are just within the past decade.

[RavensAllTheWay]

[quote name='berad' timestamp='1300635953' post='656788']
No. Who says your quarterback has to be your leader? Plenty of teams have won championships without that being the case, without their QB being the "unquestioned leader". 2000 Ravens. 2001 Patriots. 2002 Bucs. 2005 Steelers. 2007 Giants. Those are just within the past decade.
[/quote]
They just said Flacco has to be the leader.

[b]My[/b] personal opinion? Flacco has to be the leader of the offense, not necessarily the whole team. But as they pointed out and I agree with it, he's not there yet. He doesn't have to yell at everyone on the sidelines when the offense is out of sync, anyone can do that (Boldin against ATL). But he does have to be like Manning in 07 and Brady in general in that he has to take charge with the game on the line and make plays that fire the offense up and get the offense believing.

But it IS something to think about. The team will have to turn to [i]someone[/i] in a desparate situation.

[codizzle]

I just wanna see him dance

[berad]

[quote name='RavensAllTheWay' timestamp='1300639112' post='656810']
They just said Flacco has to be the leader.

[b]My[/b] personal opinion? Flacco has to be the leader of the offense, not necessarily the whole team. But as they pointed out and I agree with it, he's not there yet. He doesn't have to yell at everyone on the sidelines when the offense is out of sync, anyone can do that (Boldin against ATL). But he does have to be like Manning in 07 and Brady in general in that he has to take charge with the game on the line and make plays that fire the offense up and get the offense believing.

But it IS something to think about. The team will have to turn to [i]someone[/i] in a desparate situation.
[/quote]

He "has" to be? For what?

Sure, Flacco should be the leader of the offense. I think you'll find that a lot of the players and coaches say he is, already. Whether that's entirely true or not, he's becoming it and making it so. He's growing into his role, that's normal for any young player.

We tend to forget that Joe Flacco has only been playing for three years when comparing him to Manning, Brady, Rodgers, Roethlisberger, etc...

[berad]

There's absolutely nothing wrong with Ray Lewis being the leader of the team. We've been successful under it. Per a [color="#0000FF"][url="http://twitter.com/LeRonMcClain33/status/49504885808431108"]LeRon McClain tweet[/url][/color]...

[quote]
Watching the Ray Lewis Sound FX.... I love being a raven and being part of something like this... #PlayLikeARaven Old school tape.. 33[/quote]

If it makes the players want to play, what's wrong with it?

[Militant X 1]

who else do you see on the Ravens sidelines pumping up the team, getting in their faces about doing their jobs and encouraging them when they are losing? RAY LEWIS! he "IS" the leader and face of the ENTIRE (offense/defense)Baltimore Ravens franchise and until he retires he always will be!

now, Flacco has to show that he can be the leader of the offense in particular. he has shown spurts of that but we need him to do it on a more regular basis. listen....we know Flacco's personality and demeanor isn't one of getting in your face per se. however, he needs to break out of that since he is the "Franchise-QB." even Eli Manning has come out of his shell to be a more vocal and in your face type of leader for the Giants. now it is Flacco's turn!

GO GET'EM JOE!

P52B

[justifythegame]

[quote name='RavensAllTheWay' timestamp='1300588079' post='656696']
http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-network-path-to-the-draft/09000d5d81ed370c/State-of-the-Ravens

A very interesting point made by Jon Jansen that occured to no one. Flacco will never be the leader of the team as long as Ray is here, he says.

Thoughts?
[/quote]

QB is the most popular position, people always look to the QB to be the leader but the QB does not always have to be the leader.

You guys can force the term "leader" on joe all you want but joe isn't a leader. Think for a minute about the term leader, its a guy who has a presence in the locker room and on the football field. its a guy that all the players look to motivate them and lead them. Joe Flacco does not display these characteristics. And thats not a BAD thing. Its part of what makes flacco who he is and part of his personality, he is a very laid back guy. I don't understand why people want to force that title on him. You don't become a leader by having that title forced on you or by everyone expecting it of you. Its just something that you earn and something that is innate.

Anquan Boldin was the leader of the Cardinals for the last decade. Even when a great QB finally came to the Cards in Kurt Warner, an MVP and SB champion, Boldin was still the leader. Why? Because he possess all the same characteristics Ray Lewis does. Ray is the leader of the team, but its not like Joe is next in line. Even on offense Mason is the veteran leader and when he is gone, Boldin has all the qualities you look for in a "leader" or motivator of that offense. I don't know if you guys ever heard any of Boldin's speeches on the sideline last year but it reminded me of his leadership on the cardinals. I remember especially during the Falcons game when the Ravens offense couldn't produce early. Boldin got fed up and got everyone together on the sideline and talked about how the D was giving it their all for them and how in return they were letting them down, just the way he told them how "we can't keep letting our D go back out on the field like this man" i knew the O was going to respond the next drive...and then they drove all the way down the field and boldin caught a TD pass. When Ray does retire i don't think there is a question that Ed Reed will be the "leader" and presence in the locker room, he has very similar traits as well.

[RavensAllTheWay]

People will naturally turn to the QB to be the leader. Should they, necessarily? No. But do they? Yes. If the team doesn't believe in Flacco or what he's doing, were not gonna get to where we wanna go. As soon as the Giants saw and more importantly, felt the leader in Eli come about, they put together a SB title run. Not saying Eli was the only reason why they won because he's certainly not. But it's not a coincidence. The Patriots of 01 also seemed to have found their belief in Brady before they beat the Rams.

[RavensAllTheWay]

What about Dilfer? Didn't he have a winning, straight forward, competitive presense of mind that the rest of the offense looked up to? Yes, the 2000 defense could cancel out anything opposing offenses brought to the table. But even when the defense played ridiculously well, we lost three straight games and had zero direction on offense. I'm sure you remember when we had all those games in a row without getting a TD. But when Dilfer came in, we lost our first game and didn't look back after that. It was winning the rest of the way.

Trent simply wanted to get the ball in our playmakers hands and be fundamentally sound. However, he recognized when he had to elavate that philosophy and start taking chances. You think Tony Banks would have led us down the field for a game winning TD in Tennessee in the regular season? Doubt it....

Would we have won the SB back to back years with Trent had we not released him? Probably not....But we certainly didn't have a QB who commanded the players attention like that for years. And we still don't. Anthony Wright was all freaking fired up in the locker room after the comeback win over the Seahawks in 03. But he was a one shot wonder. Steve McNair (rip) was our savior on offense in 06 and we went 13-3 and got to the playoffs. The following year, Boller (and Troy for that matter) were NOT acceptable replacements after Steve got hurt.

The 2000 Ravens were a hell of a lot more of a TEAM than we realize. They had the direction on offense and the pure dominance on defense, and they also went through so much together.

I'm not bashing Flacco. He is on the verge of being elite. He is very close to what we need him to be....he's just not yet.

[berad]

[quote name='RavensAllTheWay' timestamp='1300666805' post='656983']
People will naturally turn to the QB to be the leader. Should they, necessarily? No. But do they? Yes. If the team doesn't believe in Flacco or what he's doing, were not gonna get to where we wanna go. As soon as the Giants saw and more importantly, felt the leader in Eli come about, they put together a SB title run. Not saying Eli was the only reason why they won because he's certainly not. But it's not a coincidence. The Patriots of 01 also seemed to have found their belief in Brady before they beat the Rams.
[/quote]

So you're saying the team has no confidence in Flacco?

What tangible thing are you looking for? Joe's shown his "passion" and his "fire" - those were 2010 off-season topics - but what now? Does someone have to [i]call[/i] him a "leader"? I could scrounge up a quote... It just seems like a ton of ambiguity in the issue you're posing.

[RavensAllTheWay]

[quote name='berad' timestamp='1300668967' post='656997']
So you're saying the team has no confidence in Flacco?

What tangible thing are you looking for? Joe's shown his "passion" and his "fire" - those were 2010 off-season topics - but what now? Does someone have to [i]call[/i] him a "leader"? I could scrounge up a quote... It just seems like a ton of ambiguity in the issue [b]you're posing[/b].
[/quote]
I'm not posing it. Jon and Warren did. I'm just taking it to the next level.

[berad]

[quote name='RavensAllTheWay' timestamp='1300669129' post='657000']
I'm not posing it. Jon and Warren did. I'm just taking it to the next level.
[/quote]

True, and fair enough. I don't understand the issue [i]they're[/i] posting then

[RoflDogs]

That segment was terribly short compared to all the other ones I watched (like the Pats one)

[RavensAllTheWay]

[quote name='RoflDogs' timestamp='1300673733' post='657033']
That segment was terribly short compared to all the other ones I watched (like the Pats one)
[/quote]
Yeah, it really was.

[RivenHale]

Is there that much to talk about? We need a different WR corps, we need to fix out O-line, we need to get younger on D. That's basically it.

[Shammy]

yea warren sapp says the qb needs to be the leader of the team but brad johnson clearly wasnt the leader of the bucs when they won it all so he cant just shut it IMO