Future of the Baltimore Ravens

[Ravensfan23]

Long post guys stick with me.

Ok so the other day i'm chatting with a Steelers fan. He is a pretty knowledgable football guy, so we have some very interesting and fun talks. Pretty good guy other then the fact he's a Steelers fan. We both try hard to avoid conversations that lead to the Steelers and Ravens unless we have another knowledgable football guy to be the voice of reason. Well on this day there was noone to be the voice of reason and our convo lead to Balto vs Pitt. Like almost any fan we are both very passionate about our respective teams. So the heated battle started when he tells me how young and up and coming the Steelers are. All of their key plays are in or hitting their prime, while the Ravens stars are aging. The FO has done nothing to protect our future and prepare for guys like Lewis, Mason, JO, Rolle, McNair and Pryce's retirement. I allowed him to continue talking for a while just to see how much he would put his foot in his mouth. So he starts talking about how the Ravens got all the bounces last season and how the Steelers was the best 8-8 team going 6-2 over the second half. So i stop him and go back to the begining of the convo. So i asked him exactly which players from the Ravens are aging and which from the Steelers are hitting their prime. I was giving guys like Holmes, Parker, Ben, Miller, Troy, and Keisel. Now i admitted to him that these were all solid to pretty good players. Guys that he told me was aging and skills were on the decline were, Lewis, Reed, CMac, Rolle, JO, and Pryce. So i pointed out that every guy he named except Rolle had an outstanding season last year, also if Reed is aging and in decline then Troy has to be in the same boot as they are just one season removed from each other. Then i asked him what makes him think that just because we have guys like Lewis, JO, and McNair aging, we don't have young stars either producting or ready to breakout. He says because each season we get older and older and if we had young upcoming players why don't they play more. So i start running off names of guys that brought much production to this team and are under the age of 30. So i made him a little list of our roster to show him just how OLD we really are. This little chart was put into five section. Under 30 guys that made solid contributions/rookies & 1st year guys/guys with potential & injuries/rookie FAs who i think can make the cut/vets.

Under 30 contributors/future stars

Bannan-28

Brown-24

Chester-24

Clayton-24

D. Edwards- 26

Green- 25

Heap-27

J. Johnson-25

Koch-24

Landry-24

Ngata-23

Prude-25

Reed-28

Sams-26

Sapp-26

Scott-26

Musa-25

Sypniewski-25

Terry-24

Williams-24

McGahee-25

This list is of guys that were either solid role plays or guys that played big for us last season. I put McGahee on this list because he has rushed for 1,100 yards in 2 of his 3 starting seasons. Only getting 990 last season after missing 2 games.

Rookies/1st year players

Barnes-22

Burgess-23

Daniels-24

Figurs-24

Grubbs-23

Haley-25

McClain-22

Pittman-23

Troy-22

Yanda-22

Martin-22

This list is of guys that are either rookies or first year players that could see time this season or be stars in years to come. Now of course its hard to say what anyone will do so we just have to wait and see these guys in preseason.

potential guys/injuries

Winborne-26

Mike Smith- 25

Rimpf-26

Oglesby-25

Ndukwe-24

Cody-25

Darling-25

Moore-24

S. Edwards-28

This part of the list is of guys that has shown potential in preseason or training camp and need more time to polish up their skills. Some are guys that just can't stay healthy. I put Darling and Moore on this list because they are both still young and could have the light come on. Darling moreso then Moore because he shows improvement in practice and preseason each year but just can't seem to get on the field in the regular season. Guys like Cody, Rimpf and Smith has played well when giving the chance they just either can't stay healthy or play behind some guy named Ray Lewis

Rookie FAs

Blackshire-22

D. Johnson-24

Jones-22

Powell-23

Pruitt-23

These are the guys that i think have a pretty good shot at making the roster this season. At least the practice squad and will be able to fill a void in case of injury.

vets.

Wilcox-30

Vincent-29

Stover-39

Stills-32

Rolle-30

Pryce-31

Odgen-32

McNair-34

McAlister-30

Mason-33

Lewis-32

Ivy-30

Gregg-30

Flynn-33

Anderson-33

Of course this list is of vets that are 30 and older. These are the stars that people say are aging and has a decline in skills. Guys like Gregg, McAlister, and even Ivy who are 30 have at least another 4 seasons before they start to slow down. Gregg and CMac had great seasons last year, Rolle has another year maybe more if he can rebound. Ray and Pryce had really productive seasons last year and who knows how long they can play.Guys like MA, Flynn, Still, Vincent, and Wilcox are either backups or will be by seasons end. Of the 53 men that will wear purple and black only 14 will be 30+ and people say we are getting old. Out of those 14 guys only 8 of those guys are entreched in the starting lineup and one of those 8 is stover. The other 6 are either backups or players that has young stars pushing them out of the door. 9 or 10 of these vets were FAs that were brought in so it shouldn't be to hard to replace them with either rookies or other FAs.

After i told him all of this he changed his tone as much as u can expect from a steelers fan. He went from saying we would be terrible in 3-5 years to saying that the Ravens will be the only team that could think of stoping his Steelers. Anyway i just wanted to put this out there for all the guys saying how old we are as a team.

The second part of the heated convo was how bad we would be this season because we have a 1st place schedule. Last season we had a 3rd place schedule so it was easier for us to win. So i reminded him that last season the Steelers had only a 2nd place schedule and they sucked so what did it matter. I pointed out that out of the 8 losses those guys had that 6 of them were teams that the Ravens beat or had in common with the steelers. Their losses form a season ago were, Jax, SD, Cin, Atl, Den, Oak, Balt (2). The only 2 teams they played that we didn't were Jax and Mia. 2 teams that were just average last season. We both lost to Den and Cincy. We beat SD, Atl and Oak, and we beat the steelers twice. So we both had pretty much the same schedule yet they lost 5 more games then we did. His prediction for us was 9-7 this season. I told him we'll see.

[Tiz]

What I think your friend has forgotten is that Baltimore has done a remarkable job in replacing players repeatedly in the past. Every position from the Championship team, aside from CB and ILB has been replaced. In seasons that Ray was hurt both Scott and Hartwell stepped in and the team produced defensively like before. There's nothing, based on this teams history, to indicate that the youngsters in waiting won't produce.

The only true argument against our track record would be the relatively lack of long term existence.

What I noticed from alot of people who call the defense aging, tend to only go by Ray's age and his longevity in the league. Last years production from Dawan and the way players like Prude, Scott, and Ngata contribute to our defense should remind people that our younger players are also contributing big time to the wins. Add to that the fact that Suggs is just now finishing his rookie contract. People think he's old because he's been causing havoc since day one.

[Guest Birdfan]

I believe our new business model calls for replacing a few of the aging vets each year. That way we keep a good balance of seasoned players and young "up and comers". We should not have to go through another year like 2002 where we're the youngest team in the league.

[Jesse Conroy]

Pretty nice work, I liked the evidence that was brought to the table.

That's more then your Steelers fan could say, you showed him!

Anyway, I do not think we are old, are veterans have a few years left (most of them) And we have some young talent that is going to go well for us in the future.

We'll see about that 9-7

[BeaconofLight]

Living in Michigan, I was surprised at how many Steeler fans there were up here. No, they are not from PA, but bandwagon fans since the Lions are so terrible.

Anyhow, I would get a few comments about how the Ravens sucked (when they lost in the playoffs), and all I said was 58-7 baby...nuff said. There is no comeback to that fact and might I add the most sacks allowed by Pittsburgh in their history.

[Go Ravens]

I don't know how he can seriously talk trash about the Ravens when Pittsburgh lost to use 27-0 and 31-7 last year, in their second half in which they went 6-0 against other teams. He can't explain that away.

[MKdave]

Hey, how old is suggs? i didnt see him on your list (maybe he is there and im just stupid)

I know he's pretty young but i dont know exactly.

[FellsPointRaven]

Hey, how old is suggs? i didnt see him on your list (maybe he is there and im just stupid)

I know he's pretty young but i dont know exactly.

Terrell Suggs is 24 years old. Which I find pretty unbelievable!

[MKdave]

Terrell Suggs is 24 years old. Which I find pretty unbelievable!

Yeah , me too seems like he's been playin' for years.

(that's supposed to be a baby, cuz terrell suggs is just a baby......geddit?)

this time im sure im being stupid!

[Ravensfan23]

Yeah , me too seems like he's been playin' for years.

(that's supposed to be a baby, cuz terrell suggs is just a baby......geddit?)

this time im sure im being stupid!

Thats because he has been palying for years. He join the Ravens when he was 20 i believe. That and his poor 40 times were a couple of reasons he fell to use at 10. In my eyes Suggs gets better and better each year. He is averaging 10 sacks a year, he plays the run much better now, and he moves from DE to LB much more smoother now. IMO Suggs hasn't even begin to play his best football, thats why i agree with the FO when it comes down to keeping him or AD. I love AD but he is 30 Suggs has 6 more seasons before he hits the age of 30. I hope we get him signed soon, Suggs, Scott, and Reed will be the faces of this defense once Ray decides to leave.