Casual argument with non-Raven fan...

[jdynamite]

So I live in Louisiana, the land of the New-Saints fans post SuperBowl lol... So the argument goes the Saints will win the Superbowl they can't be stopped, I say " well just like last year, the Saints also can't stop anyone either!"

His response was well The Ravens Defense is too old to stop the Saints....
So I said " tell me how many starters are over 30 then tell me how old we are?" He names Ed Reed and Ray Lewis then struggles. I said that's it! U watch too much Espn, our defense has more young starters than old it just happens that our 2 all time greats are old!

[jdynamite]

Then I wake up this morning Mike & Mike are discussing why they feel that the Steelers may decline because of age. Then they automatically link us to age on defense as well and I'm once again like really unless Ayanbadejo and Kemo start the avg age of starters won't even be high.

Our offensive line age is old however.

[arnie_uk]

Youngest defense in the league without ray and ed someone has said. We aren't old, it seems that way due to two players. Nothing New here, get 3 or 4 of these threads a year.

[redrum52]

[quote name='arnie_uk' timestamp='1347030731' post='1141606']
Youngest defense in the league without ray and ed someone has said. We aren't old, it seems that way due to two players. Nothing New here, get 3 or 4 of these threads a year.
[/quote]

When we win it all this year and Ed and Ray retire watch next season when they say our d is too young and will miss Ray and Ed even though this year they doubt them. The media is only good for laughs. The oldest starter after them think is 28 and that's Ngata who's hitting his prime I think. After that I think it's 27 with Pollard. We are set for the future if these guys keep growing and Ozzie reloads.

[Tiz]

[quote name='jdynamite' timestamp='1347025214' post='1141576']
So I live in Louisiana, the land of the New-Saints fans post SuperBowl lol... So the argument goes the Saints will win the Superbowl they can't be stopped, I say " well just like last year, the Saints also can't stop anyone either!"

His response was well The Ravens Defense is too old to stop the Saints....
So I said " tell me how many starters are over 30 then tell me how old we are?" He names Ed Reed and Ray Lewis then struggles. I said that's it! U watch too much Espn, our defense has more young starters than old it just happens that our 2 all time greats are old!
[/quote]

Mike Sando did a blog on age that Jamison reblogged. It showed we are middle of the league in terms of age.

http://espn.go.com/blog/afcnorth/post/_/id/53889/yes-ravens-and-steelers-are-really-old
http://espn.go.com/blog/nfcwest/post/_/id/72847/which-teams-have-youngest-oldest-starters

Average age of Baltimore defensive starters put us 15th oldest
N.o. Slightly older at 13th.

[PolishRifle]

Ravens have the 15th-oldest defensive starters. The area Baltimore is really old is on offense. The Ravens actually have the oldest offensive starters with Vonta Leach (30), Bryant McKinnie (32), Matt Birk (36), Bobbie Williams (35) and Anquan Boldin (31).

The Steelers have the oldest defense in the league. Brett Keisel (33), Casey Hampton (34), James Harrison (34) and Larry Foote (32), Ike Taylor (32) and Ryan Clark (32) and Troy Polamalu (31).

I think age is a bit of over-rated stat. You can make your overall defense alot younger, just implenting one rookie, but would that really have this much of an impact on the actual game result? Were the Steelers not the no.1 ranked defense last year? Did Anquan still play at a high level?

[Tiz]

If you wanna mess with him let him know Brees is 0-3 against Baltimore
http://espn.go.com/blog/nfcwest/post/_/id/72847/which-teams-have-youngest-oldest-starters

And for more uselessness
http://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/game_query.cgi?tm1=rav&tm2=nor&yr=all
All time we are 4-1 vs them. Beat them in 2006 and 2010

[jdynamite]

[quote name='Tiz' timestamp='1347032175' post='1141623']
If you wanna mess with him let him know Brees is 0-3 against Baltimore
[url="http://espn.go.com/blog/nfcwest/post/_/id/72847/which-teams-have-youngest-oldest-starters"]http://espn.go.com/b...oldest-starters[/url]

And for more uselessness
[url="http://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/game_query.cgi?tm1=rav&tm2=nor&yr=all"]http://www.pro-footb...&tm2=nor&yr=all[/url]
All time we are 4-1 vs them. Beat them in 2006 and 2010
[/quote]

Lol, you and I are alike because that's what I said during the argument then I told the Cowboys at the table go check y'all record against us too....

[Tiz]

[quote name='jdynamite' timestamp='1347032626' post='1141632']


Lol, you and I are alike because that's what I said during the argument then I told the Cowboys at the table go check y'all record against us too....
[/quote]

I just remind cowboy fans that we closed down Texas stadium

[CapoRocky]

The Saints are a good team and anytime Brees is leading the charge they are a force to be reckoned with. Still, I think we will be putting up a lot of points this year, too. Advantage Ravens defense over Saints offense. Advantage Ravens offense over Saints defense. We don't play them in the regular season this year, but I wouldn't be surprised if we both met in the Super Bowl.

[Militant X 1]

[quote name='jdynamite' timestamp='1347025214' post='1141576']
So I live in Louisiana, the land of the New-Saints fans post SuperBowl lol... So the argument goes the Saints will win the Superbowl they can't be stopped, I say " well just like last year, the Saints also can't stop anyone either!"

His response was well The Ravens Defense is too old to stop the Saints....
So I said " tell me how many starters are over 30 then tell me how old we are?" [u][b]He names Ed Reed and Ray Lewis then struggles. I said that's it! U watch too much Espn[/b][/u], our defense has more young starters than old it just happens that our 2 all time greats are old!
[/quote]

that's where everyone outside of us (Ravens nation) stutters and stammer. they have no clue as to how youthful we really are because they watch and listen to the talking heads too much. lol!

~Mili

[hawkprey]

People really have no clue about our defense. All they know is Ray, Ed, and not Suggs is out. Last year they knew nothing about Suggs and suddenly now that he's gone we're doomed. We're the only team who can start 9 guys under 30 and still be too old. Ray is in the best shape any 37 year old has ever been, and Ed at 33 isn't really that old.

Did the math:
Average age of starters: 27.9

Average age of backups: 25.75

If you had to do a study about age of defensive players I'm sure these numbers would be about where you want them to be. The backups are going to be younger, and you want some experience in your starters. Our youngest starter on D is 24 (Cody), and that's pretty good because you don't want to have to start a really young player.

[Gordo52]

Like Ray says, we have a great combination of youth and expierence. Well Ray said that last year so I don't know now.

Ray and Ed are so nice, that despite their age they can still perform great.

[K-Dog]

[quote name='PolishRifle' timestamp='1347031834' post='1141619']
Ravens have the 15th-oldest defensive starters. The area Baltimore is really old is on offense. The Ravens actually have the oldest offensive starters


The Steelers have the oldest defense in the league.

[/quote]

Intresting stat. This is going to have some legs for sure.

[NaveSenrag]

Brees isn't exactly young himself. We'll see how good the Saints are after he retires in a few years.

[cobrajet]

What do you expect from people that go around saying, "Who Dat."

[Grapple Raven]

Lmao, that was a good one Cobrajet! Hope the same applies to the "who dey" Bengals, lol.

[SteelerStorm]

Hey you mean to tell me that New Orleans has a team...I remember the days of the Aints.......LOL. When did they come out the closet. Or shall i say the brown paper bag.....

[Crabcakes&Football]

Even bringing up Ray and Ed's age is a bad point. They're still Ray Lewis and Ed Reed, they are still great and still play at high levels. Sure there is a risk of injury, but the way they take care of their bodies it's not really much higher than guys 10 years younger than them.

[flynismo]

[quote name='hawkprey' timestamp='1347041518' post='1141714']
People really have no clue about our defense. All they know is Ray, Ed, and not Suggs is out. Last year they knew nothing about Suggs and suddenly now that he's gone we're doomed.
[/quote]

In their defense, half of our own fan base had no idea how good Suggs is until last season. I need to put his picture back up in my sig

[jdynamite]

[quote name='SteelerStorm' timestamp='1347067469' post='1142040']
Hey you mean to tell me that New Orleans has a team...I remember the days of the Aints.......LOL. When did they come out the closet. Or shall i say the brown paper bag.....
[/quote]

That's what annoys me so much now, I have lived in Louisiana all my life, where I live there is a 2 hour drive to New Orleans and a 2 hour drive to Houston.... It's always been more Cowboy fans than anything, barely ever met a Saint Fan, sure Ricky Williams Joe Horn brought a few people back, but it wasn't until the SuperBowl season all these bandwagon fans came out the wood-work... that Who Dat nonsense became so annoying that season in my college classes people were saying that, at work everywhere

I once had an argument about how it was stupid for me to be a Raven's fan and live in Louisiana, my reply was okay so if in Nevada or Alaska or any other state with no football team should I not watch football at all or just not have a favorite team???

[jdynamite]

[quote name='hawkprey' timestamp='1347041518' post='1141714']
People really have no clue about our defense. All they know is Ray, Ed, and not Suggs is out. Last year they knew nothing about Suggs and suddenly now that he's gone we're doomed. We're the only team who can start 9 guys under 30 and still be too old. Ray is in the best shape any 37 year old has ever been, and Ed at 33 isn't really that old.

[/quote]

Exactly, today at work I'm talking to a Steeler Fan, he is yapping about how our defense gone be so sorry without Suggs, and Ray Lewis need to get the arthritis pills and sit next to him ( he is 60 yrs old ), I said well James Harrison in worst shape than Ray Lewis he can't walk right now without getting his knee scoped and he like 34.... Y'all have the oldest defense not us, he was shocked when I pulled they roster up on my iphone to show him all those 30+ players lol... Then I said, Suggs is good don't get me wrong, but Ngata still has to get double teamed every play, Cody will bring Doubles occasionally and we had several young players with multiple sacks last year ( now sure some of those sacks were due to Suggs drawing extra attention but the Steeler fan didn't know that lol)..

I simply said, " Suggs will be missed sure, but I'm just hoping that I don't have to miss Chuck Pagano, because the Preseason really didn't give me an idea of if Dean Peas is closer to Mattison or Pagano with pressure"

[JEEPercreepermd]

[quote name='jdynamite' timestamp='1347078686' post='1142148']
Exactly, today at work I'm talking to a Steeler Fan, he is yapping about how our defense gone be so sorry without Suggs, and Ray Lewis need to get the arthritis pills and sit next to him ( he is 60 yrs old ), I said well James Harrison in worst shape than Ray Lewis he can't walk right now without getting his knee scoped and he like 34.... Y'all have the oldest defense not us, he was shocked when I pulled they roster up on my iphone to show him all those 30+ players lol... Then I said, Suggs is good don't get me wrong, but Ngata still has to get double teamed every play, Cody will bring Doubles occasionally and we had several young players with multiple sacks last year ( now sure some of those sacks were due to Suggs drawing extra attention but the Steeler fan didn't know that lol)..

I simply said, " Suggs will be missed sure, but I'm just hoping that I don't have to miss Chuck Pagano, because the Preseason really didn't give me an idea of if Dean Peas is closer to Mattison or Pagano with pressure"
[/quote]

Funny, the talking heads have been talking about the Raven's defense being old for about 7 years now lol. The truth is that the Ravens have been letting go older players consistantly and replacing them with young talent.

This is actually the YOUNGEST that this defense has been over the past few years. Oh and you are exactly right about the Steelers.
James Harrisson has a glass knee, Troy Aikman..I mean Polamalu is nowhere NEAR the same player he was a few years ago, and has been exposed as a liability in coverage.

Also to answer your question about Dean Peas being closer to Chuck Pagano or Greg Mattison as far as scheme goes?

Mattison was a great DC in college, but the problem was that he brough his COLLEGE defensive schemes with him and really was given the job because he's part of the Harbaugh family coaching tree. Most impressive was that the defense under him was able to keep it's self in the top 10 ..mainly because of the talent on the field..he believed in playing vanilla and having success because of winning your 1 on 1 matchup. Before his first season, he even admitted that the Ravens were really only going to be running base 3-4 or 4-3 most of the time..a far cry from the multiple schemes of rex ryan before him.
If I were to grade Mattison on just game planning and scheme alone I'd probably give him a C- or D for both

Pagano had been with the Ravens for years, and basically just re-installed the TRUE Raven's defensive schemes. He game planned perfectly week in and week out..we all know the rest. Great defense last season.

Dean Peas is running basically the same defense that Pagano ran last year. He's been proven in the past as the Patriot's DC (Remember, during the SB WINNING years it was their DEFENSE that carried them..not the offense)

During pre-season game against Detriot (the Raven's dress rehearsal) there was A LOT of pre-snap movement from the defense, and the FULL starting unit held up against Stafford and Co. only giving up one or two FG's.

Sure, the loss of Suggs hurts..but I think everyone is forgetting that he'll be back eventually. Even a Suggs at 80% is better than 90% of the league at his position.

[plesiosaur]

[quote]Funny, the talking heads have been talking about the Raven's defense being old for about 7 years now lol. The truth is that the Ravens have been letting go older players consistantly and replacing them with young talent.[/quote]

I went through a bunch of Google hits when I searched "aging defense Ravens" and the oldest one I remember finding was from like 2008. It seems like it's been longer than that though.

[flaccopoe]

I have complete confidence in the Ravens' D. More concerned with the O-line, though they were pretty good last season. While I'm here, I also wish to express my excitement about our new kicker! I don't expect him to be the next Akers, but at least as good as Bailey.

[ravensfolife]

[quote name='Tiz' timestamp='1347032683' post='1141633']
I just remind cowboy fans that we closed down Texas stadium
[/quote]turned the lights off lol