The Ravens are pretenders, not contenders...

[black blood purple passion]

[quote name='PuRock' timestamp='1352999906' post='1219715']
You obviously don't know ratedr well enough. He's sharing this to be negative and to stir the pot. That's his MO.
[/quote]
Well lets tell him that pittsburgh had lots of nice steel pots he can stir in their fan base!

[jdynamite]

[quote name='ratedr' timestamp='1352939763' post='1219344']
...according to this guy: http://insider.espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/8630684/nfl-five-reasons-why-baltimore-ravens-pretenders-not-contenders

Anyone with ESPN Insider care to give a summary? A bit ridiculous to single out the Ravens, considering every team is pretty flawed to some degree.

[/quote]

I have an insider account, ( first KC Joyner is a stats freak so he usually finds ways to name a stat that most people never heard of to justify himself. ) so basically it says : 5 reasons ravens won't do well in the playoffs. He points out that according to stats collected Flacco is taking more risky passes this year as opposed to previous years or league average ( which means it could lead to disaster for us ), then he talks about how the first 6 games our GRB ( good run-blocking rate) stat was great at 51.8% but over the last 3 games its only 43.5% with 2 of the teams having statistically bad run defenses.
Followed by comments of how Ray Rice has struggled to gain positive yards on many of the Good Run Blocking plays and if he continues to struggle we really have a problem.

Then he points out all of the statistically flaws in the defense and the fact that to go along with a terrible Run Defense Cary Williams and Jimmy smith both give up over 8.3 YPA which means we aren't good versus the pass either.

He finishes up by saying " oh by the way the ravens are only 7-2 because of a favorable schedule with 2 wins against Cleveland , 1 Oakland, lucky win at KC 9-6 , and we loss to the pathetic struggling eagles.

( I found it funny he mention we lost to lowly eagles but at the time Eagles had a winning record, it's before their losing streak! no mention of the win over the Patriots, Bengals, Cowboys).

[nk02442]

[quote name='Ravenslifer' timestamp='1352944880' post='1219406']
And since when should we care what ESPN thinks? They said Ray was too old, that Ed was too old. They said we hired the wrong guy in Harbs over Garrett or Rex. They said we'd never win the division with Roethlisberger playing. They said this year Andy Dalton would outduel Flacco and it might be the Steelers and Bengals, with the Ravens as the third team in the division. They said after the Houston game last year that there was no way we'd even be able to hang with the Patriots.
[/quote]

Ray and Ed are both old. They need to retires as both are liabilities. Keeping them around is a waste of cap space and it does not allow our younger guys to get the PT they need to devlop into solid starters.

Harbs was the wrong choice for a coach. He is a fool, and surrounds himself with fools. He wins in spite of his poor coaching and decision making beacuse of the strong organization and vet leadership on the team.

Andy Dalton thus far has been a better QB than Flacco. Replace Dalton with Flacco for 5 years and you get more favorable results. Cam would still [profanity deleted] up however.

[Bltravens]

[quote name='nk02442' timestamp='1353008169' post='1219834']
Ray and Ed are both old. They need to retires as both are liabilities. Keeping them around is a waste of cap space and it does not allow our younger guys to get the PT they need to devlop into solid starters.

Harbs was the wrong choice for a coach. He is a fool, and surrounds himself with fools. He wins in spite of his poor coaching and decision making beacuse of the strong organization and vet leadership on the team.

Andy Dalton thus far has been a better QB than Flacco. Replace Dalton with Flacco for 5 years and you get more favorable results. Cam would still [profanity deleted] up however.
[/quote]
Rex had strong veteran leadership in New York when he started and he still has reliable leaders in Harris, Mangold, and Revis. Rex has effectively turned that team into a circus with his additions of players and his team management.

[CalvinSmoke]

[quote name='nk02442' timestamp='1353008169' post='1219834']


Ray and Ed are both old. They need to retires as both are liabilities. Keeping them around is a waste of cap space and it does not allow our younger guys to get the PT they need to devlop into solid starters.

Harbs was the wrong choice for a coach. He is a fool, and surrounds himself with fools. He wins in spite of his poor coaching and decision making beacuse of the strong organization and vet leadership on the team.

Andy Dalton thus far has been a better QB than Flacco. Replace Dalton with Flacco for 5 years and you get more favorable results. Cam would still [profanity deleted] up however.
[/quote]Nothing but venom... goodness gracious.
Harbs is a good coach, He's not the best coach in the NFL but he doens't have to be. The players love him, and he united the team. There is no longer division amongst defense and offense and he has given us a much better reputation that we used to have.

And Andy Dalton being better than Joe Flacco, mabye your right that's objectional. But who cares, Luck is better than Dalton, so should the Bengals just abandon ship and give up? Heck no, you work with what you have. Every person on the staff isn't going to be the G.O.A.T. you work with what you get, master your system and fight for one goal. Stop with all this non sense man.

[callahan09]

In the past 2 seasons, Flacco has a 12-2 record (6-1 both years) and a 95.4 QB Rating in the final 7 games of the regular season. Overall in his entire career, we are 21-7 and he has an 89.4 QB Rating in the final 7 games of the season. So he's pretty good late in the season, and we win a lot of games late in the season.

In the first 9 games of the season in 2010 and 2011, he was 12-6 (6-3 both years) with an 82.1 QB Rating. Overall in his entire career, he is 23-13 with an 83.8 Rating in the first 9 games of the season.

This year in the first 9 games he has gone 7-2 (best ever during the first 9 games for Flacco), and has an 88.3 Rating.

So in the two most recent seasons, he improves from an 83.8 to a [b]95.4[/b] QB Rating, and from a .667 to an [b].857[/b] winning percentage. And overall in his career, he improves from an 82.1 QB Rating to an 89.4 QB Rating, and from a .639 to a .750 winning percentage.

So all signs point to this being the best season for Flacco with a well above average QB Rating and record at this point in the season than his previous seasons' average, and with a strong history of doing significantly better from this point in the season to the end...

[ellicottraven]

Do you really want to dignify and give credence to what some moron at ESPN says with a thread? No man, we have never been pretenders! Tell that fool at ESPN, no pretender makes the AFC championship game 2 out of 4 years and wins a playoff game every year. No QB ever has made it to the playoffs 4 straight years like Joe Flacco has. And he isn't stopping, he is going to make a 5th straight playoff appearance!

Pretenders my foot! If anything that guy is pretending to be a journalist. Now that is the truth!

[jdynamite]

[quote name='nk02442' timestamp='1353008169' post='1219834']


Ray and Ed are both old. They need to retires as both are liabilities. Keeping them around is a waste of cap space and it does not allow our younger guys to get the PT they need to devlop into solid starters.

Harbs was the wrong choice for a coach. He is a fool, and surrounds himself with fools. He wins in spite of his poor coaching and decision making beacuse of the strong organization and vet leadership on the team.

Andy Dalton thus far has been a better QB than Flacco. Replace Dalton with Flacco for 5 years and you get more favorable results. Cam would still [profanity deleted] up however.
[/quote]

In all honesty there are no young players at either FS or ILB that Ed or Reed are preventing from developing. Both ellerbe and McClain are solid but average players, C.Thompson isn't ready to start at either Safety position Consindine, Ihdeibo surely aren't being held back by Ed reed.

Bobbie Williams may be holding back the development of Reid or Harewood ( whom played to similar level ) Birk might be hindering Gradkowski somewhat since Birk has up and down games...

Many of us including myself have been wanting to see young player get more time like McPhee, Kruger , Cody as they developed over years behind redding Johnson Gregg but what are seeing is the growing pains of inconsistent players.

[Fuego]

[quote name='hawkprey' timestamp='1352950430' post='1219472']
It all makes sense why we are 7-2 if you just accept the fact that Flacco is one of the best QBs in the league. Anyone who can't comprehend that is struggling to make sense of our season.

By the way, in 2009, the Saints were the luckiest team in the league.
[/quote]

Katrina refs.

[justifythegame]

So to sum up the tone of this thread:
If you are a Ravens fan, bash and discredit any person, article, or company that publishes an article that says something negative about the Ravens and praise anyone who does the opposite.

Maybe i just was too much to expect objectivity on a RAVENS FORUM.

[tctony]

[quote name='callahan09' timestamp='1353009513' post='1219855']
In the past 2 seasons, Flacco has a 12-2 record (6-1 both years) and a 95.4 QB Rating in the final 7 games of the regular season. Overall in his entire career, we are 21-7 and he has an 89.4 QB Rating in the final 7 games of the season. So he's pretty good late in the season, and we win a lot of games late in the season.

In the first 9 games of the season in 2010 and 2011, he was 12-6 (6-3 both years) with an 82.1 QB Rating. Overall in his entire career, he is 23-13 with an 83.8 Rating in the first 9 games of the season.

This year in the first 9 games he has gone 7-2 (best ever during the first 9 games for Flacco), and has an 88.3 Rating.

So in the two most recent seasons, he improves from an 83.8 to a [b]95.4[/b] QB Rating, and from a .667 to an [b].857[/b] winning percentage. And overall in his career, he improves from an 82.1 QB Rating to an 89.4 QB Rating, and from a .639 to a .750 winning percentage.

So all signs point to this being the best season for Flacco with a well above average QB Rating and record at this point in the season than his previous seasons' average, and with a strong history of doing significantly better from this point in the season to the end...
[/quote]

Lol facts don't matter to Flacco haters.

If Tom Brady went 12-4 every single year but had a mustache people would hate him.

[nk02442]

[quote name='Bltravens' timestamp='1353009248' post='1219848']
Rex had strong veteran leadership in New York when he started and he still has reliable leaders in Harris, Mangold, and Revis. Rex has effectively turned that team into a circus with his additions of players and his team management.
[/quote]

Revis was never a leader. Always a selfish, Me type player. They dont have strong leadership and considering Bart Scott was their defensive cap, that tells you something.

[PolishRifle]

Whatever. If we win the next 4 games, 1 against Ben-less Steelers at PItt, where we previously had success, 1 against the Chargers, who have alot of problems (that's what you get for breaking our hearts JJ), 1 against the Steelers at the Bank (as in a W is as safe here as in a Bank) and 1 against the Skins, a team that doesn't have a good defense, we will have won the AFC North. It's a layup.
The only problem we might have is, that Te'o could potentially end up on the Steelers and that would make me sad. Well that and that we need to figure out how to beat the Texans.