Article: the roster is a mess, and the coaches are at fault

[ratedr]

Thought this was a pretty good read from Russell Street Report.

http://russellstreetreport.com/ravens-roster-configuration-leaves-team-vulnerable/

They also have another great article detailing how the defense performed. I'm still waiting on the offensive report.

I just don't think this is a playoff roster right now, which is why I'm a bit pessimistic. Thoughts?

And for the crowd in the back, nobody is saying fire Harbaugh or fire Ozzie. But even they make mistakes sometimes.

If we make the playoffs Harbaugh deserves coach of the year.

[K-Dog]

Cause ONE GAME provides ample information.

[ratedr]

Cause ONE GAME provides ample information.

I've had my concerns about this throughout the preseason. Game 1 was just confirmation.

[redrum52]

I'm not saying that the beating wasn't bad, but remember we did to the Steelers 2 years ago on opening day? Games like this happen and that team also went on to finish 12-4 (to get Tebowed). We should have tempered expectations and realized that Manning vs an all new backfield should've caused some trouble. The "completion" was a huge momentum swing and they capitalized when the opportunities came. Season's not a sprint, but a marathon. Look at it now as instead of losing at home, we have an extra home game now and a tough road game out of the way. The team has also been humbled and maybe brought down to earth after feeling themselves too much.

[Guest RBates]

Great find, our roster is in shambles.  4 corners?  What in the world.  

 

No backup return man?  Are you kidding me?

 

Get these backup guys off the roster.  Now it's time to release a few of the hidden gems and bring back the real talent.

 

Juan Castillo if I see one more game like the O-line played the other day I will lobby day and night until you are out of Baltimore.  

 

Completely unacceptable.

[rmw10]

I don't think it's a mess. I think the plan was to go in with what we have and make the moves after the first game, when contracts aren't guaranteed. I think we'll adjust accordingly early next week.

[PuRock]

I found this part the most interesting int he article:

 

Back in 1969 during week 2 of the season, the Baltimore Colts fresh off a bitter defeat at the hands of the New York Jets in Super Bowl III, were thrashed by the Minnesota Vikings by the score of 52-14. Quarterback Joe Kapp led the way with…you guessed it, 7 scoring throws.

 

Talk about coincidence.  I knew Manning had tied the record last done by Kapp.  But I didn't know Kapp did it against the Colts....after they just appeared in the SB. 

[The Oakland Cathedral]

As soon as Asa comes back the return and CB problems should be boosted immensely although that's not for a while. We can survive til then.

[WeBleedPurple]

I dont really disagree. We have nobody to return kicks. Putting Pierce and Webb to reurn kicks?! If anything happened to them we'd be screwed. Too risky.

[PuRock]

I dont really disagree. We have nobody to return kicks. Putting Pierce and Webb to reurn kicks?! If anything happened to them we'd be screwed. Too risky.

 

I will guarantee that neither Pierce or Webb will be returning kicks come next Sunday.  Webb was only out there to fair catch.

 

I still think we sign back one of our ST guys, since their contract isn't guaranteed.  

[ratedr]

I don't think it's a mess. I think the plan was to go in with what we have and make the moves after the first game, when contracts aren't guaranteed. I think we'll adjust accordingly early next week.

But now bums like Grandpa Clark and Shipley have guaranteed contracts.

[Guest RBates]

I don't think it's a mess. I think the plan was to go in with what we have and make the moves after the first game, when contracts aren't guaranteed. I think we'll adjust accordingly early next week.

I hope you are right.

[runamuk]

I don't think it's a mess. I think the plan was to go in with what we have and make the moves after the first game, when contracts aren't guaranteed. I think we'll adjust accordingly early next week.

I agree with this . it was one game we aren't talking about Freeman , or Sanchez or gabbert beating us this badly . Let's not forget we have two players suspended right now one is a very dangerous return specialist . Plus another returner is injured . we will be fine and I still believe we have at min 11 wins and we beat the seahawks or 49ers in the superbowl . we have Joe .  

[buckwild307]

i hate his report i think information is invalid

[buckwild307]

I will guarantee that neither Pierce or Webb will be returning kicks come next Sunday.  Webb was only out there to fair catch.

 

I still think we sign back one of our ST guys, since their contract isn't guaranteed.  

yes i agree with the first part the second part not so much

[tctony]

I know, I know: "cap reasons." But I think losing Anquan is very detrimental to this team and it gets amplified even further with the injuries to Pitta and now Jacoby.

 

The team was supposed to become an offensive team, but now we're very very thin at the receiving position.

 

I remain optimistic about the offensive because the offensive line looked very good before Oher went down. Once Oher gets back I think we will be OK there.

 

Defense remains to be seen. We were playing a pretty stacked offense which is a tough task for a group of guy's first assignment together. 

 

I think we will still make the playoffs and more than likely win the division. 

[Bullrush]

Dumb article. We've had a situation like that last season and I think we won the superbowl, not sure. One week we played absolutely terrible, missed tackles left and right, drops, couldn't complete passes, nothing worked out the way we wanted. Next week against the SB champs (Giants) everything was perfect. Ray mentioned it during our America's Game. This team has everything to go all the way, we just need to fix the issues we have right now and get some guys healthy ASAP.

[buckwild307]

Dumb article. We've had a situation like that last season and I think we won the superbowl, not sure. One week we played absolutely terrible, missed tackles left and right, drops, couldn't complete passes, nothing worked out the way we wanted. Next week against the SB champs (Giants) everything was perfect. Ray mentioned it during our America's Game. This team has everything to go all the way, we just need to fix the issues we have right now and get some guys healthy ASAP.

i disagree with this statment we werent terrible we just had an off day beside the offense to me looked fine and everything in place to do it back to back we dont have that but what we do have is more heart and hustle than most teams but i dout we could do it back to back but we will see i would be happy if they did but its very un likely

[Bullrush]

i disagree with this statment we werent terrible we just had an off day beside the offense to me looked fine and everything in place to do it back to back we dont have that but what we do have is more heart and hustle than most teams but i dout we could do it back to back but we will see i would be happy if they did but its very un likely

Don't be silly. We threw the ball 40 times (50%) and had a fluke TD when Pitta broke a long one for over 60 yards. The passing stats were basically the same as this week. The team we played was the same, the score was basically the same, the running game (terrible) was the same. That was an off day, so was this week. They'll give the right answer next week.

[PeRK82]

Great find, our roster is in shambles.  4 corners?  What in the world.  

 

No backup return man?  Are you kidding me?

 

Get these backup guys off the roster.  Now it's time to release a few of the hidden gems and bring back the real talent.

 

Juan Castillo if I see one more game like the O-line played the other day I will lobby day and night until you are out of Baltimore.  

 

Completely unacceptable.

 

 

He already got Andy Reid Fired from Philly, well not completely but he sure as heck helped.

[PeRK82]

I blame the Play calling.

 

Trying to Run the ball when its 2nd and 19. Really,  running the ball on every single 1st down.  Its hard to move the chains when you basically only have 1 down to work with because the first 2 downs where rushes between  -2 - +1 yards.

 

Only time we moved the ball was when we threw it ( and when the wrers caught it ) and yet we still kept trying to run it even though we picked their D apart and you could see they were gassed.

 

Manning did the samething except he kept throwing it and we all saw the outcome of that now didnt we.

[T3hRaven]

He already got Andy Reid Fired from Philly, well not completely but he sure as heck helped.

 

That was because Reid was an idiot who thought an OL coach should be a DC.

[AlaskanRavensFan]

I have to admit, I was surprised by some of the same things. (4 corners, 2 RBs and 5 safeties) It seemed strange to me then and seems ill-advised to me now.

 

I remember Harbs talking about the best 53 making the team. I wonder if that was the rationale behind making moves like Doss, Reed, Rainey etc. I think the Ravens intended to keep Rainey on the PS, but he was claimed by Cleveland (always trying to take our leftovers...smh). 

 

I really thought Reed and Rainey would have been useful to have on the roster because both could return kicks and punts (although Reed has fumbling problems) and Reed plays gunner quite well. Rainey would have been a solid #3, but I think having 2 fullbacks on the roster doomed him.

 

I think the Ravens kept less corners because they realized that Huff could play CB if needed. I still am not sure though why Jensen has been kept on the roster? He seemed like a definite candidate for IR to me. 

 

I think we may see some roster changes in the next few weeks. Not major ones, but Ozzy didn't bring in any craft vets like he usually does. Maybe there is someone still out there that could come in and contribute something to the team?

 

I hope so, because I am definitely nervous about our depth at several positions.

[Greatness]

Dean Pees is the root of all evil! And if people could catch, Ravens easily win 31-14. Oh, and Ryan Wagner betraying [b]The Mighty Joe Flacco[/b] didn't help either.

[PolishRifle]

I think this sums up our current situation pretty well:

 

 

I'm just sayin'. You know?

[Bltravens]

I think this sums up our current situation pretty well:

 

 

I'm just sayin'. You know?

Isn't that the Mortal Combat emblem lol?

On topic though, Jackson is the #5 corner.  Im assuming they didn't resign Johnson prior to this because they didn't want to guarantee the salary.  Also someone else said it but Huff plays corner as well so there's your 5th CB.  Having the two guys in Thompson and Jackson ineligible, who would be on the active roster on gameday, doesn't help things.

 

The no 3rd HB is a head scratcher but it's because we have 2 FBs.   

[ratedr]

Dumb article. We've had a situation like that last season and I think we won the superbowl, not sure. One week we played absolutely terrible, missed tackles left and right, drops, couldn't complete passes, nothing worked out the way we wanted. Next week against the SB champs (Giants) everything was perfect. Ray mentioned it during our America's Game. This team has everything to go all the way, we just need to fix the issues we have right now and get some guys healthy ASAP.

This isn't like last year at all. We looked good last preseason and our biggest personnel issue during the preseason was kicker.

Right now all of the question marks and concerns about TE and OL, among other things, have proven legitimate.

[BigBadJohn]

Hate to say it, but this team is way overrated

[ratedr]

I think this sums up our current situation pretty well:



I'm just sayin'. You know?

So we're washed up and not as good as we used to be.

Because that's the very definition of Mortal Kombat lol.

[mgridda]

Marlon Brown will have a better year in 2013 than Anquan Boldin had in 2012, and better than he will have in 2013. Quote that. Remember it.

2012: Week 1 against Cincinnati, Boldin had 4 catches for 63 yards and 1 touchdown.
2013: Week 1 against Denver, Brown had 4 catches for 65 yards and 1 touchdown.

The issue wasn't in losing Anquan Boldin. The issue was in losing Dennis Pitta. No one could forsee Pitta's injury, or Jacoby's. Now we don't have a return man and Bobby Rainey is on the Brown's roster.


This wasn't really a beat down. I know it looked like a beat down, but at the end of the half: we were winning. And if Clark would have not dropped a pass, we would have been winning 21 - 14. The ref makes the right call/the drop gets challenged, and the game is completely different. But we really shouldn't be the kind of team, who, when something goes wrong everything just continues to go bad. And that, I do blame on the lack of communication in the backfield. But that's something that will improve with time. Jimmy Smith, Lardarius Webb, Michael Huff, Dig and Graham have never started before. You know who is very vocal and communicative?

Matt Elam. Bench Dig, start Elam. Dig made some plays, but missed some plays too.