The Vent Thread 2014 Draft

[flynismo]

I feel the reason he got away from patience is the lack of holes that were created.  I think he felt a little barry sanders syndrome, he has to make it happen, our oline was not good last year.  I dont think rice has ever been that rb that will completely change a game by himself, ive pushed for a long time he needs to be more of a receiving rb, him in chip kellys offense would be awesome. 

Last year, without a question. His frustration was tangible, even when he smiled for the cameras.

[arnie_uk]

JAck Mehwort got picked by the Colts over Moses for a reason. I'm thinking the pros had him lower than us.

and jamarcus russel went no.1 overall for a reason to... How'd that turn out?

That's a stupid argument

[beasy2487]

Sticking with the same "contrarian" theme,

 

Oz has excelled as greatly these past 2 years as he did the previous 17.  He's a "lifer" and has done no wrong.  They'll carry him out before the reigns are passed!!! And even then they'll deify him like a catholic saint with his own sarcophagus right there in the G.M.'s box at M & T Bank Stadium.

 

Such a great point. It's shameful really. Especially when you've got guys like Matt Millen out there with a storied track record of failure just waiting for an opportunity. I mean, when you're the worst team in the league like we were last year and clearly will continue to be this year given our focus on "defense", whatever that means, there's nowhere to go but up, right? Right?!

 

Bisciotti, I know you follow my posts avidly, so on behalf of the genius' here in Ravens talk stop the charade and hire Matt Millen.

[BmoreBird22]

Not true at all.

I'll try to see if I can't find. It started popping up around the draft. There is a reason he went from being a possible first rounder in the eyes of analysts to a third rounder to Washington, who reaches to no end

[ravensdfan]

Such a great point. It's shameful really. Especially when you've got guys like Matt Millen out there with a storied track record of failure just waiting for an opportunity. I mean, when you're the worst team in the league like we were last year and clearly will continue to be this year given our focus on "defense", whatever that means, there's nowhere to go but up, right? Right?!

 

Bisciotti, I know you follow my posts avidly, so on behalf of the genius' here in Ravens talk stop the charade and hire Matt Millen.

 

You really have to put down the purple shades for a moment and look at what we've realistically got on offense.

 

An aging vet coming off his worst year ever. An aging TE coming off injury who failed his medical. Pitta coming off a serious hip injury. A solid #2 WR in Torrey. An UDFA that surprised last season. A solid #3 WR in Jacoby. A 7th round WR (99% of the time - a project) A vet center also coming off his worst graded season and is only average prior to that, KO coming off a back injury, Wagner who was less than impressive at RT, Monroe (yay!).

 

About the only thing we can safely assume is a definite upgrade is Kubiak.

 

Sure if everyone comes back from injury back to their old selves - we're good. That is a pretty big "if" though.

[beasy2487]

You really have to put down the purple shades for a moment and look at what we've realistically got on offense.

 

An aging vet coming off his worst year ever. An aging TE coming off injury who failed his medical. Pitta coming off a serious hip injury. A solid #2 WR in Torrey. An UDFA that surprised last season. A solid #3 WR in Jacoby. A 7th round WR (99% of the time - a project) A vet center also coming off his worst graded season and is only average prior to that, KO coming off a back injury, Wagner who was less than impressive at RT, Monroe (yay!).

 

About the only thing we can safely assume is a definite upgrade is Kubiak.

 

Sure if everyone comes back from injury back to their old selves - we're good. That is a pretty big "if" though.

 

Negativity as realism and positivity as homerism, such a tired point. Uncertainty is constant. Maybe our strategy won't play out, maybe it will. I trust our strategy. You don't. It's an impasse, not sure why we're still arguing. The only difference is I will continue to be happy and support the strategy I think is right, you will continue to be disappointed and upset. If we win it all I get validation, you get "Oh well that was lucky."Can't be a good feeling. Although, the odds are always against us, that's the nature of competition, I just like to live on the upside. If I see something I don't like, I critique it once I have evidence that allows me to do so. I'm just not one to stomp my feet and clench my fists when things don't go my way.

[ravensdfan]

Negativity as realism and positivity as homerism, such a tired point. Uncertainty is constant. Maybe our strategy won't play out, maybe it will. I trust our strategy. You don't. It's an impasse, not sure why we're still arguing. The only difference is I will continue to be happy and support the strategy I think is right, you will continue to be disappointed and upset. The only difference is, if we win it all I get validation, you get "Oh well that was lucky." Can't be a good feeling.

 

And if we don't win it all?

 

Hey I'm happy to be wrong. I'd like nothing better.

 

And it isn't positivity is homerism, it's that you are over the top with it refusing to realisitically look at what we  brought in for the offense. That makes it homerism. There is a positive outlook on reality and then there is fantasyland. You've done nothing but say how much we helped the offense this off season and even counted coaches like they were players. Ignoring the reality of what we added.

 

I love how reality is now negativity though lol Can you dispute anything there about our offense? No. It is just the reality. I do believe I even said if they come back to form we'll be all good. Only that acting like we've done this awesome job of upgrading the offense is a fantasy relying on a pretty big "if".

[flynismo]

 

 

You've done nothing but say how much we helped the offense this off season and even counted coaches like they were players. Ignoring the reality of what we added.

Well, lol...look at our biggest complaints from last year:

 

1. Poor positional coaching

2. Poor performance from the OC

3. Poor OL (which naturally led to the downfall of the pass and run attacks)

4. Not enough weapons for Flacco

 

We addressed those problems by adding:

 

1. Bobby Engram, to replace Hostler

2. Kubiak, who is one of the most successful and respected OC in the league (and brought a coach with him)

3. Brought back Monroe, traded for Zuttah, and told Oher to hit the road, as well as adding Urschel, who might start for us as soon as this year (if Wagner struggles, I fully expect Urschel to step in at OG and KO move to RT)

4. Brought in S Smith and Owen Daniels. No, that is not a long term solution, but it buys us a year to see what we truly have in Marlon Brown, and to see if Crockett Gilmore and Campanaro were good choices.

 

That is the reality of what we added, and while I would love to have seen even more done, it is still a lot. He and the rest of us who share his sentiments by all reasonable accounts fall under "optimistically cautious" and not "homers"

[The Raven]

Well, lol...look at our biggest complaints from last year:

 

1. Poor positional coaching

2. Poor performance from the OC

3. Poor OL (which naturally led to the downfall of the pass and run attacks)

4. Not enough weapons for Flacco

 

We addressed those problems by adding:

 

1. Bobby Engram, to replace Hostler

2. Kubiak, who is one of the most successful and respected OC in the league (and brought a coach with him)

3. Brought back Monroe, traded for Zuttah, and told Oher to hit the road, as well as adding Urschel, who might start for us as soon as this year (if Wagner struggles, I fully expect Urschel to step in at OG and KO move to RT)

4. Brought in S Smith and Owen Daniels. No, that is not a long term solution, but it buys us a year to see what we truly have in Marlon Brown, and to see if Crockett Gilmore and Campanaro were good choices.

 

That is the reality of what we added, and while I would love to have seen even more done, it is still a lot. He and the rest of us who share his sentiments by all reasonable accounts fall under "optimistically cautious" and not "homers"

 

Bingo.

[jazz1988]

You really have to put down the purple shades for a moment and look at what we've realistically got on offense.

 

An aging vet coming off his worst year ever. An aging TE coming off injury who failed his medical. Pitta coming off a serious hip injury. A solid #2 WR in Torrey. An UDFA that surprised last season. A solid #3 WR in Jacoby. A 7th round WR (99% of the time - a project) A vet center also coming off his worst graded season and is only average prior to that, KO coming off a back injury, Wagner who was less than impressive at RT, Monroe (yay!).

 

About the only thing we can safely assume is a definite upgrade is Kubiak.

 

Sure if everyone comes back from injury back to their old selves - we're good. That is a pretty big "if" though.

 

The Panthers offensive coordinator is Mike Shula. Shula hasn't had a good history of ever being a great offensive coordinator or even a good one. Stevie Smith was also target alot less than in previous years which may mean they became more of a run first team . I'm not denying that Smith on the decline but it quite possible his production went down due to play calling and 2010 was actually his worst year ever.

 

The Owen Daniels situation is tricky cause he does have trouble staying healthy at times but there no doubt in my mind that he still  a solid tight end.I'm not sure if Dennis Pitta hip situation should be much  of a  concern and he definitely still has alot more time to  heal up to reach 100 percent if he isn't already. Marlon Brown definitely suprised last year and i expect him to continue to get better also Gary Kubiak loves big receivers so it may be interesting to see how he use Brown in his offense.

 

Jacoby Jones is indeed a  solid number 3 receiver and he also had better production in Gary Kubiak offense. I think Jones hands and route running ability has improved  since his Houston Texans days and he probably alot more mature as well. I'm interested to how  our  seventh round pick Micheal Campanaro pans out and was surprised he fell to the seventh round because I thought for sure he would had been gone by the end of the fourth or atleast the early portion of the fifth round. The way The Ravens traded back in to the seventh round to get Campanaro must mean they have some form of high hopes for him but we shall see how he pans out. The rest you mention is understandable but the new center we got is still better than what we had last year .

[gabefergy]

I'll try to see if I can't find. It started popping up around the draft. There is a reason he went from being a possible first rounder in the eyes of analysts to a third rounder to Washington, who reaches to no end

I think the fact that he lost 30 pounds in preparation for the draft erases any possible question that he has a poor work ethic.

[gabefergy]

Well, lol...look at our biggest complaints from last year:

1. Poor positional coaching

2. Poor performance from the OC

3. Poor OL (which naturally led to the downfall of the pass and run attacks)

4. Not enough weapons for Flacco

We addressed those problems by adding:

1. Bobby Engram, to replace Hostler

2. Kubiak, who is one of the most successful and respected OC in the league (and brought a coach with him)

3. Brought back Monroe, traded for Zuttah, and told Oher to hit the road, as well as adding Urschel, who might start for us as soon as this year (if Wagner struggles, I fully expect Urschel to step in at OG and KO move to RT)

4. Brought in S Smith and Owen Daniels. No, that is not a long term solution, but it buys us a year to see what we truly have in Marlon Brown, and to see if Crockett Gilmore and Campanaro were good choices.

That is the reality of what we added, and while I would love to have seen even more done, it is still a lot. He and the rest of us who share his sentiments by all reasonable accounts fall under "optimistically cautious" and not "homers"

Urschel is not an immediate fix and neither is moving KO to RT. That's a desperate move.

Zuutah is an improvement no doubt, but so far it's a swing and miss at RT. Actually, there was no swing just taking a couple called strikes.

[RavensNation14]

I think the fact that he lost 30 pounds in preparation for the draft erases any possible question that he has a poor work ethic.

I disagree. Shows how lazy he must have been at UV if he had that much extra weight. He may have worked hard to improve his draft stock, but now that he's drafted we will see if he actually continues working hard. I'm glad someone else has to deal with that problem because we've had to deal with players weight issues in the past. (Upshaw, Rice, McKinnie). 

 

Losing 30lbs is also extremely unhealthy and I highly doubt he's going to remain at that weight. A lot of that was water weight and dieting, not work ethic. 

[ravensdfan]

The Panthers offensive coordinator is Mike Shula. Shula hasn't had a good history of ever being a great offensive coordinator or even a good one. Stevie Smith was also target alot less than in previous years which may mean they became more of a run first team . I'm not denying that Smith on the decline but it quite possible his production went down due to play calling and 2010 was actually his worst year ever.

 

The Owen Daniels situation is tricky cause he does have trouble staying healthy at times but there no doubt in my mind that he still  a solid tight end.I'm not sure if Dennis Pitta hip situation should be much  of a  concern and he definitely still has alot more time to  heal up to reach 100 percent if he isn't already. Marlon Brown definitely suprised last year and i expect him to continue to get better also Gary Kubiak loves big receivers so it may be interesting to see how he use Brown in his offense.

 

Jacoby Jones is indeed a  solid number 3 receiver and he also had better production in Gary Kubiak offense. I think Jones hands and route running ability has improved  since his Houston Texans days and he probably alot more mature as well. I'm interested to how  our  seventh round pick Micheal Campanaro pans out and was surprised he fell to the seventh round because I thought for sure he would had been gone by the end of the fourth or atleast the early portion of the fifth round. The way The Ravens traded back in to the seventh round to get Campanaro must mean they have some form of high hopes for him but we shall see how he pans out. The rest you mention is understandable but the new center we got is still better than what we had last year .

 

And this is how you do optimistically cautious. Not the pom pom crowd.

 

I can agree with most everything you've said here. I was big on the S. Smith signing - you can check the thread out from the day we did that one. I wouldn't have been quite so happy about it if I knew it meant we were going to ignore any long term answer at WR though.

 

My biggest concern isn't even production to be honest. It is that unforseen injury - do we really want to be relying on Crockett Gilmore if Pitta or Daniels goes down? That sort of thing. We currently have no depth at TE or O line and what the depth we have at WR is pretty much late round or UDFA unknowns.

 

Optimism is great - and I hope our offense kicks up some dust this season - but that doesn't mean I don't think going all in on defense with the high picks was the rigth strategy for the long term health of this team.

[gabefergy]

I disagree. Shows how lazy he must have been at UV if he had that much extra weight. He may have worked hard to improve his draft stock, but now that he's drafted we will see if he actually continues working hard. I'm glad someone else has to deal with that problem because we've had to deal with players weight issues in the past. (Upshaw, Rice, McKinnie).

Losing 30lbs is also extremely unhealthy and I highly doubt he's going to remain at that weight. A lot of that was water weight and dieting, not work ethic.

I disagree. He was clearly carrying extra weight that was not necessary. When you are a college player, staying in perfect shape especially as an OL that big is not going to bbe a priority. His tape doesn't lie either. He's an excellent pass protector. How can you say that losing 30 pounds is unhealthy? Thats incredibly ignorant to say.

We missed on him plain and simple.

[RavensNation14]

I disagree. He was clearly carrying extra weight that was not necessary. When you are a college player, staying in perfect shape especially as an OL that big is not going to bbe a priority. His tape doesn't lie either. He's an excellent pass protector. How can you say that losing 30 pounds is unhealthy? Thats incredibly ignorant to say.

We missed on him plain and simple.

30 lbs extra weight? Come on now. Losing 30 lbs in the amount of time he did is extremely unhealthy. I'm not saying it to be ignorant, I'm just saying if your losing that much weight that fast it's not healthy at all. If he wasn't going to put in the effort in college to be in shape, what makes you think he will care in the NFL? Like I said we will see if he actually keeps his weight where it's at. He got by with natural talent in college and he's going to have a rude awakening when he plays in the NFL. 

 

We didn't miss on him, there's a reason why he was picked in the 3rd round. This guy was considered to go as early as the Dolphins and was considered a first round lock. His tape is one of the best out there for OT's, but the fact teams passed on him all throughout the 2nd says something about him that we don't know. 

 

I'd take Jernigan anyday over Moses. We got a steal in James Hurst as an UDFA who's tape was similar to Moses.  

[gabefergy]

30 lbs extra weight? Come on now. Losing 30 lbs in the amount of time he did is extremely unhealthy. I'm not saying it to be ignorant, I'm just saying if your losing that much weight that fast it's not healthy at all. If he wasn't going to put in the effort in college to be in shape, what makes you think he will care in the NFL? Like I said we will see if he actually keeps his weight where it's at.

We didn't miss on him, there's a reason why he was picked in the 3rd round. This guy was considered to go as early as the Dolphins and was considered a first round lock. His tape is one of the best out there for OT's, but the fact teams passed on him all throughout the 2nd says something about him that we don't know.

Losing in 30 pounds in 4+ months when you are overweight is not unhealthy.

[arnie_uk]

30 lbs extra weight? Come on now. Losing 30 lbs in the amount of time he did is extremely unhealthy. I'm not saying it to be ignorant, I'm just saying if your losing that much weight that fast it's not healthy at all. If he wasn't going to put in the effort in college to be in shape, what makes you think he will care in the NFL? Like I said we will see if he actually keeps his weight where it's at. He got by with natural talent in college and he's going to have a rude awakening when he plays in the NFL.

We didn't miss on him, there's a reason why he was picked in the 3rd round. This guy was considered to go as early as the Dolphins and was considered a first round lock. His tape is one of the best out there for OT's, but the fact teams passed on him all throughout the 2nd says something about him that we don't know.

I'd take Jernigan anyday over Moses. We got a steal in James Hurst as an UDFA who's tape was similar to Moses.

didnt jernigan lose alot of weight as well?

[RavensNation14]

didnt jernigan lose alot of weight as well?

Not sure I believe that. I'm leaning more towards he was trying to hide something, but who knows. He also only lost 15 lbs. which is not that bad. The fact Moses had to lose 30lbs. says something about his work ethic. He was inconsistent this year too and I like Hurst better than him. We got almost the same value except Hurst was an UDFA. 

[1/28/01]

Negativity as realism and positivity as homerism, such a tired point. Uncertainty is constant. Maybe our strategy won't play out, maybe it will. I trust our strategy. You don't. It's an impasse, not sure why we're still arguing. The only difference is I will continue to be happy and support the strategy I think is right, you will continue to be disappointed and upset. If we win it all I get validation, you get "Oh well that was lucky."Can't be a good feeling. Although, the odds are always against us, that's the nature of competition, I just like to live on the upside. If I see something I don't like, I critique it once I have evidence that allows me to do so. I'm just not one to stomp my feet and clench my fists when things don't go my way.

Awesome post!

[BmoreBird22]

I think the fact that he lost 30 pounds in preparation for the draft erases any possible question that he has a poor work ethic.

Like I said, I'll try to find where I saw it

[BmoreBird22]

I think the fact that he lost 30 pounds in preparation for the draft erases any possible question that he has a poor work ethic.

I also don't think he lost that weight just for the draft when he came into college at 350. Probably came off as he went.

Anyway, looks like the results are conflicting. Personal trainers think he's fine and scouts are left with questions

[jazz1988]

And this is how you do optimistically cautious. Not the pom pom crowd.

 

I can agree with most everything you've said here. I was big on the S. Smith signing - you can check the thread out from the day we did that one. I wouldn't have been quite so happy about it if I knew it meant we were going to ignore any long term answer at WR though.

 

My biggest concern isn't even production to be honest. It is that unforseen injury - do we really want to be relying on Crockett Gilmore if Pitta or Daniels goes down? That sort of thing. We currently have no depth at TE or O line and what the depth we have at WR is pretty much late round or UDFA unknowns.

 

Optimism is great - and I hope our offense kicks up some dust this season - but that doesn't mean I don't think going all in on defense with the high picks was the rigth strategy for the long term health of this team.

 

Right now I think training camp and preseason will give us a better understanding of Crockett or even the late round receivers along with the udfa. I said this before but I think Crockett has the upside of Brandon Pettigrew and I think he has the potentials to be a solid compliment to Dennis Pitta . He may be raw as a receiver but we drafted him in the third round for a reason and he may be more ready than we know. 

 

I was disappointed that we didn't get one of the top receivers in this draft but if there was ever a young receiver we were grooming or have hopes for it would be Marlon Brown.  I would be highly surprised if he some how   didn't improve and then there's Aaron Mellette whom most thought would have been drafted in the fourth round. I think it's fairly reasonable for The Ravens to have high hopes for him and it's no telling what Micheal Campanaro will bring but The Ravens really like him. I'm just excited because we have new wide receiver coach and he may be able to help develop these guys alot better than Jim Hostler.

[usmccharles]

I wanted to chime in on the offense argument

 

What possibly more could we have done?

 

We added steve mith who i have no doubt will bring what Boldin did when he showed up in Bmore.  We resigned locked pitta down and resigned jones, he could have been gone.  Brought in Daniels for depth and he knows Zs system.  I would of loved to grab a wr early with an instant impact but we had defensive needs that needed to be addressed and we made good moves in the FA for offense.  You also have to remember injuries last year killed us with Pitta and Rice, with our OL already playing bad, it was just snow ball.  I have high hopes for marlon brown, he has huge potential and show a lot of it last year.  People need to chill out and look at the bigger picture. 

 

Besides, what were we suppose to do, just go out and sign another top wr? desean jackson, no thanks....

[gabefergy]

I wanted to chime in on the offense argument

What possibly more could we have done?

We added steve mith who i have no doubt will bring what Boldin did when he showed up in Bmore. We resigned locked pitta down and resigned jones, he could have been gone. Brought in Daniels for depth and he knows Zs system. I would of loved to grab a wr early with an instant impact but we had defensive needs that needed to be addressed and we made good moves in the FA for offense. You also have to remember injuries last year killed us with Pitta and Rice, with our OL already playing bad, it was just snow ball. I have high hopes for marlon brown, he has huge potential and show a lot of it last year. People need to chill out and look at the bigger picture.

Besides, what were we suppose to do, just go out and sign another top wr? desean jackson, no thanks....

Maybe added a RT?

[arnie_uk]

The most concerning positions right now are RT, RB, 3rd CB, 3rd pass rusher for me.

[Ravensfan23]

Well, lol...look at our biggest complaints from last year:

 

1. Poor positional coaching

2. Poor performance from the OC

3. Poor OL (which naturally led to the downfall of the pass and run attacks)

4. Not enough weapons for Flacco

 

We addressed those problems by adding:

 

1. Bobby Engram, to replace Hostler

2. Kubiak, who is one of the most successful and respected OC in the league (and brought a coach with him)

3. Brought back Monroe, traded for Zuttah, and told Oher to hit the road, as well as adding Urschel, who might start for us as soon as this year (if Wagner struggles, I fully expect Urschel to step in at OG and KO move to RT)

4. Brought in S Smith and Owen Daniels. No, that is not a long term solution, but it buys us a year to see what we truly have in Marlon Brown, and to see if Crockett Gilmore and Campanaro were good choices.

 

That is the reality of what we added, and while I would love to have seen even more done, it is still a lot. He and the rest of us who share his sentiments by all reasonable accounts fall under "optimistically cautious" and not "homers"

Wait a minute Mr. " I want blood and guts", I thought you said no logic in this thread lol.

I couldn't agree more. I'd also add the fact that Juice was drafted to be an offensive weapon not your typical FB. I was actually thinking of Wanger struggles you could move Zuttah to LG and have either Jensen or Urschel at C.

Also, yes we have a lot of good guys coming off injury and there is no guarantee that they'll turn to previous form, but at the same time there is no guarantee that a rookie will be able to come in and perform at a high level. So at this point adding offensive guys early in the early rounds would have just made certain people feel better, but it doesn't mean the offense would havebeen any better. And yes the same goes for the defensive guys we drafted.

[mg90]

Negativity as realism and positivity as homerism, such a tired point. Uncertainty is constant. Maybe our strategy won't play out, maybe it will. I trust our strategy. You don't. It's an impasse, not sure why we're still arguing. The only difference is I will continue to be happy and support the strategy I think is right, you will continue to be disappointed and upset. If we win it all I get validation, you get "Oh well that was lucky."Can't be a good feeling. Although, the odds are always against us, that's the nature of competition, I just like to live on the upside. If I see something I don't like, I critique it once I have evidence that allows me to do so. I'm just not one to stomp my feet and clench my fists when things don't go my way.

Well, lol...look at our biggest complaints from last year:

1. Poor positional coaching

2. Poor performance from the OC

3. Poor OL (which naturally led to the downfall of the pass and run attacks)

4. Not enough weapons for Flacco

We addressed those problems by adding:

1. Bobby Engram, to replace Hostler

2. Kubiak, who is one of the most successful and respected OC in the league (and brought a coach with him)

3. Brought back Monroe, traded for Zuttah, and told Oher to hit the road, as well as adding Urschel, who might start for us as soon as this year (if Wagner struggles, I fully expect Urschel to step in at OG and KO move to RT)

4. Brought in S Smith and Owen Daniels. No, that is not a long term solution, but it buys us a year to see what we truly have in Marlon Brown, and to see if Crockett Gilmore and Campanaro were good choices.

That is the reality of what we added, and while I would love to have seen even more done, it is still a lot. He and the rest of us who share his sentiments by all reasonable accounts fall under "optimistically cautious" and not "homers"

Good job, both.

I could see it happening that this is another bad year, dont think its likely though. I genuinely feel we are in a better spot right now than we were last year. Call it purple shades, but a lot has been addressed. Our defense should be better, there's no reason for me to believe otherwise. And it's going to take some kind of anti-miracle for our offense to be as bad as it was last year under Kubiak and the new bodies.

[beasy2487]

And if we don't win it all?

 

Hey I'm happy to be wrong. I'd like nothing better.

 

And it isn't positivity is homerism, it's that you are over the top with it refusing to realisitically look at what we  brought in for the offense. That makes it homerism. There is a positive outlook on reality and then there is fantasyland. You've done nothing but say how much we helped the offense this off season and even counted coaches like they were players. Ignoring the reality of what we added.

 

I love how reality is now negativity though lol Can you dispute anything there about our offense? No. It is just the reality. I do believe I even said if they come back to form we'll be all good. Only that acting like we've done this awesome job of upgrading the offense is a fantasy relying on a pretty big "if".

 

If we don't win it all I still believe in our strategy, as I said in my revised post, it is always unlikely that you win it all. All you can do is stack the deck in your favor by adhering to an approach you believe in. I am not arguing with you about what we did or did not do for our offense. My point is that our strategy is to build an elite defense, let players grow into their roles on offense, and let the rest take care of itself based on our coaching and a little bit of luck. To that end, our draft makes total sense to me. I haven't made any normative judgements about the actual picks themselves because there is no evidence regarding what they will or will not do for this team. However, because I have faith in our strategy, I am confident we headed in the right direction.

 

To put it another way, I am not qualified to judge our picks. All I can do is look at history, look at trends, and look at what works statistically. Given those varaibles, our strategy makes sense to me and thus I have faith in it. If that's homerism, I'll wear that mantle proudly.

[ravensnick]

and jamarcus russel went no.1 overall for a reason to... How'd that turn out?

That's a stupid argument

But he fell into the third, there's a reason for that. His measurable overhyped his play.