Ray Lewis' Take on the Ravens Struggles on First Take

[Tru11]

maybe just maybe its a combination of a lot of things?

[Guest]

I looked at 2007 regarding your post.  Without memorizing it I believe we were the 6th ranked Defense giving up 79 yds per game Rushing.  (2nd Rank)  Ray missed two games.

 

Offensively we were down about rank 22. One of the lower rated passing teams. It was Billick's last season.

 

In 2008 Harbaugh came in with a draft class that included Flacco and Ray Rice. Bingo!

 

In 2007 we did not fail on defense, even with a team in some turmoil. I won't take the time to refute the other contentions.

 

Its all there for anyone to check  http://www.nfl.com/stats/team?seasonId=2007&seasonType=REG&Submit=Go

 

 

Ray, Ed, Terrell, and Haloti were here in 2007 when the defense was very injured and could barely stop anyone on the way to 9 straight losses.  6-10 with their leadership.

 

 

[Purple_City39]

I looked at 2007 regarding your post.  Without memorizing it I believe we were the 6th ranked Defense giving up 79 yds per game Rushing.  (2nd Rank)  Ray missed two games.

 

Offensively we were down about rank 22. One of the lower rated passing teams. It was Billick's last season.

 

In 2008 Harbaugh came in with a draft class that included Flacco and Ray Rice. Bingo!

 

In 2007 we did not fail on defense, even with a team in some turmoil. I won't take the time to refute the other contentions.

 

Its all there for anyone to check  http://www.nfl.com/stats/team?seasonId=2007&seasonType=REG&Submit=Go

I'm going to assume that you researched the numbers since you listed the 79 rushing yards per game stat, which would easily explain why you left out the 20th ranked pass defense that was 28th in passing TDs allowed.  Also you left out the fact that they were 22nd in points allowed and 19th in sacks,........but hey, they were second in rushing yards allowed and 6th overall so the defense must have been good right?

 

Now if you did just remember that stat, then I'd assume you remember the season itself which featured "great" defensive performances like the 5 TDs in one half allowed against the Steelers.......but hey, they stopped the run well that game.  I'll assume you remember that opposing teams were only held under 21 a whopping 4 times that season.  I'll assume you remember that the Browns averaged 30 points per game against us, Peyton put up 44, and that the then 0-13 Dolphins marched right down the field in overtime to score the game winning TD to get their only win of the season.

 

All sarcasm aside, we failed on defense that season because of injuries, similar to this year.  Giving up 24 points per game, being low in turnovers and sacks while being embarassed by the likes of Derek Anderson and whoever was on that Dolphins offense is in fact failing on defense regardless of where the rushing yards allowed ranked

Edited October 22, 2015 by Purple_City39

[GrimCoconut]

He's right. We need a young guy on the field who is considered the leader of the team. All great teams have this guy.

I don't expect this to continue, but you need a guy like Ray to take over the team. It's okay with me if Joe isn't that guy like other teams, but we absolutely need a cornerstone player who can get guys going when they're down.

[The Raven]

Leadership? I just wish our defense could make tackles. Yes, that means you CJ Mosley.

[redrum52]

It wasn't just leadership or some ra ra nonsense. It was that helped as well, but he set a tone and held himself and others accountable. It was the way he practiced and watched film. Yanda to me is one of those guys, but do we have someone else who sets the tone at practice, and will call tell a player when they're doing wrong? Also, if we have that guy, do the rest of the players respect them? It was more than the speeches.

[Militant X 1]

He's right. We need a young guy on the field who is considered the leader of the team. All great teams have this guy.

I don't expect this to continue, but you need a guy like Ray to take over the team. It's okay with me if Joe isn't that guy like other teams, but we absolutely need a cornerstone player who can get guys going when they're down.

 

I remember a game when the Ravens were losing and Ray was on the sideline in people's faces saying..."This is a 60 minute ball game!  So put a smile on your face!"  Lol!

 

Leadership? I just wish our defense could make tackles. Yes, that means you CJ Mosley.

 

LOL!!!

 

It wasn't just leadership or some ra ra nonsense. It was that helped as well, but he set a tone and held himself and others accountable. It was the way he practiced and watched film. Yanda to me is one of those guys, but do we have someone else who sets the tone at practice, and will call tell a player when they're doing wrong? Also, if we have that guy, do the rest of the players respect them? It was more than the speeches.

 

That's it right there to me!

[GrimCoconut]

I remember a game when the Ravens were losing and Ray was on the sideline in people's faces saying..."This is a 60 minute ball game! So put a smile on your face!" Lol!

LOL!!!

That's it right there to me!

Yeah that's the problem. I'm not sure why people feel the need to bash Ray, but he's right here. We clearly lack motivational leadership that's much needed when we're down in these games. I feel like that's a big reason the defense folds in the fourth so much. They just get mentally tired and check out rather than elevate. They only seem to really go after it when they're really motivated, like they played when they played the Steelers and Broncos.

[Militant X 1]

Yeah that's the problem. I'm not sure why people feel the need to bash Ray, but he's right here. We clearly lack motivational leadership that's much needed when we're down in these games. I feel like that's a big reason the defense folds in the fourth so much. They just get mentally tired and check out rather than elevate. They only seem to really go after it when they're really motivated, like they played when they played the Steelers and Broncos.

 

It's the same thing from the offense to me.  Seems like they are not really motivated until they are behind in a game and the clock is ticking.  Then all of a sudden, we start seeing the big plays and moving the chains.  How come we can't see that stuff in the beginning and throughout the entire game?  There is a void somewhere imo.

[OLD SCHOOL SMASH BALL]

Love me some Ray Lewis man!  Always will!  Today he was on First Take beginning his book tour.  When Skip Bayless asks him the question... "Your Baltimore Ravens....how much are they missing having "a" you in that locker room right now?"  Here's what he said.....

 

Lewis: "It's different!  It's different!  They have to start all over. You see franchises go through things like this but they don't have that cornerstone yet.  And for years...they was graced with that!  It was what we created in Baltimore with what Ozzie Newsome did in 1996.  And now, they have to create that!  When you see the games, it's the offense one week and it's the defense the next week.  And then you look for that one person that you say, "who is that one person that they go to?"

 

Bayless: "Yep!  Who is it?  Is it Steve Smith?"

 

Lewis: "Well, you know, Steve is....Steve is...he come from another place, so it's a little bit different cause he's a leader of his own, he plays the game one way.  But, it's going to have to be somebody that is going to be looked towards the future.  What does the future like for the Baltimore Ravens?"

 

^ Absolutely love it!  I've been saying similiar to this as well.  This Ravens squad is "leader-less" (perhaps on and off the field as well) and we are seeing the fruits of that manifest right before our eyes!

Boldin should still be here holding the Offense accountable....this was the biggest debacle in Ravens hostory, it set us back years, and cost us another ring, for what, $4 mil?

[SomeCreepinaVan]

My "blah blah blah we suck" post on this thread got deleted. I've seen Sami's stuff deleted also, even though he broke none of the rules. I received no warning posts, so I obviously didn't break the rules.

 

This forum is going down hill.

Edited October 23, 2015 by SomeCreepinaVan

[allblackraven]

My "blah blah blah we suck" post on this thread got deleted. I've seen Sami's stuff deleted also, even though he broke none of the rules.

 

This forum is going down hill.

Obviously

[SomeCreepinaVan]

Obviously

Obviously what?

[allblackraven]

Obviously what?

If you need explanation, it's not worth explaining.

[BSHU_Miami]

I remember the video from the what I believe was the AFC Championship vs New England. We schemed a defense where we left Kruger out on an island to cover a receiver and the receiver danced around Kruger for a big gain. Ray Lewis was on the sideline after that play telling the coaches and players to "Let our rushers, rush and let our secondary cover". He was absolutely right of course. It's classic video if one hasn't seen it.

For those that doubt Ray Lewis's leadership, his ability to mentor, film study, guidance on this team. For those that somehow doubt the quality he and select others brought to Baltimore...the Field Generals...can you really call yourselves Ravens Fans? Do you think you understand the Baltimore Ravens? We "were" built for that........but not by non players.

That's what we've lost.

Now...we like guys with short haircuts, who listen politely and don't make waves. Guys that come from Alabama...The University of Miami....not so much....but then they've changed too.

We've got coaches trying to inspire now. That's what they wanted....how do you like it?

i take from this.....pees was puttin his players in the wrong positions from then huh? Interesting. Too bad Ray can't do his job for him anymore.

[SomeCreepinaVan]

If you need explanation, it's not worth explaining.

To the OP, I couldn't care less what Ray Lewis thinks.  

 

Sami should get a post deleted because he's too negative? You honestly think that's WORTHY of getting a post removed? Everything Sami said in his post after the Steelers' game was true and it got deleted. Why should a post that doesn't break the rules like mine get deleted. How is that OBVIOUS? Is this like in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory that had the tiny fine print of the rules?

 

Or this forum is "going down hill" because of a post like mine (and others like Sami) where I said "we suck?" 1-5 against average to bad teams and barely beating Mike Vick means we suck in my book.

 

Ray Lewis can spew whatever he wants.  Doesn't change the fact that we lack talent and have too many scrubs in the secondary to win close games. All this "Ray Lewis leadership" helped us win the SB, when in fact if Joe doesn't throw a lucky hail mary TD against Denver, we lose.

Edited October 23, 2015 by SomeCreepinaVan

[cobrajet]

We could use a leader, but the guys are fighting. We are not getting blown out. I think we need more playmakers on offense and certainly a better offensive and defensive coordinator.

[Guest]

 

 

All sarcasm aside, we failed on defense that season because of injuries, similar to this year.  Giving up 24 points per game, being low in turnovers and sacks while being embarassed by the likes of Derek Anderson and whoever was on that Dolphins offense is in fact failing on defense regardless of where the rushing yards allowed ranked

 

I'm not a big statistics guy. They are a hazy guideline, but comparing the 2007 Ravens D to this year's D...isn't going to hold water with any container.  We are giving up more yards, pass yards and points.....and are rated substantially lower on gross stats, but I will categorically state that you are comparing apples to oranges, or rather lemons to sweet summer berries.

 

Kyle Boller and company as well.

Edited October 22, 2015 by Danny D

[Bryden88]

Ray isn't wrong.

 

I would argue that last year.... it was leadership and guts that got us to the playoffs.

 

We still had Suggs and Haloti leading us.

 

But our secondary was still bad. Our offense was still inconsistent.

 

But... we had an easy schedule (NFC South anyone?)

 

I am willing to bet that if we had this year's schedule last year, we'd probably have had a record close to 2013 if not slightly worse.

 

And this year we have no core leaders. I don't want our QB to be that guy. We're built on DEFENSE. That is the cornerstone of the Ravens and until either someone like Mosley or Jimmy step it up, OR we draft someone who can bring that fire like Ray can.... well. Yeah. We know the results.

 

The 2012 Ravens? The 2012 Ravens had the leaders. And a good secondary. Not great. Good.

 

If we had our leaders and our secondary was even a smidge better this year?

 

.... we'd probably be 6-0.

[curtis0360]

Also isnt CJ the future of this defense, shouldn't he be stepping up and being the captain. Shouldn't he be commanding this young defenses attention and demanding accountability. He was brought in to be that player, i understand its his second year, but CMON no more excuses step up dude. If no one else will then you should, no other reason why you shouldn't. 

[atomicfront]

..........because we don't have a vocal leader?  Or because we still have a ton of injuries, a weak secondary and a make shift group at WR?  me thinks the latter is more likely the correct answer.

 

We really don't have that many injuries.  The starting offensive line-up was all out there last weak.  All top 3 wide receivers.  Other than Suggs and Webb who is out that is stopping the team from winning games?  And Webb didn't look that good when he was playing.  We have a back up running back out.  We have a Safety that absolutely horrible last year out.  We have a fifth string wide receiver out.   Come on every team has injuries.  

 

The Steelers have won the last two games without Big Ben.   The GM's job is to have decent back-ups.  We haven't lost  much but we sure look horrible.

 

I think Harbaugh used the super bowl win as a springboard to get rid of guys who he didn't like.  The guys who were leaders were let go.  

[kennethyamini1989]

I hate this "we need a Ray Lewis" garbage because that's what it is. 31 teams in the league have managed to exist without Ray Lewis.

 

That said, there DOES need to be someone ON THE FIELD (so not a coach) who other players are accountable to. Suggs was that guy, but without him it doesn't look like that person is on the roster.

 

Ray is right about Steve not being the guy, because in the end he's only been on the team for two years.

All the great teams in the NFL have their "Leader" behind them that hypes them up. There are plenty of talented teams that simply dont have that fire behind them and they lose, Hence the Lions. Great talent...poor leadership. 

[K-Dog]

There is no doubt in my mind our super bowl run was in no small part fuled by " Today I told my team mates, this would be my last ride"

Most on the team wanted to send Ray off right, as well as their own aspirations.

Reason being is the person Ray was.

Yes many many many other factors were at play. Ray himself, as the long time team leader was a factor. No question in my mind.

[Tank 92]

We really don't have that many injuries. The starting offensive line-up was all out there last weak. All top 3 wide receivers. Other than Suggs and Webb who is out that is stopping the team from winning games? And Webb didn't look that good when he was playing. We have a back up running back out. We have a Safety that absolutely horrible last year out. We have a fifth string wide receiver out. Come on every team has injuries.

The Steelers have won the last two games without Big Ben. The GM's job is to have decent back-ups. We haven't lost much but we sure look horrible.

I think Harbaugh used the super bowl win as a springboard to get rid of guys who he didn't like. The guys who were leaders were let go.

Steelers winning without Ben? Just proves how important it is to have a supporting cast for your QB.

I'm not going to take the time to list all on IR and players that have missed games, but I think you know there are many, many more than what you mentioned.

Before you buy into some Harbaugh conspiracy theory, or failures by the GM, I think you should research the Ravens salary cap situation and how that has affected keeping some of the veteran players and the signing of decent back ups.

Edited October 23, 2015 by Tank 92

[jazz1988]

Boldin should still be here holding the Offense accountable....this was the biggest debacle in Ravens hostory, it set us back years, and cost us another ring, for what, $4 mil?

Actually it was 6 million but I honestly don't see how Boldin helps The Ravens in 2013 when their offensive line and run game was at their worst. I'm not sure how Boldin would have helped The Ravens secondary issues in 2014. I honestly feel like Steve Smith is a better receiver and has had more chemistry with Flacco than Boldin ever did.

[jazz1988]

It's the same thing from the offense to me.  Seems like they are not really motivated until they are behind in a game and the clock is ticking.  Then all of a sudden, we start seeing the big plays and moving the chains.  How come we can't see that stuff in the beginning and throughout the entire game?  There is a void somewhere imo.

 

It's not like the offense doesn't have leadership either. The offense been having slow starts since 2008 and it is what it is at this point. 

[Purple_City39]

I'm not a big statistics guy. They are a hazy guideline, but comparing the 2007 Ravens D to this year's D...isn't going to hold water with any container.  We are giving up more yards, pass yards and points.....and are rated substantially lower on gross stats, but I will categorically state that you are comparing apples to oranges, or rather lemons to sweet summer berries.

 

Kyle Boller and company as well.

The problem here is I didn't compare for the sake of comparison.  I pointed out that with the leadership of Ray, Ed, Haloti, and Terrell we've failed as a defense multiple times due to lack of additional talent or injuries.  If you chose to then say you can't compare because one is worse (as one always will be in comparisons) then that's you choice.  My point again is that "leadership" is not the problem as we've failed as a defense many times with it, ie 2002, 2005, and 2007

[Tank 92]

The problem here is I didn't compare for the sake of comparison. I pointed out that with the leadership of Ray, Ed, Haloti, and Terrell we've failed as a defense multiple times due to lack of additional talent or injuries. If you chose to then say you can't compare because one is worse (as one always will be in comparisons) then that's you choice. My point again is that "leadership" is not the problem as we've failed as a defense many times with it, ie 2002, 2005, and 2007

Exactly. The point the OP and many others are missing is that no matter the quality of leadership, if you are missing key pieces it's not going to make something out of nothing.

Last year we were able to somewhat compensate for the lack of talent in the secondary with a relentless pass rush. This year we have neither and that spells disaster.

Edited October 23, 2015 by Tank 92

[Guest]

The problem here is I didn't compare for the sake of comparison.  I pointed out that with the leadership of Ray, Ed, Haloti, and Terrell we've failed as a defense multiple times due to lack of additional talent or injuries.  If you chose to then say you can't compare because one is worse (as one always will be in comparisons) then that's you choice.  My point again is that "leadership" is not the problem as we've failed as a defense many times with it, ie 2002, 2005, and 2007

 

I'm not going to have much time for a debate about our stalwarts failing in leadership.

 

To conclude, did you see what the Seahawks did to San Fran on the Niners home turf after our debacle there?  Our D is going to be lucky to get us to 3-13.

[Militant X 1]

The problem here is I didn't compare for the sake of comparison.  I pointed out that with the leadership of Ray, Ed, Haloti, and Terrell we've failed as a defense multiple times due to lack of additional talent or injuries.  If you chose to then say you can't compare because one is worse (as one always will be in comparisons) then that's you choice.  My point again is that "leadership" is not the problem as we've failed as a defense many times with it, ie 2002, 2005, and 2007

 

No one has said that the Ravens NEVER lost a game because they had "leadership".  This is the NFL teams win and lose with or without "leadership" that's a given.  C'mon now PC!

 

Exactly. The point the OP and many others are missing is that no matter the quality of leadership, if you are missing key pieces it's not going to make something out of nothing.

Last year we were able to somewhat compensate for the lack of talent in the secondary with a relentless pass rush. This year we have neither and that spells disaster.

 

I'm the OP so call me by name.  I'm a big boy, I can handle it!

 

For some odd reason you seem to keep thinking that I'm missing some point that I know very well man.  So, while you can tout the injuries and missing pieces on offense and defense for the reason that the Ravens are losing (which I've never said wasn't a reason for the losses), you can not refute that there also (in conjunction with that) needs to be someone or multiple people on a roster that has the ability to be or become leaders of men in general!  Who is that guy that rallies the troops so to speak?  Who on the roster has the passion, relentelssness and intensity to raise the level of their own gameplay and in turn causes their teammates to follow their lead in doing so?  Again.... "WHO IS THAT GUY" going to be for this NEW GENERATION of Ravens?  That was Ray's point in that interview that's being missed.

Edited October 23, 2015 by Militant X 1