[News] Late For Work 11/20: Major Rule Change Opens Things Up For Ravens' Ozzie Newsome

[BR News]

Signing CB Rolle. Ravens misjudge James? West asked Rice for No. 27. Steve shows off gnarly scar. Picks.

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[ryananth]

After seeing that Steve Smith posted that pic and he seems concerned with rehabbing quickly, it pretty obvious he's coming back next year.

[January J]

This is where Ozzie does the evil laugh. Ozzie with a top 5 pick and being able to trade compensatory picks? Now we really get to witness the mastermind work. Time to put all the nonsense about him falling off to rest. This draft is going to be big guys and will change the course of this franchise over the next decade.

[bostonraven]

Ozzie, EricD, John and Steve - please please please NAIL the draft this year.

[January J]

After seeing that Steve Smith posted that pic and he seems concerned with rehabbing quickly, it pretty obvious he's coming back next year.

also love how he chose a purple and black cast. I don't think he's ready to hang em up and he knows this team desperately needs him next year. I'm sure we will grant any scheduling requests he may have.

[cobrajet]

The whole James/Rolle switches do make you wonder what the heck is going on. We put James on our practice squad then activated him (but did not really use him) then cut him. Did we even give the guy a chance? Sorry but I do question that. We have been switching out a lot of players on our practice squad this season, that have me scratching my head over. Cutting guys that have showed promise in areas of need to bring in guys for positions that we are set in and then they end up being cut a week later. Some of the moves just make no sense to me.

Edited November 20, 2015 by cobrajet

[WNC-Raven]

I am convinced that all of our experienced, qualified staff has left the building with Pagano & Kubiak. We can not scout and draft WR, S or CB. The ones that we do draft or bring in generally do not improve telling me they are not being coached properly. All of the coaching talent behind the scenes that most of us has never heard of is failing.

[WNC-Raven]

Ozzie, EricD, John and Steve - please please please NAIL the draft this year.

While a good draft will help, even a top 5 pick in every round is not going to fix all of our problems in 1 year.

[letitgosometimes]

One rule that does not change: The Ravens hit hard in Baltimore! Everyone in Maryland is hungry for a win and Thanksgiving dinner will taste so much better after a solid crushing victory against a defiant Rams team. There will be a war on Sunday - Ravens will dominate.

Edited November 20, 2015 by letitgosometimes

[BigUgly]

The last two drafts have been very good to excellent, though a rash of injuries has slowed the development of many of those players. Here's hoping the Ravens have another good draft, and can find a way to overcome the injury bug. This is ridiculous. Makes one wonder if the pro turf being to widely used is contributing to all of the achilles and knee injuries.

[HomeoftheBRAVENS]

I hope we use this new rule change to trade up into the mid 20's with a comp pick or two and the high second rounder we're sure to have.We need the best of the best talent in this draft to start making runs at more superbowls before Flacco gets too old.I'm also hoping we don't trade that top five pick unless it's for atleast a decent first this year and another first next year.

[HomeoftheBRAVENS]

This is where Ozzie does the evil laugh. Ozzie with a top 5 pick and being able to trade compensatory picks? Now we really get to witness the mastermind work. Time to put all the nonsense about him falling off to rest. This draft is going to be big guys and will change the course of this franchise over the next decade.

 

 

You're right.This draft is going to play a pivotal role in whether or not we win 1 or 2 more superbowls with Flacco before he retires.

[Halshayeji]

I was hoping we'd get more than two fourth rounders and a sixth. T.smith is starting and t.tayloy is balling. McPhee and Stewart are also playing good football. I hope Lewis has gets demoted to backup role so that we can see what Brooks has to offer and because Lewis counts against us in comp pick formula.

We should get at a third rounder at least. And we should get 4 picks in total.

[ellicottraven]

Well, I would first like to get our first top 5 pick of the last decade and see how we do with that pick! In this league of parity, the Bengals and even the Browns are far ahead of us in terms of pure talent. It's time we got a couple of elite offensive and defensive players on the Ravens roster. Have you realized we only have Yanda on offense and Suggs on defense that is considered elite. That is a serious lack of talent on this team. So, I say we all better root for a top 5 pick! God knows this lack luster team needs an infusion of talent.

[ellicottraven]

Ozzie, EricD, John and Steve - please please please NAIL the draft this year.

I would really like John to stay out of the draft room and focus on assembling a good cache of coaches that can actually coach! Ever since he's come in, our draft classes have progressively suffered with the exception of a couple here and there. He tends to influence the draftniks to focus on special teams prowess and not on talent.

[fusuymada]

In regards to Charles James - "For the Ravens being one of the worst secondaries in the league, you'd think a guy like that would have stuck on the roster," wrote Stevens. "The Ravens' loss is obviously the Texans' gain." - As I have said before, there is clearly a talent evaluation issue on the defense, most notably in the secondary. Ozzie can't be watching every player at practice and neither can Harbaugh so it is at the coordinator to position coach level where there is a complete disconnect. If Bisciotti has a QA defensive guy then he is not doing his job, if they don't have one they need to get one. There needs to be a GOOD second set of eyes following around some of these decision makers and questioning who is being kept and who is being cut and why. As Ricky would say, "there should be some splaining going on."

Edited November 20, 2015 by fusuymada

[757RavensFan]

 

 

Meanwhile, James, who is well-known for his colorful socks and likable personality, played a career-high 48 snaps in the Texans’ upset win over the Cincinnati Bengals last week and finished with a career-high six tackles. With James on the field for the majority of the game, the high-scoring Bengals were held to a season-low six points.

 

I liked when we signed Carl James from Houston.  Sad that he never played for us.

For whatever reason, it doesn't seem like we can hit on a CB or WR this year.  

[Crusader]

"No team has played the compensatory pick game better than the Ravens, who rarely dip into unrestricted free agency, and consistently develop players that other teams want to sign.%u201D I am just stunned at that statement!

[drillem]

Odd thing is the Ravens could have signed Keenum in the off season. Not sure why they passed on him. Now they're going to face him. Should add some interest to the game. There seems to be a connection between the Texans and the Ravens when it comes to players.

[sami]

I'm kinda wondering why we didn't resign Ed Reed a year or two ago to be our return specialist. He could also have been a back up safety and mentored the other safeties and eventually became our DB coach.

[rmcjacket23]

While a good draft will help, even a top 5 pick in every round is not going to fix all of our problems in 1 year.

Doesn't have to solve all problems in one year. Quite frankly, we just won a SB with multiple problems, and we were awfully close to an AFC title game last year with a horrific secondary.

You fix even half the problems in one offseason and we're probably a playoff team

[RavensDieHard21]

On the Flacco turnovers, some are certainly his fault, but many are not. Denver=horrible pick 6, but he did hit SSS in the hands at the end and put the ball in a manageable plave for Gilmore to catch it. Oakland=He tore it up for the most part except overthrowing SSS at the end which could've led to OT Cincy=Great 2nd half Pitt= God awful mistakes but he delivered when it mattered. the strip sack was almost predictable, plus the interception in the flat was a pure did he just throw that moment. Niners= The worst interception ever, why he did't throw it out of bounds instead of at the FS is beyond me. But he did hit SSS twice in the hands in the end zone Browns= just no weapons and he had a pretty solid game. Cardinals= He was robbed lol, not too bad of a game considering the opponent and it being on the road. SD= Great Game. Jax= ehhh. Fumble comes from him not having the greatest of pocket awareness when the pressure is near him. As for the interceptions, one was on the WR and the other was a bit underthrown. I love Flacco and he's our QB, I just hope we get him some more legit talent to go along with our budding TE core. My only knock on him at times is that he NEVER climbs the pocket to escape pressure or to make a play, but instead he loves to roll backwards 15 yards and either get sacked there or he chucks the ball downfield with 0 accuracy. Still love him tho.

[757RavensFan]

I'm kinda wondering why we didn't resign Ed Reed a year or two ago to be our return specialist. He could also have been a back up safety and mentored the other safeties and eventually became our DB coach.

 

The hip surgery he had about 4 years ago shut down his chance of being a punt/kick-off return guy. 

[WNC-Raven]

Doesn't have to solve all problems in one year. Quite frankly, we just won a SB with multiple problems, and we were awfully close to an AFC title game last year with a horrific secondary.

You fix even half the problems in one offseason and we're probably a playoff team

I hope you are right. I am seeing a lot of posters relying on a high draft as our savior for next year. It really was amazing how far we got last year with that awful secondary. What does our dead money look like next year? Ozzie was pretty strapped with this years cap and it shows. Hopefully we have more room next year

[RavensDieHard21]

Oh ya and I'm thinking with the production of McPhee and Taylor, we might just get a 3rd rounder as well, but we'll see. There are some real interesting prospects going early. I'm praying to god that we are in a position to get Bosa, Ramsey, Hargreaves III, earlyu because they can all flat out ball. Either making our pass rush better or giving us a high IQ cover corner. And if Fournette slides into the second half of the first round I would love for us to sacrifice a pick to get the second coming of Jamal Lewis. He's a monster and behind our line we will have some attitude.

[MissRay27]

I'll be there wearing my #20 black jersey and yelling Reeeeeeeed!!! Can't wait!!!

[The Greek]

make the most of these comp picks. we need better talent on defense, new guard if osemele leaves, depth on the o-line, better backup for monroe since he seems to miss games every season, safety, cb, and a couple of olb/pass rushers. tucker will want to be the highest paid kicker and although he deserves to be it will hurt us from going after the better free agents. make the right moves, pickups, and coaching changes and hopefully a break from the injury gods and we will be back to the playoffs next season

[RaRaRavens]

Might be a bit off topic, but I couldn't find a suitable thread so I thought I'd post it here. Sorry to anyone in advance if a bit off-topic comment ruins someone's day. Also, I'm posting it to share thoughts and ideas, so you can keep your negs and positives. I just want to discuss this.

 

So my idea is about Trestman and him being the so called "quarterback whisperer".

 

From the moment we signed Trestman at the beginning of this year I didn't get the hype. Some folks were yabbering on about how he's the "QB whisperers" and works wonders with his QBs. Now, I might be missing something, but as I took a look at his last pupil's, Cutler's couple of past seasons I didn't see anything amazing. He had some solid years, while he had some offensive playmakers, but all in all he was constantly below average QB. I dare to say he was pretty much on the same level as Flacco is this year - has some fancy passing yards, but other than that below average.

 

And just now I stumbled upon an article on NFL.com titled "Brand new Jay" about how well Cutler is performing this year. Without Trestman in Chicago. Which leads me to a logical conclusion, is Trestman vastly overrated by us? He was fired from Chicago for a reason. He has had dozen teams in his career. Our offense is often times unimaginative and just plain bad - just like Chicago was under Trestman. To put it simple, is Trestman a bad offensive coordinator?

 

I know the troubles with our team lie deeper and wider than the OC, but he too could be part of a bigger problem. Or what do you think?

Edited November 20, 2015 by RaRaRavens

[ravenwildman]

Unless the 2015 team record improves drastically, (unlikely since history of play this year would say otherwise), the Ravens draft picks will allow an influx of some top notch, top of the draft talent. Not just 1st rounder but 2nd, 3rd, and 4th rounders as well. This could become a very good thing (even though it's hard to watch for sure!). This will have hopefully positive ramifications for seasons to come. GO RAVENS!

[pcwag33]

Smith's scar needs some explaining. Definitely not typical for the injury. I went without surgery, cast or boot, already running again at just four months.