[News] Byrne Identity: What Happened? How Did The Ravens Get Here?

[BR News]

It seems like yesterday when pundits were picking the Ravens to go to the Super Bowl.

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[ellicottraven]

I'll tell you what happened Kevin for us to get here. We stunk up the joint, played poorly, coached poorly and were struck with untimely injuries. However, my sense is we lost because we weren't a very good team and weren't coached well. Injuries didn't help, but weren't the contributing reason we lost.

[budman]

We are just not a good football team. We are not what people blindly predicted. Yes we lost by close margins but if we were a good team, we would have never been in the position to lose those game being that in each one of them we had plenty of chances and did nothing with them. A good team wouldn't have put themselves in that position to lose. Missed kicks, dropped touchdowns, bad timeouts, dropped int's etc. The list goes on and on of just how bad we have been. We just are not accustomed to this kind of season or this record, that is why people are at a loss. This stuff happens. We will get over it. This is going to be a very interesting off season. Lots of decisions to make..Important ones.

Go Ravens.

[Godfather A]

Success in the NFL depends upon playing like a team. The Ravens are still doing that. Success has eluded them but not because they are not trying. We only need to look a short distance up I-95 to see what happens when a coach like Chip Kelly emphasizes the system rather then the team. By denigrating the players in favor of the system, they do not perceive themselves as a team and do not play like one.

[Puntit]

The most dangerous thing you can do is tell yourself you are just a few plays from a very different record. Because if you take that attitude you won't every make necessary changes, you will stay the course, hoping the dice roll differently next year. When Steve Smith complained early on that some of his teammates just seemed happy to be on the team and didn't have that winning instinct, I knew we were in trouble. The Panthers, for example, are a good team this year only partly because they have a depth of talent but mostly because they play with an attitude, like they have a mission, not a bunch of guys just happy to be gainfully employed. The Patriots are playing with an "in your face -- we can do this even without cheating" disrespected attitude. The Bengals are playing to show the world they aren't a "one and done" team. And so on. meanwhile the Ravens are playing like a bunch of guys more than happy to lose by five and then line up for the media to say "the defense needs to play better, the offense needs to make some plays, we take responsibility". One would have hoped people would try to emulate Steve Smith and what it takes to make it in this league, show a bit of emotion about losing, but his attitude doesn't seem contagious. It almost seems like the "play like a Raven" attitude retired when Ray Lewis retired. Time to get that back, through the draft or more leader free agency signings.

[deathonwings52]

It all started with the injury of Perriman. We never had a down field threat and due to that our run game suffered with safeties playing closer or in the box or line of scrimmage. Players having to work and play harder resulted in injuries across the board. It's amazing the trickle effect of just one player getting hurt.

[iluvpurple]

It all started with the injury of Perriman. We never had a down field threat and due to that our run game suffered with safeties playing closer or in the box or line of scrimmage. Players having to work and play harder resulted in injuries across the board. It's amazing the trickle effect of just one player getting hurt.

I see what you are saying, but I have to disagree with the injury to Perriman starting the season in a downward spiral...... In my opinion, it was Terrell Suggs. Perriman is not a proven, NFL experienced player, and even healthy, we as fans needed to see what he could do on the field before any judgement could be made one way or the other. Besides, our offense has been holding up pretty well till now..... Suggs on the other hand, is pretty close to being the leader of our entire Ravens team, an established ProBowl player, not to mention all the other awards he has won, his loss is still stinging as far as I am concerned, and every player that has followed to IR has further made this year into a year from hell .........

[BmoreB]

How I think we got here: Anything and everything that could go wrong has, literally. The Ravens are not a bad team as some suggest. The Ravens are a good team, not great, but good. Good enough to be at least 6-4 for reasons pointed out by KB and other reasons not pointed out by KB. It just simply isn't our year and the Football Gods keep reminding us week after week. They will however smile upon us once again and hopefully that starts with a very solid draft next April. For the remainder of this season I'm going to enjoy watching our guys fight because I know they will but with an eye on 2016. Go Ravens !

[picke]

Lack of discipline

Injuries

Under-achieving

Lack of discipline

Unfulfilled potential and expectation

Coaching lapses

Bad turnover differential

Lack of clutch plays

In-game management issues

Oh yeah, did I say, lack of discipline?

I may have missed some.

[btfan2]

This question is like the guy who smoked 3 packs a day for 25 years and then talks about his bad luck being diagnosed with lung cancer. Really dude??

We have been heading for this place relentlessly for over 3 years. Inability or unwillingness to replace lost leadership due to retirement or Harbs quest to purge the team of Alpha's. Very bad FO moves, continual merry go round of OC and DC plus QB coach. Unwillingness to accept the need for quality receivers and a stout O line. Unwillingness to admit Joe's lack of progress due to the above. Caviler attitude about lack of offensive weapons. Unwillingness to fix secondary. Lack of conditioning being some of the cause for unending injuries. (yes, I know it's football and injuries happen.) This is more than injuries happen. Bad management and bad coaching. Complete lack of discipline - again coaching. Poor game planning etc. etc etc. Yes, and a ton of bad luck. Bad luck - good teams make their own luck. Good teams start with good management.

It's been a perfect storm created and executed by a ton of bad management, lack of vision, lack of discipline and lack of leadership.

[drillem]

How about Harbs calling to go for a td instead of taking a fg in more than one game that cost us the game by the same number of points he refused to take????? Gambling with points is pointless.

[slowboater]

How I think we got here: Anything and everything that could go wrong has, literally. The Ravens are not a bad team as some suggest. The Ravens are a good team, not great, but good. Good enough to be at least 6-4 for reasons pointed out by KB and other reasons not pointed out by KB. It just simply isn't our year and the Football Gods keep reminding us week after week. They will however smile upon us once again and hopefully that starts with a very solid draft next April. For the remainder of this season I'm going to enjoy watching our guys fight because I know they will but with an eye on 2016. Go Ravens !

Let's be real. We all saw that this team had no depth as all the other teams in the Ravens' preseason games dominated. Everythng had to go right. Minimal injuries. Maximum out of the vets and a little luck from those football Gods wouldn't have hurt. Now is a good time to do some soul searching and find out who is in the plans: long term. I have no doubt the Ravens will be back fighting for a SB. When? Good question.

[megalomarc]

I believe we lacked leadership, especially on the defensive side. Young talent is a good thing, we can expect great things from them in the future. And they may be good already on paper, showing good statistics. But the fact is, they lack mental toughness. They lack what is going to make them play for each other, they lack the essential synergy who is going to make each of these guys an inspiring part for his teamates. The result is: they didn't play well when it counted, especially in the fourth quarter. Character is bringing teams to win close games. Lack of character is making teams losing close games. To me this is the essential reason why this team is not in the playoff run anymore.

[JamesA119]

"This question is like the guy who smoked 3 packs a day for 25 years and then talks about his bad luck being diagnosed with lung cancer. Really dude??

We have been heading for this place relentlessly for over 3 years. Inability or unwillingness to replace lost leadership due to retirement or Harbs quest to purge the team of Alpha's. Very bad FO moves, continual merry go round of OC and DC plus QB coach. Unwillingness to accept the need for quality receivers and a stout O line. Unwillingness to admit Joe's lack of progress due to the above. Caviler attitude about lack of offensive weapons. Unwillingness to fix secondary. Lack of conditioning being some of the cause for unending injuries. (yes, I know it's football and injuries happen.) This is more than injuries happen. Bad management and bad coaching. Complete lack of discipline - again coaching. Poor game planning etc. etc etc. Yes, and a ton of bad luck. Bad luck - good teams make their own luck. Good teams start with good management.

It's been a perfect storm created and executed by a ton of bad management, lack of vision, lack of discipline and lack of leadership."

AGREE!

[#hashtag]

Puntit Today, 02:11 PM "The most dangerous thing you can do is tell yourself you are just a few plays from a very different record. Because if you take that attitude you won't every make necessary changes, you will stay the course, hoping the dice roll differently next year. When Steve Smith complained early on that some of his teammates just seemed happy to be on the team and didn't have that winning instinct, I knew we were in trouble. The Panthers, for example, are a good team this year only partly because they have a depth of talent but mostly because they play with an attitude, like they have a mission, not a bunch of guys just happy to be gainfully employed. The Patriots are playing with an "in your face -- we can do this even without cheating" disrespected attitude. The Bengals are playing to show the world they aren't a "one and done" team. And so on. meanwhile the Ravens are playing like a bunch of guys more than happy to lose by five and then line up for the media to say "the defense needs to play better, the offense needs to make some plays, we take responsibility". One would have hoped people would try to emulate Steve Smith and what it takes to make it in this league, show a bit of emotion about losing, but his attitude doesn't seem contagious. It almost seems like the "play like a Raven" attitude retired when Ray Lewis retired. Time to get that back, through the draft or more leader free agency signings."

I love this! So true! And to harp on about it - I am still so disgusted Jimmy Clausen is a Raven. I don't care if he never plays a snap for us, he doesn't even deserve the Raven jersey. May seem harsh, but I live in NC and watched him "play" for Carolina. Imagine the numbers Steve Smith Sr. would have, if he hadn't had to waste that time with Clausen. He's terrible. Cannot believe he's even in the NFL.

Edited November 28, 2015 by Moderator 3
Nobody here is that.

[GENE2407]

Got a lot of good pieces, but also a lot of F-minus pieces. We need to get this cap situation straightened out and that would mean sacrificing the 2016 season for the betterment of the team. Get rid of Monroe, K Lewis, Webb and of course Pitta contract. If that means cutting a good player or two to get those 4 duds off the books, then so be it. We get two good drafts (2016 and 2017) and some cap room in 2017 and we'll be able to make another run in 2017. I don't want anymore restructures (besides Flacco) or cutting guys after June 1st. All you're doing is prolonging the agony of getting rid of those players.

[Purple Dawg 96]

I'm still pumped over here but that's just the way I am about my squad! The Ravens put a new engine in the whip and I think it is going to perform very well maybe better than the first one Lol!

[reed20fence]

This season was managable when training camp came. Then Perriman went down. It was the equivalent of Torrey going down had we signed him. Then it starts and Suggs goes down and a Super Bowl appearence became more of a miracle possibility rather than an expectation. Then the secondary completely capsized due to lack of any pressure on QBs up front in Oakland. Down 0-2 it broke a few psychological backs. Then the issue of key veteran role players and playmakers like Webb, Munroe and Canty being perrenially ginger kicked in. Then the SSS injury right as the Secondary started to shore itself up. Now Joe and Forsett.

It's a game played by humans so coaching errors and execution errors are inevitable. But when you throw in blunderous penalty calls or missed calls to a team that's already trying to hang on tooth and nail due to a talent and cash defecit, what can you expect?

3-7 with a bunch of close calls seems pretty reasonable.

Edited November 28, 2015 by reed20fence

[BmoreB]

Let's be real. We all saw that this team had no depth as all the other teams in the Ravens' preseason games dominated. Everythng had to go right. Minimal injuries. Maximum out of the vets and a little luck from those football Gods wouldn't have hurt. Now is a good time to do some soul searching and find out who is in the plans: long term. I have no doubt the Ravens will be back fighting for a SB. When? Good question.

 

I think everything I stated was real. Depth is one thing but replacing half the team is another. To answer your question, next year !

[catgirl54]

Three things have really changed since 2011 -- 1. Penalties -- we used to be a team that racked up very few. Now we're one of the league's leaders in ratcheting them up. 2. Interceptions -- Joe never, or rather rarely, threw them. Now you can almost count on him to throw a couple of costly ones every game. Yes, the LT spot has not been great. But still, he needs to work on his fundamentals. Oh wait -- that brings me to 3. Injuries - we are making up for lost time here, too. We NEVER had this many injuries...gotta wonder why. Strength and conditioning? Bad luck? Guys not taking care of themselves?

[jravens13]

Our offense along with Trestman plays football from behind, and has no idea how to put a team away with TD's. Our defense really struggled in coverage after the Suggs loss and it took them half a season to settle down, battle through injuries, and generated a decent pass rush. You know McPhee would have been huge to have this year and the into the future. That falls on Ozzie for letting him walk. I like Pees, but our secondary has not played up to the $, and we simply do not know how to play defense in the 2 minute drill. Officiating is clearly out to get us, but we still commit stupid personal fouls to and cause more damage.

[Mystigo_Dragon]

Quote: "Joe [Flacco] is a Super Bowl MVP, and I believe he and Marc Trestman will be dynamic together. We have a Pro Bowl running back [in Justin Forsett]." EndQuote

1. Joe is the Super Bowl MVP, but he was annointed as such. Jacoby Jones played like the Super Bowl MVP he should have been named!

2 Joe and Trestman collaboration are already showing the cracks that will be apparent next year as Trestman puts more and more of his mediocre offense into the proven Ravens Kubiak System!

3. We do not have a pro bowl Running Back in Justin Forsett! We have a journeyman RB who happened to fit into Kubiak's scheme perfectly for one season!

Quote: "Everything you do, you have to be thinking about the short term and the long term. For coaches, the short term focus is always the next game. But, you always have to have awareness of the long term." EndQuote.

Okay, somebody tell me exactly what do we learn about our future plans from that statement? NOTHING! If he would have said our immediate focus is on strengthening the Secondary by A, B, & C, I can appreciate that.

But basically, he said,... "the short term goal is, uhhh, short, but you can rest assured that the long term goals will be longer"!

Edited November 28, 2015 by Mystigo_Dragon

[Mystigo_Dragon]

Our offense along with Trestman plays football from behind, and has no idea how to put a team away with TD's. Our defense really struggled in coverage after the Suggs loss and it took them half a season to settle down, battle through injuries, and generated a decent pass rush. You know McPhee would have been huge to have this year and the into the future. That falls on Ozzie for letting him walk. I like Pees, but our secondary has not played up to the $, and we simply do not know how to play defense in the 2 minute drill. Officiating is clearly out to get us, but we still commit stupid personal fouls to and cause more damage.

 

I was sad when the FO hired Trestman! Another "NFL Re-tread"! I was hoping upon hope that our FO and HC would show a spark of imagination and give one of Kubiak's "disciples" the nod [and $$$] as O-Coordinator to build around Joe!

That, to me, was the smart move!

[JamesA119]

This is what I think of "How did the Ravens get here?" : This has been in the making for several years. It just happened to have culminated this year.

1. Ozzie and his crew took the "right player right price" too far. They have drafted fairly well, however they have never had a good plan on how to retain good talents. I understand some will neg me and say that we can't sign everyone. Keeping talents is a challenge in the salary cap era, but to me it's something that has to be done. Figure it out. Out of the Bengal's 53 players, 38 of them have been with the Bengals since their rookie season.

2. Coaching. The defense especially has been on the decline since Chuck Pagano left. Dean Pees' philosophy has not worked well. For example Dorian Stewart was horrible with us last year, but this year, he is a top 5 safety with the Broncos. Conversely Lewis was great in Kansas City and Houston, and horrible here this year.

Coach Harbaugh also has focused a lot on the esoteric but less on substantive issues. I believe that we have never benefitted from joint practices. Joint practices are cute, but in my mind have never accomplished anything but press coverage. Teams will never tip their hands in pre-season games much less in a joint practice. It's one of the most useless things we can do. I guarantee you that you will not gain anything by disrupting your team's plan for a joint practice. Why can't we just spend more time trying to improve our players, rather than giving the impression that we are?

3. Emotional leadership. This is tough because you cannot blame any one player. Leaders are leaders. However when there's a void, the coaches have to take up the slack, or find that person in the locker room. The reason leadership is important is that it can make players perform to the level that they normally wouldn't.

[jravens13]

This is what I think of "How did the Ravens get here?" : This has been in the making for several years. It just happened to have culminated this year.

1. Ozzie and his crew took the "right player right price" too far. They have drafted fairly well, however they have never had a good plan on how to retain good talents. I understand some will neg me and say that we can't sign everyone. Keeping talents is a challenge in the salary cap era, but to me it's something that has to be done. Figure it out. Out of the Bengal's 53 players, 38 of them have been with the Bengals since their rookie season.

2. Coaching. The defense especially has been on the decline since Chuck Pagano left. Dean Pees' philosophy has not worked well. For example Dorian Stewart was horrible with us last year, but this year, he is a top 5 safety with the Broncos. Conversely Lewis was great in Kansas City and Houston, and horrible here this year.

Coach Harbaugh also has focused a lot on the esoteric but less on substantive issues. I believe that we have never benefitted from joint practices. Joint practices are cute, but in my mind have never accomplished anything but press coverage. Teams will never tip their hands in pre-season games much less in a joint practice. It's one of the most useless things we can do. I guarantee you that you will not gain anything by disrupting your team's plan for a joint practice. Why can't we just spend more time trying to improve our players, rather than giving the impression that we are?

3. Emotional leadership. This is tough because you cannot blame any one player. Leaders are leaders. However when there's a void, the coaches have to take up the slack, or find that person in the locker room. The reason leadership is important is that it can make players perform to the level that they normally wouldn't.

Give Darian Stewart Von Miller, Demarcus Ware, and a bunch of other guys who get after it and he will look great. He wasn't  a bad solid saftey for us, just not a huge playmaker/TO creator. Replace Tamba Hali, Justin Houston or JJ Watt with the mix match D-Line we had this year and Kendrick Lewis doesn't look the same either. Pass rushers make saftey's and corners look real good. 

[JamesA119]

"Give Darian Stewart Von Miller, Demarcus Ware, and a bunch of other guys who get after it and he will look great. He was a bad solid saftey for us, just not a huge playmaker/TO creator. Replace Tamba Hali, Justin Houston or JJ Watt with the mix match D-Line we had this year and Kendrick Lewis doesn't look the same either. Pass rushers make saftey's and corners look real good. "

Suggs and Dumerville combined to lead the NFL in sacks the year Dorian Stewart was with us. Pass rushing was not an issue that year. I don't understand why many of you always have an excuse for everything.

[Ravenshine]

How did we get here? Or, how do we get out of here? Well... It was all a horrible dream, we are going to wake up and realize nobody shot JR Ewing. We look at the desk calendar by the bed...it's Aug 2016...2015 is a hazy dream memory that we can soon forget because it's history. That being said, let just finish this year out with some wins!

Edited November 28, 2015 by Ravenshine

[52liveforever]

"Give Darian Stewart Von Miller, Demarcus Ware, and a bunch of other guys who get after it and he will look great. He was a bad solid saftey for us, just not a huge playmaker/TO creator. Replace Tamba Hali, Justin Houston or JJ Watt with the mix match D-Line we had this year and Kendrick Lewis doesn't look the same either. Pass rushers make saftey's and corners look real good. "

Suggs and Dumerville combined to lead the NFL in sacks the year Dorian Stewart was with us. Pass rushing was not an issue that year. I don't understand why many of you always have an excuse for everything.

 

beat me to it.

[fusuymada]

Let's start with the schedule, throw in the Jaguars game, add the Will Hill PI, don't forget the nanishing Urschel when reporting, the phantom trip by Jensen, the PI on Kendrick Lewis when the replay showed he wasn't within 6 feet of the receiver, and I could go on and on with more poor calls and decisions by the league to hurt the Ravens and if I didn't believe in conspiracy theories, I would say Goodell is ticked about Rice and the Ravens tipping off the league on inflate gate and getting them involved in that. But I don't believe in conspiracy theories, or do I?

[utalkingtome123]

lo I am venting and am all over the place but hear me out I love the ravens to death and still talk trash and find the good things out this season, but the ravens philosophy needs to change. Harbaugh needs to clean slate at coaching because their horrible. I never wanted trestman from the start, one of us could call better play calling, i mean on 3rd and 1 he's throwing bombs, he runs the small back up the middle in the pile and 3rd and 7 he's doing 2-3 yard passes and pees is just as bad, we of course need to fire our conditioning coach because our players have been dropping left and right. Our draft picks have been horrible although I think perriman will be pretty good, but other than that the picks have been trash we only know how to draft lineman, tight ends and linebackers. Ive seen countless times where I'm puzzled on a pick when there was someone way better on the board and just like I predicted that player we didn't draft becomes pretty good. Though injuries have struck, all our receiver even the ones injured (except steve smith) play soft, they look stiff, nervous and don't know to run routes, they look for the flag, no one looks hungry and aggressive like they want to be great. Flake needs to learn how to read defenses and audible, though it might not be his fault because the dumb coaches probably won't let him. Bow on to the defense, linebackers are good, but we need to get younger and get some speed on there. The ravens need ball hawks, we get a lot of defensive backs who can tackle, but get burnt every play. Its not all their fault though because theirs no pressure on the quarterback anyway. sizzle and elvis were great last year, but we should have been better prepared to replace them and picked up more pass rushers because they are old and ready to retire. The ravens would play with suggs and any other old players until their 40 because we don't like putting some quality young talent out there and developing them, even though I will say that goes along with our cap a little bit, which has been a big problem for the past few years.