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

[FlocksGottaFeed]

I know am in the minority, but I still believe that we are the SB caliber team that everybody thought we were before this 2015 season began. The only thing is...This is not the right season.

 

This season is a freakish, abnormality of historic proportions. 2016 will prove this. We're only 2-3 players, a cultural shift and an off-season away from those early 2015 predictions.

[Tenacious Faulker]

This was an epicly bad season for the Ravens. Some of that could have been from bad luck (injuries, bad calls, etc.) but a lot has come from lack of disciplined play (execution, penalties, focus drops, blown routes, lack of turnovers, etc.). That primarily goes to the coaching and management and the players second.

When I look at the Patriots (a team I loathe) I still see a team that overcomes major losses each season to win while managing their cap very well. Their players are not premium talent yet they always end up making key plays when they matter most. THAT is what the Ravens have NOT been able to replicate.

Good team minimize the impact of their losses. Not so with Baltimore. The Ravens were in trouble even before it lost its 4 best players; their losses only accelerated the overall failure of the season. Everyone gets a bad year. Hope they spend this off season planning like they used to. Seems like they dialed it in for 2015.

[Tru11]

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.

 

lewis was never great.

what ed reed did was great during he career here was great. , what lewis did was avg at best...

 

as for stewart.

he is playing with pro bowlers and all pro is the secondary.

talib , harris and  ward are all all pro caliber players among the best at their position.

roby is 1st round pick in his 2nd season doing a great job at the nickle.

 

here stewart was playing with a banged up webb , elam at nickle and a revovling door at the other CB position which late the in season got manned by a PS guy.

Hill was the only serviceable guy but he aint better then ward.

 

there is an epic difference in talent between both secondaries....

 

ware and miller where pretty much on pair with suggs and doom last season and they actually kept majority of the guys who got sacks and pressure last season and added ray while also gave wade phillips the key to the defense.

[Crusader]

Bad choices caused by arrogant decisions without a backup plan and some cases no plan. I hear fans are spoiled but so is the organization and you can tell that by the interviews and the BS petaled.

[ReginaldColeman1]

It's ironic that the franchise went about face on their future after winning the second SB. They told us they'd not make the same mistake and try to keep everyone after the first one. Hope they find a happy medium. Some pundits point out the obvious that while the franchise devours comp picks its selections don't balance things out. In an effort to let a guy retire a Raven they resign a guy who looking at few good remaining years to keep fans happy but who won't be worth the money or equal the value they could have received for a younger player with promise or a lower cap contract. But as far as injuries it's really a wash. So many teams have lost key players. Naturally without Joe they're in deep water over their heads but one could reasonably say that they could have done a little bit more to go out and improve their skill positions without sacrificing a lot. I mean two years running and all that WR promise and secondary moves in the off season leaves one wondering what they're up to. On the positive it will be easier for them to figure out what needs to be done now that fans are emptying out faster than paying up. It's a business and Steve Bisciotti ought to be looking at this one carefully because lost revenue is something he can't possible tolerate. As the Brooklyn Dodgers used to say "wait til' next year'.