[News] Late For Work 12/23: Untold Story Behind Super Bowl Blackout

[BR News]

Williams biggest Pro Bowl snub. Marlon Brown mystery. Injury excuse. Disappointing stretch for Givens.

View the full article

[OzzieBisciotti]

The Patriots, Packers, Seahawks, Squeelers, and Broncos have all had injuries- but they have a solid roster (we don't), and yet they also make the playoffs almost every year. We used to be mentioned in the same breath but no longer. 5 consecutive bad drafts, poor FO decisions on FA signings, letting core members leave, and having all this dead money leads us to where we are today- if we had a good base of young players (we didn't have this), then we'd still be competitive. We barely made it to the playoffs last year, and I don't see us making it until 2017 at the earliest. This team has got way too many holes- way too many where one draft will not fix all our issues. At least Ozzie can usually make a good pick when he drafts in the top ten- outside of the top ten, our recent drafts have been terrible (elam, perriman who?). I would love to see an article from baltimoreravens.com comparing our last five drafts to other teams to see who we have starting/ playing versus who was cut for rounds 1-4, etc.. I bet we'd be near the bottom quartile for sure.. We have no nucleus of solid, young players.

[Bat-mite]

I feel bad for Williams, but sadly, people usually don't vote for players on losing teams ... because nobody is watching them. As for the lights, makes sense. Even professionals make mistakes -- look how many rockets NASA has blown up. We won. Let's move on.

[budman]

So, we release 2 players that we were high on and wanted to keep but Marlon Brown is still floating around not practicing or playing?? Wonder if we will ever know why?

[b93333]

Williams is greatly appreciated by B-more fans; the rest of football will realize it's mistake in time.

[budman]

The Patriots, Packers, Seahawks, Squeelers, and Broncos have all had injuries- but they have a solid roster (we don't), and yet they also make the playoffs almost every year. We used to be mentioned in the same breath but no longer. 5 consecutive bad drafts, poor FO decisions on FA signings, letting core members leave, and having all this dead money leads us to where we are today- if we had a good base of young players (we didn't have this), then we'd still be competitive. We barely made it to the playoffs last year, and I don't see us making it until 2017 at the earliest. This team has got way too many holes- way too many where one draft will not fix all our issues. At least Ozzie can usually make a good pick when he drafts in the top ten- outside of the top ten, our recent drafts have been terrible (elam, perriman who?). I would love to see an article from baltimoreravens.com comparing our last five drafts to other teams to see who we have starting/ playing versus who was cut for rounds 1-4, etc.. I bet we'd be near the bottom quartile for sure.. We have no nucleus of solid, young players.

I get what you are saying. Yes other teams have had injuries but not ALL at the same time. Patriots lost Gronk but still had their other starters at Rb and Wr., Same can be said for the other teams that were listed. We lost starters and back-ups and it all happened as to all being out of the line-up at the same time. I do however agree that injuries are not the only reason for the kind of season that we are having, but it sure has played a Huge part. As far as trying to predict when we see the playoffs again--Why not 2016? Stranger things have happened. Who would have thought the Texans would be leading the division and make it the playoffs? Carolina going undefeated? Redskins etc... impossible to tell.

 

 

GO RAVENS!

[johnmike72]

So, we release 2 players that we were high on and wanted to keep but Marlon Brown is still floating around not practicing or playing?? Wonder if we will ever know why?

He`s hiding somewhere in Harbaugh`s DOG HOUSE.

[RavensInNC]

The Patriots, Packers, Seahawks, Squeelers, and Broncos have all had injuries- but they have a solid roster (we don't), and yet they also make the playoffs almost every year. We used to be mentioned in the same breath but no longer. 5 consecutive bad drafts, poor FO decisions on FA signings, letting core members leave, and having all this dead money leads us to where we are today- if we had a good base of young players (we didn't have this), then we'd still be competitive. We barely made it to the playoffs last year, and I don't see us making it until 2017 at the earliest. This team has got way too many holes- way too many where one draft will not fix all our issues. At least Ozzie can usually make a good pick when he drafts in the top ten- outside of the top ten, our recent drafts have been terrible (elam, perriman who?). I would love to see an article from baltimoreravens.com comparing our last five drafts to other teams to see who we have starting/ playing versus who was cut for rounds 1-4, etc.. I bet we'd be near the bottom quartile for sure.. We have no nucleus of solid, young players.

 

We lost all of our games except last week by only 1 score and most of those games were determined by ONE call by the refs. Even with our team being decimated by injuries we could easily be 13-1 as crazy as that sounds. Do I think that we should be considered a "13-1 team" and playoff contention even if we got those calls? Heck no, but we weren't getting blown out every week either. 

[Shaky End of the Quarter]

Budman, its easy to not see the Ravens make the playoffs until 2017 based solely on the toughness of the division we play in. Redskins and Texans play in the 2 worst divisions so its not surprising that after injuries to Tony Romo and Andrew Luck we see the Redskins and the Texans leading their respective miserable divisions. Unfortunately for us the Bengals have drafted extremely well over the last 5 years and the Steelers always find a way to be victorious regardless of the quality of players they field. We need some serious leadership and talent injection. Since we won the SB and lost our foundation/leadership (Lewis, Reed...) we have only made the playoffs once and if you ask me it was pure luck. We happened to play the worst 2 division in the NFL that year and to top it off we needed some 4th quarter heroics to beat the Brownies at home, and we also needed help from the Chiefs to be able to move on. I never thought the tables could turn this drastic this fast.

[bioLarzen]

Brandon Williams did have a Pro Bowl season, that's true - but the true travesty is that Yanda was only invited to 5...

[Purplepowers88]

I think Marlon Brown hasn't been added to the IR yet because "sucking" is not an eligible injury

[January J]

Id also like to know why Marlon brown hasn't been added to IR. they have lost a few good players to waivers due to that wasted roster spot. Makes no sense to me- hopefully they have a legitimate reason. Givens also has no place on this team next year. Draft another youngster to fill his spot, such as Boyd. You don't produce- you gotta go. And he's had ample enough opportunities.

[757RavensFan]

The Patriots, Packers, Seahawks, Squeelers, and Broncos have all had injuries- but they have a solid roster (we don't), and yet they also make the playoffs almost every year. We used to be mentioned in the same breath but no longer. 5 consecutive bad drafts, poor FO decisions on FA signings, letting core members leave, and having all this dead money leads us to where we are today- if we had a good base of young players (we didn't have this), then we'd still be competitive. We barely made it to the playoffs last year, and I don't see us making it until 2017 at the earliest. This team has got way too many holes- way too many where one draft will not fix all our issues. At least Ozzie can usually make a good pick when he drafts in the top ten- outside of the top ten, our recent drafts have been terrible (elam, perriman who?). I would love to see an article from baltimoreravens.com comparing our last five drafts to other teams to see who we have starting/ playing versus who was cut for rounds 1-4, etc.. I bet we'd be near the bottom quartile for sure.. We have no nucleus of solid, young players.

 

 

Every year under Harbaugh we've been in discussion as a post-season threat with the teams you mentioned. Even this year, going into the season many had picked us to represent the AFC in the Superbowl.  So I don't know where you get the basis for your comment.  Also looking at the teams you mentioned, the Seahawks just recently became a premier team under Pete Carroll and the Ravens have 2 more post-season appearances than the Steelers during the Harbaugh era. 

Edited December 24, 2015 by 757RavensFan

[fusuymada]

People want to blast the Ravens defense for only losing Suggs and still being bad. However, the affect of the offense by having a new coordinator, poor receivers, limited rushing game, kept the defense on the field. To compound the problem, without Suggs, Dumervil, the only other legit pass rusher, was double teamed and locked down. Without any pass rush, any secondary becomes a target because no corner, not even Revis, can stick with a receiver for 10 seconds. The more the offense fails, the more the defense is on the field, wearing down the rush and corners and becoming a vicious cycle. Where it is easy to say the defense did poorly, fire Pees, they can't evaluate talent, etc... a smarter eye that takes a look at the affect of multiple items on the defense can make more sense of this years outcome. Sure we can sit back and complain, but lets not just excuse the injury affect on the defense, even if it isn't the defense sustaining the injuries.

[Drew P]

Its not injuries its lack of talent. The secondary is awful and the pass rush is marginal at best.

[NCMan]

Id also like to know why Marlon brown hasn't been added to IR. they have lost a few good players to waivers due to that wasted roster spot. Makes no sense to me- hopefully they have a legitimate reason. Givens also has no place on this team next year. Draft another youngster to fill his spot, such as Boyd. You don't produce- you gotta go. And he's had ample enough opportunities.

Yeah, kind of like when they kept Jensen on the 53 man roster for a whole season when he never played one single down and wasn't even healthy enough to play one. Yeah.

[NCMan]

i didn't say he wasn't athletic but he is not athletic enough to drop into coverage like an olb would have to.

W/all due respect to Sizzle.....have you seen him in "coverage"? 'Nuff said.

[balfan23]

I'm surprised this is Koch's 1st pro bowl. For some reason, I thought he'd been there before. Congrats Sam!

[ellicottraven]

That Luke Jones piece was illuminating and right on the money. Our injury problems weren't the reason we started 1-6, the poor play by our starters, poor coaching by our coaches and lack of cohesion as a team were contributing factors. In fact, injuries just made it easier for coaches and players to explain the horrid record. While John Harbaugh has never used injuries as an excuse, he's never disagreed with that reason when it's brought up in pressers either. Smart!

[ellicottraven]

It burns me these days when I see Ray Rice without a job! Every time I see him, I see Greg Hardy's previlege to continue to play when RR never got a chance for what I believe (without condoning what he did), to be far less egregious!

[Winchester]

The Patriots, Packers, Seahawks, Squeelers, and Broncos have all had injuries- but they have a solid roster (we don't), and yet they also make the playoffs almost every year. We used to be mentioned in the same breath but no longer. 5 consecutive bad drafts, poor FO decisions on FA signings, letting core members leave, and having all this dead money leads us to where we are today- if we had a good base of young players (we didn't have this), then we'd still be competitive. We barely made it to the playoffs last year, and I don't see us making it until 2017 at the earliest. This team has got way too many holes- way too many where one draft will not fix all our issues. At least Ozzie can usually make a good pick when he drafts in the top ten- outside of the top ten, our recent drafts have been terrible (elam, perriman who?). I would love to see an article from baltimoreravens.com comparing our last five drafts to other teams to see who we have starting/ playing versus who was cut for rounds 1-4, etc.. I bet we'd be near the bottom quartile for sure.. We have no nucleus of solid, young players.

What you are saying is true but Ozzie's homers do not want to hear that. Begging a 37 yr old to play while coming off Achilles injury says what the drafting has been. Pro day Perriman has a very low football iq and shows very little savvy and route skills for an nfl receivers son.

[757RavensFan]

I was fortunate enough to attend the SuperBowl in NOLA.  During the power outage, a lot of folks in our section started panicking and headed for the exits I can only assume they thought it was a terrorist attack.  One thing that was strange about the lights going out was that it was a rolling effect.  The 1/2 that went out didn't all go out at once.  Every few seconds another one would go out until half of the stadium was out.  Even with 1/2 the lights out, it really wasn't that dark inside the dome. 

[ravenwildman]

Lukes right, injuries were the heaviest on offense, which was stronger most (if not all) games than the defense. Suggs is awesome, but he can't be the whole story! Something happened this year on the defense that just opened the floodgates on other teams offenses pushing the Ravens up and down the field. It wasn't stopping the run, they did great there, but short to deep passes ate them alive. Couldn't even stop rookie QBS! If the Ravens can't fix that......we got trouble next year! GO RAVENS!

[rmcjacket23]

Lukes right, injuries were the heaviest on offense, which was stronger most (if not all) games than the defense. Suggs is awesome, but he can't be the whole story! Something happened this year on the defense that just opened the floodgates on other teams offenses pushing the Ravens up and down the field. It wasn't stopping the run, they did great there, but short to deep passes ate them alive. Couldn't even stop rookie QBS! If the Ravens can't fix that......we got trouble next year! GO RAVENS!

For me, its simple:

 

1st half of year: Offense was average to above average, defense was terrible

2nd half of year: Defense was average (improving), offense was terrible due to lack of talent/injuries.

[griffrb]

Luke's article is correct - Injuries aren't the reason for our record that's for sure. A lack of talent acquisition is. Could be some coaching issue to but the talent issue is obvious. You could see during the training camp and preseason games that we lacked talent across the board and it's finally caught up and exposed the fact no scheme or coaching can overcome a lack talent. Let's hope we're no more than 2 off-seasons away of player acquisiton and development to competing for a Super Bowl again. Go Ravens!

[Run Pass Pass Punt]

Why would they cut Mostert - he's crazy fast a good return man and a special teams standout. I was wondering why they didn't let him return sooner. He finally got some burn after the blocked punt but man we could have used his big play ability all season. Look him up.

[Ravenshine]

So attended the Seahawks game and had to put up with all the flatulent hawks fans lol. They act like the Hawks are and have been this leading team for years and years...yet are barely making it week to week to get wild card, lol, smh. I'm not easily discouraged I just wait for my team to be on top again...I can wait

[rmcjacket23]

So attended the Seahawks game and had to put up with all the flatulent hawks fans lol. They act like the Hawks are and have been this leading team for years and years...yet are barely making it week to week to get wild card, lol, smh. I'm not easily discouraged I just wait for my team to be on top again...I can wait

Well, they've easily been the best football team on the planet for the last two seasons, and they clinched a playoff spot in week 15, which is nothing to sneeze at.

 

They have earned the right to gloat certainly.

[bioLarzen]

Although it seems unlikely now that we could end up higher than the #3 spot in the draft, but sneaking up to the #2 spot, while the Browns get the top pick isn't entirely out of question. If that ends up being the case - did it ever happen that the first two picks went to the same division, in the current format (8 4-team divisions)?

 

Edit: yep, it happened: in 2004 the Chargers and the Raiders picked #1-2 (kudos, Wikipedia). So, it wouldn't be NFL history

Edited December 23, 2015 by bioLarzen

[ravens4life86]

Thats a pretty dang good list of players..all those pro bowls