[News] Eisenberg: The Two Most Important Questions This Offseason

[Crusader]

You want your leaders to look clueless? In denial? When he talks to the media he talks to fans who put bread on his table.

[RavensBaltimore]

There is no reason to think the Ravens won't make the playoffs in 2016. If we had multiple seasons like this one, I would say we have a long way to go, but this was our only losing season in 8 years. When you look at all the injuries, bad breaks, close losses, and out of character errors, this season was simply a fluke.

The defense played much better in the second half of the season, and the offense was playing well before Flacco got hurt, despite the fact that we were down to 3rd string at all of our skill positions, which is extremely unlikely to happen again. The o-line struggle with injuries but played much better in the second half as well. It's nearly impossible to get through a season without any key injuries, but even if we brought back the same team, a reasonable healthy offense and defense would put us right back into contention. Add to that the 6th pick in the draft, plus we should get Perriman back, so it will be like having two 1st rnd picks, and the 2015 season will just be a blip on the radar.

[Johnny-U]

Don't think drafts have been as bad a SOME (not all) think.

2015 - too early to tell.

2014 - CJ Mosley, Gilmore, Urban, Urshel; still early but early indications are this was a good draft.

2013: early rounds (1-3) were poor (Elam, Brown), but later rounds (4-6) are shaping up as pretty good.

2012 - no first round pick, and KO in 3rd round. I'd consider this a average-to-good draft.

2011 - a darn good draft

2010 - VERY BAD DRAFT, given no first round pick and Kindle in 2nd,

2009 - Average to good

2008 - Flacco, Rice, Zbikowsky....a very good draft.

[Drew P]

Kendrick Lewis is a joke. Hill is just okay but they still need a leader in the secondary.

[utalkingtome123]

Anybody remember Julian Wilson the corner who got hyped up a lot in training camp, I'm looking forward to seeing his debut

[throwback2000]

Will it take Owner Biscotti to eat another contract 0f 4-5 yrs.(remember Billick), to get his point across? Can't wait for Thursday!

[Tower of Power]

With a good, steady OL we make the playoffs for sure.

[OzzieBisciotti]

After three years will the Ravens ever fix the secondary? Will Ozzie save his job with a good draft. Could we lose Eric DeCosta before Ozzie leaves?

I'm not sure- he ignored the secondary in the draft for the past 2-3 years- I don't know if he'll remember to draft a corner this year.  With that said, I don't think he'll lose his job because Bisciotti gave him a lifetime job- Oz himself said that he'd quit as soon as he didn't start enjoying coming into work- not sure how he feels these days- last five drafts haven't been stellar.    I'm not sure if DeCosta would be good either- all of the personnel that worked directly under Ozzie in the past and then went to other teams never became successful on their own and never held a long term jobs at other teams- and they eventually came back to the Ravens.  In Oz I'll continue to try to trust.

Edited January 6, 2016 by OzzieBisciotti

[OzzieBisciotti]

Also, I don't think we're not making the playoffs until 2017 at the earliest- I know anything can happen with the NFL, but we have a lot of holes, and I assume we'll have the exact same coaching staff next year.  If we had a different coaching staff, and I'm not saying anything bad about the current staff, then I think there would be more of a chance for us to make the playoffs with new blood coaching our team.  I'm glad Eisenburg didn't guarantuee that we'd make the playoffs next year- then I would've known he's been drinking too much purple Kool-Aid

[vinnystp]

I just for one year, would like to experience a year without a huge contract in Dead money on the table. I know many teams deal with this, and its a product of diminishing returns on contracts that award players for past production, and the results never meet the expectations of the contract signed. I get it. I am not advocating cutting any players with massive contracts, to free up cap space, this also leads to dead money. I just worry with the looming question (2nd year in a row) of what happens with Pitta. Will he play, or will we have another year of dead money. This year I think we are more confident than ever, that we have 3 men on our active roster, who without a doubt can contribute at this position, if Pitta does decide to retire. I hope he does whatever he wants, and will not hold it against him either way. Health before everything. I just want a 2016, without tons of dead money. If Webb is considering a position move to FS...then draft a top Corner, premier DE or bookend tackle to replace KO who is obviously priced out of our range now. As much as we are in need of a playmaker WR, Perriman hasn't hit the field yet, to see where we are with him. Too soon to call him a bust. We have a good foundation, just need discipline to not commit 1140 penalty yards in a season, and we need a better turnover differential.

[drillem]

The big question is whether the refs will improve enough by next season to allow the Ravens to have a go at it. If they keep missing obvious fouls by opposing teams and calling Ravens players for sneezing then not much will improve. It really zaps the spirit when a td is called back for questionable reasons. Oh, yeah, I know what Harbs says. "we just gotta play better and overcome that kinda stuff". Easier said then done, John.

[RavensDieHard21]

I'll tell you what, our schedule is a heck of a lot more manageable for next season! No west coast games and we face the AFC and NFC East, I'll take it.

[Halshayeji]

It's not too complicated. We were within 1 score of each game we played prior to Flacco getting Kerrigan'd by our own left tackle. You add one game changer like Suggs back to the equation and you've got completely different possibilities. The entire dynamic of the game changes when you can create pressure with just the front 4. We couldn't do it and no GM in this league has ever gone into a season PLANNING to lose a marquee pass rusher like that. All you can do is try to coach up his replacements quickly.

The real pitfall this offseason would be overreacting. We know where the needs are. Just stay the course. Don't get too reactionary. Stick to the board. It'll be alright.

I totally agree with what you just said. Suggs coming back will provide a huge boost to our D in terms of demanding double teams, getting to the QB, and setting the edge. We're not even talking about his intangibles. My only worry is that everyone is gonna expect suggs to come out flying to start the year. That's not gonna happen because hes coming back from a tough tough injury and won't be close to full speed till the second half of the season. It sucked loosing sugs but that gave z smith valuable playing time and the guy really has developed into a good player. He's surely a great backup at least and could really help in specific packages. Doom won't have to do so much and will get close to double digit sacks.

You are absolutely right. Everyone can use a pass rusher but let's not screw everything up and reach for a pass rush because we already have some solid guys for 2016.

[BBoogieMan]

Predictions in sports, especially pro football, even simple questions of can and will a team make the post-season is a waste of time. Sure it fun for idle chat like at the barbershop/coffee breaks but sports analysts/commentators...why?

#1 and foremost...injuries, of course always unforeseeable...devastating our injury woes were this yr. Look at SD's O-line/K. Allen or Romo/Dez or Big Ben/LeVeon or Dalton or Jordy Nelson or Luck or Edelman, etc...etc..? They are season altering. Beginning of every season/camp..."we're finally healthy; we're getting healthy...." then BAM! Add to that: draft outcome, free agency, retirements (ask SF), trades, a key player having a down year like Matt Ryan, and other teams success no matter your record like a 2013 AZ team out the playoffs with a 10-6 record (T-5th best record in the NFC) Anything can happen at any time, so no point speculating esp. in January if we can or will make the playoffs.

[Crusader]

I'm not sure- he ignored the secondary in the draft for the past 2-3 years- I don't know if he'll remember to draft a corner this year.  With that said, I don't think he'll lose his job because Bisciotti gave him a lifetime job- Oz himself said that he'd quit as soon as he didn't start enjoying coming into work- not sure how he feels these days- last five drafts haven't been stellar.    I'm not sure if DeCosta would be good either- all of the personnel that worked directly under Ozzie in the past and then went to other teams never became successful on their own and never held a long term jobs at other teams- and they eventually came back to the Ravens.  In Oz I'll continue to try to trust.

Never said ignored the secondary but fix it. Ever noticed the bad draft picks started after John got here? Inquiring minds want to know.

[slowboater]

Purely hindsight though. Wasn't much uproar, if any, about any of these contracts when they were signed. 

 

....Webb just took a paycut and actually played pretty well for how much he's getting paid. Position change likely with him, so I expect him back as well.

 

Most of the dead money in 2016 will be for Pitta and maybe Monroe and smaller contracts that we will cut. I'm expecting Suggs and Webb back.

Pitta already had his first hip injury. Hindsight? Giving a guy with a ruptured hip socket a five year contract was a risk. Many said it then. As for Suggs? The Ravens fall in love with their stars, like most teams as it sells tickets. But Ozzie will still pay a price for this, along with Webb. Dead money? OK. But now it looks like it is time to pay Paul. The Ravens again, will not be able to afford a top tier free agent unless they want to kick the can down the road. Just as they have been doing for years.

[slowboater]

 i don't  follow what you're disagreement with my comment is. pees bend don't break philosophy cost us two fourteen point leads against the pats. but we headed into the offseason knowing we need better playmakers and not calling his play calling into question too much. now we are heading into this offseason needing to fix both again,and  I'm frustrated that we keep having these issues.

 our defense was a sieve at the beginning of the season, we gave up fourth quarter leads,couldn't get off the field i hold pees ultimately responsible for that. but we end this season with a defense that ranked 8th overall. that might be enough for harbaugh to keep him. it isn't for me, our defense has traditionally prided itself on not ceding any ground and i would like a coach who would bring back this attitude

Salary cap. Poor draft. Injuries. If the Ravens drafted high like Cleveland or even Cincy years ago, no one would be complaining about the inferior athletes in the secondary. They would be complaining about how we can't afford them all.

[concretejimmy]

I think they can and will make the playoffs. I don't expect the rash of injuries, penalties to become them next season. The refs were horrible, especially against the Ravens. But all teams have bad calls, good teams overcome them. Ravens were practically in every game and were playing respectably down the stretch even after it seemed a key player was going down on a weekly basis. This team is battle tested and Harbaugh is one of the best head coaches in the league. Let's not forget about that horrible 1st half schedule. I think they can turn it totally around. 11-5 instead of 5-11. I was right though. I said the Ravens would sweep the Squeelers.