[News] Ravens Confident Last Season Can Be One-Year Blip

[BR News]

The Ravens expect to compete for the playoffs, and their offseason moves show a win-now mentality.

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[RavensDieHard21]

I feel with a strong draft that we easily bounce back. Everyone keeps forgetting how brutal the schedule was too. Now we don't have to leave the east coast. Now that we have strengthened the secondary, let's get a few pass rushers in the draft to keep sizzle and doom fresh all year.

[stixfix69]

I feel if our key players can stay healthy we will make it back to the dance.....

[fusuymada]

I think the effort the front office has made to put together a team that will win right now is indicative of the fact that they are not quite as confident as they claim to be in getting back into the playoffs. The moves the Ravens are making in free agency are complimentary moves to what is available in the draft. Weddle makes not getting Ramsey more palatable and grabbing Watson addresses the lack of TE talent in the draft and the fact they have an extremely young TE group already as it is. Adding another rookie would make no sense. If they add Mike Wallace then they pretty much are down to a pass rusher and a left tackle in the #6 pick in the draft. I think depending on who gets picked the Ravens will go Bosa, Jack or Buckner. If they are all gone along with Ramsey then a Left Tackle may be in the works or they may stretch and grab the best pure corner in the draft in Hargreaves. I would be happy with any of those 6 guys in order. Ramsey, Bosa, Jack, Buckner, Stanley, or Hargreaves. Since we are picking 6th and we have 6 great selections in positions of need, I think the first round will be a slam dunk.

Edited March 15, 2016 by fusuymada
grammer

[The Beak]

If The brownies make a trade for kap, look for a team to try to move in front of 49ers to grab a Qb this could be a trade back year, which world be ok if not to far back in the 1st rd.

[verified]

We need corners in the draft I remember when we had corry grahm, carry williams and jimmy smith, you couldnt pass on us.Thats how we got so bad because we lost all those guys and webbys always been injury prone and we were never able to replace those guys. When the ravens have been great weve had corners that could cover. Right now we have no one i trust to go opposite jimmy if we cant get ramsey id draft Vernon Hargreaves with the first pick

[ibleedpurpleandblack]

If The brownies make a trade for kap, look for a team to try to move in front of 49ers to grab a Qb this could be a trade back year, which world be ok if not to far back in the 1st rd.

In order for the Ravens to trade the #6 pick it would have to be tied to an impact player and a mid-late 1st and 2nd rnd pick. It's been 16 years since we've had an opportunity to draft a potential franchise player and I highly doubt they are going to trade out of it.

[757RavensFan]

1 hour ago, fusuymada said:

I think the effort the front office has made to put together a team that will win right now is indicative of the fact that they are not quite as confident as they claim to be in getting back into the playoffs. The moves the Ravens are making in free agency are complimentary moves to what is available in the draft. Weddle makes not getting Ramsey more palatable and grabbing Watson addresses the lack of TE talent in the draft and the fact they have an extremely young TE group already as it is. Adding another rookie would make no sense. If they add Mike Wallace then they pretty much are down to a pass rusher and a left tackle in the #6 pick in the draft. I think depending on who gets picked the Ravens will go Bosa, Jack or Buckner. If they are all gone along with Ramsey then a Left Tackle may be in the works or they may stretch and grab the best pure corner in the draft in Hargreaves. I would be happy with any of those 6 guys in order. Ramsey, Bosa, Jack, Buckner, Stanley, or Hargreaves. Since we are picking 6th and we have 6 great selections in positions of need, I think the first round will be a slam dunk.

Agreed, I think a lot of their moves are based on the fact that this really isn't a strong draft class for our areas of need.  

[Crusader]

I don't see how. Ravens have Yanda and Zuttah that's it for Offensive line and who is playing Linebacker positions? Arthur Brown? Mosley can't cover and that's leave Orr, too inexperience. Ravens will be lucky to break 8-8.

[stixfix69]

If we resign Upshaw, and A.Brown is around, i would swap them out, move Upshaw Inside who is strong against the run, and Move A.Brown outside because he was known for his speed and quickness...I would at least experiment with that in camp....With D.Smith gone, we are very thin at ILBer...JMO.....

[stixfix69]

looks like we signed Wallace....

[Ravenous_Ravens]

If we resign Upshaw, and A.Brown is around, i would swap them out, move Upshaw Inside who is strong against the run, and Move A.Brown outside because he was known for his speed and quickness...I would at least experiment with that in camp....With D.Smith gone, we are very thin at ILBer...JMO.....

I'm still hoping Myles Jack falls to the Ravens. Paired with Mosley the LB corps would be set for many solid campaigns. Bit of a long shot but don't doubt Ozzie.

[Rat]

I don't see how. Ravens have Yanda and Zuttah that's it for Offensive line and who is playing Linebacker positions? Arthur Brown? Mosley can't cover and that's leave Orr, too inexperience. Ravens will be lucky to break 8-8.

Best to wait till all things are final, before you start predicting the future....more signing may be coming and #6 pick may help.....

[Ravenous_Ravens]

  1 hour ago, The Beak said:

If The brownies make a trade for kap, look for a team to try to move in front of 49ers to grab a Qb this could be a trade back year, which world be ok if not to far back in the 1st rd.

In order for the Ravens to trade the #6 pick it would have to be tied to an impact player and a mid-late 1st and 2nd rnd pick. It's been 16 years since we've had an opportunity to draft a potential franchise player and I highly doubt they are going to trade out of it.

I actually want them to trade up with Cleveland possibly. This would give the Ravens pretty much choice of who they want and not a stretch to make that move happen. Despite recent signings, I still feel Ramsey or Jack would be best value and immediate impact players. I would slot Ramsey in at CB not safety, where he could lock down WR's like Antonio Brown and AJ Green, freeing up safeties to make plays on the ball. Myles Jack is just too good a coverage LB. He can match up with pretty much anyone on the field RB, TE, WR (most of them, maybe not B Perriman). I'm just not sold on A Brown at this point, despite little playing time haven't seen enough flashes. He's okay but relatively easy to replace skills wise at this point.

[Ravenous_Ravens]

We need corners in the draft I remember when we had corry grahm, carry williams and jimmy smith, you couldnt pass on us.Thats how we got so bad because we lost all those guys and webbys always been injury prone and we were never able to replace those guys. When the ravens have been great weve had corners that could cover. Right now we have no one i trust to go opposite jimmy if we cant get ramsey id draft Vernon Hargreaves with the first pick

Hargreaves is a ball hawk, but I always worry about Gator's being able to tackle well , especially those coming from secondary. Elam's achilles heel has been the tackling more than any other aspect of his game. If he simply has made most of the tackles he was able to his might have become a starter last season IMHO. Not saying bad idea, just saying caution.

[stixfix69]

  1 hour ago, verified said:

We need corners in the draft I remember when we had corry grahm, carry williams and jimmy smith, you couldnt pass on us.Thats how we got so bad because we lost all those guys and webbys always been injury prone and we were never able to replace those guys. When the ravens have been great weve had corners that could cover. Right now we have no one i trust to go opposite jimmy if we cant get ramsey id draft Vernon Hargreaves with the first pick

Hargreaves is a ball hawk, but I always worry about Gator's being able to tackle well , especially those coming from secondary. Elam's achilles heel has been the tackling more than any other aspect of his game. If he simply has made most of the tackles he was able to his might have become a starter last season IMHO. Not saying bad idea, just saying caution.

he looked horrible against Bama in the SEC Game.....I would much rather take a flier on Cyrus Jones in the mid rounds....JMO....

[ravens4life86]

We need Pass Rush. We just about beat the SB Champs week 1 with everyone healthy. Then Sizzle went down, your keystone, cornerstone possible hof pass rusher. It starts with front 7. I hear a lot of criticism for mosley and other parts of the defense.. but when Sizzle goes down it affects the entire defense and puts players in the place where they are responsible for more then they are capable of.

We need pass rush because both sizzle and dum are getting up there in age, if either 1 breaks were back to square 1.

[ibleedpurpleandblack]

I feel with a strong draft that we easily bounce back. Everyone keeps forgetting how brutal the schedule was too. Now we don't have to leave the east coast. Now that we have strengthened the secondary, let's get a few pass rushers in the draft to keep sizzle and doom fresh all year.

I agree, Suggs going down last year was a major blow to the defense and the team as a whole. The entire dynamic of the defense changed and it showed on the field. IMO last year was an anomaly and if you're on the outside looking in and only look at the final record, yeah we were bad. But true fans we had 21 players on IR which equated to 50% of our entire salary cap. We get those guys back healthy and a couple of new additions (Watson, Weddle and potentially 1st round draft pick) and we are good!!

[ravens4life86]

Sweet..Article just popped up..Mike Wallace to sign with Ravens. Woooooo..got that second deep threat. Good job Oz

[billiejean]

56 minutes ago, Crusader said:

I don't see how. Ravens have Yanda and Zuttah that's it for Offensive line and who is playing Linebacker positions? Arthur Brown? Mosley can't cover and that's leave Orr, too inexperience. Ravens will be lucky to break 8-8.

mosley can learn to cover, he did a pretty good job of it his rookie year.  Wagner and Monroe are solid tackles

Edited March 15, 2016 by billiejean

[Halshayeji]

59 minutes ago, Crusader said:

I don't see how. Ravens have Yanda and Zuttah that's it for Offensive line and who is playing Linebacker positions? Arthur Brown? Mosley can't cover and that's leave Orr, too inexperience. Ravens will be lucky to break 8-8.

Yeah coz Monroe, Wagner, and Urschel got run over by the bus taking KO to Oakland. And Mosley picked up the A.Brown virus and will never make another pro bowl.

Seriously?

[burnbigben]

12 minutes ago, billiejean said:

mosley can learn to cover, he did a pretty good job of it his rookie year.  Wagner and Monroe are solid tackles

It's too late to learn to cover once you are in the NFL. He is what he is at this point and that is not a man cover guy.

[billiejean]

7 minutes ago, burnbigben said:

It's too late to learn to cover once you are in the NFL. He is what he is at this point and that is not a man cover guy.

Well thats a common misconception.  At ILB its not all about man coverage.  In most situations the ILB job in coverage is to recognize routes and drop into zones.  It is all about positioning and taking away angles.  The ILB doesn't need to move very far in order to be in a position to intercept the ball on intermediate crosses and digs.  In Daryls Smiths first year in Baltimore he had 3 ints and a whopping 18 pass deflections.  As an older guy who isn't as fast as he once was he had to rely on route recognition in order to be in position to jump the routes.  I can assure you the Mosley is a lot faster and more agile than Daryl was when he put up those amazing stats.  He just has to get a better feel for dropping into zones and taking away angles.  Sure every once in a while the ILB takes on the tight end but, in those cases he usually has help over top from a safety.  He will also surely be asked to pick up backs out of the backfield which he may struggle with.  With time and film study he willl undoubtably get better in coverage.  You don't have to run a 4.3 forty to be good at coverage as an ILB.

[harfordravenfan]

3 hours ago, stixfix69 said:

I feel if our key players can stay healthy we will make it back to the dance.....

That's how I felt. Even more confident with the 3 fa additions and high draft picks this year.

[Halshayeji]

1 hour ago, stixfix69 said:

If we resign Upshaw, and A.Brown is around, i would swap them out, move Upshaw Inside who is strong against the run, and Move A.Brown outside because he was known for his speed and quickness...I would at least experiment with that in camp....With D.Smith gone, we are very thin at ILBer...JMO.....

 

This draft is so deep in Linebackers. I don't remember a draft with so many inside backers Running 4.6 and less. I wouldn't be surprised if 4 go in the first round alone.  And look at all the solid MLB out there as FA and no one is touching them because teams know this draft is deep.

 

It certainly would intrigue me to try upshaw inside. 

Edited March 15, 2016 by Halshayeji

[ravensnj]

Gotta be happy with this team, and we haven't even had the draft , yet!

[Fastynart]

Seriously? One year blip? Baloney. This has been building since Ray retired. The once proud defense has been left to go to pot, thanks largely to inept drafting over the last 5 or 6 years. Elam sucks. No pass rush. No linebackers who can cover. Defensive backfield? What backfield? Weddle is one, but Jimmy, where has he gone, Smith was more bad than good. I like the additions made so far, but if Ozzie doesn't start drafting better immediately, the Ravens decline will continue.

[EdTheMythicalOne]

Seriously? One year blip? Baloney. This has been building since Ray retired. The once proud defense has been left to go to pot, thanks largely to inept drafting over the last 5 or 6 years. Elam sucks. No pass rush. No linebackers who can cover. Defensive backfield? What backfield? Weddle is one, but Jimmy, where has he gone, Smith was more bad than good. I like the additions made so far, but if Ozzie doesn't start drafting better immediately, the Ravens decline will continue.

Jimmy Smith in case you were not aware suffered a Lis Franc fracture in 2014 and played through the injury all of 2015 and it was clear he wasn't 100%. In case you don't know what that injury is, it is one of the bones in the top of your foot where it meets the front of the ankle. In case you didn't know, feet are pretty important to defensive backs. Also, in case you didn't know, Lis Franc injuries have ended the careers of many players.

I think Ozzie has been drafting pretty well. People want to knock him on his failures but seem to forget his hits. Kelechi Osemele, Rick Wagner, Crockett Gillmore, Maxx Williams, Kyle Jusczyzck, C.J. Mosley, Brandon Williams. He also supplements well in FA with the understated moves picking up solid players like Lawrence Guy and Shareece Wright. There will be more moves like that coming soon I am sure.

I agree that we need a couple of homeruns in the top two picks we have in this draft. Let's see what happens before we burn effigies of Ozzie.

[EdTheMythicalOne]

  5 hours ago, stixfix69 said:

If we resign Upshaw, and A.Brown is around, i would swap them out, move Upshaw Inside who is strong against the run, and Move A.Brown outside because he was known for his speed and quickness...I would at least experiment with that in camp....With D.Smith gone, we are very thin at ILBer...JMO.....

 

This draft is so deep in Linebackers. I don't remember a draft with so many inside backers Running 4.6 and less. I wouldn't be surprised if 4 go in the first round alone.  And look at all the solid MLB out there as FA and no one is touching them because teams know this draft is deep.

 

It certainly would intrigue me to try upshaw inside. 

Moving Upshaw to inside would be a completely horrible idea. The problem we have over the middle right now is that we can't cover routes over the middle. Upshaw isn't the answer to that problem. Jarrett Johnson played the same role as Upshaw, but at least Jarrett got to the QB rather often. Upshaw doesn't. We've got other players waiting in the wings to play his spot and I won't cry over losing Upshaw.

[Crusader]

  10 hours ago, RavensDieHard21 said:

I feel with a strong draft that we easily bounce back. Everyone keeps forgetting how brutal the schedule was too. Now we don't have to leave the east coast. Now that we have strengthened the secondary, let's get a few pass rushers in the draft to keep sizzle and doom fresh all year.

I agree, Suggs going down last year was a major blow to the defense and the team as a whole. The entire dynamic of the defense changed and it showed on the field. IMO last year was an anomaly and if you're on the outside looking in and only look at the final record, yeah we were bad. But true fans we had 21 players on IR which equated to 50% of our entire salary cap. We get those guys back healthy and a couple of new additions (Watson, Weddle and potentially 1st round draft pick) and we are good!!

The travel might have been brutal last year but the teams were terrible. This year the teams are GOOD.Its not going to be any easier.