[News] Eisenberg: An 'Interesting' Night For Ravens

[smith05t]

  8 hours ago, Tower of Power said:

The best indicator of a team strength [this comes from rugby, but I'm pretty sure it applies to American Football too] is the "value" of its worst player. And a player is a person - on and off the field. [Just think of the damage the Ray Rice thing did to us - the team is still recovering for it]
Calvin Johnson, Julio Jones, AJ Green - great receivers: how many post-season wins with their teams?
Stafford, Ryan, Dalton - lots and lots of yards: how many post-season wins? etc. etd.
Our FO is building a solid solid team.

Ok for one, Ray Rice incident was bad and things got handled as well as they could have. To become paranoid that every player is going to be a high risk is stupid. You cannot predict who make poor decisions. Up to that point Ray Rice was an outstanding young man.

You do make a good point though, the superstar players make their teams dangerous, but one man cannot do it all. Currently the Ravens do not have even one of those type players.

No point in talking about playoff wins until you can even make the playoffs. At this point the Ravens are basically on a three year drought, technically 2 but I don't count an 8-8 season and squeaking into the post season to get hammered the next week unattested as making the playoffs. That's more like crawling into the ring and not being able to stand up.

It was two years ago where we had two different two touchdown leads on the Patriots who went on to the Super Bowl. Since the Super Bowl won by the Ravens the entire roster has essentially turned over. A lot of young talent has been infused.

It's pretty clear there is a plan to become a bit more offensively oriented, but who knew Suggs would blow out his ACL. Last year was a lot of bad luck, the likelihood of losing 6 of your first 7 games by less than a touchdown where you are in play to win them all within the last 5 minutes is unlikely.

I'm not sure how long you have been a Ravens fan, but I can't remember a transcendent wide receiver ever being with the Ravens. The closest to that was Boldin maybe? Derrick Mason? Torrey wanted too much money. This team hasn't been built at any point on a QB to dominant WR template.

[DelawareChris]

I have drank enough purple cool aid. This is an unbelievably sorry draft. I used to be all about in Oz we trust. But after watching us draft projects for the last 4 years has gotten old. The only solid picks I see are Stanley and Reynolds and the latter will be another project. Dropping in the top of the 2nd round to gain these guys I hope pay off because I'd rather have 1 good player versus 3 project players. I love my Ravens and they will always be my team. These guys don't look NFL ready. I pray these are all red star players because they are heading to the frying pan and I hope our collective gooses aren't cooked. This year would have been nice to draft an Alabama player as opposed to previous years. I am shocked we didn't take one. Shocked. Draft grade: D

[jravens1313]

I have drank enough purple cool aid. This is an unbelievably sorry draft. I used to be all about in Oz we trust. But after watching us draft projects for the last 4 years has gotten old. The only solid picks I see are Stanley and Reynolds and the latter will be another project. Dropping in the top of the 2nd round to gain these guys I hope pay off because I'd rather have 1 good player versus 3 project players. I love my Ravens and they will always be my team. These guys don't look NFL ready. I pray these are all red star players because they are heading to the frying pan and I hope our collective gooses aren't cooked. This year would have been nice to draft an Alabama player as opposed to previous years. I am shocked we didn't take one. Shocked. Draft grade: D

You realize Reynolds is a project? LOL

[jravens1313]

Noah Spence, Myles Jack and Mackenzie Alexander were sitting there and we passed? Alrighty. Scratching my head. Guess thats why they pay those guys the big bucks

Noah Spence isn't the player Correra is. He doesn't have the motor, the fast twitch, or the ability to cover. The Ravens considered the No. 37 pick a 1st Rounder, which they deemed too risky to miss on with the Myles Jack medical. Mackenzie Alexander is a CB with potential, but he his game was covered up by one of the best D-Line's in the country. He was highly overrated going into the draft and didn't go until 54 overall.

[Swift 1]

19 hours ago, Crusader said:

Tomorrow should be fun. Ravens are listed for 5 picks of 5th round players. I wonder what the odds are on 5th rounders making it in the nfl?

Didn't you mean 5 picks of fourth rounders?

 

[Crusader]

After the third round they all are considered Boom or Bust anyway.

[designermaryland]

Anytime you have to explain your moves on draft day, one thing is obvious. The lack of apparent wisdom in said choice is obvious to everyone.

“We think we really helped the defense,” General Manager Ozzie Newsome said.

Does not sound like GM that won on draft day. There is little to no confidence in such a statement.

“An interesting night,” Newsome said.

Yup they got the short end of the stick and all that after an awfully long and painful season.

“Sometimes things just work out and the guys you want are there,” Assistant General Manager Eric DeCosta said.

Hmm that's funny, I thought I heard the Ravens trying to trade up in the first round to get Ramsey. Then they traded down to get the second rounder, like reaching for lower hanging fruit.

IHMO it sure looked like the Ravens lost out big time on their players of choice. What really erks me though is that the last few season seem to be going the wrong direction in general and they hold to the same tactics thinking things will magically change. Maybe its the strategy in general that needs to be fixed.

Prove me wrong though, make the playoffs and I'll admit just how little I know. When that does not happen then seriously change things up, instead of repeating history heading in the wrong direction.

I agree. They are continually drafting bench players who mostly sit or play ST, rather than position of need where they can start year 1. I think the reason is 2 fold. They either can't develop the talent, or they are too conservative to put the faith in their own scouting system to let them play and prove themselves on the field. Both result in guys like Carl Davis, John Simon and Arthur Brown who sit around, are healthy scratches every week because there are veterans in front of them, while glaring holes remain at other positions where they are forced to pick up waiver wire trash to fill in. That is not a winning formula. They are essentially wasting the draft picks in early rounds because those players play so little they make almost no impact. If i hear about 1 more guy who has "upside and potential" with a "motor" i may throw up.

[fluffy201]

Not sure who these guys really are, but we just added tremendous depth to the Ravens O line and D line, which is where the game is won. Little upset we couldn't grab a corner, but I feel all the good ones worth taken would be gone by 36 and they pretty much were, just like offensive tackles were. Myles Jack is considered one of the best players, but blew out his knee and as great of a pass rusher Spence is, he is still very one dimensional and the raven didn't want a pass specialist, but a 3 down player like supposedly Correa is.

[huntrgathrr]

Stanley, Correa and Kaufusi will be starters this year. The injuries to Monroe and Suggs last year coupled with the loss of Osemele and Upshaw make these 3 picks nothing less than outstanding. All three are starting quality talent. My guess is that at least 3 more of the rookies will see considerable playing time. This was a great draft for the Ravens. But the truth of the matter is that this team's success will depend on the return of players from IR. If we get most back in shape to perform at their previous levels then it will be a good year. Plus we need Arthur Brown and Terrance Brooks to step up and perform to the level to which they were expected. I would hate to see both of these guys turn into busts and join Matt Elam at McDonalds. If not, we will need to cobble together a team that will need to find a way to win, against the odds, every weekend. Hopefully changing the field to grass instead of turf will prevent us from having 18-20 players on IR as we have had each of the last 2 years.
Last year was a startling failure by Harbaugh. His first. The loss to Denver set the tone and then injuries finished the job. I thought Flacco gave away the Denver game and it made me think the game was fixed the way he threw that interception to let them back in the game after our defense had taken control. Losing so many close games we should have won was really hard to swallow and almost seemed predetermined. Then the injuries to every key player was almost surreal. The whole season was completely unbelievable.
I can honestly say I have no idea what will happen this year. Letting Osemele and Upshaw go was really stupid. Both wanted to stay and should have been paid. I have no idea what to expect from Davis, Urban and Moore. They could be dominant players or get cut. All we have on defense that we can count on are Williams, Jernigan, Mosely Smith and Waddle. Who knows how Suggs, Dumerville, and Webb will perform. Counting on Wright and Arrington seems almost stupid. Plus, this is the most questionable linebacking group we have had in years. Letting Daryl Smith go was also really stupid.
I hope that Ozzie and Harbaugh really do know more than is plainly obvious to a basic fan like myself but it seems like there are way more questions than answers.
Offensively, Trestman proved to be a big step down from Kubiak. We have 4 good receivers in Smith, Perriman, Wallace and Aiken but it will be lucky if 2 of them actually play and contribute for an entire season. Marlon and Butler are nothing but questions. Hopefully Williams and Waller are ready to do the damage of which they are capable. The rookie Moore has some upside. Pitta......needs to get busy coaching and stop wasting everyone's time. With Stanley we will have a really good offensive line and with Forsett and Allen we will run the ball well. Hopefully Taliaferro will go on IR in preseason so we can get a third back a lot of reps. Taliaferro would be great to have for a whole season but he is a china doll that will never last a whole NFL season. He is big and tough but not durable. He now knows he can get paid for playing half a season so we should get rid of him and find a guy that wants to play football and not just get paid.
In the overall analysis, I am a lot more pessimistic than I was at the beginning of last year. I still think we will finish better than 5-11. But that is not saying much. What we really need is Flacco to step up and carry the team the way he did in the 2012 postseason. He has been far too inconsistent in the last two years with his 4th quarter performance against NE in the playoffs 2 years ago still sticking in my throat. However i still believe he is capable of being an MVP QB that can lead this team all the way. Whether he has the supporting cast to get this done is a huge question at this point in time . As a drop dead Raven fan i hope so and will be rooting for them every play/