[News] Late For Work 6/10: Ravens Tight Ends Better Than Patriots? Flacco Makes Forbes' Highest-Paid List

[BR News]

Joe Flacco’s contract extension boosts him up Forbes’ list. Kendrick Lewis’ gorgeous engagement video? John Harbaugh in favor of developmental league.

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[b93333]

Joe certainly had one extraordinary four game run in our most recent Super Bowl year. He really needs to start earning that contract this year to get us back to another SB.

[budman]

Campanero at a Kid's Day Party??? Hope he doesn't hurt himself.

[bioLarzen]

"All five Ravens tight ends still don’t match Patriots’ top two … and when was the last time you saw a five tight-end set? (Wagner-McGough)"

Seems like Mr. Wagner-McGough doesn't understand the idea and importance of position depth... The Patriots do, tat's why they snatched Bennett - they obviously don't rtust that Gronkowski will have a healthy season - which he rarely does.

Apart from this, I do agree: the top duo is the one the pats have - roght until one - or both - of them gets injured. And Gronkowski knows the drill quite well...

[fusuymada]

The Patriots top two are the best if you base it on history not on potential. Gronk is older and has suffered injury after injury. Gronk hasnt played a complete season in the last 4. Bennett has missed games in two of the last 4. That is why depth is important. Who is the next guy they have in line? I don't know and neither do you because they dont have anyone of any value. And the people on our TE list don't even include Juszczyk, who is as dangerous as any tight end in the league. We will visit this again at the end of the season but I would be willing to bet Wagner-McGough's paycheck against mine that our TE group amasses more yards and TD's than the NE TE group does this year.

[BOLDnPurPnBlacK]

On the TE's, comparing their career stats is completely misleading. Maxx and Boyle have one season under their belts where Boyle missed time and both were never really more than the 4th option in the passing attack. Gillmore has only played a handful of games as the top option, and was mostly a blocking specialist before that. Pitta has been out of football for 2 whole seasons of his career putting him 2 behind Gronk. Watson is the vet of the group, but wasnt a highly targeted receiving option any year except last. I bet if you looked at total targets for full context, you'd see that the targets Gronk/Bennett have received are even more disproportionate in their favor. OF COURSE theyll have better stats with FAR MORE opportunity. Even Pitta in his prime wasnt a high volume guy like both Bennett and Gronk have been. Terrible argument. And like others have said, we'll see what happens when either Gronk, Bennett or both go down - the Pats will be happy to sign our 5th or 6th TE. And thats been my argument, we have 3 TE's that would be the #1 on over half the NFL teams, and at least 5 TE's that would be no worse than the #2 TE on every team except NE. We have 3 guys that I think would easily be Top 5-10 guys production wise if give nthe opportunity in a high volume passing attack, and 2-3 others that are improving. Williams and Boyle were easily the 2 most impressive rookie TE's last year.

[Azzi22]

Has Anyone done this in the NFL yet?... employ a 4TE SET? imagine pitta and Williams on the outside with Watson and Gillmore playing inside..bunch them up on short yardage... you can run.. throw.. power football... id love to see us use a 4-5 TE set. I think it would work...

[stixfix69]

You call Gronk a TE, but he is N.E top receiver who had 72 catches with a 16.3 avg, next was Edleman with a 11.3 avg, with 61 catches....Our offense should have WR's leading in receptions and with our deep threats they should lead the team in avg yards per....Now as true TE's i think the bunch we have across the board is the best, we have Gilmore who has shown he can block and catch, Maxx who is like Pitta a pass catching security blanket for Flacco, Watson who obliviously showed he can be counted on to catch those 3rd and 5 passes....I don't want our TE's being the pass catching threat like Gronk, our WR's should be, but our TE's are very capable of being counted on to catch balls if thrown their way......JMO....

[terpmaniac]

Why would Gilmore say something so stupid that just opens him up for ridicule? Most Patriot fans are saying "Gilmore" who and our Tight Ends have accomplished NOTHING as a group. jeez what the hell was he thinking.

[OriolesMagicPlease]

1 hour ago, budman said:

Campanero at a Kid's Day Party??? Hope he doesn't hurt himself.

Lol.  I am rooting for him, but wow, the injuries so far.

[budman]

Just now, OriolesMagicPlease said:

Lol.  I am rooting for him, but wow, the injuries so far.

I hear ya. In my opinion, he doesn't make the squad this year because of the injuries and the fact that we are kinda deep there right now.

[hen826957]

Why would Gilmore say something so stupid that just opens him up for ridicule? Most Patriot fans are saying "Gilmore" who and our Tight Ends have accomplished NOTHING as a group. jeez what the hell was he thinking.

I believe that the Patriots got better overall TE than the Ravens but not the best overall depth. The Ravens has tons of talent at TE's with so much potential in Gilmore, Williams, and Boyle and veterans like Pitta and Watson. We have better overall sets of TE's but l do agree. I think he should'nt say anything and let on the field speak for itself. :-)

[OriolesMagicPlease]

9 minutes ago, budman said:

I hear ya. In my opinion, he doesn't make the squad this year because of the injuries and the fact that we are kinda deep there right now.

I really hope I'm wrong but my feeling is that you are right about this.

[budman]

Just now, OriolesMagicPlease said:

I really hope I'm wrong but my feeling is that you are right about this.

All talk was how he needed to stay healthy this season, and here he is hurt already. Definitely not good for his chances.

[OriolesMagicPlease]

Totally agree.

[RRRRRavens]

The Patriots top two are the best if you base it on history not on potential. Gronk is older and has suffered injury after injury. Gronk hasnt played a complete season in the last 4. Bennett has missed games in two of the last 4. That is why depth is important. Who is the next guy they have in line? I don't know and neither do you because they dont have anyone of any value. And the people on our TE list don't even include Juszczyk, who is as dangerous as any tight end in the league. We will visit this again at the end of the season but I would be willing to bet Wagner-McGough's paycheck against mine that our TE group amasses more yards and TD's than the NE TE group does this year.

Slow your roll, son, on that bet. While I certainly agree with your sentiment your logic might not have included the fact that the division the Pats play in is much much easier than the one we play in. Hence yards will come easier there than in ours. Overall we may be better but it may not show in our relative stats due to the difference in our competitors.

[robbie29]

"I would be willing to bet Wagner-McGough's paycheck against mine that our TE group amasses more yards and TD's than the NE TE group does this year."

 

Ummm....you might want to lay off the purple kool aid. I can't stand the Patriots either but I'm also a realist, and the unfortunate reality is that the QB in NE with his TEs is far more likely to out-perform Flacco and his TEs. Sometimes the truth hurts but you've gotta deal with it.
 

Edited June 10, 2016 by robbie29

[harfordravenfan]

Looking at it from a long term perspective... we do have the best TE group, we have both experienced and young guys with talent. The patriots may exceed ours this year but that's also cause we try very hard to have balance between running and passing and with all the targets flacco has... well, it's a nice problem to have 

[RRRRRavens]

We may get a partial answer to which set of TE's are better, NE or Ravens, on Monday night, Dec 12 when we go mano a mano with them in Foxboro in week 14. Looking forward to watching it.

[joeyclark3994]

Brady's passer rating drooped since they inflated the balls to the right amount of air pressure.....LOL!!!!!!!

[alexbayrobin]

It's so hard to choose which players that i hope make it at wide receiver because a player that i like is going to lose out. I really hope that Keenan makes it. I think he can be an explosive player. That means some other player that I like will be gone. I know we can't keep them all.

[Ravenous_Ravens]

3 hours ago, RRRRRavens said:

We may get a partial answer to which set of TE's are better, NE or Ravens, on Monday night, Dec 12 when we go mano a mano with them in Foxboro in week 14. Looking forward to watching it.

Here's hoping Correa is able to neutralize Gronk like to kryptonite to Superman. That big body should match up well and I've heard he has good coverage skills for LB.

[FloridalovesRavens]

Brady's passer rating drooped since they inflated the balls to the right amount of air pressure.....LOL!!!!!!!

Great post! Funny! Thanks.

[FloridalovesRavens]

Why would Gilmore say something so stupid that just opens him up for ridicule? Most Patriot fans are saying "Gilmore" who and our Tight Ends have accomplished NOTHING as a group. jeez what the hell was he thinking.

He was thinking positive which is more then you are.

[FloridalovesRavens]

Joe certainly had one extraordinary four game run in our most recent Super Bowl year. He really needs to start earning that contract this year to get us back to another SB.

He will if healthy.

[20306cab]

The Ravens have Gilmore, Williams and Boyle, who have done nothing. Pitta, who has a chronic injury. And Watson, who had some good years in NE. You can add all these guys up and they don't equal Gronk. However, NOBODY does. They triple team that guy, and he still catches the ball. But, love Gilmore's attitude. Maybe this year, they WILL be the best. It's up to Jump Ball Joe.

[Winchester]

As good as Williams played at the end of last year he is in better shape this year. Last year He showed up at minicamp in terrible shape with terrible work and eating habits. He is leaner and put on a lot of muscle and his work and eating habits are far better. I would like to see him cut an extra 8-10 lbs of excess fat to play at peak speed. But he should already be asignificantly  faster this year. And a very functional blocker.  He looks to of grown a little as well cuz he was barely 20 yrs old. He looks about 6'5 258. Ben Watson and how serious he is about his training nutrition and keeping lean for optimal speed will have an impact on max. Cutting to about 250 would be is best game weight for speed and functional power to block. I'm sure his 40 time is sub 4.7 now to go with his silky smooth routes and ball skills. Max and Ben Watson will be a very potent tandem that can catch, block and have legit sub 4.7 speed to get open in seams. There is only one gronk. But max has skills to be a top 5 TE. And Watson is a top10 TE with wr speed and a functional blocker like an extra lineman when he blocks. Gilmore is big and an elite blocker with good hands and routes but he is not the receiver that Watson is. Watson has the athleticism of a big wr.

[ravefan52]

Ya sorry, but I'd take Gronk and Bennett all day long

[Crusader]

Simple question and easy answer heck NO. I don't know why people do not put any thought in guys developing chenistry thru playing together. This is the same reason Ravens secondary is bad.

[Tru11]

id trade all our TE and sum for Gronk and Bennett