Front Office Discussion

[January J]

I have no doubt in my mind perriman plucks that ball out the air for the TD. Torrey could have atleast broken up the interception instead of just giving up and then we still potentially could've marched down the feild and milked more of the clock. Even if he gets called for offensive PI.I mean damn atleast give us a shot....anyway.. What's done is done... Just makes you wonder had he caught that ball if the FO would've retained him.

 

A lot of people forget Torrey pretty much single handedly got us in  the playoffs in the first place though in week 16 against the browns when he caught those 2 TDs in the final minutes of the fourth quarter. That first catch was simply unbelievable.

[BmoreBird22]

2 hours ago, Sami84 said:

I agree. we were at the 39 yard line with a couple of timeouts and with only 1:45 on the clock..it was 2nd down too in 4th down territory. Flacco messed it up..firstly i wouldnt have even wanted the patriots to even have had the chance to kick a field goal with that amount of time left. we should have just marched it down.

 

Flacco shouldnt have taken the risk. He blew it..i watched the reply again just to remind myself, sure torrey could have stretched more but he wasnt going to get it.it was overthrown. He could have tried to at least attack the saftey to stop the interception though.

It wasn't overthrown. Torrey just flat out stopped running when he saw the safety over the top.

In the playoffs, you don't not take points just because there's time on the clock. Go back to the Patriots vs Giants SB (2011 season). Do you think Ahmad Bradshaw doesn't take that touchdown again if he's given the chance just so Brady doesn't have time to try to score points?

Given the fact that the Ravens had scored 28 points in the first 35 minutes and only three in the other 23:14, there's no way they play it conservative and not go for the points.

Edited September 10, 2016 by BmoreBird22

[LosT_in_TranSlatioN]

16 minutes ago, BmoreBird22 said:

It wasn't overthrown. Torrey just flat out stopped running when he saw the safety over the top.

In the playoffs, you don't not take points just because there's time on the clock. Go back to the Patriots vs Giants SB (2011 season). Do you think Ahmad Bradshaw doesn't take that touchdown again if he's given the chance just so Brady doesn't have time to try to score points?

Given the fact that the Ravens had scored 28 points in the first 35 minutes and only three in the other 23:14, there's no way they play it conservative and not go for the points.

I wasn't implying it was Flacco's fault. It was a dumb choice to go deep, but why call that play? I was more implying that it was a dumb playcall, Torrey should have made a better effort, but there was 1:45 seconds left of the clock. Plenty of time. You're at the 36 on second down, and the pats have been getting their butts beaten by the short pass over the middle, and you had Owen Daniels and Steve Smith there who excel at those kind of things. You could slowly but surely wear the clock down, get another first down, keep trying, beat them with what was working. There's a difference between playing it conservative and playing it smart. Attacking them over the middle would have still been agressive and smart because you'd be exploiting a weakness. Torrey should have fought for it.. But we got greedy. It was a dumb call

Edited September 10, 2016 by LosT_in_TranSlatioN

[BmoreBird22]

Just now, LosT_in_TranSlatioN said:

I wasn't implying it was Flacco's fault. It was a dumb choice to go deep, but why call that play? I was more implying that it was a dumb playcall, Torrey should have made a better effort, but there was 1:45 seconds left of the clock. Plenty of time. You're at the 36 on second down, and the pats have been getting their butts beaten by the short pass over the middle, and you had Owen Daniels and Steve Smith there who excel at those kind of things. You could slowly but surely wear the clock down, get another first down, keep trying, beat them with what was working. There's a difference between playing it conservative and playing it smart. Attacking them over the middle would have still been agressive because you'd be exploiting a weakness. Torrey should have fought for it.. But we got greedy. It was a dumb call

The Ravens had scored three points in the remaining 23:14 before that interception. 

There were crossers over the middle who would have picked up the first, but Torrey had beaten his man and should have made that catch, but he pulled up hard.

Not a dumb play call. It was an aggressive move (something everyone praises the Ravens for in the playoffs). It didn't payoff, but that's the risk they take.

[LosT_in_TranSlatioN]

Just now, BmoreBird22 said:

The Ravens had scored three points in the remaining 23:14 before that interception. 

There were crossers over the middle who would have picked up the first, but Torrey had beaten his man and should have made that catch, but he pulled up hard.

Not a dumb play call. It was an aggressive move (something everyone praises the Ravens for in the playoffs). It didn't payoff, but that's the risk they take.

You still had plenty of time to play it smarter with two timeouts. I agree, Torrey should have made more of an effort, and overall I like being agressive in the playoffs. That's when Flacco is at his best. But plenty of time. No need to rush things. We got greedy, I'll stand by it. 

 

As I've said previous, there's a difference between playing it smart, and being too conservative. You sent Steve deep on that play as well. Vs. Revis so he wouldn't have done anything, but still. You could have called a smarter play.

 

But it's our style. Can't complain too much

[BmoreBird22]

2 minutes ago, LosT_in_TranSlatioN said:

You still had plenty of time to play it smarter with two timeouts. I agree, Torrey should have made more of an effort, and overall I like being agressive in the playoffs. That's when Flacco is at his best. But plenty of time. No need to rush things. We got greedy, I'll stand by it. 

 

As I've said previous, there's a difference between playing it smart, and being too conservative. You sent Steve deep on that play as well. Vs. Revis so he wouldn't have done anything, but still. You could have called a smarter play.

 

But it's our style. Can't complain too much

It was one timeout and you had a struggling offense.

In a single high look like that, running two deep routes with two deep crossers isn't a bad play design. It was actually pretty smart.

In theory, the crossers should have brought the safety down over the middle to help the linebackers who got lost in coverage (it did happen), so Torrey would have been freed up. Harmon went out there and made a play.

There was nothing to suggest that they shouldn't have taken a shot that was there.

But here; let's flip the script. Let's say the Ravens scored on that play and then held the Patriots to no points. Do you still dislike the play call?

Edited September 10, 2016 by BmoreBird22

[LosT_in_TranSlatioN]

6 minutes ago, BmoreBird22 said:

It was one timeout and you had a struggling offense.

In a single high look like that, running two deep routes with two deep crossers isn't a bad play design. It was actually pretty smart.

In theory, the crossers should have brought the safety down over the middle to help the linebackers who got lost in coverage (it did happen), so Torrey would have been freed up. Harmon went out there and made a play.

There was nothing to suggest that they shouldn't have taken a shot that was there.

But here; let's flip the script. Let's say the Ravens scored on that play and then held the Patriots to no points. Do you still dislike the play call?

Actually since I'm not a hypocrite yes I would. I'd be happy with the outcome but would still have played it safer. There's a reason I'm not an NFL OC lol. Not my calling and all of you should be glad it's not lol. 

 

But the ultimate point I'm trying to make isn't the Patriots game, where Torrey Smith did make an effort play. Torrey Smith wasn't a bad WR. Chris Harris Jr that game was on Boldin, our best WR at the time. Champ was still highly regarded at the time as well, and I highly doubt that they'd want Tony Carter covering Torrey since he blew his coverage on the Jacoby Jones play later that game anyway. So what would you have done? Switch Harris Jr and Bailey from the get go? Taken someone else off the bench? The second TD Torrey had in that Broncos game is as good as any WR could have made in this league. It wasn't amazing but it was a good catch. So if you switch them from the get go, Anquan Boldin still had 6 catches for 71 yards that game vs. Harris who was their best CB that season(not the Chris Harris of nowadays, but a very good up and comer at the time). Was not a dumb decision at all. They put their second best CB on our second best WR. 

 

Torrey isn't a #1 and like all deep threats cannot really thrive unless he has a QB with a good deep ball(which Kaepernick does not. He sucks). But he's a damn good #2 who showed up for big games. He was a crucial part of all our teams while he was here. In fact, I still kind of wish we resigned him. I think he's a better deep threat than Wallace. But the niners, being stupid mind you, offered him too much money. It happens

[BmoreBird22]

2 minutes ago, LosT_in_TranSlatioN said:

Actually since I'm not a hypocrite yes I would. I'd be happy with the outcome but would still have played it safer. There's a reason I'm not an NFL OC lol. Not my calling and all of you should be glad it's not lol. 

That wouldn't make you a hypocrite. It would just mean that you're unhappy with the outcome of the play, not the actual play call itself.

 

[LosT_in_TranSlatioN]

1 minute ago, BmoreBird22 said:

That wouldn't make you a hypocrite. It would just mean that you're unhappy with the outcome of the play, not the actual play call itself.

 

I just remembered thinking the moment Flacco threw the ball that it'd get picked off. Sadly I was right. I remember my old man who was over cursing at the tv for calling a deep ball. but thank you for clarifying why it wasn't Kubiak's fault. I don't think I can give 100% of the blame to Torrey either. Harmon just made a good play. 

 

Still mostly his fault.

[BmoreBird22]

Just now, LosT_in_TranSlatioN said:

I just remembered thinking the moment Flacco threw the ball that it'd get picked off. Sadly I was right. I remember my old man who was over cursing at the tv for calling a deep ball. but thank you for clarifying why it wasn't Kubiak's fault. I don't think I can give 100% of the blame to Torrey either. Harmon just made a good play. 

 

Still mostly his fault.

I put the blame like 80% on Torrey for just flat out stopping his feet and pulling up. Would it have been one hell of a catch? Absolutely. The worst case scenario had Torrey kept running would have been an incomplete pass because they both would have run into each other and the ball hits the turf.

Doesn't change my mind that he's the best receiver the Ravens had drafted to date, but it was an ugly play.

[Edgar]

6 hours ago, JoeyFlex5 said:

let me just say that i appreciate what torrey did here, he did a lot for us and we won a lot of games with his help, but when you have a guy whos made so many big plays, you forget that for every big play you had 2 or 3 really hideous/frustrating ones. 

we got lucky the broncos decided to man champ on torrey the whole first half, that was just dumb, everyone knew that champ lost more than a step in terms of raw speed, and we had a short range wr with elite ball skills on the other side, obviously champ wouldve matched up better with boldin and didnt match up at all, i even called the mismatch myself as soon as i saw champ on the top of the screen. that was bad coordinating, if you wanna beat a corner whos been playing for over a decade, match him up with the year 2 burner who runs a 4.3. but yes i appreciate what he did in that game. 

we also didnt get greedy against the pats, he saw torrey smith in what looked like 1 on 1 coverage, you take the points when you can get them, in any case, if you see an opportunity for a TD you take it, ideally that ball could have been placed another yard to the boundary, but when the ball left joes hand and the safety was still shallow, the throw was on the money, the safety made a good play to disguise the coverage and then get there in time, but regardless torrey completely gave up, there is almost no chance that int is caught if torrey just continues on his route, but he came to almost a dead stop and watched it happen and prepared for the tackle as if that was any consolation. it was a microcosm of his whole time here, all the times he didnt even attempt to toe tap, all the times he purposely drew a PI even though he had a chance to catch a TD, all the times he gave the db a free shot to the ball, all the times he slowed up because he got lost trying to find the ball, it hadnt happened often, if at all, in big games, but it happened constantly his whole time here and it happened in a huge moment and everyone finally understood how serious his shortcomings were.

C'mon. That was a terrible pass.  Way too much air and way off target. He had Torrey for 6 and he missed him. 

 

[GrimCoconut]

The hard part about not keeping Brandon Williams is if you let him go, what did you really come away with from the 2013 Draft? Wagner, Williams, Juszczyk, Elam, and Jensen are the guys we have left from that draft. Williams is by far the best player from that draft and it's not even close. Granted, you can say the same thing about 2012 since we let KO walk, but that would be 2 years in a row we let guys walk from back-to-back draft classes. That looks really, really bad. Besides, Williams is a very good player. I wouldn't be surprised if he is retained before the end of the season, but he could go until the end of the wire. Either way, I would be more surprised if we didn't keep our best player from 2013 Draft, whoever that may be. I'm not even claiming it's Williams, either. 

[LosT_in_TranSlatioN]

1 hour ago, OLD SCHOOL SMASH BALL said:

You would then have to speculate what Brady could have done with Pitta

Gronk + any above average QB > Brady + pitta. Gronkowski has the very legitement chance to become the greatest TE in NFL history. He's already up there in terms of dominance. Brady doesn't make him. Gronk is just unstoppable. Even if Tony Romo had Gronk, he'd still be the most dominant offensive player in the NFL. 

[BmoreBird22]

14 minutes ago, GrimCoconut said:

The hard part about not keeping Brandon Williams is if you let him go, what did you really come away with from the 2013 Draft? Wagner, Williams, Juszczyk, Elam, and Jensen are the guys we have left from that draft. Williams is by far the best player from that draft and it's not even close. Granted, you can say the same thing about 2012 since we let KO walk, but that would be 2 years in a row we let guys walk from back-to-back draft classes. That looks really, really bad. Besides, Williams is a very good player. I wouldn't be surprised if he is retained before the end of the season, but he could go until the end of the wire. Either way, I would be more surprised if we didn't keep our best player from 2013 Draft, whoever that may be. I'm not even claiming it's Williams, either. 

If Wagner goes back to 2014 form, I'd call him the best pick from that draft class, value and play wise.

[GrimCoconut]

2 minutes ago, BmoreBird22 said:

If Wagner goes back to 2014 form, I'd call him the best pick from that draft class, value and play wise.

Yeah, very likely. We'll have to see how it goes down this year. I think Williams and Wagner are the two likeliest guys to stay here. I know everyone wants to write off Wagner because of Lewis and he's a tackle and we just invested into Stanley but why not lock up the right side? You have Yanda at RG and if Wagner plays like he does then why not him? Von Miller rushes practically all the time from the right (exaggeration, yeah, sure). You need good tackles now period. We won't need to pay Stanley for years, so I'm fine with investing into RT. All depends on his play, though--absolutely.

[Tiznut]

15 minutes ago, LosT_in_TranSlatioN said:

Gronk + any above average QB > Brady + pitta. Gronkowski has the very legitement chance to become the greatest TE in NFL history. He's already up there in terms of dominance. Brady doesn't make him. Gronk is just unstoppable. Even if Tony Romo had Gronk, he'd still be the most dominant offensive player in the NFL. 

Even if tony romo?

you do realize that statistically romo has surpassed flacco right? 

[BmoreBird22]

1 minute ago, GrimCoconut said:

Yeah, very likely. We'll have to see how it goes down this year. I think Williams and Wagner are the two likeliest guys to stay here. I know everyone wants to write off Wagner because of Lewis and he's a tackle and we just invested into Stanley but why not lock up the right side? You have Yanda at RG and if Wagner plays like he does then why not him? Von Miller rushes practically all the time from the right (exaggeration, yeah, sure). You need good tackles now period. We won't need to pay Stanley for years, so I'm fine with investing into RT. All depends on his play, though--absolutely.

I think Miller did at least like 65% of the time. I know I had the stat on it once, but it was a pretty absurdly high amount based on what you'd expect. I'm too lazy to search for it with how much I post.

I think Lewis can be a pretty nasty LG, so I have no qualms about leaving him on the left side next to Stanley if Wagner stays.

[FlocksGottaFeed]

11 minutes ago, LosT_in_TranSlatioN said:

Gronk + any above average QB > Brady + pitta. Gronkowski has the very legitement chance to become the greatest TE in NFL history. He's already up there in terms of dominance. Brady doesn't make him. Gronk is just unstoppable. Even if Tony Romo had Gronk, he'd still be the most dominant offensive player in the NFL. 

Though very skilled and promising (I like the guy) but, let's not get ahead of ourselves.

http://www.cheatsheet.com/sports/10-greatest-nfl-tight-ends-of-all­-time.html/?a=viewall

10 of the 'Greatest' TE's ever include 2 who have played for the Ravens (Sharpe and Coates), 1 who played for Baltimore Colts (Mackey) and the 'Oz'. Longevity is key. Just saying. Gronk's injuries have really made that climb to the top a little steeper (no matter whose throwing the ball to him).

 

[JoeyFlex5]

5 minutes ago, GrimCoconut said:

Yeah, very likely. We'll have to see how it goes down this year. I think Williams and Wagner are the two likeliest guys to stay here. I know everyone wants to write off Wagner because of Lewis and he's a tackle and we just invested into Stanley but why not lock up the right side? You have Yanda at RG and if Wagner plays like he does then why not him? Von Miller rushes practically all the time from the right (exaggeration, yeah, sure). You need good tackles now period. We won't need to pay Stanley for years, so I'm fine with investing into RT. All depends on his play, though--absolutely.

If Wagner is healthy and top form gimme him over Williams all day. Keep the line together. Flacco can win with an average defense and receiving corps but one thing he's always shown is that he's dominant when he has time in a clean pocket.

[Tiznut]

13 minutes ago, jkm5bmore said:

Though very skilled and promising (I like the guy) but, let's not get ahead of ourselves.

http://www.cheatsheet.com/sports/10-greatest-nfl-tight-ends-of-all­-time.html/?a=viewall

10 of the 'Greatest' TE's ever include 2 who have played for the Ravens (Sharpe and Coates), 1 who played for Baltimore Colts (Mackey) and the 'Oz'. Longevity is key. Just saying. Gronk's injuries have really made that climb to the top a little steeper (no matter whose throwing the ball to him).

 

Good point with the longevity thing. 

its the reason the rushing record looks out of reach and why no matter what was thought about with Calvin Johnson there were wr records he's just not going reach. 

[Sami84]

2 hours ago, JoeyFlex5 said:

If Wagner is healthy and top form gimme him over Williams all day. Keep the line together. Flacco can win with an average defense and receiving corps but one thing he's always shown is that he's dominant when he has time in a clean pocket.

 

 

i wonder if this FO will learn its lesson and let williams walk or overpay again for a solid player..we seem to let some walk and let some stay and there isnt much difference between them..we are in dire need for a superstar on this team 

Edited September 10, 2016 by Sami84

[JoeyFlex5]

26 minutes ago, Sami84 said:

i wonder if this FO will learn its lesson and let williams walk or overpay again for a solid player..we seem to let some walk and let some stay and there isnt much difference between them..we are in dire need for a superstar on this team 

thats where im at, im really concerned that were gonna break the bank on williams only to see him coming off the field on 3rd downs for someone like henry or pierce to step in as a far more athletic threat to penetrate up the middle, and then when one of those guys are up for contract we are strapped because we overpaid bwill and then we watch them go somewhere else and rush the passer better than any of our guys. 

the first thing that comes to mind, is josh wilson, we had a choice between him and chris carr, we chose chris carr, despite injuries, because of freaking special teams contributions, and josh wilson went on to be damn solid for a few years in washington while carr faded into obscurity almost instantly because of injuries and bad coverage.

also i wish we chose antwan barnes over jameel mcclain, he had 2 really good seasons as a pass rusher for the chargers and mcclain was another low investment ilb who turned out good playing next to ray, we had ellerbe who always looked like the more athletic of the 2 and the one with the most upside, which proved to be true as he was a machine in coverage in our SB run, then mcclain got hurt and was never really heard from again and we had nothing to show for all 3 of those guys who were molded here. then in 2010 and 2011 when barnes played well for the chargers, we were still waiting on kruger to develop, mcphee was a rookie and it showed, and we had no real edge rusher aside from suggs, lucky for us suggs and cory redding were playing out of their minds in this stretch so they carried the pass rush, but having an outside speed threat those 2 years in barnes would have done so much for us. we didnt directly choose mcclain over barnes but they were both coming up around 08-09 and one was traded wayyyy prematurely and the other got a contract, i think they deliberately made a choice there and the wrong one. i really hope it doesnt happen again, i think paying a fat deal to williams would be a mistake, as much as i like the guy, as much as id hate to see him leave, you dont pay that kinda money to a 2gap NT.

[Tru11]

9 hours ago, BmoreBird22 said:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seZ2s39oAWs

It's got some NSFW language, but here's the All-22

only ravens fans think a player is open when throwing in double coverage.

a CB trailing and a safety covering over the top with a pass going to where the safety is rather then going to the outside is not a good decision.

also at the 1 minute 42 on the game clock  you can clearly see torrey looking back at tracking the ball.(0.14 seconds into the vid)
at the 1 minute 41 on the game clock is when torrey turns his head and see the safety and where the dude pauses the vid to talk rubbish.
1 minute and 41 seconds is also when the safety makes the interception.

now ofcourse it makes sense for the safety to look at the ball at the 1 minute 41 mark since he was playing deep coverage and kept the play in front of him.
its what deep safeties are supposed to do (common sense here)

also it makes sense for torrey to track the ball at the 1 minute 42 mark since he just beat press coverage and running down the field, he is supposed to track the ball..

now this video clearly proofs that their is less then a second between torrey looking back to locate the ball and the safety coming down with the int.

at the turn to the 1 minute 40 mark the safety already landed on the ground with the ball in his hand.

so lets be realistic here.

the time between torrey locating the ball and him turning around and seeing the safety gives him tens of seconds to make a decision on what to do which in real time speed is nothing.

its easy to pause a vid and then talk what someone should have done.

realistically with only tens of seconds to process the situation and then making the best possible decision at the moment, very few people are capable of doing this.

basicially he had to see the safety and then make the decision to jump and actually jump and then also contest for the ball while somehow make up for jumping later and somehow catch the pass in lets say half a second.

unless the game clock was tampered with by the broadcaster i clearly feel many of you have some very unrealistic expectations on what a person is supposed to do in less then a second of time.

 

 

[BmoreBird22]

4 hours ago, Tru11 said:

only ravens fans think a player is open when throwing in double coverage.

It wasn't double coverage. They had two deep crossers that should have pulled the single high safety down (which it appears to have done) and then Harmon read the play and drifted back. He closed the gap pretty well, but I'd hardly call that double coverage to begin.

The corner also put himself in a really poor position to trail (which does not always call for safety help over the top). He was allowing too much separation and at the top of the route, Torrey had a full yard with the corner in no position to make a play on the ball.

However, you're ignoring the real point here- why did Torrey Smith stop tracking, stop his feet, and pull up? You are correct that it took about a second, so with literally a second to go, as the ball is coming down, Torrey decides to stop looking for the ball, which will arrive soon, and look for the defender. That's a monumental mistake on his part. As a receiver, he should continue to track the ball all the way through it's motion, especially when it is on the downward motion of its arc. If that's SSS, do you think he continues to route and fights for the ball?

Worst case scenario, it should have been an incomplete pass. Best case scenario, Torrey makes a really great catch by outmuscling the defender. 

In any case, no idea what this has to do with the FO, so I'm gonna stop after this.

Edited September 10, 2016 by BmoreBird22

[OLD SCHOOL SMASH BALL]

I blame Flacco not Torrey for that playoff loss to NE, for not being patient and taking what the NE defense was giving him. He was steadily working the ball down the field, NE was taking the deep stuff away, knowing Flacco is dying to use his cannon arm. Hopefully, with age and maturity, Flacco, like all other good qb's has learned to be patient, and take what the D gives you. If its not there downfield, dont force it into double coverage deep out of desperation. 

[Static]

17 minutes ago, OLD SCHOOL SMASH BALL said:

I blame Flacco not Torrey for that playoff loss to NE, for not being patient and taking what the NE defense was giving him. He was steadily working the ball down the field, NE was taking the deep stuff away, knowing Flacco is dying to use his cannon arm. Hopefully, with age and maturity, Flacco, like all other good qb's has learned to be patient, and take what the D gives you. If its not there downfield, dont force it into double coverage deep out of desperation. 

 

 

Its Flacco's fault that the defense gave up TWO 14 PT LEADS? 

He threw 4 TDs against a top 10 defense.

Edited September 10, 2016 by Static

[Moderator 3]

Could we please return to discussing our current front office instead of rehashing something that happened years ago?  Thank you.

[BmoreBird22]

13 hours ago, jkm5bmore said:

Though very skilled and promising (I like the guy) but, let's not get ahead of ourselves.

http://www.cheatsheet.com/sports/10-greatest-nfl-tight-ends-of-all­-time.html/?a=viewall

10 of the 'Greatest' TE's ever include 2 who have played for the Ravens (Sharpe and Coates), 1 who played for Baltimore Colts (Mackey) and the 'Oz'. Longevity is key. Just saying. Gronk's injuries have really made that climb to the top a little steeper (no matter whose throwing the ball to him).

Not sure how you can leave off Jason Witten and not have Tony Gonzalez at one, but Gronk does have a ways to go to be considered an all time great, but he should go down as one when all is said and done.

[kjbmore]

6 weeks into the season and a few things are starting to shape up, play out for mine

we came out of last season and entered this season knowing we needed to bolster our pass rush and secondary - endless discussion about it and now 6 games in our aging pass rushers cant stay on the field, no surprise and we cant blame the players themselves. We cant honestly expect 30 something guys to be and stay healthy, im not overly enthused about whos waiting in the wings but we're about to find out what we've got  

 we were in prime position to really add a young stud - no ifs but or maybe - we could have been really aggressive and moved back up into the first and had our  pick of pass rushers but ozzie wanted picks on picks on picks - about to see if our offseason work be it draft or (lack of)free agents - if trading back for kc and getting judon in the process, will be enough to at a bare minimum keep us competitive this season. i personally think its a complete waste of a pick in relation to this year - guy might pan out in a few years but if mosley, suggs and doom arent playing and our coaching staff cant find room for KC - i just have huge questions, particularly given our draft position. 

our secondary - we needed to bring in a corner to pair with jimmy - either high in the draft or free agency - we didnt - we trot out wright is the answer, no he's not - guy is contributing to the problem, just giving away touchdowns for fun - we could fairly say he was a major factor in our loss to oakland at home, weak secondary, corner play - cost us against giants too - not once but twice  - we can sit and watch a game and see the results squarely in front of our faces - we need better corners, our corners are getting burnt, yet the fo just crosses their fingers and hopes the best - our pass rush will be better which weill alllow our secondary to better - yeah neither is better and guess what - in the same boat as last season

some of our other signings or non signings arent looking great now -  watson, hester -   really dont see the benefit in bringing these guys in in the first instance - let moore and webb return - moore can grow with the role and webby can fair catch when we need sure hands - instead we are wasting money on somebody who hasnt shown much and isnt really helping our team, whos 50 and now banged up - eating up cap,

why are we spending money on a 35 year old TE - never saw a snap, eating up cap, taking snaps away from our 2nd round pick from the previous year, i know maxx is injured now but we pick somebody in the second last year and then the following year we almost contradict our pick and bring in somebody who plays the exact same position - but hes 50 years old, why stunt a 2nd round picks development, ok max gets injured we have gilmore and give dan brown snaps - this thinking that pitta wont even play, grab some ps guys - surely we can find and assemble a decent TE group between max, gilmore, brown, waller, boyle

but a vet who might have actually, realistically been the difference between a W or L against oakland and possibly washington - in jake long - we let walk!! all we needed out of long is maybe 3 or 4 games for the season - that signing i feel could have been the difference between us being 3-3 or 4-2, 5-1

i have no problem with bringing vets in for depth - to back up our young guys in a pinch because we know injuries happen even too our kids but  they seem to occur more for guys over the age of 30 -

just feels like 6 games into this season we have pretty much the same questions as we had at the end of last season - no pass rush, inconsistent secondary, inconsistent offence add a banged up patchwork offensive line to the equation

 anyhow if what our FO has assembled doesnt pan out - we'll probably be picking high again in the coming draft - maybe ozzie can stop trying to be so cute - trade up instead of down for a change and if we have a need - just draft it and maybe double dip and dont try and get cute and thinking we're smarter than everybody else and convert people or play them out of position - just identify the best guy and dont be scared to package up some late round picks and go get our man - i dont think a 4-7th rounder will be the difference between being a superbowl contender but going up a few spots and picking your guy or guys as opposed to trading back and getting an afterthought might be

team just feels like a leaky boat, sticking fingers in holes but the holes just getting bigger and then other holes are appearing - might be time to take the boat out of the water, strip it right back  and rebuild it

 

[kjbmore]

http://www.espn.com/blog/afcnorth/post/_/id/89755/there-are-52-million-painful-reasons-why-ravens-could-lose-to-one-win-jets

It's the second consecutive season the Ravens have dealt with widespread injuries, and Baltimore has to take some responsibility for it because it relies on older players. Six of the nine players who are sidelined are players who are over the age of 30.