[News] Eisenberg: Nothing Will Impact Ravens More Than Addressing One Position

[mrc724]

The Ravens say they need to get younger. The Raider and Texans each have 2 former Ravens, all under 30, with 3 to 5 years experience starting for those teams. Who are the genius coaches who told Harbaugh they should cut. It again boils down to coaching, these guys don't know what they are doing, they should be in the ones in the unemployment line. John Simon was really talked up about being a good player, they were right, he's now starting for the Texans.

[TheConquerorWorm]

Defense, while it was not a top 3 ranked defense at all, was not our problem this year. It was the same as ever offense sputtering all the time. Typical Bmore offense either 3&out or moving the chains flawlessly to the red zone and then just completely choking..

I think you need to rewatch the Oakland game, the Giants game, the Philly game and the Squealer game. Game winning touchdown drives in the final minutes of the 4th quarter by the offense....only to have the defense not being able to stop anybody with less than 2 minutes left.

[Bohica5]

Great Headline john but ya missed the content by a mile...........Head coach is what we have to address......the sooner the better for us fans who like me "Mediocre" doesn't get it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[TheConquerorWorm]

I'm still a big J Smith fan, Oz needs to get his act together , sign a top notch corner, not a 35 year old has been or a player that is some other teams garbage. Ravens FO needs to change its philosophy , and its coaching staff.

a top notch corner makes $16 million a year (with a $20 million cap hit this year)....See Josh Norman

[Bohica5]

  42 minutes ago, steelraven said:

This Is an offensive league so I don't really blame the defense, at the end of the day the offense needs to score points and stay on the field to protect the defense. Why pay Flacco all that money if you want the defense to protect the offense? Tell Flacco to give half of that money he got and maybe they can build a defense. And I know people will start naming all these other QB's that got paid, well look at where there teams are, at home just like the Ravens and look at where they're ranked in QB ratings. Until that happens the Ravens will always be a 8-8 team or even worse. Only a hand full a QB's should get paid that amount of money because they can actually carry a team. Ravens shot themselves in the foot again when they extended Flacco's contract which set the team back again another 4 years. Ozzie has really been slipping lately.

I am sorry that you are unable to dictate the going rate for QBs in the league. There seems to be a misunderstanding of even basic Economic concepts here. And unfortunately, that is not surprising.

I am sorry you consider flacco an actual qb.......he's not worth wut he's getting paid........except on paper.....he looks sooooooo good on paper......totally agree wit steelraven here......but in reality its our below par head coach and Gutless front office which i am sure You think is jus peachy also........SMH

[outkast1]

  43 minutes ago, billiejean said:

  1 hour ago, steelraven said:

This Is an offensive league so I don't really blame the defense, at the end of the day the offense needs to score points and stay on the field to protect the defense. Why pay Flacco all that money if you want the defense to protect the offense? Tell Flacco to give half of that money he got and maybe they can build a defense. And I know people will start naming all these other QB's that got paid, well look at where there teams are, at home just like the Ravens and look at where they're ranked in QB ratings. Until that happens the Ravens will always be a 8-8 team or even worse. Only a hand full a QB's should get paid that amount of money because they can actually carry a team. Ravens shot themselves in the foot again when they extended Flacco's contract which set the team back again another 4 years. Ozzie has really been slipping lately.

I am sorry that you are unable to dictate the going rate for QBs in the league. There seems to be a misunderstanding of even basic Economic concepts here. And unfortunately, that is not surprising.

I am sorry you consider flacco an actual qb.......he's not worth wut he's getting paid........except on paper.....he looks sooooooo good on paper......totally agree wit steelraven here......but in reality its our below par head coach and Gutless front office which i am sure You think is jus peachy also........SMH

your on point brother !

[JoeyFlex5]

5 hours ago, mrc724 said:

Smith hasn't healthy since he was drafted. Is he fragile or can't play through injuries? If he can't stay on the field, he should be let go. Potential can only go so far.

seriously? did you see his ankle injury? no you cant play through that. 

do you know what a lisfranc is? hell no you cant play through that, its microfractures in the tiny bones in the middle of your foot, your foot is worthless with a lisfranc and its a very delicate recovery process which takes a very long time. 

jimmy may be a bit fragile, but most of his injuries havent been due to fragility, they usually come from his trying to make a play and getting caught up in the turf. his lisfranc happened because he was planted in the turf and being physical trying to make a play, his most recent ankle sprain came for the same reason.

[The Greek]

  1 hour ago, steelraven said:

This Is an offensive league so I don't really blame the defense, at the end of the day the offense needs to score points and stay on the field to protect the defense. Why pay Flacco all that money if you want the defense to protect the offense? Tell Flacco to give half of that money he got and maybe they can build a defense. And I know people will start naming all these other QB's that got paid, well look at where there teams are, at home just like the Ravens and look at where they're ranked in QB ratings. Until that happens the Ravens will always be a 8-8 team or even worse. Only a hand full a QB's should get paid that amount of money because they can actually carry a team. Ravens shot themselves in the foot again when they extended Flacco's contract which set the team back again another 4 years. Ozzie has really been slipping lately.

It's not Joe's fault Webb is paid top corner money, and is now barely serviceable as a safety.  It's not his fault that the only consistently productive defensive players to be drafted since the Super Bowl are Brandon Williams, Timmy Jernigan, CJ Mosley and Tavon Young.  It's not his fault that the defensive coordinator has the corners play 10-15 yards off a receiver in 3rd and 5 situations, or that he can scheme a defense to play stout for 50 minutes before inexplicably disappearing for the final 10. 

but it is his fault for not elevating the game of the receivers around him and not picking apart defenses like a 39 year old up north has done for over a decade now. flacco is entering his 10th season and he is regressing. he needs to do what it takes to improve.

[JoeyFlex5]

getting another corner does so much for this team its unfathomable to most... 

first of all, people dont even understand the impact jimmy has. its insane when i talk to other football fans and they think jimmy is some scrub or dont even recognize his name, int's =/= quality cb play. lets add it all up here... 

when jimmy is on the field, we still have little to no pass rush, yet we are a top 5 unit with him on the field. why?...

jimmy smith blanks his side of the field, the common fans dont know about him, but qbs and ocs do. they dont even test jimmy, and for good reason. 

when this happens, we now have cj mosley, zach orr, eric weddle, lardarius webb, and tavon young all only covering 2/3rds or even half of the field depending on jimmys receivers route. that is an elite linebacker who has perhaps a top 3 football iq among linebackers in the league, another linebacker who swarms targets and plays incredibly fast and efficient, one of the best all around safeties in the league with weddle, a very good zone coverage safety in webb who does a good job patrolling deep as the last line of defense, and an excellent up and coming slot corner with elite ball skills and closing ability, all of these guys are covering HALF or 2/thirds of the field, that is a recipe for success, that is how shutdown corners affect a defense. 

the qb doesnt bother to target jimmy because its likely a swat or a pick, he now has to look at the other side of the field and try to pick on one of these guys, but the problem is you cant just pick on shareece wright or jerraud powers, because they arent typically man covering, you now have to force throws through an extremely cluttered half of the field which is filled with excellent high iq zone covering players. qbs have to hold on to the ball because you cant just wait for a wr to get open, you need a throwing lane as well, so you have to wait for the perfect opportunity as a qb. this leads to coverage sacks and desperate throws.

the throwing lanes bring me to my next point, when the qb is forced to look to one side, you now instruct the backside rushers to pin their ears back, you then place your tallest longest players on the opposite side(urban, judon) and they stay home, play disciplined, and be ready to get those hands up when the qb looks to throw, now the qb cant throw with velocity because they HAVE to put air under it, thus more hangtime, thus more opportunity to play the ball as a db/lb. 

when jimmy smith is on the field, the safeties comfortably play close in run support and roam the intermediate to add to the chaos in the throwing lanes. when jimmy is off the field you need both safeties playing real coverage and they cant roam and make plays, they both have to basically play it safe all the time, run defense falls off, every player in coverage looks worse because the field is no longer condensed and they now have broader zones to cover, more soft spots open, the qb can scan the whole field, bla bla trickle effect. 

when jimmy is  hurt, our entire defense is broken, our scheme is excellent with him, and broken without him. 

getting another very good cb would not only make our defense even better when jimmy is healthy because now qbs have absolutely nowhere to look, but if either of them go down we now have the winning formula that we had before. 

as far as the 4th quarter meltdowns go... idk. i think edge rush would be the best help there, pressure kills in the 2 minute drill, but then again another cb means completions are few and far between. i think another cb does more for this team than an edge rusher without question.

[Flamengo1265]

You know what makes a secondary look good? A good pass rush. The Ravens had a total of 3 sacks in the last 4 weeks (0-1-1-1), so you can load this team up with high quality DB's but without a pass rush they'll get picked apart.

[dirtybird66]

nothing will impact the ravens more that not commiting the most penalties in the league going back 5 years,they have the most or very close to it,so tell me how we have such great coaching again,please???

[billiejean]

  1 hour ago, billiejean said:

  1 hour ago, steelraven said:

This Is an offensive league so I don't really blame the defense, at the end of the day the offense needs to score points and stay on the field to protect the defense. Why pay Flacco all that money if you want the defense to protect the offense? Tell Flacco to give half of that money he got and maybe they can build a defense. And I know people will start naming all these other QB's that got paid, well look at where there teams are, at home just like the Ravens and look at where they're ranked in QB ratings. Until that happens the Ravens will always be a 8-8 team or even worse. Only a hand full a QB's should get paid that amount of money because they can actually carry a team. Ravens shot themselves in the foot again when they extended Flacco's contract which set the team back again another 4 years. Ozzie has really been slipping lately.

I am sorry that you are unable to dictate the going rate for QBs in the league. There seems to be a misunderstanding of even basic Economic concepts here. And unfortunately, that is not surprising.

I am sorry you consider flacco an actual qb.......he's not worth wut he's getting paid........except on paper.....he looks sooooooo good on paper......totally agree wit steelraven here......but in reality its our below par head coach and Gutless front office which i am sure You think is jus peachy also........SMH

I am not sure if you read my post but if you get a chance point me to the place where I said anything about Joe Flacco or his skill level.

[mearzunkies]

The offense was so bad that the defense spends too much time on the field ! You can't blame a top 7 to #1 defense when your offense keeps doing a 3 an out.A 27th ranked QB with a 21st ranked offense causes stress to your defense.
The defense just ran out of gas with two over 30 pass rushers and a prevent defense.

I agree! The D looked exhausted after the 3rd quarter in 6 of the last 7 Games.

[The Mom Gene]

  1 hour ago, Bohica5 said:

  1 hour ago, billiejean said:

  1 hour ago, steelraven said:

This Is an offensive league so I don't really blame the defense, at the end of the day the offense needs to score points and stay on the field to protect the defense. Why pay Flacco all that money if you want the defense to protect the offense? Tell Flacco to give half of that money he got and maybe they can build a defense. And I know people will start naming all these other QB's that got paid, well look at where there teams are, at home just like the Ravens and look at where they're ranked in QB ratings. Until that happens the Ravens will always be a 8-8 team or even worse. Only a hand full a QB's should get paid that amount of money because they can actually carry a team. Ravens shot themselves in the foot again when they extended Flacco's contract which set the team back again another 4 years. Ozzie has really been slipping lately.

I am sorry that you are unable to dictate the going rate for QBs in the league. There seems to be a misunderstanding of even basic Economic concepts here. And unfortunately, that is not surprising.

I am sorry you consider flacco an actual qb.......he's not worth wut he's getting paid........except on paper.....he looks sooooooo good on paper......totally agree wit steelraven here......but in reality its our below par head coach and Gutless front office which i am sure You think is jus peachy also........SMH

I am not sure if you read my post but if you get a chance point me to the place where I said anything about Joe Flacco or his skill level.

He's a constant subject for this guy... regardless of the topic, the Joe bashing just goes on and on. And let's not forget the coaching. Some folks I just can't understand. They seem to be here for one reason, and that's not to root to the home team.

[Crusader]

I don't care what the offense did or did not do. A defense can not give up 21 points in the 4th quarter. And if it only take one player to have the defense fall apart, then it really was not a good defense.

It not a good defense but no matter what you can't have the defense play most of the other quarters. The offense 3 and outs is un acceptable.

[BigUgly]

  1 hour ago, law215 said:

I don't care what the offense did or did not do. A defense can not give up 21 points in the 4th quarter. And if it only take one player to have the defense fall apart, then it really was not a good defense.

It not a good defense but no matter what you can't have the defense play most of the other quarters. The offense 3 and outs is un acceptable.

The Ravens had nearly a 10 minute time of possession advantage over the Stillers, so that excuse doesn't wash for that game. Same for the Raiders game and the Giants game, also situations where the defense crumbled in the end.

[dirtybird66]

1 position? we have a 20 million dollar qb that can't make audibles,if you touch him he fumbles the ball,zero pocket awareness,our team has had the most or near the most penalties the 5-6 years,most anaylists say our team makes little ajustments at halftime or during a game period,harbaugh came here as a special teams coach,funny our 2 mvp players are our punter and kicker.our draft dept has given us what?? the last few years.i hear theres a big bro-mance between harb's and bisciotti and it seems like its really clouding everyones judgment can anyone tell me again that we do have a great coaching staff and front office?/ i hear many say their not renewing their season tickets or just going to the steelers game or cincy,this town seems to be getting embarraced and by all indications we're slowly becoming cleveland but no one at the raven's organization seems to care.now i see in most pre draft sites that we may take a running back at #16-what?? we need a corner like desmond king or an actual legit qb like pat mahomes to come in and take flaccos job or atleast have legit competition at that spot,i'll take 44 td's-10 int's and a running qb that ran for8 tds instead of a qb that stands in the pocket and if touched,drops the ball.the ravens brass seems to think everythings honky dory,i think when they start losing fans,maybe they might realize it!

[sami]

The problem is Pees went into panic mode and the other teams seen it. If its always next player up then let the next player step up.

[sami]

  2 hours ago, billiejean said:

  2 hours ago, steelraven said:

This Is an offensive league so I don't really blame the defense, at the end of the day the offense needs to score points and stay on the field to protect the defense. Why pay Flacco all that money if you want the defense to protect the offense? Tell Flacco to give half of that money he got and maybe they can build a defense. And I know people will start naming all these other QB's that got paid, well look at where there teams are, at home just like the Ravens and look at where they're ranked in QB ratings. Until that happens the Ravens will always be a 8-8 team or even worse. Only a hand full a QB's should get paid that amount of money because they can actually carry a team. Ravens shot themselves in the foot again when they extended Flacco's contract which set the team back again another 4 years. Ozzie has really been slipping lately.

I am sorry that you are unable to dictate the going rate for QBs in the league. There seems to be a misunderstanding of even basic Economic concepts here. And unfortunately, that is not surprising.

I am sorry you consider flacco an actual qb.......he's not worth wut he's getting paid........except on paper.....he looks sooooooo good on paper......totally agree wit steelraven here......but in reality its our below par head coach and Gutless front office which i am sure You think is jus peachy also........SMH

Are you sure youre a Ravens fan?

[Ravensfolyfe]

I thought with Brady being 39 and Flacco being only 30 he would take advantage of the opportunity to shine and stand up and be elite but not the case. I've said Flacco's play has regressed over the years but many said it was the supporting case yet we see that it's Flacco's inability to read or adjust to what he see's on the field. I know we stuck with him for years to come but he needs somebody to put pressure on him to get him out of his lackadaisical demeanor.

[RaRaRavens]

LOL, u kidding right?! Ravens 'bout to have as many holes as Swiss cheese after this offseason. Positions we are (bound to be) missing solid players at: WR1, WR2, 3rd&4th string CBs, NT, DE, OLB, RT, C. Just to name the starters. We also need depth at these and A LOT of other positions.

Now, if Oz can fill all these needs during FA and draft, he truly is a wizard. Unfortunately, past years haven't indicated his ability to do so.

[verified]

we went from having one of the best front offices to one of the worst. This rosters been pathetic since ray lewis retired. Ozzie and the front offices inability to find WRs when it seems like these other franchises find them any and everywhere shows that their scouting procedures are out dated. Sucks to be a ravens fan post ray lewis era

[thegooddoc456]

A porous secondary is only one of many issues plaguing this team. If the Ravens don't get their acts together real soon, things might get real ugly next season...I'm talking Browns ugly.

[ravenmaniac112351]

Ozzie blew it big time in last year's draft. He had a chance to shore up one of the most important positions on the team and did nothing. Jalen Ramsey was the con-census top DB in the draft last year. His play this season only re-enforced that. Rumor had it that Ozzie called Dallas and tried to jump ahead of Jacksonville in order to take Ramsey but Ozzie abandoned the idea when Dallas wanted their 3rd pick. He refused to do it and Jacksonville took Ramsey 5th pick in the draft. Now I am not saying that Stanley will not be a long term answer at left tackle but it is harder to find a top DB than a pretty good offensive tackle.

[YorkCountyRaven]

A lot of fans here hitting the panic button. Yes, our season was short lived. Yes, the coaching was atrocious. Unfortunaly with our franchise being so successful in such a short period of time, there are going to be those spoiled fans who call for the head of our coach after a couple shotty seasons. Lets not forget what John Harbaugh has accomplished as a Head Coach.

Joe Flacco - Last May I tore my ACL, MCL, Meniscus, and partially strained my PCL. I must say, I understand why Joe Flacco was uneasy in the pocket for most of the season. There is nothing you can do about the mental hurdle you are going to face when coming back from an injury like this. You have to relearn everything knee related (walking, jumping, running, back peddling, squatting). I have had over 5 surgeries and i'm only 25. With 3 of them being serious. This last surgery one my knee was arguably the worst thing I've ever went through. So for a lot of people the ignorance they show talking about his pocket presence and his interceptions this year. Give the man a break. Who else would you have liked to throw the ball for us this year?!?!?! You honestly would want us to draft a QB?! That's like almost last on our needs -_-

[JoeyFlex5]

1 hour ago, ravenmaniac112351 said:

Ozzie blew it big time in last year's draft. He had a chance to shore up one of the most important positions on the team and did nothing. Jalen Ramsey was the con-census top DB in the draft last year. His play this season only re-enforced that. Rumor had it that Ozzie called Dallas and tried to jump ahead of Jacksonville in order to take Ramsey but Ozzie abandoned the idea when Dallas wanted their 3rd pick. He refused to do it and Jacksonville took Ramsey 5th pick in the draft. Now I am not saying that Stanley will not be a long term answer at left tackle but it is harder to find a top DB than a pretty good offensive tackle.

james hurst starting at LT. 

having no answer in sight for next year. 

try to imagine it... 

we made the right choice. LT is a far more important position than CB. and that last statement is just not true, most of the best corners in the league are not drafted anywhere near the top 10, they tend to come in the late teens and much later. lets take a look... 

chris harris jr(popular pick for best cb in the nfl) - undrafted 

josh norman - 5th round 

malcolm butler - undrafted 

ronald darby - 2nd round 

jason verrett - 25th overall 

brandon flowers - 2nd round 

jonathan joseph - 24th overall 

janoris jenkins - 2nd round 

richard sherman - 5th round 

xavier rhodes - 2nd round 

marcus peters - 18th overall 

brent grimes - undrafted 

you get the point. of all the top corners in the league, you have pat pete and jalen ramsey taken in the top 10, guys like trae waynes and vh3 who were taken very high have been considered disappointments thus far. meanwhile ronnie stanley was the leagues top rated LT the final month of the season and we started 3-0 with him and proceeded to go 0-4 without him. he should have been deep in the convo for ravens MVP along with jimmy and tucker. left tackles are far more valuable and much harder to find.

[drillem]

If they got a top CB, Harbs would sit him or axe him on a grudge. I don't see the direction of this team changing without some change at the top.

[#Nevermore]

  1 hour ago, ravenmaniac112351 said:

Ozzie blew it big time in last year's draft. He had a chance to shore up one of the most important positions on the team and did nothing. Jalen Ramsey was the con-census top DB in the draft last year. His play this season only re-enforced that. Rumor had it that Ozzie called Dallas and tried to jump ahead of Jacksonville in order to take Ramsey but Ozzie abandoned the idea when Dallas wanted their 3rd pick. He refused to do it and Jacksonville took Ramsey 5th pick in the draft. Now I am not saying that Stanley will not be a long term answer at left tackle but it is harder to find a top DB than a pretty good offensive tackle.

james hurst starting at LT. 

having no answer in sight for next year. 

try to imagine it... 

we made the right choice. LT is a far more important position than CB. and that last statement is just not true, most of the best corners in the league are not drafted anywhere near the top 10, they tend to come in the late teens and much later. lets take a look... 

chris harris jr(popular pick for best cb in the nfl) - undrafted 

josh norman - 5th round 

malcolm butler - undrafted 

ronald darby - 2nd round 

jason verrett - 25th overall 

brandon flowers - 2nd round 

jonathan joseph - 24th overall 

janoris jenkins - 2nd round 

richard sherman - 5th round 

xavier rhodes - 2nd round 

marcus peters - 18th overall 

brent grimes - undrafted 

you get the point. of all the top corners in the league, you have pat pete and jalen ramsey taken in the top 10, guys like trae waynes and vh3 who were taken very high have been considered disappointments thus far. meanwhile ronnie stanley was the leagues top rated LT the final month of the season and we started 3-0 with him and proceeded to go 0-4 without him. he should have been deep in the convo for ravens MVP along with jimmy and tucker. left tackles are far more valuable and much harder to find.

I think Stanley was a great pick and it matched with our need. We have the 16th pick in the 1st round, 2nd round and most likely two 3rd round picks. There is no reason we don't come away with one of the better pass rushers and top corners in this draft. Personally I like Harris from Mizzou as a pass rusher.

I agree with Einsberg that corner is a pressing need. In my opinion we need a corner more than a pass rusher. We have decent and young pass rushers. We have one good corner in Jimmy and one young corner in Young, (he is a slot corner). We need another outside corner. Also intriguing is Jamal Adams, he can be a hybrid that would be great to pair with Weddle and to cover TEs.

We need to look at impact players and guys that we will leaders on the field.

[sizzlingdoom]

If they got a top CB, Harbs would sit him or axe him on a grudge. I don't see the direction of this team changing without some change at the top.

seriously. It's disheartening and literally sickening to the stomach that all these coaches are coming back. Esp. Harbaugh. It's not fair for the players or the fans. This is garbage. Steve clearing doesn't care about winning as much as Kraft

[sizzlingdoom]

we went from having one of the best front offices to one of the worst. This rosters been pathetic since ray lewis retired. Ozzie and the front offices inability to find WRs when it seems like these other franchises find them any and everywhere shows that their scouting procedures are out dated. Sucks to be a ravens fan post ray lewis era

It's sickening. I have nothing to do with Baltimore and have lived in Ca my whole life. Yet I honestly believe at this point, I'm just as die hard if not more than a lot of the people here. I sleep with Ravens stuff, wear, I love the Ravens more than anything just about. But everything that drew me to them over the years is fading, and almost gone for that matter. I'm not leaving my birds, but if Steve keeps up with this garbage I wont have a choice before long. not fair to the players or fans. I could go off for about 3 hours on how it's just simply disgusting that this staff is coming back. LIterally made me sick to my stomach when I saw it was so