[News] Eric DeCosta, Pundits Weigh In On Best Way To Help Joe Flacco

[BR News]

The Ravens want to help Joe Flacco play at a higher level. So does that mean adding help on the offensive line, running back or receivers? Baltimore Assistant GM Eric DeCosta said it all starts up front.

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[sami]

Our running backs are fine. We might want to get either a big brusier like around 240-250 lbs or a scatback with great speed like 4.3 in the 40 but we can get that in the mid to lower rounds or free agency. Wr pretty good too considering the speed we have in Perriman, Wallace and Chris Moore. Both Perriman and Moore should show improvement. We also have Camp and maybe Aiken. At TE were set with Pitta, Gilmore, Waller and Maxx. Our problem is our front line and how they are coached. Plus how the WR are coached and their routes. Fix that and we will be golden.

[Legendary Ravens]

Flacco should help himself by helping himself.. Practice in the Off-Season with live WR's. Have passion for the 20 game season, passion in your own way but still a burning passion for 20 games then we will see the results.. its starts from within. Namaste

[RavenLunatic]

Thank you Eric! The old saying is that "the game is won and lost in the trenches". Beef up the lines and we'll be good to go.

[Filmstudy]

It's fairly obvious the State of the Ravens comments were directed at Zuttah. I don't think the Ravens can start 2017 with him starting at center with the interior DL size in the division with Shelton, Atkins, Hargrave.

It would be nice to have some depth as well, but that's the spot that needs to be improved.

[roamingcharges]

Flacco should help himself by helping himself.. Practice in the Off-Season with live WR's. Have passion for the 20 game season, passion in your own way but still a burning passion for 20 games then we will see the results.. its starts from within. Namaste

The very best response here! This was actually what I thought even before reading the content of the headline. Flacco is no rookie! Can you imagine discussions year in and year out about how to help Ed Reed or Ray Lewis? Simple solutions-- a pass rush helped Reed get more picks, beef on the D-line meant Ray didn't have to take on O-linemen routinely... Flacco? O-line... wait, maybe a slot receiver... nah a deep threat... but it could be a running game... with or without a bruising back... nah we need one that can catch out of the backfield... C'mon! Flacco isn't a baby! His salary screams that he should elevate the talent around him. He just needs to put in the work-- be obsessed with winning!!!!!!!!!

[MadStorkSociety]

Since Joe's footwork was universally recognized as atrocious and his stats were not good, maybe he would take it upon himself to do as Matt Ryan did and seek some professional training in the off season. That would help Joe. And the bonus is we can focus our FA and draft on defense.

[thieverycorporation]

Since Joe's footwork was universally recognized as atrocious and his stats were not good, maybe he would take it upon himself to do as Matt Ryan did and seek some professional training in the off season. That would help Joe. And the bonus is we can focus our FA and draft on defense.

Valid point.

[thieverycorporation]

  1 hour ago, Legendary Ravens said:

Flacco should help himself by helping himself.. Practice in the Off-Season with live WR's. Have passion for the 20 game season, passion in your own way but still a burning passion for 20 games then we will see the results.. its starts from within. Namaste

The very best response here! This was actually what I thought even before reading the content of the headline. Flacco is no rookie! Can you imagine discussions year in and year out about how to help Ed Reed or Ray Lewis? Simple solutions-- a pass rush helped Reed get more picks, beef on the D-line meant Ray didn't have to take on O-linemen routinely... Flacco? O-line... wait, maybe a slot receiver... nah a deep threat... but it could be a running game... with or without a bruising back... nah we need one that can catch out of the backfield... C'mon! Flacco isn't a baby! His salary screams that he should elevate the talent around him. He just needs to put in the work-- be obsessed with winning!!!!!!!!!

Excellent point

[jazz1988]

1 hour ago, Filmstudy said:

It's fairly obvious the State of the Ravens comments were directed at Zuttah. I don't think the Ravens can start 2017 with him starting at center with the interior DL size in the division with Shelton, Atkins, Hargrave.

It would be nice to have some depth as well, but that's the spot that needs to be improved.

The free agent market concerning  the center position isn't really all that attractive. The best free agent center that will be available is JC Tretter who only has one season where he was healthy out of fours year he's been in The NFl and then there's Stefen Wisniewski who i'm not sure fit's what The Ravens are looking for since they said they want to get bigger on the offensive line. Overall it seems like they going to be stuck with finding a future starting center in the draft  and even the draft isn't all that appealing at the center position to my understanding. 

 

 In my opinion The Ravens are going to  have to hope Jeremy Zuttah improves and maybe even get stronger by hitting the weight room. A rookie or maybe someone already on the roster maybe  the answer to what they looking for but it's just not clear right now that will find a  immediate upgrade over Zuttah.

Edited January 31 by jazz1988

[The Greek]

aside from injuries, castillo being gone has already improved the o-line.

[RavensDieHard21]

Flacco mainly needs time to throw and we need a power run game, which has been our identity forever. If we keep Wagner then we realistically only need an anchor at center. 

Lets grab top defensive talent at 16 or trade back and get an extra pick and use that on Pocic from LSU or Eiflein from Ohio. 

 

[n#7]

They can provide all the help in the world for Flacco but if the Ravens can't get to the opposing QB's then it's all for naught. A good example was the Steelers game when the O had a brilliant drive but the D couldn't hold the response down, giving Big Ben, which seemed like, all day to throw.

[ellicottraven]

With a 9th ranked O-line we had Joe Flacco of 2016? We better have the betterO-line for the coming year for us to even sniff the playoffs. We need to give Flacco a running game that he can use consistently and to get out of blitzes where he's prone to the worst mistakes and turnovers. A top O-line and having a beastly run game will win us time of possession against the opposition. This will also tremendously help the defense knowing before they can catch their breath there was a real chance in 2016 that our offense would go 3 and out and get off the field. I really want our offense to be led by our running backs moving forward, like it used to be when Jamal Lewis was the face of our offense. Personally I wouldn't mind going RB if eiher Fournette or Cook are available when we pick, but we may have to trade up to get one of them.

[bioLarzen]

To quote someone who knew a thing or two about how to play fottball well: "Talk is cheap. Let's play ball."

If a tenth of whatever Harbaugh and the FO said the past couple of years, came true, we'd have a perennial playoff team. We don't.

Do the math - and decide how much we should care about the things that are being said or promised - until it actually happens.

[bigcatfrank1]

  4 hours ago, Filmstudy said:

It's fairly obvious the State of the Ravens comments were directed at Zuttah. I don't think the Ravens can start 2017 with him starting at center with the interior DL size in the division with Shelton, Atkins, Hargrave.

It would be nice to have some depth as well, but that's the spot that needs to be improved.

The free agent market concerning  the center position isn't really all that attractive. The best free agent center that will be available is JC Tretter who only has one season where he was healthy out of fours year he's been in The NFl and then there's Stefen Wisniewski who i'm not sure fit's what The Ravens are looking for since they said they want to get bigger on the offensive line. Overall it seems like they going to be stuck with finding a future starting center in the draft  and even the draft isn't all that appealing at the center position to my understanding. 

 

 In my opinion The Ravens are going to  have to hope Jeremy Zuttah improves and maybe even get stronger by hitting the weight room. A rookie or maybe someone already on the roster maybe  the answer to what they looking for but it's just not clear right now that will find a  immediate upgrade over Zuttah.

A smaller Center might be a fit for the Ravens, they had a great Center for 12 years by the name of Burke who was about the same size. Its about talent and maneuverability as a Center. Keeping Wagner and Jenson, adding Wisnieski if he can make the grade at center, and drafting a young G/C is actually a great move. The Team has already experienced what Zuttah can/cannot do for 2 years and its not worth exposing this O-line to a poor start to a possible Play-off season.

[law215]

Flacco needs to help himself. Learn how to adjust plays pre-snap and work with receiver more in the offseason. He can not be a 10 yr vet that simply runs the plays that are called.

[ALSKAN RAVEN FAN]

Games are won and lost in the trenches PERIOD!!! If your team blocks great and pushes the d-line around you can basically run the ball at will and pass the ball at will. Same goes with the D-line if you are constantly blowing up the O-line your stuffing the run and putting extra pressure on the QB so I would say up- grade the O-line and D-line every chance you get through the draft and build strong trenches. Joe now needs a sure handed #1 WR to help him out I think offensively O-line and WR are the needs but defensively CB,ILB and OLB/DE are needed. I do think that Wallace and Perriman can be a legitimate #2 and #3 WR in this league. As of right now we dont have a true #1 WR on the roster.

Edited February 1 by ALSKAN RAVEN FAN

[RavensDieHard21]

2 hours ago, ellicottraven said:

With a 9th ranked O-line we had Joe Flacco of 2016? We better have the betterO-line for the coming year for us to even sniff the playoffs. We need to give Flacco a running game that he can use consistently and to get out of blitzes where he's prone to the worst mistakes and turnovers. A top O-line and having a beastly run game will win us time of possession against the opposition. This will also tremendously help the defense knowing before they can catch their breath there was a real chance in 2016 that our offense would go 3 and out and get off the field. I really want our offense to be led by our running backs moving forward, like it used to be when Jamal Lewis was the face of our offense. Personally I wouldn't mind going RB if eiher Fournette or Cook are available when we pick, but we may have to trade up to get one of them.

Fournette is the style of player that we want but he will almost certainly be gone no later than Indy. But somehow we did get him, then I am all in on taking a guard or center in the second to assemble a smash mouth unit.

[RavensDieHard21]

1 hour ago, bigcatfrank1 said:

A smaller Center might be a fit for the Ravens, they had a great Center for 12 years by the name of Burke who was about the same size. Its about talent and maneuverability as a Center. Keeping Wagner and Jenson, adding Wisnieski if he can make the grade at center, and drafting a young G/C is actually a great move. The Team has already experienced what Zuttah can/cannot do for 2 years and its not worth exposing this O-line to a poor start to a possible Play-off season.

Lmao Burke was not here for 12 years lmao!!!

[RavensDieHard21]

12 minutes ago, ALSKAN RAVEN FAN said:

Games are won and lost in the trenches PERIOD!!! If your team blocks great and pushes the d-line around you can basically run the ball at will and pass the ball at will. Same goes with the D-line if you are constantly blowing up the O-line your stuffing the run and putting extra pressure on the QB so I would say up- grade the O-line and D-line every chance you get through the draft and build strong trenches. Joe now needs a sure handed #1 WR to help him out I think offensively O-line and WR are the needs but defensively CB,ILB and OLB/DE are needed. I do think that Wallace and Perriman can be a legitimate #2 and #3 WR in this league. As of right now we dont have a true #1 WR on the roster.

Ya that is true about the #1 receiver, but I assume we will get one in FA. We have never had a premier receiver and still managed to get two rings, but the trenches is key.

My favorite scenario is we let Wagner walk, keep Williams, then kick Lewis out to RT and trade back in the draft and take Dan Feeney for LG. Then we can gain an extra second or third, which we can then add a big powerful center like Pocicw or Eiflein then focus on defense with the rest of our picks. 

[JamesA119]

With a 9th ranked O-line we had Joe Flacco of 2016? We better have the betterO-line for the coming year for us to even sniff the playoffs. We need to give Flacco a running game that he can use consistently and to get out of blitzes where he's prone to the worst mistakes and turnovers. A top O-line and having a beastly run game will win us time of possession against the opposition. This will also tremendously help the defense knowing before they can catch their breath there was a real chance in 2016 that our offense would go 3 and out and get off the field. I really want our offense to be led by our running backs moving forward, like it used to be when Jamal Lewis was the face of our offense. Personally I wouldn't mind going RB if eiher Fournette or Cook are available when we pick, but we may have to trade up to get one of them.

Imagine that! 9th ranked Oline and all the "apologists" did was blame the Oline for Flacco's ineptitude. Many a QB could take a 9th ranked Oline deep into the playoffs
I just get tired of hearing"Joe needs this, Joe needs that" I guess we need 10 starting first team pro bowl players on offense around Flacco to make the playoff.

[ALSKAN RAVEN FAN]

2 minutes ago, RavensDieHard21 said:

Ya that is true about the #1 receiver, but I assume we will get one in FA. We have never had a premier receiver and still managed to get two rings, but the trenches is key.

My favorite scenario is we let Wagner walk, keep Williams, then kick Lewis out to RT and trade back in the draft and take Dan Feeney for LG. Then we can gain an extra second or third, which we can then add a big powerful center like Pocicw or Eiflein then focus on defense with the rest of our picks. 

I agree with you that we will probably get a WR in free agency that seems to work for Oz I also like your thoughts about the O-line plan you and I both know next few months are fun to watch and see how Oz and his staff work these things out. But every draft I always hope for players who play in the trenches to be drafted.

[ellicottraven]

14 minutes ago, JamesA119 said:

Imagine that! 9th ranked Oline and all the "apologists" did was blame the Oline for Flacco's ineptitude. Many a QB could take a 9th ranked Oline deep into the playoffs
I just get tired of hearing"Joe needs this, Joe needs that" I guess we need 10 starting first team pro bowl players on offense around Flacco to make the playoff.

Well, this year he's baked his own cake with forcing the Ravens to stick with Marty as his OC. Now his knee will be fully healed and the 9th ranked O-line will only get better. Even if we don't get a stud RB in the draft, the ones we have will be a year farther along with their development and I'm a Dixon fan anyway. So, we'll find out next year about Flacco for sure.

However, after a few games if Flacco shows glimpses of the same 2016 Flacco, then I think we need to look at plan B. What is plan B? In my opinion it isn't about sitting Flacco or even getting rid of him via trade, etc., but to 'Dilferize' Flacco! Make him a pure game manager type QB whose job it is to feed the ball to the RB and manage the game with passes only when there is somebody wide open.

Edited February 1 by ellicottraven

[Crusader]

PFF must use some strange formula to come up with that number. It must not use run blocking or sacks. These people also said the secondary was very high and look what happened in the Pitts game and Smith going out just showed how weak the seconday was.

[Crusader]

I really thought by now with Brady and Ben getting up in age the Ravens would become the AFC leader because Joe look really good those first 5 years but that sure has gone out the window.

[davy_861]

Good to see that Decosta sees what's going on. West and Dixon need to improve, o-line needs to stay healthy. We don't run because we ain't comfortable running. It's nothing against West but if you compare him with Ray Rice it's not even close.

[RavensDieHard21]

1 hour ago, JamesA119 said:

Imagine that! 9th ranked Oline and all the "apologists" did was blame the Oline for Flacco's ineptitude. Many a QB could take a 9th ranked Oline deep into the playoffs
I just get tired of hearing"Joe needs this, Joe needs that" I guess we need 10 starting first team pro bowl players on offense around Flacco to make the playoff.

This next year is the time for Flacco to put up or shut up. Let's get him a strong line, one that gets push in the run game. Add an anchor at center like Pocic or Guillermo and a guard like Feeney or Dorian Johnson. Try to get a vet receiver like Jackson, Garçon, Marshall, or someone of that nature then add maybe one more weapon in the draft like Isisiah Ford that can work the middle. 

Hopefully Marty can build a solid playbook and play to our strengths while getting creative from time to time. The rest will come down to Flacco. Will he get his receivers together to practice and build chemistry or will he decide to kick it at McDonalds and buy a couple thousand bucks worth of McChickens? Will he be able to diagnose coverages and study film before games? This is a big year. 

[RavensDieHard21]

16 minutes ago, davy_861 said:

Good to see that Decosta sees what's going on. West and Dixon need to improve, o-line needs to stay healthy. We don't run because we ain't comfortable running. It's nothing against West but if you compare him with Ray Rice it's not even close.

West is a one cut down hill runner and Dixon looks to be a really promising talent. Forget this season, what we need is creativity and players to hit that weight room. Yanda is the best in the league so no worries there. Stanley needs to get stronger and utilize his gifted balance and pass protection skills with punished run blocking. He is athletic enough to get out in space and get to the next level quick. Lewis also looked good for a bit too but he can certainly get stronger as well. 

I like Zuttah for depth but we need a bulldozer at center. We need to draft a top guy, like a Frederick or Mack, Not just another finesse lineman. Most of our runs were up the gut and if we want to have a power running game again, we cannot have out center get tossed into running holes made by our guards. 

[RaRaRavens]

2 hours ago, JamesA119 said:

Imagine that! 9th ranked Oline and all the "apologists" did was blame the Oline for Flacco's ineptitude. Many a QB could take a 9th ranked Oline deep into the playoffs
I just get tired of hearing"Joe needs this, Joe needs that" I guess we need 10 starting first team pro bowl players on offense around Flacco to make the playoff.

Church!

 

That's what I've been saying for years. When will everyone stop making excuses for Flacco. Luckily for the first time this year we heard someone from the FO put at least some blame on Flacco.

 

It's ridiculous how impossibly perfect the rest of the team needs to be for Flacco. If we had all the prerequisites that Flacco requires to play on an above average level, we could have literally almost any player under the center. We could have Keenan Reynolds slinging us to SB if we had everything that Flacco needs.

 

The fact that we have a QB who is the 4th highest paid QB in the league, but needs a TOP 5 O-line, league leading rushing attack, All-pro WRs, perfect playbook and playcalling, etc. to play adequately makes me laugh...and then cry.

 

And then people are wondering why we can't afford real play makers and game changers. 

Edited February 1 by RaRaRavens
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