Baltimore Ravens Thread

kevohmsford

Wes Welker is available for might go for him for the rest of the season.

Paully D

1-4 after last nights pathetic loss to the Browns. The first time in Ravens history we've had such a start.

As I said in the week 5 thread last night, I honestly hope we lose every game for the rest of the season now. Some will say that makes me a crap fan or whatever and I know the team would never purposely do it anyway but to be honest, I don't care. There's not much point finishing the season 7-9 or similar IMO, I'd rather lose more games now and get a higher pick. There's real game-changers on defense at the top of this draft.

I've seen a few people on different forums giving out about Trestman but I think that's madness. Aside from the opener against the exceptional Broncos D, we've put up 30 points on the Browns, 23 in Pittsburgh, 24 against the Bengals and 33 in Oakland. That's with a decimated receiving corps. Personally, I don't think you can ask for more offensively all things considered and if the D had done anything at all we'd arguably be 4-1.

Pees and that defense is a huge issue IMO and it's not something that has just came out of nowhere either, it has been an issue for a number of years now. We've allowed 137 points through 5 games which is the most in our 20 year history, we've lost five 4th quarter leads this season and last night gave up 420 odd yards to Josh Mc-****ing-Cown. It's the same bollocks with Pees every season. I know Suggs is a huge loss but you can't tell me a D with C.J. Mosley, Brandon Williams, Jimmy Smith, Will Hill and Daryl Smith among others isn't significantly better than the 25th overall defense in the league?

kevohmsford

Ravens are in a bad place right now. Average qb's are putting up too many points on our defense. Injuries are not helping. Our linebackers need to step up. A new defensive coordinator may need to happen soon.

Paully D

Marshal Yanda signs a 4 year extension. Finally some good news! The best G in the league.

Paully D

Another game, another rubbish loss to bring us to 1-5, but hey on the plus side it's another game closer to Joey Bosa/Vernon Hargreaves/Jalen Ramsey.

kevohmsford

Game was very hard to watch against the 49ers last night. Crazy to think the season is a right off now. Flacco is doing his best with the receiving options he has. The defense can certainly be doing better with the players available. Dean Pees should be fired.

Paully D

Terrible loss again tonight but as I said in the week 10 thread, if we're going to lose games like that then this is the season to do it. On for a top five pick as things stand and it's getting more realistic with each passing week.

SHOVELLER

A quick trip up the road to Baltimore for the first time for an enjoyable weekend bookended by a Ravens game!

We stayed in the Hilton over looking Camden Yards and what a view that was on a sunny sunday morning. The Jaguars were also staying there.

A stroll through the very impressive stadium brought us to the Ravens Walk. Great atmosphere and taking our time checking out all the attractions and pictures of the Johnny Unitas and Ray Lewis statues meant we missed the fly over before kick off.

Still we got to our upper tier seats right on kick off and what a memorable game. Ravens snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.





14-10 up at half time after missing a monster field goal attempt and Flacco playing well with 2 TDs. Still a tight game between two average sides.

Flacco gets sacked and then incredibly Jaguars miss a very easy kick so its 14-13 at the the end of the third.

Start of the 4th Ross fumbles a catch and Jaguars recover. This proves to be the last game for him as he was released today. A great catch by Robinson in the corner beneath us puts them 19-14 up:





But they miss the 2 point conversion attempt. The Ravens score to make it 20-19 but also miss the 2 point conversion attempt! Crazy stuff.

Then we all know what happened:





Crowd were stunned and abuse rained down. NFL coming out and admitting that the Jaguars werent set on the last play doesnt reverse the game. A lot of justifiable comments that a multi billion industry employs part time referees.

An almost full house of 70,837 at the game on a beautiful day and a free excellent 64 page programme too!

Great to see almost everyone in purple. Some support considering the mediocre results.

Paully D

Awesome Shoveller. I'm very jealous. :mad::D

Paully D

Flacco done for the season and it puts an end to his 122 game streak of starts. Very unfortunate.

Flacco, Steve Smith, Forsett, Suggs, Perriman and Zuttah gone with season enders throughout the year. A mountain of games lost by one score and some horrific calls against us too. What a right off this year has been.

The only consolation is that it looks like we're nailed on for at least a top 5 pick now and with Schaub playing the next 6 games we could even jump into the top 3.

Ivefoundgod

Getting the win today was pointless, good for fans and all but would have helped us more to lose and Flaccos injury really rubbed it in. A top 3 pick would be great but I can't see us actually making a pick at that spot, I'd expect Ozzie to try figure out some kinda of trade to drop down the order though I don't see too many players in the draft who are going to convince a team to trade away much. Would love if we got a trade like the RG3 deal though don't think that will ever happen again.

Now that we're out of it I want Cam to win it all with Greg Olsen and Riverboat Ron.

Paully D

Ivefoundgod wrote: »

Getting the win today was pointless, good for fans and all but would have helped us more to lose and Flaccos injury really rubbed it in. A top 3 pick would be great but I can't see us actually making a pick at that spot, I'd expect Ozzie to try figure out some kinda of trade to drop down the order though I don't see too many players in the draft who are going to convince a team to trade away much. Would love if we got a trade like the RG3 deal though don't think that will ever happen again.

Now that we're out of it I want Cam to win it all with Greg Olsen and Riverboat Ron.

Completely agree re: the win today and Ozzie wanting to trade out. I suppose it all depends on what type of deal we could get (if any), but given how desperate we are for help on both sides of the ball (especially rusher and secondary) I think we'd be mad not to take Bosa, Hargreaves or Ramsey if we have the chance.

Ivefoundgod

Paully D wrote: »

Completely agree re: the win today and Ozzie wanting to trade out. I suppose it all depends on what type of deal we could get (if any), but given how desperate we are for help on both sides of the ball (especially rusher and secondary) I think we'd be mad not to take Bosa, Hargreaves or Ramsey if we have the chance.

Yeah would be great to get someone like that but I just don't see it. I really hope Perriman turns out to be a decent player because we are so weak at WR its crazy. Aiken is a nice player to have but nowhere near a 1 or 2 WR. We went from having Torrey who while not a great receiver was crucial to Flaccos game to stretch the field out and keep the DBs honest even if his main skill towards the end of his time here was drawing DPI flags. You could almost guarantee he'd either haul in 1 50+ yard pass or draw a flag on a 50+ yard throw.

Its easy to be downbeat now I know but I honestly think it'll be 2017/18 season before we're back to where we were. Depressing.

Paully D

San Diego's win in Jacksonville tonight is very good news for our draft position. I was hoping the Titans would beat the Raiders too, but if we lose in Cleveland tomorrow we'll go 2nd overall behind Tennessee. Titans and Raiders wins along with us losing to the Browns would have actually sent us #1! :eek:

Watch us go out and win in Cleveland now. :rolleyes:

SHOVELLER

What an ending again!! Browns kick to win which is blocked and returned for a TD.

It all evens out after the Jaguars fiasco!

Paully D

Ugh. Such a meaningless, pointless win last night. Typical that we'll probably put a run together now when nothing good can come from it. :rolleyes:

kevohmsford

Ravens lose again. Frustrating season. Maxx Williams and Crockett Gillmore injured. Hopefully we get decent draft picks.

Paully D

kevohmsford wrote: »

Ravens lose again. Frustrating season. Maxx Williams and Crockett Gillmore injured. Hopefully we get decent draft picks.

An awful season with a hell of a lot of things going against us, but I can't say I'm disappointed to see us losing. Before today we were only in line for the 8th overall pick :eek: It'd be a nightmare if we were picking outside the top 5 when all is said and done considering how bad the season has gone. That's why beating teams like the Browns last week will only do more harm than good. We're not doing anything in terms of playoffs so lets just get the highest pick possible and regroup next season.

Ivefoundgod

Yeah with Jimmy Clausen in as QB for the foreseeable future we should lose out unless theres a miracle. I'm just looking towards the draft now, hard not to get excited at the possibilities when I'm used to us trading out of the 1st round. Would be nice to get Ramsey but I honestly have no clue what Ozzie will do, he could easily trade out of the top 10 to a late pick.

Paully D

Nick Boyle suspended for the rest of the season for using performance enhancers. What a clown :rolleyes: We literally have no TE's for next weekend.

If we don't lose out and/or end up picking outside the top 3-5 I'll flip.

matthew8

ESPN article on Sam Koch's revolutionary punting:
http://espn.go.com/blog/nflnation/post/_/id/191948/sam-koch-has-changed-the-punting-game-and-almost-no-one-noticed

Paully D

Steve Smith is coming back next year. There's a huge help to our WR corps for 2016 already. Great news!

Paully D

Seeing Ryan Mallett start for the Ravens today is vomit-inducing. There's not many players I dislike more than him. Ugh. :mad:

Lets hope he sets his alarm clock for the right time and makes it to the game. :rolleyes:

radharc

I see the logic in hoping your also-ran team loses in order to get a higher draft pick but have never been able to embrace it.....what a beautiful win to screw the Steelers

Paully D

radharc wrote: »

I see the logic in hoping your also-ran team loses in order to get a higher draft pick but have never been able to embrace it.....what a beautiful win to screw the Steelers

It's always nice to beat the Steelers and hopefully it will lead to them missing out on the playoffs when all is said and done next week, but it's a meaningless win for me really.

I know lots of people disagree, but I just don't see the point in finishing say 5-11 or 6-10 when there's absolutely nothing on the line really. Knocking the Steelers out of the playoffs is cool and all but what does it do for Baltimore except maybe make us miss out on Joey Bosa or Vernon Hargreaves, two players who could be complete game-changers for us?

That's just the way I look at. I completely understand why others can't embrace it.

radharc

Paully D wrote: »

It's always nice to beat the Steelers and hopefully it will lead to them missing out on the playoffs when all is said and done next week, but it's a meaningless win for me really.

I know lots of people disagree, but I just don't see the point in finishing say 5-11 or 6-10 when there's absolutely nothing on the line really. Knocking the Steelers out of the playoffs is cool and all but what does it do for Baltimore except maybe make us miss out on Joey Bosa or Vernon Hargreaves, two players who could be complete game-changers for us?

That's just the way I look at.

I know, I know, but I just can't bring myself to root for a loss.

Also imo there is something to be said about the danger of accepting a losing attitude inside an organisation; the Browns, Titans et al have had the cream picks for years but can't shed the loser culture.

Paully D

radharc wrote: »

I know, I know, but I just can't bring myself to root for a loss.

Also imo there is something to be said about the danger of accepting a losing attitude inside an organisation; the Browns, Titans et al have had the cream picks for years but can't shed the loser culture.

Completely understand mate.

Don't get me wrong, I'd much rather we had something positive to cheer for each week, but I'm a huge believer in the draft process and a huge draft fan so when we start off the season 1-4 and I see the difference someone like Bosa and Hargreaves could make to our team I just think "feck it, there's no chance of the playoffs so I'll roll with the short term pain for the long term gain".

Your last point re: losing culture is a good one. I'm sure players and coaches would never purposely lose as too many of them have too many seperate interests (e.g., a coach might be told he's safe but a player needs to put good plays on tape in case he's cut to make way for the new, highly drafted player etc for example and there's no way it wouldn't go public at some stage) but yeah, I'm sure that sort of culture can seep in easily enough.

Paully D

Opponents for next season have been finalised anyway:

vs - Browns, Bengals, Steelers, Bills, Dolphins, Eagles, Redskins, Raiders
@ - Browns, Bengals, Steelers, Patriots, Jets, Cowboys, Giants, Jaguars

A lot can and will change between now and then, but it looks a mixed schedule on paper for now.

We could quite easily go unbeaten at home if things go well, and quite easily lose all of those road games. On the plus side we've only got one game outside of the eastern time zone which will help.

dfx-

radharc wrote: »

I see the logic in hoping your also-ran team loses in order to get a higher draft pick but have never been able to embrace it.....what a beautiful win to screw the Steelers

the game tonight was just a bad one from a Steelers perspective. They've been at least in touch for all games except Kansas and now Baltimore this week. The defense relies on turnovers, but didn't get any and the offense was awful.

The first game, the 23-20, that one screwed the Steelers - so many chances to win but literally kicked away by Scobee.

phatkev

I just want to stop by and say thanks, fcuking fantastic result earlier!!

Paully D

phatkev wrote: »

I just want to stop by and say thanks, fcuking fantastic result earlier!!

No problem mate. You can send us over one of those pass rushers to say thanks, there's really no need for you to have that many good ones! :pac:

Paully D

Down to #8 overall in the 2016 draft order now and with the way the schedule is next week it's not likely to get any better.

That'll mean the 3 players that really could have changed things for us - Bosa, Hargreaves and Ramsey - could well be all gone.

I suppose the only saving grace will be that the Browns seem likely to take a QB, while the Titans and Chargers are being mocked T's by many experts, and then you have the 49ers who are also in need of a QB.

But not being guaranteed one of the aforementioned 3 is not the "reward" I was hoping for for enduring this season.

Paully D

Thank Christ that season is over. The draft order is set for non-playoff teams and we're picking 6th thanks to today's results. Thank you 49ers! It's a shame the Chargers couldn't do it from good positions but I won't get too greedy. :pac:

I'll be honest, it's extremely disappointing to endure that season and not be picking top 5 at least. I actually thought top 3 was very realistic once Flacco went down, but yeah it could have been even worse considering we went from 4th -> 8th after the Steelers win last week and the Patriots were expected to beat Miami. That win against Pittsburgh last week ultimately costs us 2 places and they made the playoffs anyway unfortunately.

The teams picking ahead of us are - 1) Titans, 2) Browns, 3) Chargers, 4) Cowboys, 5) Jaguars

I think Tunsil to the Titans is a certainty (as much as it can be at this point). A shiny new LT to protect a shiny new QB, so that's one team down. Browns will go Goff/Lynch or Bosa I think depending on who the new management setup is and what they want to do. Chargers for me take Bosa if he's there, or a T (Stanley) or a CB at this point (Hargreaves or Ramsey). No idea what the Cowboys will do (maybe Jack) and I'm sure the Jaguars would love to take Hargreaves/Ramsey as their secondary needs improvement.

I realise that piece above is all a very incoherent mess and I'm rambling, but moreso making the point that it will be very tough for any of the 3 I'd love (Bosa, Hargreaves or Ramsey) to fall to us even picking as high as 6th. Mackensie Alexendar out of Clemson may be one to keep an eye on, though I wouldn't rule out Stanley if he's there either. That's not to mention that Ozzie will no doubt be banging the table for A'Shawn Robinson.

A huge amount of possibilities, but one thing remains certain - if we don't greatly improve the secondary and pass rush we are in for another long year in 2016.

Now it's time to start watching some film. My favourite time of the year!

Paully D

15 years ago to the day!

eagle eye

Jim Nantz has aged a lot in fifteen years.

kevohmsford

Looks like Joe Flacco's contract will be restructured.

Dennis Pitta must be finished at this stage. Ray Rice contract done so that will free up some cap space.

kevohmsford

Need to draft cornerback, pass rusher and left tackle.

Paully D

I agree Kev.

CB and rusher are absolute musts, though I would be interested to give Monroe one more season to see if he can get back to anywhere near what he was, but I wouldn't be surprised nor blame the Ravens for moving on either. If Stanley or Tunsil are there at #6 I'm sure Ozzie will be very tempted though I would much rather go for a corner at that position if Ramsey or Hargreaves are still there.

Tucker got tagged anyway which is good news. Hopefully we can get a deal done with him at some stage.

Paully D

Flacco signs a new deal. It was vital of course, but a deal that works well for all parties. We free up $6m this season and $13m over the next 2 seasons while Flacco gets a ton of cash.

This is brilliant! :pac:

https://twitter.com/sgellison/status/705105533280374784

Hopefully we can use the extra money to keep Osemele.

Paully D

Osemele is off to Oakland for 5/$60m. Disappointing to lose him but best of luck to him. There's just no way on earth we could even come close to that offer and the Raiders have a mountain of cap space to splash. A nice signing for Carr.

In other news we've signed Ben Watson (TE). It probably shows that the Pitta comeback is done unfortunately but he, Gillmore and Williams should have us set at the position next season. That's a nice trio. In addition, he should be a good influence on Crockett and Maxx.

The chances of taking Tunsil or Stanley at #6 just increased massively I'd imagine.

Pyjamarama

Paully D wrote: »

Osemele is off to Oakland for 5/$60m. Disappointing to lose him but best of luck to him. There's just no way on earth we could even come close to that offer and the Raiders have a mountain of cap space to splash. A nice signing for Carr.

In other news we've signed Ben Watson (TE). It probably shows that the Pitta comeback is done unfortunately but he, Gillmore and Williams should have us set at the position next season. That's a nice trio. In addition, he should be a good influence on Crockett and Maxx.

The chances of taking Tunsil or Stanley at #6 just increased massively I'd imagine.

Unlikely either will make it... chance with Stanley but Tunsil is going 1st.

Paully D

Pyjamarama wrote: »

Unlikely either will make it... chance with Stanley but Tunsil is going 1st.

I'd much rather we addressed the secondary or pass rush anyway so I really wouldn't be pushed. I'd expect Tunsil to go #1 too but if he doesn't, there's a chance he could slip out of the top 5. As things stand, I do think Stanley will be there at #6.

Ideal situation for me is that Titans go Tunsil, Browns go QB, Chargers go Stanley, Cowboys go Buckner. That means that we'd be guaranteed 1 of Ramsey, Hargreaves or Bosa.

kevohmsford

Sad to see Osemele go. We must be targeting a left tackle first in the draft. We need a dedicated player for the position. The offensive line has seen players fill in all over the line the past 2 years.
Ravens normally tend to pick the best available player at the time of their pick. Left tackle, pass rusher then cornerback.

Paully D

Who the experts are predicting we take as things stand:

Stanley (6 analysts)
Bosa (4 analysts)
Buckner (2 analysts)
Hargreaves (1 analyst)
Jack (1 analyst)
Tunsil (1 analyst)

youngco87

Paully D wrote: »

Who the experts are predicting we take as things stand:

Stanley (6 analysts)
Bosa (4 analysts)
Buckner (2 analysts)
Hargreaves (1 analyst)
Jack (1 analyst)
Tunsil (1 analyst)

I would love to take Jack! Between him, Mosley and Will Hill I think you take away most of the middle of the field!

Paully D

Two 4th's and a 6th as our compensatory picks this year.

kevohmsford

Very sad news about Tray Walker this morning. Critically injured in a motorbike accident.

Paully D

kevohmsford wrote: »

Very sad news about Tray Walker this morning. Critically injured in a motorbike accident.

Sorry Kev, I just saw your post here after I posted it in the main thread. Terrible, terrible news.

Paully D

JCTO

https://twitter.com/Ravens/status/714847981275627520