thundercleetz

I am sorry, I got Foxworth and Fabian confused. It was Foxworth who played decent yesterday, Fabian was the one who was picked apart; as did Carr and Walker. Hopefully Rolle will be back after the bye and Webb will be ready to go. For as fast and agile as Fabian and Foxworth are, they have no ball skills and are vulnerable to those deep jump balls. Webb and Rolle at least have good ball skills, time to give Webb a chance.

... on his coach at his home. The joke is on him.

I was thinking the exact same thing, dc.

Hmmm... talk about desperate: http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/profile?playerId=1056

I meant physically. But you are right, it seems like something is missing mentally. However, Fabian played great last year, so we know he has the ability. Foxworth was solid last season for Atlanta as well. Lets hope they get better.

I'm giving Mr. McAlister a call over the bye week.

Completely agree. Ellerbe played great against New England and has not seen the field since. He played on that last defensive drive in the fourth quarter, and like you said, you noticed he was in the game. As for why Webb is not playing, I have no idea...

We just have too much talent on defense to be this bad. It baffles me. I see a team like Denver under Mike Nolan doing amazing with half as much talent. It has to be coaching. Even our secondary who is playing horrible is talented. Foxworth and Washington can turn and run with any receiver. Adjustments definitely need to be made.

This team still needs receivers. We have no receivers under contract through the 2010-2011 season. Demetrius is as good as gone. Clayton might be back if the price is right. I would love to see Washington back. And if we do not make the playoffs, Mason is probably retired. But as we have seen with Flacco, give him decent talent and he will make it work. Now imagine if we had an elite #1 guy.

I agree with DC, just because Mattison has the right alinements and such, it is obvious that these alignments and schemes are not the best schemes for our type of players. Heck, I could take a secondary of high school kids, say you have him, you have him, and you have him. If the offense scores, I can just say that every man was covered, my DBs just didn't make the play. That is hardly fair, Mattison needs to find better ways to use the talent we have. As for the blame game dc, Webb once again did not see the field on defense, so he is not to blame. I do not know why Webb is not getting PT with how bad our DBs are. Landry was getting abused by Shiancoe. Both TDs to Shiancoe were on Landry's coverage were Landry seemed to have no idea of what he was doing. The first TD was thrown right at Landry's head, he just had no idea where the ball was.

You are right, our defenses are different. However, I don't buy that whole Allen going against a rookie thing. Allen has abused every offensive tackle he has gone against, in the running and passing games. Anyways, if you want to play that argument, remember, Suggs was going against a rookie at times as well. By the way, Allen was having to rush around tight-ends as well, there is no excuse for Suggs, he simply is not in Allen's league. And I am deliberately taking about the plays where Suggs DOES rush. He has one move, getting a quick jump off of the snap. If he does not beat the offensive tackle, he gives up and looks to stand in the QB's passing lane to bat down the pass (as a result, he is very susceptible to pump fakes, even as he is closing in on a sack). No motor once-so-ever. Krueger needs to get some opportunities rushing the passer. As for the kick, I agree with you dc, is was a perfectly make-able kick. The kick is on turf, in a dome with no weather interference, the snap was perfect, the hold was good, and there was no heavy rush. A kicker could not have asked for a more controlled setting (do we have to put the ball in the middle of the field?). If Steve cannot make that kick, we has no point being on this team. Bring in the next guy.

Fabian played well, but Foxworth, Carr, Walker, and Landry were eaten alive today. Can we please get Ladarius Webb in the game?

Watching Jared Allen today made me realize how Suggs just is not an elite pass rusher. Don't get me wrong, Suggs is a solid all-around player, but he is not in Allen's class. Allen gets after the passer on EVERY play and is still able to stop everything to his side. Suggs does not have the inventory of moves that Allen has. If Suggs does not get that quick jump off the line, he gives up. The Vikings never rushed more than four rushers the whole game, but Allen was a one man wrecking crew. Suggs really needs to step up his game.

Don't forget Foxworth either. At least Carr's contract was cheap, we are stuck with Foxworth for awhile.

Good post dc, I COMPLETELY forgot about our 2-3 start last season. Now that I think about it, we were asking a lot of the same questions. We were distguisted with our secondary after the Pittsburgh and Indy meltdowns, we turned out alright. I still think we have more talent in the secondary than last year. Maybe we will come around, especially with Rolle coming back, and hopefully Webb gets a chance to play. Thanks for the positive post, I think a lot of us need it. I think I can speak for everyone when I say the team, the fans, everyone would feel a lot better going into the bye 4-2 than 3-3 with a win against the undefeated Minny (and how great would it be if those Dwayne Bowe rumors were true as well?). I feel that Flacco is in store for a big game tomorrow. The question is, will we be able to stop AP?

I would say we are a little better than that. If we are slightly above average, so are the Bengals and Pats. Like I said, we nearly beat these teams on our worst days. I think we are in the tier of teams below the undefeated teams, with the Bengals, Pats, and those types of teams. Like I said, tomorrow will say a lot about this team. If we come out lackluster for the third week in a row, then I am more inclined to say we are average. For the record, I agree with you in that I do not think we will win. Now how we play tomorrow is another story.

This is a season defining game for the Ravens. Can they overcome scrutiny and pull out a big win? If so this is definitely something we can build on going into the bye week as Rolle, Gaither, and co. get healthier. If we lose, we might be in such a demoralized and standings-wise hole too deep to dig out of. I do not think we are a bad team, he just have holes like everyone else. We lost to the Pats by six points and the Bengals by three points. These are two teams who the media is jumping on as contenders. We played like crap in both games and still was in it until the end, that should say something. This is the NFL, everyone is good. If we beat the Vikings, we will continue to show that we can compete with anyone. At that point, just make it to the playoffs and stay healthy, and we have just as good a chance as everyone else.

Don't undervalue Britton, he is going to break a lot of top 100 prospect charts in the preseason. Some even say he is a better prospect than Arrieta. Why is he so highly-regarded? Check out his ground ball out numbers, he has a GO/AO of 3.38 (I dare you to compare that to any other top prospect!), while still maintaining nearly a strike out per inning! He is also a year younger than Arrieta was at this point in the system. I agree, Tillman, Matusz, and Bergesen are un-tradable. Guys like Erbe, Arrieta, or Britton could be used to bring back something special (in conjunction with bats like Snyder, Joseph, Avery, or one of Pie/Reimold). It might be worth it, depending on where our development is. However, there is no point in bringing in a big bat if we are not in place to compete. That should be the last piece after we are sure we know what we have in our pitching staff. As for being okay on offense, in any other division I would agree with you. But when you have lineups like the Yankees and Red Sox, we NEED a guy who can hit 35-40 homer runs. You are right, pitching is more important, but in order to compete in our division we need BOTH.

I see five really good pitching prospects: Tillman, Matusz, Arrieta, Bergesen, and Britton. In my opinion, Tillman, Matusz, and Bergesen (only Matusz is still considered a prospect out of these guys) are untouchable, for they figure into our rotation next year in a big way. That leaves Arrieta, Erbe, and Britton as our biggest trade chips, Hernandez might have some value, Berken is worthless. Now, you are right in that we probably should not trade our young arms because we are not one big bat away from contending. Say we shore up the bullpen (remember, Koji is moving to the pen next year, he could be joined by Hernandez and Erbe later in the season, we have internal options) and sign a pitcher like Lackey. Do we then make a run at a Gonzalez/Fielder/Cabrera? In my opinion, we are still a season away before making that next step. This upcoming season Tillman, Bergesen, and Matusz should settle in as starters. Hitters like Reimold, Pie, and Wieters should all see significant improvement in their jump to their second full season. And then we have to incorporate rookies like Bell, Snyder, Arrieta, and Erbe. I'm thinking 2011 we make that run for a big bat since all our pieces we be in place.

As for Benson running over our defense, don't be so fast to blame that on Ray. And a change of times? That was one game, prior to which we were first in the league against the run not having allowed a 100-yard rusher in 39 games. Now, if this happens again over the next few weeks, I'll be inclined to agree. For now I very much like what we have up front with Ngata, Gregg, Pryce, Suggs, Bannan, Edwards, Talavu and McKinney. I think a lot of people underestimate how well Bart Scott and Ray Lewis worked together. Scott the past two years, when his sack numbers decreased and he became a true ILB, did a lot of the dirty work in taking on blocks from guards, centers and fullbacks. Ray is no different than last year, I don't buy the lost a step jargon at all (obviously he isn't 25, but he's no different than he was at 31, 32). One just needs to look how badly Tavares Gooden is doing, the guy is routinely getting blasted into the secondary. As a result, those blockers are sliding off and able to seal off Ray. On plays where Ray is able to flow, he still shows the athleticism to go sideline-to-sideline with no problem. It is just without Scott linemen are having an easier time getting to Ray. Ellerbe, McClain, and Gooden are all smaller, athletic ILBs who are not yet adept at taking on linemen. Scott and Ray had a good thing going. When the play would come to Scott's side, Scott would engage the lineman's outside shoulder with his inside shoulder to protect the outside letting Ray flow underneath to get the tackle on the inside. When the play went the other way, it was Ray who would engage letting Scott flow over to make the play. With Gooden, he gets blocked too easily causing congestion inside and not letting Ray get the pursuit angles he is used to in getting the tackle. So instead of Ray being able to make the tackle within three yards of the line of scrimmage, he is having to make the tackles five, six yards downfield. Hartwell, Sharper, Scott, all of these guys were bangers who were willing to take on blocks. None of the guys we have next to Ray now are bangers. Maybe we should give more 4-3 fronts to protect Ray.

Caldwell was not Ray's man, Carr was maned-up on Caldwell in the slot. If you watch the replay, Caldwell grabs Carr's facemask and throws him to the ground. No call. Ray was trying to get over once he realized Carr was on the ground, there was no chance he could have made that play. As for McClain and Washington, like max said, Jameel McClain is an ILB, and Fabian Washington is a CB. You really think I do not know what positions these guys play as a Ravens fan? Like I said, at this point I would love to have the aging vets C-mac, Rolle, and Ivy playing right now.

That's the problem, our defense is no longer aging vets. The guys that are killing us are the young corners and the young linebackers. The vets are still playing great, the young guys like Gooden, Barnes, McClain, Foxworth, Carr, and Washington are not stepping up.

In my opinion, a guy like Lackey is just what we need. A dependable vet who could give us quality starts. Like you said, Lackey is solid, not great, but a vast improvement over what we have. The question is, what do you pay "solid"? He will probably get priced out of our range. Thome was very productive well into his 30s. Remember, Fielder is only 25, and an off-season diet away from extending his career. As for what we would offer, we have plenty. Guys like Erbe, Britton, Arrieta, Johnson, Snyder, Avery, Jospeh, or possibly one of Reimold/Pie should be enough to put a package together. By the names you mentioned it seems like you do not want to give up any young talent. If we want that big hitter, we might have to part with some talented players. Other potential targets instead of Fielder could be Gonzalez or Miguel Cabrera.

The last I heard with the new arena the city has four proposals, but put the decision on hold due to the economy.

I am starting to wonder what is Ravens football: giving up 300 yards a game through the air? 50+ yards in penalties a game?