thundercleetz

Off the top of my head not considering the team's other needs which may be more dire: Raiders Jags Titans Bucs Bears Seahawks 49ers Teams that could possibly need a WR: Lions Rams Eagles Colts It is still way early though, so no one knows how things are going to look in another few months. However, I think teams have learned when it comes to reaching on receivers. Remember, the first receiver did not come off the board until the second round last year. Players will fall where they are supposed to. I see Crabtree and Maclin as top tire receivers, with Harvin and DHB as lower first round/early second guys. Both DHB and Harvin are playmakers with great speed, but are still a little raw as receivers, and did not put up elite production at the position like Crabtree and Maclin did. Granted Crabtree and Maclin had great QBs throwing them the ball and were in very pass-friendly systems. Here is what DHB said about his feedback from the NFL on his draft positioning: Even if he runs in the 4.2/4.3 range, I still do not see him going any higher than the mid-20s because of his college production. Chad Jackson out of Florida was in a similar position a couple of years ago, had an amazing combine workout (ran a 4.31 I think), and still did not go to the second round. I do agree with you Crav, DHB would be a great fit in the Suggs package. As would Harvin.

I hope DHB will be there for us. DHB is exactly what we need: he is a deep threat with size, explosiveness, and ability to run after the catch. To top it off he is a hometown guy who played high school ball in Owings Mills (McDonogh) and went to UMD. I believe that DHB's best football is ahead of him. He is still relatively raw as far as a receiver (although he has progressed greatly in his time at UMD), and never had a QB at UMD. Flacco would have a field day throwing deep balls to DHB. Crabtree and Maclin figure to be taken in the top half of the draft, hopefully one of Harvin or DHB will be there at, like Spear said, pick #32. By the way, I wonder what the connection is between DHB and Devard Darling?

They are saying the same thing over on the Scout board. http://mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?s=118&f=1666&t=3747135 Make us proud!

I am sure that McClain will see an adjustment on the Pro-Bowl and All-Pro ballots next season. Nevertheless, McClain has been excellent this season and deserves every honor he is getting. Look at it this way, McClain is more critical to our offense than any other fullback is to their offense. Yes, McClain's versatility is a contributing factor to his worth and effectiveness. Looking at the Pro-Bowl, you could make an argument that McClain could have made the team as a runningback. His stats are not too much different than Ronnie Brown's. That is very impressive considering McClain has not been our feature back for all of the season. Week 6-8, and 10-11 McClain had a total of 22 carries. It is very likely that McClain could have been the AFC's top back if he would have been our feature back the whole season. I like Le'Ron's prospects for next season.

Full Article This is a great read! McClain definitely sounds like a good guy! Interesting comments by Wilbert Montgomery, bodes well for McClain's potential.

I have heard rumors that Gregg's injury is very serious as well, possibly career-ending. However, I do not know for sure. I bet we will hear something after the season's end. If it is career-ending, Justin Bannan has done a great job at playing the Kelly Gregg-role, and should be able to continue to do so. Also, the emergence of Brandon McKinney has been very encouraging as well. Brandon is not a Gregg-like player, but pair the 6'2" 324-pound McKinney with the 6'4" 345-pound Haloti Ngata, and that is a lot of beef up the middle which should allow any middle linebacker to run around untouched and make tackles. McKinney definitely has starter potential.

This should be posted in the Orioles forums, because God knows the O's could use him. Think Ed Reed can play shortstop?

AHHAHAAHAHAH... that's great! :lol:

I think Billick would love the NY media.

I think so as well. Rumor was that Pioli did not want Mangini, and if he was hired was going to go after Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz.

Very nice! Must have taken a long time to write!

That just makes me want to puke! I am glad we did not sign that punk!

I feel sorry for Carson. He is already 29, and is probably one of the most talented QBs in the league. When you look at all the other QBs in Carson's league (Peyton, Brady, Rivers, Ben, Brees, McNabb), they are continually in the playoffs year-in and year-out, whereas Carson is unfortunately on the Bengals. Even though he is a division rival, you never want to see a player as talented as Carson have their career go to waste. Carson seems like a good guy too. Chad Johnson, I don't care about, he brings it upon himself. But Carson doesn't deserve it.

I am not worried. When it is said and done there will be some significant roster turnover and some tough decisions will have been made. But Ozzie will have us in the right place to be ready to compete for the playoffs. Here is the big thing, we now have our franchise QB. No longer do we have to answer questions of if we will have good QB play. With how good we are at drafting, having a franchise QB should put us right up there with the Chargers, Pats, Steelers, and Colts as teams in the AFC that annually compete for division titles. Specifically, I would say Jay Brown is the number one priority. Does anyone know for sure if Suggs can be franchised again? If so, I would look into trading him for a Jared Allen-type deal. If he cannot be franchised again, I would be re-signing Suggs my number two priority. Re-signing Ray is next up.

There is a saying in the NFL, show me a Pro Bowl corner and I'll show you a good pass rush. Ever wonder what happened to Antonio Cromartie's production this season? Shawne Merriman got injured, that's what happened. Very few corners inthe history of this league have been shutdown corners by themselves. A Champ Bailey in his prime is one of them, Nnamdi Asomugha is probably the only guy this year with that type of talent.

This team was not the #2 defense in the league for nothing. I swear, that 2000 defense was the worse thing to happen to Baltimore. Everyone's expectations are so high that nothing is ever good enough. Every defense has their limitations, and Rex knows them perfectly well. Give and take is part of football. Can't people just enjoy the playoff run? BTW, I am not referring to only you, I am referring to all Ravens fans, including myself.

I am not worried about the corner situation, Ozzie very wells knows what needs to be done, I am sure a big, physical corner is right up there on the list. I will say though, I have been very impressed with Rolle's play this year. He may not be a great tackler, but at least he is giving a great effort.

I like Rex's confidence! :lol:

That is the good thing about being a fan, we are the only ones who make such comparisons. The players do not give a hoot about the 2000 defense or all the "let's wait until the Super Bowl" talk. Ray Lewis and Matt Stover are the only active Ravens who are left from that 2000 team. The team's focus is on Tennessee, and Tennessee only. There is no need for Festivus Maximus, the players are focused and ready to go. Forget 2000, I believe the players learned their lesson from 2006 where they came out a little sluggish against the Colts. That will not happen again. Harbaugh has had the team thinking "one game at a time" the whole season, that is not going to change this week.

Great points Spear and yager. First off, I agree with Spear that the comparison to the 2006 is more valid. Both defenses are very similar in the fashion they caused turnovers. I also agree with yager, how good would the 2000 defense had been with the new rule changes? That is the reason why no defense will be able to be compared to the 2000 defense. Talent wise, I would say that our defense stacks up to 2000. So who knows.

I'll agree with max, sometimes that bye week can have a reverse effect. The Titans have to be especially careful because they rested their starters in Week 17, so they have not played a game in two weeks. This happened to the Colts against the Steelers in '05, and the Colts came out very sluggish. I will say this, if the Titans do come out sluggish, we need to take advantage by converting early redzone opportunities into touchdowns. We cannot keep a team like the Titans lingering around.

Soft defense? Tell that to Chad Pennington who has to be hurting this morning. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P64s9NsrFY4

I think this is a team by team thing. With the Dolphins, you know Ginn is dangerous on the outside, so do not give up the big play. The Dolphins do not have a burner at runningback, so we gave them the short stuff. If Mike Preston thinks for a second that we are going to let the Titans throw dumpoffs to the dangerous Chris Johnson, then he is underestimating Rex Ryan. Rex knows perfectly well what he is giving and taking away from the opposing offense each week. The Titans do not have a deep threat, so I fully expect the runningbacks (especially Chris Johnson) to be better accounted for. Chris Johnson had 4 receiving yards in the first game, we held another fast back Steve Slaton to 17 yards, Brian Westbrook to -5 yards, and Maurice Jones-Drew to 10 yards. I am not worried one bit about this so called weakness. As for the short passes to the receivers, as long as we are up by double digits, and our blitzes are as effective as they were on Sunday, let the teams have those passes. We are bound to cause a few turnovers.

Remember, on those two deep balls to Clayton Joe had a defender rushing in his face and had to step into a hit. The first deep ball to Clayton I think Clayton could have dove for. The second deep ball to Clayton where he dove, Clayton hitched a little in his pattern as if he were unsure what he was doing with his route. Either way, in both cases, the timing was just a little off. Then there was the defensive holding call against Clayton on another deep ball, and Clayton still almost caught it! Nothing to be worried about, Flacco has hit Clayton deep multiple times this season. The encouraging thing is that Flacco is attacking the single coverage, and Clayton is getting open deep. Because of this, teams have to rethink stacking the box. As for the last part, throwing in to double coverage deep is possible because of the amazing receivers those quarterbacks have, as you mentioned. We do not have such a receiver now, and Flacco is smart for shying away from such throws. Even Roddy White has that ability to bailout Matt Ryan.

I agree, if Reed didn't win it, I am glad Harrison did. He had a magnificent season as well!