thundercleetz

With Perriman it's more so putting him into the best position to succeed. Aiken is better experienced to beat the press on a regular basis. Perriman will get there, just a lot to ask of a rookie coming from a non-power conference school. Steve Smith is actually our flanker (Z) receiver. He's off the line and put in motion. So he might end up in a slot, but he's not a traditional slot receiver. We have a lot of options for the Y (slot). Marlon Brown can play that Anquan Boldin slot role at times, attacking the middle of the field or back of the end zone in the red zone. Maxx Williams was more so a slot receiver at Minnesota than a TE given how much he was split out. We saw a lot of that from Williams on Thursday. Campanero and Carter are smaller, quick guys who could be a Julian Edelman, Randall Cobb, or Andrew Hawkins slot receiver for Joe. While not much experience, we have a diverse group of skill sets at receivers which will give us lots of options. And like you mentioned, we are not pressured to play Perriman as a starter and rush his development like we did with Taylor and Clayton as rookies.

Some updates: @TDavenport_NFL: Harbaugh said he hopes Perriman can come back but continues to leave it to medical staff. Said his absence leaves a pit in his stomach. @TDavenport_NFL: @ERICWOOD22 Don't see him on sidelines during practice. Did see him at the game though. @TDavenport_NFL: @ERICWOOD22 He has a brace on. @TDavenport_NFL: Yes. Said to be a sprain https://t.co/d72lPzZ5js Turron Davenport is a new Ravens reporter for the Baltimore Times. He has been the best source of Ravens information this summer. Definitely recommend you guys follow.

Davis and Parra are must re-signs in my opinion. I'm undecided on Chen, but I wonder if he's still bitter about how we handled his injury assignment to Frederick earlier in the year. Boras is his agent as well.

Disagree on Perriman vs Aiken. Perriman is a rookie, it is a lot to expect him to start right away at X fighting off the press. However, I expect him to see a lot of field time when the defense is playing off, allowing him to use his speed to blow by the coverage. He's a good blocker, so we could see him in there on run downs, then utilize his speed on play action. As he get experience he'll settle into that split end role. Aiken has years of experience in the NFL and is currently much better at beating the press as a split end. If we put Perriman out there as a starter, he'll get pressed to death. However, if we put Perriman in there during the right situations to expose match ups or defensive strategies, he be in the best position for success.

I agree. I'm not sure we have anything better in the minors though. We had Everth Cabrera earlier in the year and he was worse than Flaherty. Unfortunately, J.J. Hardy has been just as bad offensively. I'm starting to worry if J.J. will ever return to form.

He's on the team because he can play all four of the infield positions. But yes, I agree, maybe we should look into signing a backup shortstop next offseason. I want Flaherty to be good. He has the look of a baseball player: athletic build, high baseball IQ, and solid fundamentals. He's not flashy, and does not excel in one area, but does everything relatively well. However, when Flaherty slumps, he SLUMPS. When he plays well he's a good ball player, so there has always been hope that he could minimize the slumps and be more consistent. That hasn't been the case, unfortunately.

@danconnollysun: Buck liked what he saw of 1B Trey Mancini yesterday at Bowie. The Notre Dame product could be O's player of year in minors @OriolesHangout: Buck went to the Baysox game on his off-day and saw Mancini go 3 for 4 with a homer. Mancini continues to tear it up at Bowie! Slash line of .361/.394/.577/.971. 21 doubles, 9 HR in 62 games at Bowie. Lake, Paredes and Reimold aren't cutting it. Promote Mancini and give him a chance. He can rotate between first base and DH, Davis can play RF on some days. Joseph can also DH when Wieters plays catcher. Time for us play our hottest hitters.

MACHADO!!!!

Funny you bring him up, that's Ryan Griffin. He's from Tulane. I was an equipment manager for the football team when he was a freshman. He was a top, pro-style QB recruit from California, in the same class as Luck and Pryor. When he came in he was extremely raw, struggled to even throw a spiral. The next offseason he lost weight, become more athletic, and threw a much tighter spiral. The coaching situation at Tulane was a mess until Griffin's senior year when they hired the Saints' WR coach. The new coach implemented the Saints offense, Griffin picked it up in no time and thrived. I maintain if he had another year at Tulane in that same system he would have been a top passer in the NCAA. The Saints picked him up as an undrafted rookie because he already knew the offense. I like Griffin a lot as a QB. He's extremely smart, has size, and throws a good ball. I'm not sure where he fits into their long-term plans after they drafted Garrett Grayson in the third round. Grayson was regarded by many as the third best QB in this year's draft. However, Griffin has been playing in a pro-style offense since he was in high school, has learned behind Drew Brees and Sean Payton the past two years, and has a high football IQ. He will get a chance eventually. He's very popular with Saints fans. He's seen as a hometown kid as he went to Tulane.

I was just referring to the formation (RB lines up behind the QB in shotgun) that helped some of the run first QBs like RG3 and Colin Kappernick have instant success. They used playaction to attack the middle of the field because the linebackers couldn't get back fast enough after biting on the playaction. QBs were successful because it limited decision making and got them easy throws for big gains. Defenses eventually adjusted. Ironically, pocket passers like Peyton Manning were able to incorporate some of the playactions concepts and are today successfully using them.

I understand your critique and agree. However, how many true three down ILBs are there in the league? You can probably count on a single hand the amount of guys in the league that can legitimately fill the run, play sideline-to-sideline, then not bite the play action and get back to cover the middle of the field. Kuechly, David, Levy... And I'm already running out of names (Bowman pre-injury?). What I'm saying is this is a problem all teams have. This is why the pistol QB's were able to take the league by storm in 2013. Most MLBs weren't good enough to play the run, respect the play action, and then get back to cover the middle of the field. Defenses had to adjust their whole schemes to help out the MLBs. There's a reason why MLBs are a dime a dozen, lots of guys can play the run, very few can cover.

Test passed. Great push by the o-line. 16-play, 80-yard drive. Nothing special just good fundamental football. Taliaferro looks more lean and athletic this season.

I'm here! Fourth and goal... Good short yardage test.

Interesting stat: @CollinsworthNBC: Most passing yards lost due to drops in 2014: 1. Ravens 472 2. Falcons 390 3. Saints 366 Least? Cowboys with just 98 (Per @PFF) Heard an interview with Smith: said he was thinking of retiring after last year but his kids told him they would move to Baltimore so he could play another year. Smith's oldest son is a senior in HS and is being recruited by Hopkins to play soccer. Smith sounds like a good family man.

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/afc-north-how-the-ravens-will-regain-the-throne/ Interesting case for the Ravens winning the division using analytics.

I like Carter a lot too. I can see him as a guy that turns some head making plays in the third and fourth quarters of the preseason against inferior competition.

We kept seven receivers after final cuts last year: http://www.baltimoreravens.com/news/article-1/Ravens-Make-Final-Roster-Cuts/16a5e3f7-82fe-4b60-9908-0e23a4346d79 I think we keep six this year with the talent we have. I think Marlon is the man out, and Carter is on the practice squad.

Well, IMO you walk Trout no matter what. The Pujols walk was questionable. Saw this tweet: @luke_jackson10: You know who would've been a nice matchup for Trout and Pujols there? Mychal Givens.

Starters; Tucker, Koch, Morgan Cox, Jimmy Smith, and Pitta also played significant roles. Anthony Levine, Asa Jackson, and DeAngelo Tyson were on the team. Jah Reid and Webb were on IR.

How about the baserunning by Schoop? Completely slid over the top of the plate! Great pitching performance by Ubaldo. The Jays look scary...

Tough loss last night. Both Guasman and Heaney were top ten picks in the 2012 MLB Draft and both guys had rough outings. Schoop is on a tear, great to see him hitting well. Have to win tonight to give us a chance to win this series. Need to get wins while the Jays and Yanks take each other out over the next week.

Lots of competition at WR! Smith and Aiken are locks at starter, and obviously Perriman makes the team. Beyond that you have Camp, Waller, Brown, Carter and Butler all vying for three, maybe four spots max. Unfortunate that Brown is injured, but Waller and Butler are making strong cases to make the team. Also wonder who the fourth CB will be. I've read that Pointer has had a solid camp. He's competing with Melvin, Asa Jackson, and Tre Walker. I'm guessing Walker is a lock to make the team because of where he was drafted, so Jackson, Melvin and Pointer are competing for one spot, maybe two if we go with only three safeties.

Tough call, you don't want to waste an IR to return this early in the year, but we don't have to make the call until final rosters. Since this is technically not a season ending injury, would we stash him on the final roster and keep him inactive each week until he is ready to return? I wish football were similar to baseball in that you can put multiple players on the 60-Day DL. Heck, larger rosters would be nice.

@Orioles: The Orioles have recalled OF Junior Lake from Triple-A Norfolk and designated OF Travis Snider for assignment. @KenWeinmanSport: De Aza, Cabrera, Wright, Young, Norris & Snider= $22.2 million wasted. I can't remember any team DFAing so many "key parts" yikes #Orioles @KenWeinmanSport: Travis Snider DFA'd. I'm going out on a limb and saying we'll have a new executive of the year in #MLB this season #Orioles Who said Angelos doesn't spend? He threw $22.2M down the drain this year! On the flip side, Lake is having a great year. A slash line of .316/.411/.464/.875 in AAA this year across both the Cubs and O's organizations. His walks are up this year, 34 in 62 games, only 54 SO (including four walks in four games at Norfolk). The Cubs hired Manny Ramirez as a hitting consultant in their organization and I've read Lake has taken well to Manny's instruction. I'm excited to see what he can do!

Reports say Butler and Waller have been solid too. It's going to be very difficult to decide who to keep. Waller is too good to try and stash on the practice squad. I'm not sure if Butler would pass waivers either. We still have four preseason games, but nice to see the young guys stepping up.