thundercleetz

I guess we are all going to be Rex Ryan fans this weekend.

Absolutely agree. We need to lock up both Smiths very soon.

J. Smith is under contract for a year longer than Torrey because he was a first rounder.

I like it better too as a fan. However as a player I think a prime time game greatly benefits the home team. More time at home, while the visiting team is spending another day in a hotel having to look forward toward a redeye flight. The crowd is often more hyped for a prime time game. No doubt the Pats dodged a bullet here.

This has Kraft written all over it. He is on the scheduling committee. The Patriots did the same thing to us a couple of seasons ago in the midst of a race for the #1 seed. We were playing a streaking Chargers team and the league wanted to put the Pats against the Broncos in the Sunday night slot (this was at the height of Tebow-mana). Pats refused to be flexed out. The Chargers had a total of five fans at each of their prior home games, but that stadium packed for the prime time game and they came out and killed us.

He said in a later tweet he got hit in the face by one. My buddy from Detroit went to the Lions game in Philly this week and was getting snow balls thrown at him the entire game.

What an incredible game! Typical Ravens to give us a heart attack every week but I'll take the win! Defense played great through three quarters and broke down in the fourth, the offense was the opposite. Joe stepped up big time and Brown, Pitta, Jacoby and Torrey made some tough catches in the fourth. On that last Brown catch: watching it live I thought no way that was a catch. Watching the first replay I thought the ball hit the ground. In slow motion it is clear Brown controlled the ball, dragged his toes and transferred the ball to his arm to shield it from the ground. AMAZING catch! Hats off the Ray Rice. The explosiveness was back today. There weren't many holes but Ray was determined to hit them. Btw anyone see how Pittsburgh lost today? Can't make that stuff up. Adrian Peterson is not happy with the Baltimore fans: @AdrianPeterson: Wow talking about bad officiating & the worst fan base I've ever experience! They threw snow balls the entire 4q like lil kids. Smh

That is an incredible comeback.

My mistake, yes Seattle not the Vikings.

Good call looks like the O's are considering it. http://www.rotoworld.com/player/mlb/5296/bud-norris

Might be a good idea to play Pitta to get him into playing shape. The Seahawks brought back Harvin a few weeks ago from a serious hip injury. Harvin had to sit out the next week because of soreness. If Pitta is physically healthy, ease him in now so we can sit him next week if necessary to be ready for the Pats and Bengals down the stretch.

Isn't the NFL contractually obligated to wait until after the NCAA Football Championship game?

Who's up for some early morning football? http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/10079217/london-nfl-game-start-early-next-season

My opinion, Gausman and Hunter are more than capable of being closer. Hunter might be a concern on short rest, but he really thrived last year in relief when rested.Gausman has the 1-2, fastball-offspeed stuff to be a closer, but I love his starting potential. That said, my initial reaction to the trade is disappointment. I do have to give DD credit, every move he has made as O's GM has been good. So I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt until we see the whole offseason.

Wow that's a lot worse than I thought. The ref has to make that call on the field.

Last Thursday, take away the long forty-some odd run and we held Bell to fifteen caries for about thirty yards. AP is a monster though and has the big play potential.

Let's pull for SD over Cincy now.

After last night, lets just give Tucker another special teams player of the week right now.

Scared me Dee I thought you were going to say the game was going to be blacked out on local tv. I just got rid of my cable lol

I loved the attempted creativity to get the run game going, however it still did not work ultimately. Too many stalled out drives because of a loss running the ball on first or second down or the inability to run on third and short. Nonetheless I loved the shots downfield. It was good to see us involve Ed Dickson in the passing game. At this point we are going to have to pass to set up the run. We are not fooling anyone with our shotgun draws or running the ball on second down after an incomplete pass on first. Our best chance to win is to let Joe go no huddle and get into a rhythm passing the ball.

Well at the very least we'd get two draft picks. But yeah if we couldn't get these guys sign I'd definitely trade them.

I'd at least make every effort to sign Machado long-term as soon as we can. Tulo and Longoria took long-term deals early. We have to at least try.

I am split on trading Wieters and Davis. Talent takes lots of time to develop in baseball, and is far from guaranteed. Almost opposite as baseball. Baseball players also have a much longer prime than football. So Wieters and Davis in their late twenties are a low risk for a long-term deal. Davis might have had an outlier year, but from the reports I have read he made good adjustments in his swing and approach, much like Joey Bats a few years ago for the Jays. I feel we are close as a team, real close. IMO we could sign these guys, make a run these next two years, and if it does not work out we can trade these two guys then and still get a good return. We have already signed Jones long-term, I think we are on the verge of something big and Wieters and Davis are a big part of this run. The problem with baseball trades, the risk of return on a trade is just as high as betting on a guy in a long-term contract. Pitchers it's more clear on trading them away as they carry a big risk.

I completely agree on Wieters, but if you knew for certain he was going to bolt in free agency, would you still want to keep him? Can we sign Machado, Crush and Wieters all to long-term deals? It's not Wieters offensive abilities that worries me, it's the salary flexibility as a team that makes me single out Wieters as a guy who could he traded. As for Price he would be awesome but I don't think we have the pieces to make it happen. Matt Garza would be an awesome free agent pickup. Only 29, awesome stuff, inning eater and he gets lots of strike outs. Even better he doesn't cost is any draft picks. However we haven't been the team to spend big money in free agency. Garza would be a perfect for as he is comfortable in the AL East.

I think this team is close. One more consistent bat that can hit righties, a starting pitcher (whether it's a new guy or a young guy internally stepping up), and shoring up the bullpen and we are right back in the playoffs. As rocky as last season was, we were still above .500 and in the playoff race in the last two weeks. We have a GREAT core with Manny, Crush, AJ, Wieters, Tillman, and Gausman. Hardy is among the best at SS, Chen and Gonzo are solid starters. So here are a few questions to start the discussion: 1. What do we do with Wieters? Wieters provides elite defense but was very disappointing at the plate. Boras is his agent, we might not be able to re-sign both Wieters and Crush. In theory we could trade Wieters, get some solid young pieces, and gain some salary flexibility to make a move or sign Crush long-term. On the flip side we would be selling low on Wieters with his bad year at the plate. Teams know we might not be able to sign Wieters long-term which could be leveraged against us. Is it really that unrealistic to believe Wieters will be able to hit for an .800 OPS like his first year full time? I don't think so. Look at other catchers like Salty and Molina, they didn't hit their best seasons at the plate until late 20s. With his defense if Wieters could get to a .800 OPS we would have the best all around catcher in baseball. It's very realistic. I say don't trade Wieters. 2. What to do with JJ Hardy? There are rumblings we are shopping Hardy for pitching help and will move Manny to SS. Unless we get a great deal, risky proposition. Manny is rehabbing reconstructive knee surgery and will not have a full offseason to prepare for SS. While I have no doubt Manny has the ability to be an elite SS, we may be asking too much of him with the injury. However, conversely to Wieters we would be selling Hardy high. Coming off a great offensive and defensive season with a Gold Glove and Silver Slugger to prove it. This being Hardy's last year under contract, we may be able to get a long-term piece for him while getting salary flexibility. 3. Who starts second base? I am perfectly fine going with Flaherty and Schoop. Flaherty got a horrible start to last season and inconsistent playing time didn't allow him to get into a groove. Nonetheless Flaherty is a baseball player, will work a count and play solid defense. Schoop on the other hand provides star potential, but is likely to struggle and go through some slumps. We saw Schoop's awesome power potential toward the end of last season. Rotating Schoop in with Flaherty is good competition. Or if we trade Hardy, maybe Schoop is the guy at third. Schoop plays good defense at both positions. Other questions: Can we sign Crush long-term? Can we get rid of Markakis' inflated salary? Which starting pitcher do we target?