varaven45

If Tea Garden Party is our only C option then may God help us .

We can let Weiters and his lofty .229 BA out the door. Not so with Machado; can't let him walk.

It sounds like a "definite maybe"

I understand he had his hip examined earlier in the week . Anyone have the skinny ?

As Bill Parcells once said, If "they want you to cook the dinner, at least they ought to let you shop for the groceries". In our case and in the FA market, its clear that Angelos isn't letting anyone buy squat and, even if he did, the cupboard's pretty dang bare or its prohibitively expensive for this organization. Essentially, the fan base wants a steak dinner from a decent grocery store but you cant get it shopping at 7-11 ! That makes it a no-win situation for Duquette and Buck and frustrating as heck for the fans. And that puts us right back to developing talent within the farm system (a la Tampa Bay).

Ain't no big move happening; mediocrity to follow.

Can't say I blame you

Crav, you are back indeed

Don't know about number of wins but in terms of grinding: Vikings - surprisingly tough, unexpected grind; tossup Lions - epic grind and worked big time by Lions WR & QB, and Lions DL Pats - not surprising, huge grind vs Conference foe w hot QB & team seeking revenge Bengals - nothing short of a classic grind w Division rival I say we end up 7-9 or 8-8 (only if Pitta returns and we catch a huge break).

Will see. Unfortunately, the days of Angelos wont be gone until Angelos is gone. btw- I am not looking for us to make a hair brain move like the Yanks for Ellsbury. But how about some legit FA pitcher, closer and big stick in the lineup ?

Yep. I am not opposed to moving JJ except for when we get little in return, as is the case here. Meanwhile, the Tigers, a perennial playoff team, are snatching up closer Joe Nathan. This organization, I am 100% certain, won't make a significant move this offseason.Instead, after ALL the marquee players and viable FAs are gone, we will add another Alexi Casilla type or other no name to the roster . We will stand pat on another do nothing off season and claim we are building within. Meanwhile, there is little if any homegrown talent coming through the gate. With a good young core of talented players and a decent manager, it's frustrating as heck to watch.

Except the Seattle Seadogs have one helluva D and odds on to make it to and win the SB. In fact, there D and Carolina's remind me of our 2000 D. Ours was superior but the tenacity and sense of urgency of Carolinas and Seattle's is similar. A solid D, while not required, still wins championships.

AP is still a beast. We need to play the Vikes like its a another Steeler game. Nothing less .

Excellent point(s) RavenMad. It will be interesting to see how this team responds in the wake of last Thursday's win vs. Steelers. Under Harbaugh, this team frequently lays an egg after a big, emotional win. Its going to be a very, very challenging final 4 game stretch, starting Sunday. Lets see if they take a leap forward.

One game at a time my friends. If we take care of each game, one at a time, the rest will take care of itself.

Good point. But nice assist by Coach Tomlin to keep Jacoby Jones from the KR TD and keep the Steelers in the game. By rule, that should have been coach's interference and, hence, a TD by Jacoby. Notwithstanding the Tomlin gaffe, these teams continue to have amazing slugfests. Valiant effort by Steelers, especially Ben and Heath Miller. The Ravens made 1 more play than the Steelers - 2 pt conversion. There's your game.

Indeed !

Rome (and an O-Line) isn't built in a day. Like you guys said, it will take a damn good draft, strong return by Yanda, Osemele (Oher?) and signing of Monroe to bring it to respectability. Something to consider: the Steelers O Line sucks (probably worse than ours) and they are holding up somehow and winning. Go figure ?

You mean Mike "Every other word out of his mouth "WOW"" Mayock!?

That puts us at 6-10 or maybe 5-11 and a damn good draft pick. I'll take it.

Yep. Our good to very good QB had a bad day and the pick six was the difference. For what its worth, anyone see the horrible pick that Drew Brees threw in Sunday's game vs the 49ers ? He attempted to lob over the 49ers DL; only to have it intercepted by that same DL. Bad pick from a HOFer. The Saints went on to barely win the game, not without a questionable late hit call on 49ers Ahmad Brooks on Drew Brees. Without that call, the 49ers might have very well won the game and the aforementioned interception would have haunted the Saints and Brees, much like the Flacco's pick six in Chicago is haunting us today. Different picks by Joe (pick six) and Brees (only a turnover) but its interesting how some picks go seemingly unnoticed and others become incredibly magnified. In the end it all comes down to the W or L and there is a very fine line between winning and losing. Unfortunately, we have been on the south side of that line.

Good points Crav. My two cents: 1. There is a very fine line between winning and losing in this year's NFL. One play, here or there, can and often does make a difference between Winning & Losing. If we score right before the end of regulation, no one is talking about the L. We didn't execute and lost. 2. We are a very average team, like about half to 3/4 of the teams in the NFL. I m not sure we do much better than 6 or 7 wins, given the roster, changes and substance on this team. The good news is we right in the middle of the scrum and a good draft and off-season moves, put us right back on track.

Yep. We are right in the scrum with the rest of the 4-6 teams which is about half the league. We are just an average to below average team trying to find its identity. The good news is that it's a very watered down league and a break here or there we are back in the mix.

Remind anyone of the SB New Orleans power outage ? Ravens up and in control before the outage .

Not feeling it in the Windy ( stormy) today for the good guys . given the weather conditions , i do expect a very wild and unpredictable game and outcome .