yagersports

Not exactly, that's why I quoted "should". At the end of a close game against a good opponent, we need to be able to take resonable chances. Checking down to receivers will not win games. That's just a fact. It's not damned if you do and damned if you don't. It's damned if it's not done right. And the end of the game was absolutely not executed correctly. Not by a long shot. Do things right, period. And yes, things can be done right and lose.

Bingo! Joe absolyely played scared. If that is how he will play with the game on the line, let's just move on. I don't want a Favre gunslinger, but I absolutely don't want a guy that runs scared at the end of games. If Joe didn't like the playcalling, Audible! You're an NFL QB, act like it and take your team over already! If he doesn't want to, give Bulger a shot. We should be scoring by the freaking boatload. It's embarassing Joe. Screw em on, forget about throwing INTs and hang it out there when you "should" be hanging it out there. When the game is on the line Joe you need to be making throws down the field, not checking the Ray Rice. RRRRRRRR, I won't forget this one for awhile.

Is this guy really the answer? I'm betting the answer is.....ummmmmmm no. I hate being so negative, but honestly it's embarrassing watching such a talented team stink it up like they have. It's a miracle that we're not 2-4. If I'm to see the glass half full perspective I could say that good teams find a way to win despite playing badly. We have two games left before it's midseason. I hope we start playing better soon!

Lets be honest, Brady is right. Why don't we spend less time talking and more time preparing and getting things right. See Flacco for any blame on this game. The guys nuts crawled up into his armpits. Flacco needs to find a balance. First he starts out the season throwing away games and taking every chance possible. Now in the 4th qtr and OT, he seemed like a lost puppy. What did we pay Boldin for?

I just knew our inability to convert short yardage was gonna really bite us when it counted! Why oh why do we run QB sneak with our backfield. I'm sorry it just doesn't make sense. We have LeRon freakin McClain. The guy is big and brusing and always gets positive yardage. Whatever, one could say it's easy to say after the fact, but comon man, we've had a glaring problem for weeks now. Problem #2 is Mr Flacco's nuts. Where the hell did they go in the 4th quarter?!?! Someone stole em cuz the guy looked like he was gonna cry. I've had enough of the QB cry baby act with Grbac. If Flacco doesn't want to throw the ball downfield to the freakin weapons he has then sit him. Bulger will I guarantee it. I don't care if the outcome will be similar, at least Bulger will try to make a throw. Checking down to Ray Rice 5 times in a row isn't even trying. How the $#@% was that supposed to win the game?!?! Get your head examined Joe, we had the freaking Patriots on the ropes. You should have audibled and you should have thrown the gad damn ball to Boldin! Nut up and start acting like an NFL QB.

We're movin now!

Road winszare sooo tough. I hope we dont let this one get away! We got the ball!

Theres our inabilty to get the one yard that is hurting us. Now pats have momentum. Very bad.

I really expect the Ravens to win this game. For some reason, I feel this team just doesn't match up well against us. Moss was probably the only real mismatch the Pats had.

This is frustrating because he would have been a real compliment to Suggs. He was a viscious hitter and relentless in pursuit. We really could have used this guy this year.

Not sure I buy the tough defense arguement either. The Jets defense has been ate up for some yardage this year, they're currently sitting at 11th overall. They'll probably improve that number by the end of the year. The Bengals however are sitting at 14th and just got ate up by the Browns. No way we should've laid an egg against that D. Pitt is really the only "tough" D we faced. Just my opinion. When we faced the Jets there was no Revis, and Jenkins was out in the first quarter. I do agree that we are showing steady improvement and I am a big believer in peaking at the right time, so I probably need to be more patient.

I'm not even sure you could say that we punched the Steelers in the mouth. We were stopped on 4 occasions with 3rd and three or less. That shouldn't happen with this offense. That absolutely should not happen. You can chalk it up the the Steelers being a very potent D, however then how do you explain the opening drive debacle in Denver? The one thing I'm very happy about is that we're winning games despite playing very poorly in some aspects of the game. The short yardage thing def needs to be fixed if we want to go deep into playoffs. We need to be able to 3 or less yards more often than not.

I agree with Force. He's not done. He'll have some increased numbers playing with Brady again. He has that affect on WRs.

Anyone notice that when we decide to focus on running the ball we're always a very very very tough team to beat? Why then do we insist on becoming a throw it first team? Trying not to be off topic here.....I really hope that we stress running the ball against the Pats. That's where our focus should always be, run first then throw down the field. We'll beat the Pats if we maintain our focus and stick with the teams identity. Run first.

Papasmurf shut down again....yawn. lol

Sounds like Redskin moves. Probably should spend a billion one defensive tackle with issues too! lol Clayton was a stud out of College. That was addressing the WR situation. Alot of people thought he would be more coming out of college. Cmac and Reed are/were both Pro Bowlers. It's easy to say let's trade, however finding someone who will give "fair" value can be difficult. Who wants to get ripped off? The Hershel Walker/Minnesota Vikings trades don't happen every offseason. I could see trading Cmac because he really could make some bad decisions in games with alot on the line. I'll give you Boller, many people questioned that move. I think Oz was trying to trust his head coach there. Now we get to the matter of trading the face of a franchise. That isn't so easy as you callously put it. Do you have any idea the repercussions to ticket sales that could have had? If you think that it's no big deal you're crazy. A GM cannot simply trade away a face of a franchise in the prime of their career, unless of course, you're Al Davis. And we can see that has worked out very well. So I'll give you Cmac and Boller. The other ideas you proposed are simply foolish or very very tough to pull off. Getting fair trade value for Lewis or Reed could have been very very tough.

QBs need a brain genius......OL....not nearly as much. They can't be total rocks...but see Orlando Brown. Proof that you don't need to be a genius to play OT in the NFL. There's a reason there's a stereotype for lineman.

That's the key Max....while Ray isn't as good as he used to be....he's certainly better than 85 to 90% of the MLB in the NFL. He's just set the bar so freakin high.

I believe this is incorrect....someone help me out, and if I'm wrong I will admit it, but I believe two years ago when Rex was running things we were top three in the league in sacks. Our defense let up one of the top three least in the NFL, so that argument does not seem to hold water for the moment. If Flacco was as good his rookie year as last year, we MAY have won the big one. Hell, we did get to the championship game and lost to the Super Bowl Champions. If you're referring to Big Ben's ability that year to step into the pocket, show me a team he didn't have success with doing that! He was very good that year. Our defense was not as good as the year before because of turnover and losing the defensive coordinator.

I'm all about objective opinions....but this guy is just an "angry elf".

Ok I need to get in on all this nonsense and negativity. We have one of the most balanced teams in the history or our franchise and some pole smoker is out there nay saying and nit picking every freakin arguement out there. Geez dude, I understand you don't have to agree with everything the franchise is doing, but for cryin out loud this franchise has done far more right than wrong. With the way your posting you would think we're the browns or Lions and haven't sniffed the freakin playoffs in years. Now getting to the point....since when do you need to push the pocket to generate pressure or get sacks. The Colts absoultely do not....they send all of their pressure from the outside with amazing success. The Steelers do not have a DL that "pushes" the pocket. They use a ridiculous amount of stunts to generate pressure inside forcing opposing O Lineman to lose track of who they are blocking. Rex does the same thing, he did here with the Ravens, and now he's doing it with the Jets. The Eagles....another blitz happy, perenially good defense also get pressure with stunts and outside rushes. No inside "pocket pusher" there. As a matter of fact....the first defensive tackle on the sacks list is ranked a wopping 40th in the NFL and he plays for the Falcons. The first 39 guys all play defensive end and linebacker. That's where you get pressure on the QB. The Warren Sapps and Reggie Whites....guys able to really generate pressure and get sacks from the interior are really few and far between. They are a very rare breed. More rare than the true shut down corner. Let's quit all the doom and gloom and whoe is me bullshit around here and snap back into that grand place I like to call reality. Ozzie is easily a top 10 if not top 5 GM in the NFL. FACT. He absolutely has weaknesses....just like every human being....however he is a very very good GM. One last thing....you mentioned that Oz never addressed the WR situation. You couldn't be more wrong. He signed TO....how the hell could he have seen what TO would do coming? He then made several stop gap attempts when there was no one else out there to sign. Your argument assumes there were people to get....and really I dont' think there were a whole lot of people to get. And why get them? We didn't have a QB! Now we do, and now we have a WR! Now you're two sentence retort can commence.

You know, asking Clayton to play corner may not be a bad idea. Belichek made it work with Troy Brown, and Clayton does have the cutting ability and speed to play the position. I am aware the post was intended to be more sarcastic than anything....but really there is something worth exploring there. Clayton may make a very good corner in nickel and dime situations. I really have to agree with Crav on his statements about the pass rush. Don't we get Washington back too??? Washington was playing very well for us before he went down. Washington and Fox should look alot better with an improved pass rush. We can't keep leavin these corners on an island for 4-5+ seconds. That's just too long for NFL caliber players, they get open on anyone except Revis....that guy is just ridiculous.

What happened? I don't remember that. Funny how yet another LB that was lights out here wasn't nearly as good in terms of production when they left. His stats dropped off dramatically.

Cam Cameron, Jim Zorn, and Al Saunders. That's a step up from Fassell lol lol lol.

Here's some more data, because I do like to defend my point, and not just say I'm right to get my post count up. http://profootballfocus.com/by_player.php?tab=by_player&season=2009&page=&surn=G&playerid=4279 I looked at most higher rated offensive tackles, I obviously don't have time to look at the all, they all post mostly green in the pass dept. The great pass blockers or finesse guys, post severl 2+ games a season. Gaither didn't have one. Also every highly rated offensive lineman that I looked at had bad games with the fun, that's the nature of run blocking for those that have never played the game but want to speculate on how lineman rank. Gaither posted high rankings (very high) four times. This includes a 5.8 ranking in the NE playoff game. The poor rankings in three weeks were a result of our midseason passing obsession that got us into trouble. The numbers indicate Gaither is a consistent pass blocker, but a devestating run blocker. I didn't find a single guy that posted consistent run blocking numbers. Perhaps there are a few, I just could not find them.