oldno82

He can live off the millions he got for bonus money. I think any of us could.

Actually, Marvin Lewis started it. Rex enhanced it and Pags rejuvenated it after we had a poor defense under Mattison (I think that was his name...he left for a college job). I'm not a fan of 'bend don't break' defenses because it keeps the D on the field too much and wears them out by the 4th quarter (as it did last year). It's also a very passive philosophy. I like aggressive defenses that attack instead. Our Defense has made 1 interception in 4 games and that was a freak thing by Ngata. Now, perhaps Pees feels we don't have enough talent to be aggressive. Could be true in the secondary.

Shipley is playing C for Indy, his natural position. We had him playing out of position at Guard because we were shorthanded with KO and Yanda hurting. I understand Indy is happy with his play at C, so we'll have to see how things shake out on Sunday.

Agree. If we can keep their offense off the field with a punishing rushing attack and play action passes, we'll be alright.

I think Pags is blowing smoke up our ass. But those stats about points allowed and redzone are impressive. But not scary. In fact the last defense the Ravens had a D that I'd call scary was Pags' when we had blitzers coming from every direction and getting through or faking it and dropping back into coverage. That kept other teams off balance. Remember when our Defensive philosophy was 'Organized Chaos"? I really miss that.

Absolutely agree. I hope he's working with Campanero for our future, Smith's YAC is something to see,

Tough call. Logic tells me it's a loss but my gut is saying it's a win, 30-28 Ravens.

Amen, brother. I guess 'elite' is a term that doesn't apply for NFL quarterbacks. Shows once again how football is a team sport.

Kubes has made all the difference in the world. I don't know if our defense is good enough to get us to the playoffs. We'll know a lot more after this week's game.

It's early in the week, yet, but I'm beginning to believe our offense won't have enough success to overcome our woeful secondary. Our secondary turned out to be our Achilles heel. Back during the summer I thought it was our O-line and that our secondary was solid. Definitely wrong on that score.

Smith is more a quick guy with outstanding Yards After Catch. Boldin would out-muscle DBs to make a catch and then get tackled. Both are great receivers. Smith is starting to make me believe he might have more left in his tank than just this season.

Actually, I think Steve Smith, if he can last all season, might be better than Boldin. Two different types though.

I nominate Steve Smith, of course, and Joe. I think Hurst gets an honorable mention. Any others?

Great, great post! Can we get past this now?

I was actually surprised how decent the vast majority of Browns fans were. Maybe the 'franchise moving venom' is on the decline.

Good point but I'm smelling a win at M&T. 27-17 our guys.

Hurst starting in Monroe's spot makes me nervous but Rick Wagner made me nervous in training camp and now he is more than just 'solid'. He's a real, real good player. Maybe lightening will strike twice?

TBird that story was hilarious! I haven't laughed so hard in a long time.

Answering my own question: http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/ravens/ravens-insider/bal-ravens-corner-jimmy-smith-assigned-october-court-date-in-misdemeanor-disorderly-conduct-case-20140924,0,1748244.story

Crap! What else is going to go wrong this year?

True. Wish we'd had him in game 1.

All we have to go on is rumor, innuendo and hearsay evidence that is refutable and contradicted soon after it appears. I'm talking about the NFL and the Ravens. The evidence on what Ray Rice did is indisputable. I just think everyone should cool it until and unless real evidence surfaces.

To me, I'm worn out listening to a 'pious' Ray Lewis with all the kids he has by several women and his 'obstruction of justice' charge, to which he pleaded guilty. He should just shut the f--k up and get off TV. He's only interested in his image but his image is tarnished as hell to me.

Yeah, I'm sick of the whole disgusting thing. No it wasn't handled anywhere as good as it should have been. Yes, some lies may even have been told. Even my wife is sick of the issue and the way it's being media-hounded to death. Rice f--k-ed up. So did the NFL for sure, So, possibly, did Bisciotti. But it's all over now and next time they will get it right, I'm convinced. Time to get back to the reason we're all really here on this board rather than a media board: football.

I feel the same way. One of those injuries I'll never forget.