oldno82

Papa the trouble with your arguments about Joe is that you never provide a decent solution to the situation the team was in after the Super Bowl.

Well, I'm certainly pulling for Wagner. Wisconsin offensive linemen are supposed to have a good record of being successful. He's the right size. But like you said, Max, I want to see him in action before I anoint him.

There's no way we could have come up with an Andrew Luck, We were just coming off the Super Bowl win and were drafting 32nd. Dan Marino, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Andrew Luck, etc. were not available. If we had not re-signed Joe who'd be quarterbacking the Ravens now?

Saw some tape of Suggs tonight from OTA today. He looked lean and ready for camp.

Well, the defense was not the 'unleash chaos' one we've seen for many years. Lack of fire--- not Suggs because he started off in Pro Bowl form, then faded down the stretch. Maybe the others were guilty of that though. They'll be tougher this year. And hungrier.

I'm worried about him. The falloff was very sudden and lasted through the last half of the season. Either he was 1) hurt, 2) age is catching up to him, or 3) he lost the desire to go all out. I don't think it was 3). I don't remember any talk of injury so that leaves reason 2). Any other potential reasons he fell off the table?

Still too early to tell but there's a lot of encouraging signs lately.

Monroe was not at practice this last OTA session giving Hurst a shot with the ones: http://www.baltimoreravens.com/news/article-1/Late-For-Work-611-Legend-Brett-Favre-Feels-Joe-Flaccos-Pain/bac2ec4f-773e-4a3f-8f37-296242e6150a With Monroe gone, Bo Smolka says James Hurst was a stand-out player in practice yesterday as he got lots of time with the first-team offense. “Remember, Hurst is an undrafted rookie out of North Carolina, but it seems he has moved rapidly up the depth chart. Some teams were scared off by Hurst's leg injury -- he broke his leg in North Carolina's bowl game -- but he looks like he could be the team's next undrafted gem.” [CSN Baltimore]

We need to give Kubiak a fair chance. He's been a good offensive coach in the past and is a smart guy. I've seen Joe rollout and execute play action before and he always looks comfortable. We should give him and the whole offense a break. I am much more concerned about who's going to play running back for the first four games which could make or break our season. RT remains another concern. The D will be solid..

Probably because our offense was so poor last year, a change makes us hopeful, I wouldn't say confident though.

Yep, I'm looking forward to it.

Yeah, I wasn't impressed either.

http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/help-still-available-on-nfl-free-agent-market-jermichael-finley-053014

If this keeps up we can just forfeit the season.

Joe answers his critics on the off-season workout issue: http://www.baltimoreravens.com/news/article-1/Joe-Flacco-Explains-Not-Having-Off-Site-Workouts/a13c6722-b17f-46a6-b292-f72609e10336

Gee, if we can get Pierce arrested we won't have any running backs at the beginning of the season! Wouldn't that be something!

I have to agree. The fact that they didn't come away with an RT is serious. I considered FS and RT to be equal priorities in the draft. But, Oz believes in BPA. I'm still not in agreement with that when you have huge holes on your team. But, the FO knows more than I do. Maybe Rick Wagner is better than I thought. Maybe Hurst starts at RT. I don't know. It's still disappointing. I will say the defense is in good shape for now and the foreseeable future. Maybe Oz can trade for a RT if we don't find one on the roster. It would be worth a middle round draft choice. But I don't know who might be available and what the cap consequences would be.

No. I'm just saying every draft we make is overhyped by most of the media immediately after its over.

I agree.

Well, that's all I'm saying. We'll only know how good it is as time goes by.

This will be Lorenzo Taliaferro's big chance. So we should know quickly how good he is.

I hope so. The only problem is separating the hype from reality. Remember how good it was said last year's draft was? And the one before that?

Never thought I'd say this but I'd like to see a dome so we can attract a lot more events including a Super Bowl.

Yes. He may have done so, but I never saw him in the defense last year. Another reason to beware draft hype.

Disagree. As much as I was glad to see Billick go, he got Baltimore its first Super Bowl in 30 years.