oldno82

And then I read this off the Raven's website: “I don’t think they need a new center,” Birk told WNST. According to Birk, Gradkowski just needs a little time to polish his responsibilities as a center. He said he can remember when he was the new center with the duties to make calls for the entire offensive line. Birks said the situation is “intimidating.” “It was like, ‘Whoa! OK, this just got real all of a sudden,’” Birk said. “You have to earn respect. Earn credibility as a young player within the huddle. They talk about that with a young quarterback all the time, it’s kind of the same to a lesser degree with a center.” But as Gradkowski’s former mentor, Birk knows what the young lineman is capable of and thinks it’s just a matter of time before he settles in. “I know Gino has got the goods,” he said. “I know it’s not too much for him mentally or physically. I think he’s got what it takes. He’s got the character that it takes to play offensive line, football in general, but offensive line is a tough deal and it’s not for everybody.”

Judging from just what I've been reading from The Sun, pass rush up the middle of our O-line has been pretty destructive. I'd don't know how to do it but an upgrade at C may improve the whole offensive line.

Ravens 24-17.

Sleeping giant is a good way to describe this team. Just about everybody, with a few exceptions (like Torrey), looks like they're sleepwalking through the games.

Yeah, he must be mentally tough, that's for sure.

I must be crazy because I'm having good feelings about this game.

Very cool idea. That is what they drafted him for. Worth taking a shot at it.

You must be reading my mind. Play calling has been awful and unimaginative. And the team just looks lethargic...not fired up at all with some exceptions.

I agree, Cleetz...this is not a team rotten with age. We have a good nucleus. We just might need a year or two of 8-8 seasons for drafting purposes.

And it's been that way pretty much all season. The offensive line is just totally dysfunctional and I'm getting sick of seeing it. Run game coordinator my ass! Castillo has hurt this team with his blocking schemes.

I found myself agreeing with this article all the way through: Five thoughts on the Ravens’ 19-17 loss to the Green Bay Packers Sunday at M&T Bank Stadium: The Culprit In Loss The Ravens defense rose to the occasion against one of the NFL’s top quarterbacks, playing well enough to win. With even just a modest amount of offensive consistency, the Ravens could have walked away happy. But their offense stumbled early and never established a rhythm. As has been the case all season, the culprit was the running game. Ray Rice andBernard Pierce gained just 43 yards on 20 carries. For the season, both are averaging less than 3.0 yards per carry. That’s not acceptable. And things aren’t getting better; on Sunday, things got worse. The Ravens offensive line was dominated. Here’s the stat of the game: the Ravens ran the ball on 16 of their 27 first-down snaps, and averaged just 1.9 yards on those 16 rushes. In other words, they were in second-and-long for most of the game, which, asJoe Flacco pointed out, makes it difficult to put drives together. When you run the ball decently, you can sustain drives. When you can’t run, you need to keep making “chunk” (long) plays to get anywhere. That’s no way to live. http://www.baltimoreravens.com/news/article-1/The-Breakdown-Eisenbergs-Five-Thoughts-vs-Packers/296280a9-2a91-485b-b2ef-1016dbc2a60f

I don't think it will.

True. But I think he'll straighten out. He was trying to kick away from the return guy like Papa said.

Saw him interviewed on WBAL last night. He's a happy camper just to be on the team. He seldom gets a ball thrown his way, but of the ones that have he hasn't dropped any.

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I suggest you pause from posting for a while and reflect on the good and wise behavior of the other members of this board.

Do we really want another 37 year old TE who could go down at any minute?

He must feel like a yo-yo. On the other hand, he is at least getting paid again.

Well that's depressing!

It's not 20% this year or next year or the year after that. His cap figure is 7 mil this year ,15 mil next year and 2015. It's essentially a three year contract that will get renegotiated if we choose to keep him after that. Speaking of which, Ngata will be consuming 16 mil in cap money in 2014 and 2015 and, while he's good, he's not playing up to that level.

If he's hit enough times Joe will eventually get injured. I hope Monroe plays this week and Osemele gets back to how he played last year.

I don't know if Grad is the answer at center. But unless you like Shipley, he's gonna play there all year. I do think its a weak spot. Osemele, Yanda, and Oher all have the talent but at least one of them is beat up. McK is apparently not playing to anywhere near the level he showed during the playoffs. Monroe will help out with that problem hopefully starting this week. I'm worried about Osemele's back. Rest is pretty much all you can do for that and we are not strong at all with backups anywhere along the line. If he can make a quick recovery and with Monroe coming on board the line will be adequate. Birk had a great year last year, better than the previous one for that matter. We're hurting at Center.

Reid has been a real weak point ever since we got him. I thought he was doing a bit better at the beginning of the year when he subbed in and out a few times but with Gradkowski unable to block he's another liability.

Jimmy Smith deserves a chance to play. He's certainly improved since the 1st game. He's finally get his head around to locate the ball.

If he stays healthy, Torrey can be a All-Pro for us for several years. How much is that worth?