oldno82

The scheme isn’t worth adjusting.. it had its run here but you can’t play catch-up with it if you fall behind. We need more passing power and better WRs and schemes that get them open.

I agree. But they had better replace not only Roman but the whole offensive scheme he uses.

I don't know. If money is not the most important thing then why didn't he sign the lucrative deal they offered last summer? Is it possibly because he isn't happy with the game planning and play calling either? Or are these guys just standing up for their brother in arms? I really don't know.

Hey Tsyl, I'm still waiting on Roman to have Likely and Andrews on the field at the same time opposite each other. To the best I can remember, they didn't try that last night. This offense coaching is dysfunctional.

Dee is right...hell you all are right. Lamar wants too much money for what he gives us which is a playoff game win or 2 over his 5 year career. I also didn't like it that he didn't even bother to accompany the team to Cincy for a playoff game. He's not showing leadership when he snubs the team like that. And you can't pay a player big money when he misses 4-5 games a year. But who to get as a bridge QB? I'm not sold on anyone but is Baker Mayfield an option? He had decent stats with the Rams once he got away from the Carolina armpit. I want us to get 2 #1's for Lamar. I think Will Levis has good potential and wouldn't mind us dealing to draft him. The running backs and tight ends are solid. The O-line is mediocre. The D is fabulous. We aren't that far away from being a big dog team. Trade Lamar and make him happy and the city that gets him happy and the fans here happy. But at the very least get rid of Roman and his 'style' of offense!

Agree plus a new OC who can get rid of this problematic offensive scheme.

Very well put! And who is the one who does the play designs and calls---Roman. I have to admit, I'm baffled by Lamar. He plays lights out for several games at the start of the season, then falls to mediocre then gets hurt, again, and doesn't play anymore this season. Similar to last year. It's not his fault that he's hurt but now his contract is up and we gotta decide what to do and what direction we want this offense to go to. We need a new OC. Do we also need a new HC? I dunno. His won-lost record over his tenure is damned good but strange things happen. Plays don't get called in on time. Two minute offense is hampered by poor clock management. We get called for delay of game after taking a time out in one game. I'm frustrated and disappointed but quite honestly don't know what all the solutions are. There is a lot of talent on this team but the offense can't seem to get out of its own way.

OK...sounds like the coaches have lost the team. Or maybe Dobbins is just blowing off steam after a heart-breaker loss? Still there is a budding fire out there in fan world as well. So what does Bisciotti do now?

Nothing is going to come easy tonight. But great drive by Dobbins and Ravens. If we’re going to make a game out of this it’ll be long drives that keep Burrow on the bench.

Stupid calll on Andrews run.

Gee, I hate to depend on Roman for anything. Maybe he somehow becomes smarter for this game. We shall see.

I can't remember the thread but it has already been posted. Recently, today some time. Hell I'm old and the memory's only working erratically. It was posted in this thread about 8 posts up!

Agree. The defense sounds like they are ready to rumble and win and Edwards and Dobbins are back. Still would rather see Brown than Huntley and wish we did have a 'good quarterback' like you said. There may be an upset in the making this Sunday. Go Ravens!

I'm with Tsyl. I think Brown should start. But I wouldn't be down to see Huntley. Could actually be a good game. Ravens are fired up it sounds like. We shall see. Harbs has his work cut out for him.

Weird, aren't the team and Jackson communicating anymore? This is something that should have come from Harbaugh or the FO.

Yeah but I'm afraid of what more they may find after the season if he's really not improving.

I don't believe for one minute that we won't have 1 or 2 seasons of pain if Lamar goes but if the FO can draft a good qb and we sign a stop-gap it might be worth it. As the saying goes, you can't make an omelette without breaking some eggs. I know I'd look forward to a Roman-less system. I think when you look at the owner we have and the quality of the front office we're supposed to have, a Lamar-less future might be a good thing. Notice I used the word 'supposed'. I don't think either path is without risk...it all comes down to how much risk do you want to take.

That pretty much sums it all up, Max. I doubt Edwards will or should play with the concussion he sustained last week. Jackson is a puzzle wrapped in a riddle inside an enigma. He plays to his own tune. Who knows if he shows up or not? Not practicing for 5 weeks has got to lead to a ton of rust. I'm not sure we want to continue the Lamar experience next year. I'm am rapidly moving to the trade him for picks camp. Not all the way there yet, but it's within sight.

I hope his knee doesn't lead to surgery of some type.

How true! And what an example he sets. Maybe somebody else gets the message.

Definitely nicely done by Brown and the timing ain't bad either---right before the playoff game.

This GREAT news! He is both literally and figuratively the heart of the defense and will anchor it for years to come. Nice work by EDC, Bisciotti and the rest of the F.O.

I tried to just post the link but couldn't get it to work. I agree with most but not all of it. Anyway this is Tony Lombardi's take on a subject of interest to us all: " Lombardi's Way Irreconcilable Differences? by Tony Lombardi · January 4, 2023 5:19 pm Photo Credit: Jason Behnken, Associated Press Reading Time: 5 minutes Who is to blame for this standoff between Lamar Jackson and his employer, the Baltimore Ravens? That’s easy – both sides! Back in 2019 when Lamar Jackson electrified the country on his way to becoming the league’s second unanimous MVP in NFL HISTORY, we all thought it was the start of something magical here in Charm City – magic that we expected to last for quite a while. Sure, the Tennessee Titans did a number on the Ravens in that Divisional Playoff game back in January of 2020. In many ways, the Titans did the same thing to Greg Roman’s offense that the Chargers did to Marty Mornhinweg’s offense the season before in the playoffs. Simply put, they forced the Ravens to do something that they struggle to do consistently. Throw. The. Football. But with an offseason to fix things, the Ravens would adjust, right? They would complement Lamar’s generational talents with the appropriate skill sets to lift the passing game, making the offense even more dangerous. Well, that didn’t happen. Despite the COVID setbacks, the Ravens rallied during the 2020 season, even got Lamar’s first playoff win, but the dream died along frigid Lake Erie when the Bills slammed the vaunted Ravens offense which put up a grand total of three points. Fast forward to 2021 and another offseason to fix things. But before they could start fixing, more holes appeared. Orlando Brown, Jr. wanted out while Ronnie Stanley’s ankle surgery was botched, leaving him unavailable and struggling through the opener in Las Vegas. He would never play another down in 2021. Add in major injuries to J.K. Dobbins, Gus Edwards and Marcus Peters, and despite a heroic effort by Jackson to keep hopes alive through the first 11 games and a conference leading (8-3) record, the season soon began to circle the drain. And then Lamar, often running for his life, joined the ranks of the injured Ravens. The Ravens vowed not to leave themselves so vulnerable across the offensive front again but as the 2022 NFL Draft approached, another Brown, another former Oklahoma Sooner, wanted out – Marquise Brown. So they traded Marquise and that made an unimpressive receiving corps even less impressive. The personnel mistakes made in 2021 at O-Line were repeated in 2022 only this time at wide receiver. And clearly Greg Roman’s passing scheme could not overcome the deficiencies in talent. If anything, Roman’s limitations served to exacerbate the problems. Now, the Ravens are left with arguably the most pivotal decision to make in franchise history – what to do with Lamar Jackson? The Ravens, organizationally, failed Lamar, and they failed themselves. Everyone knew, everyone knows that Lamar couldn’t keep up the pace he’s set as a running quarterback. The league has adjusted to his talents. Sure, he can still be an extremely effective runner, but to pay him the kind of money he thinks he’s worth, he has to develop as a passer. But the team has done next to nothing to help move the needle forward. In 2021, it was the offensive line. In 2022, it’s a lack of talent at wide receiver and an offensive coordinator who is anything but coordinated when it comes to the passing game. They haven’t removed the question marks that contributed to Lamar’s slow development as a passer. Following the 2020 season they should have replaced Roman to see if he’s the problem. Following the 2021 season they should have added talent to the wide receiver room like the Eagles did for Jalen Hurts when they traded for A.J. Brown. The Ravens did neither. So here we are, 2 seasons later, wondering what Lamar’s worth is. Can he be a top 10 passer in the league? We still don’t know, but we do know that he wants to be the highest paid quarterback in league history. So what if the Ravens concede and they do make Lamar the highest paid QB of all time, despite the unanswered questions that scream, “You better not!”? How will they then afford to give him the surrounding talents he obviously needs? The team wasted the benefits of his rookie contract. Paying him top tier coin now is like flirting with disaster for years. Why? Because we just aren’t sure if Lamar can play to that level of pay and that’s on the conscience of the Ravens brass. We can’t project Lamar’s future as a passer because the team has wasted the last two years crossing their collective fingers while hoping for the best. Meanwhile, I hope to hit the Mega Millions, but I digress. The best just hasn’t happened. It might not ever happen for Lamar in Baltimore. Perhaps that ship hasn’t sailed yet, but the first-mate is about to shout, “All aboard!” And it’s not as if Lamar isn’t complicit in this debacle. Despite Roman’s limited system, or should I say puny vault, Jackson doesn’t do the things great quarterbacks do. He struggles with the play clock (note that Tyler Huntley hasn’t had the same issues); he’s wildly inaccurate on deep passes; he doesn’t use the back-shoulder throw like big league quarterbacks do; he doesn’t throw receivers open – he just throws to open receivers (a big difference) and given Roman’s choreography, such receivers are about as common as John Harbaugh speaking the truth about injuries. Now, off-the-field drama is rearing its ugly head, perhaps in part because the Ravens have been so secretive about what Lamar does on his own time. Rumors about his work ethic and alleged poor habits as they relate to film study, eating and sleeping have crept their way into the world of social media. Maybe they’re true, maybe they aren’t. But with the Ravens zipping their lips and with Lamar sans representation, we just don’t know. What we do know is that this entire situation is fraught with unorthodox behavior that leaves us not knowing who or what to believe. So we connect the dots of speculation and make it our own truth, because no one else is telling it to us. Today, Wednesday, Lamar missed another practice, his 13th consecutive session. This was an injury that was supposed to last 1-3 weeks. John Harbaugh back on December 7, when asked about Lamar’s status for the Week 14 game in Pittsburgh, said: “He’s been through the MRIs, and I would say it’s kind of week-to-week. It’s going to be a weekly thing, so as the week goes on, we’ll see for this week. It’s probably less likely for this week, but it’s not impossible. Then after that, it will become more and more likely.” A month later we still don’t know anything. A month later, Harbaugh now chooses to simply dodge the questions about Lamar’s availability. Prior to the NFL Network’s presentation of the Ravens game in Cleveland on Saturday night, December 17, Rich Eisen who was handling play-by-play for the broadcast, sat with the Ravens brass before the game, as the announcers normally do to prepare. Eisen, as he explains in the video below, was told that Lamar didn’t want to play with a knee brace or even take the field until he was 100%. As of today, he’s still not 100% and it’s unlikely that he’ll take the field in Cincinnati. Maybe he doesn’t even travel with the team. Sunday will mark the 5th full game he’ll miss in 2022, matching the same total from 2021. That’s 29.4% of all games played during the last two seasons. Not ideal for a franchise quarterback looking for the game’s biggest paycheck. Not ideal for a running quarterback who has shown signs of slowing down and no signs of progressing as a passer. In his defense, Lamar has played at less than 100% before, but seeing Roman’s offense and its precipitous drop-off when he isn’t playing, and, it’s heavy reliance upon his skillset, maybe he just doesn’t want to risk his future earnings. Maybe he sees that this offense is going nowhere even with him. Maybe he’s sending a message to the team. Maybe he just wants out. And maybe that’s exactly what needs to happen. The Ravens and Lamar have had 5 years to get this right. They’ve collectively failed. The “play” clock has expired and it’s no longer fourth-and-short. These “analytics” suggest it’s time to punt. [Related Article: The “P-Word”]

Smith is the most important signing. As for Lamar, cap & trade might be the best way to handle his demands. Of course, who knows? Maybe Lamar comes back this week and leads the team to a Super Bowl...wouldn't that be something?!

Doing the same old thing again and expecting a different outcome is insanity. Our offensive philosophy at the very least needs a major overhaul. Roman and his staff must go. There is talent on this team. The O-line, tight ends and running backs are solid. The quarterback position and wide receivers need new talent. At least the defense is in good shape. I've been impressed with the DC and the acquisition of Smith.