oldno82

I dunno...I find I'm rapidly losing interest in the games what with the NFL achieving parity (and therefore mediocrity) and the fact that the Ravens are poorly managed and have been playing non-entertaining football since 2012 with the one exception of Kubiak's season here. In addition, Joe's contract has a stranglehold on the franchise and he's not playing up to what he needs to be. I don't think he's really been the same since Kubiak left and since his knee injury. He needs to voluntarily accept a pay cut like Brady and Ben did. But that's just part of the story. The coaching is stale and the team just doesn't have any excitement and they play like it too. I can accept losing if a team is entertaining but watching the Ravens play is getting to be painful and boring. We'll see how the rest of the season goes but I'm becoming a pessimist especially with Bisciotti's not so veiled threat to sell the team if he doesn't get his way on future stadium improvements or reconstruction.

Yep. That pretty much describes their motor.

Being mediocre has become a habit. I can only hope you're right about B's thoughts behind closed doors. Agree with Spen that what B said about the future of the franchise and stadium upset me too.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/baltimore-sports-blog/bs-sp-ravens-steve-bisciotti-20171019-story.html I don't think Steve gets it. What's turning people off is the same old dull and sloppy product the Ravens are every year now.

We also need 4 new tires.

Like I've said before, I'll be impressed when they can stack 3 or 4 games together that look like last week's win. In the meantime, I'm just enjoying the moment.

An unexpectedly solid effort and victory. Only 1 penalty is amazing. Defense shut them down late. Joe looked like an elite quarterback. I was beginning to think he was washed up. Great work by the OL...who knew that would happen? Collins is a keeper. Wallace was fantastic and Macklin and Perriman were good too. They've got to do this again and again before I become a full believer but I am much impressed by today's game.

Well put, 'Nado.

It's necessary. It will be painful to watch and be patient. Some will stop coming to the games as happened with the late 70s early 80s Colts. Biscuit will need a strong stomach. But it has to be done.

I agree with all of the above!

I don't know. It's going to take a lot of patience on the part of the fans who have the tickets. It can be fun watching a new team being built if the talent they're getting is obviously very good (I'm thinking of the Colts in the fifties and sixties---showing my age here). But it will take time I'm afraid. There's only 7 picks a year unless you can trade for more.

Max you have earned a medal for having to sit there and watch that game.

Unfortunately he has about $60 million in guaranteed money and a cap hit they can't escape. If they cut him now they get killed with dead money. And I doubt there's a market for him with that albatross contract that comes with him. They are going to have to wait until 2019 at the earliest to have a year when his cap hit would finally be less than his salary.

I don't think the front office went for making the defense a great one in the draft. It's just that Ozzie always drafts the highest rated player on his board. He's become a slave to it and the Ravens have proven repeatedly they can't draft a really good offense. Oz passed on a number of really good offensive players in the draft because, in his mind, they weren't the BPA. Couple this with an unbelievable string of injuries to the offensive line and tight ends with an average, or now, below-average, aging quarterback and the offense is a disaster. No OL means lots of pressure on Joe and he's not handling it. The running game exists only on how far Collins' effort takes them with his penchant for fumbling. I've been reluctant to say this but it looks like the front office and the bloated coaching staff both have to go. They aren't getting the job done even taking into account all the injuries. If it were possible they could let Joe go both because his performance and his cap number are awful. But they can't escape the contract that Joe has. Or the cap hit. Perhaps the way forward is to draft a good college qb in 2018 and start him ahead of Joe. Maybe if Joe sits on the bench long enough he'll retire. Somehow they've got to come up with a better O/L through the draft as well. We won't be able to afford any decent free agent lineman with our cap space even supposing there is good free agent talent on the offensive line available next season. The current offensive line is laughable. Hurst and Jensen are in over their heads. The coaching staff should have known that too because they have poor track records here. Stanley isn't elite. Howard is 'meh'.We could have had better line depth than the guys we have. The offense is in the beginnings of a massive meltdown. I'm not sure I can stomach another game the way they are going. And here comes Oakland...

You know things are bad when this is the major 'feel good' story on the team this past week..: http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/ravens/ravens-insider/bs-sp-ravens-jacoby-jones-retires-20170929-story.html

It is a free speech issue and they have the right to protest. There is a lot of valid grievances the African-American community deals with on a daily basis. I would not have chosen to kneel though. I think it would have been more of a benefit to have asked a player spokesman to address the fans for a few minutes. And I respect the flag, military service and the country. I also respect all of the players who stood or kneeled last week. Our leader getting himself involved in creating this mess is embarrassing and outside the scope of his constitutional duties.

Well whenever they go, they should leave to go to the UK earlier in the week to get over jet lag. Jags did. Not saying this was the main reason behind the blowout loss but it sure didn't help.

Kind of agree with Tornado here. It's tough with the jet lag and used to take me several days to recover. They'll feel it on the way back too so effects could carry over to the Steelers game. I also agree it's going to start off slow for the Ravens but with them accelerating at the end to win it.

Yep...it was hot. Hopefully just a late summer one-time occurrence.

Man what a downer! Bergstrom filled in well but he's no Yanda.

Great game for a fan. Offense showed life and confidence. Joe was sharp. Watson was a standout. Suggs just keeps on keepin on. Agree that there were too many broken coverages but that should be fixable. Gutsy call by Harbaugh down near Browns' end zone on a fourth down. Good example of stepping on the throat of the opponent to keep them from coming back. Yeah, still things to work on. Good thing Macklin is OK---that was scary. Perriman droped 2 passes that I saw. If he can't make a positive contribution very soon they should let him go. I believe the secondary is better than what they showed. Maybe they took Cleveland's backup qb for granted.

Agree.

With all the injuries they've had and lack of practice time, the coaching had a very effective game plan and they stuck to it. And I thought it was said up to the actual game that the Bengal defense was great so I'm not unhappy at all with how it turned out. It was supposed to be a close low scoring game. Even I was expecting that.

Good coaching, great D, and good game management by Joe after no training camp. My hat's off to all of them. Love the running attack. It will open up play action. Except for Woodhead and Smith it was fun to watch.

Cool write-up Max and very true. The O will be a 'work in progress' perhaps for the whole season. The defense is stout and the special teams are, well, special. There is a lot to be digested about the offense including will the O-line be able to protect Joe who might be becoming fragile?