TBird

Good point.

Ditto. Me thinks that the plan was to start Tally as #1 next year. Forsett will probably get his big pay day elsewhere. He's 30 and waited a long time for this moment but let's see how well he does in the new system. He did well here because he doesn't rush it but is patient and has vision and sees the holes and has good burst but it's the system that helps him excel.. Ravens will probably draft another RB. There's a bunch of good ones and we can get one from the middle rounds on down.

I disagree with the line at the bottom that says it's time for Ozzie to abandon the BAA and draft for need. Oz will never do that. He goes to super bowls and fielded a dominant team over the past decade drafting the BAA. Pees Regrets Moving Brooks Around Brian Bower Posted 15 hours ago in STREET TALK NO COMMENTS. ADD YOURS? Print this articleIf rookie safety Terrance Brooks could go back in time, there is little doubt he would choose to hit the “re-do” button on his 2014 season. From struggling through picking up the playbook during training camp to finding himself in John Harbaugh’s proverbial doghouse after giving up a long touchdown pass in the New Orleans game, if time travel were possible, he’d be the first in line. Yet for all the missteps along the way, many rookies suffer during their first year in the NFL, and it wasn’t all Brooks’ fault. Injuries continue to happen at an alarming rate this season in the Ravens secondary, which forced defensive coordinator Dean Pees to figure out which pieces to fit into the puzzle on game days. Brooks failed to see the field on defense until Week 4, and played in just 245 defensive snaps before suffering his season-ending PCL injury against Jacksonville last week. He finished the season with 19 total tackles (16) solo, allowed eight completions in coverage (12 targets), had one pass defended and allowed one touchdown, per Pro Football Focus. With hindsight always being 20/20 and Brooks out for the remainder of the season, defensive coordinator Dean Pees offered his early assessment on Brooks and took full responsibility for the rookie’s rough start. “I think there’s some times with Terrence … As a rookie, we moved him around a little bit,” said Pees. “Probably in retrospect, I probably would have gone back and maybe just put him in one place and just left him there and let him soak. But we tried to teach him a bunch of different things. I’m not sure that was the best for him. I’ll take the blame for that. “I think he’s going to be a really good football player, a really good football player.,” the Ravens defensive play caller responded about Brook’s future. “He’s smart, but the game was a little different for him. And then when you’re trying to learn a couple different spots, it kind of even became harder. When we had injuries, we moved guys here, moved them there, [and] that’s tough on a rookie. I think a year from now, I think you’ll see a really consistent player.” It’s not all on Pees by any means – players still have to play but it is on the coordinator to put them in the best position to succeed. No one can predict injuries but the front office knew of the suspect secondary unit and failed to do anything about it until it was too late. That won’t be the case in 2015. Brooks will return healthy and will be given his shot again, but don’t expect the brass to sit around waiting in the meantime. In fact it could be the first year in memory that the Ravens decide to throw the “best player available” mantra aside – at least in the first few rounds – and draft for need, with an already tight salary cap laying in wait for next season. [RELATED: Ravens Fac

A lot of us wanted West in the draft but Cleve jumped up over Ravens, PIss, and Minn fearing he'd be gone by their turn. Ravens then drafted Gilmore @ 99th spot so that wasn't bad as he is contributing. Then Ravens got Taliaferro a little further down at the 138th spot overall. West was used a rotational back with Crowell actually out-touching him the last two games with a few more snaps, so he has more yardage than Taliaferro with 579 yds on 153 attempts. Taliaferro had 329 yds on 68 attempts playing behind a 1,000 yd runner in Forsett and behind Brooks as well so that's just about even compared to West. He had 4.3 yds pr carry compared to 3.8 for West but Tal had some fumbles while West had 1. Tal had 4 TDs to 3 for WEst while being listed as 3rd on the depth chart. Not bad for Tal. Both can catch the ball out of the backfield. The link below says Taliaferro could be a leading candidate for the starting job next year, especially if Forsett doesn't come back and depending on his foot sprain which can be a tricky injury. I'd say we did pretty well with Taliaferro for a rookie getting him where we did after West was drafted and needing depth at RB. Once again, Ozzie drafted for depth. FROM ROTOWORLD: __________________________________ Ravens placed RB Lorenzo Taliaferro on injured reserve with a sprained foot, ending his season. Taliaferro sat out Week 15, but was listed with knee and ankle issues. It's unclear how severe his foot injury is. Foot sprains can be very tricky injuries for running backs to heal up from. A fourth-rounder out of small-school Coastal Carolina, Taliaferro had an impressive rookie season, averaging 4.3 yards on 68 carries. He scored four touchdowns, and added eight receptions. Taliaferro spent some time in coach John Harbaugh's doghouse for fumbling issues, but is a more intriguing long-term prospect than Bernard Pierce. Taliaferro could get a chance to lead the Ravens' backfield in 2015.

i liked the play where he telegraphed the blitz by moving off his man too early and they ran a stretch zone blocking scheme to contain him and he still beat them throwing the runner for a 5 yard loss. Not bad after making a bad mistake. He won't telegraph anymore.

Here's an exact break down from Film Study on everything Melvin did. Actually, it was one of the biggest starts of any Raven since Ray Lewis and would you believe Dan Cody's debuts. Of course, Cody would never play another snap. Melvin couldn't have come at a better time for Ravens. FROM FILM STUDY'S NOTES: The Ravens continued to lose secondary depth with injuries to Terrence Brooks and Asa Jackson, but an eye-popping performance from Rashaan Melvin made us forget the losses, at least temporarily. Melvin was activated for his first NFL game despite being on the roster for Tampa Bay in both 2013 and 2014. Let’s review: • (Q2, 3:39): Melvin replaced Lardarius Webb at LCB for his first NFL snap on defense. The pass went left (the opposite side). • (Q3, 6:38): After Asa Jackson’s injury and the Jag’s successful fake punt, Melvin entered permanently at RCB. Gerhart ran up the middle for 10 yards and Melvin made the tackle. • (Q3, 6:07): On the next play, Gerhart ran left and Melvin undercut him hard to hold the gain to 5 yards. • (Q3, 5:39): Rashaan telegraphed the corner blitz by moving off his man early, but the play was a stretch left with zone blocking. Upshaw and Williams contained effectively, but Melvin flew across the formation to take down Johnson for a loss of 5. • (Q3, 4:58): Melvin had tight coverage on Cecil Shorts between the numbers and left hash and stripped the ball for an apparent interception. The pass was ruled incomplete and confirmed by review. At that point, Melvin had 3 tackles and a PD in his first 5 NFL plays. • (Q4, 5:14): Bortles threw to Shorts for a gain of 12 (7 + 5 YAC) by the left sideline. Elam and Melvin collided to miss the tackle, but Shorts went down from the contact by Elam. This was his only poor play of the day. • (Q4, 4:10): Bortles threw to Hurns near the left sideline. Elam and Melvin had containment and Hurns stepped out of bounds for a gain of just 1. • (Q4, 3:29): On 4th and 9 at the Ravens’ 37, Melvin had press coverage on Shorts, but stayed with him right down the left sideline. Bortles pass was collected by Shorts a yard out of bounds, but Rashaan effectively used the sideline as an extra defender. That snuffed out the Jags’ last real chance. • (Q4, 1:11): He had soft coverage on Shorts and tackled him in bounds for a gain of 12 to keep the clock running, an excellent situational result. • (Q4, 0:54): On the next play, Bortles threw to Shorts by the left sideline. Melvin broke on the football and would have had a PD or interception, had the ball not been a little high and off target. Other notes• In total, Melvin played 24 snaps in his debut on which the Ravens allowed just 35 yards (1.5 YPPA) and 1.3 yards per pass (17 plays, 22 yards). • The Ravens had 4 of their 8 sacks when he was in the game, which included at least 2 where Bortles appeared to make reads to the left. • His 4 solo tackles were tied with Mosley for 2nd on the team. The Ravens have had some startling defensive debuts in their history: • Jameel McClain collected a safety with a sack of JaMarcus Russell on his first NFL snap. • Dan Cody played 14 snaps during which he played an active role in holding the Falcons to -22 yards in 2006. He would never play another non-penalty snap in his career. • Terrell Suggs had a sack on his 4th NFL snap versus Pittsburgh in the 2003 opener. • Ray Lewis was defensive player of the week, including an end-zone interception in his first NFL game (which was also the first game in Ravens history). We can add another performance to this list. If it’s a real indication of ability, Melvin’s debut could not come at a better time for the Ravens.

Ravens took him off the Dolphins practice squad. He was undrafted with little interest. He played some vs Jags and was OK while he was in there. He could be another Marlon Brown find for Oz.

Good point. A lot of fans are calling to off him and have been for about a year or so but he and Brandon comprise a hunk of beef clogging up the middle freeing up the line backer and other linemen.

I read that Ravens do save $2.5-$3M on Rice for this year but they have a $9.5M CAP hit in dead money next year.

I can see Webbie, Canty and Koch not getting signed. Ravens had another punter in camp who was booming the ball. HARBs was fooling around and wanted to see if his punters could kick FGs in case Tucker got hurt. Koch kicked a 51 yard FG and his backup kicked a 50 yard FG. I can't remember his name. As for Ngata, if Ravens think they have a shot at SB run next year they will bring him back. They're close to getting 11 wins this year but right now they are winning w/o him.

Here is a list of the cap savings that we would get if we cut any of the players listed below (those under contract who are not listed below are un-cuttable, they would actually have a higher cap hit if they were released): 1. Haloti Ngata (DT): $8,500,000 2. Jimmy Smith (CB): $6,898,000 3. Lardarius Webb (CB): $5,000,000 4. Marshal Yanda (G): $4,909,672 5. Chris Canty (DE): $2,660,000 6. Sam Koch (P): $2,500,000 7. Steve Smith (WR): $1,833,330 8. Courtney Upshaw (OLB): $1,112,277 9. Albert McClellan (ILB): $1,000,000 10. Kelechi Osemele (G): $846,255 11. Jacoby Jones (WR): $750,000 12. Daryl Smith (ILB): $750,000 13. Bernard Pierce (RB): $660,000 14. Gino Gradkowski ©: $660,000 15. Asa Jackson (CB): $660,000 16. Deangelo Tyson (DE): $660,000 17. Marlon Brown (WR): $585,000 18. Kapron Lewis-Moore (DE): $562,942 19. Ricky Wagner (RT): $548,860 20. Kyle Juszczyk (FB): $509,854 21. Zach Orr (ILB): $509,000 22. Jeremy Butler (WR): $508,665 23. James Hurst (LT): $507,000 24. Arthur Brown (ILB): $486,887 25. Michael Campanaro (WR): $476,250 26. Brandon Williams (DT): $456,250 27. John Urschel (G): $437,720 28. Lorenzo Taliaferro (RB): $359,708 29. Brent Urban (DE): $359,708 30. Crockett Gillmore (TE): $256,992 31. Elvis Dumervil (ILB): $250,000 32. Terrence Brooks (S): $221,812

I found this somewhere that says Ravens will save $2M in CAP savings that will be credited to 2015 due to his suspension. Take a look at what he loses according to the CBA - ouch. Does anyone think Ravens cut him. They will save about $8M in CAP if they do plus the $2M credit, They will be around $131M or a little more with a bunch of free agents with him on the roster. Also in question, do they cut Webbie and Koch who are FAs. Ngata’s base salary for the season was $8.5 million. He will now lose $2 million in base salary. He will also forfeit $1,176,471 of his bonus money, leaving him $3.176 million lighter in the pocket for just a four game suspension. That is certainly not a number to sneeze at and illustrates the big dollars at stake for star players when suspended. The Ravens will earn a $2 million cap credit immediately for 2014 and the balance will be applied to their 2015 cap totals.

The jokes on this thread are great.

Jim ain't going anywhere. He said he's never leaving California. His wife is from there. He is at war with Trent the GM but the owner loves both of them and with good reason. They're both great at what they do.

Well, some things are beyond a GMs control. Corey wanted to go back to his home town to finish his career on his terms. He gets a raise and plays at home and has a ring. Losing IH hurt too and Redding before that but you can't sign everyone. There is a salary CAP like Flacco's and Ngata's salaries that account for aabout $16M each this year towards the CAP and Joe's goes even higher later on. Who would you rather have, Ngata and Flacco or Corey, IH and I'll throw in Redding.

Thanks, man Yea, everyone wants to off Pees but he has 8 wins with a shot at 11 and the playoffs with this banged up secondary. His pressure won it today. Last week Rivers used a varied quick snap count to beat the pressure. Today, T-Hill was completely confused. Even last seek it took a great QB to beat Pees and in the final 33 seconds of the game.

A lot of fans didn't like Ozzie drafting so much defense this year in the first 3 rounds but where would we be now with Ngata going out and, we had Jernigan. He's not the bull rusher as Ngata but He has been getting doubled teamed all year filling in for Ngata as a rookie. He got some good penetration today. On Suggs sack with 12:42 left in the 2d qtr, Jernigan pushed his blocker straight back into T-Hill who didn't even see Suggs coming from his right side. He kept looking straight ahead at two guys coming at him - one backwards and he moved around him to keep from getting hit by his own man. Then Suggs grabbed him for the sack but Suggs owed it to Jernigan who is just rookie. He will come on strong like Chester Arthur in a couple of years but he's making some plays now. Then Ray retires, we get the next Ray in Mosley who had a sack today. Last year Ozzie gets Brandon Williams who's doing great in the middle even w/o Ngata today. He really put the pressure on up the middle pushing two blockers back and even getting around them. T-Hill couldn't take the pressure being boxed in..Then Ravens cut Leach and draft KJ last year and he's starting. He had a catch today. He's made some other big catches and sprung Forsett for a TD standing up in NO. Ravens don't sign Oher and insert Wagner whom they drafted last year. But back to the reserves. When the secondary was deleted starting with Webbie's injury in camp this year and then Jimmy's injury during the season Ozzie signed backups like Gorrer and Levine who have greatly contributed and when both went down today, a concussion for Levine and a knee injury for Gorrer, Ravens still win with backups. Then on offense Ozzie finally drafted some late in the draft in Taliaferro this year who combined with Pierce today for 85 yards on 10 carries between them allowing Forsett to take a rest. Taliaferro also caught the ball out of the back field for a big gain. What a back up.. Want more offense? Ozzie got CAMPY at the bottom of the draft who has contributed before getting injured both catching the ball an as a return guy. Everyone in this draft has contributed this year including Gilmore the rookie TE. He made a block that sprung Forsett for a TD last week and made a big catch last week that was brought back because of a penalty which really hurt the drive. Kubes was the one who wanted him and said I need more blocking. Then he signs Aiken who had some catches on the drive for a TD with 65 yards. Then there is S U P E R N A W. Is that a cool name or what. He had a big catch for 29 yards. Where would Ravens be w/o these backups that didn't even start last year and the ones he got this year. . It's all about depth as we all panicked just a week ago, Ravens now have 8 wins, same as Cinci and Piss in the division and have a shot at 3 more with Jags and Cleve coming up at home, they both lost today, and Houston on the road. Count it all to depth. Like pitching in baseball, you can never have too much of it. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2262375-ravens-gamble-on-their-secondary-is-paying-off

Kinda like Tebow's circus only far worse. NE was probably the only team that could pull off signing him w/o the criticism. Now they don't want him.

Maybe, maybe not. No one called Incognito and this case is far worse. If I'm an owner, there's no way I sign Ray. Too much of a PR night mare. The entire country is vs Rice.

According to Adam Sheftner and others. Talk about a can of worms? Who do you think will want him? There are still a number of teams that need a RB including Caldwell's team in DET. Adam Schefter @AdamSchefter Ray Rice has won his appeal, per sources. Luke Jones @BaltimoreLuke RT @RapSheet: Ray Rice is immediately eligible, source says, by winning his appeal. Adam Schefter @AdamSchefter Judge believes Ray Rice did not lie.

That means the heavy money early on is going on the Ravens. I smell a rat here. Bookies clean up on the Chargers. No way do I take 6.5 on the Ravens.

He's recovering from hamstring getting the rust off from the Cinci game injured returning a kick. Elsewhere Suggs and McPhee miss practice. http://www.baltimoreravens.com/news/article-1/Whos-Practicing-Whos-Not-vs-Chargers/31bcb85d-a8e9-4a79-b2eb-767d89a5698a

Scott Garceau just had a Vegas guy on radio predicting SD will win 27-21. I'm not so sure. We do pretty well vs them and it's at home. It just depends on how bad the Ravens want it. If the team that played in Pissburgh and Indy shows up SD will win but if the team that showed up in NO is there. we win. We just won't know til the first 15 mins of the game but I betting on Ravens.

It's benefited us already. Check out the standings and see how close we are to them. It aint over til the fat lady sings and the fat lady hasn't sung yet.

We have 7 wins don't we and we're still in the hunt for the wild card. Did you not look at the standings to see us in 2d place in AFC-N. Check it out. But it's like my doc said when he said I had the worse lungs in his office and all those people out there are 70 and you're not 60 yet. I said, think of the bright side doc. He said, yea, I like the bright side. What's the bright side. I'm still getting laid and he laughed his ass off. Yup, I always look at the bright side. WoW.