SpearSrai

The tribe has spoken.

See: the OP.

When you say rules changes, which ones are you referring to exactly? What changes to the rules have been made other than the defensive-back holding/pass interference calls? As good as our run defense has been this year, we've still given up 1302 yards on 366 rushes. By comparison, the 2000 run D gave up 970 rushing yards on 361 rushes. The YPC difference is 3.6 to 2.7. Could we at least agree that the run defense, while still amazing this year, is a no-contest for Sam Adams, Goose, a younger Ray, Peter and Jamie?

Whether or not WR's win championships is arguable... the Patriots almost went 19-0 last year because they gave their already-great QB 2 great WR threats to work with. Warner won a Super Bowl and almost won another with great WR's to stretch the field... both Mannings won Super Bowls in large part to their superstar WR's. Both teams had pretty good defenses (in the playoffs at least), but even our worst-case-scenario defense will be just as good as either of those two. Reed isn't going anywhere...Ngata isn't going anywhere...worst-case scenario one or two of our linebackers are returning (Ray hopefully)... and that defense is plenty good to win a championship with. You don't need a GREAT defense to win a championship unless you have absolutely no offense whatsoever. Any Ravens D + a good QB with a few good receiving threats = lock to make the playoffs every year. I still say our 2 biggest needs are WR and CB...whichever we get better value at in the first round. They're about equal IMO.

There's not even an argument to be had here. The 2000 defense is possibly the greatest of all time; this defense is possibly the best this season. An argument could be made that this defense is better than our 2006 D, and that's something we could discuss...but 2000? Out of the question. That D was as close to perfection as it gets.

Here's my rationale: So we can win back-to-back Super Bowls.

How long until the "Celtics should draft Tyrese Rice!" threads start?

I've heard people talking about McAlister becoming a salary cap casualty this offseason... don't know what to make of that yet. I'm perfectly happy with what Leonhard is bringing to our defense...totally unexpected after Dawan Landry went down... couldn't ask for much more from the guy. He may be a better tackler than Ray at this point (uh oh...) As far as the draft goes, I'm far more concerned about the receiver and corner positions in the first round than our o-line. Has our o-line really been so bad that you think we need to address it right off the bat? I think we've shown outstanding depth with our young line this year. What we need more than anything is a big-play receiver to take some pressure off of Mason, Flacco, and the running game. And our corner need is pretty obvious.

What kinds of seats are we talking? And how much?

After we got home from the Miami game yesterday, we started toying with the idea of heading to Tennessee this weekend (about a 10 hour drive). It's not for sure yet, and we're still looking at tickets, but it would be cool to see how many people are heading over for the game. I'm seeing some great seats going in the $250-300 range, which may be too tempting to pass up. Once I start bidding, it's over.

I hadn't read this until just now... it fully supports the conclusion that I'd already reached myself... if teams just ran the two-minute offense against us for the entire game, we would be in serious trouble. A point I had been trying to make earlier today is that our pass-defense is vastly overrated, which I've felt since the Titans game early in the season. So long as we're getting pressure on the QB, we are able to cover up this weakness, and against poor quarterbacks as well.... but good quarterbacks knife through us like swiss cheese as soon as they go to the no-huddle. Now, this isn't so much of a problem as long as our coaching staff realizes that this isn't the 2000 defense. But during the Steelers/Ravens game a few weeks ago, I kept burying my head into my hands when I realized that we were just trying to build and protect a small lead rather than put the game away. If anyone was surprised when Roethlisberger drove down the field and scored the go-ahead touchdown, they definitely hadn't been watching the game with me, because as soon as we kicked our first field goal I was already yelling at our coaches for overestimating our defense. 3 and 6 point leads were good in 2000....NOT in 2006. If we have a three-score lead, then okay. But 6 and 7 point leads are nothing for us until we get another pro-bowl corner on roster. Not understanding the limitations of your own team = destined to fail.

I'm hoping the Eagles/Giants game goes to double-overtime, just so I can see the confused look on McNabb's face when they cut to him on the sideline.

I like to think that we learned our lesson during the Pittsburgh game with regards to conservative play-calling. As far as the game being over by halftime... it kind've was. Just not over over. The matchup I'm looking at for the Titans game is our o-line vs. their d-line. If we can keep them off of Flacco, I think those d-backs in Tennessee are in for a long day. Look for Mason to re-enter the head of Cortland Finnegan after he torches him with a few sideline grabs.

I'm not furious that Ed didn't win it, but it would be nice to have a two-time defensive player of the year on roster. Another two-time defensive player of the year, I mean.

I have it in good confidence that Flacco actually cares what I think about him. Yesterday after his one almost-interception, he looked right at me and mouthed the words "My bad." I told him not to worry about it, and he gathered the team to the huddle.

I've seen Roddy White bail out Ryan on throws like that several times this season... he's definitely right up there. I wish stats showed things like that... I'm hoping that the obviousness of those missed scoring-opportunities pushes Flacco to work on his deep-route timing with Clayton, Mason, and co. this week in preparation for the Titans game. Since we pretty much missed on every deep-route this week, perhaps we'll hit a bunch of them this next game. If we can, we could end up making Tennessee look foolish. Imagine if we actually hit a 50-60 yard TD score against them through the air... is there any way we lose that game then? I say no.

Here's what I want to know... are these "overthrown" balls actually being overthrown? Are the WR's making poor adjustments to them while they're in the air? Are our receivers running the wrong routes? I don't know what Joe is seeing when he releases the ball, and I don't know if maybe the receivers run crisper routes or look faster in practice... so I can't blame it all on him without this info. Yes, guys like Moss and Steve Smith and Fitzgerald and company are amazing receivers, and catch long touchdowns in stride over and over, but is it because their QB's are more accurate on their deep balls, or because the receivers are much better at adjusting their routes? I guess we'll have to get a WR who has proven himself as an NFL deep threat before we can know for sure. At least Flacco isn't forcing the ball into double coverage. Is this something that a QB has to learn to do to be successful? I know that Brady, Warner, and Manning get some of their best gains from passes that split or beat double-coverage (with amazing WR's)... rather than shying away from double-coverage entirely. Joe is in that middle-area right now between not wanting to take risks and not wanting to make mistakes. One thing that I can say for Matt Ryan is that he certainly feels more comfortable taking risks than Flacco does. I guess it's because he doesn't have to explain himself to Ray Lewis after a pick.

gg oggs. Just got home from the game... I managed to stay out of any altercations (there was only one fight that I saw, at the end of the game) and surprisingly I didn't give any flack to the Dolphins fans. Believe it or not, I actually felt bad for them (I wouldn't have felt bad for Steelers fans or Eagles fans...). Most of the trash-talking I did was done pre-game...the post-game mostly consisted of celebrating with fellow Ravens fans who made the trip down from Baltimore. I did, however, receive some interesting words from some Dolphins fans as we exited the stadium. For example: "Ray Lewis is a murderer." I didn't even respond to the guy as we walked by. And my favorite, as we walked past the (post-game) tail-gaters in the parking lot... "Keep moving... go shovel some snow." I told him we weren't going to Baltimore...we were headed to Tennessee.

Of course not...Derrick Mason is a fantastic veteran. But Roddy White is the better deep-threat, and since we're measuring the QB's based on yards and touchdowns, a guy like Roddy White is a bigger contributor there. Mason will come up with clutch catches all day long, but Roddy White is the type of guy who will rack up the yardage. What exactly does 'becoming the face of a franchise' actually entail in football terms? An extra photo-op here and there? Some commercials and billboards? If all Flacco had to do was come in and deal with the offense that he was given, rather than deal with the history of the team, then I don't see how Ryan's situation is that much different. I would imagine that he's never met Michael Vick, and doesn't really care too much about Bobby Petrino. If the "pressure" surrounding Flacco is fabricated, then so is Ryan's in my opinion. No, but I was one of the ones who said we needed to address our corner situation in the first round and then worry about our quarterback position with our second pick (this was when we thought Flacco would still be available in the second round or late 1st) I never said that Ryan would be a bust; only that: 1) QB wasn't our biggest need, as I trusted Troy Smith to manage the offense, and expected our defense to return to 2006 form (no one could have anticipated what would happen to Troy in the preseason...) 2) That Ryan's style of play didn't fit our team. He has certainly performed better than anyone could have anticipated this season, but at the time I felt that his 'gunslinging' style didn't complement our great defense. But that was only because I thought we could be successful right away without rebuilding our entire offense around a new QB. Obviously the season has gone a little differently than expected, with all of the injuries we've had. And it's not like it was wrong to think that we needed to nab a top CB in the first. I still think we could have grabbed Leodis McKelvin at #8 and then swung Flacco through some other deal... but we would have lost out on either Ray Rice or Tavares Gooden that way... so I guess we'll see in the long run what all of that means. But CB is still one of our biggest needs going into next season.

Any chance Savage rejoins the team?

What exactly does Kokinis do? How does his job compare to Phil Savage's, and who would take his place if he does indeed go to Cleveland?

... oggie... don't you have a Dolphins message board to troll? In case you were wondering why there are no Ravens fans over at the Dolphins message boards talking crap... It's because we don't consider you a serious opponent. We're already trolling the Titans boards in anticipation of our game next week. Good luck next season.

Okay, my turn! Anyone who plays fantasy football knows that Roddy White actually had a decent year last year, without Ryan at QB. Specifically, Roddy White had 83 catches for 1202 yards and 6 TD without Ryan. And Michael Jenkins had 53 catches for 532 yards and 4 TD in 2007. As a matter of fact, Roddy White is so good that he made Chris Redman look like a decent quarterback. Seeing as how 2007 was Roddy's 3rd season, which is generally considered the year that WR's break out, how exactly was he considered a bust? Once again, White's stats: 2007: 83 catches, 1202 yards, 6 TD (with Joey Harrington and Chris Redman) 2008: 88 catches, 1383 yards, 7 TD (with Matt Ryan) So a 4th year WR coming off a 1200 yard season is still not considered a veteran? Really? 4.2 more yards/game on 2 fewer carries per game. And if it weren't for those two consecutive 70+ yard runs against Dallas, these numbers wouldn't be nearly this close. The fact of the matter is that Michael Turner had 1700 yards rushing for Atlanta, and Baltimore's top three rushers barely equal this mark. Were it not for those two Dallas runs, Turner would still be way ahead of all three. And Flacco had the pressure of turning around an offense that hasn't had real success since Vinny Testaverde wore a Ravens uniform. I challenge you to name a more-maligned position in the NFL than Raven's quarterback over the last decade. Not only did Ryan come into the NFL from a pro-style offense and as a higher draft pick, but he knew early on that he would be the starter in Atlanta. Flacco was never meant to take a snap this season, but was forced into the lineup when the #1 and #2 QB went down in the preseason. Neither of these quarterbacks play defense. Most of the QB's with the best stats play on teams with terrible defenses. (Drew Brees, Jay Cutler, Philip Rivers, Kurt Warner to name a few...) Why could this be? The only way the defense matters is if you're referring to the fact that Flacco played in an offense designed to protect the ball and control the clock rather than score a huge amount of points, whereas Ryan's coaches called plays to score as many points as possible to make up for a poor defense. Also worth mentioning is that Flacco averaged twice as many yards per carry as Ryan and 2 rushing TD's to Ryan's 1. Flacco's rushing is a big part of his game, and cannot be overlooked.

Yes and yes.

We go to all of the Fins/Ravens games. If we made it out alive after last year, I think we'll be fine.