RavenMad

Doesn't he do this every year? Then come December he looks like a 3rd stringer.

A familiar pattern to last year is developing. It seems as if week to week one of the D, O or Special Teams alternate between looking amazing to shitting the bed. This week it was the D's turn to not turn up. I expect a Special Teams fiasco next week. Then maybe we will win a few games before the problem arises again. Play like a Raven these days means only turning up for 10 or 11 regular season games I guess. Is it too early to start my annual "Fire Dean Pees" thread?

I always felt that the punishment for deflategate was influenced by a feeling of enough is enough. How many times were the Pats going to be allowed to get caught cheating without a proper punishment? Although not a major offense, this whole thing had the feel of a make up call and now the reports coming out reflect exactly that feeling. The Pats will be forever viewed as cheaters and their championships should all be marked with a * in the history books.

I'm not too worried about the O. The O-Line actually has done a decent job when you look at some of the scrubs that had to play. Once the starters are ready to go (which looks good for game 1) and then the good depth is there in Urschel and Hurst we should be good to go. Joe has looked good and the TEs have looked good. Just need someone to step up from the pack of WRs behind Smith. The D on the other hand has me worried. The poor tackling is a worry. The lack of pressure from the front 4/5 is a worry. Our secondary and some of the poor coverage is a worry. I'm not a big fan of Dean Pees and if the play from preseason keeps up this should be his final season in Baltimore because the preseason D is not Ravens D.

Yeah and then I saw him in a couple of games and he couldn't catch a kick off let alone a Pass!

Can't tackle, can't get pressure, can't cover. It could be a long season.

While not an excuse for coming out so flat on all sides of the ball, one commentator did make the point about game planning. There is next to no game planning going on for these preseason games and that Chip's offense is really hard to defend against if you are not keying on certain situations. Having watched a lot of Pac-10/Pac-12 ball I can attest that the passive game plan we had out there on D does not work against Chip's O. Man Coverage and being aggressive along the line (and with LBs) with shooting gaps is key. You have to get into the backfield and stop the play early. On a side note, what T Suggs did to Bradford is absolutely what you should be doing on every option play, hit the QB. 1 of 2 things will happen. The QB will get injured or he will start handing the ball off a lot quicker. Whatever the result when Chip is down to his 3rd QB in the game he will quickly yank the read option OR the option will be less effective if the QB is handing the ball off or throwing it a lot quicker because he is tired of getting hit.

Ozzie is going to have a hard time holding on to all 3 when their rookie deals are up.

You mean this guy?

Flynn is a 1 game wonder. At least Schaub had a few decent seasons. I hope we won't have to rely on either for more than a few snaps of mop up duty.

I absolutely believe this is a case of enough is enough. The Pats have got caught with their hand in the cookie jar once too often and the NFL has grown tired of having to defend the integrity of the Pats' championships. From Spygate to Deflategate each one of the Pat's Superbowl wins has been brought into question. This is a case of the NFL telling the Pats that any transgression no matter how small will be met with the full force of the leagues disciplinary actions from now on and it's about time.

Put him on the PUP list and shut him down for 6 weeks of the season. See what we have in the rookies and Gilmore and then make a decision if we need him back or not. That gives him a bit more time to test it out in practice and gives us time to see if we need him or not.

I have to agree with Grubber here.

All the players mentioned will be off the books for 2016. However, we have the Pitta situation hanging over our heads. If he has to retire and assuming he is a June 1st cut then there is $12.8m dead money to be split over 2015 and 2016. That means an additional $200k cap hit this year and $6.4m in dead money for 2016. Other potential dead money candidates for 2016 season: Steve Smith - Can't see him going beyond this season and the cap savings would be $3m in 2016 but dead money will be $1.167m Daryl Smith - Will be 34 and we can save $2.625m in cap savings but dead money will be $1.75m. That's still a lot of dead money to carry into 2016 especially with Joe's cap hit effectively doubling going into 2016.

Yep. The Patriots bluffed, got called and now have folded like a cheap suit.

There was a rumor a while back that someone from the Ravens warned the Colts about the deflated balls. The Colts were waiting on it. That's why the refs tested the balls at half time of the championship game as someone from the Colts asked for it to be done.

We have only 1 draft bust from Bama. What's the problem? CJ Mosley 1st round 2014 - Made Pro Bowl in 1st year. Courtney Upshaw 2nd round 2012 - Has been a solid LB. He has career stats of 48 games with 132 tackles and 3 sacks. He is not a pro bowler but he isn't a bust either. Terrence Cody 2nd round 2010 - Has been a bust. Worst thing we did was have him lose weight. At least when he was fat he was a space eater rather than just a big waste of space. Le'Ron McClain 4th round 2007 - Was a long time starter at FB and was a multi use threat. Was an All Pro in 2008 and 2009. Jarret Johnson 4th round 2003 - Played in a team record 129 straight games including starting 80 games. Don't think he made any pro bowls but I can't think of too many guys more deserving of a pro bowl nod. Terry Jones 5th round 2002 - Played in 46 games before being cut and picked up by the 49ers. Had 50 receptions for 417 yds and 5 TDs in his career as a Raven. Not too bad for a 5th round pick. Wouldn't call this a bust. Ozzie has been in charge for 19 drafts and has taken 6 Bama players of which 1 out of 6 has been a bust. But hey don't let the facts get in your way of a good Ozzie bashing.

There isn't a lot of miles on the clock either. He only started to get carries after Lane Kiffin was fired so has only been the featured back for about a year and a half.

Really like this pick. Buck runs angry and has good vision. Should be a good fit with our zone blocking scheme and he can catch out of the backfield.

Perriman is a bigger, faster, cheaper Torrey Smith. We saved about $25m with this move and will get a comp pick next year for Torrey. This is what good teams do, they retool through the draft.

Happy draft day everyone. I hope you can set down your riot gear long enough to enjoy the occasion.

Tough call. I have no problem with weed. The problem I have is the stupidity of some of these athletes. Millions of dollars are at stake here, put the weed away at least until you sign the contract.

It depends who else is available and who we take in the 1st. There are some decent true TEs available in the draft including the Miami TE who is expected to go sometime in the 2nd round.

I keep seeing the RBs mocked to us in the 1st and I pray we don't "waste" a pick on a 1st round RB. There are so many guys available later in the draft that are only a notch below Gordon and Gurley. I think we end up with a CB in the 1st. There are a number of guys projected to go in or around our pick with Peters, Collins and Johnson mentioned most often. I think we wait until the 2nd round for a receiver and might use a 4th round pick to move up in the 2nd to get someone who is mentioned as a 1st/2nd round prospect.

Great stuff TBird. Thanks,