Something to Think About

[oldno82]

Jamison Hensley comments on the Ravens for this year. I'm not sure I agree with all of it but a lot of it makes sense:

 

"16 seasons.

That’s the Ravens’ current streak of not having a top-10 offense, per Hensley. Think back to Vinny Testaverde and Bam Morris in 1997 – that’s the last time Baltimore cracked the top 10.

With the addition of Offensive Coordinator Gary Kubiak and re-signing of Pitta, the Ravens have made positive strides in fixing the unit.

“But their work is far from over,” Hensley wrote. “Every move that Newsome makes this offseason should be done with the intention of helping Flacco, whom the Ravens know can be a championship quarterback with the right players around him. They saw it 14 months ago.”

Ravens brass said they want to get a move-the-chains pass catcher, bulk up the interior offensive line and add running back depth. They also want to lock up a couple of tackles (see Eugene Monroe update below).

To get the ball moving, Hensley names some options on the market that could help.

At center, there is Brian De La Puente (New Orleans), Ryan Wendell (New England) and Joe Hawley (Atlanta). You can cross Alex Mack (Cleveland) off the list after the Browns gave him the transition tag. At wide receiver, there is Eric Decker (Denver), Hakeem Nicks (New York Giants), Julian Edelman (New England) and Golden Tate (Seattle).

“If the Ravens want to have an aggressive offense, perhaps it's time to get more aggressive in adding players,” Hensley wrote. “By next week, Newsome will start his plan of reconstructing the Ravens' offense. A year from now, everyone will know whether Newsome did enough to improve it.”

I love the idea of at least adding Edelman.

One thing he didn't mention was we need one or possibly two OT's.

[colincac]

I don't see this offense making a jump with all the transition going on on the O-Line. We can be very solid, sure, but not Top-10 unless Flacco makes the leap.

[RavenousBG]

Top ten isn't important. The last 2 Super Bowl winners weren't top ten. It's about being the best when it counts most. Really good defense and a solid offense still wins you championships.

 

Don't get me wrong, I want us to have some bite on the offensive side of the ball and I hope we work to becoming ore efficient but we've never won a Super Bowl with a top ten offense, so why are we wanting one so badly. If we are top 10 in red zone efficiency and dominate on D and special teams, we will be fine. I think it's important to be able to stop the high octane offenses of today and have great red zone efficiency. I do mean scoring a high high percentage of TDs.

 

Hensley makes points but since the Pats started scoring a ton of points, how many SBs have they won? Peyton Manning won his SB when his D got better, not when the O produced more. Falcons? No SBs but top ten Offenses before last yr. I say keep your eye on the prize and not glamour and glitter.

[RavenMad]

I mostly agree with you BG but to be fair our offense did get hot in the playoffs and Joe was All Universe on that run.

[cravnravn]

I mostly agree with you BG but to be fair our offense did get hot in the playoffs and Joe was All Universe on that run.

That's exactly what it's all about, when your team gets hot. It takes 3 solid units to become champion, and they don't have to be top 10, even when we won the super bowl our d wasn't top 10, but our red zone d was top 5,

[RavenousBG]

I think you guys see where I'm coming from. Top ten offense isn't that important. If you can get hot then that's good enough if you have a good defense or strong defense and good special teams you can win a SB. We do need to get Joe weapons but top ten offense isn't some magic number for success.

[cravnravn]

Pay a ton won a super bowl in 2006,throwing more picks then tds in the playoffs and getting offensively shut out during one of those playoff games.

[RavenousBG]

Pay a ton won a super bowl in 2006,throwing more picks then tds in the playoffs and getting offensively shut out during one of those playoff games.

Ooooh, that's still a sore spot with me Cravn. But you're right. That may be the best Ravens team that didn't get to a SB. The 2012 team that lost to the Pats in the AFCN was up there too, may have been better. But 06 is a tough yr.

[cravnravn]

Ooooh, that's still a sore spot with me Cravn. But you're right. That may be the best Ravens team that didn't get to a SB. The 2012 team that lost to the Pats in the AFCN was up there too, may have been better. But 06 is a tough yr.

You had to go and bring up lee Evans,

 

Just when I thought I was getting over it

[vmax]

Last years offense was just about the worst that this franchise has ever had.

 

 

The key rankings for serious Super Bowl contenders is points scored and points surrendered.

 

Like Ravenous says...it can all change by getting hot in the playoffs...or cold like the Bengals.

[oldno82]

We've got to get a veteran center and OT and grabbing Edelman would be great. That's what I'm hoping for out of FA.

[Spen]

I think the offense should be the priority this offseason with every attempt to make it at least better than average, hopefully good. A team usually needs to be at least decent in all aspects of the game to win and the offense wasnt decent so it should be the priority. We should not hope a crappy offense suddenly finds its way in the playoffs. Sure it may happen, but it usually wont.