wackywabbit

IDK why the Kaepernick run is so frowned upon. He came one drive from a SB victory and the following year one drive from beating probably the strongest team of this decade. It's too narrow a view that the only positive outcome is a super long term marriage.

I'd like to issue a reminder that we had one of the best defenses in the league last year. Top 3 for sure. They were the biggest reason we won 10 games, got the division title, and certainly played well enough in the wild card game for us to advance, if the offense carried its weight. I specifically remember before the Titans game last season this forum was all up in a hissy because Bowser and/or Williams was made inactive. We only got 11 sacks without them. Now, I'm still a believer that the Williams/Bowser duo can and WILL make their mark on this franchise. But, I'm not going to fault the coaching staff for the their choices in the past because last season was a great success for the defense. And that's the bottom line. If we see a fall-off on the field, then I think their approaches can be questioned.

Me either. The Ravens were a 10 win division champ and have no expectations this year. The Browns, coming off a losing season, have all the pressure to translate all their offseason accolades to real wins. It's going to be fun.

Well let's just send him over and find out.

It was a terrible game by him and the entire offense. But still just one game. My issue is with labeling something a trend because of what happened in 3 quarters of 1 game. You all don't remember Flacco having a playoff game where he went 4/10 for 34 yards 0 TDs 1INT. That certainly wasn't a trend. He went on to have the single greatest playoff run by a QB in my lifetime and other very strong playoff outings. Going into the specifics of what the Chargers did on defense that is supposedly a magic formula, I don't even think there was anything noteworthy there. Every single team stacked the box against Lmar going back to Cincy in his first start. The Chargers also did the extra DB thing in the week 16 game the Ravens won. You know how the Patriots wrecked that formation? By running the ball right at them. If you can get to second level running the ball and you are facing DBs instead of linebackers, that defense will fall apart. The key difference between the week 16 game and the wild card game was that the Ravens offensive line won convincingly in week 16 and lost convincingly in the wild card round. The Pats would have rolled over the Chargers without throwing a pass with how their line played. And again, people are choosing to rule out the possibility that the Ravens change up their offense, OR Lamar Jackson improves as a player, OR that the young playmakers we finally invested in pan out and upgrade over the WR group we built completely from off-season scraps last year. Receivers are paid/drafted to improve the passing game; it's not 100% on the QB.

It's really amusing hearing all of these first 3 quarters against the Chargers references. Like, it's not narrow enough to form a conclusion of a 21 year old rookie based on a single performance in his first playoff game against one of the most talented defense in the league... we also need to throw out one of the 4 quarters because the Chargers weren't trying hard enough.

Hmm.. that wouldn't have anything to do with Jackson only attempting 170 total passes vs 400+, would it? Y'all need to chill out on over-analyzing the stats. The only smart answer is to wait for more data on all these QBs.

Exactly. These moves aren't the type where the veteran player will be handed a job and snaps to justify the investment. If the young guys are ready to help the team, these additions will not stop them.

I'm definitely rooting for Flacco this year. I don't care what people think about it, but I can't root for a guy for over a decade and then stop because his team changed. I almost always root for ex-Ravens to do well, but with a QB, it's hard to separate that from a team doing well.

That's a respectable and pretty bold prediction to say the Ravens will move on from Jackson as the starter during or after the 2019 season. Let's see if it happens.

So, what exactly would have to happen on the field in 2019 for you to not consider your opinion validated? I get the sense that if the Ravens season ends with anything other than a SB victory where Lamar has a great statistical outing, you will be auto-validating all over yourself at that moment.Try to actually make a statement, instead of a vaguery that you can "validate" even if Lamar leads the Ravens to another division title. Seriously, what exactly is the lowest bar that you feel very confident Lamar won't reach? Will he not end the season as the starter? Fail to win 6 games? Lead a bottom 5 offense? I feel like those milestones match up with the sentiment you seem to have. But you seem scared to put out a tangible statement.

I only get salty about on-field results.

Sure would be embarassing if your #1 overall pick handed the division title again to a QB that can't throw.

We know as little about how the Ravens offense will look as just about any team in the league. Seems like people aren't really grasping that they threw together an offense built up from a change of pace package into a full time thing to keep the team afloat while Flacco healed. Given they went on that tear and only lost 1 OT game at KC, it made sense to see how far it could take them. The offensive coordinator was fired/replaced and yet everyone thinks they want to do the exact same thing? We aren't going to see the 2018 offense again for 16 games. Lamar Jackson running will be a huge asset and I'm glad they aren't afraid to use that. But we're talking about a guy who was born the same year as the 3 new rookie 1st round QBs. There is a wide range of outcomes for his development and career, despite how much you want to make simplistic comparisons.

Completely agree on this. Hollywood was the single prospect I was hoping for the Ravens to get and it was because his tape is ridiculously good. Honestly, I only watched a few draft prospects closely before the draft, but did closely look at the top receivers for obvious reasons. After doing so, I got into a few debates about how in the world Hollywood was being projected/graded in the same group as DK Metcalf or any other WR prospect. It's been at least a couple of years since I've seen a receiver prospect that looked that dominant against top college competition. The size may be a concern along with the foot injury, especially given a foot injury really set our top pick back last year, but I also see those as the only reasons Brown didn't go much higher in the draft. If that guy had a chance to workout... Jaylon Ferguson is similar in a way because if you just watched what he did on tape, you'd think he would be gone much much higher. He also didn't get to work out at the combine, because of an old off the field issue. He did have a pro day workout, but it wasn't great. He looked much more explosive on the field than he timed for in his workouts. The next two picks Boykin and Hill tested out really great so they don't really fit the pattern of buying low on great tape and ignoring the offseason so much, but I think the top two picks will define the draft and I'm really excited about both.