Week 7: Ravens BYE, time to regroup & get to work fixing problems

Things we need to work on:

Offense: Flacco seems to be taking too much time finding a reciever or making a descision to either get rid of the ball, run it, or throw it away. A lot of times he gets sacked because our line can't hold the Line Backers forever. The camera needs to pan our so we can see whats actually going on in the back field because I feel there's guys open but Flacco isn't getting it to them. And if they aren't open maybe Cameron needs to go back to some Wildcat plays with multiple RBs & QBs on the field. I haven't seen Troy Smith but once this season & I think a lot of our success from last year stemmed from confusing the defense. It's gusty but if it works it gets wins.

Defense: SECONDARY!! Are these guys NFL players? We really need to rethink our secondary. Washington has been a thorn in our sides since he replaced Rolle. He can not make a tackle except accidently. Foxworth is a little better but I haven't seen anything spectacular from him either. We depend on these guys to stay on top of WRs so our Offense can get to work, but if they keep allowing TDs then the Offense has to do double the work. I think we need to put in some of the Rookies & see how they perform. They can't be any worse than what we have now. I thin the other issue may be from poor coordination. I think Greg Mattison is not coordinating as well as Ryan did. With a subpar secondary I think you need to call the plays for these guys to be ready. They need to be told where to go depending on how the offense is set up. He may need to step down & let someone else in that can call the plays a little better. But ultimately it'll be up to Harbaraugh to decide.

After all is said & done I think this bye will be a good time to regroup & fix things to end our losing streak. We face the Broncos next who should be a good team to regain some confidence. Although undefeated I think we will play better especially since we're at home again.

Week 1 Ravens beat Chiefs

Week 1 we beat the KC Chiefs but.. as usual I have some praises & criticisms.

A few notes about the game. First off, Flacco played like a champ & proved he is a leader. He came back this year & played like he did last. He definitely stepped up & rose to the challenge he was given back when he was surprised as starting QB. Flacco was definitely Joe Cool this past Sunday moving & rocketing passes into the end zone. There were several close calls where Joe was deep in a closing pocket but he kept his head up & hit his receivers. The terrible defense from KC also gave Joe massive amounts of time, but even with or without the time he kept his composure.

Second, McGahee & Heap finally step up. McGahee has been battling injuries, seems like for the past 2 years & he didn't seem to come back like his original self til last Sunday. After Rice was announce as starter I think McGahee realized he's got something to prove again & definitely proved it last game. Also, Heap, in the past has been a force as one of the top TE's in the league, but with his battling injuries the last couple seasons we haven't seen alot from him. I think Newsome's draft with Oher gave Flacco the extra protection he needed to open Heap up again & he definitely came through.

Looking towards Game 2 @ San Diego
After our game against KC & SD's game over OAK I'm a little worried.
our secondary played terribly (I'm hatin' mostly on Washington he can never stick with the WRs!) vs SDs secondary played semi-well, granted it was against OAK & they did mess up on the long pass last quarter but, overall they played pretty well shutting down the run game & short passing.

Offense:
We're going to have to pass alot & make most passes long. Doubt we're gonna be able to run much, looked like SD did pretty well stopping that game (then again McFadden & Bush is no McGahee & Rice). Also the short pass game got shut down so if Heap gets the same attention he's gonna have to keeps his hands like glue to get the yards. Overall I think our offense should be fine as long as Flacco plays like he did vs KC. Also if McGahee moves like he did.

Defense:
We gotta shut down Rivers before he gets the bombs off, like 10000x's faster than we did with Croyle. Hopefully Gooden will be able to play, its obvious we really need him. Washington has gotta step up, Foxworth looked fine, but i really feel like Washington needs to be benched, is Rolle gonna heal? Also are we gonna play Kruger? He played amazingly in the preseason they need to get him in there! Overall the D will step up for this game because the lack of D last, but they really gotta step it up we need points from offense & D like the old days!

Then there's special teams... what the heck blocked punt to TD (has that ever happened to us before?!?). I know this wont happen again but seriously.

Flacco for Reebok, Mason still undecided on retirement claim

Joe Flacco in the Reebok: NFL Fantasy Files. Nice. Can't wait til the season starts to see these spots on during the games. Next year should be a good sophmore year for Joey, he's always been referred to as "growing" & he doesn't have the ego that most QB get after they know they're good. Humility & talent make for greatness & I think we can see this in Joe.

Back to the Mason drama. He still has yet to sign any retirement papers, so was this a ploy to try to pull in more money & extension on his contract? Some believe this was a tactic to bring in more money, but we'll have to wait & see what he decides. Harbaugh & Mason did meet on Tuesday to discuss his announcement, but there didn't seem to be a resolution as to what he would decide. Harbaugh said, "From a coaching standpoint, I think we have a chance to be a really good team, and if Derrick Mason is a part of it, that makes us even stronger," Harbaugh said. "But if he's not, we're still going to be a really good team. It comes down to Derrick and where his mind is at. He's the only one that can decide that."
Mason should stick with us, everyone in Baltimore loves him, he's kind of getting old, & I don't think he'll get what he wants with any other team. So just come back Mason we need you & you need us, whether you know it or not.

Draft 2009 Results

Draft 2009 results:

Rd 1, Pick 23 (23)	Michael Oher OT
Rd 2, Pick 25 (57)	Paul Kruger DE
Rd 3, Pick 24 (88)	Lardarius Webb CB
Rd 5, Pick 1 (137)	Jason Phillips ILB
Rd 5, Pick 13 (149)	Davon Drew TE
Rd 6, Pick 12 (185)	Cedric Peerman RB

Michael Oher (OT) picked first round (23rd pick after we traded up from the Patriots) will bring more protection for Flacco. Great pick, we did need more protection on the line & Oher will give it. With the other picks we added more arsenal for the defense which I guess this is a good idea I'm not sure it should have been priooritzed over the much needed recievers but our scouts & Newsome seemed to think so. Finally, we added another TE & RB which I really don't think we needed, but I guess they'll be helpful in the long run sitting on the back burner. So DHB was drafted (I feel way to prematurely & who I wanted mainly because he was from MD & was sick at the combine) by Oakland our chances of snatching him were put to rest. The other WR's that had been on people minds: Kenny Britt (Rutgers) taken by Tennessee, Hakeem Nicks (UNC) taken by the Giants, & Brian Robiskie (Ohio State) by Cleveland I think we're all wondering what Newsome plans to do about our need for more WR's.
He reported to the Sun "I will again say this: We went to the AFC chapionship game with the guys that we had, and Demetrius was not healthy. We get a healthy Demetrius Williams back -- and he's working toward that -- then with the way we're going to be able to protect it, the way Joe Flacco can throw it, the way our running backs can run it, and the way we play defense and special teams, we'll be around at the end of December and January just with the team we have right now. I feel very good about that." - Newsome. So apparently we're just gonna stick with what we got with the WR's. I can't argue too much with this decision, Mason & Clayton did fine last season (even better than usual with Flacco throwing better than our usual QB's). Come next year they should perform just as well if not better now that they know Flacco can get it to them. I think we can hold out on picking up more WR's at least 1 more year before our current WR's ages catch up with their careers. So overall our picks were a OK, not spectacular & not exactly what everyone wanted but still smart (can't get everyone at 26th). Even with all the players drafted you can't look too much into their college & combine stats. When the season starts & the injuries come into play we'll see how these guys adapt to the League & their true potentials.

Ravens still looking for Defensive Secondary & Recievers

Couple new bits of news to announce, the Ravens are currently in negotiations with cornerback Chris Carr (from Tennesee). He hasn't officially signed anything, but there have been reports he will be coming to Baltimore. Carr had 29 tackles & 1 INT last season with Tenn. I feel any player from Tennessee will be a defensive boost for any team. The Ravens secondary is in some need of new blood & any player half decent (I feel) will play better D for us when you got Ray screaming in your face. Now to the offensive scouting. The team is also looking for WR's, Torry Holt (STL) is now free & he seems like a viable addition. Mason & Clayton are Flacco's main go-to guys, other than them our offense is mainly RB's & FB's that run. If we can get some more guys to go down field we could get some more offisive TD's (opposed to our main sccoring methods of INT's & FG's). Another worry is that Mason said he's looking for a contract extension. He's getting older & trying to get an extension might hurt him more than it would the team. Some other WR's on the market are: Marvin Harrison (IND), Amani Toomer (NYG), Shaun McDonald (DET), Lance Moore (NO). All these guys are kind of secondary, but any adds for Flacco to look at will help our stats as well as any of the WR's we pick up (maybe more so on our team than where they were prior).

More Losses: Rex Ryan taking all defensive players he can in the league

Yes, I'm sorry to announce more players leaving us. Most of these free agents I expected to leave, but now its official. Bart Scott announced last Friday that he would be joining Rex in NY. Then, Leonhard announced yesterday he would join Scott on the Jets no surprise being Rex's favorite (he brought him to Baltimore & started him). Then we had the news of our center Jason Brown who signed with a huge ($37.5 million the most any center has received) contract to the Rams. What the hell is going on here!!! Flacco is saying he's not worried, but I don't think he/we will see these ripple effects until next fall. Now we have to go from here, take these losses into account & salvage what we can for next season. Also, these losses will be a factor come draft day, more to come soon (like a few minutes).