The Pivot

(pivot -a pin, point, or short shaft on the end of which something rests and turns, or upon and about which something rotates or oscillates)
 
Ok so 2016 ended on a whimper and we Ravens fans have mostly gotten our whine and cheese platters emptied by now; mostly.  Expectations were high, probably way too high, for a team coming off a 5-11 season with major injuries across the board.  We lost starters and team leaders at every level in 2015.  As you know, the only part of the team that wasn't dealt a devastating blow was the kicking unit.  Heck, at one point, even the ball boys were afraid to go on the field for fear of blowing out an Achilles.  I used to worry when the kids who ran out to get the kicking tee at the start of each home game would stumble a little bit.  But after that apocalyptic disastrous season, why on Earth would we fans realistically EXPECT to go to and win a Super Bowl?  Why?  Because we are fans, and fan is a derivative of the word fanatic.  We are fanatical and ridiculous in our expectations, and our wants outreached what we should have seen.  Instead of focusing on what our eyes could see, we saw what we wanted to have happen.  Ozzie brought in some good Free Agent players named Wallace, Weddle and Watson, and we had a really good Draft.  We had a good Draft because we drafted as a team who was sitting in the 6th position.  We hit home runs with our 1st pick at number 6, Ronnie Stanley, and though the 2nd and 3rd round picks are still on the developing stage (disappointingly) they seem to have a high ceiling.  Then came the magical 4th round and players named Dixon and Young and the 5th round and a guy named Matt Judon all showed that draft position doesn't matter, if you have the ability and the heart, you can make a difference and contribute in the NFL.  So though, again, we were coming off a 5-11 season, and so many players/ stars were coming off injury, we somehow expected to go back to another Super Bowl.  Oh well, we finished 8-8 and had another OC fired in the middle of the season and our QB threw for 4000 yards for the first time but did so by throwing the ball far too many times. 

The running game all but disappeared and the Defense wore out late in games and late in the season.  And though the team beat a couple of playoff bound teams in Miami and Pittsburgh, we ended up being a mediocre team with some bright spots but not quite ready to play in the big time; the playoffs.
But 8-8 means you are in the middle and ended up putting the team smack dab in the middle of the 2017 Draft, #16.  In the first round there will be 32 picks made and sitting at 16 is the spot where magic can happen.  This is spot where Ozzie can elect to move up and not have to give up too much, or move back deeper and garner more players to help in key areas of need.  Replacing Steve Smith Sr is a must do, finding another Running Back and some more Cornerbacks are also key.  But we also could/should address the O Line again with a bigger, stronger Center and maybe another Right Tackle.  But the key thing is we sit at the pivot, the Ravens have a chance to do some big things in this Draft that will set the team up for a few years to come.  Last year at #6, we didn't have a chance to get the player most of us wanted in Jalen Ramsey and some of us wanted in Ezekiel Elliott because the teams that drafted those guys WANTED those guys, so Ozzie stood pat and ended up with a really good player who will probably have a great career and had a very good rookie campaign.  But at 16?  The Mock Drafts will start to flood our eyes and ears now and "experts" will pick players for us as if they are reading not only Ozzie's mind, but the 14 teams that will draft ahead of us (keep in mind, as of now, Cleveland has 2 picks, #1 & #12).  This is when fans will stop being friends and start banging tables figuratively and literally for the player that THEY think Ozzie should draft at #16 when they argue with other fans.  The calls for trading the pick will come from all sectors.  Calls for Ozzie to be fired will hail down if the "sure guy" in your mind is not the one who comes to Baltimore.  A clear half the fans will end up loving the pick and another half will hate it, whomever it ends up being.  Regardless of how it shakes out, the Ravens will either parlay not only that pick but the other picks into a successful Draft and a successful season in 2017, or they won't.  No matter how it all shakes out, we fans will either be ecstatic about next season, or we won't.  How do "I" think things will go?  I think it's 50/50.  Welcome to the pivot.

The True King of the North

What burns me up is the commentary/ criticism that we've only beaten winless teams. Excuse me but 16 teams beat winless teams in week 1, right?  Come week 2 16 other teams were undefeated as well and some lost and some won. But the Ravens didn't get to pick this schedule and funny thing, 2 of the winless teams they faced were supposed to beat them. Interesting how that worked out, huh?  I even remember some "experts" predicting that come week 3 we'd be still winless because the Bills had the great Rex, (already fired his OC after 2 games); the Jags had a great young Defense with a QB who threw for 4K last year (3 INTs against us) and the Brown could possibly upset us because Hugh has those guys believing in themselves and his GM drafted and picked the team based on baseball type analytics. And what about the draft they had???

Well we beat them all, we haven't changed OC or DC, have the best Special Teams in the league so far and most of OUR draft picks are making contributions; most notably our 1st round LT, our 2nd round rush LB and our 4th rounders who no one ever hears of before the Draft - Tavon, Lewis, Judon. Oh and Momma there's that man who didn't even GET drafted playing NT!

Screw the critics, screw the experts, screw the media haters and screw the rest of the league. We're #1 in the division as of today and 1 of only 5 teams still undefeated. Had the Packers or Steelers played this schedule at this point and still been undefeated everyone would be jocking their success and hailing them as the Super Bowl 51 favorites!

All Hail The Ravens; the TRUE King of the North!

BSH Report: Week 1, Game 1; Game WON!

BSH Report: Week 1, Game 1; Game WON!: Well, that was easy..., Said NO ONE at the game this past Sunday.  But what it was, was, fun.  Watching the Ravens that we fans have all c...

Week 1, Game 1; Game WON!

Well, that was easy...,

Said NO ONE at the game this past Sunday.  But what it was, was, fun.  Watching the Ravens that we fans have all come to expect and love was a welcomed sight.  After the year that we fans and the players and coaches, experienced last season, the game against the Rex Ryan coached Buffalo Bills was a great cure all.  If you have been a long termed fan of the Ravens you had to appreciate the close, hard fought, Defensive struggle that actually formed the identity of the team.  Smash mouth is what it used to be called.  Holding the other team's Running Back to less than 100 yards, heck, the entire running game to less than 100 yards; getting after the Quarterback; off the edge blitzes that disrupted that Quarterback; that is Ravens football people, and if the win against the Buffalo Bills yesterday is any indicator, it is BACK Baby!

Knocking Down the Hard Knocks

I will address some of these later but I wanted to address some "knocks" on some of the guys on this team for this season.  Several "experts", pundits, even some fans had some negatives or "critiques" that they were SURE of for the 2016 Baltimore Ravens. That all seemed to be forgotten after this game...,

• Mike Wallace - "lost a step, not the same deep threat he was with Pittsburgh"
• Steve Smith Sr - "too old to come back after that kind of injury, should retire" 
• Justin Forsett - "clearly is not the leader of the RBs anymore, should be replaced"
• Ronnie Stanley - "not the sexy pick, Leremy Tunsill would be a better fit"
• Alex Lewis - "stupid move, starting a rookie Guard and Tackle against Rex's Defense"
• Breshad Perriman - "fragile; wasted draft pick, a bust with no hands"
• Terrell Suggs - "washed up and unmotivated, he doesn't take the game seriously anymore"
• Shareece Wright - "how did he make this team? What a waste of good cap space"
• Lardarius Webb - "he's about to get cut, they put him at Safety so they can cut him"
• Dennis Pitta - "2 hip injuries in 3 years? He should retire"

Well I guess that just proves that the nattering naysayers of negativity are once again, wrong.  In Ozzie Newsome We Trust.  #IOWT

 

Buffalo Bills Game, some observations

Let's do a breakdown okay?
There were some really good take-aways to celebrate. Let's start with the Offense.
Quarterback - Old steady Joe was back.  Even though the Offensive Line gave up 4 sacks; at least 2 can be attributed to Joe holding the ball just a little too long.  Flacco will tell you himself that he held onto the ball just a tad too long, but some blame has to be shared by the O Line.  I will get to them in a second.  For hitting receivers in stride, for bringing back that long accurate deep ball, for distributing the ball to 10 different receivers, for managing the game well and for calling an audible OUT of a called running play; and all while throwing ZERO INTs; I am giving Joe Flacco an A-.  Yeah I said minus, he did have those 4 sacks that I mentioned and 2 were totally his fault.
O-Line - Those 4 sacks are disturbing; especially when you remember that the QB was starting in his first game after suffering a mid-season major knee injury.  Those sacks were not devastating, but they could have been.  But they were starting 2 rookies on the left side (QB's blind side) and against a Rex Ryan/ Rob Ryan Defense, the rookies graded out really well.  #1 pick Ronnie Stanley; a player I was initially upset we drafted with that 6th pick, had 1 false start but after that, I never heard his name called.  I would like him to get stronger and he will grow bigger, but with his inside help also being a rookie, and some help from RBs and TEs, the kid was outstanding.  None of the 4 sacks that were given up were attributed to Stanley, and again he and fellow rookie LG Alex Lewis held up against Rex Ryan's blitzes.  Moving further inside I am really disappointed in Center Jeremy Zuttah.  All preseason the shotgun snaps between the Center and the QB have been suspect; high and sometimes wide snaps were bothersome.  The thought was that once the season started and regular practices with starters were the rule, that foolishness would stop.  It resurfaced with disastrous results.  On a drive that was looking pretty good, while Joe was making calls at the line, up came the ball from Zuttah and being unprepared Flacco scrambled to catch the ball but it was fumbled and lost to the Bills.  Pressure up the middle and from the Right was far too frequent.  Marshall Yanda had his name called 3 times for penalties, again, disturbing.  That all has to be fixed immediately.  Overall grade for the O Line? B-
Running Backs - Only 2 were dressed as last year's 4th round pick Buck Allen was a healthy scratch, (that to me is kind of troubling).  But Forsett and West came to play yesterday.  They each had clutch carries and neither of them fumbled.  They both blocked effectively though West missed a free runner that contributed to a sack.  The running game did not produce 100 yards, but against Rex Ryan that was a tall order anyway.  But again, they had clutch and effective runs.  I would have expected in a game where a productive running game would have been the best thing to help the starting left side rookie O Line, I guess it wasn't critical or to the team's success.  Running backs grade?  C+
Receiving game - Breshad Perriman had a clutch catch that was pretty spectacular and for 35 yards!  So much for his "bad hands" knock.  Dennis Pitta had three catches, 1 that was pretty sly as he so clearly pushed off at the last minute to gain separation everyone in opposite end zone could see it.  Thank goodness the officiating crew was in "game 1 mode" and missed it clean.  But that catch had the crowd juiced and up out of our seats.  Steve Sr had 5 nice catches in his return after his torn Achilles injury; not a lot of yards, but he no longer has to be "THE" man on the team.  Not that Mike Wallace has supplanted him, but he is now a compliment and option that will give Defenses fits.  Oh and about Mr Wallace?  1 great bomb play that had everyone in the stands wearing purple, and I suspect all Ravens fans watching on TV, dancing in their seats.  66 yard TD?  Are you kidding me?  All of that and rookie Chris Moore also had a 13 yard reception though he dropped an initial target.  But that kid's potential is clearly evident.  Last year's season hero; Kamar Aiken? 2 catches for 14 yards; again serviceable.  But the beauty of it all is that no one had more than 5 catches and all contributed to the win.  Grade for the group?  B+ with an uptrending arrow.
Offensive Coordinator - Marc Trestman called an effective if not exciting game.  The potential to do more is there and it was clear.  But this was game one, and after watching games literally fly away from us because we threw the ball too much.  The running game was designed to keep the Bills D honest and keep the ball away from their Offense.  Without going into deeper detail, I will give him a B-.  I am hoping for and expecting more in week 2 against the Browns.
I will detail the grades for the Defense in tomorrow's blog but I am relinquishing the following space for a guest blogger.

A word from Marcus Wyche

Game 1 Thoughts 

Watching the Ravens play the Bills brought me great joy and great frustration as well. The defense gave me much joy and the offense, well not so much. The defense was getting after Tyrod Taylor and the Bills offense all game and if it wasn't for one missed tackle, the Bills may have only scored 3 points. Who would have thought that a corner back, Shareece Wright, would lead the team in tackles, with 11? Wright was all over the place making tackles. This was not the same guy I saw in the preseason giving up play after play with his soft coverage. The next closest defender in tackles was Zach Orr, who played a pretty good game himself. I was really impressed with Timmy Jernigan. He got a sack, but he didn't get flagged for any of those stupid penalties he has been known to get in the past. I haven't seen this defense fly around like this; not since the Ray Lewis, Ed Reed show. We actually did a Rex Ryan on the Bills. We showed who’s defense was the best; yesterday. I will say this much about the Bills; Tyrod Taylor is hard to bring down. We should have had about 50 sacks (just kidding), but should have had at least 4 to 5 sacks on him yesterday, but his elusiveness really showed.
The Offense gave (me) much frustration, but I have to remember, these guys have not played together much this year, so this was like a preseason game for them. At times, they looked lost and confused, with some early penalties causing early drives to stall. I will not go on a rant, but Jeremy Zuttah needs to play better and not get his QB killed or hike the ball when he feels it’s the right time. The Ravens looked out of sync at times and I am not sure if it was the Bills’ defense that caused it or the lack of continuity that the offense showed due to lack of playing together. For the Ravens to get to where they want to be, they will have to run the ball better. They did run the effectively when it was needed, but I feel as though we left too many plays and too many yards on the field. Flacco, looked tentative when in the pocket, like he didn’t trust his knee. I am not used to seeing Flacco just stand there in the pocket and not move around to avoid the rush. I do understand that the offense is normally a step behind in the beginning of the season, but I am hoping the Ravens show more consistency against the Browns.
Next up, we have the Cleveland Browns. I do expect to see more continuity from the offense and more points. I would expect the run game to be better as well as the passing game. I also do not expect to see Marshall Yanda with the penalties he had. The defense should be on point like it was against the Bills and we should come away with the win. 

BSH Report: The 2016 Season is Upon Us - Some Observations

BSH Report: The 2016 Season is Upon Us - Some Observations: Cuts are in, Your Team is Set; Now What? Ok everyone, do as I say..., BREATHE!  The cuts have been made, players have been released, other...

The 2016 Season is Upon Us - Some Observations

Cuts are in, Your Team is Set; Now What?

Ok everyone, do as I say..., BREATHE!  The cuts have been made, players have been released, other new players have been signed, dreams were realized and other dreams have been crushed.  So goes life in the NFL, for EVERY team.
Fans across the league love their team for all kinds of serious and not so serious reasons.  But along with that love comes some pretty intense loyalty to players who haven't really impacted the team or it's successes.  Chief among those players are rookies.  Rookies come to a team with all kinds of expectations.  Expectations go and come from all different directions; teams expect the players to compete and give all they have to make the team.  The rookies want to make an impression, make the team, make lots of money, and in some cases, make a name for themselves.  And what of the fans?  What do we want?  We want each kid that is drafted, especially those drafted higher, to come in and immediately win a starting job, set the league on fire and take the team to the Super Bowl and win it!  To that end we go to the team's website, the NFL's website, ESPN's website, a plethora of blogs, writer and newspaper sites and all kinds of other sources just to catch some smidgen of information on the players and how they are progressing.  If they have a chance to go to training camp, fans will be treated to all kinds of fan friendly experiences even if they don't want that.  But when you get a chance to see in person, what you have been excited about, you jump at that I guess. 

But back to my point; after a few weeks of reading every piece of information and watching every video and interview, we are treated to what some of us THINK is the definitive measure of how the new kids are doing; preseason games.  Most coaches only trot out their 1st round picks with the starters but the majority of the new guys play with the 2nd and 3rd string guys against other 2nd and 3rd stringers.  It is easy to excited when that guy makes that catch or this guy snaps off that 40 yard run.  How many tackles did that 2nd round Draft day "steal" get?  Wow, look at that perennial back up QB throw the ball!  All of it is exciting, yet also deceiving because we are not privy to all camp practices and no meetings after practices.  We only get to see the guys for a portion of 3 hours of a game 1 day a week.  And though this guy might look great for 10-12 plays, or in some cases, look bad, we don't sit in the coaches meetings and go over film study or even participate in those practices to get a full measure of these players.  Yet we all do it, we grow attached to a few guys, even when they have been on the team for a season or 2 and have yet to reach that potential we all want them to achieve once we see them don our team's colors. 
When cut down day comes and guys are let go our hearts are broken, we scratch our heads in disbelief and we cry out "Nooooo" because we really liked that sack he got against a undrafted Left Tackle who is trying out with his 4th team and is in during the 4th quarter of the 2nd preseason game and is protecting the blind side of that quarterback who is on the opposing team and was signed to be another arm so the starter isn't worn out by the time camp is over.
In other words, hold down your emotions folks, nothing you saw or read in preseason is real, reality will be here soon enough and right or wrong, the coaches and front offices of teams across the NFL will have to deal with the consequences of their choices.  Only a quarter of the 32 teams will be very successful in their team building but most will be back to the drawing board come January.  Here's to hoping your team is in that minority.

In Support of John Harbaugh's Call

In case you missed it, Baltimore Ravens Head Coach John Harbaugh once again stirred some controversy.  This time he poked the bear and decried the Emperor butt naked when he said it is time to revisit the standard roster size limits for teams in the NFL.  Back in the 60's and 70's teams could only
carry 40 - 45 players on their rosters and that was probably enough.  The season lasted 14 games, players were not as big as they are now and the game, though violent and ferocious, was no where near as hard on players as it is now.  When the Washington Redskins were in their heyday and had the Hogs and Riggo crunching away rushing yards, the biggest member of that Offensive Line weighed in at a whopping 270lbs and was considered "huge".  Today, 270lbs won't get you on any Offensive line in the NFL and if you don't tip the scales at at least 300, you probably won't make it in a major college program either.  Guys like Tennessee Titans rookie Running Back Derrick Henry weighs in at 245-250 and guys who figure to stop him this year playing Middle Linebacker are in the 250-265 range and run just as fast as he does. 
Players are just getting bigger, faster, stronger, and are crashing into each other with greater force.  Injuries are more severe and in the case of the Ravens last season, the year can be lost when you lose 20+ players to season ending injuries.  The commissioner keeps talking about a longer season and many of us fans want that; but let's be real, 16 games plus 4 or 5 preseason games is just too much on a roster that is now just 53 guys and for some inexplicable reason, allows for just 46 of that number to be active on game day.  Teams bring 90 young men to camp each Summer and though the Players Union has won concessions to make camp practices less intense and save guys' bodies for the regular season, the fact is the body can only take so much damage before it can no longer play the game anymore.

There is really no reason each team can't carry 60 men each year, with 10 guys on the practice squad.  Preseason games should be done away with in favor of 3 structured scrimmages against other teams that are shown on television and locally attended.  There is not a single season ticket holder and PSL owner that enjoys having to pay full price for 2 preseason games that will only allow for "good" football for a fraction of a game.  Those games are always low attended and the games mean nothing to the reality of the regular season.
The bottom line is this; MONEY.  The NFL, which already earns more money every year than the Catholic Church, is always finding new ways to part us fans from our money.  You and I want to see quality football in the NFL and we want our team to be successful; the best way for that to happen across the board and for safety for all players is to increase the sizes of the team rosters, and stop the silliness of having a reduced roster.  It is 2016 NFL, wake up to that reality and keep giving us quality for our money.

Could be a Loss Coming

Y'all need to prepare yourselves, this might be THE year that we lose in the Dome. I don't see our starters playing a lot, if at all, and Sean Payton has said Drew Brees and all his starters will go at least the 1st quarter. 

We own an amazingly one sided won - loss advantage over the Saints and are undefeated in the Superdome. The Ravens were the last team to play in the Dome before Katrina hit (preseason game) and we beat the Saints and when they came back home and the Dome was repaired, the Saints went on this incredible undefeated at home winning streak. The team that broke that streak? Our Ravens!  And of course, despite that mysterious power outage, the Flock still won Super Bowl 47, IN the Dome. 

But tonight, with little on the line other than winning a roster spot for SOME players, there's no reason for John Harbaugh and the coaches to go out and try to win this game. Buffalo is coming up, cuts have to be made, and the real deal is ABOUT to be, REAL!