SB Nation - Chris Chester

Shallow Thoughts & Nearsighted Observations

Ted Bartlett — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 13:30:25 -0000

about 1 month ago: Baltimore Ravens cornerback Lardarius Webb, left, carries the ball for a touchdown as Denver Broncos safety David Bruton pursues during the third quarter of an NFL football game, Sunday, Nov. 1, 2009, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)

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Happy Tuesday, friends, if you can manage one. Welcome to another edition of Shallow Thoughts & Nearsighted Observations. Well, this was bound to happen, right? Since Sunday afternoon, I have been thinking about what the right tone is to take with this week's ST&NO. I still haven't decided, and it's Monday at 5 PM as I write this paragraph. I guess I am just going to go with it, and play it like it feels. We had an ugly loss, and to top it off, there were only 4 late games, and no Sunday night game, so I didn't see a lot of live football, at all. We'll make do, because that's all we can do. Out of the echo chamber, and into the fire y'all. Ready.... BEGIN!!!!

1. The two plays which set the tone for yesterday's game happened at the beginning of each half. On the Broncos' first play from scrimmage, Jarret Johnson came in untouched and unrecognized off the defense's left side, and creamed Kyle Orton for a big loss. As I watched the play happen, I couldn't help but think that the Broncos may not be well-prepared if they weren't expecting a lot of blitzing.

As the second half got underway, Lardarius Webb took the opening kickoff back 95 yards for a TD. That took a manageable 6-0 halftime deficit to 13-0, and essentially dictated that the Broncos start playing come-from-behind football. You see the picture of this play, and I used it because it sticks in my craw (whatever a craw is), and I want it stick in yours, too. I guarantee it bothers the coaches and players. You can't have that happen and expect to win.

The final score, 30-7, sounds like a blowout, but this game wasn't really that. This game swung on field position, and third-down performance, which was directly driven by down-and-distance situations. The Ravens made key plays on 3rd down, and the Broncos missed opportunities to make those plays.

There's an offensive concept called staying on schedule, and it means that from first and 10, you get to 2nd and 6, and then to 3rd and 2. All your down-and-distance situations are manageable if you stay on schedule. It's a really good thing to do every game, but it's absolutely imperative against a team like Baltimore, which can bring a bunch of overload pressure and force a QB to either throw way short of the first down or eat the ball.

Actually, the Broncos did a great job throughout the game with first-down defense, and getting Baltimore off schedule themselves. The Ravens, though, led by Joe Flacco, made enough plays to negate those early-down advantages.

The world didn't end, and all we can hope is that some lessons are learned from the experience by the players and coaches, and that those lessons are applied to future situations. Sometimes a loss is a growth opportunity, and I think that there is a solid reson to think that this loss was one of those.

2. Information From My Eyes. Denver Broncos at Baltimore Ravens:

a. I thought Mitch Berger was awul on Sunday, despite Josh McDaniels' charitable comments about his performance. Hang time is fine, but I want changes in field position. The Broncos lost the field position game the whole first half, in large part because of bad punting.

b. I disliked the offensive game plan and the play calling. The 3rd-and-5 sweep for Correll Buckhalter on the second series is an example. I thought there were too many screens against a team which clearly came to stop the screen. I wanted to see more use of Brandon Marshall and Eddie Royal agains the Baltimore CBs, and I am perplexed as to why we didn't get more of that.

c. I was really pleased with the way that Mario Haggan was consistently setting the edge in this game. He has a physical style of play which is perfect for the position he plays. It's pretty shocking that he was basically a special teamer only in Buffalo, because he's a top-notch 3-4 OLB.

d. I don't blame Knowshon Moreno very much for the fumble (this time). That play was doomed from the start, with Jarret Johnson forcing a high throw and tough catch, and Moreno turning right into a thumping from Ed Reed.

e. Andra Davis is playing at a Pro Bowl level this season, when he is on the field. He plays downhill all the time and has a great sense of timing with the snap count. The great thing about him is that he seems to be cool with coming off the field on 3rd downs, and letting Wesley Woodyard play the long-yardage situations, which Woodyard's much better suited for.

f. There was a lot of dancing by Brandon Marshall on his four catches. I'd like to see him get upfield quicker after the catch. I'd also like to see him use his physicality to get open on some downfield stuff.

g. I was tired by 10:30 Monday night, when I re-watched this game, so I didn't tally anything, but anecdotally, the screen game was a complete disaster on offense for the Broncos.

h. Kyle Orton had two easy interceptions dropped in this game. One was on a play where he got crushed and the ball came out weakly, and the other was a terrible decision, with Jarret Johnson sitting in an underneath zone, and Dawan Landry right behind him. Orton needs to play better than he did Sunday, like the rest of the offense.

i. With the score 16-7 early in the 4th quarter, the Broncos had Baltimore in a 3rd and 12 near midfield. On consecutive plays, Elvis Dumervil and Darrell Reid jumped offsides. On the resulting 3rd and 2, Flacco escaped pressure and made a downfield throw to Derrick Mason. This basically ended the game, because soon after, Mason scored to make the score 23-7.

j. Renaldo Hill looked out of position on the aforementioned Mason TD. Andre' Goodman had outside leverage on the play, with good coverage, really, but Hill never got over the top to help him. He may have seen something that kept him in the shallow middle; but it was a bust, clear as day, because Brian Dawkins played the coverage like he had a deep half on the other side. Credit Flacco for seeing the blown coverage and making a perfect throw.

k. From the Ravens' side, I liked their use of the no-huddle stuff, and their attempts to vary tempo. The Broncos substitute very liberally, and are one of the most package-intensive defenses in the NFL. By having to hesitate on substituting at times, they assumed a disadvantaged position against the Ravens. Really, I think that the lack of freshness of some players, who had larger than usual workloads, is a lot of what got them in the 4th quarter.

3. Information From My Eyes, Other Games:

a. As I mentioned, I didn't see a lot of other live games, since most ran at the same time as the Broncos game. To make up for that, I recorded some Short Cuts Sunday night, and hurried home from Day 1 of month-end close Monday to watch them. I started with the Jets and Dolphins, and my first (Nearsighted) Observation is that the Jets played a dominant game on defense, which surprised me a little. I thought they'd miss Kris Jenkins a lot more than they seemed to, especially with all the Wildcat stuff going on. The Jets held the Dolphins to 104 total yards, 52 each passing and rushing.

b. It's really something to score 30 points with 104 yards of offense. Jason Taylor got a fumble recovery for a TD and Ted Ginn returned two kickoffs. I have highlighted Ginn's lack of suddenness before - but let me tell you, when he gets going, he's as fast as anybody in the NFL. He outran players who had good angles on both TD returns. He may never be a top WR, but he's elite as a kickoff returner.

c. I think Thomas Jones is the most underrated player in the NFL. He started slow in the NFL, largely due to his being drafted by a horrible Arizona Cardinals team, but once he got it going in Tampa Bay, he's been a consistently productive player. He's on pace for 1,400 yards and 14 TDs this season, and is a big part of the Jets' success on offense.

d. The most overrated player has to be Jason Peters, just ahead of Alan Faneca and Flozell Adams. The bloom is mostly off the Faneca and Adams roses, at this point, but Peters still gets a lot of love from the MSM. I have just seen him get beat too many times the last two years, and the jury is in for me. He looks like he'd make a good Right Tackle, but on the left side, he gets beaten constantly by quick pass rushers. Osi Umenyiora owned him several times on Sunday.

e. DeSean Jackson is already a great player, and he's improving. He needs to be played physically, because if you let him run free through a defense, he's going to shred you. He's not really a true number-one receiver, who's going to defeat double coverage, but he's a dynamic outside guy.

f. The Eagles have a pretty fearsome passing game, when their line isn't getting Donovan McNabb sacked. Jeremy Maclin is having a solid rookie year, but I'm especially impressed with Brent Celek, who does a great job of catching the ball in traffic. He's now on pace for over 1,000 receiving yards this season. Celek isn't much of a blocker, really, but he even had a good hold that didn't get called on Sunday, helping spring Leonard Weaver's long TD run.

g. ST&NO favorite Alex Smith had a pretty nice game on Sunday against Indianapolis. He looks really comfortable in the shotgun, and led a great hurry-up TD drive at the end of the first half. For his part, Smith looked good for most of the game. The 49ers offense just repeatedly found ways to take bad penalties or give up sacks, (especially in the second half, after Joe Staley got hurt), which kept stopping the offense. Smith is showing a good rapport with Vernon Davis and Michael Crabtree, who looks like the real deal, already, two weeks into his career.

h. Peyton Manning was a little off on Sunday with his deep ball. That happens so infrequently that I thought it was worth highlighting.

i. I still can't figure out why the Colts cut Ed Johnson a couple weeks ago. They're very vulnerable to the inside running game without him. The Colts brass said the release was performance-related, but I don't buy that for a second. Johnson was definitely their best DT.

j. Very interesting news Monday evening that the Chargers had released Chris Chambers. He has been struggling to get the separation he used to get, but waiving him seems like a pretty extreme measure. You can't tell me that he couldn't beat nickel or dime CBs against most teams. I'd be very surprised if he isn't on a new team very quickly.

k. The Raiders had a legitimate shot to drive to a tying TD and 2-point conversion in the final minutes of Sunday's game against the Chargers. Then, something completely emblematic of the Raiders happened. Louis Murphy and Darrius Heyward-Bey lined up on the offense's right side, and both ran vertical routes against man coverage. The inside receiver released outside of the DB covering him, and the outside receiver released inside. They bumped into each other, and both fell down. JaMarcus Russell had nowhere to throw the ball and got sacked, despite a 7-step drop and max protection on the play. The game was functionally over at that point.

l. Aaron Rodgers got beaten up mercilessly again on Sunday, particularly early in the game. I actually thought T.J. Lang was generally pretty solid at LT, but Jared Allen still got 3 sacks. He now has 7.5 sacks in 2 games against Green Bay this year, which is like giving him a handicap in the sack race with Elvis Dumervil.

m. I really thought that Arizona had gotten their act together, but they got hammered by Carolina on Sunday. They went into the game with the number-one run defense in the NFL, and then got run over by DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart. I think it was an aberration, but that remains to be seen.

n. I've never liked Matt Ryan's arm much, and Monday night reinforced that feeling for me. Because the Falcons have a below-average line in pass protection, they max-protect a lot, leaving few receivers in the pattern. If the coverage is tight, as it was Monday, Ryan always seems to struggle to make throws to beat the coverage. He's really not too dissimilar to Kyle Orton in that way, though Orton throws the ball with more velocity. Ryan needs to have a lot of options, where he can pick a guy who is open. For that reason, Atlanta needs to focus on building their offensive line. Sam Baker, particularly, isn't good enough at LT, and would make a better LG. Baker got annihilated by Will Smith throughout Monday night's game.

o. My man Thomas DeCoud was at it again for the Falcons on Monday night. He had a sack that forced a TD in the first quarter. This guy is a big-time young player.

p. Jeff Triplette is the worst referee in the NFL, and it's not even close. He just couldn't figure out the clock on Monday night, and he has no command with the crowd. It always seems like he lets them rattle him. When you're a referee, a sheepish smile is a bad thing. You need to command the stadium, like Ed Hochuli and Mike Carey do. Gene Steratore is a good younger referee, too.

r. Marques Colston is having a fantastic year for the Saints. Prior to this year, I've always thought of him as a fairly-average starting WR who has benfitted from strong QB play, and a friendly system. I really see him winning a lot of one-on-one battles with his physicality now. He was targeted 6 times Monday night, and made 6 catches for 85 yards and a TD. He really battled for the ball on a few of those catches, including the TD.

4. Between The Lines, Denver Broncos at Baltimore Ravens

a. The Broncos had a very bad day in protection, and there's no way to sugarcoat that. The Ravens blitzed more often than what it seemed the Broncos were prepared for. Ryan Clady got beaten twice, which is twice more than usual, and got Orton hit. He was otherwise his normal self. The rag-doll was Ben Hamilton. I am getting tired of writing that every week, but if he's going to get his butt kicked, I'll keep writing it. Old friend Trevor Pryce destroyed Hamilton all game. Casey Wiegmann had his worst game of the year too, with Kelly Gregg beating him more often than not. I was pleased with Chris Kuper's play against Haloti Ngata, and I thought Tyler Polumbus did a very nice job filling in for Ryan Harris. The Broncos got Orton sacked twice (once by a DB) and pressured many more times than that. The passing game was a clear win for the Ravens defensive line.

b. The running aspect was actually better for the Broncos. They picked up a couple of 3rd and shorts, which was nice for a change, and generally held the line of scrimmage, and got a bit of surge against an excellent group for Baltimore. The only notable running play which was blown up was the 3rd-and-5 sweep. I liked the work of Clady and Kuper, and everybody was actually pretty solid in the running game. The Broncos only ran for 3.5 yards per carry - but against Baltimore, that's pretty solid. This was a draw, but one the Broncos would have been happy with if they'd protected better.

c. The Broncos did a good job pressuring Flacco throughout the game, and were beaten by some great throws and poise. These things happen. Jared Gaither held Elvis Dumervil repeatedly, but he didn't get penalized, so kudos to him, if he likes granola bars. Ben Grubbs and Michael Oher, the two best players on the Baltimore line, had good days, and the two weakest, Matt Birk and Chris Chester, didn't so much. A lot of the Broncos' pressure came from the Back 8, which is typical of them. The Ravens allowed a lot of pressure, but much like Ben Roethlisberger, Flacco showed a really good ability to evade the pressure, and make plays in spite of it.

d. The Broncos defense won big in the running game, until the last 10 minutes of the game, when it seemed like they wore down. The Broncos had 10 tackles for loss, which is the kind of performance that typically wins games. Unfortunately, Flacco's big plays negated a lot of this good work. When you consider it separately though, the Broncos won this battle for most of the game. Notable Broncos were Ronald Fields, Kenny Peterson, and Marcus Thomas. Ryan McBean got some penetration too, and Le Kevin Smith made a good play, also.

e. Overall, you have to give an edge to Baltimore, for how well they pressured Kyle Orton. It was the primary reason the Broncos never got untracked on offense. The Broncos did a more-than-respectable job in the other phases, though.

5. Word broke on Monday that the Browns had fired General Manager George Kokinis. I really can't imagine why they'd want to do that. Reportedly, Randy Lerner is displeased that Kokinis didn't take an active role in speaking to the media and communicating to the outside world. If that's really the problem, then I think it's clear that Lerner doesn't get professional football. During the season, the GM needs to be quiet and let the Head Coach be the voice of the team. This is the way it works everywhere, even a place like Baltimore, where GM Ozzie Newsome is the top football guy in the organization. That's where Kokinis came from.

Here in Cleveland, the Browns organization is really far too worried about public opinion. Remember how the Broncos organization ignored the DP message boards all offseason, and then the booing at the scrimmage? You have to do that, or you'll never get going in a coherent direction. I don't know if the Mangini plan is the right one, but it seems that Randy Lerner just canceled it before it even had half a season to work. Rumor has it that Lerner is trying to bring in Ernie Accorsi to join Bernie Kosar as a consultant. As respected as Accorsi is, this sounds like Lerner already blew the situation.

Phil Savage, who is still being paid for the next 3 1/2 years, had some interesting comments this past week. He said that the previous regime left this one with two quarterbacks, and that both of them look ruined at this point. The Browns will almost certainly be in the drafting-a-QB business again this coming spring, and that typically signals another full deep dive into rebuilding. While they're at it, they need a right side of the offensive line, two RBs, a WR, and a TE. Then they can turn their attention to the defense, which is currently solid enough to be part of a .500 team.

The team, led by Lerner, needs to definitively figure out what they want to be. They need to then formulate a plan to become that, and start executing the plan. Most importantly, though, they have to try to clearly articulate that plan to their stakeholders, and then prepare to stick to that plan, no matter what Joe in Berea, or Stanislaus in West Park have to say on the radio. You have to build your program, and winning will follow. As we all know, winning is the great deodorant.

More month-end closing activities are ahead for me this week. It seems like just last week I was closing September and complaining here about how busy I am. Now, it returns. The good news is that I will have a full Sunday of game-watching and channel-flipping next weekend, so expect a more-robust set of games which I'll be commenting on. Have a great week, friends, and remember to visit MileHighReport.com every day, for all your Broncos news and analysis.

Ravens 53 Man Roster: My Picks

Bruce Raffel — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 11:00:24 -0000

Here are my picks for what the Ravens will end up doing later today when they announce the 53 man roster that they will be trimming down to when they release 22 guys to get down to the NFL max.

Offense

QB: Joe Flacco, Troy Smith, John Beck

WR: Derrick Mason, Mark Clayton, Demetrius Williams, Kelley Washington, Justin Harper

RB: Ray Rice, Willis McGahee, LeRon McClain, Jalen Parmele

TE: Todd Heap, L.J. Smith, Davon Drew, Edgar Jones

OL: Matt Birk, Ben Grubbs, Jared Gaither, Chris Chester, Marshal Yanda, Michael Oher, David Hale, Oniel Cousins

Defense

DB: Ed Reed, Dawan Landry, Fabian Washington, Domonique Foxworth, Haruki Nakamura, Tom Zbikowski, Chris Carr, Lardarius Webb, Frank Walker, Derrick Martin

LB: Ray Lewis, Terrell Suggs, Jarret Johnson, Tavares Gooden, Jameel McClain, Brendon Ayanbadejo, Paul Kruger, Prescott Burgess, Antwan Barnes

DL: Haloti Ngata, Trevor Pryce, Justin Bannan, Kelly Gregg, Dwan Edwards, Brandon McKinney

Specialists

P: Sam Koch

PK: Steven Hauschka

LS: Matt Katula

That’s only 52 guys and my final spot is a tough one to decide upon. I am looking at one of the following guys:

Yamon Figurs, Jason Cook, Jason Phillips, Joe Reitz, Kelly Talavou

Figurs still has the speed and with Webb looking a bit shaky on returns, Yamon gives us another option behind Chris Carr. Jason Cook gives us another fullback along with LeRon McClain. Jason Phillips was a 4^th round draft pick in 2009 and Ozzie doesn’t like to release draft picks. Perhaps Phillips will be IR’d to keep our hands on him (I expect the Ravens to IR undrafted rookie LB Dannell Ellerbe as well). Joe Reitz gives us more depth on the offensive line as well as Kelly Tavalou does the same for the defensive line.

I don’t want to take the easy way out by only selecting 52 players, so I will have to go out on a limb and make my selection and therefore the 53^rd spot on the Baltimore Ravens roster goes to Yamon Figurs.

The other players I was undecided about go onto our Practice Squad, where we can have up to eight players. Of course, I would expect the team to peruse other teams’ cuts to add a player or two to either our roster or Practice Squad, and vice versa for the rest of the league. However, in advance of that info, my Practice Squad would look like this:

Cook, Reitz, Talavou, Foster, Riley, Peerman, Smolko, Stallings

Additionally, as I stated earlier, the team would place both Dannell Ellerbe and Jason Phillips on Injured Reserve (IR), which would end their 2009 seasons, but ensure the team retains their rights while giving the players their full 2009 salaries, which do count against the team’s salary cap. However, being rookies, that should not be much of an issue.

Your thoughts and comments on those last few slots?

Ravens Training Camp: Friday AM Edition

Bruce Raffel — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 16:00:59 -0000

The Baltimore Ravens have three more days of camp remaining up at McDaniel College in Westminster, Maryland before they head back to Owings Mills for the rest of the pre- and regular season. Today and Saturday are open to the public, but Sunday is closed to both the fans and media as it is a walk-thru for the exhibition game against the New York Jets on Monday Night.

Injury update: Guard Chris Chester is in shorts and his jersey but not practicing due to a right calf strain that is not serious but wrapped. Ed Reed is practicing and without the red (no contact) jersey.

QB Joe Flacco sets up behind his starting offensive line (from left to right): Jared Gaither, Ben Grubbs, Matt Birk, Marshall Yanda and rookie Michael Oher. If they stay healthy, that's a pretty impressive group which should protect our prized QB quite well.

Ray Rice lines up behind LeRon McClain in the backfield. In passing formations, Todd Heap is joined by WR's Derrick Mason, Demetrius Williams and Kelley Washington in three-wide sets.

Flacco pump fakes as D-Mase puts a double-move on Domonique Foxworth, leading to a long sideline completion. Then Joe throws a bullet to the sidelines that Mason makes a fingertip catch and tiptoes to stay in bounds.

Today's field goal competition continues to be neck and neck. Steven Hauschka hits from 35, 45 and 50 yards, but is wide right from 41 and short from 54. Similarly, Graham Gano is good from 35, 41, 45 and 50 but is wide right on his 54 yard attempt, although is definitely was long enough where Hauschka's was short.

After Justin Harper catches a short 5 yard TD reception, CB Chris Carr lightly bumps Derrick Mason, who falls to the ground feigning injury, screaming "Trainer, trainer!" Carr and Reed help him up, all three laughing but for a moment, it was not funny at all!

The kickers are practicing free kicks (Hauschka good from 60 yards!) as well as onsides kicks.

Long after practice is over and most players have finished interviews, autographs and headed to the locker room, Flacco is still on the field playing catch with a couple of little kids with lacrosse sticks. Finally, with fans still waiting and chanting his name, he begins to stroll over to the stands to sign autographs as the fans erupt with cheers.

Baltimore Ravens Mini-Camp (OTA/Passing Camp) Notes

Bruce Raffel — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 16:49:19 -0000

In addition to the great Ravens Front Office people I had the pleasure of being introduced to yesterday at their final OTA/Passing Camp, I also introduced myself to Aaron Wilson, Sportswriter for the Carroll County Times. Aaron covers the Ravens and his writing and radio time has always been fair, balanced, honest and accurate in my opinion. He is easily approachable and is always willing to discuss all things Ravens. We discussed my interviewing him, as he has so much depth of knowledge of the Ravens and his opinions would be very interesting to the readers here on the Beatdown.

In future posts, I will be detailing the locker room interviews I had with placekicker Graham Gano, wide receiver Marcus Smith, safety Haruki Nakamura and a short one with cornerback Fabian Washington. I took a ton of photos, many that you will see in the related posts, but if you are looking for a specific photo of a player, let me know and I’ll try to post it as well if you don’t see it in one of the stories to follow. I also wrote down a lot of notes, detailing what I saw and my impressions of the player’s efforts, progress and health.

To give you an example of the whirlwind of action I witnessed, here is an timeline of my first forty minutes on the sidelines:

10:20am: Dawan Landry looks HUGE!

10:30am: Le’Ron McClain looks big and stocky.

10:40am: After Sam Koch, Graham Gano took his turn punting on punt return drills.

10:44am: Saw Baltimore Colts great and Pro Football Hall of Famer Lenny Moore observing practice.

10:45am: Introduced myself to head coach John Harbaugh, who made eye contact and repeated my name!

10:50am: Tavares Gooden looks fit and athletic.

10:55am: CB’s Domonique Foxworth and Fabian Washington look to be going at full speed.

11:00am: LB Jarret Johnson seen explaining defensive formations to other LB’s T. Gooden and Brendon Ayanbadejo.

You can only imagine the scope of different things going on at different locations on two adjoining fields in such a short time, when the entire practice lasted just over two hours. My head was spinning, my writing hand cramping and I took over 100 photos. I was as worn out as the players….uh…not really.

Some other random notes from observations:

Dawan Landry and Haruki Nakamura were running tandem as first team safeties, followed by Tom Zbikowski and Lardarius Webb. Webb’s dreadlocks were down to his jersey numbers and while he is just a bit shorter than the other safeties, he is lighter and thinner. Interestingly, while Landry is listed a 6’ and 220 pounds in the roster handout, according to Patrick Gleason, Landry is in such great shape that he is down to around 212 pounds, built solid as a rock with incredible definition in his shoulders and neck. I also noted that Landry is lefthanded, not that it matters.

Trevor Pryce, at almost 34 years old, already seems quick off the snap even in drills. Kelly Gregg watched the drills in uniform and looks so stocky and deserving of his "Buddy Lee" nickname. No Ray Lewis to be seen, although he has been at some of the other mini-camps. Willis McGahee was seen earlier in the practice but did not participate in most of the drills. Unheralded RB Matt Lawrence (FA 2008, UMass) seemed to be in a lot of the drills, as much as either reserve RB Cedric Peerman or Jalen Parmele.

11 on 11 Drills: Flacco just barely overthrew Marcus Smith on a long pass. Troy Smith then hit Smith on a similar pass. Le’Ron McClain took a handoff up the middle and I thought "pity the poor fool that gets in his way!" Troy then hit on another solid sideline pass. Both QB’s were looking sharp and confident. Wide receiver Marcus Smith seems to be an integral part of the offense and one of the first options for both QB’s. While Derrick Mason took part in later drills, he wasn’t part of the earlier ones. Mark Clayton was not there, and Demetrius Williams had a green jersey on, which we were talking about on the sidelines. We knew the red ones meant avoid contact, but guessed the green ones meant something between that and full speed (limited?). Even with that green jersey, D-Will still looked to be running at full speed, which is encouraging. Kelley Washington made a tough grab in traffic and looked solid and comfortable. With John Beck at QB, he was rushed hard by LB Jarret Johnson and threw incomplete under pressure. I noticed they ran their drills with the 40 second playclock running at all times.

Both kickers, Steven Hauschka and Graham Gano, took turns in field goal drills, looking solid on their long kicks, although Gano’s leg seemed to have a bit more distance today. I’ve heard that this competition is the closest one in all of training Camp and surely will go down to the wire through preseason.

First round draft pick OT Michael Oher is tall and fit, especially for an offensive lineman, with no belly! Jared Gaither is just a massive human being, listed at 6’9" and 334 pounds! Having those two as bookends on our offensive line, with veteran Matt Birk between guards Ben Grubbs and Marshall Yanda, should give every Ravens fan confidence that QB Joe Flacco will be well protected and the RB’s will have gaping holes to burst through all season in 2009 and beyond. We now also have the needed depth on the offensive line with Adam Terry, Chris Chester, David Hale and Oneil Cousins.

The defense seemed to outperform the offense in drills, with Lardarious Webb breaking up a pass and catching a tipped ball for an interception and Tom Zbikowski getting two interceptions, including one by outleaping a group jumping for the ball. Fabian Washington celebrated his birthday by breaking up a pass, and while he is one of the smaller guys in the secondary, he doesn’t shy away from the contact for a second. Reserve QB John Beck hit TE Isaac Smolko over the middle. You might not hear too much about Smolko, but he is a huge target at 6’5" and 260 pounds.

In Red Zone drills, the offense began to click, with Flacco hitting Mason (twice), Washington and even the tall and lanky Ernie Wheelwright with sharp scoring passes. However, Nakamura made his classic edge blitz to sack Beck once and the defense shut down the over the middle goal line passes time and time again.

Unfortunately for me, the final horn sounded, signaling the end of practice. The players slowly made their way to the locker room while Coach Harbaugh prepared to come to the podium to answer questions. After a short session, I made my way to the locker room to conduct one-on-one interviews and observe the major media ones. These interviews will follow in future stories. I could have easily stayed at "The Castle" all day and would love the opportunity to come back and follow the team to Westminster for Training Camp beginning in late July. Hopefully, the Ravens will continue to grant me credentials and access. Keep tuned in for more.

Why Joe Flacco Needs Michael Oher

Rexx — Fri, 01 May 2009 16:23:57 -0000

More photos » by Craig Ruttle - AP

Browse more photos »

So many people are shaking their collective heads in frustration, disbelief and anger over why the Baltimore Ravens used their first round pick, and traded to move up, no less, to select offensive tackle Michael Oher, rather than the big name wide receiver that appeared to be their biggest need. Even ESPN's Mel Kiper, who also thought we needed a wideout, thought we were trading up to select CB Vontae Davis, as he said that as good as Oher is, he takes plays off and can be beat. However, regardless of how little stock I personally put in grading drafts, Kiper gave the Ravens a "B" for their draft efforts, but mostly due to his opinions of our later round picks, such as second round DE Paul Kruger, 3rd round CB LaDarius Webb and fifth round LB Jason Phillips.

However, we all hold Ravens GM Ozzie Newsome in such high esteem that we are waiting to see how this pick pans out and then can all go back to the naysayers and say that yeah, we were always on this bandwagon of Ozzie's. So what was behind Newsome's thought process? If I may go into the miniaturization machine, I will take a trip deep inside the "Wizard of Oz's" medula oblongata and show you the "truth."

In the 2008 regular season, Ravens QB Joe Flacco was sacked 32 times, with 14 of them coming in three games, the first Pittsburgh game (5), Indy (4) & Dallas (5). That left 18 sacks in the remaining 13 games, not a bad total for those games. In the postseason, Flacco was not sacked at all in the Miami and Tennessee games, but was sacked three times in the AFC Championship Game in Pittsburgh.

Overall, Flacco was sacked ten times by the Steelers defense in the three games we played them. The Ravens rushed for 267 yards in those three games, for a measely 3.14 yards/carry. Those sacks were not coverage sacks, so you can't blame the receivers for not getting open. No, those sacks were based on missed blocking assignments, the collapsing pocket and people just plain getting beaten. Another year of experience for Grubbs and Gaither will make a huge difference. Getting Yanda back at RG and having the veteran presence of Birk at center are both big upgrades (sorry, Chris Chester and Jason Brown). Having Wilie Anderson and shortly thereafter Michael Oher at RT over the previous combo of Anderson and Adam Terry is another large step as well.

If the Ravens cut those sacks in half against Pittsburgh due to the upgraded o-line and increase their yards per carry to 4.0, that should translate to a win in 2009 and might have made the difference in all three close contests this past year. However, Ozzie is not harping on the past, he is using that experience to build for the future. That is what he did with his great football mind by selecting Michael Oher to make the difference against the Steelers, not the rest of the league. The Ravens were already good enough to beat the rest of the league, just not Pittsburgh. Now we will be in 2009.

Flacco's passing stats were acceptable for a rookie QB, and many might even say they were good. But a TD-INT total of 14-12 is only average, as was his QB rating of 80.3. At the same time, despite the wins at Miami and Tennessee, his TD-INT totals in the playoffs was 1-3, with a 50.8 rating.

You see, looking at the season as a whole, you can say that he was pretty well prtected and threw the ball well, and maybe just needed that one big play receiver to put us over the top. You could even be right, as who knows what types of coverage that receiver might have dictated to our opponents' defenses, as opposed to stacking the box, blitzing on every play and challenging us to beat them through the air.

However, as we all know it starts and ends within the trenches. Defensively, we don't even have to go there, as we usually won that battle and the few times we didn't we lost those games. Our left side of the offensive line is set for years with Grubbs and Gaither. The center position was filled by a great veteran All Pro and we wil address that position's future at a later date. The right side of the line is in a state of flux. RG Marshall Yanda was lost for most of last year and hopefully will be fine, as he is a solid component there. His replacement, Chris Chester, played well although he is best suited as a versatile fill in at guard and center and needs to be available to fill in when and where needed and not stuck in one position all season. Willie anderson had a good comeback but we all know his age and the future. Adam Terry has pretty much proved that wherever he plays, he will be the weak link on the line. that is where Michael Oher comes in. His education begins behind Willie Anderson, and we should expect his learning curve to be great and quick. With the veteran Birk calling the offensive line blocking signals, he will be flanked by one of the youngest, most physical and best offensive lines in the NFL in 2009 and beyond. What was a weakness of this team goinginto 2008 will be an absolute strength going into 2009.

Now foir the sharpness of Ozzie's cerebellum. Oher wasn't selected for the purposes of beating the Browns and Bengals of the Ravens schedule. He was picked for the postseason, and specifically to beat the Steelers.

Ravens Draft History - Picking Late in the First Round

Rexx — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 14:23:30 -0000

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Many articles about the Baltimore Ravens draft history has focused on their first round success, as well as GM Ozzie Newsome's ability to find that star player later on the second day of the draft. However, this coming Saturday afternoon, the Ravens will be picking at the 26th position in the first round (actually, it will probably be Saturday evening before the Ravens' turn comes up). Therefore, in comparison, I decided to look at the past drafts that Baltimore has had when they picked 20th or higher in the first two rounds. Here's what I found they have been able to accomplish picking in the latter parts of each round. Remember, I'm only looking at those drafts where the Ravens picked in positions 20-32 of that round. They may have taken a player earlier in the round when they had multiple picks in a round. However, for purposes of comparison, I am only looking at the later picks in that round. So here is what and who I found:

1996: Round 1: Ray Lewis (LB - #26); Round 2: DeRon Jenkins (DB - #25) NOTE: Lewis of course, is the all time best Raven ever, and Jenkins was a bust.

1997: Round 2: Kim Herring (S - #28) NOTE: Herring was a major contributor when the Ravens won the Super Bowl, but then signed with the St. Louis Rams as a free agent and dissolved into mediocrity like so many former Ravens.

1998-2000: No picks in the 20's in either round.

2001: Round 1: Todd Heap (TE - #31); Round 2: Gary Baxter (DB - #31) NOTE: Heap went on to Pro Bowl status but has been underachieving recently while Baxter was looking to be a fixture here but then signed with the Cleveland Browns, got injured shortly thereafter in his first season there and never played again. Meanwhile the Ravens signed veteran cornerback Samari Rolle to replace Baxter.

2002: Round 1: Ed Reed (S - #24); Round 2: Anthony Weaver (DT - #20) NOTE: Reed, just like Ray Lewis, is a cornerstone of this current Ravens defense and arguably should have been the NFL's Defensive POY in 2008. Weaver was a solid performer as a reserve on the d-line but is no longer with the team.

2003-2004: No picks in the 20's in either round.

2005: Round 1: Mark Clayton (WR - #22); Round 2: Dan Cody (LB - #21), Adam Terry (OL - #32) NOTE: Clayton improved greatly in 2008 with a solid QB to throw to him, and Terry is an important piece on the greatly improved offensive line. Unfortunately, Cody hurt his knee in his first Training Camp and then re-injured himself and never really got on the field in his short career.

2006: Round 2: Chris Chester (G - #24) NOTE: Chester has been a valuable reserve and played very respectable for most of last season at RG for the injured Marshall Yanda.

2007: Round 1: Ben Grubbs (G - #29) NOTE: Grubbs started at RG as a rookie and is now firmly entrenched at LG as one of the league's best at that position.

2008: Round 2: Ray Rice (RB - #24) NOTE: Rice might have been one of the steals of the draft last season until injury and a logjam at RB limited his contributions. However, he is figured to get a significant piece of the action this season, as he brings a change of pace and excitement to the field every time he touches the ball.

So there's our picks late in the first two rounds in Ravens' team history. Hopefully, GM Ozzie Newsome will pull off another stunner that, while we might not know how significant the pick is for a couple of years, they will surely contribute right away to what is looking like a serious run at the playoffs and the Super Bowl.

Free Agency: Day One Recap

Rexx — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 14:57:23 -0000

Wow, what a huge first day of Free Agency! What recession? As one of the NFL Network's guys said, former Tennessee Titan and new, rich Washington Redskin DT Albert Haynesworth got more money ($100+ million over 7 years) than most franchises were originally paid for. I guess that as long as we keep selling out those NFL stadiums, the salary cap will keep rising and the players will get paid.

I would have liked to see Bart Scott back in the fold and when I heard we were still in it I thought we might win the open bidding war. But then Rex Ryan realized he needed to make a statement and keep raising the stakes and finally the Ravens woke up and said, no way. The Jets paid Bart $48 million over six years, a ton of money who made his rep next to the best MLB in NFL history, just like so many others that have left for the big bucks and never had the same level of success after leaving Ray's shadow (Jamie Sharper, Edgerton Hartwell, Adalius Thomas).

Baltimore apparently has also lost center Jason Brown. While the signing is not official, it looks like he will be a St. Louis Ram next year, at around $37.5 million over five years. A great deal for Brown, who only played one full year at center and now gets paid as one of the top gurd/centers in the league, a price the Ravens were very smart not to involve themselves in. They will just have to slide Chris Chester over into the center position and look in the middle to late rounds of April's draft for another true center (Brown was a 4th round draft pick).

The Ravens did make a big splash in free agency, signing former Denver Bronco and Atlanta Falcon CB Domonique Foxworth to a four year, $28 million contract, with $16.5 million guaranteed. Foxworth, a Maryland Terp alum and homegrown talent, is thrilled to be starting alongside his friend Fabian Washington, giving us two very good CB's in our secondary. That should remove CB from our list of whom to draft with that 26th pick in April's draft. Even though GM Ozzie Newsome is well known for going after the best pick available, he will probably be focusing on WR, TE and possibly LB, depending on how the Ray Lewis issue resolves itself.

Speaking of Ray, earlier in the day yesterday it was reported that he turned down the Ravens $25 million offer, with $17.5 guaranteed and was pissed at our "low-ball" offer and would not be returning to the Ravens. By the end of the day, Ray himself said he had not ruled out returning to his former team. He was in Florida with his family, had never said the reported remarks and would probably make a final decision on Monday. If the Ravens end up re-signing Ray, combined with the losses and addition(s), I'd be more than satisfied with the results of the first few days of free agency. There are still a ton of players at all positions available to fill out portions of our roster prior to and even after the draft in April. Click here to see Yahoo's! listing of all free agents and keep up with the signings.

Thanks to all who kept in touch with the Beatdown and posted over 170 comments yesterday. This month has been crazy with all the recent news and your postings. Keep it up and if you post on the Front Page, make sure you click on the "Submit for Distribution" box before you hit "Publish." Thanks again, guys!

Bart Scott Back in The Picture

Rexx — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 14:32:42 -0000

It's beginning to look like the Baltimore Ravens free agent LB Bart Scott may return to the team after all. It has always be assumed that the Ravens were more interested in re-signing center Jason Brown and losing Scott due to salary cap restrictions. Once DE/LB Terrell Suggs was given the Franchise Tag last week, it appeared that Scott's days wearing purple and black were over. Everyone thought the next moves were to re-sign MLB Ray Lewis to his final contract and then focus on re-signing Brown to be the fixture over the ball in front of QB Joe Flacco for the next five or six years at the least.

Now it appears the team and Brown's agent are at odds over what position his salary should be based on. The team sees him as the center he's been all of last season while his agent thinks he should be paid as a guard. The difference is reported to be huge, around $2 million per year, which over the course of a multi-year contract, is a lot of cash. I don't understand his agent's logic, other than trying to get his client the most money. He states that Brown is an offensive lineman and should be paid like one, which would get him more if he received the average of what tackles, guards and centers get paid. However, something tells me if Brown was a tackle, that philosophy wouldn't help him and the agent wouldn't want that same logic applied at that point.

Therefore, if other teams are willing to pay Brown as a guard and the Ravens are not willing to budge from the center pay scale, then I personally wouldn't want to empty the bank on him at that cost. Thus, the re-emergence of the possibility of bringing back Bart Scott. Ironically, the agent for Jason Brown is,...yes indeed, Bart Scott's agent as well. Either way, the agent gets his cut and figures to get his percentage wherever his clients sign and the more they get, the more he does, so loyalty is out of the window from the agent's perspective.

The way I'd look at it under these new circumstances, let Brown go, re-sign Bart, then focus on getting Ray back for the remainder of his illustrious career. If Jason Brown can get a huge payday as a guard elsewhere, then go for it, Jason and good luck. The Ravens can then focus on either putting backup Chris Chester into that position or spending "center-only" bucks to bring in a free agent to replace Brown.

At the same time, I'd still like to see former (?) Steeler CB Bryant McFadden here, although many of you obviously think otherwise, as noted in your comments on yesterday's post. If we could follow my directions, that would be a great off season and set us up for a nice wideout with our first pick in April's Draft. Ozzie, give me a ring, we can discuss it further!