Ravens vs. Steelers, Part Deux: Gameday thread & Harbaugh on the hot seat

I'm fine with resetting the whole franchise, but even if we reset, are we suddenly going to develop WRs? Will we suddenly stop dropping the ball? Will we stop committing holding penalties? Will we have a competent OL (today we started a LT who no one even wanted on the 53 man roster OR PS)?

I just don't think this team will ever "reset". We spent all that money on Williams who is essentially the most useless player on the team. If you cannot impact the game, you don't deserve a huge payday. Next in line is going to be Mosley. I think Mosley is worlds better than Williams, but at the end of the day, he's on defense, and as you say, the NFL is about offense. The defense is just as bad as it's been since 2012.

 

Kid, I'll agree with your second part. William's and Jefferson, and soon to be Mosley, are being paid nicely to stop the run. Connor went into the half with a 7.4 ypc average. He ran at will. That's just bad business on Baltimore's part.

 

I didn't even know if Williams registered a stat in the game. You cannot be invisible with a contract like that. I don't care about the "ugly business" that he may or may not do. When you get paid to be a superstar, you have to be a superstar. Those are the players you notice time and time again.

 

The only way to "reset" is to start now. Let Harbaugh go. That would mean Marty would probably finish out the year as HC, and he couldn't do any worse. If it is Harbaugh "holding" him and/or the offense back, then maybe Marty is what is needed at least for this year.

They missed their opportunity at the trade deadline. I agreed with LaCanfora that the ravens should've been sellers and allow DeCosta to start fresh next year. The good thing about the NFL, as opposed to MLB, if done correctly a rebuild/reset should only take 2-3 years before the team is relevant again. The question is if Bisciotti is up for one.

 

I was just mulling this stuff over in my head too. I don't agree with the sentiment that Harbaugh is a bad coach at all, and I think when he's fired, he's going to have suitors quickly. BUT, after a long time, the message gets stale, and for that reason, I'd be ok with letting him go.

I actually think you have to do it now if you're Bisciotti/DeCosta. Harbaugh knows he has to play for his job which means all the vets play as they attempt to salvage the season, but ideally, you let your pieces like Jackson and Williams and Bowser and other rookies get more time and action in the game so you can see how deep the cuts need to go.

 

I believe John Harbaugh will be fired this week. Steve really doesn't have a choice. This team is heading to last place with a ton of overpaid underachievers on this team. I don't know who to name as interim HC but odds are it could end up being Roman being he is an assistant HC as it is.

Joe Flacco should be benched. Let this be Lamar's team for the rest of this year, he needs the experience and quite honestly, he can handle this crappy O-line far better than the statue could. Taking that sack at the end was classic Joe, I can't win a game in the last seconds. I give up when I am down with 2 minutes to go. He is done. I am sick of watching him become Kyle Boller over and over and over, these last few seasons.

At season's end, this team might as well go into salary cap hell for a season. No way you can keep Williams on the team making the amount of cash he is making and contributing nothing to the team. Jimmy Smith will also have to be let go as he is making too much for mr. injury prone, even though he played his butt off today. Jefferson also has to go, he is a frank walker clone and a coverage liability.

 

Yep. You can even pick the games for Jackson to start. I'd still start Flacco against The Bengals, but with games coming against Tampa, Atlanta, and Cleveland those games would be perfect to start Jackson and let him learn.

Williams & Bowser should be playing more. I think Zeus, Jr. has earned his right to start. I'd also like to see Gus Williams get more reps. He seems to make plays whenever he's in there.

 

Overpaid underperforming has been a huge issue recently, and I'm not talking about the Flacco deal as I think all QBs get too much. It's why I wouldn't pay Zadarius and I DEFINITELY wouldn't even go to the table to negotiate with Judon. I'd let Mosley break the bank elsewhere and cut Williams as soon as financially possible.

It also means no more renegotiating with Suggs which stinks to see him end his Ravens career like this.

Marty would have to be interim HC, but in no way should anyone on staff be considered for the position. You need a full vetting process across all potential options for the next hire.

Then again, this is the Ravens, and how likely are we to really see a firing? 10-20% chance?

 

There is an overall philosophical issue that the Ravens have, and they are literally the polar opposites of the Patriots in that regard.

With the Patriots, you have a system in place where you grab players to play specific roles whatever those may be. Then in the offseason, you track down players across the league (vet or rookie) and put them in a position where they are doing what they excel at.

With the Ravens, they look for football players and players who can seemingly do everything. They then try to hammer in those players into a system where they don't necessarily fit. Instead of being all-around great football players, they are a jack-of-all-trades and master of none.

 

I think Bisciotti is fed up enough to let him go. If he thought about it after last season, no reason to think he's not thinking about it now.

Been saying this for a few years now. Not only that, but besides Brady, they haven't been that dedicated or loyal to any of their "star" players. BB trades them off as soon as he sees them slow down even a fraction and then goes and finds or drafts other players to replace them. As much as I love Suggs, and as much as he's still playing at a high level, he probably should've been traded the year after he came back from his 1st achilles injury, or at the very least this past off season.

 

I think that is Harbaugh's thing. I worked in HR for 10+ years and I can tell you that philosophy is antiquated and just doesn't work for most employees, or in this case players, anymore. Z. Smith has adapted well as has Anthony Levine, but most players coming out of college now have defined roles at which they excel.

 

You're probably right, and in that case (as with coordinator choices), I'd put the blame at the feet of Harbaugh there.

 

Steelers ran an article earlier this week basically saying that BMore NEVER.....not once this season, has run a play with Joe split out wide to his side of the field. It's always been run to the side opposite Joe. Makes it a lot easier to stunt and "cheat" one side of the field. Play the handoff and dedicate a nickel corner roll to the keeper. Precisely what Hilton did on the play on 3rd and goal from 2 yd line on the tackle for loss. He lined up as Mike, then spied Jackson the whole way, not to mention made a great open field tackle.

 

Ohio's own John Harbaugh will be the next Browns savior after Baltimore lets him go. Ironical but possible.

 

A prime example of the predictability out of Baltimore's offense. The opposing team can run an article about that and be proven right

 

The offense really would look better if Crabtree would show up. ...ok, the PASSING offense would look better. The run game is still atrocious. I don't know what happened with Crabtree because all initial signs seemed so positive even in the preseason. Brown and Snead have been great additions, but they are complimentary pieces...to Crabtree. Without him even sniffing solid production, all eyes are on Brown and taking away the deep ball.

Again, these signings and money invested wouldn't be an issue if we could draft and develop receivers.

 

It's just Crabtree. He's no Hopkins/Julio/AB. How much savioring could he really do?

 

I guess he really is about playing up to his career averages save his catch rate which is the lowest of his career so far.

 

I am really starting to think he is going to do everything in his power to ensure that Jackson has as little success as possible while he is on the field. I never felt this before but I am really starting to see that Flacco is going out of his way to avoid Jackson.

I was not on the Fire Harbaugh train, but after this game, I am really tired of the same old song and dance and I think Harbaugh's schtick is old and no one is paying attention to him. I think I have settled on the solution to have wholesale changes in the front office as well as the QB position. I am ready to move on from Flacco and see what the next group of players can accomplish.

I also see that I would love to see Jackson progress more than he has and getting someone in here that is a quarterback "guru" would be super helpful.