RAVENS 2018 SEASON THREAD

I'm going to make my own prediction:

Lamar Jackson is going to school some 2nd and 3rd team players in pre-season, and based on that, people are going to be writing articles about how he should be starting when Flacco has issues with 1st team defenses.

 

Good prediction. It's already started on some websites. Anything for click bait.

And don't underestimate Ravens fans jumping on that bandwagon too.

 

Why is Perriman still on the roster, and why did the Ravens pay him? I haven't heard anything good about him yet, but maybe it's impossible for people to write anything glowing based on his history.

Sounds like Tim White is resuming where he left off last year and probably deserves a roster spot. I kind of have my hopes for Janarion Grant. If he can return in the NFL, then he's a heck of a ST weapon. Heck, if we were creative enough, he'd be a heck of an offensive weapon to throw around the field and just let him use his elusiveness.

 

Yeah... when one of your own calls out a possible 6-10, it’s all good. But when an infidel shows up to give you a +1 on that number it’s “piss off”. Thanks for the chuckle.

 

Hey Irish... Ed Read This sez “piss off” with that 7-9 infidel bullshit.

 

I saw it... Just not here to add fuel to fire.

 

Late to the party, but I don't see the Ravens are 6-10 at all this year. The NFL isn't full of juggernauts and we're certainly not playing any unbeatable teams. Outside of the divisional games, the hardest games look to be against the Saints, Falcons, Panthers, Chargers, Chiefs, and Broncos.

The Saints are ALLLLLLWAYYYYS supposed to destroy Baltimore, especially with Brees, and yet they have lost all three previous games against Baltimore that Brees was the QB for. Things could change, and previous years have zero merit on this year, but this is a point to say that the Ravens can beat New Orleans, especially in Baltimore.

It's a somewhat similar situation for Atlanta and Carolina. I'll say it now, the Ravens WON'T lose all three of these games. In fact, it's very rare that the Ravens do worse than a split with the NFC division they face. And yes, this includes many years of fans saying "such and such division is sooooo good and we will suck sooooo bad this year".

The Broncos pass defense gave up the 3rd most passing TDs in the league last year, and their overall scoring defense was top 10 worse. Plus they have to figure out if they want their passing attack on offense to be lead by the great Paxton Lynch, the unstoppable Case Keenum, or the juggernaut known as Chad Kelly. The Chargers I don't think we beat, as of now, but both that game and the one against the Chiefs are late enough in the season that anything could happen.

Maybe I'm just not doom and gloom enough, but I don't see the Ravens losing anything close to 10 games (meaning I don't even see us losing 8).

I have the Ravens at 6-3 going into the bye (7-2 or 5-4 are also possible) and I be surprised if they don't beat the Bengals, Raiders, Bucs, and Browns after the bye. For me, the floor for the 2018 Ravens is 9-7

 

I have been saying it but I don’t think any team went through the injuries that Balt did last year and still were a win away from the playoffs...this year they have added a bunch of vet WRs that are proven and a lot better than the likes of Perriman, Maclin, etc....their TE group was led by a 37 yr old that was productive but now has some youth and big play capabilities....their DL will be one of the best vs the run w Pierce, Williams, Henry and Urban freeing up Mosley and Onwuasor...finally they get back their leader in the secondary w Jimmy Smith and a veteran group at safeties w Weddle and Jefferson....they have the best kicker in the game so once they get past the opponents 35 yd line it’s almost guaranteed 3 pts...I think a lot of people are sleeping on this team and will be surprised when Flacco lights up some defenses w his new WR crew

 

I agree with you on this. Non fans and fans will acknowledge that the team has been decimated by injury, then predict them to be worse. I get it if you're predicting more injuries, but if not then it doesn't make sense.

As said, the WRs are better on paper. Can't be much worse than an older Wallace and Chris Moore (the rest were pure trash).

Some players are healthy again (for now). They may get hurt again, and it seems likely for some, but until they do the team can only be better by adding Jimmy Smith, Marshal Yanda, and Tavon Young back into the mix (I want to include Urban, but he's more injury prone than even Jimmy).

And I'm one of the people looking forward to the next QB era, but it has to be mentioned that Joe hasn't been healthy at this point in the season in years.

I don't have confidence in the TE group until I see something out of them, and the o-line has question marks at C and RT for now, but they had questions going into last season also. If just the secondary and o-line stay relatively healthy (and the o-line plays well), I can't see this team not having a winning record

 

Troll

 

Lots of stuff on Lamar here; https://www.pennlive.com/expo/sports/erry-2018/07/a3ae073d235693/lamar-jackson-buzz-what-baltim.html

 

I think, right now, Jackson probably isn't ready to start. Sounds like he'll be "electric" when on the field, but still needs to get his accuracy and decision making down. Then again, so does Joe lol

 

To me, the 2 main areas of concern will be the O Line solidification and the Linebacker spots. I like the depth (crazy amount of depth in the secondary, more than I have ever seen with any Ravens team) of the secondary (both safety and Corner) and the D line, but LB (specifically MLB) is where I see a huge weakness. We are a Mosely injury away from having Onwausor and McClellan as our starting MLB's. I hope Young steps up and shows some explosiveness in the spot next to Mosely.

As far as the Oline, we all know Flacco needs a solid above average Oline to be his best, so if we keep a healthy Yanda and Stanley moves up a notch in his development and one of the young guys steps up (either Brown, Siragusa or Lewis) I think we should really gel as a unit with good depth.

 

I've now been to a pair of training camps with another 4 possible more. For what it's worth here's what I'm seeing:

QBs:
1) Joe is as good as I've ever seen him. Touch is there and better than ever. Pocket presence (even for practice) looks strong. He is mobile and healthy.
2) RG3 looks good to. If they plan on keeping 3 QBs on roster they could trade him, but he's likely a 4 preseason game starter and cut to seek a deal in FA.
3) Woodrum is a better passer than Lamar Jackson right now and can throw on his feet as well. Lamar is absolutely magical on his feet, but I don't know WTF they're talking about in terms of his throwing being "ahead of the curve."
4) Lamar made a one great TD pass to Moore while rolling out of the pocket with defenders swarming him. They had a great reverse play and flee flicker for him. The reverse worked like charm as he ran the ball. The flee flicker did not pan out as he was mobbed, but got the ball down field even with zero chance of connecting. They will be using him in wildcat.
Receivers:
5) Crabtree is catching everything and is going to be a redzone threat. he and Joe are in sync.
6) I'm impressed with John Brown who is also in sync with Joe on slant and Go routes catching in stride. Think Jacoby Jones with better hands.
7) Willie Snead is going to be a killer chain mover and get YAC. He gets separation on every down and never dropped a ball that I saw. He scampered into the endzone a few times as well.
8) Chris Moore is ready for a much bigger roll. He is good enough to be the 3rd receiver, but will likely be the 4th. He's gotten noticeably better this year and seems to have uncapped potential. If used right he could be as good as TY Hilton this year.
9) Tim White is back and doesn't appear to be hampered by his injury at all not dropping a single pass I saw.
10) Lasley is good and will be a situational/developmental player fast, so-so hands, limited rout tree. Not sure how that stash him, but I can see it happening.
11) Perriman is an abysmal failure. Drops all over the place with Joe or RG hitting him in the hands. Can't adjust. Just seems to accept that he sucks.
12) #5-9 will be on roster with a strong battle brewing for the 6th with Adeboydejo, Grant and Lasley. Grant, Scott and Posey had good showings and might be able to unseat those guys. I didn;t see Adeboyejo on field either day but he was progressing nicely last year so...

OL
13) My prediction for the OL roster so far barring trade or injury: Stanley, Yanda, Skura, Bozeman, Brown, Lewis, Siragusa, and Hurst.
14) Zeus Deus will start.
15) Goose Deus could overtake Skura at some point this season.
16) Senat is a huge man, but is not yet ready. Even so, I think he makes the PS. I'm not as good with judging OL talent, but from what I saw all others are expendable; not because I saw glaring flaws, but that my predicted starters are that much better.

TE
17) Hurst and Andrews looked the best out there.
18) Vince Mayle was making athletic catches and high point grabs and was defended only once that I saw against Matt Judon (who's also looking like a stud).
19) Maxx Williams looked like Maxx Williams - nothing special, not terrible.
20) Nick Boyle looks real good. In his catch and run he throws a sick shoulder into defenses unlike the others. Hope he stays clean.
21) Nick Keizer looked surprisingly good as well much like Mayle, but I just don't see him on roster. Perhaps the PS.
22) I can see Williams getting traded. It could be Mayle, but Williams was my least favorite.

RB
23) The young group was hard to judge, but I don't see any real breakout guys.
24) The core group didn't feature Alex Collins either time.
25) Buck Allen is picking up where he left off.
26) Patrick Ricard was not on offense either day and working in with the DEs.
27) Ken Dixon was back to looking like his old self; quick and shifty. Has as good as hands as Buck.
28) Mark Thompson looked impressive an could be a good blocking and short yardage specialist. He should be on the PS.
29) Chris Ezeala is from the German league. Nice guy but is raw.
30) Turner and Edwards will similarly be looking for new homes come Sept 1st.

I didn't get a great look at D/ST as I spent a lot of time looking at offense. Here is what I did notice:
31) Kafusi was blowing up the blind side (sans Stanley) as a RUSH OLB. He is a big guy and his reach kept both Joe and LJ from at least attempting a pass over him. That could be a working role for him.
32) CJ Mosley should be compared to Ray Lewis. I said it. He's not a fiery communicator, but he communicates and the others listen.
33) Did no see Suggs, Williams, or Wormley, but one of more could've been there while I was watching O.
34) Henry eats up double teams.
35) Urban is back and healthy.
36) Judon was chasing down TEs in coverage and winning.
37) Boweser was looking comfortable out there and not over committing to the run.
38) Ricard as DE was manhandling the right side of the 2's.
39) Jimmy Smith is healthy. He'll play day one and is looking unhindered although he didn't look like his coverage was up to snuff.
40) Same for Humphrey. He was getting beat by a lot of receivers, but this might be more of how they conduct practices.
41) Tayvon Young is healthy and looking great defending the slot.
42) Averett looked good and was beaten by the appropriate receivers. He should make the final cut of CBs.

I'll try to get there this weekend and see if I can watch more defense.

 

Just pointed out a fact.

 

You hit on both of my real worries. I think the team is better on paper than last season but we need to stay healthy at those spots to make the playoffs.

I'm ready to see Michael Crabtree play on Sundays and I can't remember the last time I was ready to see any of our receivers play!

 

I heard on the radio that they were referring to his ability to hit receivers in stride with the deep ball. When he's just throwing it and not doing all of the other little things they are asking him to learn he is drilling it home. When they put the full offense on him with the huddle and play calls and making changes he is short throwing and forcing it but he's getting better at it.

Give him 3 seasons and he will be the best quarterback in our division. He should have been one of the top quarterbacks selected and should have went top 10.

 

That's about what I saw out of him. Even ion the 11 on 11 session, he wasn't that bad. If you recall his preseason last year he was at least as good as Ryan Mallet was (more because he cared about improving and competing). He's quite good really. He should've had the b/u job last year imo. But with RG here and LJ a 1st rd pick, they're not going to really give him much of a chance to make this team this year. Pity.

 

The OL can be that good. From what I saw, Zeus, Goose, and Lewis are on track to make major strides. Skura and Bozeman are both doing well too at center. Outside of injury there is no reason Joe shouldn't have an OL that he can work behind. It may not be 2012 good, but it has the potential to be especially if Center is shored up.

ILB should be fine. Mosley is an All Star. He is rarely too hurt to play. If the worst should happen there is no making up entirely for his loss. But don't forget we get Bam Bradley back who impressed last year in small sample size and Onwausor is not a bad option to replace him. McClellan can move inside easily, Correa may improve (tho' I didn't notice him out there), and Kenny Young who was a East-West game standout. He is by all accounts doing exceptionally well for a rookie and could be a back up behind Onwausor. There are certainly question marks, but more bc this group doesn't have experienced big-name talent outside of CJ.

 

They're moving Correa back to OLB. Preliminary reports are that he's doing what they drafted him to do, set the edge and rush the QB. Unfortunately, without an injury, he might not have a spot on the team. i really wanted to see what he could do when playing to his strength.