Baltimore Ravens Thread

Paully D

kevohmsford wrote: »

Hi everyone. I am new to watching American Football. Recently I decided that I would follow the Baltimore Ravens.
Have just seen two pre-season games so far.
Joe Flacco, Michael Oher and Ray Rice have caught my eye so far.
Who else should I look out for ? The rules do not seem too bad to follow so far.
Thanks

Good decision mate. I'm a fairly new supporter too (since last season).

The main players would be, in no particular order: Rice, Flacco, Ngata, Ray Lewis, Ed Reed, Webb, Suggs, Boldin, Smith.

Lewis and Reed could well be in their last season but are legends of the game and Suggs is currently injured but is the reigning defensive player of the year.

I found this book to be really good:

http://www.amazon.com/Next-Man-Up-Behind-Todays/dp/0316009644

Basically the author follows the team around and sits in on meetings etc for the whole 2004 season. The first few chapters give a great amount of detail about the history of the team and over the course of the book you learn a lot about the personality etc of the owner (Steve Biscotti), general manager (Ozzie Newsome) and head coach of the time Brian Billick who lead the team to the 2001 Super Bowl win. There's no startling revelations about the technical side of the game etc but it's a very good read for those like myself who are not long after getting into the game. I'd recommend you try and pick that up, it won't disappoint

Mikemac1 is the resident Ravens expert here so I'm sure he'll be a long to tell you a lot more than I can

kevohmsford

I just bought that book online so looking forward to reading it next week.
Going to watch the Ravens versus Jaguars pre-season game from last week later on.

mikemac1

Sean Considine kept but UDFA Omar Brown cut, boooooooooo

This team is so conservative and always goes with the vet over the bright young rookie :mad:

Not a chance we'll keep Omar Brown on the practice squad, all the teams are looking to snap up defensive backs

Let the young players play said our owner and instead Harbaugh goes with the washed up player.

mikemac1

Paully D wrote: »

Mikemac1 is the resident Ravens expert here so I'm sure he'll be a long to tell you a lot more than I can

Ah stop

kevohmsford wrote: »

Hi everyone. I am new to watching American Football. Recently I decided that I would follow the Baltimore Ravens.

Good choice

kevohmsford wrote: »

Who else should I look out for ?

I'd say Haloti Ngata is our most valuable player
Then Ladarius Webb

Lewis and Reed are indeed legends and still playing at a high level

On offense there is Boldin who is a leader and young Torrey Smith has shown fantastic promise, could be an excellent player for the next decade

And we have the best fullback in the league, Vonta Leach
Patrick Willis is a great player but he got destroyed here!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7I5A05f8T8

kevohmsford wrote: »

Joe Flacco, Michael Oher and Ray Rice have caught my eye so far.

You don't watch the Ravens for high powered flashy offense
This team is all about the D, brutal hard hitting AFC North football
One of the best games I saw last year finished 13-9


You want big scores go watch the Patriots or Saints!
If you are a Ravens fans you want nasty defense, killing quarterbacks, crushing runnning backs :cool:
Oh and cussing out our offensive coordinator :pac:

Here is a good hit

The offical team forum is good and one of the best designed of the 32 teams.
Watch the videos too, Ryan, Sarah and Garrett are the staff reporters and they are good

For the best chat and analysis go to the unoffical forum. Very serious and heavy chat and lots of arguments. You don't have to register, fine to read if you want
http://ravens24x7.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?3-Ravens-24x7

+1 for the book recommended by PaullyD, it's a great book

I leave you with this

DEFENSE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_2aFfsPPhg

Paully D

Surprised at Sergio Kindle getting kept on. Probably only happened because Upshaw injured his shoulder again against the Rams. It'll be interesting to see if he can start producing.

mikemac1

Anyone else worried teams are going to run on us?

JJ was one of the best run blockers in the league and need I say more about our DPOTY.

Don't have them now and we have a hurt Upshaw, Kruger may be a good pass rusher but he's no JJ (yet) and Kindle, well I don't expect anything from Kindle

The Rams were running outside all night in the pre-season game.
Ok it's pre-season but it's a concern

matthew8

For as long as we have Ray/Ngata teams won't be too successful running on us. If Cody can have his long-awaited breakout and Upshaw can get healthy it will offset the loss of JJ/Suggs.

Anyway, practise squad announced. Your boy Omar Brown is on it. Don't recognise any of the other named that aren't Anthony Allen, are they good?

kevohmsford

The Ravens are not playing until tomorrow week (Bengals) so I was looking at some of the players that were picked in the draft.
Courtney Upshaw looks like a good prospect. What are peoples views on him ?
Will he get much game time this season ?

mikemac1

They have no option but to start Upshaw this season

Jarrett Johnson is gone and Suggs is out injured

Upshaw was brought in to replace JJ, he's not a spectacular pash rusher like Suggs but he will be a very effective all rounder like JJ and pick up some sacks too

Paul Kruger will take on main pass rusing duties, Upshaw to take over JJ's role

He will have a solid and steady rookie season I think, nothing spectacular and won't have any chance realy at rookie of the year.

Paully D

Great performance last night. Only negative for me was that we struggled a bit to stop the run, but otherwise it was hugely impressive. Flacco looked amazing out there and this new style offence will be really enjoyable to watch.

Eagles upcoming in week 2. How do you all see that going? It will certainly be an interesting challenge to see how the new offence does against a team with excellent, very quick, pass rushers.

kevohmsford

Really enjoyed the game last night too.

It was great to see Ray Lewis in action. I can see now why he is held in such high regard. His tackling is class. The Bengals made things difficult enough with their offensive running but their defence let them down.

Bring on the Eagles on Sunday.

matthew8

Have to say we look the same as last year. And the year before. Second half complete rubbish. Haloti Ngata looking better than ever though, and that's impressive. There's no defender I would rather have in the league.

mikemac1

Is Dean Pees the new Greg Mattison?

3 man rushes
Big Cary Williams and Jimmy Smith standing 10 yds off their man instead of pressing.
OLB's getting nowhere

Ngata and Webb and Pollard (before he got hurt ) had good games but I can't say much for the rest of them

Where is the agression that Pagano used to show?
The agression the Baltimore D is known for


As for Cam Camerons obsession with passing on 3rd & 2.
He's far too cute for his own good.

FreeOSCAR

Thought you Ravens lads might appreciate this.

Mike912

Hello Ravens fans, Patriots fan here coming in peace:D

Should be another epic game between these two staunch rivals if the drama and pure entertainment value of past games is repeated Sunday.

On paper I'd say your side has the edge, but that's why they play the games. Concerning to me is our offensive lineman Logan Mankins is not at full speed with a hip injury which portends well for your defense since Haloti may attract double and possibly triple team blockers which may free up your linebackers for uncontested hits on Brady and our runners.

That said, if Ladarius Webb can't play, I'd hate to be the cornerback stepping in. Brady usually takes full advantage of replacements.

Good luck and enjoy the game!

Paully D

FreeOSCAR wrote: »

Thought you Ravens lads might appreciate this.

Brilliant mate, been looking for this over the last couple of days. Will watch it now. Thanks!

Pudsy33

I'm seriously excited for this game tomorrow night! How do people see it going? I know I should be optimistic, but I really think it's too close to call.

Paully D

Looks like Torrey Smith is out tonight, his brother was killed in a crash last night. Some things are just far more important than football. RIP

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/8416267/brother-baltimore-ravens-wr-torrey-smith-dies-accident

kevohmsford

Looking forward to the game tonight. Going to be a late one anyway.

Paully D

Pudsy33

Paully D wrote: »

What an absolute legend. Inspirational.

PADRAIC.M

Great game, pity about some dodgy reffing but man can Ed Reed lay you out? Yes he can!!!!

kevohmsford

That was a total rollercoaster of a game. Torrey Smith put in an amazing performance considering all that has happened.
The refereeing was questionable at times. Haloti Ngata is now my hero. The man is a beast.
I am going to watch the game again now for the third time.

Pudsy33

kevohmsford wrote: »

That was a total rollercoaster of a game. Torrey Smith put in an amazing performance considering all that has happened.
The refereeing was questionable at times. Haloti Ngata is now my hero. The man is a beast.
I am going to watch the game again now for the third time.

You've really got the bug haven't you :pac: might watch the game again myself. Smith is my favourite player after that game, some hero.

PokeHerKing

Very hard to dislike the ravens I gotta say, so many characters on the team and any team that beats the patriots is A ok with me.

As long as you aren't playing the broncos or colts ill be rooting for you's.

mikemac1

Missed the game Sunday night, fell asleep

Look at the superfan above going to watch it a third time.
Now there's a fan :cool:

Downloaded it yesterday and watched it this morning

Cary Williams is trash!!
And to think he was offered a 15 million dollar extension....which he then rejected.
Good luck getting another lucrative offer :pac:


Ah now, not for me to focus on the negative, great win

Paully D

Joe Flacco now has the most wins by a quarterback since 2008 with 46.

Benny Cake

Paully D wrote: »

Joe Flacco now has the most wins by a quarterback since 2008 with 46.

Its rings, not wins, he wants!!

kevohmsford

Another game to look forward to tonight. Hopefully we can get a good win against the Cleveland Browns.
It seems the Ravens have a good record against the Browns but have been close games.

Paully D

Feels like I've just about got my breath back from Sunday nights game and we're back on the field again tonight. I can only imagine how the players and coaching staff feel!

We should win tonight but I said that 4 times last season after beating tough opposition the week before and it didn't happen. That said, even on a short week our offense is on fire and should have far too much for Cleveland. I'll be interested to get a proper look at Trent Richardson too. Really liked him in college but haven't got the chance to pay much attention to him in the NFL yet. Always a fiery atmosphere too so it should be a good one!

Anyone staying up for it? I'm up early tomorrow so may try and avoid the score and watch it on GamePass sometime during the day, but I'll probably end up fighting sleep through the first half anyway and see how I go from there