Interesting take on the Ravens from an active NFL player

[ActualSpamBot]

In another thread I mentioned that I'm visiting Oahu this week. Today I went on a 3 hour ATV tour of the mountains at the North Shore. It was one of the high points of my trip for a couple reasons, but one of them is that my tour group included an active NFL player and his girlfriend.

I recognized him during check in, and because our group was very small, he and I spent plenty of time talking to him during the photo stops. He was traveling somewhat incognito (not using his real first name) so I won't violate his privacy by revealing his identity (beyond saying he is an offensive player on an NFC team we played this season).

I asked him some questions about football in general, about the life of a player, etc. Not going to get into any of that except to say that it's a very interesting and some of what he said was fairly eye opening stuff.

Then I pushed my luck and asked him about the Ravens specifically.

His take on Flacco is that he's a great QB. He doesn't understand the media hate because in his mind, Joe is a great talent. I asked if he'd rather play with Joe than with his QB and he just laughed. He also said that Joe has really evolved since the last time he saw him. Says that Joe is actually really animated during games and "barks" a lot. (When I asked if barking meant the same as trash talking he said no, just that Joe has no problem making his feelings known.

He said that Ray Lewis is universally respected in the league and that he texts him regularly. Ray apparently sends mass texts several times a week with inspirational quotes or simply reminders to always work towards greatness. (Ray apparently didn't send those texts to him the week we played his teams. Which he found funny.)

Finally he said that the Ravens were a great team, and he wasn't the least bit surprised to see us win it all. He said that once Ray announced his retirement he knew it was almost inevitable because of the way men are so willing to follow him.

I'm not going to try and prove any of this because I was told all of this with a reasonable expectation that I wouldn't be sharing it with the world, but veteran posters know that I'm not one to tell tales out of school. Believe it if you wish, or not.

[PurpleApocalypse37]

Ogletree?

[lordravens]

Cowboys?

[NC Raven]

Mahalo! Hope you are having a great time. Wife and I have been once, plan on going again next summer for our 10th. Looking forward to surfing the south shore of Kauai again, with its perfect, predictable carbon-copy, all day, every day swells that glide you along like a weightless ghost above the earth.... (but note, no plans to surf the North Shore of Oahu, and there would be no "again" about that because... I could have never, not on the best day of my life, done it the first time around to start with... !)

Anyway.... difference between a player and the media, kind of reminds me of what an old art teacher told me once: draw what's there, not what you think is there.

A player sees what's there, because that's his job -- to see what's there and figure out how to handle it. A player has no need for spin or bias, he has only a need for accuracy, truth. Without it, he can't hope to prepare properly. So of course, an opposing player would recognize what the Ravens had. He sees it for what it is, and tries to prepare for it, factoring everything into account.

The media, on the other hand, almost completely failed to see the Ravens' greatness, in part because (a) many are lazy, and just piggy-back off existing narratives and call it a day, or (b) they only see what they think is there. "Old habits die hard" and "you can't teach an old dog new tricks" they say. This is true of writers. They get an idea in their heads, and its hard for them to shake it. Hence, the "same old same old" reporting of the Ravens.

None of which bothers me. Screw em all. Baltimore Ravens till I die!!!!

[RavenScallywag]

If you go throughout the league, I haven't heard many PLAYERS hate on Flacco. Most of them respect his game. Not sure if part of that is just "player fraternity" (Both are players in the same sport, don't want to put something bad out there and make yourself open to negative comments), but apart from a few Steelers, most guys respect what Flacco has done in the league.

Ray Lewis can be a bit of a polarizing figure, but he has mentored SO many players in this league. I still recall he was texting with Big Ben after the rape allegations. Think about that. He reached out to our #1 rival's starting QB and guided him through the tough times he was having. He was also fairly close with Chad "Ochocinco" Johnson, another hated rival on the field.

That's why I knew he wasn't going to go into coaching. Ray has too deep a connection with off the field stuff. You may think his religious stuff is over the top, and there's times that I do, but you can tell that he puts that stuff and people's lives ahead of football. That's why I see him trying to become a pastor or some sort of life coach. MAYBE an NFL team could convince him to go into player development in the front office, but i don't know.

[PerpetuallyBored74]

An NFL player with a positive view of Joe?

Well, that rules out THE GREAT PROGNOSTICATOR LaMarr Woodley.
(that plus being an NFC player)

Woodley back in 2011 also had this to say about Colt McCoy:
"Honestly, I think the guy's gonna be a great quarterback."

http://content.usatoday.com/communit...his-lifetime/1

Yeah...don't quit your day job LaMarr

[HotInHere]

The media, on the other hand, almost completely failed to see the Ravens' greatness, in part because (a) many are lazy, and just piggy-back off existing narratives and call it a day, or (b) they only see what they think is there. "Old habits die hard" and "you can't teach an old dog new tricks" they say. This is true of writers. They get an idea in their heads, and its hard for them to shake it. Hence, the "same old same old" reporting of the Ravens.

None of which bothers me. Screw em all. Baltimore Ravens till I die!!!!

In fairness to the media (many of whom don't deserve it) there is no way they can have the same appreciation for the Ravens that we do. There aren't enough hours in the day to be as familiar with 32 teams as we are with our one. I agree many our lazy, and with just a little digging they could put out a better product, or at least not just regurgitate the same errors over and over (e.g. the Ravens defense is old.)

But many of them see the Ravens as much as we see, for example, the Texans. You watch a full game or three. You see the SportsCenter highlights. You see the fantasy stats. And that's about it.

So if you watched Joe in the regular season Denver game, and read his statline every week, and noticed that most of the Ravens highlights involved the defense and Ray Rice, you would probably think of him as pretty mediocre. You might think of the Ravens as lucky this year, because we won several close games, and didn't really obliterate anybody besides the Raiders after the opening week. When the spotlight was really on in the playoff chase, we put up some clunkers.

For us, we watched this team, and we knew what they were capable of. We could see the effect the injuries were having. We could see the offense could be great if it could figure out how to be consistent. And on and on. But you can't figure those things out in the snapshot high level view that the national media gets.

[Tspot-D-Ravenator]

Please tell us who the player was after you come back...You didn't say anything to incriminate the unsaid player and when he's off his trip, he won't be incognito anymore.

[OhThePossibilities]

Kind of OT... I know everyone and their mother from off island says that Matsumoto's is the way to go for shave ice, but if you ask me, Waiola Shave Ice (2135 Waiola Street) in town is the best. It's kind of a hole in the wall on a back street, but I guarantee 1/5th of the wait with 100x the quality. I get the lilikoi cream + condensed milk on top sometimes with mochi balls underneath. Then after I pick up a flan in the general store and take it home for later.

Dang. My mouth is watering now. I'm going tomorrow fo' sho', brah.

[leachisabeast]

Thanks for this ASB, good thread, really interesting stuff.

It doesn't really surprise me that Flacco is well regarded around the NFL, he did get a respectable position last year in the top 100 after all, I expect him to rise into the 20s this year.

[HoustonRaven]

So a player from an NFC team that Joe has faced at least twice ....

Gotta be a Cowboys player, right?

Good stuff ASB. Thanks!

[camdenyard]

So a player from an NFC team that Joe has faced at least twice ....

Gotta be a Cowboys player, right?

Good stuff ASB. Thanks!

Could be any AFC East team.

Anyway, good read, found myself wanting more.