Why is everyone up in arms about rebuilding the defense?

**Section 502 Raven** · 03-14-2013, 08:23 PM

its amazing we won the S[B] wiht that defense. the middle of the line was porus and the linebacking was slow. add cary, i play 10 yards off the receiver, and ed, i can't tackle, reed and you've got a poor defense that was aided by the 49ers poor play calling to end the game.

i credit ozzie for being proactive. the best move that backfired was dropping dilfer for grbac. the reason the ravens didn;t follow up sb 35 with a strong run was due to jamal lewis going down for the season in camp. it had nothing to do with the qb situation.

ozzie knows what he is doing but as a long time baltimore fan i tend to like our legends and you can;t have legends when you operate a players revolving door. i was hoping ed reed would be the ravens third HOF player who played his whole career for the ravens. that is rare.

**Terpsfan82** · 03-14-2013, 08:32 PM

Originally Posted by Section 502 Raven

its amazing we won the S[B] wiht that defense. the middle of the line was porus and the linebacking was slow. add cary, i play 10 yards off the receiver, and ed, i can't tackle, reed and you've got a poor defense that was aided by the 49ers poor play calling to end the game.

i credit ozzie for being proactive. the best move that backfired was dropping dilfer for grbac. the reason the ravens didn;t follow up sb 35 with a strong run was due to jamal lewis going down for the season in camp. it had nothing to do with the qb situation.

ozzie knows what he is doing but as a long time baltimore fan i tend to like our legends and you can;t have legends when you operate a players revolving door. i was hoping ed reed would be the ravens third HOF player who played his whole career for the ravens. that is rare.

I agree. I for one was tired of watching that slow lb core that couldn't cover get exposed by teams with good tight ends or backs out of the backfield. We will suffer through growing pains for half a seaon, but I want to see them get some speed in that back 7.

**lobachevsky** · 03-14-2013, 08:42 PM

Originally Posted by Section 502 Raven

i credit ozzie for being proactive. the best move that backfired was dropping dilfer for grbac. the reason the ravens didn;t follow up sb 35 with a strong run was due to jamal lewis going down for the season in camp. it had nothing to do with the qb situation.

Slightly o/t, but: It had everything to do with the QB situation. Grbac was brought in to make a couple more plays a game than Dilfer but the O was gonna ride Jamal. When he went down in TC and there were no viable RB options out there, it fell to Elvis to be the playmaker--but he'd made his living behind a great pass-protecting OL in KC & when opponents teed off on the Ravens' bunch of road-graders, he got pounded into submission quickly & thoroughly. Billick should have gone to Cunningham that year simply because he stood a better chance of surviving behind that line.

What Ozzie learned from that debacle is: Always, always, always, always have a Plan B if the key player in Plan A goes down. (At least I hope that's what he learned. I'd be a lot more confident if he wasn't depending on Tyrod Taylor if Joe gets hurt, but then again if you lose your franchise QB you can legitimately write the season off...)

/ot

**alien bird** · 03-14-2013, 08:47 PM

Originally Posted by lobachevsky

What Ozzie learned from that debacle is: Always, always, always, always have a Plan B if the key player in Plan A goes down. (At least I hope that's what he learned. I'd be a lot more confident if he wasn't depending on Tyrod Taylor if Joe gets hurt, but then again if you lose your franchise QB you can legitimately write the season off...)

/ot

I was thinking about the late rounds in the draft and wonder if it wouldn't be good for the Ravens to take a QB that is more in the mold of Flacco - the traditional drop back kind of guy. 1) He would fit the offense better if Joe went down; 2) on the outside chance that the #2 guy develops into a halfway decent player and shows a little something in mop up time, that could be parlayed into a decent draft pick a few years down the road in this QB-starved league. Look at what the Patriots got for Cassel, and look at the potentially decent pick they could get for Mallett. A 6th round QB could end up being a 2nd or 3rd round pick three years from now.

**SeeBass** · 03-14-2013, 08:49 PM

ravens defense was soft in the middle both against the pass and run. The NT play was awful. The inside linebackers struggled to make tackles against the run and could cover anyone. Ed Reed was the worst tackler in the league (or not far from it) while Pollard can't cover. The league is a passing league, you need linebackers and safeties that can do both.

**lovefootball** · 03-14-2013, 08:58 PM

Not me, I think Ozzie is doing something that needs to be done. The defense needs younger players to grow with the team. Offense will have to make up for any defensive problems that happen. Defense will have to learn to listen to the coaches and veterans left. It will be interesting and maybe painful for the 2013 season. Other teams have lost key players also. It would be nice to see NE not get 5 wins in their division. Hell. the saints kept their same defense last year and it did not help.

**edtude** · 03-14-2013, 09:51 PM

Originally Posted by Captain Silver

Look, I have kept mum on most of the sky is falling business around here but I am going to break it down.

I will miss Q and any and all of the Ravens who either move on to greener pa$ture$ or are cut by the team. I forgot whom it was that stated the new plan of how the team will build around a franchise QB like New England does, but they were right.

I would like to add to that notion. It has been argued here on another thread that Harrison would be a bad pick up because he is a dirty player. Fair enough. But that type of play, the hitting and trying to dislodge the ball with a "BIG HIT" is going to be going away. Just like the rules have changed from 12 years ago from the Ravens record setting defense, it will evolve in the next 12.

The NFL is fast becoming the arena league. It is all going to become about passing and stopping the pass. WR and DB's are going to be interchangeable pawns with speed. You'll get the occasional anomaly at tight end, but on the whole, there ill be no more "big hits" it is going to become about sure tackling and ripping the ball away from the ball carrier. Hence, players like Pollard are going the way of the dinosaur. Even Ray Lewis is going to be remembered as people think of Butkus and what he got away with decades ago.

The offensive and defensive lines are going to become premium places of cost and action after QB's. This will be one of the last places the game really changes and it will evolve in the way of illegal chop blocks from the o-line and less leeway for defensive line players on hitting the quarterback as is already ever present.

Five yards beyond the line of scrimmage, it is going to turn into almost flag football. Even running back has been devalued over the years. The ability to catch is almost as important as it is to run - Ray Rice/Reggie Bush. This again like the tight end still has a places for players like AP. But overall, this is the progression of the game.

It is my belief, that based upon the evolution of the game, suggestions of the competition committee, the problem with concussions and safty as well as Roger Goodell's comments about making the game safer draw me to this conclusion: Ozzie Newsome thinks along these lines and is building a team to reflect the evolution of the game.

Think outside the box my friends.

Ozzie? I didn't know you moonlit on these boards? I do believe you have hit the nail squarely on the head Captain. Younger faster is Ozzies mantra. If Ed comes back he will welcome him, if he doesn't he will be on the dais 5 years after he retires enshrining the third Raven into the Hall of Fame but one way or the other Ozzie is going to be ahead of the curve.

**leachisabeast** · 03-14-2013, 09:55 PM

Originally Posted by SeeBass

ravens defense was soft in the middle both against the pass and run. The NT play was awful. The inside linebackers struggled to make tackles against the run and could cover anyone. Ed Reed was the worst tackler in the league (or not far from it) while Pollard can't cover. The league is a passing league, you need linebackers and safeties that can do both.

:word

**kronusthebonus** · 03-14-2013, 10:02 PM

Omar Brown, your starting FS in 2013. Write that down.

**steelerhater** · 03-14-2013, 10:06 PM

Originally Posted by HoustonRaven

Totally agree.

The defense definitely lost its speed and tackling from 2011 to 2012. Can't wait to see how this unit shapes up with the youth and speed coming in.

Absurd.

Plenty of players are outspoken and are union reps. They get along with coaches just fine.

This had to do with him being an asshat to other teammates and being trouble in the locker room. That's the reason he's on his fourth team.

The problem with that is that the draft is a crap-shoot. Nobody knowsw how good someone is going to be for, most likely, a few years. Hey, Ozzie could draft the next Terrell Suggs or Haloti Ngata or he could draft the next Terrence Cody or Jimmy Smith.

**steelerhater** · 03-14-2013, 10:16 PM

Originally Posted by Ravenswintitle

Full rebuild mode seriously? It's day 3 of free agency.

And how many starters have we lost in those 3 days? Some people are acting like the draft is going to save us. The odds of immediately getting the kind of production out of drsaft picks as we had out of the starters we lost are very remote. I can see losing Kruger, Ellerbe, Williams, and Reed. Losing Boldin and Pollard means rebuilding time.

**kronusthebonus** · 03-14-2013, 10:18 PM

Originally Posted by steelerhater

And how many starters have we lost in those 3 days? Some people are acting like the draft is going to save us. The odds of immediately getting the kind of production out of drsaft picks as we had out of the starters we lost are very remote. I can see losing Kruger, Ellerbe, Williams, and Reed. Losing Boldin and Pollard means rebuilding time.

Except the defense was terrible by Ravens standards. They were terrible against the run, and barely better against the pass. They gave up a ton of yards.