I don't know if I've ever had this much dread/morbid curiosity towards a Ravens game before.

[lovefootball]

I've gotta watch just to see which, of our projected Week 1 starters, Yanda, Wagner, and Gillmore, goes down next.

You know they all must feel like they'e got targets on their backs by now.

BS

Or very lucky at this point, SMH.

[Beerracuda]

Matt Schaub vs Josh McCown?
3-7 vs 2-8?
After last night's PIT-SEA and NE-DEN thrillers?

Oh, this might be the least watched MNF game of all time!
And for good reason.

I don't see this being anything but ugly... actually fugly. And most of that on the Ravens side. If we lost at home to Cleveland with Flacco, Forsett, and Steve Smith active, how are we going to compete in Cleveland with our current rag tag team?

I fear this won't even be close.

Ravens - 13
Browns - 31

At least one CLE TD will be a Pick 6.

[NC Raven]

Matt Schaub, Buck Allen, James Hurst, Ryan Jensen, and John Urschel are all STARTING this game.

This might as well be a preseason game.

Meanwhile, Cleveland has activated Johnny Football for this game after all because.... otherwise they wouldn't be able to suit up 46 healthy guys.

Don't know if the injuries are more than normal, league wide, this year, but a lot of teams are out there with JV lineups. New England has nobody left on offense, the Eagles ran The Sanchize out there for a Thanksgiving ass-whooping... most NFL games are just fugly this year, not just ours. College games are a lot more fun to watch right now; it's a shame the regular season just ended. Minute for minute, NCAA football has been vastly more entertaining this year. Dont know what the NFL can do to address it, but it's bad.

[ERey]

Hard to believe after all these great Ravens teams they're actually fielding a team that is probably worse than Cleveland's tonight. I know Cleveland has beat us in the past, but you always knew it was just a tough division game and it was their Super Bowl. There was never any question who had more talent. Now we actually suck like they do! smh

[WrongBaldy]

tucker has been shaky also

[Ravenswintitle]

College games are a lot more fun to watch right now; it's a shame the regular season just ended. Minute for minute, NCAA football has been vastly more entertaining this year. Dont know what the NFL can do to address it, but it's bad.

I completely disagree with the statement above and it's funny, I was talking to a coworker about it today. I watched a ton of college over Thanksgiving and it's all the same. QB stands 6 yds back and stares at the sidelines. Two back set. Eventually he claps his hands, lifts one leg and hands off for the inside trap play for a gain of two. Repeat ad naseum.

It's no wonder NFL QBs are so hard to find, they don't huddle they don't read defenses, they run the play from the sideline.
Oline doesn't block anymore, they move sideways and that's a big reason that position is going downhill.

College has become garbage outside of a few passing teams and maybe B12 IMO. I know I'm generalizing but you get the point.

[Rxdoxx]

"There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call the Raven zone"

[NC Raven]

I completely disagree with the statement above and it's funny, I was talking to a coworker about it today. I watched a ton of college over Thanksgiving and it's all the same. QB stands 6 yds back and stares at the sidelines. Two back set. Eventually he claps his hands, lifts one leg and hands off for the inside trap play for a gain of two. Repeat ad naseum.

It's no wonder NFL QBs are so hard to find, they don't huddle they don't read defenses, they run the play from the sideline.
Oline doesn't block anymore, they move sideways and that's a big reason that position is going downhill.

College has become garbage outside of a few passing teams and maybe B12 IMO. I know I'm generalizing but you get the point.

Depends on what teams you watch, of course, but I agree that there are a lot who run the types of play you are talking about (though ironically, the formation you describe sounds an awful lot like what we used to call the "pro set" :) ). I like the variety you find in college as far as the different styles of play (air raid, triple option, zone read, then the variants run by TCU or Oregon that incorporate elements of multiple styles, etc).

Maybe what's sucking about the NFL is the NFL isn't adapting to the players coming in. These college coaches are getting $3-5 million a year (Jim Harbs is getting like 7) so the NFL doesn't have enough power to tell Urban Meyer, Nick Saban or Jimbo Fisher what type of offense to run. NFL is trying to fit square pegs into round holes, but if you draft Marcus Mariota in the top 5 or whatever, then try to make him run Tom Brady's plays, you get what we see every godawful Sunday. The same garbage as when the Falcons tried to make Michael Vick into a WCO QB.

I'm no historian, but I do know that formations that were once popular in pro ball are no longer used. The game changes over time, and to me the NFL game is going to have to change, sooner or later, to fit the skill sets of the players coming into the league.

Look at the disaster Cam Cameron is having at LSU. Remember when the Patriots genius OC Charlie Weis went to Notre Dame? Two good years followed by a total disastrous flameout. Then he went to lowly Kansas, who had nowhere to go but up, and sucked even worse. Its pretty clear a lot of these old school NFL guys can't coach today's college kids; it's no wonder to me then that they can't coach 'em when they get to the league either. At the same time, you have Chip Kelly trying to run the Oregon offense in Philly, and it's also a dumpster fire, so who knows?

I don't have all the answers, but some smart feller out there is going to figure out how to exploit and leverage the disconnect between college and pro and have himself some nice success one of these days.