How Realistically Are You Looking at 2017?

[757RavensFan]

I'm very optimistic about the 2017 Ravens. We literally missed the playoffs by inches when we lost to the Steelers on Christmas.
The only real question mark this time has, which happens to be a big one, is the O-Line. Stanley, Lewis and Yanda are set, filling the other 2 spots will be interesting.

Adding Greg Roman is going to help our running game, like Leslie Frazier helped our secondary. Man, I would love to see what Frazier would have done w/ this upgraded secondary.

My prediction: 10-6.

[Jsmoove]

Waiting.............

[DarthSizzle55]

It sucks. i want new coordinators but I dont want to lose Harbs.

Unfortunately it seems like you need to clean the house (everyone) to get the new furniture (coordinators).

that's how i feel.

[GOTA]

I do see the defense being better. Tony Jefferson allows them to play more dime and Brandon Carr, Marlon Humphreys and keeping Webb who we all though was gone fit right in with that mentality. They are going to be able to do more with this secondary than any defense we've seen under Harbaugh. The versatility is awesome.

My issue is with the offense. It was in the bottom third of the NFL last year and it looks worse. This receiving corp is very weak. The offensive line had significant question marks and right out of the gate the best RB on the team is suspended for 4 games. Dixon is going to miss 3 division games! That's horrible.

Teams without passing offense tend to struggle in today's NFL. Even a top defense is going to allow a lot more points than we used to see a decade ago. There are more comebacks from deficits than we've ever seen in the past and the way a team combats that is by putting the ball in the air and scoring touchdowns. We saw that win a Super Bowl last season. We saw the Steelers knock the Ravens out doing that last season.

Bottom line is better defense + worse offense = same 8-8 record

[WrongBaldy]

A lot has to go wrong for the defense not to have improved significantly. Elsewise, I just think it boils down to the running game. The importance of WRs is hyper-exaggerated on the board. Run to an open spot and play catch. Only slightly more important than kickers.

thats exactly what antonio brown did to us right

[Justlovemybirds]

Is the defense really going to be that much better? Here's my projected 2017 defensive depth chart as of today:

LOLB (SAM): Za'Darius Smith/Judon/Bowser? (starter unknown)
LILB: McClellan/Correa? (starter unknown)
RILB: CJ Mosley
DE/ROLB: Suggs/Tim Williams (Williams might get designated pass rusher time)
DE: Urban/Wormley/Kaufusi? (starter unknown)
NT: Williams/Pierce
DT: Davis/Pierce? (I think Pierce will play at DT on some early downs but co-starter unknown)
LCB: Carr
SS: Jefferson
FS: Weddle
RCB: Jimmy Smith
SCB: Webb/Young (I think both of these guys will play somewhere in the secondary a lot)

That's a lot of "starter unknowns." I'm worried about ILB and DL. Zach Orr was arguably the best player on our defense last year and he's gone; the team wants Correa to replace him but he's a total unknown. I do agree that adding Jefferson and Carr are big additions (jury is still out somewhat on Carr, he's been up and down at best the last few years.) Who will emerge on the DL? The candidates have combined 0 NFL starts between them and only Urban has a single NFL statistic to his name. It's a lot of unknowns, even if the talent is there.

I definitely agree we upgraded our overall defensive depth and talent level, but we lost 3 starters--Guy, Jernigan, and Orr--and added 2--Jefferson and Carr. Your key veteran players like Suggs, Webb, Weddle, and Smith are all a year older. Taken together I find it hard to call this defense DEFINITELY better than last year at this point.

I'm not going to even get into the offense because it's very obviously much worse than last year. They have no C or RT that inspire confidence. Steve Smith is gone, and their best RB is suspended for 1/4 of the season. I think the TE corps will be healthier, but that's pretty much the only improvement, and even that is more of a hope than a supportable opinion.

Saying "well the team will be better because they have another year in the scheme" seems to me like a glorified hand-wave, by the way.

We got very little pass rush opposite Suggs last year and now we have a more experienced Judon along with Bowser and a Top-15 talent in Williams. It may not be reasonable to expect year 1 contributions from mid round picks, in your opinion, but barring off-field issues, Williams should most definitely contribute in spot rushing duties at minimum along with Bowser.

The FO has had enough success finding DL that I'm not worried about who's going to fill in for Guy.

Jernigan was absent over the last half of the season and was outplayed by Pierce.

Same goes for ILB. I feel like Orr's story overshadowed the fact he was good against the run and sub-par in coverage. Arguably our best player on Defense he definitely was not and I'm probably in the minority in that I wasn't too excited about signing him to a long-term contract.

[saintmatthew]

Zach Orr was arguably the best player on our defense last year and he's gone; the team wants Correa to replace him but he's a total unknown.

I'd say Mosley, Weddle were definitely better than him.

[srobert96]

We got very little pass rush opposite Suggs last year and now we have a more experienced Judon along with Bowser and a Top-15 talent in Williams. It may not be reasonable to expect year 1 contributions from mid round picks, in your opinion, but barring off-field issues, Williams should most definitely contribute in spot rushing duties at minimum along with Bowser.

The FO has had enough success finding DL that I'm not worried about who's going to fill in for Guy.

Jernigan was absent over the last half of the season and was outplayed by Pierce.

Same goes for ILB. I feel like Orr's story overshadowed the fact he was good against the run and sub-par in coverage. Arguably our best player on Defense he definitely was not and I'm probably in the minority in that I wasn't too excited about signing him to a long-term contract.

ILB next to Mosely is probably the least important position on the defense. Guy started half the games last year and is a rotational guy. Urban had 1 more sack in a fraction of the games. We finally invested in pass rushers. McClellan is no longer a starter at SAM. HUGE upgrade if that happens. Shareece Wright will no longer be starting. Young moves back inside. Jernigan first half will be missed. Jernigan 2nd half of season, not so much. Orr was in the game way too much, because our SAM position was a train wreck. McClellan on passing downs was like watch a high school kid's first slow dance. He hugged the tackle for the entirety of the play.

[Ortizer]

It sucks. i want new coordinators but I dont want to lose Harbs.

Unfortunately it seems like you need to clean the house (everyone) to get the new furniture (coordinators).

Telling you. Two year plan to get Kubiak back as oc

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[The Excellector]

Harbs brings a lot to the team. He's a motivator that has a history of getting the most out of his players.

He's the kind of coach that brings in a coordinator and lets them do things their way. There's a lot of value in that because it can remove the "too many cooks in the kitchen".

Ironically, we're in that right now because of one move and that was the signing of Marc Trestman. Before that we did not have that IMO. From 2008-2014 we never had that problem. The coordinators set up their scheme and for the most part it worked.

He was stubborn with Cam for sure and we all know how everyone feels about Pees. His biggest problem is mismanagement of his coordinators. That stems from his loyalty from the way I see it. He seems loyal to certain coaches (Castillo, Pees, Cam) Other than that, he does a very good job of keeping the team together.

If we have a bad season and Harbs was told by Biscotti that either you fire the coordinators and bring in a new set or you're going to be fired to and Harbs did htat I would have zero issue.

While I get what you're trying to say (Admittedly having not read through the entire thread), but they have had that issue in the past. They had it with Cameron, Zorn and Saunders. They also had it with Moeller and Castillo.

[Raveninwoodlawn]

8-8ish.

Flacco is good enough that when he plays this team won't bottom out.

But the lack of proven playmakers severely limits this team IMHO. On both sides of the ball. There are some potential guys who maybe can, but no way can you count on that.

As of now, this is a similar, mediocre team that will struggle in most wins and lose some close heatbreakers. Rarely getting blown out and rarely blowing anybody out.

[Terpsfan82]

8-8. That's what we have become.