The Football Gods have spoken and reality hits those who try to defy them.

[The Excellector]

The Pittsburgh Steelers have been on a slow decline the past three years. It all started when the Ravens swept them and they were ousted by the Denver Broncos. Last year, they went 8-8. Many posters declared that we can never count the Steelers out and that 8-8 wasn't a true sign of the end.

Yet, it was, a sign of that very decline I spoke of. The first mistake they made was trying to bring back the same group of veterans for another run at the title, instead of making a move similar to what the Ravens just did, and cutting some loses. The restructuring ensued and their cap situation began to get worse. It was really out of character for them, because they are not usually the type to pay out such money to so many veterans and do so much restructuring. In that way, they are much like the Patriots, or were.

Then, they tried to draft players and they have struggled in their drafts recently. Woodley was a good find of a different style who then had his work ethic questioned. Emmanuel Sanders hasn't panned out, neither has Ziggy Hood. DeCastro spent his first year on IR and, while I still think he's going to be good, is now most noted for taking out his own C for the year.

Now, here's the worst part of this entire decline. The few draft picks that did rise to the occasion, couldn't get their money in Pittsburgh, because the team was cash strapped from restructuring the veterans. So, just like that, Allen and Wallace are gone.

Everyone swears up and down that Brown is better than Wallace and it reminds me of the discussions about Torrey and Anquan in a way. Let's get this straight: Torrey and Mike (Wallace) drew the top CB and safety help. They drew the double team which opened up one on one for the other guys. Anquan is going to have more success than I originally expected, because of the zone that teams will play against San Fransisco, something I'll admit I overlooked. Antonio (Brown) is in some shit, because they are going to double him all day long and Pittsburgh doesn't have anybody else that has shown a glimpse of being able to make teams do otherwise.

After all of that, they go into even more restructures.

You can't beat the system.

We saw the same thing from the New York Jets. Tannenbaum was heralded for his moves and their capologist was highly praised as well. When you do things like this, the window shortens and they couldn't strike. Eventually the bubble burst.

The same thing happened in Philadelphia.

Which is why I still have to give Ozzie credit for recognizing that and making some difficult decisions, because this team is still going to contend in the playoffs, even with all of these young players.

[ERey]

Good post.

When I look at the Ravens' drafts over the years it really is amazing how much Ozzie and team have hit on great players. The only really glaring mistake was Kyle Boller (not the only mistake, but one that IMO could not be overcome). Not only was he a bust, but is screwed the draft for 2004 as well since Ozzie did not have a 1st round pick.

But you're right, the cap will come calling at some point. The Steelers had a great run with 2 Super Bowl wins in 3 trips. Honestly, if they go through a few down years now and can rebuild I think it was worth it.

You can't win every year. Maybe this is a transistion year for the Ravens, or maybe the new players will gel and they will go on a run to the playoffs. Who knows what the best formula is to be competitive every year. The reality is I think being competitive every year is an unrealistic goal if you're trying to win a Super Bowl. Simply being competitive isn't good enough. The thought of just get to the playoffs and "anything can happen" won't cut it. At some point you're going to have to lay it all on the line to get to a Championship. I think the Steelers did that with great success. But now it's time for them to enter into the down period, at least is seems that way. But with good management and ownership they will be back.

[The Excellector]

If you take a look at how the current Ravens starting lineup is constructed, the vast majority of it is full of homegrown draft picks and undrafted free agents.

LT: McKinney (Free Agent)
LG: Osemele (2nd Round Pick)
C: Gradkowski (4th Round Pick)
RG: Yanda (3rd Round Pick)
RT: Oher (1st Round Pick)
WR: Smith (2nd Round Pick)
WR: Brown (UDFA)
QB: Flacco (1st Round Pick)
FB: Leach (Free Agent)
RB: Rice (2nd Round Pick)

DE: Chris Canty (Free Agent)
NT: Haloti Ngata (1st Round Pick)
DE: Spear (Free Agent)
OLB: Dumervil (Free Agent)/ Upshaw (2nd Round Pick)
ILB: Smith (Free Agent)
ILB: Bynes (UDFA)
OLB: Suggs (1st Round Pick)
CB: Smith (1st Round Pick)
CB: Webb (3rd Round Pick)
SS: Ihedigbo (Free Agent)
FS: Huff (Free Agent)

Once Arthur Jones returns, likely versus Houston, he'll start over Spears. He was a 5th round pick.

Matt Elam is a hot second away from starting at either safety position, he was a 1st round pick

Arthur Brown is clearly going to see more snaps down the road and he was a 2nd Round pick.

[ravensnhokies]

Not to be a Debbie Downer, but the Ravens have followed the Pittsburgh roadmap. They spend a lot of cap on the defensive side, and IMO some of those expensive vets aren't as good ROI as you want. Ngata is due 16M next year, and we can't release him. He is still a very good to great player but he isn't 2008 Ngata great and not worth $16M. You gotta spend a lot of money on a franchise QB when you have one, but what about the rest of the offense? You won't have space when you have expensive older defensive players. Unfortunately, the Ravens won't be able to afford a good WR next year, when they really need one. I think the Ravens philosophy is you need to have a great defense to win the AFC North, but does that really make you the best team in the NFL? The Ravens won the Super Bowl last year b/c of their offense, and it didn't feel comfortable to them. So they went out and tried to fixed the D, at the expense of the Offense. Maybe that's good for the AFC North, but you gotta be able to outscore teams nowadays. I think the adage should be Offenses win Championships in today's NFL

[Jsmoove]

Not to be a Debbie Downer, but the Ravens have followed the Pittsburgh roadmap. They spend a lot of cap on the defensive side, and IMO some of those expensive vets aren't as good ROI as you want. Ngata is due 16M next year, and we can't release him. He is still a very good to great player but he isn't 2008 Ngata great and not worth $16M. You gotta spend a lot of money on a franchise QB when you have one, but what about the rest of the offense? You won't have space when you have expensive older defensive players. Unfortunately, the Ravens won't be able to afford a good WR next year, when they really need one. I think the Ravens philosophy is you need to have a great defense to win the AFC North, but does that really make you the best team in the NFL? The Ravens won the Super Bowl last year b/c of their offense, and it didn't feel comfortable to them. So they went out and tried to fixed the D, at the expense of the Offense. Maybe that's good for the AFC North, but you gotta be able to outscore teams nowadays. I think the adage should be Offenses win Championships in today's NFL

that's why I am not saying a word right now bout any other team I believe the FO and Coaching staff drop the ball this offseason in how they handled things. I guess we will see how it turns out, right now we got our own problems I could give a shit what Pittsburgh is doing.

[The Excellector]

I agree that their philosophy has been defensively oriented. My point was that, like Pittsburgh and New England, they don't tend to hold onto veterans too long for big money. In that regard, Ray Lewis is the exception and not the rule. Pittsburgh has recently bucked the trend where it now seems that many of their top veterans are being restructured into high quality guaranteed money.

In Baltimore, what they've done is designated a certain amount to each area of the field. At ILB, Ray got his money, so you knew that the guy beside him wouldn't (It still surprises me how much they offered Scott). At safety, Reed got the money, so you knew the safety beside him wouldn't. At CB, McAlister got the money and now that guy is Webb. At OLB, Suggs got the money and on the line, Ngata got the money.

On offense, I think they are in good shape. Yanda has the money, which likely means that Oher won't get his, while they develop Wagner. The key is for them to continue to develop guys as the defense was known to do. At WR, Torrey will get his money and the WR opposite him won't. After Rice's contract is up, they likely won't spend that type of money on another RB.

[OhThePossibilities]

I think the idea that offense wins championships now is overblown. You gotta have offense and defense and a little luck. The odds are each area isn't gonna show up every single Sunday, so relying on being a one faceted team isn't gonna get you there. If Ozzie would have poured everything this offseason into the offense, they'd be relying on a great game from Joe every time out. While I love Flacco, he's not that guy. The bigger losses (numbers wise) in the offseason were on D, so Ozzie had to fix that leak. You can't see disaster about to happen in your bathroom and then go buy new kitchen cabinets and a new refrigerator.

[alienrace]

The problem with Pittsburgh wasn't so much their "roadmap", but the fact that their last four or five drafts have been very poor.

[Haloti92]

The problem with Pittsburgh wasn't so much their "roadmap", but the fact that their last four or five drafts have been very poor.

Exactly.

When your cheap/young alternatives are not very good, you are in trouble. You either have to keep expensive aging veterans in more spots or start the young guys anyway despite the fact they aren't very good.

Both options are bad.

They also had an injury situation last year that was a bit worse than average (OL and QB).

I still do not think they will finish as badly as many people around here think they will finish, but they certainly have a ton of issues.

[Ravenswintitle]

Not to be a Debbie Downer, but the Ravens have followed the Pittsburgh roadmap. They spend a lot of cap on the defensive side, and IMO some of those expensive vets aren't as good ROI as you want. Ngata is due 16M next year, and we can't release him. He is still a very good to great player but he isn't 2008 Ngata great and not worth $16M. You gotta spend a lot of money on a franchise QB when you have one, but what about the rest of the offense? You won't have space when you have expensive older defensive players. Unfortunately, the Ravens won't be able to afford a good WR next year, when they really need one. I think the Ravens philosophy is you need to have a great defense to win the AFC North, but does that really make you the best team in the NFL? The Ravens won the Super Bowl last year b/c of their offense, and it didn't feel comfortable to them. So they went out and tried to fixed the D, at the expense of the Offense. Maybe that's good for the AFC North, but you gotta be able to outscore teams nowadays. I think the adage should be Offenses win Championships in today's NFL

That's just the NFL these days. Gotta have a franchise QB but IMO your odds of winning the SB are much better if you can do it while he's still cheap. Teams with young QBs can afford to beef up the rest of the team but if you've got 1/3 of the cap tied up in a few players, you play the draft picks and plug in cheap FAs here and there.

[OhThePossibilities]

The end is nearer than we think for Pittsburgh.

;)

[Dade]

The end is nearer than we think for Pittsburgh.

;)