ESPN's AFC North Preview----Merrill Hoge's prognostications

iggyman555 · 08-01-2013, 11:49 AM

Originally Posted by GOTA

Hack would be a step up for Hoge. He might be the worst analyst on television.

**NCRAVEN** · 08-01-2013, 12:39 PM

I just listened to this. It's so ridiculous I don't even know where to start. But I will point out two things.

1) Yes the Ravens lost players, but did they replace them or will we travel to games with only 43 players on the roster?

2) Ben has never had a great O-line and that speaks to the greatness of Big Ben to not have that and still lead them to Super Bowls, Did he forget he was worse in his first Superbowl than Trent Dilfer was in his?

What a bunch of crap.

**Raven Werewolf** · 08-01-2013, 12:39 PM

Yep....same sh*t different year. We should just wear the annual disrespect/dislike as a badge of honor or something by this point. Especially if its coming from guys like Hoge and Duke et al. I will at least give some credit to Hoge though for not playing along with ESPN's Tebow lovefest. He trashes him so much you'd think Tebow was....a Raven.

But regardless of what he thinks I am definitely not going to sell Pittsburgh short by any stretch. I know Tomlin's luster has faded these last couple years but I still think he's outstanding and will find a way to keep that team in it the whole year. AFCN will be a dog fight.

**GOTA** · 08-01-2013, 12:52 PM

Originally Posted by Raven Werewolf

Yep....same sh*t different year. We should just wear the annual disrespect/dislike as a badge of honor or something by this point. Especially if its coming from guys like Hoge and Duke et al. I will at least give some credit to Hoge though for not playing along with ESPN's Tebow lovefest. He trashes him so much you'd think Tebow was....a Raven.

But regardless of what he thinks I am definitely not going to sell Pittsburgh short by any stretch. I know Tomlin's luster has faded these last couple years but I still think he's outstanding and will find a way to keep that team in it the whole year. AFCN will be a dog fight.

I also feel that Mike Tomlin is a top coach. A year of struggles for the Steelers is 8 to 9 wins. It's not the 3 to 5 that we see from the Bengals and Browns. I don't think the Steelers will make the playoffs this year but they're going to be competitive and tough to play like every year

**downside52** · 08-01-2013, 12:59 PM

I kind of feel sorry for Hoge. He is clearly a walking case study in TBI.

**sailorsam** · 08-01-2013, 01:57 PM

Originally Posted by Saltwater_Rider

Merrill Hodge, Heath Evans, Chris Carter etc. I want them to be anti Ravens. The last thing I want is these asses to say we are good. Rather stay under the radar.

anyone hear Qadry Ismail trashing CC as selfish?
http://www.latimes.com/sports/sports...,2108666.story

"While Carter might have been one of the greatest talents to ever play the position, Ismail said, his personality actually hurt his team in some cases.
Calling Carter "a bona fide diva," Ismail compared him unfavorably to another former teammate and Hall of Famer, Shannon Sharpe, a tight end who played two years with Ismail for the Baltimore Ravens."

Q got what CC didn't; a ring.

**moose10101** · 08-01-2013, 02:36 PM

Originally Posted by sailorsam

anyone hear Qadry Ismail trashing CC as selfish?
http://www.latimes.com/sports/sports...,2108666.story

"While Carter might have been one of the greatest talents to ever play the position, Ismail said, his personality actually hurt his team in some cases.
Calling Carter "a bona fide diva," Ismail compared him unfavorably to another former teammate and Hall of Famer, Shannon Sharpe, a tight end who played two years with Ismail for the Baltimore Ravens."

Q got what CC didn't; a ring.

Q could have taken the high road. There's no reason to trash a guy right before his HOF induction. And I sure there are more than a few selfish players with rings.

**somedumbguy** · 08-01-2013, 02:38 PM

Hodge's "analysis" boils down to the belief that Ben Roethisberger is elite and can win games on his own and Joe Flacco requires some sort of all star cast around him to be effective at all.

I don't know that the last 3 years of reality support that view.

**The Excellector** · 08-01-2013, 02:48 PM

Originally Posted by moose10101

Q could have taken the high road. There's no reason to trash a guy right before his HOF induction. And I sure there are more than a few selfish players with rings.

I can't say that Carter didn't have it coming though, with the backstabbing he's done in the past.

**steelerhater** · 08-01-2013, 04:32 PM

Originally Posted by ed from Bel Air

The Ravens are about an 8-8 team. Their offense devastated, leadership on defense gone, too many holes on both sides of the ball.

Listen to that great, impartial prognosticator Merrill Hoge slobber over the elite Big Ben and his improved o-line, as he and Herman Edwards discuss the impending battle for AFC North supremacy between the Great stealers and the surging Bengals.

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=952...goryid=2378529

The only point that may be valid (which remains to be seen) is the loss of leadership on the defense. That being said, the defense was pretty average (at best) for the majority of the season. If the guys we've added gel together and some of the vets take on a leadership role, this defense could be much better than last year's. On offense, losing Boldin and Pitta are big, but at least we have training camp to find replacements. Also, our offense should be much better just by the loss of Cam Cameron. Last year, many of these same prognosticators thought we were done because of losing our best defensive player (Suggs) before training camp.

**Strange Bru** · 08-01-2013, 04:50 PM

Originally Posted by Dirt1

When will we see Ray Lewis on ESPN? It would be amusing to see him go up against a tool like Hodge.

Ray Lewis is only going to be used for the MNF pre-game segments, or so I believe. He will get more "reps" in front of the camera as he shows his media prowess, is my guess.

Oops, I'm wrong.
http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/90...-espn-nfl-team