An Open Letter to Ozzie Newsome(that he or anyone will never read but honestly who cares)

[DevilOntheRun]

**If you're going to needlessly complain about the style Ozzie Newsome has drafted the past two seasons, at least read this. I'll point out both points**

To all of those who complain non stop about this team. If you really think he values your opinion(which he probably doesn't. I criticize couch QBs even though I am one), he'll take note to this. Regardless of which. I think this makes some things clearer. I think I understand what he's doing. I'll probably be negged for this massively. But at least read it. Trash it if you want, but I think this is reality.


Dear Ozzie Newsome(and Ignorant Football Fans who want him fired),
I would like to commend you, but also criticize certain areas as a General Manager(mostly commend), as I am a supporter of yours. However, I don't worship everything you do. I am human. and (presumably), so are you. We are both going to make mistakes, it happens. Your mistakes have no impact on my everyday life, so I honestly could care less. Even with a few bad draft picks, or bad free agent signings, the past two seasons you and the entire organization have done a very good job rebuilding to be totally honest. Since this letter is an open one, I should inform others reading it on what I mean, because I understand you have a much greater understanding than most of us do.

You recognized that after the Super Bowl, that the team wasn't good enough. And honestly, so did I. I understood it, we were going to lose Ed Reed(who wasn't worth the money), Kruger(who you upgraded anyway), Matt Birk, and then you traded Boldin(who's on San Francisco who's situation is a lot worse than ours). Our team would have been a lot worse in 2013 if you didn't do what you did. Some of it bad, some of it good.

I applaud you for adding Dumervil, Canty, and Darryl Smith to the roster. The defense during the super bowl honestly wasn't that good. We were older with people in their mid 30s. You went out and added to the front seven, and it benefited us. Which is actually brilliant, because defense does win championships usually. And a defense with good personnel, will overcome anything, even the best offenses. I think you understand that we're another good corner away from having a dominant defense if most of the key members were to remain healthy. Next season, and in seasons following you will have built a defense with a good balance of youth and experience. Williams, Jernigan, Brown, and Mosley, are the future in the middle.

Honestly, you're predictable at this point right now. You'll draft either a pass rusher or a wider receiver in the first round of the draft. One will be because Kevin White or someone will inexplicably fall to you, and the other one will be taken because you think another pass rushing linebacker would put the defense over the top, which would be brilliant honestly. I say this because you're doing what you did for Lewis many seasons ago, except you're doing it with Mosley. You're building a good supporting cast, mainly on the line. You've gone out and have gotten two very good defensive linemen in Williams and Jernigan to occupy and beat blockers while Mosley does the dirty work. Which also means that by default Dean Pees will be shown the door in favor of moving towards an attacking 4-3, which is a better fit for Mosley anyway in my humble opinion. Brown was born to play this as well. It makes a lot of sense.

You've done a very good job in building up the front seven. When Jimmy Smith returns, and if you go get another corner, our defense should be a hard one to move the ball against because of a good secondary(I think Brooks, and honestly Elam will improve, Plus Hill is already good), and a front seven that can apply a lot of pressure, and stop the run. You've always understood that defense wins championships, and I think that the defense is almost out of the rebuilding phase.

Where I criticize you is the neglect of long term offense. The offense outside of the game at Houston this year, was a lot better than it was last season. You did good here. You built the line to be an effective one. In fact, I think you were upset that Martin was taken one pick before you, as I had no doubt in my mind you were going him next. He would've been a starter here for the next ten years. You gave our franchise quarterback protection. Again, I commend you for that. But you gave him a lack of long term weapons the previous two drafts.

The previous class had one of the greatest wide receiver classes ever seen. I knew it before the season started. Now, there's only two players I would've had in the first over Mosley(Martin and Barr). So I'm not mad you didn't take Benjamin. And I think that Jernigan is a very good player who'll be here for a long time. But you waited until the late 3rd to take an offensive playmaker. As much as I like Brooks, I would've rather had John Brown or Moncreif. I honestly think we could've gotten Gilmore a round later. Or Arthur Lynch who I think is a better player in the long run anyway. That said, I liked the Gilmore pick. I think he's a good #2 Tight End for us in the near future.

But nevertheless, I have to wonder why you neglect the offense? A defense that's dominant will hardly(we have an exception with us in 2000) win a championship if it doesn't have a good offense. And while the personnel you've acquire isn't bad(Steve Smith, Owen Daniels, Forsett), none of those three are long term solutions. I honestly want to keep all three(and all three are probably affordable, so you probably will), for sake of having experience, something I think is important for a Super Bowl. We quality weapons. Not depth, quality. Neither of the Smith's are go to guys(at least Steve isn't at this point in his career). Flacco lacks that. He lost that when he lost Dennis Pitta. You need to go get one or two go to guys.

Not trying to tell you how to do your job. You do your job well even if most of the fans here don't think that. I don't think the fans understand that you need to build from the middle outward before drafting the flashy positions everyone else wants. Which is why I think you do address offense, regardless of whether you do read this or not(you probably don't, I'm just some lowly fan) this season. At least, I hope so. If you don't see what I do, that we are a reliable offensive weapon, another corner, and another pass rusher away from being a actual contender for another Super Bowl, I would show concern, because honestly these are easy problems to fix compared to some of the stuff you've had to put up with in years past. But I honestly don't, I trust you to do the right thing. It's why they said in Baltimore when growing up "In Ozzie We Trust"(and no offense to you, I only believe in one god. And he's not you).

Thank you for your time reading this probably pointless open letter,

DevilOntheRun

**
I understand this probably won't shut people up. But, I'm allowed to express my opinion at the very least correct?

[Michael Sedjro]

Spagnulo actually runs an attacking 4-3...

[bt12483]

The 2015 draft is easy.

CB, WR, TE. Maybe OL and RB.

That's it. As many of those as possible.

We better not select a single fucking LB or DL.

[CopRaven]

I'm curious to hear about your thoughts about the attacking 4-3 defense?

This article remains the best I've ever read about the Ravens' defense, and I think the players we have are tailor made for it:

http://ravensall-22.blogspot.dk/2014...ens-use_4.html

[blah3]

I'm curious to hear about your thoughts about the attacking 4-3 defense?

This article remains the best I've ever read about the Ravens' defense, and I think the players we have are tailor made for it:

http://ravensall-22.blogspot.dk/2014...ens-use_4.html

I think it's semantics to call it a 4-3. You simply have a LB taking an inside gap repsonsibilty instead of a DL. You also still require a two gap responsibilty by a DT, but make it a little harder on him by skewing him to one side of the center.

[Terpsfan82]

The 2015 draft is easy.

CB, WR, TE. Maybe OL and RB.

That's it. As many of those as possible.

We better not select a single fucking LB or DL.

Which means, it's actually going to go DT/ILB/S/CB/WR/LB/WR

[Raveninwoodlawn]

Spagnulo actually runs an attacking 4-3...

4-3? Yes.

Attacking? No.

He's led some of the worst defenses in NFL history.

[DonNMass]

That's probably some very fine points in that letter, but I have ADD, so condensed bulleted points are needed for me!

[CopRaven]

I think it's semantics to call it a 4-3. You simply have a LB taking an inside gap repsonsibilty instead of a DL. You also still require a two gap responsibilty by a DT, but make it a little harder on him by skewing him to one side of the center.

I don't care what you call it, but I believe it's true that our scheme require the following a personnel:

A 2-gapping NT (Brandon Williams)
A penetrating 3-tech (Haloti Ngata/Timmy Jernigan)
A decent 5-tech (Chris Canty)
A do-it-all OLB (Terrell Suggs)
A run stuffing SAM (Courtney Upshaw)
A pass rushing OLB to spell the SAM (Elvis Dumervil)
Two good all-round ILBs (CJ Mosley and Daryl Smith, maybe Arthur Brown next year)

And then we have an extra bonus with a versatile pass rusher in Pernell McPhee.

I think we are built perfectly to run our current scheme.

[Jazz1988]

When we drafted Terrence Brooks in the third round The Ravens did not have a true free safety on the roster. Darian Stewalts was on the team but he clear is strong safety than anything and Will Hill had not been cut by The Giants at the time.Ozzie drafting Terrence Brooks was a smart move and he was the last top safety left at the time.

I know Ozzie is consider the wizard but i doubt he can predict the future so he had no clue that he would be signing Will Hill and even now there's no telling if Will Hill will be with our team for a long time so Terrence Brooks definitely could be look upon as being our future starting free safety in 2016. I like Donte Moncreif and The Ravens did to but free safety was more of a need at the time than wide receiver.

I'm not sure if anybody viewed John Brown as a third rounder but he definitely made some noise at the NFl Combine. He was regarded as a sleeper prospect but not sure if many teams had him rated as third rounder besides The Cardinals which is paying off so far.

[PalladinInNC]

I'm curious to hear about your thoughts about the attacking 4-3 defense?

This article remains the best I've ever read about the Ravens' defense, and I think the players we have are tailor made for it:

http://ravensall-22.blogspot.dk/2014...ens-use_4.html

The above letter and your attached article are excellent. After reading both I can see 2 areas that would need additional help on the defense (along with a better DC in charge):

1. Another CB or two (no big surprise there).
2. A young pass rushing OLB since Suggs and Doom cannot last much longer.

For No. 2 there are so many prospects in this upcoming draft that it is not even funny along with a bunch of DEs that can be converted into OLBs.

I truly think that the Ravens will try and fill the CB spot during FA and maybe draft another CB during the middle rounds. I also feel that they will pick up another RB, TE, and additional OL depth during the lower rounds (there just is no good talent at TE this year draft-wise to support picking someone before the 3rd round).

So who do you pick in the first two rounds? I believe that it will be either a pass rushing OLB/DE who can be converted into an OLB as our 1st rounder, or one of the big 4 (as I call them) WRs [Cooper (unlikely), White, Parker, or Strong).

If they go OLB in the 1st, then I could see them go Hardy in the 2nd (Diggs gets injured too much to be a 2nd rounder).

In any case, if I was a gambling man that would be the bet I would make!

[callahan09]

4-3? Yes.

Attacking? No.

He's led some of the worst defenses in NFL history.

Well, just one. He was only the defensive coordinator on 3 teams, the 2007-2008 Giants and the 2012 Saints. His Giants squads were both okay to good, ranking top 10 in yards both years, top 5 in points one year, and average in points in the other year. He was the defensive coordinator for the 2007 Giants that shut down by far the best offense in the NFL (Tom Brady and the 16-0 Patriots, recall) in the Super Bowl for the win. The 2012 Saints defense was BEYOND atrocious... I wouldn't hold that too much against him, though. That team was decimated that year, because it was the year everyone (GM, head coach, the previous year's DC, other defensive assistants, players, etc.) was suspended for the Bountygate thing.