Since losing Ed and Ray

[leachisabeast]

It may be a bit of an obvious fact... but this team hasn't been the same since we've lost them. A lot of us thought this team was going to be fine without them because they needed upgrading anyway due to their regression in performance due to age. But apart from a 10-6 season last year (which was a lot to do with still having Ngata and Sizzle and Kubiak calling plays), this team has been average to not very good at all. One of the most concerning things is that we're not even being blown out, we're losing every game by a small margin which tells me that we lack clutch players. We've only beaten the bungles once in the last 2 and a half seasons...

Something has to be said about Ray Lewis and his leadership here (I know it was constantly mentioned in the media or on forums at the time). That 2012 team was struggling towards the end of the season without Lewis, and as soon ass he got back, we went from the wild card Rd to win the sb. Obviously Flacco had a lot to do with that and I'm not taking anything away from him. But this team lacks intensity and doesn't play with any heart. Comparing this team to the one that played Arizona 4 years ago and it's not even close. I just finished watching the game, and by no means was it one of our better games, we struggled to beat an average Cardinals team at the time... but our team had passion and played with pride back then. Players made the plays when it mattered most.

I miss the old ravens....

[GreatWhiteNorthRaven]

Isn't there already two threads going on about leadership issues?

[BMann]

It may be a bit of an obvious fact... but this team hasn't been the same since we've lost them. A lot of us thought this team was going to be fine without them because they needed upgrading anyway due to their regression in performance due to age. But apart from a 10-6 season last year (which was a lot to do with still having Ngata and Sizzle and Kubiak calling plays),

We've only had one other season without Ray and Ed, and the team was competitive if not extraordinary during 2013's 8-8 year. Your post makes it sound like this is a 5 or 6 year stretch of bad football.

What's really hurting this team is all the cap money being wasted on guys who aren't on the field (Rice, Ngata, Suggs, Pitta, J. Jones). They were fine last year and I think they'll be fine again once they clear some of this dead money. Hard to compete when you have 2 to 3 times the wasted cap space of many other teams.