Big picture & reasons for optimism

**JonAB** · 01-13-2022, 03:47 PM

Lots of talent, decent cap position, and the most draft capital we’ve had since 2016 is a recipe for success.

A lot hinges on the health of Ronnie Stanley. If he comes back healthy and not a shell of his former self then I feel extremely confident about next year. I’m fully confident that Humphrey and Peters come back healthy. Bowser situation sucks but we just saw Cam Akers make a 6 month recovery from an Achilles so perhaps were being overly pessimistic on his prognosis. Nick Boyle didnt look good but hopefully another 8 months of training and getting his legs back under him will bring him back as a dominant run blocker that can make some catches. And finally a healthy running back room really changes a lot about how I view this offense. I’m honestly pretty jacked about next year.

**rhapsody** · 01-13-2022, 03:59 PM

Originally Posted by Jfoh

The biggest mistake the Colts made with Luck was never fixing the O line. They won games because he was willing and able to absorb a ton of hits but in the end he also took so many injuries I think he retired because he knew in another five year he would be a total physical wreck. Learn from others, fix the O line or you will have wasted LJ in another five years.

You are surely right. Belichick never would have wasted Luck like that.

**Ravenswintitle** · 01-13-2022, 04:00 PM

Originally Posted by Jfoh

The biggest mistake the Colts made with Luck was never fixing the O line. They won games because he was willing and able to absorb a ton of hits but in the end he also took so many injuries I think he retired because he knew in another five year he would be a total physical wreck. Learn from others, fix the O line or you will have wasted LJ in another five years.

Exactly. I still remember those loser fans booing him after he announced his retirement. They haven't won a playoff game since.

**lobachevsky** · 01-13-2022, 09:29 PM

Originally Posted by rhapsody

Whether we are a SB contender or not will depend a lot on how well these have recovered:

Stanley, Humphrey, Peters, Dobbins.

Watch all the Crows' BFFs circle their wagons & let the training, conditioning & medical staff off the hook by conducting a half-arsed investigation of all the injuries & finally chalking them up to "bad luck." Then groan in dismay as the "bad luck" repeats when those staffs fuck up the recovery of the majority of the wounded & the 2022 Purple&Black once again fight it out for the AFCN cellar.

I hope I'm wrong, but I lost so much respect for this sick joke of an organization this year. If I were running the team I'd have to have a buncha guys with surnames ending in vowels scour every used-car lot east of the Mississippi for enough Coupes de Ville and Eldorados to be dredged up after a month at the bottom of the Chesapeake with all the "staph" in dire need of being found bound&gagged in their trunks...

**PainServer52** · 01-13-2022, 09:31 PM

I have no doubt we'll be back in the playoffs next season

**The Excellector** · 01-14-2022, 12:13 AM

To be on the positive side. They have Bateman as the 1, Brown as the 2, and Andrews at TE. They need a straight line runner at RB.

Defensively, we did have a lot of young guys getting experience.

**Ravenous1** · 01-14-2022, 02:28 AM

Regardless of what we do or do not do in free agency, there is a significant amount of talent did not see the field in a meaningful way coming back.
While the defense looked like a train wreck at times, some guys got reps that might just help us out one day down the road.
I kinda feel like this year was like that once-a-decade debacle that hits almost every team. We are due for regression to the norm year where it comes to injuries.

**YoCo757** · 01-14-2022, 05:25 AM

Originally Posted by The Excellector

To be on the positive side. They have Bateman as the 1, Brown as the 2, and Andrews at TE. They need a straight line runner at RB.

Defensively, we did have a lot of young guys getting experience.

Bateman is the 1? When did Harbaugh announce this?

**Captain Silver** · 01-14-2022, 10:52 AM

Originally Posted by YoCo757

Bateman is the 1? When did Harbaugh announce this?

It is the Sword of Wishful Thinking. +5 Vorpal....

**SouthSide** · 01-14-2022, 11:10 AM

I'm optimistic, but the front office has to do their part.

It was clear they gambled on Stanley coming back 100%, and lost. I still don't understand how they missed so badly on that one. That set off a cascade of OL patching that really hampered the offense.

They also gambled on Queen wearing the green dot, and they didn't have veteran presence readily available to take over. Again, I don't understand how the missed so badly on that one.

They can't control that injury bug. I get it.
But I expect them to do better on having contingencies in place. I HOPE Stanley comes back 100% , but they better have a plan in case he doesn't.

Same for everyone else. We don't KNOW if Peter's, Dobbins, etc. will be back 100%.

All I want is for the team to not make poor assumptions on player availability this offseason.

**pslholder96** · 01-14-2022, 11:15 AM

I'm a little skeptical due to the uncertainty around our OL and DL. Feel like there are too many holes to address and there's only one offseason to do it. Avoiding the injury curse is a crapshoot basically. Next year's schedule on paper looks winnable but it remains to be seen how much those teams improve during the offseason. We've seen it numerous times. A cupcake opponent suddenly becomes formidable because they made some drastic improvements

I do like the optimism in this thread though.

**ravensfan7716** · 01-14-2022, 11:21 AM

Originally Posted by SouthSide

I'm optimistic, but the front office has to do their part.

It was clear they gambled on Stanley coming back 100%, and lost. I still don't understand how they missed so badly on that one. That set off a cascade of OL patching that really hampered the offense.

They also gambled on Queen wearing the green dot, and they didn't have veteran presence readily available to take over. Again, I don't understand how the missed so badly on that one.

They can't control that injury bug. I get it.
But I expect them to do better on having contingencies in place. I HOPE Stanley comes back 100% , but they better have a plan in case he doesn't.

Same for everyone else. We don't KNOW if Peter's, Dobbins, etc. will be back 100%.

All I want is for the team to not make poor assumptions on player availability this offseason.

There are reasons to be optimistic, Decosta has 10 draft picks some up and depending on those selections that can turn the course of how this team operates for the next 2-3 years but it all depends on like you said if the Front office does their part.

We know they failed at fixing the Oline when they said it was #1 priority well atleast out of Harbaughs mouth anyway. Hedging your best on Stanley an often injured player and a poorly performing Aleandro Villaneuava should have every fan questioning who is looking at these guys and signing off on are they good enough.
Decosta is repsonsible for the roster, but I would think Harbaugh or one of the other coaches are responsible for evaluating the player in person and signing off on whether they are good enough.

Not sure who did but it was a monumental failire. AV cannot play RT and can barely play LT. STanley also was not apparently ready.

Regarding injuries. They have been in the top 10 three straight years on highest number of IR players so where this year might have been the worst, they were still top 10 three straight years running. Something needs to be addressed with injuries ASAP or it doesnt matter who gets drafted or signed if they are unavailable on Sundays