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Ravens Off Season Issues: Cap Space and Player Releases

We are in for a busy next few months. The Ravens have over 20 of their own free agents, and little salary cap space as we sit here today. There are plenty of player personnel moves to make. Let’s dive right into a few issues in this Ravens Off Season Issues post.

Ravens Off Season Issues – Effective Salary Cap Space

There can be a lot of confusion when it comes to salary cap space, which can be a complicated subject. I focus on “effective salary cap space,” which is the available cap space a team has after signing at least 51 players and its projected rookie class. Right now, the Ravens are expected to have eight draft picks. When combined with the top 51 players contracts, the Ravens effective salary cap space is approximately $4.3 million. Continue reading “Ravens Off Season Issues: Cap Space and Player Releases”

AFC Championship Game – The Ugly Post-Mortem

I don’t know about you, but I needed ten days before penning this ugly post-mortem. I’m unable to shed any light on Todd Monken’s bizarre avoidance of the run game. It’s as puzzling to me as it is to every other observer, including you. Did it cost the Ravens the game? Mostly likely, yes. But no need to dwell on that further.

This was the type of year that team dreams of. Virtually every one of Eric DeCosta’s late pre-season free agent signings were not just hits, but homers (I hate baseball analogies, but its apropos here). Furthermore, key young players blossomed to their full potential (Justin Madubuike), and some became major stars (Kyle Hamilton) while others came out of nowhere (Brandon Stephens). The quarterback was the league’s most valuable player. The defensive structuring and coordination was spectacular. The Ravens played in arguably the toughest division in football, yet smashed virtually every top end team they played and wound up with the number one seed. Continue reading “AFC Championship Game – The Ugly Post-Mortem”

Ravens-Chiefs Preview: Thoughts from the Chiefs Win Over Buffalo

Time to prepare for the big Sunday matchup. I start with thoughts from the Chiefs win over the Bills. What we can identify as focus areas for the Chiefs, and lessons learned for the Ravens.

The Chiefs Running Game

Readers well know that Mike Macdonald’s zone focuses create weakness in the Ravens interior run defense. The Ravens typically wind up with only six defenders in the box. In the Chiefs tight victory over the Bills, virtually all of their success in the run game was between the tackles. Isaiah Pacheco ran tough with arms flailing (a fumble risk) as the Chiefs pounded the ball. They had virtually no success with designed running plays wide. Pacheco looked a bit slower to me than I expected, just a tad less explosiveness than we’ve seen before. Continue reading “Ravens-Chiefs Preview: Thoughts from the Chiefs Win Over Buffalo”

Ravens versus Texans – A Few Pre-Game Thoughts

By all means the Ravens should win this game. There are no excuses this time around, even without Marlon Humphrey and Mark Andrews. Let’s consider a few pre-game thoughts before kick-off.

Marlon Humphrey’s Loss Should Not Be Critical

The Ravens are fortunate that Tank Dell’s place on injured reserve has him in civvies for this game because his loss leaves the Texans with only Nico Collins as a serious downfield threat. Robert Woods doesn’t scare anyone, and neither does John Metchie. Ron Darby will take Humphrey’s place. Continue reading “Ravens versus Texans – A Few Pre-Game Thoughts”

Ravens Comments Heading Into Steelers Week

Your blogger apologizes for taking last week off, but I’ll grab for insights from the 49ers game if the Ravens wind up meeting them again. Let’s focus instead on some Ravens comments coming out of the Dolphins shellacking and into the Steelers finale.

To Rest or Not to Rest, That is the Question

The “rust” concept doesn’t worry me. Thirty-four of the last 64 number one seeds (going into this year) have made it to the Super Bowl. The Ravens’ 2019 number one seed fiasco doesn’t mean a thing. That was a different roster, a different quarterback (de facto), and a different offense. They got behind early and lacked a complete passing attack. Of course, all of that is just noise. What should a prudent coach do with respect to an end-of-the-season meaningless game? Continue reading “Ravens Comments Heading Into Steelers Week”

Ravens Thoughts Heading into San Francisco

The 49ers are the NFL’s best. It’s a daunting challenge to beat San Francisco on the road.

This is the litmus test for how good the Ravens are. But does the game really matter, other than from the perspective of potentially playing them in the Super Bowl? For purposes of winning the top seed in the AFC, a loss to the 49ers is meaningless if the Ravens can beat Miami and Pittsburgh. So here’s an unusual Ravens thought: could we think the unthinkable and contemplate resting Ronnie Stanley and Marcus Williams? I don’t believe there’s any way John Harbaugh would do it, but it might make the most sense for a team with Super Bowl aspirations.

Let’s take a look back at the Jaguars game, and then a peak at San Francisco. Continue reading “Ravens Thoughts Heading into San Francisco”

Ravens Thoughts Heading Into Jacksonville

The Ravens victory over the Rams was marred by some heretofore uncharacteristically poor defensive play. The offense was inconsistent. Below are some Ravens thoughts heading into this week’s road matchup with Jacksonville.

Ravens Thoughts: What’s Happening on Defense

Several things really jumped out from the Rams game. Let’s touch on a few. Continue reading “Ravens Thoughts Heading Into Jacksonville”

Ravens Observations Heading into The Rams Game

The gauntlet begins this Sunday with the Rams potentially presenting the first of several interesting challenges for Mike Macdonald and his defense. Although the Rams offense lacks the complete talent of the Dolphins and 49ers, there’s enough in both the run and pass games to stress the Ravens cover-two defensive approach. Let’s take a look at some Ravens observations and lessons from the Chargers game. Continue reading “Ravens Observations Heading into The Rams Game”

Ravens Early Comments Before the Rams Game

I hope to have a subsequent post this week drawing comments from the Chargers game and towards the Rams game. Below are a few idle thoughts coming out of the bye week.

Kyle Hamilton

Readers are aware of my view that Hamilton is really two different players. I’ve argued that when he’s aligned in the slot or in the box (i.e., when he is at the line and coming forward) he is outstanding. Hamilton has made a plethora of impact plays from that positioning; sacks, tackles for loss, beating blockers and disrupting plays, etc. But when Hamilton is aligned on the back end as one of the Ravens’ two deep safeties in cover two, he’s just ordinary. Continue reading “Ravens Early Comments Before the Rams Game”

Ravens Thoughts Post-Bengals Heading into L.A.

After a solid drubbing of the poor-old Bengals, it’s time to share some Ravens thoughts heading into the Chargers game. The loss of Mark Andrews was the only thing that went wrong against Cincinnati. As great as Andrews is – and he is – the Ravens have enough remaining offense to continue piling up the points. Let’s get into last week a bit, and extrapolate from there.

Give Me More and More Keaton Mitchell, Please

The Ravens didn’t highlight Mitchell much more than they had against Cleveland. But Mitchell’s reps against the Bengals jumped so far off the tape that I’m more excited for his (and the Ravens offense) upside than before. I’m focused on Mitchell’s third quarter effort. Continue reading “Ravens Thoughts Post-Bengals Heading into L.A.”