Christian Schwarz
Practice Squad
What the hell is going on in Baltimore? John and Joe's Ravens have had a good run since 2008 but it looks like things are coming to a screeching, painful halt this season. Historical amounts of injuries, historically bad offense, horrific coaching all across the boards specifically on offense. I think it's safe to say all eyes are on John Harbaugh at this point and if changes are not made to get us at least pushing and contending for a wildcard spot I wouldn't be surprised to see Harbaugh fired.
The biggest change I want to see happen is the firing of Marty Mornenwhig and promoting someone as interim OC. Idk why on Earth anyone would want this guy as OC in the first place but we have got to get this situation figured out. We have been though several different OCs since John Harbaugh famously fired Cam Cameron during the regular season before we went on our superbowl run, Jim Caldwell was promoted and things really changed from a play calling and offensive flow perspective.
Now we definitely had a better offensive line back then than we do now that actually gave Joe time to throw down field...but at least we were throwing down field and not these Patty cake 2nd and long shotgun runs in the 4th Q when we are down 2 scores...what planet does this guy live on? He's done it a handful of times on a handful of different important drives where it's either 2nd and long OR EVEN 3rd and long and he's running it out of the shotgun for an easy 3and out for the opposing D. ?????? MEDIOCRE. He's not throwing to our WRs who are probably our best group in a long time if not the most talented group in the Harbaugh era (debatable) but of course our O-line is horrendous and gives Joe no time to throw down field which I guess explains all the orchestrated dump offs, check downs and 2-5 yard routes Mornenwhig likes to call.
I think if any change comes our OC will be fired before Harbaugh does because Harbs has had success and turned things around before by switching OCs, so I think this needs to happen asap. Idc if Flacco has no time to throw we need to be taking shots deep all day everyday when your losing in the 4th Q. Also the days of Mornenwhigs awful rotational backfields need to end. Terrance West had his chance to shine and he showed he deserves to be a backup, Buck Allen aswell, Alex Collins is our clear cut best RB and deserves to start and see the majority of the snaps. I really miss the Ray Rice days where he was our guy played all 3 downs 90% of the snaps and was able to get hot and stay hot, as opposed to play 2 downs and rotate in and out with 2-3 other backs. If you need to rely on mutiple RBs to do the job a single RB should be able to do- run, catch, block...you need yourself a new RB.
My next question is what the hell is in the drinking water in Baltimore that is causing all of these signifcant injuries year in and year out? Taxes, Flacco throwing an INT every game, and the Ravens leading the league in IR players. Whether we need to step up our training, maybe the players are out of shape, overworked, or maybe we are not taking enough cautionary and preventative measures whatever the case maybe we have got to make an effort to try and better prepare out players for battle because these injuries are half the reason we suck right now. I know this is football and sometimes freak accidents happen that you can't control, but if I'm Steve, Harbs, and Ozzie there's got to be something we can do better to avoid injuries, hard to do but damn we have lost mutiple game changing players ever year for the past 3-5 seasons. So God help us is I guess all we can really hope and pray for.
Finally I saw a couple weeks ago that we restructured Tony Jefferson's contract to free up a little bit cap space...I pray that we use that on some type of O-linemen, also potentially work some trade magic for someone to help our pathetic O-line. It makes Ronnie Stanley look like he's playing with 4 high schoolers. I think Austin Howard can be a serviceable RT but we need to add muscle to the middle after losing Yanda. So maybe that happens maybe not. But I think there are a few things we can do as an organization to try and plug the holes, change things around so this ship doesnt sink.
If we find a way to give Joe a little more time...whether it's using more TEs to block, going after a free agent or trade for a G/T, pass protection along with better play calling will make all the difference to this historically bad offense. A couple years ago Joe had the pass protection but lacked the weapons/separation down field to make plays, now the script is flipped.
I still think Harbaugh is a solid HC, and who is even out there that would do a better job if he were let go? I think Steve and Ozzie know that and will give him a medium sized leash as this season goes on given all the injuries and lack of personnel. But change is inevitable somewhere, and I'm 99% sure Marty Mornenwhig is the man with he short straw.
The biggest change I want to see happen is the firing of Marty Mornenwhig and promoting someone as interim OC. Idk why on Earth anyone would want this guy as OC in the first place but we have got to get this situation figured out. We have been though several different OCs since John Harbaugh famously fired Cam Cameron during the regular season before we went on our superbowl run, Jim Caldwell was promoted and things really changed from a play calling and offensive flow perspective.
Now we definitely had a better offensive line back then than we do now that actually gave Joe time to throw down field...but at least we were throwing down field and not these Patty cake 2nd and long shotgun runs in the 4th Q when we are down 2 scores...what planet does this guy live on? He's done it a handful of times on a handful of different important drives where it's either 2nd and long OR EVEN 3rd and long and he's running it out of the shotgun for an easy 3and out for the opposing D. ?????? MEDIOCRE. He's not throwing to our WRs who are probably our best group in a long time if not the most talented group in the Harbaugh era (debatable) but of course our O-line is horrendous and gives Joe no time to throw down field which I guess explains all the orchestrated dump offs, check downs and 2-5 yard routes Mornenwhig likes to call.
I think if any change comes our OC will be fired before Harbaugh does because Harbs has had success and turned things around before by switching OCs, so I think this needs to happen asap. Idc if Flacco has no time to throw we need to be taking shots deep all day everyday when your losing in the 4th Q. Also the days of Mornenwhigs awful rotational backfields need to end. Terrance West had his chance to shine and he showed he deserves to be a backup, Buck Allen aswell, Alex Collins is our clear cut best RB and deserves to start and see the majority of the snaps. I really miss the Ray Rice days where he was our guy played all 3 downs 90% of the snaps and was able to get hot and stay hot, as opposed to play 2 downs and rotate in and out with 2-3 other backs. If you need to rely on mutiple RBs to do the job a single RB should be able to do- run, catch, block...you need yourself a new RB.
My next question is what the hell is in the drinking water in Baltimore that is causing all of these signifcant injuries year in and year out? Taxes, Flacco throwing an INT every game, and the Ravens leading the league in IR players. Whether we need to step up our training, maybe the players are out of shape, overworked, or maybe we are not taking enough cautionary and preventative measures whatever the case maybe we have got to make an effort to try and better prepare out players for battle because these injuries are half the reason we suck right now. I know this is football and sometimes freak accidents happen that you can't control, but if I'm Steve, Harbs, and Ozzie there's got to be something we can do better to avoid injuries, hard to do but damn we have lost mutiple game changing players ever year for the past 3-5 seasons. So God help us is I guess all we can really hope and pray for.
Finally I saw a couple weeks ago that we restructured Tony Jefferson's contract to free up a little bit cap space...I pray that we use that on some type of O-linemen, also potentially work some trade magic for someone to help our pathetic O-line. It makes Ronnie Stanley look like he's playing with 4 high schoolers. I think Austin Howard can be a serviceable RT but we need to add muscle to the middle after losing Yanda. So maybe that happens maybe not. But I think there are a few things we can do as an organization to try and plug the holes, change things around so this ship doesnt sink.
If we find a way to give Joe a little more time...whether it's using more TEs to block, going after a free agent or trade for a G/T, pass protection along with better play calling will make all the difference to this historically bad offense. A couple years ago Joe had the pass protection but lacked the weapons/separation down field to make plays, now the script is flipped.
I still think Harbaugh is a solid HC, and who is even out there that would do a better job if he were let go? I think Steve and Ozzie know that and will give him a medium sized leash as this season goes on given all the injuries and lack of personnel. But change is inevitable somewhere, and I'm 99% sure Marty Mornenwhig is the man with he short straw.
