Boldin Comes To Ravens
Maybe a year later than everyone wanted, but now it has finally happened. The Baltimore Ravens made a trade with the Arizona Cardinals to acquire Anquan Boldin on Friday, getting a fifth-round draft pick in the upcoming draft as well, in exchange for the club’s 2010 third- and fourth-round picks. I’m not going to lie; last year when this was mentioned I thought that trading for Boldin would cost the Ravens too much. Then after last season, when the team had no threat to stretch the field, this deal makes sense for a lot of reasons. The Ravens needed a proven receiver that could make plays downfield and also needed that threat to allow Joe Flacco to keep his development on the upswing. With the addition of Donte Stallworth, the Ravens have significantly improved their wide receiver group. Boldin was also signed to a four-year deal worth $28 million.
While I’m not heading down to the printer to get my Ravens Super Bowl or Bust! posters yet, these two moves significantly improve on one the Ravens’ weaknesses last season; the lack of a downfield threat. The Ravens still need to find another pass rusher as well as another cornerback/defensive back in my opinion in order to seriously contend for the Super Bowl. The fact that Ozzie Newsome, who loves to build the Ravens through the draft, was willing to part with two draft picks means that he and the Ravens braintrust feel that the club is a few pieces away from making a serious run for the title.
Another concern regarding both Boldin and Stallworth is whether or not both can stay healthy. Boldin has had injury-plagued seasons recently, and Stallworth is a few years removed from playing a full season; is it too much to expect him to make it through a season after he was suspended for all of last season? Their health certainly is a concern; also it will be interesting to see how they will be used in the offense. The Ravens are primarily a running team, but the need for a downfield threat can certainly give defenses pause if they want to load up the box to stop the running game. The braintrust also needs to get some depth along the defense, as some of the starters aren’t getting any younger.
The excitement has certainly been ratcheted up a few notches at 1 Winning Drive. Fans, stay tuned for future developments.
At BSR: Quarterbacks
Filed under: ACC, MLB, NCAA Tournament, NFL, baseball, basketball, blogs, college basketball, football, sports, websites
This week at the Baltimore Sports Report, I try my hand at some analysis of the quarterback position for the Baltimore Ravens. Of course, most of that analysis begins and ends with Joe Flacco, but there are some points I make about Troy Smith and John Beck as well. This is yet another part in a continuing series where the writers at BSR have reviewed all positional groups on the team. You can find my post here. In the past week, the writers have taken a look at the Ravens’ special teams, linebackers and the offensive line. There’s even a post about last week’s State of the Ravens press conference. Now that football season is over, you can have a look back at the season that was through these and other posts.
However, that’s not all you can find at BSR. The site recently got an interview with Amber Theoharis, who just might be the busiest female sportscaster in the market. Also, features are starting to pop up on Baltimore’s other birds, the Orioles. Find out how our writers feel about the offseason moves as spring training approaches. There will be features and opinions thorughout the season, so stay tuned. There will be Terps coverage as well as we get closer to the ACC Tournament and March Madness.
If you are a fan of Baltimore sports, do yourself a favor and check out the Baltimore Sports Report (not because I said so, and not because my work shows up there from time to time-okay do it for both of those reasons). Do it because it’s a great site for getting a fan’s perspective on Baltimore sports (and be sure to comment).
Sharpe Falls Short In Bid For Hall Of Fame
For the second year in a row, former Baltimore Raven and Denver Bronco tight end Shannon Sharpe was denied election into Pro Football’s Hall of Fame. Sharpe made the first cut from 15 to 10, but was not in the final cutdown from 10 to 5 among the modern-era players who were eligible.
The news that Sharpe fell short was somewhat surprising, but when looking at the list of candidates who were eligible for this year’s class, not overwhelmingly so. Everyone knew that Jerry Rice and Emmitt Smith were locks to be inducted in the first year of eligibility for each. Also, Sharpe is in a pool of pass catchers that are also in line for induction: Andre Reed, Cris Carter and Tim Brown. Brown and Carter failed to make the first cut, while Reed fell short with Sharpe.
In addition, the Hall had a backlog of candidates that have been on the list for years and have been denied by candidates who were deemed more deserving. Some of those candidates finally were elected on Saturday. Russ Grimm had been eligible for years, and becomes the first member of the famed “Hogs” offensive line of the Washington Redskins of the ’80s and early ’90s to get into the Hall. Rickey Jackson, for years one of the best pass rushing linebackers for the New Orleans Saints and later the San Francisco 49ers had also been on the line for a few years. The same can also be said for the two senior candidates who were elected: Floyd Little and Dick LeBeau. With only a maximum of seven slots, there are going to be a number of candidates who are going to have to wait their turn. Sharpe just happens to be one of them.
I have no doubt that Sharpe, as well as Carter and Tim Brown, and perhaps even Reed will all eventually get in. It’s just going to take some time, particularly with a lot of deserving players on the list now and in years to come. Remember, in a few years Jonathan Ogden will be eligible. Will he have to wait a few years, or is he a first year lock to get in? Time will tell.
The Love Of The Game Revisited
Filed under: baseball, basketball, college basketball, football, hockey, sports
Dear @tat2dsteelergal, @Tailgate365, @Pigsknlvnglady, @MDBirdLover, @steelergurl, @carolinaware and @thenflchick:
So What Do We Do Now?
Ladies and gentlemen, the 2009 NFL season has ended. The New Orleans Saints brought one home for NOLA and its thirsty for a championship fans, beating the favored Indianapolis Colts in Super Bowl XLIV by a score of 31-17. With the final gun of the final game of the season, we are all left to football withdrawal for the next few months. Oh sure, the scouting combine is coming up shortly, the NFL Draft in a couple months and training camp a couple months after that.
But no games.
No Sunday afternoon communals in front of the tube or in the stands, or with friends or via internet meeting places. Sundays (and Monday nights) will be a lot quieter without NFL football.
No smack talk. No great hits, great plays and great laughs and sorrows to share.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure we all will be entertained in the months to come until the NFL ramps up again. Some of us will follow hockey, some college and NBA hoops, some with baseball, and some with all of those. And oh yeah, there’s the Winter Olympics about to begin too, if you’re interested. Life goes on for all of us outside of the sport we love; and we got to deal with that as well.
But the gridiron quiets down just a bit. The sporting passion of fans like yourself and many others recedes ever so slightly, only to build again as we inch ever closer to the beginning of another NFL season. As we move on to the next one, the sport faces an uncertain future: labor questions in the distance with the possibility of an uncapped year next season and a possible lockout for the season after that. Let’s not dwell on that; there will be time to focus on and discuss the possibility that after next season a football season won’t start on time, or at all.
For me, personally: I just want to thank you all again for making this season extremely enjoyable. First with your participation in my original Love Of The Game post, and throughout the season as we commiserated about the greatest game on the planet: NFL Football.
P.S. To so many others on Twitter that I shared Sundays, Mondays, Thursdays and even Saturdays with over the past NFL season, thank you as well. I’ll try to name as many of you as I can, but if you think you should’ve been mentioned and you weren’t: hey, you know what I say-charge it to my head and not my heart.
@SidelinePass, @asportsscribe, @dfolkens, @cosadulce, @Inkognegro, @MkRob, @ltma, @brownsugar63, @ninerchick05, @cowboychick, @mrsFAB, @12kyle, @jeffw171, @GelaTrish, @edthesportsfan, @ay52, @stephsherman, @snwann, @khaijg, @Hail_Mary_Jane, @MDSteelerGal, @JUS_chillin, @BigDubz, @julythirteenth, @sbolen, @BMoreGoHard and @lovejonz618 (her Saints are champs at last!), thank you all.
Random Sports Thoughts 7
Filed under: MLB, NBA, NFL, baseball, basketball, college basketball, football, sports
Around and about in the world of sports:
- Congratulations to the seven members of the newest class of the NFL Hall of Fame: Jerry Rice, Emmitt Smith, John Randle, Rickey Jackson, Russ Grimm, Dick LeBeau and Floyd Little. Rice and Smith were no-brainers of course, and the other candidates deserved their nods as well. There is a backlog of great players that are eligible for the Hall; it will take some time to get all of them in. I would just like to put in a few words for Grimm. Given the fact that the Hogs were one of the best offensive lines of the last 25-30 years, it’s actually about time one of them got some recognition by the Hall.
- There was talk last week of the NCAA opting out of their contract with CBS and possibly expanding the NCAA basketball tournament from it’s current 65 team format to 96 teams. Okay, let me get this straight. No action is necessary for a college football playoff, but the greatest college event ever needs to break up the current format to let more teams in? I don’t think so…this thing reeks of a money grab. Not to mention, that if they really want to fix the tournament they should get rid of the play-in game, or at the least let the last two at-large teams play in that game. Don’t put a small school automatic qualifier in the game-they deserve the opportunity to have the full tournament experience much more than some BCS school mediocrity. Not to mention, if the tournament did include 96 teams, most if not all of those spots would be to BCS schools with unimpressive resumes.
- The days are growing short leading into spring training for another baseball season, and I wonder what exactly will the Orioles look like this year. I’ll have more to say about them as the season gets closer, but it has been a pretty quiet offseason for Baltimore’s baseball birds. For some fans, it has been too quiet. I’ll reserve judgement until things get going, but once again, I am hoping for progress. I’m not expecting a worst-to-first season, but at least be competitive past the All-Star break, and if possible, make an approach to .500.
- Gilbert Arenas was suspended for the remainder of this season, and has probably seen his last days as a member of the Washington Wizards. Has there been a more stunning fall from grace? Arenas was once the prince of the city; his blog was popular and his skills on the court made fans sit up and take notice. His absence serves as just a symbol of the Wizards’ season; where they were counting on him to finally be healthy enough to play, he ends up missing another large chunk of a third consecutive season. I don’t see how the Wizards can keep this core of players together, with Arenas surely gone it may be time for Ernie Grunfeld (or someone else) to blow this team up and build it back from the ground up. It will definitely be interesting to see how the Wizards proceed from here.
522 Games Down, 1 To Go…
Filed under: AFC, NFC, NFL, football, playoffs, sports
There have been 522 games played in the 2009 NFL season. Those games have all been a prelude to the one game that means everything in the NFL: the Super Bowl. The 44th edition of the ultimate game (though if it is the ultimate game, how come they play it every year?) will feature the two teams that were the last to lose in the regular season: the New Orleans Saints and the Indianapolis Colts. At some point, both of these teams were expected to be here, particularly when they both were undefeated. Both limped home in the regular season though: the Saints lost three of their last four, and the Colts lost their last two, though how hard they were trying to win those two is up for debate. Both were the top seeds in their respective conferences, and both won two games at home to get to Miami for the right to play for the Lombardi trophy.
The Colts sliced and diced their way through two formidable defenses, while playing stellar defense of their own in their wins over the Baltimore Ravens and the New York Jets. There are those who would say the Colts had an easy road, having to play the AFC’s fifth- and sixth-seeded teams at home while avoiding the supposedly formidable San Diego Chargers and New England Patriots. Despite that, Peyton Manning did what he usually does, which is make plays no matter who is on defense or what kind of opposition he faces. In other words, they beat who was in front of them, all the while making the last two weeks of the regular season look absolutely meaningless.
The Saints on the other hand, set off a city-wide party with their two playoff wins over the Cardinals and Vikings. While the Saints destroyed the Cardinals with their offensive firepower, the Vikings held the Saints offense relatively in check. In fact, the Vikings overwhelmingly dominated the offensive statistics in the game, but came up short because of five turnovers. If the Vikings don’t give the ball to the Saints, it very well could’ve been Brett Favre, and not Drew Brees, opposing Manning in Super Bowl 44. But the Saints kept taking the ball away, and did what was necessary in overtime to set off the biggest non-Mardi Gras party the Crescent City has ever seen.
So who will win the game? As much as I would love for the Saints to win-if for no other reason than to see the month-long party that will ensue with a Super Bowl win and Mardi Gras-I think the Colts will take it. Both offenses will put up points, but the key will be which defense can make enough stops. If the Saints can force Manning into mistakes and the Colts into turnovers, they definitely can win, but will they? I’m thinking not nearly enough to pull off the upset. Most of all, I’m hoping for an exciting game…there have been few of them in this year’s postseason.
Enjoy the game, no matter who you are rooting for.
At BSR: The Playoffs
Filed under: AFC, NFL, following the locals, football, sports
Once again, I have contributed another post at the Baltimore Sports Report’s Ravens Year In Review series. This time, I take a look at the team’s performance in the playoffs. You can find that post here. Two other posts have been written about the season since my last piece ran: one on the rollercoaster the Ravens went through at midseason, and the push to the playoffs. Please check them all out.
High Scorers: Ravens Post Mortem
Filed under: blogs, following the locals, football, high scorers, sports
Yes, the Baltimore Ravens 2009 season is over. It didn’t quite go the way we’d hoped, but overall it was a success…another playoff appearance, some growth in several areas, a found star in Ray Rice. However, when the season falls short of the ultimate goal, it’s up to bloggers to pick up the pieces and figure out what went wrong, and what moves to make in the future to do better next season. To that end, High Scorers will focus on blogs and bloggers who are looking at last season, and looking ahead to next season.
The Baltimore Sports Report has several posts taking a look back at the past season; look for mine on games 4-6 of the season (see next post as well).
The Ebony Bird gives his take on the cornerbacks the Ravens should consider acquiring to improve the depth at the position.
Bird Brains On The Half Shell takes a look at what might happen with the current wide receivers on the roster.
Big Steve at The City That Reeds takes stock of both wide receivers and defensive backs, with who should stay and who should go.
Matt at Ravens Gab makes a plea for the Ravens brain trust-upgrade the offense! Quick, fast and in a hurry!
And while many Ravens fans are hoping the Ravens acquire a big name wide receiver, Bruce at Baltimore Beatdown opines that getting one might not make that much of a difference.
If you’re a fan of the Ravens, take a look at these and make your own opinions. Enjoy!
Ravens Review: The End
Filed under: AFC, Loser's Lounge, NFL, following the locals, football, ravens review, sports
A basic assumption of most sporting events is that you have to score to win. Basketball, baseball, hockey, soccer…just about any game you can name, you have to put points on the board. In sports, we keep score. So given that assumption, you would have to figure that the Baltimore Ravens offense would need to score points, particularly when the opposition has Peyton Manning at quarterback. In 60 minutes of football last night at Lucas Oil Stadium, the Ravens could only come up with three points. Three points means that the defense would need to play lights out and pitch a shutout of the Colts to win the game. While the defense did what it could, it couldn’t shut down the Colt offense nearly enough; and so the Ravens’ season comes to a close on the heels of a 20-3 defeat to Baltimore’s old team. This defeat marks the eighth straight time the Colts have beaten the Ravens. And with that defeat, comes the realization that my ticket has been punched to head for the Loser’s Lounge for this NFL season.
In a season where expectations were high for a Ravens team coming off a AFC Championship game appearance, this may ultimately be seen as a step back. The Ravens’ season ended one week shorter than it did the season before with a worse won-loss record. Yet in some ways, there was growth. Ray Rice in particular, had a great season that even his late fumble in this game didn’t diminish. Joe Flacco, while not exactly great in the latter stages of the season, did improve across the board in his second season; if the brain trust can find him some additional playmakers, particularly at wide receiver, those numbers figure to improve. The offensive line did a good job for most of the season. While the defense started the season shaky, they improved as the season wore on. Last night’s performance wasn’t bad by any stretch. The Ravens couldn’t generate much pass rush on Manning, but coverage was tight all game long and didn’t allow much in the way of a running game. The Colts scored twenty points, but they dinked and dunked their way down the field as the Ravens didn’t give up the big play. And still the Colts won the game easily, as 20 points were more than enough on this night.
Ravens fans could really tell it wasn’t going to be their team’s night during one series in the third quarter. After Manning lofted a pass that was intercepted by Ed Reed, Reed fumbled the ball on the interception return after being hit by Pierre Garcon. The ball bounced perfectly on one hop to the Colts’ Dallas Clark. As if that wasn’t enough, five plays later Manning was again intercepted by Reed, but the 54-yard return was called back on a pass interference call by Corey Ivy. That pretty much ended the competitive portion of the game, particularly with the Ravens’ offense not offering any kind of a response. Also, as it had in times all season, untimely penalties helped to doom the Ravens. Ivy’s pass interefence call was one, as was the personal foul call on Ray Lewis. Mistakes and penalties have haunted the Ravens in many a game this season and have been their downfall time after time.
When all is said and done, this season will be looked at as a success overall, but there are some issues that will have to be solved if the Ravens figure to go further in a conference as competitive as the AFC. Ozzie Newsome will have some decisions to make. He’s got to find some more depth on the defense, but even more importantly he cannot let another offseason go by without getting a #1 wide receiver. It was a need last offseason and was not addressed. This offseason he has got to find a receiver who can make plays and stretch the field. What good is having a quarterback who can throw the deep ball if none of his recievers can get open downfield? Derrick Mason isn’t that guy, Mark Clayton isn’t that guy and it appears by the way the coaching staff has played him, Demetrius Williams isn’t that guy. And with the defense aging and Ed Reed thinking about retirement, there have got to be some concerns about positions on defense, particularly in the secondary. Even though the play on the back end improved towards the end of the season, there was concern at cornerback all season long. The aforementioned mistakes and penalties will have to be corrected and cleaned up if this franchise expects to make a run at a Super Bowl.
Thank you, Baltimore Ravens for another good year. I’m hoping that the front office continues on the path to make the organization consistent contenders and keep climbing towards yet another championship for the city, the team and its fans.
PS-R.I.P. Gaines Adams. Prayers go out to his family and friends.
Ravens Review: A Somewhat Unexpected Result
Filed under: AFC, NFL, following the locals, football, ravens review, sports
Who am I kidding? I’m sure there were a few football pundits, and some cock-eyed optimists out there, not to mention two somewhat well known Gridiron Gals who stepped out on faith and called a Ravens victory over the mighty, mighty New England Patriots. Truth to be told, I was not one of them (yes, shame on me). That said, I thought the Ravens had the game to beat the Patriots, but I didn’t see anything in the previous seventeen weeks of football to think that game would make it to Foxborough on Sunday afternoon. Well lo and behold, the game traveled and a beatdown-yes I said it-a beatdown was administered as the Ravens beat the Patriots 33-14. The win sets up another stop on the Ravens Redemption Tour as a Saturday date with the Indianapolis Colts awaits in the next round of the playoffs.
This game is the game I’ve been waiting to see, particularly on defense. While the Ravens struck quickly on the very first offensive play of the game with Ray Rice’s 83-yard touchdown run, it was the defense that kept the Patriots from mounting any sort of serious challenge. The defense played it’s best game of the season yesterday, especially given the stakes and the opponent. Now these might not have been the dynasty version of the Patriots, but it was still the PATRIOTS-with the three-time Super Bowl winning quarterback and the “genius” head coach, and the mystique and aura that being the best franchise of the last decade brings. Yet the Ravens defense forced four turnovers, held Randy Moss to five meaningless receptions and forced Tom Brady into mistakes he normally doesn’t make. Thanks to the defense’s early play and the power of the Ravens’ running game, the Patriots were in a deep hole that they could not dig out of on this day.
It looked for a moment as if the Ravens turned back the clock on the way that we were used to seeing them win games-a steady dose of the run game, a minimization of mistakes and penalties, and a suffocating, hard-hitting, ferocious defense. If the defense wanted to prove a point yesterday, consider it done. Ray Lewis looked at least five years younger; he was all over the field making plays. Huge credit must go to Domonique Foxworth, who had his best day as a Raven. The defense as a whole tackled better in this game than I have seen all season, not allowing many yards after receptions or in the run game. Even players that have been roasted before (Frank Walker, this means you) made plays. Throw in the fact that there were only three penalties THE ENTIRE GAME against the Ravens-who saw that much discipline in this bunch?
Of course it isn’t all good in Ravenstown. Joe Flacco is indeed hurt, perhaps much more so than even anyone outside the club knew prior to the game. What could have been looked at as a dismal performance (4-10, 34 yards, 1 interception and one critical rush for a first down) looks a bit better because the Ravens won the game with ease. Had the game been a bit closer, fans may have blamed Flacco for not coming through with the plays necessary to win the game. The next game may require Joe to do more, so here’s hoping he gets if not completely well, then better. There’s no guarantee that the three- or two-headed monster will dominate the game the way it did against the Patriots. The defense may have to come up with another lights-out performance against a quarterback that has had their number since the first time he played against the Baltimore defense. In other words, the degree of difficulty just increased for this Ravens team to continue its run through the AFC in these playoffs.
For now though, we should savor this victory-the first over the Patriots in franchise history. While others will proclaim the New England dynasty has fallen, I won’t rush to that judgement. They aren’t what they once were, surely. But with Belichick and Brady, they can never truly be counted out. They just need some more and better players to surround their stars. It is a fate that may become the Ravens in the not too distant future; the old veterans aren’t getting any younger, and replacements will need to be found. Those decisions will be made down the road; for now the road the Ravens are on leads to Indianapolis to yet another matchup with the Baltimore team of old.
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