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THE GRAPEVINE: 2013’s Scapegoat

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Wouldn’t it be nice if we could just talk about football when we talk about football?

But before we do…

Ray Rice got it going on the topic of domestic violence and now the accused/convicted/indicted in the NFL on DV include the 49ers Ray McDonald, the Panthers Greg Hardy and the Vikings’ Adrian Peterson.

You know the NFL always talks like they are a business and the players like to think of themselves as businessmen so how about this – let’s just send them all home with pay until due process takes its course?

Isn’t that what real businesses would do?

But then again, real businesses don’t offer jersey exchange programs. What a joke that is!

Here’s what the Ravens are offering fans who wish to abandon their Ray Rice jerseys:

The Baltimore Ravens will offer an exchange for Ray Rice jerseys on Friday, Sept. 19 and Saturday, Sept. 20 at M&T Bank Stadium from 8am to 3pm. Fans should enter at Gate A2 and will be directed to the northwest concourse to make exchanges. The Team Store located at Section 140 will also be open. Fan parking is available in Lot B on the north side of M&T Bank Stadium. event will provide an opportunity for fans to exchange a qualifying Rice jersey for an available jersey of another Ravens player.

Jerseys eligible for exchange must:

– Be officially licensed by the NFL

– Be manufactured by Nike or Reebok

– Have been purchased or been available for purchase at the Ravens Team Store at M&T Bank Stadium or the Ravens Official Team Store online

Not to understate what Ray Rice did, but do put him on the level of a thrice-accused murderer (former Patriot Aaron Hernandez)? Seriously?

 

Ok now on to football things, I think…

In Denver fans are in an uproar over Phil Simms and his alleged biases against the Denver Broncos, so much so that they’ve started an online petition that now has over 41,000 signatures.

You are kidding right Denver?

The entire sporting world slob knobs over Peyton Manning and 41,000 from your fine State of Colorado have their panties in a bunch because one guy doesn’t?

Look I’m no Phil Simms apologist, I’d sign the petition if it meant keeping him off ALL NFL GAMES. But that said, the petition is failing. Simms will be working the Broncos at Seahawks game in his Tom Brady t-shirt and Uggs this Sunday.

And I hear he really likes the Legion of Boom.

This week the Ravens signed free agent corner Lou Young to their practice squad.

Did you say, “Who?”

Young who hails from Washington, DC was a three-year starter at Georgia Tech, ending his career with 134 tackles, 4 interceptions and 12 passed defensed. He started in 34 of 49 career games according to CBS Sports.

The bottom line on Young’s skills according to NFL.com:

Shuffle-and-bail corner with outstanding size and the length to function into the boundary for a predominantly zone coverage team.

Speaking of corners it’s beginning to sound like Lardarius Webb will be ready to go in Cleveland against the Browns. But then again, we thought the same last week before the Steelers game.

During his 5+ seasons with the Ravens, Webb has played in a total of 67 of a possible 82 regular season games. He’s known throughout the league as an explosive player in short space and is arguably one of the best tacklers in the NFL pound-for-pound.

Webb will be 29 on October 12 and generally speaking, players don’t become more resilient and less injury prone as they age. So given Webb’s kamikaze style it’s realistic to expect more injuries in the future from the hard-hitting corner.

Unless of course he alters his style of play.

Offensive line coach Juan Castillo was vilified in 2013 (then the Run Game Coordinator by title) and labeled “scapegoat” for the Ravens offensive woes. But so far the Ravens offensive line has played above and beyond expectations.

Pro Football Focus assesses each play during a game and assigns individual scores to each player. The Ravens starting offensive line grades out as the best pass blocking unit in the NFL and they are ranked 8th overall in run blocking. Here’s a look at how each starter grades out individually along with their league rank.

  • Eugene Monroe +0.8 (29)
  • Kelechi Osemele +5.1 (2)
  • Jeremy Zuttah +3.3 (5)
  • Marshal Yanda +4.6 (4)
  • Rick Wagner +1.8 (20)

Comparatively speaking the Ravens O-Line was ranked 22nd in pass protection in 2013 and 27th in run blocking.

Gone from the 2013 offensive staff are offensive line coach Andy Moeller and of course offensive coordinator Jim Caldwell.

Castillo is still around.

I’m thinking he was labeled unfairly as the scapegoat.

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