We are three weeks into training camp and a game deep into the preseason schedule and the raging debate about the Ravens’ need for a No. 1 receiver continues. How many times have you heard that if the Ravens could acquire a No. 1 wide out it could catapult them from Conference Championship losers to Super Bowl contenders?
How narrow minded is that thinking?
Get an Anquan Boldin or a Brandon Marshall, keep everything else the same and the Ravens will be Miami bound come February, 2010.
If that is how you see it, please for a moment step down from the clouds of fantasy football la-la land.
For the sake of argument, let’s assume that the Ravens wide receivers as a unit are no more productive in 2009 than they were in 2008. To then conclude that since there has been no improvement at the position, the team can go no farther than the AFC Championship Game completely kicks to the curb all of the other positive changes the team has made to augment their roster.
What if special teams are measurably more productive and the Ravens then are able to manage field position and the clock more efficiently. Suppose there is improvement in the secondary and they defend the intermediate routes more effectively. Maybe Joe Flacco’s familiarity with the playbook enables Cam Cameron to open up a few more of its pages and the Ravens more aggressively attack by air within the hash marks.
Ray Rice is stronger and fresher and now understands the rigors of an NFL season while Willis McGahee is rejuvenated and ready to compete to reclaim the starting position. Doesn’t that competition make the Ravens better, all other things being equal?
And then how about this…
What if Michael Oher can hold down the fort at right tackle without perpetual help from the tight ends or tailbacks? The Ravens could then get Todd Heap and LJ Smith out into patterns more just as they could with backs Rice, McGahee and Le’Ron McClain. Wouldn’t that put more pressure on opposing defenses and create more favorable one-on-one matchups?
Of course it would!
So at the end of the day, the emphasis doesn’t necessarily have to be upon finding a prototypical No. 1 receiver but rather upon overall improvement in the passing game. If you can get that with improved pass protection and distributing the football, what difference does it make if Anquan Boldin wears No. 81 in purple?
Had the Ravens made the trade to get Boldin and it would have cost them their No. 1 pick, they now would be without Michael Oher AND Adam Terry. Then the team would revert to holding in the backs and tight ends again and Boldin would see double coverage downfield while Flacco is on his back staring at the clouds.
The point here is that there are ways to improve a football team and the Ravens have done exactly that. They are better on both lines; stronger in the secondary and believe it or not linebacker too; better in the return game; healthier in the backfield and more dangerous at tight end. This team is deep – it has been evident during camp and it was pretty clear when the Ravens hosted the Redskins last Thursday.
The coaching staff has a full year together and familiarity with the roster while organizationally there exists a singularity of purpose. The collective pride of the team embodied in the mantra of ’08, “What’s Our Name?” has manifested itself into ‘09’s credo, “Play Like a Raven.”
Is this Ravens team better than the team that took the field in the 2009 AFC Championship Game?
Absolutely!
Does that mean they’ll advance to Super Bowl XLIV on February 7, 2010?
Absolutely not!
As we’ve all seen the NFL season is a marathon and many things happen along the way. Some teams that you expect to be dangerous today may look like freebies on the schedule by mid-season as a result of injury or underachievement. Other teams will surprise you much like the Ravens did in ’08.
The league is extremely dynamic and characterized by an unpredictable ebb and flow. To simply add a No. 1 receiver to the roster of a 2009 AFC Championship participant is hardly a guaranteed ticket to Miami. Such a move guarantees only one thing – a higher payroll and foregone draft picks.
And we’ve seen before how that can set back an organization, haven’t we?
