Flacco’s recovery appears to be going quite well. B. Williams gets top nod in list ranking NFL nose tackles. Harbaugh doesn’t mince words when it comes to TE Boyle. The five technique is a big part of a great defense. The sports highlight show is dead. J. Smith’s tweet shows the public that his injury is going to be a big problem.
Joe Flacco’s Knee Recovery As Good As Doctors Have Ever Seen
Garrett Downing of Ravens Media relays John Harbaugh’s quotes about Joe Flacco‘s recovery from his torn ACL and MCL. “I’ve heard he’s attacking his knee as well or better than anybody they’ve ever seen,” he said. As we saw early in the month at the Super Bowl, he is off the crutches and has no noticeable limp.
Ranking the Top 20 Nose Tackles from 2015: No. 1 – Brandon Williams
Matt Miller of Bleacher Report ranks the 20 best noe tackles, and Brandon Williams takes the top spot on the list. He gives him a 26/35 pass rush rating and a 53/55 run defense ranking. He gives him a positional value of 8/8 for a total grade of 87/98.
John Harbaugh doesn’t mince words when it comes to Nick Boyle
“I (already) said it was stupid, dumb, or whatever I said, and I double-down on that, because he did it again,” Harbaugh said at the NFL combine. “It’s even worse, because he knew he tested positive. It’s just ridiculous that he would do that, and he doesn’t have an explanation for it. There’s no explanation for dumb. It’s just really, really dumb. It hurts us, it hurts him. He’s going to have to overcome it.” Cliff Brown of CSN Mid-Atlantic has the full story.
The Importance Of The Five Technique
Michael Sedjro of Baltimore Beatdown argues the five-technique – the defensive lineman who lines up directly over the offensive tackle – is the key to a great defense. Using that logic, he argues the Ravens should take DeForest Buckner, whose excellence we detailed in Wednesday’s edition of Ravens Links.
The sports highlight show is dead
Matt Yoder of Awful Announcing discusses the nuanced history of the fall of hour-long highlight shows. Many have tried the format, trying to recreate the SportsCenter of old, but the way we absorb media now just won’t allow for it. We can get all of the highlights we want online. Why would we bother? In the hands of analysts like Scott Van Pelt and Linsday Czarniak, the new type of SportsCenter should be celebrated.
The peculiar story of Jaylon Smith’s tweet
Notre Dame LB Jaylon Smith, who Mike Mayock said would be in the conversation for the first overall pick tweeted out this video of himself walking without a knee brace for the first time in six weeks.
Amazing walking without the knee brace six days after being restricted for six weeks and feels fantastic! pic.twitter.com/dAW8OW09Ke
— Jaylon Smith (@thejaylonsmith) February 24, 2016
Dr. David Chao, the former Chargers team doctor and current NFL injury expert for National Football Post with a controversial past, then tweeted this:
#JaylonSmith
Good news: no more knee brace & walking.
Bad news: wearing an AFO, indicates nerve issue.
Too bad. https://t.co/PyYYTDh4wG— David J. Chao – ProFootballDoc (@ProFootballDoc) February 26, 2016
Which led to the Big Lead concluding that the tweet could cost him millions. Dr. Chao doesn’t consider that likely. Anything being said right now is speculation. What will decide whether teams take a chance on him are the results of his medical exams at the Combine this weekend.
The medical exam is what mattershttps://t.co/62tg0hnkqA
All 32 teams get their first look at #JaylonSmith Friday. https://t.co/L7X4oMOihY— David J. Chao – ProFootballDoc (@ProFootballDoc) February 26, 2016
