It was another frustrating season in Baltimore. Record-wise, it may have been the best reason since 2014, but it was the third straight year of missing the playoffs, so does it really matter what their record was?
The Ravens were a 4th-and-12 stop away from being 10-6 and traveling to Kansas City this weekend. But they were also an Aaron Rodgers, Deshaun Watson, Andrew Luck, and Derek Carr away from possibly being 5-11. As much as the defense let the team down at the end of a couple of games, the +17-turnover ratio played a huge role in the success that Baltimore did have.
The next thing to consider, when looking over the season, is the injuries. The Ravens had more players on Injured Reserve (IR) than any other team in the NFL. Crockett Gillmore, Brandon Boykin, Kenneth Dixon, Alex Lewis, Albert McClellan, Nico Siragusa, Tavon Young, and Tim White missed all year. Marshal Yanda, Danny Woodhead, Brent Urban, Jimmy Smith, Maxx Williams, and Brandon Williams all missed at least a handful of games, and Joe Flacco was never fully healthy. That is a list of quality players. A list that would hinder many teams. So when you talk about the “adversity” that the Ravens played through this year, those injuries are a major part of it.
So now what? How do the Ravens move forward?
We will hear a lot more about that when Ravens management has their “State of the Ravens” press conference in the next few weeks. But for now, what do we know?
Head Coach John Harbaugh is not going anywhere, Offensive Coordinator Marty Mornhinweg, and Special Teams Coach Jerry Rosburg are not going anywhere. Defensive Coordinator Dean Pees announced his retirement, so we know that a change is happening there. During Thursday’s press conference, Harbaugh said that he is looking for a DC that has been in the system before. Former Indianapolis Colts Head Coach (and former Ravens DC) Chuck Pagano seems to be the Ravens first choice. Ravens LB Coach Don “Wink” Martindale is expected to be strongly considered. Vic Fangio (Chicago Bears DC) is another name you hear a lot about. He has already interviewed for the Bears Head Coaching job, so he might not be available.
Between expiring contracts and moving to other teams, you’ll see some other non-Coordinator job changes, but that is normal. The Ravens also may hire a Quarterbacks Coach, but that remains to be seen.
What about players? Mike Wallace, Benjamin Watson, Ryan Jensen, Terrance West, James Hurst, Michael Campanaro, Boykin, Gillmore, and Urban are all Unrestricted Free Agents. (Full list of roster statuses here)
Baltimore doesn’t have a lot of cap room available, but General Manager Ozzie Newsome will do his maneuvering to make things happen. I can see them trying to re-sign Wallace, Watson and Jensen. They may do what they can to lock-up a few others, but I think those three will be the priority.
The Ravens can also cut a couple of players for Salary Cap relief. Jeremy Maclin is probably the biggest, as he could save the team $5,000,000. Cutting Eric Weddle could save them $4,750,000, but it will also cost them $3,500,000 in dead money, so I don’t see them releasing the Pro Bowler. Letting Terrell Suggs go would save $4,000,00 in the cap, but cost them almost $3,000,000 in dead money. Personally, I hope they re-sign him to a “long-term deal” just to allow him to retire a Ravens and lower his Cap number.
They will need to do something to get some Cap flexibility, because they will need to do some work this offense to fill in many of the holes that they have… more than the Draft can fill.
Speaking of the Draft, this is a place they definitely need a change. Ozzie used to be the best in the NFL. Has he fallen off in his evaluations, or are they misses that could not have been helped? Whatever the answer is, things need to get drastically better. Too many misses, and too much attention paid to the defense, and not the offense, has cost the Ravens.
After three seasons missing the playoffs, and a 40-40 record since the last Super Bowl, some things need to change. I am still not in the “Fire Harbaugh” crowd, but did wish that he would have let his OC go to try to shake some things up. I am, however, with the “Retire Ozzie” crowd. I think the player personnel has hurt this team more than the Head Coach has. The lack of quality players the coaching staff has been given is awful.
It will be another interesting offseason in Baltimore, one that should see a good amount of change on the roster. However, I am beginning to get concerned about one thing that our Russell Street Report leader brought up Thursday:
Really worried that the #Ravens are embracing the philosophy of their neighbor's at Camden Yards, and that is, "doing the same way things over and over again and hope for different results."
— Tony Lombardi (@RSRLombardi) January 4, 2018
If both Baltimore professional sports teams stick with the “insane” (doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results) philosophy year after year, there could be another dark decade on the horizon.
Author’s Note
I have had the amazing privilege of being a contributor to Russell Street Report for the past five years. Before that, I was able to write some for RSR’s predecessor Ravens24x7 for a couple of seasons. But over the last year, I have taken on more work with my Marketing career, as well as extra work with my voice-over business. Combine that with being a husband, father, and coach, and I am finding less and less time to put my sports thoughts to paper.
I am the type of person that wants to do something to the best of my ability or not at all, and I love RSR too much to half-butt my efforts here. So, this will be my final article as a weekly contributor to RSR.
The people that make RSR what it is are simply incredible. Derek Arnold, RSR Senior Editor, is a great guy who works his tail off to help make this site a reality. He takes the articles that we write and helps to make them worthy to post. He does it all and I am truly thankful for the work that he has done for the past 6+ years to help me publish my thoughts on the Ravens.
Most of all, I need to thank Tony Lombardi, the founder of Russell Street Report. He has worked his whole life to make this site possible. And this site is so important because there is no hidden agenda behind it. It is simply here so that fans can get their voices heard on a professional platform. He has done so well with it, that the Ravens, 105.7 The Fan, and others take the site so seriously that they regularly have RSR contributors on air. That is not an easy thing to accomplish.
Personally, I’ve been through a lot in the last 3 years, but one of the toughest things that I went through was one year ago this month. I had brain surgery which was the final result after I had a random seizure a couple of years earlier. But this is how much of a quality person Tony is: he reached out to my wife to check in on me and even send me a generous gift. He didn’t have to do any of that, but he cared enough to encourage my family during that tough time.
Like I said… quality people. Not just Tony and Derek, but all of the writers. I am grateful for the opportunity to have been one of them. I hope that if an idea for article comes to me every now and then that I’ll be able to have those thoughts posted for you to read. But no matter what, I have been blessed to have lived out one of my dreams…to be in the sports media. And for that I will forever be grateful.
You can follow me on Twitter @JoePolek to see my thoughts on the Ravens and the Orioles.
