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And so it begins again...
Broncos are 6.5 point favorites.
I predict Manning throws for 7 touchdowns and the Broncos win by 42.
And so it begins again...
Ravens re-signed McKinnie. Good move...they became arguably the biggest and best unit when they started him at LT for the playoff run. He's always been great--when motivated.
Oh, I guess this is the closest thing we have to a Ravens Thread in this forum.
In other news, Eric DeCosta said the Ravens had some outside options lined up at receiver. I'm interested to see if anything comes from that.
The 49ers have, I believe, 10 wide receivers in whom they have invested at least something. If they have to cut somebody, I wonder if they'll think Boldin's $6 Million base salary is worth it. Wouldn't it be fun to see him come back to Baltimore?
If the Ravens have/find an effective replacement for Boldin they'll be contending again next year.
The Ravens may already have Boldin's replacement on the roster. Ozzie knows what he is doing. He is great at finding talent all over the place.
Don't worry OP, my Broncos always win when it's not a playoff game. They beat the out of the Ravens @ their own house before losing in the playoffs to them only 2-3 weeks later.
Hey, J.T. , what do you think of A.Q. Shipley? The Ravens just traded for him. He could be in line to start this season.
Hey Chinook,
I'm actually scratching my head as to why Grigson traded Shipley. For the amount of money we were paying him, the guy gave us extremely good value. At times last season he was much better than our starter Samson Satele and seemed to have a much higher ceiling. Kind of sad to see him go, most of his teammates loved him and have already gone on Twitter saying how much they're gonna miss the guy. Bottom line is you guys got a good player who works hard and has a chance to be great if the situation is right but he's still young.
We drafted Khaled Holmes from USC and Hugh Thorton from Illinois this year so someone was going to get cut but the smart money in Colts Nation was that it was going to be Satele. He's owed a lot more money than Shipley was and wasn't even the best center on our roster last year. I don't know what the Grigson was thinking, honestly. I suppose it was to get a draft pick as opposed to just cutting Satele and eating the dead money but I don't like the move. I had Shipley figured as a great player for extra depth on the o-line and we certainly need that at the moment.
Last edited by J.T.; 05-09-2013 at 09:32 PM.
Thanks for the info. Right now, he's competing with Gino Gradkowski (Bruce's younger brother) for the starting center spot. Given Gradkowski's experience with the playbook and Shipley's starting experience, I'd say they're about even right now. I imagine they'll both be on the roster no matter who wins the compe ion, but one thing that I hear is hurting Shipley is that he doesn't have the body to play anything but center, while Gradkowski can also play guard. So if Gino beats him out, Shipley may end up being cut. The Ravens have no one outside of Gradkowski and Yanda who can play center if they release Shipley, though, and you'd think that the Ravens must like him if they traded for him.
By the way, did you hear what the compensation was? All I've found is that it's a conditional pick.
Yeah all I heard was the same. Very interested in more details tbh.
Edit: Don't have any more details on conditions of the draft pick in the trade but after doing some digging, it appears Samson Satele's contract was extremely front loaded so if we play him this season and cut him in early 2014, we'll owe him practically nothing and his cap hit will be virtually invisible. I guess the Colts brass is planning on that and really likes their draft picks this year. Still, Colts rookie minicap started yesterday. Both of these picks could be total busts and at least you knew what you had in Shipley. FWIW, Shipley was the starting center for us in the Green Bay game that everybody remembers from last year.
I would suspect Shipley would play much better than he did with the Colts on a team that has better players on the interior offensive line. Personally I think he's an above average pass blocker but not that good at run blocking...but the Colts o-line was collectively bad at that so who knows if that's actually a weakness for Shipley. But with all the money they gave to Flacco he should help keep him on his feet.
Last edited by J.T.; 05-10-2013 at 04:36 AM.
From what I hear about Shipley, his lack of size and arm length means he's best suited for a zone-blocking scheme. The Ravens run that scheme, so that should help him. Strength is supposedly not a problem with him, which is critical when going up against the tackles in the AFCN. Another good thing is that Juan Castillo coached him in Philadelphia. I imagine Castillo believes he can get something out of Shipley, and his track record makes me inclined to believe him.
Like others have echoed in this thread already, it looks like Boldin is the only huge loss. Every other cap casualty has been replaced by up-and-coming studs. Ozzie and DeCosta don't get paid enough--no matter how high their salary already is.
Chinook
Ravens give us a 7th round pick if Shipley makes the roster.
We signed rookie UDFA Rick Schmeig to replace Shipley, who is taller and larger than Shipley. I think the Colts are tired of not being able to run the football and are trying to make sure they have size at every position on the line. I'm cool with that, because lots of teams give their ground game a nickname in the NFL... for the last five years ours has been "Let's Waste a Down"
Thanks. Good deal for both sides if the Colts were going to cut him anyway. Yahoo had reported the pick to be a fourth-rounder, which would have been ludicrous -- no offense.Chinook
Ravens give us a 7th round pick if Shipley makes the roster.
We signed rookie UDFA Rick Schmeig to replace Shipley, who is taller and larger than Shipley. I think the Colts are tired of not being able to run the football and are trying to make sure they have size at every position on the line. I'm cool with that, because lots of teams give their ground game a nickname in the NFL... for the last five years ours has been "Let's Waste a Down"
I can't wait for actual training camp to start.
Ronaldo McClain has "retired."
I'm more curious than anything. I had hoped he'd revive his career in Baltimore, but at least he quit before the Ravens became dependent on him.
Only 3 and a half more months before the Broncos start their Super Bowl run by avenging the loss against the Ravens.
The Broncos have now added Quentin Jammer, Rodgers-cromartie, Shaun Phillips, Wes Welker, Louis Vasquez, Montee Ball, Sylvester Williams, and a few others. While some of these moves aren't blockbusters, they sure add a ton of depth. It's possible that this version of the Broncos is more talented than the Super Bowl teams of the late 90's.
The only glaring weakness I can see is at the middle linebacker but Irving can play if the big bodies up front do their jobs.
I predict 19-0.
Oh, and hopefully Rahim Moore has practiced his timing on jump balls....that seems important in retrospect.
My heart is still recovering from that moment :'( in moron
I've accepted it. It took a long time, but I'm pretty much over it. An opening day thrashing of the Ravens would help though.
The only thing that soothes that heart ache is the thought that the Broncos would have lost anyway either to the Pats or the 49ers. They have some mental holes to fill up this year as a unit. Peyton Manning also conveniently dissapearing late in playoff games is getting old.
Can't fault Peyton for the Ravens loss. He didn't play his best game, but the fact that people just ignore that brilliant 4th quarter TD drive that he had to put them up 35-28 is hilarious. He did enough to win that game. Rahim Moore blew his assignment. The ot int is moot to me because it shouldn't had even made it that far. Denver had no momentum. That Moore up sealed Denver's fate.
Oh don't get me wrong, I completely blame Fox and Rahim Moore. But in OT, when guys like Eli and Tom Brady find ways to make it happen, Peyton looked horrified out there. He literally looked scared to be there. I have a huge problem with a player who mentally freaks out on the big stage.
Then again, the Broncos were the team that gave the Ravens the hardest time imo. (I don't count the comeback by the 49ers who used a miraculous 45 minute time out with the blackout.)
I watched the highlights of their divisional matchup again and am still baffled at how Rahim Moore ed that up. 40 seconds left, no timeouts, 70 yards to go, 3rd and long, etc...
Monumental -up, but gotdayum I gotta give credit to Flacco for being pushed up in the pocket and throwing that BOMB on the run, w/o his feet set.
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