DJasper Probincrux III

Well the quote from the agent was that he needs to be in the top 5 QBs so that makes a spread from 15-20 million dollars. http://nesn.com/2012/02/agent-thinks-joe-flacco-deserves-tom-brady-money/ And then there's this from 2 days ago that pegs his target as Brees' 20 and definitely higher than P. Manning's 19. http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/01/28/flacco-camp-believes-joe-has-outplayed-peyton/ If they win his number is solidly 20 and I think the Ravens cave in. If they lose and he's not good I think his number stays close to 20 and the Ravens' response is going to be interesting. You'd have me but you're right the bandwagon was small. This board would have been interesting at the end of 1987 when Kelly stunk up the world for all of December and tanked a playoff spot.

I started a thread about Flacco a while back and the division in opinion was about the same. He's been quoted as wanting Brady-esque money since last off-season and the Ravens have been balking at that price. If the Ravens win Sunday and he plays well it becomes a no-brainer for them. However, if they lose and he stinks it up it keeps them squarely in the conundrum they are in. Sure they could franchise him for 1 year at ~15 million but that's risky for Baltimore. There are 2 directions that could go. Flacco is the same guy who got po'd at Pitt because he wasn't getting playing time over Tyler Palko and transferred to 1-AA Delaware so he could play. It's possible that he could refuse to sign the tender offer and then sit out and I wouldn't downplay the possibility of him sitting out for a long period of time. It's also possible that he could call the Ravens bluff and sign the tender. That puts him on a 1 year deal and into a situation where he cannot be franchised again so he'll hit UFA next year. If they end up exclusive rights franchising him I'd call the Ravens and see what it would take to get the deal done. Sure they may laugh and hang up the phone but they really are over a barrel here and it's possible they could make a deal. If for some reason they give him the lesser franchise tag you have to send an offer sheet, you just have to. In fact in either situation - I'd be really concerned about the Jets. Flacco's a Jersey kid and I could see the Jets moving heaven and earth on their roster to get that deal done.

Just for kicks here were the Rams ST numbers in Bobby April's last year with them. Punt Coverage ranked 30th in the NFL Punt Return Average ranked 31st in the NFL Kickoff Coverage ranked 31st in the NFL Kickoff Return Average ranked 32nd in the NFL He worked out ok. ST is as much about your team's depth as anything else. McKelvin doesn't suddenly become any less great a PR because there's a new coach.

It forces them to offer him a 1 yr deal at the average of the top 5 QBs in the league which is usually 15-16 million dollars. Doing that is a bit of a gamble as Flacco can always take that offer and keep stonewalling - the Ravens could only franchise him again if they offered him a 10% raise above that next year. So basically if you tag him this year you better be prepared to give him at least 33.5 million dollars at full cap hits over the next 2 seasons because he can make that happen just by refusing to extend with you. Of course there's also the possibility that he refuses to sign the franchise tender and holds out. That this situation is getting this far along makes it all the more interesting. In November Baltimore held the cards, after the last two weeks Flacco does. What happens if he stinks next week? Has he shown enough for Baltimore to change their fundamental view of him? If they were sold he'd be locked up already. This situation has so much potential to go sideways. Don't underestimate his willingness to hold out. Personal history means something. He got pissed at Pitt and transferred to a 1-AA school on principle. He's not going to let himself be undervalued by an organization. Also, an exclusive rights tag prevents teams from talking to Flacco, not from talking to the Ravens about Flacco. Let's say you're John Harbaugh. Your brother Jim can flip you a QB with a strong recommendation that is mobile and can manage a game effectively hit the TE and hand off to Ray Rice and Bernard Pierce. He costs half as much as the QB you had who you weren't 100% sold on who is now mired in contract hell. You can get a top ten pick + from a team that wants him. You end up with a QB who you like as much as the guy you dealt, an extra high #1 to rebuild your defense with and extra cap funds to spend.

Which forces Baltimore to give him the money they don't want to give. If they wanted to do that he'd be extended already.

So, we can give Mr. Flacco 2 more playoff wins on his resume including another road playoff win. He's now 7-4 in the playoffs with 5 road playoff wins. Jim Kelly had a total of 1 road playoff win, ever. 1992 AFC Championship @ Miami. He was a total of 1-3 in true road games and 1-7 in playoff games away from home. This one was over Peyton Manning that required a TD to tie with under 1:30 to play. I see this as a positive if you want the Bills to have a shot at him. The stumbling block with the Ravens was price. Today's performance didn't lower his price tag any. Over 2 playoff games he's got 613 yds passing, 5TD, 0INT, Rating over 120, QBR vs. Indy 89.5 with at least as good today if not better. Made key throws at key times. The ball over the middle to Pitta to get them off the goalline on 3rd down was huge, the out to Boldin in OT was gorgeous, the bomb to tie was 50+ yards in the air with the pocket breaking down and him stepping up in the pocket. Last time we chatted the room was split, either he was a significant upgrade, middle of the road, or awful. I'm sticking to my guns that he's better than any QB we'll get at #8 and is thus worthy of a bid once he gets Franchised.

LB - Dannell Ellerbe - Baltimore. Baltimore has both him and Flacco coming up as UFAs and only one tag to use. Ellerbe will probably be available. 6'1 240lbs 4.6 40, 27 yrs old. He plays as an ILB in Baltimore but they've used him to blitz and move him around even there. Flexibility is the name of the game and he gives you tons because he can stay on the field. Maualuga for instance is a 2 down player and when he's on you try to iso him in coverage like houston did. Also, LaRon landry would change the tenor of our defense by himself.

I'll call it, Asst Coach/passing game coordinator/Sabremetrician. Carmichael will be OC. God forbid we should have decent underlings to good coordinators for a change.

To be fair Marrone interviewed with other people after meeting us too. Hell it sounds like he walked out an interview with San Diego picked up the phone and told Russ he was in. Why shouldn't Pettine see if someone else calls? He knows what his record is. If the Jets weren't such an offensive mess this year he might be getting calls about being an HC himself, and honestly, maybe that's what he's talking about in Philly.

Root for the Eagles to grab Lovie Smith or hope that they're waiting on one of the coordinators that goes to the Super Bowl.

Seriously, chain this guy to a radiator and don't let him leave until he signs. Coffee is for closers, Russ.

Yes, Glennon now fails by 1 game Boyd had 27 on the dot IIRC Re the misses the last couple years I dunno if we know for sure about Newton, Locker, or Kaepernick yet. RG3 was a miss he probably missed on starts but he was injured so it might be relevant to note why a player misses the starts category, are they not playing or did they get hurt 1 year. I was really underwhelmed by Tannehill when I saw him, Weeden stinks, and we know nothing on Osweiler.

Obviously we don't know wonderlic - so here's how they do on the 1st 2 parts Tyler Wilson - FAIL 25 starts (lost one due to injury as a senior otherwise would have made it) Matt Barkley - PASS Landry Jones - PASS Ryan Nassib - PASS (barely) Geno Smith - PASS Zac Dysert - PASS Tajh Boyd - PASS (barely on starts) Mike Glennon - PASS (by the slimmest of margins, 26 starts and >60% completions by 4 completions over his entire career) So this shows us almost zip w/o the wonderlic.

And Bledsoe came out early, was a 2 year starter, had a substandard completion % and only 16 college wins so his rules weren't exactly hard and fast were they.

Fuggetaboutit

Dannell Ellerbe - ILB Baltimore. 6'1" 240lbs 4.6 40. UFA 27 years old

Just to interject. Flying in and out of Boise is an all day affair and often required multiple plane changes. My sister lived there for 3 years. Getting there from the EC involved flying to Denver, connecting to Salt Lake then to Boise. Going from Syracuse to LA requires place changes but at least you're going the right direction all the time.

Surprisingly it doesn't say "Mr. Big Papi" on my ID badge

"she took her job way too seriously...she was here before school and after school every day." Perish the thought. I hope this teacher sues the crap out of this family for defamation when she gets cleared. If it were me I'd go after the paper as well for the use of the word "busted" in the headline. Can't be busted for something you didn't do and considering she hasn't been charged with anything yet I'd say "busted" is a pretty strong word to use. As a teacher I'm seriously condering getting some really off the wall tatoos on parts of me that kids would never see. That way when these sorts of things pop up the DA can say, "really? you didn't notice the giant rainbow unicorn tattoo that covers your teacher below the waist?"

Nice try. And though I don't believe that Nix was sleeping during the interview if he were it wouldn't be the dumbest group interview tactic I've heard of. Pretend to doze off during the meeting just to see what the candidate does, how they react, whether or not they wake you up. The correct answer is not to just let you sleep. It's not to completely freak out and leave the room either. Sort of gives you an idea of how he'd handle someone like oh say, Mario Williams if he were dozing off in a meeting. Those niceties aside, if we was actually sleeping and not for a contrived purpose he should be fired immediately.

He clearly meant deer shunting. Hitting deer with cars is fun, it's even better with locomotives.

So will Tim Graham get all huffy now and quit the Twitters?

Well, if they get Horton assume we go back to 3-4. Mario goes to OLB which is what Houston was doing with him his last year. Dareus and Carrington at DE, Williams at NT I guess. Sheppard gets to stay as an ILB, Bradham becomes a rushbacker from hell (win). We need another ILB and much LB depth. I really dont want to go back to 3-4...we have a 4-3 line in place.

Glennon looked like crap, falling off of throws onto his back foot constantly.

Here's my guess. Since the scouting process is already underway. It will be announced tomorrow that Nix will retire following the draft to be succeeded by Whaley. Whaley will do the HC interviews and have final call on draft day. They'll then hire a new Asst GM.