SoTier

IIRC, there was a meme floating around TSW that Cook dropped passes as a rookie. Aside from a dropped pass in the EZ, I personally don't remember that being the case. My guess is that it was more likely that Cook's blocking wasn't up-to-snuff.

By the third round, most players are "projects" in one way or another unless they have red flags because of physical or off-field issues. One more time since it's already been mentioned a couple of times: Solomon plays STs. Jackson, at this point, does not, so he's behind Solomon.

I think some posters are going by all the preseason predictions that had Baltimore winning the Super Bowl. On paper, they have the most talented roster in the NFL. On the field, however, they haven't lived up to that billing, especially on defense, and now they have a slew of injuries, including to their QB and to one of their DL stalwarts, Madubuike, which is season ending.

That this is a thread about the Baltimore Ravens, the preseason favorite of nearly every national pundit to win the SB?

I don't think any of the three is mobile enough at present to survive much less find any kindof success behind Cinci's OL. I can see the Ravens going 8-3 in their last 11 games to make the playoffs, possibly even taking the AFCN, but not 10-1. Madubuike is a key, maybe the key piece, to the Ravens having success, and he's out for the season.

Don't underestimate Mike Brown. Burrow's injury gives him total cover for however bad the Bengals are. All he has to say is, "Well, we didn't have Joe Kool ...". IMO, the Bengals would have barely made the playoffs even if Burrow had played most of the season. Their defense was historically bad last season, and it had barely improved this year. They would have had to score 30+ points every single game to have a chance to win, and against good offensive teams, they'd have to have put 40 burgers. Burrow's injury simply postponed the Bengals fans learning the truth that their OL is trash, their defense is sewage, and their owner is laughing all the way to the bank.

Actually, reading this board one would think the Bills are 0-4 rather than 4-0.

That seems to be a reasonable game plan to me in the situation they're in, but if the Texans some how get up 10 points or more early, I would not be all that surprised if Harbaugh/Monken abandon the run and have Rush trying to throw all over the field. FYI: I'm not a big Harbaugh, just in case you didn't realize that.

They need to want to run the ball, but I don't think Harbaugh and Monken do. Monken was brought in to rev up the Baltimore passing game and work with Lamar to be a better passer. He's succeeded, but even though the Ravens have a stout OL and great RBs, they don't use them as they should. I think the 4th quarter of the Bills game demonstrates that. Harbaugh chose to trust his defense over his RBs and it cost them a win.

They would have to go 9-2 over their last 11 games to make 10-7. Even before all the injuries, they were still 1-2 in their first 3 games, and their defense had given up 96 points. IOW, they weren't playing like a team that could go on a 9-2 run. Plus they still have to play the Browns again and the Steelers twice plus the Vikings and Packers. There's also no guarantee that 10-7 will qualify for the playoffs, especially with tie-breakers.

I think that the Ravens can beat Houston even if Lamar doesn't play if they run the damn ball. The Texans' defense is pretty good but their offense really sucks. I can't see the Ravens beating the Rams with their defense as it is now, which is mostly injured. 2-4 doesn't look good for the Ravens. 1-5 seems like a death sentence for the Ravens in the playoffs.

Who the hell cares that a third round draft pick was inactive in the first four games of his rookie season????? The angst of the OP and other like-minded posters over Jackson's being inactive in the Bills first four games is more a reflection of those posters' dislike of the Bills FO and coaching staff than reality. They obviously can't find anything even slightly more significant than obscure stats. Reality is that only about 40-50% of 3rd round picks play in the NFL for three or more years. Reality is that only about 16% of third rounders become quality NFL starters long term. That means that most third rounders are going to be role players, backups or special teamers.

Somebody has to win the division. I think both Ravens and Steelers are capable of getting 9-10 wins. If the Browns had a real QB, they could easily surpass that number. According to some posters, luck has never been a factor in any of the Bills playoff exits since 2019. Wentz has never grown beyond the way he played as a sophomore QB. Given that Philly continued to win with Foles after Wentz went down -- including the Lombardi -- I think Wentz was terribly over rated because his supporting was so good.

Why? Cousins wouldn't help the Bengals because he's a pocket passer with minimal mobility at his age. He would be lucky to last longer than Burrow behind that Bengals OL. IMO, Burrow's injury simply hides how bad the Bengals team were likely to be in 2025 even if he'd played all season. They have a really bad OL, no running game, and a poor defense. They wouldn't look as bad with Burrow, but would likely struggle to get 10 winds.

The biggest need that the Bills have is to improve their defense. If Brown doesn't play defense (which I very well knew), then he certainly wouldn't fill the Bills "biggest need".

You don't know McD's tendencies all that much since every single first rounder drafted during McDermott's tenure except for Kair Elam started multiple games as rookies. Tre'Davious White started every game in his rookie season (2017). Josh Allen started 11 of 12 games as a rookie in 2018 (he missed 4 games because of injury). Tremaine Edmunds started 15 games as a rookie in 2018. Ed Oliver started 7 of 16 games as a rookie in 2019. Greg Rousseau started all 17 games as a rookie in 2021. Dalton Kincaid started 11 of 17 games as a rookie in 2023. There's absolutely no reason to believe that McDermott won't start Max Hairston when he's healthy simply because he's a rookie.

I didn't realize AJ Brown played defense, too.

Yes, it is acceptable, especially on a team with a 4-0 record and serious SB contenders. Teams with crappy rosters start rookies far more frequently than teams aiming for the playoffs. No, we are not all disappointed. He's a rookie, and right now, his practice work isn't as good as other players, so he's sitting. Deal with it. Hughes was a first round bust when the Colts traded him to the Bills for, IIRC, LB Kelvin Sheppard. It was a good trade for both teams and both players as well. Sheppard had a decent NFL career and Hughes became a star for the Bills at a time when they had little to buoy them up. I think it already has. Numerous members of the "Fire Everyone" clan have already chimed in on Jackson being "a bust".

A majority of Bills fans aren't complaining about the Bills winning. I'm not sure that a majority of posters on TSW are complaining, although there's a significant of segment of complainers and/or whiners whose constant noise makes it seem that there's more complainers than there really are. Well said, sir. The Ravens are actually giving up 406.75 yards and only 33.25 points per game but who's quibbling? Don't confuse the endless negative narratives with facts. The Bills suck on defense!!! We're doomed!!!!! //sarcasm

I like both teams, but PItt has been a secondary favorite AFC team for decades (back to the days of Terry Bradshaw, Franco Harris, and the Steel Curtain when the Bills were even more irrelevant than they were during the Drought Years), so I gotta root for the Stillers. Obviously, they should have drunk Guiness. It seems to have worked for Rodgers. According to AI "Sam Darnold signed a 3-year contract with the Seattle Seahawks worth up to $100.5 million, including $55 million guaranteed and a $32 million signing bonus, with an average annual salary of $33.5 million. However, the deal is largely structured to be a year-to-year contract, as much of the compensation in the second and third years becomes fully guaranteed only if the Seahawks choose to keep him on the roster after a certain date in the prior offseason". It's a lot of money, but I think that it's probably on par with second tier starting QB deals. Darnold has played well for the Seahawks this season, so he's probably more than a "one year wonder".

I don't disagree, but the problem with Roman is that I think he's good at working with what he has but not in developing his QBs as passers. Kaepernick didn't improve under his tutelage, which might have been because of his own limitations, but Lamar did improve when he got a new OC. I think a different OC might have served Lamar -- and the Ravens -- better. Roman is likely to be successful with Chargers because Herbert is already an excellent QB.

I think you have put the proverbial horse before the proverbial cart in regards to the Ravens and Lamar. The Ravens have pretty much been a team with a good/great defense and strong running game for most of their history. They have never been a team with a great QB. Flacco was an excellent starting QB but he was never considered an "elite" QB. When the Ravens realized that Lamar was so good, they made moves to make him a dual threat, including bringing in Greg Roman who had had success with Kaepernick on the Giants. Lamar has always stressed that he was a passer first, even as a rookie, but Roman's offense had him running the ball to the point that he was getting really beat up. It's only been the last couple of seasons since the Ravens changed OCs in 2023 to Todd Monken that Lamar has really developed as a NFL passer. It's only been recently that they also improved their WR group. Essentially, for the first five years of Lamar's career, the Ravens FO and Harbaugh actually impeded Lamar's development rather than "catered" to him.

Because "white European American" is the dominant culture in the US. Most Americans of European ethnicity lose most of their ethnic subculture after about 3 generations, unless they happen to live in tight knit communities that keep the culture alive, frequently based on religion. I think 2 examples are Hasidic Jews and the Amish. I think that at least part of the Ravens' problems in really important games is their HC. It seems to me that in playoff games/important games (like Week 1 and Week 3), the Ravens play "tight" like they're so worried about making a mistake that they actually make one or more. Derrick Henry has fumbled, especially in critical situations, more in his 2 years as a Raven than he had in his entire career.

The Bills' evil genius who ran the team to maximize profits, Russ Brandon, was fired shortly after the 2018 draft, and Pegula turned the team over to Brandon Beane. IMO, that action enabled the Bills to develop Allen into a great QB because then Beane had the power to change the team's focus from maximizing profits to winning football games. Ryan Fitzpatrick was sent packing in 2017 because Brandon didn't want to pay him. Tyrod Taylor was sent packing because the Bills' plan was always to eventually have Allen start some time in his rookie season. I thought that another veteran QB, maybe AJ McCarron, was in the 2018 training camp, but I think he got hurt and was eventually cut. I think that "the plan" for Allen was always to start JA some time in his rookie season, but Peterman was so bad that it was probably much sooner than the Bills intended. Later in 2018, the Bills added Derek Anderson and Matt Barkley as backups. Immediately after the 2018 season, the entire offensive staff except for OC Brian Daboll, was fired. Among the new offensive coaches was Ken Dorsey, the first "QB coach" the Bills ever had who had experience developing an NFL QB (Cam Newton). In 2019, the Bills kept Matt Barkley as backup QB, added veteran WRs Cole Beasley and John Brown as well as veteran C Mitch Morse. They also drafted TE Dawson Knox in the 2019 draft. IOW, the Bills brought in real mentors for Allen, they gave him better targets, and they improved his protection. They did, in fact, intentionally help Allen develop his talents, JA was dedicated enough to work tirelessly at his craft, and, as the saying goes, the rest is history.

Did somebody pee in your cornflakes or are you just one of those people who can never see the positive in anything, but especially in the Bills? It's like the better the Bills play, the more negativity about the team you spew.