rafter
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Posts posted by rafter
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Hes still good for a couple personal fouls a game.
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Yeah, they're having trouble signing him.
Having siad that he's not available. People here think that because he was only offered a first-round tender, that's a sure-fire sign that the Ravens want to get rid of him. But if you look, how many guys with first-round tenders end up going to different teams in trades each year? One, maybe? Two? And you know who they are going to be, they're the ones who no longer fit into the system since the team is going to a bigger/smaller/3-4/4-3/zone-blocking system, or guys who have become a disturbance in the locker room ... It's guys we all know are going to go. The huge, gigantic majority of guys offered a first-round tender stay with their teams.
It's not usually a signal that someone is available, it's usually an obvious statement that the team doesn't want to pay the player the extra 750 K or so which they have to pay if they give a higher tender.
What everyone forgets is that
Let's compare the Ravens situation now to their situation if they let Gaither go. Right now, they have two terrific tackles, both of whom are terrific run blockers. The Ravens were 5th in the league last year at total running yards, and 4th in the league at YPC, with 4.7, which is just a great result. Football Outsiders stats also show them as the 4th best offensive line at run blocking in the league. Football Outsiders also shows that Oher is simply the best run-blocking RT in the league and Gaither is the 13th best run-blocking LT in the league. They are a run-first team, a team that forces you to defend the run by smashing the hell out of you, which then gives them a chance to pass while their still-young, very promising but still-not-there-yet QB learns his trade. In other words, they're doing exactly what they want to do.
Football Outsiders link: http://footballoutsiders.com/stats/ol
Now, let's look at how they would do if they let Gaither go. Oher is moved to LT, where he almost definitely continues to be a force as a run-blocker. I'll have more to say about his pass blocking in a moment. Replacing Oher at RT is Tony Moll, the backup there. Moll is a 5th rounder who went to college at Nevada. This'll be his fifth year. He's played mostly right guard, but to be precise, he's mostly been a backup. In four years, he has been in started 15 games and participated (special teams? or to give the starter a breather?) in 39 games. He's not a particularly good player, though he's a solid backup. And the Ravens are happily going to plug this guy in at RT? Are you kidding? So, who else would fill the RT slot? The draft pick that they get in the trade? So they take one of the absolute best run blocking units in the league and plug in an unproven RT to replace arguably the best RT in the league? In the Bizarro universe this may make sense, but not in this one. Not for a team that believes that they have a shot at the Super Bowl this year.
Now, opposite whoever they plug in at RT to not-replace Michael Oher, let's look at how Oher is likely to do at LT. Take a look at profootballfocus, the site which watches each game and grades each guy on performance. They even give separate score for run blocking, pass blocking, screen blocking and penalties. They are a highly respected website. Here's their summary of Michael Oher's performance last year:
http://profootballfocus.com/by_player.php?...p;playerid=4946
Overall, they list him as the 19th best tackle (they look at right and left tackles as one group) out of 77. But look closer, at the table at the bottom of the screen. He played 5 games at LT and 11 games at RT. They score average play as a zero, so you know that negative numbers show bad play and positive numbers show good play. In eleven games as an RT, he recieved a cumulative score of PLUS 13.6, an extremely good score. In five games as an LT however, his cumulative score was MINUS 9.1, and that is genuinely horrible, particularly in only five games. If you pro-rate those five games across a sixteen game season, Oher's score as a LEFT TACKLE would have been MINUS 29.12, and that would have put him in the rankings as the 76th best tackle in the league. OUT OF 77. The second-worst tackle in the league. On the other hand, if you prorate his 11 games at right tackle across a 16 game season, his score would have been PLUS 19.8, which would have placed him as the 3rd best tackle in the league out of 77.
I promised I'd get back to Oher's pass blocking abilities. In five games at LT, his pass blocking score was MINUS 3.9. In eleven games at RT? PLUS 8.4. He does pretty well against the guys he faces at RT, but against the hyper-athletic rushers he faced at LT, he simply couldn't get the job done. Pro-rate his five games at LT over a sixteen game season and you get MINUS 12.5 as a pass blocker. That would put him as the 69th best tackle out of 77, in other words, the 8th worst pass blocker in the league.
And you want to switch THAT GUY to LEFT TACKLE? Are you insane?
Perhaps if they were Cleveland or Oakland or ... I hate to say it , but with the way we have handled our OL the past five years or so, we fit with that group ... or Buffalo, they would do it. But the Ravens are a terrific organization and they don't do stupid things like this.
The Ravens don't want to trade Gaither, they want to keep him. If someone gives him a contract offer, the Ravens will match it.
Gaither is going nowhere.
Don't get me wrong, the Bills would be crazy not to be interested. But even if he is available (and I'm betting LaCanfora is simply wrong on this), he has one more year left on his contract, and he will want ... and get ... Jason Peters money. The Bills have shown themselves not to be willing to pay market value for an excellent LT.
Nice reply. Thanks.
I agree with you that LaCanfora is wrong here. I don't see the Raven's entertaining the idea of a 2nd round pick for a quality LT, and basically disrupt their entire offense in the process.
I also agree that any tendered offer would be likely matched by the ravens, this is most likely what they are waiting on. Let Gaither see what his market value is, then give him it.
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Anyone know why he is available? Are the ravens having difficulty re-signing him?
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I can tell you put some thought into this.
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I don't always agree with your posts, but always enjoy them.
Thanks Tip
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He's not great but, unfortunately, he's better than most of the other OLB prospects currently on our team. I don't see why you would get rid of him until you have someone else you want to start instead.
Exactly. Why would we cut a player under contract unless we have a replacement that is better? The turnover in this roster will not happen overnight, or in 1 year.
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Chris Brown, Lead Journalist
Posted Feb 1, 2010
This still could be considered breaking news
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Get well soon!
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We need to come up with a theme song for our new GM. I suggest. (Well, the first half of the commercial anyway.)
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Rafter - like the avatar. Uncle Rico - nice!
Thanks
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I really don't see the problem as i never realized that a player having a snack on the sidlines was a big deal. I saw Sanchez in the press conference saying it would never happen again. I really and truly hope that was a tongue in cheek response to a completely irrelevant question.
Yeah its def a non-issue. Just funny that they even zoomed in on him and pointed it out. Also the food of choice is a bit funny.
Ridiculous that he needed to apologize for it, and better food should be provided if players need it.
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I've heard the Hyatt, but I'm not sure if all teams use the same hotels.
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I forgot where I read it, but Ive heard that returns around the league are down.
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This was definitely someone he knew.
I would be surprised if they don't catch the perp.
"Sources tell News 4 that Whitner had a party at his home before the game, and then left for the stadium. But left friends at the residence who were supposed to lock up."
http://www.wivb.com/dpp/news/crime/Larceny...s_home_20090921
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not a big J fan so, LoL
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It ain't over till it's OVER ......... was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?????
Leave him alone, hes on a roll
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In my opinion offensive line is moderate weakness. Red Zone offense and coaching are a major weakness until they prove otherwise in the regular season. Pre-season games feature mostly vanilla defenses and play calling. At least the line has done ok in this setting. Red zone offense still seems pretty bad. Seems like our 1st teamers still can't punch it in from inside the 20 and the play calling down there still seems somewhat inept. I still think DJ has a role in the play call selection once they get inside the 20. Two different offensive coordinators, same exact type of playcalls down there. Oh well, JMO.
I have to agree here. Watching them call a run play on 3rd and 10+ in the redzone left me with a sickening feeling that nothing has changed. We were in field goal range even if we had taken a sack.
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in retrospect i think signing edgerrin james for a year, rather than signing rhodes, would have been a good idea.
The only thing I noticed about Edge's play since joining AZ is how slow he is. He seems to have lost his speed, burst, and cutback abilitiy..
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A better read on the N.F.L.’s popularity in Toronto will come in December when the Bills play a regular-season game against the Miami Dolphins at the Rogers Centre. Then, Sarama said, “It will be, ‘This is what it’s really going to be like, to watch our team play in another city.’ ”
Ouch. For some reason that really hit home hard for the first time when I read that last sentence. Yeah, I've known the day was coming, but it's been down the road and below my radar.
I have been to all the games this year.. and your right, this will really hit home when I know going to this "home" game is not an option =(
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Neat. Our quest to take over the world continues ...
Im with you. I have converted countless numbers into bills fans! ... they can see the light!
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donte is giving props to trent edwards right now.by the way trent was on earlier.he talked alot about stanford.trent said that coach jauron dosnt't give a pre game rah rah speech.jauron expects the team captains to do that...well donte gave the defensive speech and fired the team up.jim miller and andy gresh are asking about x's and o's in zone coverage.they asked donte how he felt the defense performed...donte thought the bills accomplished what they wanted.he was upset that they had only one turnover.this is tough to type the bills are on inside the nfl right now and they are showing bills highlights!jim miller is asking if donte is confident that jacksonville will not perform because of their injuries.donte isn't taking the bait.now they are asking about marcus stroud.donte feels the bills run defense is ready to shut down the jaguars.sirius is surprised about the agality of stroud and how he lined up all over the line last week.sirius is pointing out that the bills have alot more layers to the bills defense this year.donte thinks no,that they use less of the playbook on game day,but practice alot of other plays.they just asked donte if the bills confidence is higher now that brady is hurt.donte says you have to and that now the division is wide open.they commented on how the bills have no ego's nad that they are a team.donte pointed out that jason peters reported because of the players on the team.go bills!
He also noted that Jason will definitely be starting this week vs the Jags
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I live in Middletown in Orange County (about 60 miles from the city) where there aren't very many bills fans, and no bills bars to watch the game at- that i know of.
There's a good one in New Paltz, but that's about 40 miles away. I know the ones in Manhattan and surrounding are probably awesome, but also kind of far away.
I'm just looking for a place with a group of fans, so it's not just me cheering for roscoe's awesome punt return getting told to "keep it down buffalo" by a bunch of NYBretts fans.
Anyone know of a place in Orange County?
Where is there a bills bar in New Paltz? Im right near there and wouldnt mind checking it out.
Santonio Holmes traded to the Jets!!
in The Stadium Wall Archives
Posted
You forgot to throw in Roscoe to sweeten the deal.