Well, im not going to use the normal format, as i think i have been skipping this for most of the post season because its beeen one hell of a ride.

I have lost my voice, i shed tears and i lost my damn nerve in the second half but im so happy right now.

i dont know where to start, what about the game being like a microcosm of our season? ngata hurt, pierce hurt, and we keep going, we play to a high level then let it go slowly, that fumble was heart wrenching. the entire game was just up and down, fighting until the end.

Flacco was just amazing, even in the second half, some clutch throw,s his pocket awareness was stellar! and good lord, some of those clutch throws in teh second half to just keep the drive going to buy us time.

Our O line was solid for the most part.

Losing ngata hurt so much, int he first couple drives he was just getting push.

I know lewis made mistakes, i know he was targetted, but our D won. how is this for a story...Our O carried us to the lead, they showed the new Ravens team, but our D, YES OUR D, had to get it done at the end, they stepped up. and im not even discussin that hold bs in full, i get the premise, but that game had so many curve balls to harp on the refs is down right retarded.

Kruger was big.

STEVE GOT HIS CHAMPIONSHIP! what an owner, what a man, so happy for him

Ozzie- wizard. Eric's time will come soon i feel.

Suggs, Reed, TAKE A DAMN BOW! just take a bow. BIrk - everyone they got their ring.

Im watching all the post game coverage now asi just got home. im still shaking as i write this.

THE BLACKOUT, i mean what the hell! we had that game so hard, it was amazing..HOW DID I FORGET UR WR's!

boldin has been an animal all post season. Torrey doing it being - showing he is a complete WR! and jones...what can we say. that return, that spin...pure skill.

I dont know what to say. 22% on D for the ravens on third down! how is that for old and tired?????? ravens had 9 third down completions out of 16. joe was fuck****ing money.

I dont know what to speak about next, i know this is a post season thread also but i think more thoughts will follow later. ill jsut end it with these two comments. Johm that safety call was genius, it didnt cross my mind, what an amazing idea. so simple yet so great.

and Ray Lewis, for whatever people say about you, as a football player, GOAT. take a bow. see you in canton in 5 years.

what a day what a day guys

2k

ravens Steelers Broncos Giants Rams Saints Bills Browns Bengals Patriots Colts Falcons

Joe Flacco proved that QBs when Super Bowls. He'll still struggle when pressured because that's who he is but if you give the guy time he's a stud - can make every thrown and puts the ball on the money.

2nd MVP goes to Jah Reid for getting hurt. If he doesn't I'm not sure Harbaugh makes the move to McKinnie and if that never happens I don't believe the Ravens even get there. The O-line was amazing. Hats off to Osemele stepping in and turning a weakness (LG) into a strength.

Kudos to Ozzie. He proved once again how good he is at finding small pieces of the puzzle without spending a ton of money ...

Pollard
Birk
McKinnie
Graham
Jones
Kemoeatu
Cary Williams

Enjoy it guys because as of this moment I'm now referring to the Baltimore Ravens as last year's champion! It's now the 2013 season and you're yesterday's news!

Thanks, Beach, but I think the statute of limitations on your last sentiment does not kick in until the win is 48 hours old. Once the parade is over, have at it. Until then, don't rain on our parade.

Anquan Boldin sure didn't look old and slow in this post season run.  He was dominant as a WR.

Jacoby Jones.  Wow.  After back to back seasons ending because of the 3rd WR that was picked up in free agency, Jones was an underrated steal in free agency to most outside of Baltimore.  Flat out, we don't make or win the superbowl without him.  The spin and beating two men for the TD.  The mile high bomb (Evans probably drops it and Housh doesn't even make it that far down field).  The many kick/punt return TDs in games decided by less than 7 points (Pittsburgh, Dallas, Superbowl).  Ozzie should definitely be praised here.  It seems like every free agent we picked up this past offseason was money for the team.

Matter of fact, Houston should be praised.  Jones, Leach, and Pollard all contributed to this run heavily.  Thank you Texans.

There are soooooo many players I'm glad to see get a ring.  Reed, Flacco, Suggs, Birk, Leach, Ngata, Rice, Torrey, and Boldin top my list. 

I think Birk, Reed, and maybe even Boldin are gone in addition to Ray retiring.  I think McKinnie is gone too as well as Kruger and possibly (but hopefully not) Ellerbe.  If I'm right, then thank you to those gentlemen as they were all big contributors in making the 2012 Baltimore Ravens into World Champions.

Thanks, Beach, but I think the statute of limitations on your last sentiment does not kick in until the win is 48 hours old. Once the parade is over, have at it. Until then, don't rain on our parade.

Okay then after the parade ...

Congrats to the World Champion Baltimore Ravens!!!

As you guys said, I am so happy for some of our players. Joe, Reed, Ngata, Birk, Sizzle, Boldin, Smith... And Ray. Oh, Ray. Thank you for everything! What a way to retire. As a CHAMP!

Trying not to think about the offseason yet, as the Ravens have a lot of work to do with cap issues and trying to keep certain players here.

Just going to enjoy this win for a week or two and then start worrying about what the Ravens should do. In a perfect world, Flacco gets his deal and we could franchise Ellerbe, but we'll see what happens. 

Wow I think I can finally compose a few thoughts about that game now.  So great to see the Ravens as Champions and Ray Lewis ride off on top.

- Joe Flacco gets to stick it to a lot of people for sure.  I was calling him out for fumbling away 2 games in a row saying the Ravens couldn't commit to him.  Then Cam Cameron gets fired and Flacco can suddenly move in the pocket a bit and his game went to another level.  He had some nice pocket movement early when the 49ers were busting through a little.

- I'm sure it's much more satisfying for Flacco to stick it to the media and opposing players though who said he'd never win the Super Bowl. 

- Anquan Boldin again was making catches that included players' arms!

- Right after the return, I was wondering if Jacoby Jones might have been in line for the Super Bowl MVP!  Taking into account the whole post season though and the QB heavy nature of the award though (plus the big drives at the end of the game), I still figured it would be Flacco.

- Apparently the only way to stop the Ravens in the Super Bowl is to turn off the power for 40 minutes.  Before that happened, they were flat out steamrolling the 49ers just like the Giants.  It took 6+ quarters of SB play before the Ravens yielded a TD.  That second delay absolutely helped the 49ers come back from being shellshocked.  Not sure why halftime wasn't the answer for them, but I would have rather seen the blowout to avoid growing some gray hairs!

- I don't know if I'm the only one, but at the time, I was mad Ed Reed tackled Frank Gore on the 8 yard line.  There was 2:30+ left to play, and I thought the smart thing would be to let them score and have Joe Flacco lead the game winning comeback (how much the team has changed!).  Then when the next play was a 3 yard run and time went down to the 2 minute warning, I was not feeling good.  I think the 49ers completely misplayed their hand.  If they run it, they eat up more clock and probably get a few yards.  Instead they just passed and didn't move an inch further.

- As far as the complaining on the last play, give me a break!  There were at least 2 deep balls to Torrey Smith where no flag was thrown despite him being mugged down the field.  The "roughing the kicker" acting job?  How about right before kicking the last FG where Flacco scrambled and threw the ball away only to get hit while he was out of bounds with no flag thrown?  The refs did what they do in most games.  They make some calls, and they miss some calls.  Jimmy Smith definitely wasn't the most aggregious of the night.  It just happened to be the last thing seen before the game ended.

- The safety play was great (especially since Sam Koch shanked it last time from the end zone).  It was even better since 8 seconds ran of the clock.  Let the line hold and just stand back to avoid the rush. 

- Speaking of the line, they did another great job.  I don't think Bryant McKinney will be around next year which means the team needs a new tackle.  I know the thought will be that they need a LT, but those are obviously harder to find.  It may be the SB euphoria, but I think Michael Oher could handle the left side.  I mean assuming Kelechi Osemele is at LG, he'll finally not be on a 1 vs 2-3 island like he was with scrub Jah Reid playing LG. 

- So much for people saying "Shut down Ray Rice" causes the Ravens to lose.  That's now 2 playoffs in a row and 6 playoff games where he has been a non-factor or hindrance in the playoffs.  Do RBs really choke?

- Terrell Suggs was pretty invisible as well which was disappointing for me.  I really thought he would be amped and make a difference.  Instead, the pistol fooled him.  I saw several time him run right passed the RB who just got the ball only to hit the QB.  It's going to be nice to at least get him, Lardarius Webb, and Haloti Ngata healthy again.

- Ed Dickson needed to not showboat.  I called him out for it during the game.  Also it was his block on Patrick Willis that caused the fake FG to not work.  Granted, Willis had a big hand in it, but if he sealed the block instead of letting Willis drive him to the sideline, Tucker could have made the sticks.

- Also, again after seeing the game, Patrick Willis is not Ray Lewis's heir apparent.  I still don't even think he's the best LB on his team.  Navarro Bowman is the guy I would rather have. 

- I was impressed with the 49ers managing to get their receivers on Ray Lewis.  I mean they had him cover Michael Crabtree once.  Huge mismatch getting any WR on a LB.

- Going to love all the offseason Ravens coverage we get to see!  For the opening opponent, I'm thinking we could be seeing the Broncos or Patriots.  What a way to start the next season!

- Terrell Suggs was pretty invisible as well which was disappointing for me. I really thought he would be amped and make a difference. Instead, the pistol fooled him. I saw several time him run right passed the RB who just got the ball only to hit the QB

Ksig, I agree with everything you said except half of this.  Suggs was invisible but I don't think he was fooled on the pistol offense.  I think it was designed that either he, or whichever OLB was coming off the edge, go after the QB unless they see 100% that the RB has the ball.

Same as the Redskins game.  Kruger went after RG3 on just about every pistol play.  Had Kaepernick held on to the ball he would have been hit for a loss often.  If the d-line holds as it should, then Gore would have ran into a wall.  But like against Morris, he found creases up the middle for big gains.

It very well could be that he was schemed to go at the QB no matter what.  It just seemed like each time he did it, the RB ran off huge gains to that side because there was no defender in the area.  Felt more like it should have been his own contain, but you could be right.

Cary Williams blew a contain on a blitz once too.  He ran outside the blocker giving Colin a huge seam.  That is the tricky part playing a running QB.  If you try to do too much, you get beat.

A couple other things:

- Courtney Upshaw made his standard 1 splash play per game.  If he grows in year 2, he could be an impact player based on what we have limitedly seen.

- There was a graphic stating at some point that the Ravens had 23 TD and 6 FGs in the last 30 Red Zone attempts.  How amazing is that?  That alone says how much this team has transformed.  In the past if the Ravens scored 10-15 TDs in the Red Zone, we would think the team was the 2007 Patriots.

- It was nice to see Ed Reed get an INT in his home state.  We can all thank Randy Moss (aka the greatest receiver ever in his mind) for not even attempting to go after the ball.  Chicken, thy name is Moss.

- Justin Tucker made good on his 2 FGs that he actually kicked.  While they weren't last second pressure kicks, they were obviously huge.  I'm so glad the team took him instead of Cundiff.  I said it all preseason that I liked how straight Tucker kicks the ball.

- Bernard Pierce scares the crap out of me when he runs.  He goes so far laterally AND backwards before he cuts it upfield.  I just feel that aspect of his game needs tweaked for the long haul.  ESPECIALLY on short yardage.  haha  He didn't look the same after his injury either.

- Whoever bet the over on the number of times "Harbaugh" would be said (20.5 was the line) raked in the surest cash of the night.  I don't prop bet or anything, but that power outage probably spiked the total to 50 times.

Whoever bet the over on the number of times "Harbaugh" would be said (20.5 was the line) raked in the surest cash of the night.  I don't prop bet or anything, but that power outage probably spiked the total to 50 times.

Wow that one didn't show up on my prop list or I would have been all over it. The only one I liked was Frank Gore -15 yards over Ray Rice because I figured Pierce would steal a lot of Rice's carries. I never imagined Rice would get more carries than Gore but it worked out anyway.

I dont know what to speak about next, i know this is a post season thread also but i think more thoughts will follow later. ill jsut end it with these two comments. Johm that safety call was genius, it didnt cross my mind, what an amazing idea. so simple yet so great.

I actually said something to the guys I was watching with wondering if they would do that. I figured at the very least, they would be able to run it down to where the kickoff was the only option (I think they could have fair caught the free kick and then launched a Hail Mary too, but that's not really an option either). I was really glad to see John Harbaugh take that approach. Left them with 4 seconds and not a traditional kickoff or punt to try and setup a return for. Excellent decision.

Outstanding post-season overall.  When I saw Jacoby catch the Migh Hile Bomb that secured OT, I knew then that the Ravens would be World Champions. This team never quit, never paniced and never said die.

Free Agents to be :

1. [b]Joe Flacco[/b] - (franchised - likely, long term deal probably not done till sometime into training camp)
2. [b]Dannell Ellerbe[/b] - hope beyond hope, the Ravens work out a deal for him, almost indispensible he is.

3.[b] Paul Kruger [/b] - Definitely heading to greener (cash) pastures, best of luck on your new team Paul, great season sir.

4. [b]Cary Williams [/b] - Great season, started off slow but came on strong after Webb went down, yeap, hes history probably sign a 3-4 yr deal worth around 20 mil or so.

5. Bryant McKinnie - probably retire, but if not, could resign for a mil or 2. Don't really know but we do know he doesn't need to be on the bench, still a starter in the nfl.

6. [b] Ed Reed [/b] - It all depends on what he commands for a salary. He has already insinuated that he would love to play for the Patriots and Bill Belichick and he knows the Ravens are cash strapped. Its pretty much a foregone conclusion that he departs in Free Agency this season.  Best of luck Ed and thanks for the great memories.

7. [b] Ryan McBean [/b] - Doubt he comes back, was on IR.

8. [b] Ed Dickson [/b] - restricted FA, probably a 3rd round tender

9. [b] Dennis Pitta [/b] - restricted FA, most likely a 1st round tender


Ray Lewis retires, saved around 5 mill in cap room. Bobbie Williams is most likely a cap casualty release. Anquan Boldin could also be a cap casualty release and possible resign, at the very least i can see a restructuring of his deal happening if he wants to stay a Raven. Michael Oher will likely see a contract extension which will lessen his cap hit in 2013 as he will be a FA in 2014. Terrell Suggs and Haloti Ngata could restructure their deals to lessen the cap hits as well.

Going to be an interesting offseason folks. Ozzie has his hands full.

If someone with more time on their hands and a better knowledge of it would post our cap situation excluding FAs I'd appreciate it...my short list after Joe gets his deal includes trying to sign Ellerbe, McKinnie, trying to extend Boldin to keep him longer and lessen his cap hit next year, let Kruger walk (would love to see him stay but that ain't happening he will sign somewhere, wouldn't surprise me if it were Indy) and as much as I hate saying it don't break the bank for Reed. Draft focus remains OT, FS, ILB in my opinion...C to a degree since who knows what we have in Gradkowski

Here is a link to the current cap situation for the Ravens

http://russellstreetreport.com/sala
ry-cap/2013-ravens-salary-cap/

2k, I know you, ROC, and a few others will love this:

http://www.theonion.com/video/new-o
rleans-police-struggle-to-contain-r
ioting-ray,31157/

The parts about tear gas having no effect on Ray because he was already crying and the hospitals bracing for a wave a blackout babies after the power went out both had me laughing.

It's funny because it's true:

http://www.theonion.com/articles/jo
e-flacco,31123/

Lol they are a little funny but hardly true :p

All i have said dealt with all day is very angry and butthurt steeler and san fran fans. Now i know that is not you ( hopefully not you) but jesus h christ i didnt know some people are blinded so badly by their hate for the Ravens or lewis. I mean i love reading KSK but Ape ( the editor i guess) is a rampaging mega ravens/lewis hater and i generally like some of their articles but the butt hurt and then subsequent attempt at trying to be complimentary of other players is insane i.e. giving meast to boldin and not flacco, there is an argument there for sure but flacco deserved it first and foremost and then jones next to some degree.

At some point i just wish people would give the ravens and flacco credit, he isnt top 4 elite but he is good.

2k

Say what you will but i lost my shit**** when i saw the Ravens enter M and T for the parade today. Ray's intro was awesome and everyone lost their mind, i havent stopped smiling for an hour. i wish i could be there!

2k