I am very disgusted that Ozzie has not done more to improve the offense in terms of weapons for Flacco. Imrpoving the O-line is critical, but at some point you need to get the QB weapons and play makers. SO far all Clayton and WIlliams have proven is they get hurt consistently.

Why is it GM's are so reluctant to part ways with one or two draft picks for a STUD player (Boldin) just so they can draft an unknown (Dwan Edwards, David Pittman, PJ Daniels).

It's time for you to earn your pay Demetrius!

Josh,
You need to get a clue my friend. Ozzie knows what he's doing much more than you do. Funny that you chose to write this nonsense in a blog update about the very reason why I don't think we need to panic. Williams has loads of talent, and has fought thru the nagging ankle problems. Let's see what he can do with a healthy ankle (which hopefully it will be htis season,)

As far as Boldin- it has much more to do with his contract demands than the draft picks it would take to get him. Of course I'm sure if the Ravens did trade for him- and then sign him to an extension- you'd bitch and moan about why we can't afford to re-sign Terrell Suggs or Haloti Ngata when the time comes. Ozzie would be an idiot too then right?

IF only everyone lived according to Schmuck's tagline....

Hey Josh, Get a grip! If you can't protect Flacco, it does not matter how many offensive weapons we have. Trust me. Ozzie know what he is doing.

Josh it's not about the draft picks it's about the cap space.

Josh,
I feel your pain, but by improving the O line(and we did) that greatly increases weapons for Flacco. Heap can go back to being a receiving TE instead of a protection TE and RB's won't have to ALWAYS stay in to block. An excellent O line creates more route runners. We'll be okay. Ozzie has never NOT addressed(or not tried to address) a major deficiency.

It wasn't so much the draft picks that Ozzie was reluctant to unload, it was more the fact that we would not be able to afford Boldin while trying to re-sign Suggs and other players down the road (ie Ngata).

The staff seems to see something in Demetrius. I'm going to have to give them the credit they are due. Look at where they ended up last year with the receiving corp they had. If you add a healthy Demertrius in the mix I tihink we can get there again and maybe further.

Why people keep questioning Ozzie's moves is beyond me. He's the gold standard in the league for GMs.

Achilles injuries are not easy to recover from. I know because I blew mine out and it's not the same for more than a year. As long as he doesn't rush it he could turn out to be a special weapon. He's big, has good hands and speed!

I wish I knew where this conception comes that everyone thinks Mark Clayton is injury prone. He has missed 2 full games in his entire professional career, both in his rookie year.

The thing is, a good quarterback makes good receivers. It happens the other way too, but if Joe continues hios progression this season, we will see a lot more out of Clayton AND Williams (if he can keep up the good recovery). Period. I think a lot of you who are criticizing Ozzie for not overpaying for Boldin will change your tune once the season gets here. And who knows, its still not out of the question for Ozzie to pull the trigger and get Boldin anyway before training camp. So chill out and let our team work and continue improving.

If Clayton is 4th or higher on the WR depth chart, then we have a problem, Houston. Williams is quick but not real fast. We still need a speed merchant deep threat. If he's healthy, Mason's healthy, and Eron Riley pans out, then Cameron's got toys for Joe to play with. I'm also hoping Harper, Smith, or Wheelwright is ready for prime time. Have we ever run four-wide's like N.E. does? Isn't it about time..... Winning against Pittsburgh just isn't enough anymore. I want 2006 numbers but bigger. I want to stop the yapping but good.

Josh is right-on. Lost in all the hoopla over the Ravens' post-season run last year was the fact that the Ravens once again ranked near the bottom of the league (28th) in passing. Plus, in the post-season they were dead last in passing, even behind the one-and-done Vikings. This is a passing league now and we're always going into the fight with one armed tied behind our back because we go cheap at WR. Seems like a big gamble to expect our defense to match last year's performance and for Clayton, Williams and Mason to be healthy -- and dangerous -- for 16 games.

Amen, Tony. Add to the above comments the fact that Flacco's pre-snap reads/mid-play progressions are improving so that he should be able to find those newly liberated TE's and RB's out in space.

Dominant teams control the line of scrimmage. Everything else flows from there. If the line is able to protect without all the extra help and Joe has just a little time, someone will be open, and Joe *will* stick it in their face cage.

being a recovered achilles athlete i have to admit that coming back takes time. it took almost a year to walk without pain and nearly 2 to run at high level. its a serious deal.
the line was more important. demetrius was to be the next 'marcus colston' before he got hurt. funny how people forget. if we could have had boldin and it wouldn't cost us two more key players down the road then yes i would've done it too.

let demetrius get back.
remember he may not see his best til 10-11 season.
evaluate the receiving corps.
but stay smart ravens.

I think the fact that we scored over 30 points per game over the last 10 weeks has been overshadowed by stats and passing rankings. Flacco led the NFL in QB rating over the last 10 weeks. Better Qb rating than Peyton, Breese, Warner and every Qb in the NFL without Demetrius Williams for most of those games. Mason was playing with one good arm and we had a fullback playing featureback and a big fat RT that needed help with speed rushers.

This year if we can block 5 with 5, our Wrs and backs will make a lot more plays, but our offensive approach is not to run up stats. We won several games with 10 runs in a row in the 4th Q. That is going to hurt your passing stats and your YPC avg for your backs, but it wins games and breaks the heart of the defense in the meatgrinder.

Flacco showed he can make the deep throws perfectly over the shoulder to Mason and Clayton late in the year, as long as we protect him, he will continue to pass effectivly to whoever we have out there.

2 words Salary Cap

Then ask yourself do you want Suggs of Boldin? We can't have both there is just no way. I prefer Suggs personally.

You now may say but Rob we didn't have down field passes thrown last year. Wrong we did was just in later part of the season when the coaching staff knew Flacco could handle it. Now when Flacco has more then Mason running a route we'll see how it really is.

Ozzie has and always be the man and as a Raven Fan you should know that.

Flacco's proved that he can make deep throws perfectly over the shoulder to Mason and Clayton........? What game were you watching....Clayton in the second Clevland game and Figurs against the Texans.... those are the only 2 accurate touchdown passes i can recall...wasn't Titans playoff game were Mason had to slow down and the ball barely got there before the corner ....same game Clayton was only able to catch the ball because the pass was so ridiculously short that both defenders fell down as Clayton came back to get the ball.....and he really showed how pathetic and worthless he is against pittsburgh were the only accurate pass he threw was the stare down interception to Polamalou...you people are pathetic....you fell in love with this guy the moment you saw him and it wasn't because of his ability.....18.7 quarterback rating in AFC championship game.....and he's a ' Franchise quarterback'........please.....he finished third on the depth chart last year for a reason...he;s slow and deliberate and when he tries to be instinctive he makes ridiculous interceptions like the first Tennesee game,the Indy game, and the Championship game against the Steelers....Dream on.

Rob, I do not know where you are writing from, but I bet you that the rest of those on this blog will pitch in with me, and we will get you a one-way plane ticket out of Baltimore.
You are a Ravens-hater. ...Then guess what, what do you think we think about you?LMOA

Rob, You are obviously a franchise armchair quarterback. What you missed was the play circumstances on some of those short throws. If he had thrown it the distance, it would have gone right into the coverage. By throwing it short, he created a situation where our WR would get it or it would be incomplete, but no INT. You are just looking for every pass to be a perfect frozen rope to a wide open receiver for a TD. They are not all going to be that way. But when a receiver is wide open sprinting for the goal line ( Figurs, Clayton) he hits them in stride. And btw, what do you mean he finished third on the depth chart? you know that is wrong don't you? If you mean in preseason, yes because he did not have the whole play book down yet. I think he did a superb job considering that limitation.

he is prolly a shittsburgh fan...who cares about him...seems like he has a hardon for baltimore because he is reading our paper

People, a good offensive line is needed not a great one,,,ask Big Ben who was the 2nd most sacked QB in the league. He had skilled play makers that when in crunch time had to make plays, they did.
The Ravens have very Little to Non on offense that are crunch time play makers, that's why they lose most close games and can't afford to get into a shoot out. Just an observation.

We don't need Bolden (or any other WR at that asking price). If the line can come together and give Flacco enough time, he'll make our current WRs much more productive. Clayton, Williams, and a stable of big, tall WR in the wings will begin to emerge as the O-line settles in and Flacco develops. Flacco may not really come into his own until his 4th season.

I hope Ozzie is right about Demetrius, I had high hopes for him his rookie year but since then he's just been injured and when he's healthy he didn't really impress on the field. That being said, as long as Mason will be healthy Flacco still has slightly better than average weapons and if McGahee can rebound this year that would be a HUGE plus. Still, I'm somewhat weary about Williams, if he fails to impress they definitely need to address WR in 2010.

Everyone says the same thing over and over and over..... Everyone including the wizard of OZ makes bad decisions..... We need a real threat at Wideout! Period! I have watched all of our wide receivers play in college and the pros and with one exception (mason) they are all average..... JUST average..... Big Joe needs a go to guy and we should have went full steam after Boldin..... As for contracts---- They can be restuctored to suit the the teams needs...... Ozzie and the boys are trying to turn water into wine...... And if Antuan came to B-More we would all be drunk and happy!

Man I'm glad some of you guys are not the GM lol. I'm excited to see what we put on the field this year on offense. 5 man pick up with two free TEs (heap/smith or drew), rice/mcgahee in the backfield and mason/clayton or williams outside will be awesome.

i maybe a little late to the party but i wanted to add something i think our wr's are skilled enough to get the job done.i dont know if anyone mentioned the addition of kelly wastiongton even though he hasnt had a great career so far hes a big wide and we need that in our rotaion