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October 29, 2009

Chat wrap: Ravens Q&A with Jamison Hensley

Baltimore Sun Ravens beat reporter Jamison Hensley answered questions from readers about the team's matchup against the Denver Broncos and more. Read the full transcript below.

Posted by baltimoresun.com at 1:42 PM | | Comments (2)
        

Comments

It looks to me that Kelly Greg is not cutting it in the middle of the line. He is ducking his head and missing tackles. Reminds me of Other players trying to avoid injury instead of making the play.In practice no issue at game time fear.

Id like your opinion on coach Hardbaugh......I think bringing him here was a great thing as far as chemistry and discipline goes, but I think some of his decisions have hurt the team this year. First, on special teams, his and the team's decision not to bring back matt stover for a special teams' player seems to have hurt more than help. I know that Matt has missed a kick or two and could have easily missed that same kick, but matt is just like a Ray Lewis and you let that guy retire a Raven. He has won us too many games by kicking 85%+ on is field goal trys. I havent seem much difference with that extra guy on special teams this year. You cant give up games and I think we lost one there not having Stover. Also, though some may say it was the right decision, I think that before Webb became a real return threat, the decision to make a move on Yamon Figurs and bring in a guy (Carr) with no career return touchdowns didnt make much sense. Carr's fumble didnt bother me at all because anyone can do that....but the fact that he runs with no vision at all had to be seen by someone scouting him. Yamons fundamentals might not have been the best, but he was a game changer and made some great plays for the Ravens before the pressure rolled down on him. It seemed like toward the end, he began to think too much and not go out and make plays like he did his first year. I know Carr's avg. yards per kickoff looked good on the stat line, but thats only because he's running fast up field. Sorry, that guy has no playmaking ability on offense or defense. As a special teams coach, I just don't see how you take away the posibility of a score and put points on the board with the special teams unit. Also, personnel has to be another issue. I thought bringing in Cameron was a great choice even though he has passed the ball alot lately. He makes mistakes here and there as we all do, but he is a great coordinator and has greatly improved our offense and developed a QB. Excellent choice. However, promoting Mattison, I dont know if that was a good call by our coach. Nothing against Mattison, im sure he has talent, its just that he has no real NFL experience against these top notch offensive minds. The college game is much different than the pro level. I see what Mike Nolan an others are doing with the talent that they have....and I wonder how good we'd be with a coordinator with previous success here in the NFL. Even Cincy's new coordinator has made an impact there with less talent. I really think if a change isn't made at the end of this season, we wont look at our team as a stingy D anymore because the identity will be lost due to strategy and play calling. Fabian actually looked ok last year but I just think they arent calling plays that benefit the players this year. The blitzes dont make since. I havent seen so many third down conversions this year when we've blitzes in some time.....Its like an easy slant for a long gain every time. Sure wish we still had Pro Bowler Chris McAllister back. He got beat up a game or two every year just like any corner (Champ Bailey vs Terrell Owens and others) but at least he made plans and didnt cost the team games. No one ever picked on him except Manning who can pick on any corner if he wants. I know that the locker room is important, but you have Ray Lewis in there to help keep great strong egos in line. I think he could even have held Brandon Marshall in check. Please do also move Frank Walker to the practice squad. I know he works hard but I can count how many games he's potentially lost for us,...him alone. He just doesnt make a play for us, always for the other team. How does he continue to get playing time when he's not making plays. He's ok on special teams. Lets keep him where he can be happily making plays. Let Lardarius Webb take over even if young. Im sure he can get help from Ed Reed and others. I would just like to see our team win those games that they could win. All three losses to me came down to coaching and off season decisions. Frank lost 2 games with interference calls and the kicking game lost us 1. We dropped 1 against the Patriots, but heck special teamer Carr was also an off season acquisition that didnt work out. When can we fix these problems and win every game like we could have this year. We should be 6-0, now if we loose another game due to bad coaching and personnel decisions, I good team is going to miss the playoffs like when we were under coach Billick

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