By Zach Wilt, on May 17th, 2012  It’s May, which means it’s the time of year for Ed Reed to say something concerning about his future with the Ravens. Today he told SiriusXM that he’s “not 100 percent committed right now to playing this year.”
According to Rich Gannon, Reed is concerned about his health and long term future.
After Reed’s comments hit air, the local Ravens beat writers quickly extinguished the fire. ”Reed has also said this offseason that he’d like to play four or five more years,” The Sun’s Jeff Zrebiec tweeted.
Zrebiec also points out that Reed said nearly a month ago that he was not 100 percent committed to returning in 2012.
Not only is this story just Ed being Ed, but it’s something he’s already said.
By Zach Wilt, on May 11th, 2012 
Ravens safety Ed Reed stopped by Camden Yards to watch the Orioles battle the Rays for first place in the American League East tonight. Before the game he shagged some fly balls and took batting practice with the team.
The Sun’s Dan Connolly reports that both of Reed’s Achilles “look OK.”
Too soon?
By Ross Gore, on May 9th, 2012 Today former Texans wide receiver, perennial fantasy football sleeper and major contributor to the Ravens playoff win last year Jacoby Jones, became the newest Baltimore Raven. For those who don’t remember Jones inexplicably tried to field a punt with Cary Williams bearing down on him in the second round of the playoffs last year. When Jones bobbled the punt it resulted in the Ravens jumping out to an early 7-0 lead over the Texans and an eventual win. Five months later Jones will enter camp trying to help the Ravens by not bobbling the ball but holding onto it.
 Jacoby Jones fumbles a punt against the Ravens in the second round of NFL playoffs. There is a lot to like about Jones signing. First, he is an incredible physical specimen: 6-foot-2 1/2, 210 lbs. and a 4.49 forty-yard dash time. Simply put, he has all the physical skills needed in a #1 wide receiver. Jones’ physical attributes shouldn’t be quickly dismissed despite his lack of production in Houston. When players with these skills/attributes “get it” they become stars. In past NFL seasons players like Miles Austin, Vincent Jackson and Brandon Marshall were all recent “projects” with similar physical skills who’ve developed into #1 wide receivers out of nowhere. More analysis on Jones and how he fits into the 2012 Ravens after the jump.
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By Zach Wilt, on March 5th, 2012  Hearing about the New Orleans Saints bounty pool scandal has me cracking up. It wasn’t that long ago that Terrell Suggs spoke openly to an Atlanta radio station about a “bounty” that the Ravens had on Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward and running back Rashard Mendenhall.
Thankfully, ESPN.com’s Jamison Hensley remembered this story as well.
After Suggs received a letter from the NFL that threatened “significant disciplinary action” if he had any further comments or involvement in a bounty.
Suggs later backed away from those earlier comments. ”There wasn’t any bounty,” he said. He [Ward] broke some guy’s jaw last week, and he tried to cheap-shot JJ [Jarret Johnson]. He has also cheap-shotted Ed Reed. We’re just going to be on alert the next time we play him.”
I don’t know how serious the Saints scandal is, but I would think that hearing a player use the word “bounty” would be worse than anything that’s be uncovered in New Orleans.
By Matt Lund, on February 10th, 2012 
The 2011 Ravens brought about one of the best seasons in franchise history. They finished the regular season with a 12-4 record en route to the team’s third AFC North title in team history.
They finished 8-0 at home for the first time ever and swept the season series against the Pittsburgh Steelers for the first time since the 2006 season.
They featured a running back in the name of Ray Rice who led the NFL in total yards from scrimmage and brought along a rookie wide receiver in Torrey Smith who finished the season with seven touchdowns, setting a Ravens rookie record. They added a third Defensive Player of the Year award to the mantle with linebacker Terrell Suggs winning this season.
The Baltimore Ravens were two plays away from playing in Super Bowl XLVI, but overall was a season to remember for fans everywhere. Let’s take a final look at the Ravens season unit by unit. READ MORE >>>
By Zach Wilt, on January 23rd, 2012  Despite the final score, Joe Flacco was the better quarterback in the AFC Champion on Sunday. I don’t care that Tom Brady hoisted the Lamar Hunt trophy with Patriots owner Robert Kraft in that same blue shirt and pink tie that he wears every time I see him on TV. (Seriously the guy is worth a billion dollars and he wears the same freaking thing to every Patriots game.)
As I mentioned in my Quick Hits post, statistically Joe Flacco outperformed wonderboy Tom Brady, but he came up short in the end thanks in part to a dropped pass by Lee Evans and a shank by Billy Cundiff.
Flacco begged for more love from the media during the postseason. He told them that he didn’t get the credit he deserved and when the Texans kept him quiet last week, Ed Reed publicly said that he had to perform better in New England.
After the game Flacco’s teammates addressed his performance. Bernard Pollard told Dan Kolko of MASNSports.com that Flacco “played his butt off.”
“For everyone that keeps dogging him, shut up.”
Just to be clear, does that include Ed Reed?
By Zach Wilt, on January 23rd, 2012  On Sunday morning I approached the Ravens matchup against the Patriots like a passenger in a car that was about to be struck head on by a bus. I saw it coming, I tensed up, put my feet on the dashboard and braced myself for the disappointment. But, as three o’clock loomed closer and I had shared my doubts with fellow football fans, I began to grow confident.
For some reason I thought that Joe Flacco could turn the page and go from mediocre game manager to AFC champion. I thought that John Harbaugh could out think Bill Belichick and that the Ravens secondary could contain the Pats tight ends.
In the end, Ravens fans had their hearts ripped out after Lee Evans dropped a game winning touchdown and Billy Cundiff missed a game tying touchdown. It was right there. They were so close. The Super Bowl was in Evan’s hands, on Cundiff’s toe. But instead the Ravens flew home empty handed.
Here are my thoughts on the Patriots 23-20 win over the Ravens in the AFC Championship:
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By Zach Wilt, on January 23rd, 2012  Despite what Ravens fans think of Skip Bayless for his week long battles with Terrell Suggs, he actually gave Baltimore some love after they lost 23-20 to the Patriots in the AFC Championship.
“Flacco outplayed Brady,” Bayless tweeted. ”Honestly I feel sorry for Suggs/Ray/EReed” he added.
Unfortunately, Suggs does have to wear a Skip Bayless t-shirt on ESPN first take after losing a bet on the AFC Championship.
That should be appointment television as Suggs disappeared this postseason with zero sacks against the Texans and Patriots.
By Matt Lund, on January 22nd, 2012  In a match-up of two teams with very contrasting styles of play, the AFC’s #2 seeded Baltimore Ravens traveled north to take on the #1 seed New England Patriots for the AFC Championship.
The Ravens played the role of spoiler before, handing the Patriots a 33-14 loss at Gillette Stadium in the 2009 wild card playoffs, but that particular match-up was different than this one.
The Patriots didn’t have a young duo of TE’s in Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez. They also didn’t have Wes Welker, who was injured during the Patriots playoff run that year.
Still that did not faze the Ravens as they confused and frustrated Patriots QB Tom Brady in the game, much like they did in 2009. The Ravens defense picked off Brady twice and sacked him once.
The Ravens had an offensive and defensive game plan that on most afternoons contributes to a Ravens victory. Despite that however, it came down to the right foot of kicker Billy Cundiff to tie the game and send it to overtime when Cundiff missed a 32-yard field goal wide left giving the Patriots the 23-20 victory and an AFC Championship in front of the home crowd. READ MORE >>>
By Lindsey, on January 21st, 2012  Here’s what I’ve gathered in the past week from the national media: Baltimore is a terrible place to live, Joe Flacco completely sucks at playing quarterback in the NFL, and the Ravens have no chance to beat the Patriots. For one thing, I love living in Baltimore and, contrary to popular belief, I don’t have to duck to avoid being hit by stray bullets every five minutes. Another thing – Joe Flacco doesn’t have the stats of Drew Brees or the arm of Aaron Rodgers. But where are Drew Brees’ stats? Closed until next season. And Aaron Rodgers’ arm is resting on the armrest of his sofa while he watches the championship games on his plasma tv (sorry, Aaron). As for the Ravens having no chance of beating the Patriots… let’s just take a break from the Ravens-hate field day and look at a few facts, shall we? :
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By Dave Gilmore, on January 20th, 2012  Everyone heard about Joe Flacco and Ed Reed “fight” that took place after practice yesterday. Sadly, it seems nobody else but us was willing to provide a detailed visual depiction of the altercation. We debated making a Taiwanese news-style CGI reenactment, but unfortunately we lack that technology. So, here’s a comic book I made. I hope this puts the issue to rest. Click through to see the action unfold! READ MORE >>>
By BSR Staff, on January 19th, 2012  The guys are back for another edition of the BSR Podcast. Just like Jimmy The Greek, Patrick swept the weekend with his Divisional playoff picks and he made sure that everyone knew it.
You can get in touch with the BSR Podcast by sending your emails to podcast@baltimoresportsreport.com or leaving a voicemail at 443-379-4BSR (4377).
Here are some of topics discussed in this week’s show:
NFL Divisional Playoffs Recap
The defending champion Green Bay Packers fell flat against the hottest team in the playoffs, the New York Giants. Alex Smith was dominant as the 49ers knocked out the New Orleans Saints, Tebow time came to an end as the Patriots smacked around the Broncos and the Ravens kept it close with the Texans.
Ed Reed Critical Of Joe Flacco’s Play Against Texans
The biggest story this week came from an interview that Ed Reed gave in which he said that Joe Flacco didn’t appear to have a hold on the Ravens offense. The guys break down Reed’s poor timing and Flacco’s response.
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Podcast: Play in new window
By Zach Wilt, on January 19th, 2012  Before defeating the Houston Texans last week, Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco told the media, “ I’m sure if we win, I’ll have nothing to do with why we won, according to you guys.”
He was right. He didn’t have anything to do with it.
In fact, Flacco has had little to do with the five postseason games that he has won over his four year career. But that’s okay. In my opinion, the Ravens have a good chance of winning the AFC Championship if Flacco has little to do with Cam Cameron’s game plan.
Even after his media criticism last week and Ed Reed’s evaluation, Flacco still took another shot at the media on Wednesday.
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By Zach Wilt, on January 18th, 2012  Win or lose, the second that time expires in New England Joe Flacco’s play will be examined under a microscope by both national and local media — and whatever you consider us here at BSR.
In all fairness, Flacco sort of put the bullseye on his back when he scrutinized the media and told them that they thought he wouldn’t be a part of a win against the Texans. In the end he was right about that.
Things got worse when Ed Reed went on national radio and criticized Flacco’s performance by telling listeners that he has to get better to give the Ravens any chance in the AFC Championship.
Surprisingly enough, the guy that seems to have the most faith this week in the Ravens QB is Hines Ward. In a Q&A with NFL Total Access on the NFL Network, Ward gave Flacco a vote of confidence before his matchup against one of the games elite quarterbacks, Tom Brady.
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By Ross Gore, on January 17th, 2012 
The annotated Winning Percentage Graph for Ravens Divisional Round playoff win against the Houston Texans is shown above. The graph is taken from NFL Advanced Stats, while the annotations are ours. The graph shows each team’s chance of winning the game given historical data calculated from previous NFL games. For more details on Winning Percentage graphs please see our Reader’s Guide.
The biggest play in terms of Winning Percentage for the game came after the Ravens went 3 and out on their opening drive and punted to Jacoby Jones. Jones attempted to field the bouncing punt at his 13-yard line. As shown in the picture below provided by the Associated Press, Cary Williams launched into Jones, Jones lost the ball and it was recovered by Ravens first round pick Jimmy Smith at the Texans’ 2. Ravens and Texans fans alike appear to be baffled by Jones’ decision. Here, we’ll explore that decision and try to determine if it was reasonable, or not.
Clearly Jones’ considered the decision to field the punt to be a calculated risk: he could field the punt so that the Texans could start their drive at the 13 yard-line or let it bounce and potentially start at the 3 yard-line. So, did Jones’ make a rational decision? Is the risk of bobbling the catch worth the reward of starting at the 13 yard line? We answer this question and look into another bizarre decision by the Texans after the jump.
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It’s May, which means it’s the time of year for Ed Reed to say something concerning about his future with the Ravens. Today he told SiriusXM that he’s “not 100 percent committed right now to playing this year.”
Exclusive: The Joe Flacco-Ed Reed “Fight”