By Zach Wilt, on September 4th, 2010 Position: Cornerback
Height/Weight: 5′ 10″/182 lbs
Age: 24/Experience: 2
College: Nicholls State
Analysis: Last season, Lardarius Webb exceeded expectations as the Ravens third round pick (88th overall) proving to be a valuable asset in the special team’s return game and in the secondary. Coming from a I-AA school, Webb soared as the All-Southland Conference defensive back and returner as a senior, was Nicholls State’s 2008-09 Outanding Male Student Athlete of the Year and was a two time College Sporting News Fabulous Fifty selection. READ MORE >>>
By Jeff Pilson, on August 25th, 2010 Position:Cornerback
Height/Weight: 5’10″/194 lbs.
Age: 30/Experience: 9 years
College: Central Florida
Analysis: The Ravens signed Travis Fisher as a free agent in the off-season to provide depth and experience in the defensive secondary. Entering his 9th season, Fisher has plenty of experience having played for the Rams, Lions and Seahawks. Fisher has been a starting defensive back as recently as 2008, but he has battled injuries regularly during his career. Those injuries seemed to have taken their toll on the former 2nd round pick, as his best days are behind him. Fisher has a good combo of size and speed and also brings the experience of playing in many different schemes and coverage types. READ MORE >>>
By Zach Wilt, on August 25th, 2010 Fans are breathing easier today as Lardarius Webb is in his second full practice with the Ravens this season after being removed from the physically unable to perform list yesterday. The second year defensive back proved to be a spark for the Ravens weak secondary last season and will need to make an impact this season for this team to succeed.
Head Coach John Harbaugh told the media yesterday that Webb would be likely be limited to playing defense the entire season and would not see action as a kick returner. Webb was injured on a special teams play last season after proving to be a reliable cornerback early on, this year it looks as though Jalen Parmele is making a run for the kick returning job. READ MORE >>>
By Jeff Wolfson, on February 10th, 2010 When John Harbaugh was hired as head coach before the 2008 season, his expertise was special teams. Naturally, Baltimore Ravens fans expected extremely good special teams play from the home team. In 2009, special teams play was solid, not special. Part of the reason for just solid special teams were injuries and a transition and place kicker. Matt Stover’s contract expired at the end of the 2008 and the Ravens went younger and cheaper. There will be improvement in 2010 and I don’t think Ravens fans would expect any less. . . . → Read More: Ravens Positional Review – Special Teams
By Zach Wilt, on December 24th, 2009 In this week’s podcast Jeff Pilson and I wish you a Happy Festivus and a Merry Christmas. We discuss the Ravens vs. Bears, where we were in attendance, detail the Lardarius Webb injury, layout the Ravens playoff picture, and talk hot stove baseball.
By Zach Wilt, on December 22nd, 2009 Even though four weeks ago he was nothing more than a special teams player, Lardarius Webb ended his season as Baltimore’s best player in the secondary.
Who would have thought that the Ravens 2009 third round draft pick would mean so much?
Webb’s injury was first described as a right knee strain, though it . . . → Read More: Losing Webb Hurts, Who’s Next?
By Zach Wilt, on November 10th, 2009 There are clearly parts of the Ravens roster that just aren’t getting the job done.
Do you give up on them? Do you let them grow since the season is likely a wash anyway? Do you put the pressure on them?
It all depends on the player.
Frank Walker - Bye bye. Walker shouldn’t have made the team to begin with. Anyone that followed training camp knew right away what Walker was about. Lots of talk, little coverage. He’s quite possibly the worst part of the Ravens terrible secondary and was so bad that he was benched against the Bengals. He’s taking up a roster spot, which is one of the reasons Baltimore cut Matt Stover. Good riddance Frank.
Domonique Foxworth – Threaten. Two weeks ago I told you that Foxworth was a $28 million bust and I stand by it. He is the Ravens biggest flop since Willis McGahee. Too big of a contract for too little performance. Foxworth is the best of the bad secondary, but for the contract was given he’s not shutting down number one wide receivers.
Fabian Washington – Threaten/bench. Washington covers receivers by grabbing them. I’m convinced his method is to get penalized as many times as possible and it shows.
Trevor Pryce – Cut after season. Pryce has had a great run with the Ravens and an outstanding career, but he’s no longer getting the job done. He gets pressure one time per drive, he’s getting beat in single coverage and gives good quarterbacks too much time.
Kelly Gregg – Cut after season. It would have been a good story is Buddy Lee came back after the knee surgery and stepped up. That hasn’t been the case. He fits into the same category as Pryce, only worse. Gregg is hardly ever putting pressure on QBs and he can no longer stuff the run. He’s part of an aging defense.
Ed Reed – One more big loss and I’d shut him down. Ed might say he’s playing healthy, but come on. He’s undoubtedly playing hurt and if Baltimore wants to hold on to him for future years they need him to get healthy. Whether that requires surgery or just time to recover, Baltimore needs to do what they’ve got to do.
READ MORE >>>
By Zach Wilt, on November 8th, 2009 The Baltimore Ravens. A team that on defense can’t stop the run or pressure a QB, has a kicker that can’t make a clutch field goals, and an offense that is stuck making up for all of their holes.
Two weeks ago on our podcast, Aaron Wilson said that he thinks the Ravens are . . . → Read More: Quick Hits: Abysmal Play In Cinci
By Steve Giles, on November 4th, 2009 With a tough stretch of games glaring at the Ravens over the next couple weeks, Sunday’s game against the Broncos was virtually a must-win. And if the first snap of the game was any indication of how the game was going to play out, the Ravens had to like their chances of handing the Broncos their first loss. Jarrett Johnson blasted through the line untouched and absolutely leveled Kyle Orton, reminding fans of the similar hit Bart Scott put on Big Ben a couple seasons ago. That hit started a day of the most dominant and inspired defense the Ravens have played all season. They held Orton and the Broncos to just 200 yards of total offense, but most importantly kept standout wide receiver Brandon Marshall from hurting them down the field. The Ravens came out hungry and ready to play, and as a result, improved their record to 4-3 heading into Cincinnati next week.
The POG
The entire team dominated every facet of the game from start to finish, so there’s no possible way I could just pick one player for this award. The offensive balance was remarkable and the defensive pressure was suffocating, but the stats tell the real story. The Ravens offense was an eye-popping 11-for-18 on third downs against the league’s top-ranked defense, and they didn’t turn the ball over despite the Broncos owning a plus-7 turnover differential. In their previous six games, the Broncos had outscored their opponents 76-10 in the second half. The Ravens changed that fortune rather quickly by taking the second half kickoff to the house and continued the 24-7 outscoring onslaught to end the game. The defense only allowed the Broncos to cross into their territory three times the entire game and they only stepped foot in the red zone once.
The “Oh, S***” Moment
To be continued next week…
The “Way to Step up, Young Man” Award
Lardarius Webb may have made one of the biggest plays of the season, but it wasn’t without a little motivation from a seasoned veteran. Ray Lewis pulled Webb aside in the locker room at halftime and told him that he was going to run back the second-half kickoff for a touchdown. It was an unlikely prediction at the time considering the Broncos had only given up 10 points in the second half all season. But Mr. Motivator did what he does best and Webb responded with a 95-yard run back, the first touchdown of his career. Not only did Webb’s touchdown put the Ravens up 13-0, but it ended the second half invincibility that the Broncos seemingly had up to that point. You picked a good time to step up, Mr. Webb.
READ MORE >>>
By Zach Wilt, on November 1st, 2009 After dropping three straight, Baltimore is back in the win column and starting their November off right.
Here are my quick thoughts about the Ravens 30-7 victory over the Broncos.
Total Domination – Offense, defense, and special teams; the Ravens controlled all aspects of this game against a good, 6-0, Denver team. Our defense . . . → Read More: Quick Hits: Ravens Bounce Back
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