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.
Suggs will be missed this season, but that doesn't mean players shouldn't be allowed to exercise in their own way.
This week has been bookended by two players at the top of their sports being cut down, at least for the year (I am not buying Terrell Suggs’ optimism that he will be back in November). Suggs tore his Achilles playing a pick-up game of basketball while Yankees star closer Mariano Rivera tore his ACL while shagging fly balls during batting practice, a regular practice for both players and a way they try to stay in shape. It would be easy to use this as an opportunity to question what players should be allowed to do, but it is important now more than ever to recognize that players need the freedom to exercise on their own terms regardless of what fluky but terrible accidents might happen.
In sports, perhaps more than any other career path, one’s economic wellbeing is determined by their performance. If they fail to perform in the NFL they will be cut with minimal repercussions to their employer, and even in baseball players are constantly playing for the next contract. There is no flying below the radar and keep collecting pay in professional sports. As such, the best keep themselves in incredible shape and constantly train, and it can’t always be under team supervision. READ MORE >>>
Twenty-nine other players, via searches using the play finder at pro football reference, have been a first team all-pro on defense since the merger, and then missed ten or more of their team’s games the following season. A handful retired, and of course there was Jerome Brown’s tragic car accident, while the rest suffered injuries.
Lisk concluded that based on the information in this group, the average points allowed per game rose from 17.3 to 20.8 and the average wins per season dropped from 9.8 to 7.9. READ MORE >>>
UPDATE: Yaffe’s tweet has since been deleted, but the post is still active on Facebook. We reached out to him on Twitter for an explanation, but have yet to hear a response. No other media members have reported that Dunn was let go.
I remember when Zach Greinke broke a rib playing pickup basketball in March of last season. He had just requested a trade from Kansas City and been moved to Milwaukee in a five player deal. Greinke’s injury only costed him the first month of 2011, but he was still labeled as ‘careless’ and ‘stupid.’
The same should be true of Suggs’.
The Ravens invested $63 million over six years on Suggs in 2009 and he just threw one of them away on an injury he suffered away from the field.
Couldn’t tearing your Achilles while playing basketball be considered as reckless as crashing a motorcycle? That’s what Ben Roethlisberger did in 2006. Remember how much we criticized him?
When Dan Marino tore his Achilles, on the field, in the 1993 season, he returned in 1994 and threw for 4,453 yards and 30 touchdowns. It’s reasonable to think that Suggs could return to form in 2013, but you have to imagine that the road to 100 percent will be a long one.
Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs may be lost for the 2012 season after tearing his Achilles while reportedly doing conditioning drills in his home state of Arizona.
According to Aaron Wilson of the Carroll County Times, Suggs has been in contact via text about the injury, telling Wilson, “I went to stop and turn and I thought I sprained it. Went to doc and said it’s a partial tear.”
There is a glimmer of hope for Ravens fans and Suggs as the reigning Defensive Player of the Year will see a specialist next week to determine the extent of the injury. A partial tear of the Achilles could allow Suggs enough time to return at some point this season.
A full tear would require surgery and Suggs would miss the entire 2012 season, a huge blow to a Ravens team looking to make another run to a Super Bowl title. READ MORE >>>
With the Nationals on a 10 game home stand and MLB.tv blacking out Orioles games, I didn’t get to see too much of the O’s this week. From what I did see, Brian Matusz got a raw deal due to some predictably poor defense in Anaheim, Wei Yin Chen had yet another very strong outing, and the offense looked great in some spots (Jones and Wieters) and rough in others (Reynolds hasn’t had a hit in nearly a week). But despite not seeing much of Baltimore this week, there is one thing I do know.
Cam Cameron is ruining Joe Flacco. How the hell is Joe supposed to build a successful career with shoddy schematics? No one will ever know how good Flacco can be until Cam’s parking spot is empty, and his playbooks are halfway through the shredder. This is how Ravens fans introduce themselves around here, and Baltimore was in the AFC Championship game last year.
At the same time, O’s fans acknowledge that there’s some talent on the pitching staff. Tommy Hunter won 13 games with Texas, Jake Arrieta’s stuff is cough syrup nasty, and Brian Matusz was once considered good enough that people still wonder what’s wrong with him. If Baltimore fans had their way, Cam Cameron would have had an appointment with Ned Stark’s barber months ago. Which leaves me scratching my own head as to why Rick Adair’s is still under an Orioles cap.
Peyton Manning is up for the taking, Yu Darvish makes his Spring Training Debut, WPXI in Pittsburgh reports that Hines Ward goes to Baltimore and the gang rants about how much they despise lacrosse.
Join Zach, Patrick and Matt for this week’s edition of the best sports podcast in Baltimore, the BSR Podcast. The guys take you through the gamete of both Baltimore and national topics. Their guest on the show this week is Cal from Protect This Yard clothing.
Here are some of the topics discussed on this week’s show:
Pro football is a grown man’s game. I mean that in the sense that, while they are coached and instructed, ultimately everything good and bad carried out on the field is done by grown men. They are free to choose any profession they want to seek out, and they choose to play football in the NFL willingly.
The NFLPA, as the players’ union, would obviously like there to be a unified front on player sentiments regarding the hot-button issues facing the league. In the most recent era, it has been lasting head injuries and the things that cause them, and in the most recent weeks, it has been incentives to injure opponents. Neither create a “safe working environment” by OSHA standards, but players seem to be much more comfortable with their own demise than someone profiting from it.
And that is the problem with the NFL today. There is not a unified front on the head trauma issue because the player pool is in a period of transition. What the league is transitioning to is a mystery, but there is a division between those willing to absorb the implied risk of a pro football career and those who claim to have been (metaphorically) blindsided. Current players bristle at a quick 15-yard flag or a fine for helmet-to-helmet contact. They feel the rules have been changed on them mid-flight. The liked the old way better. The way where the assumed risk was still the same, but the only ones suffering or profiting from a dangerous tackle was the tackler and tacklee themselves. Now, the NFL takes a bite out of the tackler’s paycheck, and the guys in the other jerseys get 15 precious yards. The players who are upset at the recent allegations of bounty systems among teams aren’t mad at the actions, they’re mad at the outcomes. Many are not calling for the game to be played differently. They simply want to absorb the good and the bad of their decision to play pro football like grown men.
If you’re looking to start a website for Ravens fans, be sure you keep the team’s name out of the URL. The Baltimore Ravens have been flexing their muscles and forcing fan sites containing “Ravens” in the name to rebrand themselves. Ravens24x7.com, the oldest and arguably the best of the fan’s sites is currently undergoing a name change, while RavensGab.com has be renamed to BaltimoreGridIronReport.com.
First and foremost I am flattered by the support and I thank you all.
Secondly, this didn’t become this (fka Ravens24x7.com ) without a ton of support starting with the writers (many of which were discovered here), Admin Steve, the moderators and all of you. I thank you all again.
Lastly, I don’t have an axe to grind with the team. I get it. Our biggest concern is migrating to something easily remembered which can be used to inspire a cool logo; comes off the tongue easily; and captures in a few syllables what we do. That’s our challenge.
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 >>>
Now that we’ve all had a little bit of time to recover from the AFC Championship game, it’s time to focus on the Ravens’ offseason needs. With all jokes about Cam Cameron aside, the offense still needs work. On the defensive side of things, the organization needs to start preparing for absence of Ed Reed and Ray Lewis, however soon that may be. These technical aspects, along with a few other tidbits should be high on the Ravens’ offseason to-do list… READ MORE >>>
The only thing more obsolete than the NFL Pro Bowl is complaining about the NFL Pro Bowl. Fans have been tired of the former for years and have now just given up on the latter and simply stopped watching. Making the Pro Bowl the NFL’s black sheep event is warranted for all the usual reasons people list.
There may have been a time when the NFL needed the Pro Bowl. That time is not 2012. I’m not propsing that it be tweaked, moved or reinvent it. The NFL needs to cut bait and simply can the Pro Bowl as we know it. So what does the league do the week before or the week after the Super Bowl? Tap the one asset the NFL has where there is any headroom for growth: new talent. College football all-star games are already suffering from “bowl sprawl,” with five major games in January. The future NFL star is the lowest-hanging fruit the NFL could possibly ask for.
Imagine if the NFL (with the cooperation of the NFLPA, which already stages a college all-star game), put on a top-flight all star game in Hawaii or Florida featuring the best draft-eligible players. The NFL Draft and Combine grow larger every year and this would be a great opportunity for NFL fans not immersed in the college game become familiar with their future NFL stars. Who wouldn’t watch that? It’s a slam-dunk. Roger Goodell, earn your extension and make this happen. READ MORE >>>
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: READ MORE >>>
The only thing more obsolete than the NFL Pro Bowl is complaining about the NFL Pro Bowl. Fans have been tired of the former for years and have now just given up on the latter and 
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