It was awesome!

If we do not let him go, I will start routing for a couple other teams i like, and come back to the Ravens (because I love them) when they wake up.

Head coach John Harbaugh said that he believed Steve Hauschka will eventually develop into a dependable NFL kicker.

But will that be with the Ravens?

"We think about everything all of the time," Harbaugh said in his Monday press conference. "We’re not ready to make any kind of announcement on that. We think Steve [Hauschka] is going to be a really good kicker in the NFL. I’m disappointed with that kick; I know Steve is, too.

"He can kick that ball a lot better, it was not a good swing, but we’re not ready to say we don’t think he’s going to be a good kicker in the NFL, yet." (Duffy)
http://blogs.baltimoreravens.com/?p=1882

I wonder: Do kickers have to be developed like quarterbacks? At what point will we have to move on? The Raiders haven’t abandoned J. Russell’s arm. The 49ers are giving A. Smith even another try. We did it with Kyle until I wanted to shoot myself. If kickers have to take the same progressive steps as QB’s, then I might understand Harbaugh’s comments. We had Stover for so long, I forgot how young kickers work. I am ready for Haushka to leave. I hate him. But what if he is just going through the process any young player experiences, even though all he does is kick a ball straight, that’s it!

"I’m learning that it’s not so easy at times and you have to keep your head up and be confident," Hauschka said. "I’m confident in the way I’ve been kicking, so I just hope this is preparing me for another day when they’re going to need me even more." (Duffy)

Should we give that son of a bitch another chance?

He has a much stronger leg than we’ve seen. however, he appears so nervous he is reluctant to let it all hang out and really nail it, as evidenced by his FG’s (even the good ones) looking like they are floating through the air rather than flying.

That is a classic example of a guy trying too hard to push the ball rather than just kick it. His internal fortitude does not look to be there for the pressure of the NFL. I’ve said it a bunch of times and will stick w/ it: Graham Gano was and still is the better choice to be a solid pro, and is priving so in the UFl regardless of the type of league, pressure, etc. He was prepped for the NFL at FSU and did everything expected of him there but never got the true shot here as it was pretty obvious Hauschka was the man only because he nailed one long kick while Stover was still here.

i feel u pain i want get u thorghs did pitt run up the score on den i think they did they were 21-10 with a min 30 left and ben THREW the ball and hines jump into the endzone wtf u ran the ball to finush us off to me that is classey

..in the first 6 games is the Ravens we’ll see for the rest of the year. I too turned it off, why waste the time? It was over after the first Bengals drive. The Denver game, as fun as it was just proved that the Broncos aren’t as good as everyone thought. The loss of Jim Leonard and more importantly Rex Ryan and Matt Stover are really being felt. Greg Mattison is just not up to the task. The team played another critical division game like they didn’t care. They were intimidated and acted as if they’d already lost from the first snap. We’ve got a long road ahead.

..that the officiating is awful this year. No calls, made up calls, ridiculous calls, missed calls. I think that the Ravens "bad-boy" reputation is coming back to haunt. I don’t think we commit any more penalties than any other team. Call it “team profiling”. Think about it. The reason guys like Walker never get away with anything is that the officials are ALWAYS watching him. Any QB who sees Walker simply throws to the receiver he’s covering and it’s almost a guaranteed to bring a pass interference call which is as good as a reception-better even. The Officials can’t look everywhere; I think they just watch us closer which explains the high number of no calls against our opponents.

     We have a regular coaches camp in Owings Mills. With so much at stake and so much money on the line you better be game ready when you take the NFL field. We seem to have coaches and players in practice mode.

      This is not the time or place for Mattison to see if he’s a D-Coord.. This is not the place to find out why Cam was chased from Miami. This is not the place to train a kicker. Train a kicker? He doesn’t have to learn anything new. He’s been kicking since high school. He doesn’t have plays or reads to break down. What does Houshka need to get up to speed? Give me a break. He’s a classic choke artist. We dumped our Ring Of Honor kicker for a guy with training wheels. Sorry Matt.

     The Ravens trumpet more corny mottos than they have decent players. “Play like a Raven”- NO! don’t do that. Penalty central. Play like Rays cheap shot on Ocho on a crucial drive. Not buying it. We talk the talk and stumble.

     We better load up on talent quick with Ray, Ed, Gregg, Price, Mason and Birk winding their careers down. So far, we have nothing waiting at LB. Nothing waiting at DB. Nothing waiting at S. Nothing waiting at DE. Nothing waiting at Receiver. I like Clayton and don’t know enough about Kelly Washington because they don’t get him the ball enough. We may have 2 receivers. Possibly.

     I don’t see any growth from Zibby or Nakamura. Landry is not the same guy after his injury. Suggs is regressing. Kruger doesn’t get any reps. and next year will be lost for him as well because he’ll just begin learning. Gooden flat out stinks and is living off a bogus Miami reputation. Who is this guy Edwards. Did he go to any practices?

We are not ready this year or next year.

..policy for the draft and our habit of taking everyone elses castoffs, there may or may not be a WR or DB for us next year. If the best player available is a RB, then we’ll get another RB. Everyone else will get the good free agents. We’ll hobble by with what we’ve got. Like I said before, we’re in for a long rebuilding road.

and perhaps age caught up with a lot of guys just a bit earlier than expected, through injuries, slowing down, etc. The team is young on offense but needs a new center and wide receiver, much less a TE as well. Otherwise we should be fine there. Defensively, it looks like the age is rampant throughout, on the line, LB (Ray), lack of corners (again) and Ed looks like he may be hurting and plays older than he actually is.

A lot of football left for these guys to step up and show us how little we know.

When you lose to the 4 out of 5 games, two of which were to the same team in the same division, all hope may be lose. Our window of opportunity for our D has shut close. Our offense looked as if it was ready to take over, but sundays game told other wise. Our team is so inconsistent. It seems like every year we have a winning season, the following year must be a losing one. This shit is so annoying.

It’s mentality of this franchise. Win just enough to beat on their chests and then tank when they need to prove something. I just hope Flacco and Rice don’t catch this fever.

I wouldn’t give up but there are some glaring issues. First, our LB play is weak. Weak in the run and weaker in the pass. Bart’s loss is strongly evident here. We are missing gaps every other play. Gooden is a liability. Ellerbeast and Jam-happy-meel need time. Edwards is a project. JJ is the man right now. Suggs seems to just be happy with his wealth. Ray is Ray- great even when he’s not. We are just missing huge gaps in the line. We are very hesitant to come up on big backs. I think Gooden can’t stop big backs.

The DB’s are there in spirit but are 1-AA. They bring fear to nobody. Not only do they hold like crazy they are weak hitters. Foxy, Webb, Carr, Washington and Walker are all nice backups or good for #3 receivers. How many INT’s do these guys have? They look like kids following their big brother receivers around the field. I know MaLor likes Webb. Come on man. He may stay with a receiver and tackle well but he is easily outsized for the ball. Outsized is where Pitt. has owned us. It will be ugly when Ward picks or blocks one of these guys. They might croke.

Safety’s are okay. What the great Reed brings Landry takes away-so far. The dynamic duo of Zibby and Nakamura have proved nothing. I can’t even remember the last time their names were called. They at least had a place on the team with Rex Ryan. The toughness of Leonhard and Scott is missing way more than I originally thought.

Flacco, Rice and Mason (and Reed) are still the heartbeat of the entire team. K-Wash is better than expected. Heap is average and boring. Clayton is good but needs more touches. You could probably slant a team to death with Clayton and Mason..but we don’t. Who is our backup TE. Does the guy get any reps or is he going to be a work in progress when Heap retires soon. Let’s wait until the last moment again Ozzie.

The O-line prides itself on establishing the run. We haven’t done that. I think the lack of run dominance or lack of attempting run dominance hurts the O-line. They need continuity like any othe position. I think that the Cincy game was not representative of this O-line. I still think they are pretty solid. Flacco needs to get rid of the ball quicker. Out of all teams, we should be the most prepared on the blitz. Rice, McGahee and McClaine along with 2 small and fast reecivers in Mason and Clayton should have every team affaid to blitz. We should be burning teams left and right with slants and screens….Oh wait, then Mason won’t get all his inopportune deep balls.

Aqib Talib was available when we picked, Tracey Porter was there in the second round, I think. So was Brandon Flowers a year or so ago. All those guys, regardless of size would be starting here right now. However, I’d miss Oher and Flacco, although as good as Ray Rice is, there would have been other RB’s to run with this team.

Once we get a few more younger guys to be studs, this team will return to dominance, but it may never be with the “Ray” we all loved to see comin g out of the tunnel every week. It just means that the times they are a changing. Unfortunately, just a little faster than we expected or wanted. Be patient.

Nice post… The fear factor of that entire list is 0.00.