Today I thought I would try something different. I am constantly ranting to my friends about Ravens news and gossip and most of the time they aren't so thrilled to listen to my madness. Then it hit me, I have the perfect forum here to rant and rave about all the things that drive me crazy in the world of football. So that's exactly what I'm going to do.
Now that football has become a year round sport, with free agency, the draft, mini camps, training camps and press conferences dominating the news over sports that are in mid-season, there is always something going on. It seems that week in and week out there's just as much drama going on now, in April, as there is in December or January. Speaking of drama that brings me to my first topic.
Leave Joe Flacco alone already!
First of all the guy is a proven winner, and every year he shows us why. Joe answers questions the only way he knows how, honestly. Things may not always come out smooth and elegant when he speaks but he tends to get his point across none the less. But I guess that does not matter when the people you are taking to just don't get it. The point Flacco was making was that he or any other quarterback has to think they are the best or they have no shot at winning. So naturally he has to think he's the best. All anyone heard though was "Yeah, I'm pretty much the best in the league, I'm better than Brady, Manning, whoever! You name 'em, I'm better."
I've got to think that deep down inside he really does not think that, right now, he is better than Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady or whoever else all the media outlets want to throw in there to belittle Flacco. He says things with a very dry humor and the media just takes out one blurb of what he says and types it in bold at the top of their article labeling him an arrogant wanna be.
Even if he does think that he is better than anyone else out there, who cares??? I'd rather him think that. I want a guy that thinks he can beat anyone. Not a guy that comes into a game thinking how much better his opponent is. Anyone that thinks that way has no chance of winning. For all we know he may be right. Joe has had different QB coaches every year, a rotating door of mediocre receivers and an offense that changes it's identity from game to game... and play to play sometimes. Guess what? He wins anyway! With a little stability I think he can and will keep progressing. Hopefully we can find some people to block for him this season.
Topic number two, what the @$%& is going on with Ed Reed?
First they guy says he is going to retire two years ago. Then he decides to stay but frequently misses time with his never ending neck injury. Then he comes back and plays like the best safety to ever play the game. Then he starts this past season with a bang against Pittsburgh but spends most of the remainder of the season practicing his arm tackles and finding creative new ways to land on his neck and be carried off the field by three players, only to return to the game two plays later.
That brings us to now, Reed has apparently come out and said he wants to play for four or five more years! Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't Reed 34 years old? So that means he wants to play till he is 39?
Well, okay I can get that, I guess... Brian Dawkins is like 40 right? That puts the Ravens in a very tough spot though. This team has so many rising stars that another contract for the sure fire Hall Of Fame safety would be a hard to pull off.
See, the Ravens like to invest money into ascending stars. In other words, players who's best years are ahead of them. You just can not run a successful organization by giving big contracts to guys that are at the tail end of their careers. But you can't let Ed Reed go to another team right? I mean that would be like Ray Lewis going to Dallas a few years ago. The Ravens would never let that happen. I mean, can you see Peyton Manning in anything but a Colts jersey?
Well, that's what the salary cap is for right? Spreading the wealth? Let's just hope that what is supposed to set the NFL apart from other leagues isn't ruining one of the purest and greatest things about it. The hometown hero. The way things are shaking out, it will be next to impossible to keep a player on one team for their entire career. Unless they just aren't that good. Someone is always going to have more money, no matter what kind of cap there is.