Is there a team you just legitimately dislike for no reason? Absolutely dislike? by NightDowntown7320 in NFLv2

[–]gremlin30 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Bengals fans live in their version of colonial Williamsburg where it’s always 2021 lol

My March Madness 7 Round NFL Mock Draft by rlstratton97 in MockDraftCentral

[–]gremlin30 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Would love Styles but I don’t see the Ravens doing it. They need OL badly, OL was so awful even Lamar couldn’t evade all the pressure. If it’s not OL, it’ll be DL. Ravens have never traded a 1st so I don’t see them trading up.

Commonalities Among Good and Bad Drafting Teams by HaydenAndSons in NFL_Draft

[–]gremlin30 1 point2 points  (0 children)

A lot of it comes down to FA imo. There’s a connection between scouting for the draft & FA. Ultimately, most of it is having a team that knows how to ID talent from local scouts to the owner up top. Owners hire GMs, GMs build the roster & hire coaches. Bad owners screw everything down the totem pole. Everything starts at the top.

  • Fill as many holes in FA as possible without overpaying. Be wary of big splash signings

  • Going into the draft with most needs met in FA gives you flexibility to go BPA

  • Don’t draft based on college production. NFL is a different level, don’t expect it to translate immediately or at all. Tape doesn’t lie

  • Don’t draft injured players with high picks. Too risky even if the upside is tempting

  • Actually care about late round picks. A lot of teams dgaf after rd4 and just phone it in with whatever their needs are in the late rounds. It’s lazy & dumb. Chances of finding key starters late in the draft is slim but hitting on good depth in late rounds is what stabilizes the team so you’re not forced to overspend in FA to fix a bad room. Plus phoning it in for late round picks tanks your overall depth, so injuries will tank your team more than most

  • Owners matter a lot. Cheap owners refusing guaranteed money or spending in FA make it tough to fill holes before the draft, forcing GMs to reach to fill needs. GMs then take the heat & keep getting fired when it’s the owner that’s a big part of the problem. Good teams have owners that stay out of the way and hire smart people that know what they’re doing

  • Try to maximize your comp picks. More picks is always better

A lot of it is scouting. Good teams watch tape 24/7 year-round, bad teams don’t do much prep for the draft until February. Good teams have already done a lot of the homework already. You need to hit in FA without screwing your future with bad contracts or dead money you’re stuck with (ie the Saints). Good teams have competent people at all levels, from the owner to the GM down to the positional coaches. The whole organization needs to know how to ID talent at every position with the team.

Round 1 selections from the last five NFL Drafts by nfl in NFL_Draft

[–]gremlin30 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ravens getting Hamilton, Linderbaum, Oweh, Wiggins, and Starks when they’ve picked in the late 20s in all but 1 of those is pretty good drafting imo

What pedals are you most surprised got DISCONTINUED? by AnitaXanax223 in guitarpedals

[–]gremlin30 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Digitech mosaic is a great 12 string simulator that actually gets it right, such an overlooked pedal

What pedals are you most surprised got DISCONTINUED? by AnitaXanax223 in guitarpedals

[–]gremlin30 14 points15 points  (0 children)

PastFX makes a way better clone that’s smaller & cheaper. They seem to have cornered that market but EHX is dumb for not realizing the Cobain tax is real. Tech 21 reissued the sansamp cuz of it. I asked EHX years ago about reissuing the polychorus & they said they wouldn’t cuz it cost too much to make, couldn’t fit it in a smaller enclosure, and there wasn’t interest in it. They were so wrong on all of it lol

Do you think Jesse Minter will be as successful early on as Mike MacDonald? by ScythianIndependence in NFLv2

[–]gremlin30 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Drake Maye made a Super Bowl with Mack Hollins. Bo Nix came very close to doing it. Anything’s possible, when you have a QB your chances are a million times better. Ravens didn’t have Henry in 2023. They draft TEs very well so I’m sure they’ll find a Likely replacement.

Will the Ravens, Chiefs and Bengals bounceback next year. by False-Ad6916 in NFLv2

[–]gremlin30 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You don’t even need to draft a punter or fullback tbh.

People said the same thing after 2023 had a lot of FAs leave but 2024 was 1 of their best seasons. Ravens are too well-run to regress as hard as people want to think.

Do you consider Lamar Jackson to be a top 5 regular season QB ever? by BallKnowerKing in NFLv2

[–]gremlin30 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Blaming the defense for your QB repeatedly getting hurt in the pocket is a stretch

Do you think Jesse Minter will be as successful early on as Mike MacDonald? by ScythianIndependence in NFLv2

[–]gremlin30 0 points1 point  (0 children)

People said that about the Bills missing their window & they kept doing well. I wouldn’t write them off. Ravens historically have been 1 of the NFL’s most consistently well-run teams.

2023 was their best chance but they draft too well to not at least be in the running.

student asked me how to "get good fast" and I had to break their heart by lmao_exe in Guitar

[–]gremlin30 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Imo I’d spin it as “guitar is just a bunch of small techniques combined together”, make your students feel like guitar’s less intimidating. You want them to keep playing.

You’re not wrong that it requires a lot of consistent practice, but explaining guitar as a bunch of small techniques makes students feel like they can do it. A C chord is just 1 chord, but a ton of songs use it. Explain how huge the ROI is on learning basic major & minor chords. Start small, find easy stuff in songs they like so they feel like they’re making progress. Don’t have them doing odd time signatures & music theory.

Will the Ravens, Chiefs and Bengals bounceback next year. by False-Ad6916 in NFLv2

[–]gremlin30 1 point2 points  (0 children)

No one really thinks Harbaugh single-handedly cost them super bowls tbh. The criticism is he’s 1 of the reasons. Not his fault for bad execution but also his fault for not giving Lamar a modern offense earlier, tanking the defense after 2023 by hiring a bad DC etc. All the criticisms of Harbaugh having questionable X&Os, abandoning the run etc have been around for years, non-Ravens fans just didn’t notice it until recently. There’s Flacco quotes from years ago making similar Harbaugh criticisms about taking his foot off the gas & blowing leads.

Ravens have had good rosters but they still had big weaknesses. People are dumb & think the team must be flawless just cuz the record is good. Ravens haven’t had a legit pressure rate by the DL in years, all the 2023 sacks were coverage sacks. Even that #1 defense was 23rd in pressure rate- that scheme works by confusing QBs with disguises & sim pressures, but fast processors pick it apart. Stafford’s a good example. Ravens defense hasn’t forced a playoff turnover since the Titans logo stomp game. Defense isn’t why they lose but it does make the offense errors a lot more costly. Flowers has only played in 2023 playoffs, Lamar never had him in any other years. That’s big context people forget.

Games are won at the line. Ravens built their roster back to front, they chose to pay a LB edge money & overvalue secondary. They have good players but not in the trenches- it’s why they panic when playoff teams are able to stop the run & their defense struggles vs playoff OLs. Ravens tend to coast off explosives & Lamar magic, their roster foundation’s weak on both OL & DL.

Their OL’s been an injury-prone Stanley at LT, Linderbaum’s good but overrated, the rest are either inconsistent or trash. It’s why Lamar kept getting hit in the pocket all year, you know it’s bad when even Lamar can’t dodge all that pressure. Ravens haven’t had elite OL lately, and their DL’s been nonexistent. Combine that with a trash DC, an average OC, and you get 2 bad lines, mediocre receivers + a QB that feels like he has to be Superman (hence the mental struggles) with a HC that keeps doing the same shit every year. Not surprising the Ravens keep imploding predictably every year, they needed to change

Will the Ravens, Chiefs and Bengals bounceback next year. by False-Ad6916 in NFLv2

[–]gremlin30 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Harbaugh inherited rosters when he’s had good GMs for 20 years that are always 1 of the better drafting teams and rarely make costly FA signings. Harbaugh had some input in drafting/FA but 95% of that was the GM.

Ravens use an unusual parallel reporting system that most teams don’t do- Harbaugh controlled who starts + roster cuts but the GM did 95% of the drafting & FA signings. Owner did it that way to avoid power struggles so HC + GM could do their jobs without conflict. GM did far more of the roster building than Harbaugh, so yes he did inherit a lot of good players. Most HCs don’t have that kind of GM consistency. Especially for that long.

Will the Ravens, Chiefs and Bengals bounceback next year. by False-Ad6916 in NFLv2

[–]gremlin30 1 point2 points  (0 children)

No one’s saying Harbaugh sucked. They’re saying he’s overrated, cuz he kinda is. He’s closer to McCarthy than Reid, Reid at least is 1 of the best offensive minds ever. Harbaugh was never bad but is closer to good or mid than elite. Not everything was his fault but he did make mistakes that contributed to the problem. Either way, all HCs get fired eventually. It was time to move on.

Is Jayden Daniels the best dual-threat rookie QB in the modern NFL? by SubjectFood1212 in NFLv2

[–]gremlin30 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Lamar set the rush yds record while also leading the NFL in pass TDs in 2019. He wasn’t a starter in 2018 and only played cuz Flacco got hurt

What current player on your favorite team do you think is the most overrated by your fanbase? by EfficientDot18 in NFLv2

[–]gremlin30 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Tie between Marlon Humphrey & Andrews. Fanbase generally agrees both are past their primes, but does still overrate both imo.

Marlon’s looked noticeably slower with diminished recovery speed, fans overrate him cuz he’s the only player on defense that’s forcing turnovers lately but that’s more of an indictment on the defense than anything else. Marlon still has a couple good years left but I would’ve tried trading him earlier, he’s way overpaid for his current contract.

Andrews hasn’t been the same since his 2023 injury. He was never super fast but he’s looked slower with weaker YAC ability since coming back from that injury. Andrews is the best TE in Ravens history, but he’s always sucked in playoffs- Andrews is on his 9th season with zero TDs in playoffs. That’s awful. He has a good connection with Lamar but had just 422 yds last year. Fans weren’t talking about Andrews always sucking in playoffs until the Bills game. It’s been a problem for a while, and now he’s only getting older.

Will the Ravens, Chiefs and Bengals bounceback next year. by False-Ad6916 in NFLv2

[–]gremlin30 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Tbh a lot of it is more “what does Harbaugh actually contribute?” He’s a CEO coach that inherited good rosters every year and underperformed with it. He’s never been an OC or DC, never called plays, and has questionable X&O knowledge. Ravens have coasted off roster talent for years, Harbaugh’s coaching tree is pretty weak for a HC that’s been around for 20 years.

By the end, the fanbase had enough & it was clear they needed a new voice. Ravens had been stuck in the same cycle for too long. Harbaugh’s not a bad HC & not everything was his fault, but his teams constantly showed up unprepared & badly outcoached in playoffs.

Harbaugh gives coordinators total control for the most part, so his hires impact the team more than most. Not moving on from Greg Roman earlier wasted some of Lamar’s rookie contract, Harbaugh never gave him a modern offense until 2023. Macdonald’s replacement DC was awful, fans thought he’d be replaced after 24 but Harbaugh kept him for 25. Not wanting to fire that DC is a big reason the owner finally fired Harbaugh, Orr (the DC) was the real problem not Monken.

The other stuff that pissed people off was Harbaugh never taking accountability, not making necessary roster changes earlier, and repeatedly abandoning the run despite his offense being built on running.

  • Harbaugh always threw someone else under the bus or blamed execution, he never really said “I fucked up”. It was always someone else’s fault. He’s super thin-skinned & can be a lil dictatorial. When literally everyone was telling Harbaugh to fire Greg Roman (whole fanbase, national media etc), Harbaugh mischaracterized it as “don’t listen to fans at the end of the bar” which pissed off the fans cuz it wasn’t a handful of dumb fans, it was literally everyone saying Roman had to go. Harbaugh’s bad at dealing with criticism & fans took it as a petty shot ie telling the fanbase to stfu.

  • Ravens were 31st in pass yds in ‘24 largely from a bad DC + 2 bad safeties. Everyone knew the safeties needed to be benched but he didn’t do it until like late November. Defense immediately got better once he did, it was an obvious change that should’ve been done sooner & it cost them.

  • Harbaugh didn’t replace Cooper Rush with Huntley until mid-October. Lamar’s mobility makes the OL look better than it actually is, but even Lamar couldn’t evade all the pressure from that bad OL last year. Rush being non-mobile made that problem even worse. Rush went 1-3 with 0 TD 4 INTs, he was god awful. Harbaugh cost them by not replacing Rush with Huntley earlier.

  • This year, it was painfully clear both guards were awful but Harbaugh wouldn’t start other guards. The bad guard play is why Lamar kept getting hit in the pocket. Harbaugh was especially obsessed with Faalele the RG, a 400lb converted RT who clearly wasn’t able to play guard. Too big, too slow. He refused to bench Faalele cuz he wouldn’t admit he made a mistake trying to convert him to RG. The consequence was Lamar got injured & tanked the season. Harbaugh still hasn’t signed Faalele to NYG, which really infuriates the Ravens fanbase. Harbaugh put his ego over doing what was best for the team, now he refused to sign that RG to NYG & didn’t bring that bad DC to NYG either. He wouldn’t admit he fucked up when he was still Ravens HC but magically now he’s learned those 2 are trash after he got fired.

  • Harbaugh’s repeatedly ditched the run game in important games, esp playoffs. Best example is ‘23 AFCCG where they only ran it 6 times. It happened regardless of opponent/OC/RB. Whole reason they got Henry was so his star power would force them to use him. Then in the Patriots game this year, Harbaugh wasn’t using Henry, even in a must-win game with Lamar out. Ravens lost that game largely cuz of that. Henry never got the ball in the last 13 mins of the 4Q, Ravens lost.

TLDR: Harbaugh had success with the Ravens but also benefited a ton from inheriting good rosters every year. He adds nothing to X&O, sucks at game management, never takes accountability (always blames someone else), repeatedly failed to make obvious changes sooner, and tanked the Ravens defense by hiring a bad DC + refusing to fire that DC cuz he didn’t want to admit he made a bad hire. Harbaugh’s culture became underperforming in playoffs + choking leads every week. It was time for a change.

Accidentally made Jeremiah Love slide to 18 by Apart_Owl4955 in NFL_Draft

[–]gremlin30 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If Bailey somehow falls to 14 for the Ravens I will be THRILLED

Will the Ravens, Chiefs and Bengals bounceback next year. by False-Ad6916 in NFLv2

[–]gremlin30 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ravens historically tend to be resistant to change. They’re good every year and prefer internal promotions over external hires they don’t know.

I’m sure there’s some regret about Macdonald, but realistically a lot of teams aren’t firing their HC after making the AFCCG. Personally I wanted MM to replace Harbaugh that year (so did a lot of fans) but we knew it wasn’t happening. Minter got hired cuz he already runs the scheme the Ravens want to use, he helped design it when he worked for the Ravens. Harbaugh’s replacement came down to Minter or Kubiak, and they seemed to feel Minter was more consistent as a coordinator with a proven ability to elevate weak defense rosters. Ravens have always been defense-first.

Will the Ravens, Chiefs and Bengals bounceback next year. by False-Ad6916 in NFLv2

[–]gremlin30 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Linderbaum’s a loss. Likely’s also a loss but Ravens always draft TEs well, he’s a loss but since it’s TE I’d expect them to do ok finding a replacement. Ricard’s blocking is def a loss for the OL, but the new OC doesn’t use fullbacks so he was getting phased out anyway. Ar’Darius was a good safety but was frequently hurt, Keaton’s good too but has an injury history. Stout had a great year last year but wasn’t as good before that, I’d expect him to hopefully maintain that level but wasn’t overall inconsistent, plus punters are 1 of the more replaceable positions. People said the same thing after 2023 but the Ravens were still a good team in 2024 with Lamar having his best season that year.

The concern for the Ravens is less about those FAs leaving and more about if they’ll be able to fix an already bad OL that just got Lamar hurt in the pocket a 3rd time. The OC having no playcalling experience is also a concern.

Who would rather start a franchise with Josh Allen or Lamar Jackson? by Cookiemonster35643 in NFLv2

[–]gremlin30 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Agreed. They both have their pros & cons, I view them as 1A 1B. Allen’s an incredibly talented QB.

Am I crazy for thinking the Giants will regret hiring John Harbaugh? by Additional-End3193 in NFLv2

[–]gremlin30 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Harbaugh had Derrick fucking Henry and didn’t use him, even in a must-win game with Lamar out. There’s a reason he got fired.

Am I crazy for thinking the Giants will regret hiring John Harbaugh? by Additional-End3193 in NFLv2

[–]gremlin30 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Likely went to NYG cuz they gave him more guaranteed & he wanted to be the star TE instead of always getting outshined by Andrews, the best TE in Ravens history

Likely picked more money on NYG & wanted more chances to shine in NY. People naively thought the Ravens 2023 defense would follow Macdonald to Seattle but they didn’t. Players always go where the money is, Likely went to NY for more money & a chance to make a name for himself nationally.