Ravens Q&A with Bear Heiser, National Football Authority

The Baltimore Ravens are 5-2 as they prepare to head into Pittsburgh Sunday. Bear Heiser from National Football Authority has provided some insight as to where he believes the Ravens are.

You can find Heiser’s work at:
NationalFootballAuthority.com

You can find Heiser and National Football Authority on Twitter at:

http://twitter.com/#!/bearheiser
http://twitter.com/#!/NFAuthority

Baltimore Sports and Life thanks Mr. Heiser for answering a few questions.

Baltimore Sports and Life: “In the horrific Monday night loss at Jacksonville, the Ravens looked remarkably inept. That carried over for nearly a half against Arizona. In the second half against the Cardinals, and in their other four wins, they have looked strong, and capable of more. As the season nears the mid-point, what teams do you believe to be more talented than Baltimore?”

Heiser: “See here: .”

Baltimore Sports and Life: “With McKinney at LT, Oher back at RT, and Yanda back at RG, the offensive line is improved from last year. While improved, the line has had their share of issues. With Ben Grubbs out of action since the opener, Andre Gurode has had to fill in. Oher looks more comfortable at RT, but continues to amass a large amount of penalties. McKinney is playing better than Oher did last year, but can be beat off the edge. What are your thoughts on the line overall, and when Grubbs returns; who should start at Center – Birk or Gurode?”

Heiser: “The line has been average thus far. Although, they are better than expected given the pieces they’ve been forced to plug in. McKinnie and Gurode have struggled in pass protection, having allowed six combined sacks and 13 quarterback hits.

Aside from them, the pass protection has been fairly consistent. But given those two were released by teams in 2011 before signing with the Ravens, we shouldn’t really be surprised by their struggles.

If Birk is healthy enough to play, then he should play—no questions asked.”

Baltimore Sports and Life: “Ian Rapoport of the Boston Herald recently told us that when Hernandez and Gronkowski are healthy, the Patriots are using them on the field together 80% of the time. Gronkowski has been in all 7 games, has 36 catches, and is averaging 13.8 yards per catch. Hernandez has been in 5 games, has 29 catches, and is averaging 10.3 yards per catch. Conversely, Dickson has 28 catches, and is averaging 9.6 yards per catch. Pitta has 16 catches, and is averaging 9.3 yards per catch. Both Ravens TE’s have played in all 7 games. It is true that Brady is not throwing to the Baltimore TE’s, but Dickson and Pitta do have the physical skills to mimic what the Patriots pair is doing. I believe the Ravens have to figure out how to utilize their pair better, and get them on the field together more often. Agree, disagree?”

Heiser: “Here’s the thing: This all starts with Flacco. He’s becoming notorious for overthrowing receivers down field. It’s gotten so bad that he is one of the league’s most inaccurate quarterbacks. You’d think at some point someone would tell him to do a better job controlling the middle of the field. In reality, that’s why the Patriots passing attack is so lethal. The one thing Brady has been missing in recent years is Randy Moss, or a receiver that can stretch the field. Flacco has his stretch the field guy in Torrey Smith, he just needs to find a solid balance.”

Baltimore Sports and Life: “Lee Evans has played in just 2 games this year, as he deals with an ankle injury. In the absence of Evans, Torrey Smith has received extended time, showing his abilities at St. Louis. Assuming Evans returns at some point, Baltimore will have a number of options that can stretch the field, with Boldin and Rice operating underneath.

While we understand that teams want to be ‘multiple’ and be able to adapt and attack the differing styles of their opponents, I think there is something to be said about acknowledging what you do best and making people stop that. Baltimore still looks their best when they pound the rock and use play-action off that. Despite what we saw in Jacksonville, the Ravens can win most weeks without playing perfect or to their primary strengths. Are they better served trying to use the Regular Season to expand their passing attack, or should they spend most weeks trying to perfect ground and pound?”

Heiser: “They absolutely should be running the ball more. Throwing 50 times a game is pretty inexcusable when you have Ray Rice as a healthy option. The Ravens are not the Steelers in the sense that they can throw the ball 60 percent of the time and still win consistently. Last week we saw Pittsburgh nearly double New England’s time of possession, but it wasn’t done by running the ball. Ben Roethlisberger threw it 50 times, completing 36 passes. More Rice, less Flacco.”

Baltimore Sports and Life: “The Ravens defense is ranked number 1 overall, and with 25 sacks (tied for 2nd in the NFL) there is evidence they have been successful in bringing more pressure under new Defensive Coordinator Chuck Pagano, than they were under former Coordinator Greg Mattison. ESPN’s Monday Night crew spent time in the Jacksonville game talking about Baltimore blitzing roughly 50% of the time on 3rd down this season.

I imagine you like that aggression, what offensive lines do you think would match-up well with Baltimore? Do you believe the Ravens can be exposed against a prolific passing attack?”

Heiser: “I think the Ravens defense is just fine. We’ve seen some ballsy calls from Pagano so far this season and I don’t expect anything to change. As the season progresses, they will only get better.”

Baltimore Sports and Life: “Ngata signed the 5 year contract extension, with $40M in guaranteed dollars. You can make the argument that with Suh, Ngata is one of the two best interior D-lineman in football. As the careers of Lewis, and Reed end; the Ravens defense will be built around Ngata, Suggs, and Smith. What were your thoughts on Ngata’s contract? Is it fair to ask if a cheaper extension could have been negotiated earlier in Ngata’s career, and prior to him having been named a Franchise player?”

Heiser: “As far as the contract goes, I think they got a great deal. Ngata is a stud and has shown no signs of slowing down now that his pockets are deeper.

I’m not sure I understand the second part of the question. This part =>Is it fair to ask if a cheaper extension could have been negotiated earlier in Ngata’s career, and prior to him having been named a Franchise player?”

Baltimore Sports and Life: “Next to Ngata on the D-line is Terrence Cody. Cody has lost a considerable amount of weight, and has been another upgrade for Baltimore as a replacement for Gregg. What are you seeing from Cody?”

Heiser: “Cody has been a nice surprise. Baltimore has always done a great job of developing talent on defense from within.”

Baltimore Sports and Life: “With a defense that includes Ngata, Lewis, and Reed; sometimes I think people overlook Suggs. To me, since the 2010 bye, Suggs has been playing at the highest level of his career. For his position, where do you rank Suggs with the rest of the league?”

Heiser: “Suggs is Top 10 at his position. I agree, he is playing at the highest level of his career. According to Pro Football Focus, he’s the second best run stuffer—at his position—in the league. At times, I think his mouth overshadows his play.”

Baltimore Sports and Life: “Flacco has had two horrible games on the National stage this year against the Jets, and Jaguars. His completion percentage has dropped to 53.8% (career 60.7%). On the other-side, Flacco was excellent against Pittsburgh, and St. Louis. There are plenty of people in Baltimore (and Nationally) who believe Flacco is the one holding the Ravens back. Even if it is fair to question if he will ever be ‘elite’, I think his overall body of work has shown him to be a very solid QB.

Coach Harbaugh spent large parts of the off-season saying he wanted to see maturation in Flacco’s leadership, and that the QB would get the opportunity to make more adjustments at the line. If Flacco was calling more of his own plays, I feel like we would see more of the shotgun and spread formations he prefers. When the Ravens moved Flacco into the sugar huddle and shotgun Sunday, we saw the results immediately improve.

Flacco is in his 4^th year in Cam Cameron’s offense. Most people locally do not believe Cameron will return next year. At this point in Flacco’s career, should he be able to call his own plays? Do you believe the Ravens can win a Super Bowl with Flacco under Center?”

Heiser: “As much as Ravens fans might not want to hear it, Joe Flacco is not your franchise quarterback. Aside from riding the defense’s coattails to the playoffs in each of his three seasons, he’s shown little progression in the areas that matter. Does Cam Cameron have something to do with it, maybe he does, I’m not too sure just yet. I look at the Jacksonville game as the tipping point. The public outcry for more Rice and less Flacco in the play calling hasn’t really worked out too well since then, seeing as Flacco chucked the ball over 50 times last week. Maybe the two just need more time together.”

Baltimore Sports and Life: “With the improved line in-front of him, Rice’s yard per carry has increased from 4.0 last year to 4.3 this year. He is on pace to again have 60+ receptions, and over 850 yards receiving. He has also stepped up and made several strong blocks in blitz coverage. Where do you rank Rice among RB’s? Should the Ravens be willing to give him $30M guaranteed (Chris Johnson dollars), or do you think RB’s are too replaceable to provide him with major dollars?”

Heiser: “There are three running backs that will be hurt by Chris Johnson’s big contract and poor play: Ray Rice, Matt Forte and LeSean McCoy.

The three aforementioned names are a new breed of back. They are all lethal out of the backfield and in the passing game. Johnson can run the ball, but he leaves much to be desired in the passing game. It’s unfortunate how his ineptitude this year has helped spread the idea that rushers are interchangeable. Rice, Forte and McCoy are the exceptions. I’m not sure we’re going to any running back get an CJ type offer for a long, long time.”

Baltimore Sports and Life: “Hypothetically, if the Ravens could only extend Flacco, or Rice – which one would you choose?”

Heiser: “I can’t believe I’m having to answer this question. Ray Rice is a franchise player, Flacco is just a player.”

Baltimore Sports and Life: “Where and how will the Ravens season end? Will it be the end of the regular season January 1st at Cincinnati? Will it be in the AFC playoffs? Will it be in the Super Bowl? Will it be with them hoisting the Lombardi Trophy?”

Heiser: “I think it ends in a Wild Card loss, sorry to say. Based on what I’m seeing right now, I think the Ravens defense can keep up with anyone in the league, but not on offense. There just doesn’t seem to be much chemistry on the offensive side of the ball. I like what I saw from Flacco and Anquan Boldin last week against Arizona but games like that have been few and far between.

Another thing that doesn’t bode well for the Ravens is how good defensively the rest of the AFC North has been this year. Both Cincinnati and Cleveland have defenses ranked in the Top 7 in the league and Baltimore still has to play each of them twice.”

Baltimore Sports and Life: “What are your thoughts on Baltimore vs. Pittsburgh on Sunday night?”

Heiser: “Steelers 24-13.”