Baltimore Ravens: Season Ends, Future Starts Now

In the beginning of the 2015 season we were talking about momentum from a strong 2014 playoff performance, taking the Ravens to another Super Bowl; at the end of the season we are talking about a top 10 pick in the NFL Draft. Needless to say this season went down hill faster than an avalanche. The season is mercifully over and the future starts now for the Baltimore Ravens.

The Ravens had the season from hell, a week by week festival of emotional torment. They finished the season with 20 players on injured reserve. How could the Ravens expected to have a strong season when about $22 million in cap space was sitting out due to injury? The Ravens were doomed in a season where nothing could go right and every little conceivable disaster was waiting for them at every frustrating turn. It is a lost season in which we lost our franchise quarterback, his best and only receiver (Steve Smith Sr.) and the leader of the defense (Terrell Suggs).

It isn’t that we cannot learn from this, because we can. It also isn’t something excuses can completely excuse. Injuries played a significant part in this play but the Ravens are accountable for the incredulous and incessant penalties and bad performances. But for now we must take a deep breath and put it behind us. It is over. It is the past and the future starts now.

The Ravens will soon have the state of the franchise press conference and boy will that be an interesting event. There are a lot of things that need to change for the Ravens to be successful. The Ravens know what a good team looks like, they have been a good team for a long time. It is time to move forward.

The Ravens should have four objectives this offseason. They should patch up the secondary. The Ravens have to get Joe Flacco some top tier weapons around him. Thirdly the Ravens have to make sure they enter the season with a good answer on the offensive line; whether or not that means Eugene Monroe is the left tackle.

The fourth objective for the Ravens this season is to become more aggressive in offensive and defensive philosophy. the Ravens defense is the part that frustrates me. I understand that the secondary is not great but sitting back in zone coverage all the time without pass rush is asking to be killed nice and slow. If you give an NFL quarterback all day to throw the football against zone coverage he better be able to beat you. Not rushing the passer only exasperates the fires in the secondary.

Secondly the offense drives me crazy. I am tired of the predictable two yard passes on a 3rd and 6. I am tired of shotgun running plays and throwing it to the fullback in the flats on every other first down. The Ravens need to reexamine their strategy and not just their personnel.

The Ravens have a lot of work to do. There is not a second to spare for sulking in our despair because it is time to recover and repair. The offseason starts now. The future starts now.