Ravens QB Joe Flacco Doesn't Believe Team Needs WR

Fans and the media are wondering why the Ravens didn't sign a wide receiver in free agency or draft one. After hearing the most pressing question about the Ravens for months, quarterback Joe Flacco and his receivers confidently responded Friday after the first day of full-team minicamp. "We had a pretty darn good team last year, obviously, with the guys that we have," Flacco said. "So, we don't need anybody else. We feel like we have the guys to get it done. We feel like we have the guys to be a Super Bowl team."

Source: The Baltimore Sun

 

You tell'em Bazooka Joe.

 

you know. i never understood the clamoring for them to overpay to bring in a WR either. I think they would have brought one in if it was the right guy at the right price but apparently that didn't happen. Their receiving corps isn't GREAT, but it certainly isn't as bad as many teams in the league right now. As long as the O-line and running backs continue to perform, it will help open up the passing game just enough to be successful. That offense doesn't necessarily need Anquan Boldin to be successful.

 

this is joe trying to flatter the vet wrs they have

 

k train, i agree with flacco. their receivers are good enough to win a super bowl. they may be just as good as the steelers WR's and they didn't have a problem winning a SB with their receivers. could they have improved that position? probably. will it kill them that didn't? no, not as long as they keep running the ball well.

 

holmes, ward, sweed, mcdonald, wallace>>>>>>mason, clayton, figurs, harper, maxwell, williams and some other no namers

its not even really close imo. take our #1,2,3,4 and match them up against their #1,2,3,4s and ours are better....i actually think most of them would have a hard time make the steelers roster

 

eh, i dunno. i would say mason and clayton are about equal to holmes and ward. if you flip-flopped them and put them on the opposite teams, you would get about the same results. and as you go deeper on the depth chart, it's a little tougher to judge because we haven't seen as much out of those guys but all I know is Sweed really had an incredibly BAD rookie year so I'm not sure how you could say he is better than ANY receiver in the nfl. he dropped more passes than he caught. the kid at this point doesn't even look like he belongs in the arena league.

 

Mason and Clayton are equal to Ward and Holmes? I don't think this is even close...all bias aside. Maybe Ward and Sweed are equal to Mason and Clayton...but Holmes is far and away better than anything that the Ravens can field...

 

oh, crap, here we go. another "Desmond Howard 1-big-game gets a SB mvp and everyone thinks he's a great receiver" story ...........................

santonio holmes isn't even the best receiver on the steelers roster. he's a good #2 wide receiver at this point, which is what the ravens already have. how is that an improvement? holmes was not a major factor in any games for the Steelers last year other than the sb. his punt returning during the season was mediocre. In fact, the Ravens got about as much production in punt returns out of Yamon Figurs.

Let's not put Holmes up on a pedestal gentlemen because of 1 good game when Holmes hasn't proven himself to be that much better than the average #2 receiver in this league in the big picture.

Could he develop into a good #1? possibly, but he's not there yet.

 

These WR cores are very comparable, Maxwell and Williams wont even make the team. Our Depth chart will be Mason, Clayton, Williams, Washington, Smith, Figurs..........for you to say that this isnt close isnt being very rational, Holmes is the best of both groups, Mason is second, Ward is third and Clayton is 4th. Besides that what has sweed shown so far, don't get me wrong i think he will be good but it's yet to be seen. Shaun Mcdonald is a good 4th WR but so is Kelley Washington for that matter who i fully expect to be signed, Demetrius Williams has always had ability but cant stay healthy to this point, If he is on the field i don't see why he couldnt contribute at the level Sweed could. Wallace i do think is better then Marcus Smith but i don't think he is that much better

 

no, holmes is the best wr on the team, he was before the superbowl too.

yamon figurs is a failure and he has established himself as one over the past 3 years, and sweeds rookie year wasnt awful...he didnt get the chance cause nate did enough to keep him on the bench, he was on the field for one game and that was the balitmore playoff game, other than that it was mop up crap and nothing more. figurs fumbles everytime he touches the ball.

ward is plummeting in skill (11 drops. slowing down...ect) and his knees are detoriorating and holmes is getting better every year and he dominated in the playoffs, not just superbowl. his performance was overshadowed by fitzs godly playoff run but he really did work in the playoffs.

i guess we'll see, but im telling you sweed begins taking over the world in fall 2009, he will exceed nates numbers from last season

 

Flacco said the right thing. I don't think it was about if the Steelers had better receivers or not the fact was the Ravens came on strong last year and made a great run and I don't see any reason to think they won't be about the same level this year too. They really surprised me alst year. I didn't think they'd be that good but they played very well.

 

k train, i agree that sweeds has huge potential even though he had a disappointing rookie year. i see the potential in him too.

however, i disagree on holmes being the better receiver than ward last year. Even though ward's hands and speed are deteriorating, he was still a better receiver than holmes and here is why. ward is so freaking smart and has such great football instincts that he was still able to get open when Ben would be buying time even though the more athletic Holmes could not. Everyone has speed and explosiveness at this level of the game so holmes is living entirely off of athletic ability at this point. he doesn't have the instincts, desire, or work ethic of ward. hopefully for the steelers and their fans, he's paying attention and will learn the importance of what ward does. if he could take what ward does so well and combine it with his pure athleticism, he would be incredible.

 

And K-Train....Ward was back over 1,000 yards last year, played in all 16 games and averaged 12,9 per yards which is .7 better than his career average. His longest reception was 49 yards which was 7 yards better than his longest in 1999....Not saying he isn't getting older but I think he had a pretty good season last year. 2007 wasn't good by his standards but looks like he rebounded.

 

ward rubs off on holmes alot as far as blocking, extending plays, going up and getting the ball. Holmes is very good imo, hes not THAT fast, its kinda deceiving, hes actually pretty polished as a route runner and while i agree ward has established himself as bens safety valve that doesnt mean holmes wasnt as good. 2 years ago he led the league in yards per reception by a pretty wide margin, he gets open. He did slump a little bit last year but that has alot to do with ben having a bum shoulder and i mean it makes sense, when your WR is one of the best at catching deep passes and you got a bum shoulder you are more likely to check it down. its not a coincidence that the year ben throws for 32(?) TDs that holmes had a dominate year....when bens shoulder was healthy at the end of the season and playoffs holmes had great games.

it might be somewhat homer but i think i make valid points. however i think holmes comes out very confident this year and has a great year, but imo hes nearly reached his ceiling as far as potential goes...nearly

 

Holmes is the best receiver of the group...it's not close. Both Ward and Mason's skills are diminishing. Ward brings more to the table as an overall player and receiver than Mason, Clayton is average at best, Figurs is a bust and Sweed has unlimited potential.

As far as Holmes not being fast? Holmes is fast. 4.35 - 40 Time? That's not deceivingly fast...it's fast. He hasn't lost speed since 2006.

 

hes fast but when he was the second fastest of the wrs the last few years and like 4th fastest on the team...its not THAT fast. anyway thats not what i meant i was refering to him saying he gets by on speed alone like hes nate washington running down the sideline on every play hes involved in...hes not all speed, hes got alot of receiver skills

 

I see where you are coming from.

 

I wouldn't want one either. It's a built-in excuse when you have a lackluster sophomore year!:icon_twisted:

 

86 and ktrain, this is a really interesting conversation and i'm enjoying hearing why you both choose holmes over ward as the better receiver in '08. I think where we're differing is in our opinions of what makes a guy a 'valuable' receiver. For me, I don't care if a guy can run a 4.35 or has a vertical leap of of 46". If he doesn't have superb football smarts, football instincts, desire, work ethic, route running abilities, and toughness, he's not going to be a true stud in this league in the long run. And, I will be honest with you, it bothers me that holmes didn't have another game even remotely close to as good as the SB last year. that tells me that he 'may' be a player that only shows up when he wants to..............

i'm still not convinced santonio holmes can be any better than deion branch or desmond howard.