Srg

Actually thought the atmosphere was pretty dire compared to the last few games.

Waghorn has played centrally the last two games and has struggled against two sets of extremely physical centre backs - Marriott would have arguably done worse. We just don’t have an option in the squad for this, and we don’t have the ability in the build up play to make up for it. You’re right about Mount possibly being key to helping this, with retaining possession higher up with far more intelligence. That said, Bryson isn’t touching this team now... let alone when Mount is fit again. Thankfully.

Looked like they stil had that Rowett stank on them... side to side a bit in their own half before hoofing it round the corner to try and turn us round. Can see why they draw a lot, they have a lot of quality individuals and are too good to lose but aren’t remotely expansive or inventive enough to go and win games. Thought we played ok, particularly second half. Bogle and Tomori were very good again, just like on Saturday. Special mention to Mitchell-Lawson who didn’t look out of place in his cameo and looked confident - fair play Lampard not copping out and putting on Nugent. Shame we couldn’t have won, but from where we were pre Wigan, I’ll take the decent performance and at least put it down to we put the effort in and just couldn’t manage it in the end.

Made a huge post about being Ravens like as normal... then we go and get Earl a Thomas and Mark Ingram!

Can barely remember a good cross anyone puts in for us would be the first point to that, the second point would be that's not what he's asked to do. He's asked to cut in, play more of an inside forward... he's not asked to get to the byline and deliver - mainly because we don't have a striker taller than about 5ft 10. For what it's worth, he's a good player in this division. He's a player opposition managers, players and fans would be weary of containing when playing us, and would likely be thankful if he isn't playing - whether all that is warranted is debatable, but I'd be shocked if it wasn't the case. He gets a lot of unfair stick for being one the few players we have who can try and make things happen, whether from a shot, cross or beating a man (last one there being something we're generally bereft of elsewhere). No it won't always come off, but his role is to attempt these things because we don't really have many players capable of the extraordinary (Wilson, maybe). It can make him look wildly inconsistent (which you could certainly argue Wilson has been too), but I'd love people to name wide players in this league, or even in the lower reaches of the Premier League that they would consider to be consistent - they're as rare as rocking horse poo at this level due the nature of the role.

1998 called, they want their formation back.

Wide. We've seen it with Ince previously, and more recently at times, Wilson. When you're out wide, it's much easier to receive possession, especially in space. This allows you to affect the game and be in the game, you have choices to drift in and get it or make the run wide. However, when you're central, you struggle to find the space to operate and can be completely anonymous for large portions of the game. You have to be a very technically great player to play in those holes, with a great brain and an equally great first touch. We've not seen many capable of it at Derby for a long time - maybe Bueno? Ince had success occasionally, but it was highly dependent on how stretched the game was.

Be a huge surprise if Browns don't make the play offs at this point. Bengals should be more competitive with Mixon and AJ Green, there's always a chance. Will be very intriguing. We are trying to get of cap hell clearly, which we were in as a result of constantly restructuring contracts, such as Jimmy Smith's and his suspensions, and dead money left from the likes of the Ray Rice incident. So we have more cap room this year than we've had in a long while, but doesn't look like we're going to throw anything daft around at the moment, because our room could be over $100m next year. That said, the way the first couple of days of this have transpired, it has been very Ravens not to be involved. We draft and develop, then let players walk to get over paid vastly by other teams - Ellerbe, Kruger and McPhee, just to name but three. They're never as good elsewhere, and get disguised in our complex defense. Won't surprise me whatsoever when Suggs and Weddle have limited impacts and roles this season, and Moseley isn't as good as he was here (crazy contract, no wonder we didn't pay it). We highly value compensatory picks and at the moment, we are scheduled for the most you can get - two 3rd round, one 4th and a 5th. Not being involved in this stage of free agency allows us to keep all them. I imagine, we will dabble when it comes down to cap casualties when teams start cutting players down to 53, as you can pick up much bigger bargains and they don't negatively affect the comp pick formula.

Redskins are one of the prime examples of roster construction to create consistently competitive teams done wrongly.

The best, most consitently challenging teams often don't make any kind of splashy free agency signings - Pats, Packers, Steelers, Ourselves etc. It's almost as drafting and developing, then letting your players walk to get overpaid elsewhere is the better route for team building. A lot of these signings will look daft next year, as they always do.

So we have now lost Suggs and CJ Moseley too, to add to Weddle. Weddle and Suggs were good leaders and very smart, but their skills were both majorly on the decline and we can easily upgrade their talent level as things stand. It remains to be seen how big of an effect the intangibles will have. Overall, it's a shame Suggs couldn't have finished his career here but i don't expect him to do much in Arizona. Moseley will be a miss as he is the shot-caller of the defense and is in his prime. There are a couple of comforts to him leaving... firstly $17m per year is absolutely insane and isn't worth it for what skillset he has. Secondly, that skillset limits him to being primarily a run stuffer, which is isn't too sort after in the game these days and he has always been spotty in coverage at best. Again, replaceable for that price, as much as I'd have kept him. We do have a couple of good young linebackers behind him, but expect us to try finding another either in FA or the draft. De Costa certainly hasn't had an easy start to being GM, but these are headline losses without necessarily being too impactful overall - other than CJ. I expect us to be in on Amos (hails from Baltimore) or Tayshaun Gipson at safety, and maybe a very un-Ravenlike splashy move for Le'Veon Bell, who would massively help out Lamar Jackson and prove Bell a chance to have a go at the Steelers twice a year.

That's true, and thankfully for the majority, the one that matters looks to share that view.

That's a large presumption. He's one of our biggest earners currently. We certainly don't need someone who runs around aimlessly, not affecting the game in any positive manner.

Excellent pre-snap, good at getting everyone where they need to be and disguising looks... last season, however, as soon as the ball was snapped he was really lacking. Athleticism and speed had gone. His production from 2 years ago to last year fell off a cliff. And that's in our very good defense.

It would be foolish to offer him a contract.