Calvin Pryor has been designated as the 2nd and final player to return from IR.  Although he may not be activated yet for the Bungles game, he should return shortly thereafter.  He began practicing this week, along with Dede Westbrook.

Pryor is a young former 1st round selection that can really "lay the wood" from the safety spot.  My guess is he will be a ST beast and a very good backup player upon his return.  

Linder coming back after a significant absence, Dareus arriving, Westbrook and Pryor being added from IR....this team is getting stronger going into the 2nd half of the season.

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No joke...I literally forgot all about him. Glad to be reminded of this.

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Good to have depth at the safety spot

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No joke...I literally forgot all about him. Glad to be reminded of this.

When the Jets drafted safeties in the first two rounds, many people scratched their heads about their decision to draft both Adams and Maye because they already had Pryor.

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Wow. I forgot we still had him.

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“Motivation alone is not enough.  If you have an idiot and you motivate him,now you have a motivated idiot.” Jim Rohn

 

Was hoping Rivera would be able to return, but no dice.

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Taking it to the top of the Modis building.  

Was hoping Rivera would be able to return, but no dice.

Calvin Pryor is better at his position.

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Was hoping Rivera would be able to return, but no dice.

Calvin Pryor is better at his position.

But he's not better than the starters at his position(s). 

Rivera is a better receiving TE than anyone on our roster.  You don't see many passes going to Koyack or O'Shaughnessy, but if our two-TE set were Lewis and Rivera, then you'd likely see Rivera get some targets. 

Pryor will just be a back-up to Church and Gipson and maybe a ST player.  
 (He's played both safety positions in the past)

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Calvin Pryor is better at his position.

Rivera is a better receiving TE than anyone on our roster.  You don't see many passes going to Koyack or O'Shaughnessy, but if our two-TE set were Lewis and Rivera, then you'd likely see Rivera get some targets. 

Our scheme is run heavy first. We're one of the few teams who maximize on a TE's ability to block first and being the most important skillset. When we do use our TE's as pass catchers it's used pretty sparingly. Usually a dump off option if the play isn't there. Or when we take advantage of Mercedes Lewis and his height advantage. London game being an exception because no one on the Ravens gameplanned Lewis actually catching a pass and just rolled with the hot hand. We had Julius Thomas under Hackett and it made no difference in how we utilized him. We could probably have Gronk and Kelce here and they would block most of the season. Probably the main reason why we let Julius go. They knew they couldn't use him to block.

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Calvin Pryor is better at his position.

But he's not better than the starters at his position(s). 

Rivera is a better receiving TE than anyone on our roster. You don't see many passes going to Koyack or O'Shaughnessy, but if our two-TE set were Lewis and Rivera, then you'd likely see Rivera get some targets. 

Pryor will just be a back-up to Church and Gipson and maybe a ST player. (He's played both safety positions in the past)

I liked O'Shaungnessey during the Texans game. He caught everything, maybe had one drop. After that he seemed to disappear.

Because of our run-first scheme, the impact of Gipson or Church getting hurt is greater than that of any receiving TE missing a game.

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Rivera is a better receiving TE than anyone on our roster.  You don't see many passes going to Koyack or O'Shaughnessy, but if our two-TE set were Lewis and Rivera, then you'd likely see Rivera get some targets. 

... We're one of the few teams who maximize on a TE's ability to block first and being the most important skillset. When we do use our TE's as pass catchers it's used pretty sparingly. Usually a dump off option if the play isn't there. Or when we take advantage of Mercedes Lewis and his height advantage. London game being an exception because no one on the Ravens gameplanned Lewis actually catching a pass and just rolled with the hot hand. We had Julius Thomas under Hackett and it made no difference in how we utilized him. We could probably have Gronk and Kelce here and they would block most of the season. Probably the main reason why we let Julius go. They knew they couldn't use him to block.

I disagree completely.

A few important points regarding your post:

• Julius Thomas was only active for two games under Hackett and Hackett was running Olson's playbook- Bad example
  
• The Marrone/Hackett offense uses a two TE set fairly often and one of those two TEs will often throw a chip block and then leak out as a receiving option. This is where Rivera can excel beyond what Koyack and O'Shaugnessy offer.  Usually in these plays one TE is a dedicated blocker and the other is not.  Marcedes and Rivera make a good duo for this because while they excel more at one skill than the other they can both execute blocking and receiving tasks well enough to interchange at times.
  
• The way they've used Marcedes thus far despite him having notoriously bad hands should tell you how off base you are with the Kelce/Gronk remark. 
  
• They've actually attempted two deep seam routes to #89 this season, BTW.  I'm sure they'd rather be throwing those to Rivera and calling them more often. 
  
• They are using the TEs to block because they have to, more than because they want to. 
  

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What the hell? I didn't even know we had Pryor... how in the blue hell did I not know this.

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What the hell? I didn't even know we had Pryor... how in the blue hell did I not know this.

He was cut after the first round of cuts and was injured. We immediately placed him on IR and he’s been hiding there ever since

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What the hell? I didn't even know we had Pryor... how in the blue hell did I not know this.

He was cut after the first round of cuts and was injured. We immediately placed him on IR and he’s been hiding there ever since

There is only one round of cuts.

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He was cut after the first round of cuts and was injured. We immediately placed him on IR and he’s been hiding there ever since

There is only one round of cuts.

Yet again...

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Your beliefs become your thoughts,
Your thoughts become your words,
Your words become your actions,
Your actions become your habits,
Your habits become your values,
Your values become your destiny.

There is only one round of cuts.

Yet again...

What is that?

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... We're one of the few teams who maximize on a TE's ability to block first and being the most important skillset. When we do use our TE's as pass catchers it's used pretty sparingly. Usually a dump off option if the play isn't there. Or when we take advantage of Mercedes Lewis and his height advantage. London game being an exception because no one on the Ravens gameplanned Lewis actually catching a pass and just rolled with the hot hand. We had Julius Thomas under Hackett and it made no difference in how we utilized him. We could probably have Gronk and Kelce here and they would block most of the season. Probably the main reason why we let Julius go. They knew they couldn't use him to block.

I disagree completely.

A few important points regarding your post:

• Julius Thomas was only active for two games under Hackett and Hackett was running Olson's playbook- Bad example
  
• The Marrone/Hackett offense uses a two TE set fairly often and one of those two TEs will often throw a chip block and then leak out as a receiving option. This is where Rivera can excel beyond what Koyack and O'Shaugnessy offer.  Usually in these plays one TE is a dedicated blocker and the other is not.  Marcedes and Rivera make a good duo for this because while they excel more at one skill than the other they can both execute blocking and receiving tasks well enough to interchange at times.
  
• The way they've used Marcedes thus far despite him having notoriously bad hands should tell you how off base you are with the Kelce/Gronk remark. 
  
• They've actually attempted two deep seam routes to #89 this season, BTW.  I'm sure they'd rather be throwing those to Rivera and calling them more often. 
  
• They are using the TEs to block because they have to, more than because they want to. 
  

Julius is still a more proven pass catching TE than anyone on the roster now (including Lewis as of the past however many seasons). Even if Hackett was using Olson's playbook then the team could've easily found a way to incorporate him into the offense more productively this year using his own playbook, correct? If what you're saying is the case then they could've made him look like the Julius of Denver again. It just wasn't necessary here so why keep him around?  

It's just like you said. Mainly to block and chip block which is what we've been doing. Highlighting the blocking aspect here. We'll have Lewis block and you'll a TE or FB just roll out in the flats for a checkdown. Not something you're utilizing down the field in this system. 

And that's the thing you're talking a few plays here in the stretch of 7 games. That's not a good argument. Neither is being presumptuous enough to say what plays we would be calling with Rivera here. He's done nothing here yet. Based on what we've seen and how comfortable they were at the position going into the season I think the TE game here is more focused on assisting the run. *shrug*

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Yet again...

What is that?

There's several rounds of cuts. You constantly post aimlessly, without merit and somehow are allowed to continue.

---

Your beliefs become your thoughts,
Your thoughts become your words,
Your words become your actions,
Your actions become your habits,
Your habits become your values,
Your values become your destiny.

I disagree completely.

A few important points regarding your post:

• Julius Thomas was only active for two games under Hackett and Hackett was running Olson's playbook- Bad example
  
• The Marrone/Hackett offense uses a two TE set fairly often and one of those two TEs will often throw a chip block and then leak out as a receiving option. This is where Rivera can excel beyond what Koyack and O'Shaugnessy offer.  Usually in these plays one TE is a dedicated blocker and the other is not.  Marcedes and Rivera make a good duo for this because while they excel more at one skill than the other they can both execute blocking and receiving tasks well enough to interchange at times.
  
• The way they've used Marcedes thus far despite him having notoriously bad hands should tell you how off base you are with the Kelce/Gronk remark. 
  
• They've actually attempted two deep seam routes to #89 this season, BTW.  I'm sure they'd rather be throwing those to Rivera and calling them more often. 
  
• They are using the TEs to block because they have to, more than because they want to. 
  

Julius is still a more proven pass catching TE than anyone on the roster now (including Lewis as of the past however many seasons). Even if Hackett was using Olson's playbook then the team could've easily found a way to incorporate him into the offense more productively this year using his own playbook, correct? If what you're saying is the case then they could've made him look like the Julius of Denver again. It just wasn't necessary here so why keep him around?  

It's just like you said. Mainly to block and chip block which is what we've been doing. Highlighting the blocking aspect here. We'll have Lewis block and you'll a TE or FB just roll out in the flats for a checkdown. Not something you're utilizing down the field in this system. 

And that's the thing you're talking a few plays here in the stretch of 7 games. That's not a good argument. Neither is being presumptuous enough to say what plays we would be calling with Rivera here. He's done nothing here yet. Based on what we've seen and how comfortable they were at the position going into the season I think the TE game here is more focused on assisting the run. *shrug*

The Thomas thing is too ridiculous. I can't bother. Hackett had him for two games and he'd underperformed his entire tenure as a Jag prior.  Terrible example. Has no bearing on current situation. 

You are just speculating that IF they had a true receiving TE they still wouldn't use him as such. Again - I think that's ridiculous. 

No - I'm not talking about a few plays. Marcedes is averaging 3 targets per game and he is NOT a receiving TE. 
Rivera is a receiving TE. 
Marrone went on about the difference between the two types of TEs in an offseason presser. 
It stands to reason that if they actually had a receiving TE, they'd be targeting him more than they have Lewis.

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Julius is still a more proven pass catching TE than anyone on the roster now (including Lewis as of the past however many seasons). Even if Hackett was using Olson's playbook then the team could've easily found a way to incorporate him into the offense more productively this year using his own playbook, correct? If what you're saying is the case then they could've made him look like the Julius of Denver again. It just wasn't necessary here so why keep him around?  

It's just like you said. Mainly to block and chip block which is what we've been doing. Highlighting the blocking aspect here. We'll have Lewis block and you'll a TE or FB just roll out in the flats for a checkdown. Not something you're utilizing down the field in this system. 

And that's the thing you're talking a few plays here in the stretch of 7 games. That's not a good argument. Neither is being presumptuous enough to say what plays we would be calling with Rivera here. He's done nothing here yet. Based on what we've seen and how comfortable they were at the position going into the season I think the TE game here is more focused on assisting the run. *shrug*

The Thomas thing is too ridiculous. I can't bother. Hackett had him for two games and he'd underperformed his entire tenure as a Jag prior.  Terrible example. Has no bearing on current situation. 

You are just speculating that IF they had a true receiving TE they still wouldn't use him as such. Again - I think that's ridiculous. 

No - I'm not talking about a few plays. Marcedes is averaging 3 targets per game and he is NOT a receiving TE. 
Rivera is a receiving TE. 
Marrone went on about the difference between the two types of TEs in an offseason presser. 
It stands to reason that if they actually had a receiving TE, they'd be targeting him more than they have Lewis.

His entire tenure? You mean the whole 2 years? lol. The Thomas thing is not ridiculous. He is ultimately a pass catching tight end and superior in that category to anything we have on the roster right now. If we felt we could use him more efficiently we could have retained him in this system. It wasn't necessary and he can't block. He couldn't stay healthy either but he just didn't fit in here to keep around.  

I'm not saying they wouldn't use a true receiving TE. I just don't think it's a big deal to them with what they're doing. I mean if it was they would've gotten some other proven commodity through FA, draft or trade or at least kept Julius. Rivera hasn't done squat here. He may never even play for us. 

If you're incorporating a passing TE then you aren't throwing the ball to Lewis. O'Shauhnessy/Koyack are the guys you'd be throwing it to. Not the slowest TE on the team. To me that's just borderline trickery. Honestly, if Rivera wasn't on IR I didn't think he would even make the team over Koyack, tbh. 3 targets a game is not a lot, either. Compare that to how many times the TE's are blocking in the game. Based on what's been shown that's just the way it seems right now to me in where the importance truly lies in what we're doing.

But you can argue it both ways, I guess.

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