OTL: Reduced to Reading Tea Leaves

Hello and good afternoon, Ravens Flock! It is another beautiful Wednesday and the social media accounts for everything Baltimore Ravens are running as rampant as ever with speculation and interviews! It’s hard to keep up with it all, but I am here to catch you up on everything you need to know is going on with this edition of Out to Lunch.

Let’s dive into the Twitter-verse and see everything that is going on…

We have covered JK Dobbins’ frustrations with not getting enough work against the Bengals Sunday night, especially in the red zone, but this clip truly shows how frustrated Dobbins is over the whole thing:

Man I have so much respect for J.K. Dobbins pic.twitter.com/Fd2EdQtzAK

— The Ravens Realm (@RealmRavens) January 16, 2023

It almost looks like Dobbins is holding back tears and that speaks to his passion for the game and for winning. You can hear in his voice the irritation he has about his role with the team currently and no one can blame him for it.

The question is, has his lack of usage started to make him believe he would be better off with a trade to a new team that won’t be afraid to give him the rock?

Dobbins put out a somewhat cryptic tweet yesterday morning that has fans in a stir…

#RavensFlock i love you… you always have my back and that means the world to me!

— Jk dobbins (@Jkdobbins22) January 17, 2023

Perhaps Dobbins is simply showing his love after Ravens Flock has universally called out the team for his lack of usage. Perhaps he is saying thank you and goodbye… It’s all hard to tell what’s going on here if we try to read to deep into it. The best we can do for now is believe that he is simply showing gratitude to the fans and hope that’s all it is…

On the topic of cryptic social media posts, Lamar Jackson was quite active on his Instagram yesterday with three specific pics added to his story:

Cryptic posts on Instagram by @Lj_era8 #LamarJackson #ravens pic.twitter.com/11H7gLtXuw

— Laura Perrot (@LauraCPerrot) January 17, 2023

The pictures! What do they mean?! Is this Jackson’s way of telling us that he isn’t going anywhere and that he is reaching an extension soon? Who knows, but it certainly had Ravens Flock going crazy all day. With the team holding a press conference on Thursday we may be in for some great news, whether it’s in regard to Jackson’s status or Greg Roman’s.

On the topic of Lamar Jackson, is anyone else sick of these narratives about him being a bad teammate or that he’s selfish or anything else that we’ve been seeing about Jackson’s personality? I know that I am and Robert Griffin III also appears to be sick of it.

Lamar Jackson didn’t play BECAUSE HE WAS INJURED.
He didn’t travel BECAUSE HE WAS SICK.
Those are the facts from inside the Organization.

Stop misrepresenting the situation to push false narratives. pic.twitter.com/1kJbAzxPBm

— Robert Griffin III (@RGIII) January 17, 2023

I find it funny that everyone here keeps talking over RGIII while he’s trying to explain his point as if Griffin isn’t the most qualified person to speak on this considering he a.) was once forced to play a playoff game on an injured knee and b.) is Jackson’s former teammate and is constant contact with him and the organization.

Griffin isn’t alone in his support thankfully, as all of Jackson’s teammates appear to be fully on his side and back the one-time league MVP.

It’s very clear that the Ravens’ locker room has the back of Lamar Jackson and wants him to be in Baltimore for a long time

Multiple players expressed their desire for him to stay with the team long-term

— Kevin Oestreicher (@koestreicher34) January 17, 2023

The Baltimore Ravens have now been a franchise for 27 years and during that time we have enjoyed quite a bit of success. Here it is broken down by every nine seasons:

The Ravens have been in existence for 27 years. So if we break it down into 3 9 year periods

1996-2004
Record 72-71-1
Playoff record 5-2
1 SB won

2005-2013
Record 86-58
Playoff record 9-5
1 SB won
2 AFC Championship App

2014-2022
Record 85-61
Playoff record 2-5

— Brian (@Bmore_Sports8) January 18, 2023

It’s remarkable to see the team won a Super Bowl in the first third of the team’s existence in spite of being just a single game over .500, while the success from 2005-2013 was beyond substantial and yielded another title. But although the Ravens had tons of success from 2014-2022, winning just one fewer game than they did previously, they went just 2-5 in the playoffs. Unfortunately, those are the wins that matter, and they simply aren’t there for the Ravens.

Did the Ghetto Gronk Twitter page just perfectly explain the cycle that the Baltimore Ravens g through every year?

Baltimore Ravens cycle pic.twitter.com/nFUxbobmer

— GhettoGronk (@TheGhettoGronk) January 16, 2023

I’m just saying that for a meme account, this feels pretty spot on.

Until next time, Ravens Flock, have a great rest of your week and make sure you tune in to the team’s press conference on Thursday!

Perhaps we will have Jackson extended or Greg Roman relieved of his duties or maybe even better news!

The post OTL: Reduced to Reading Tea Leaves appeared first on Russell Street Report.

Source: https://russellstreetreport.com/2023/01/18/out-to-lunch/otl-reduced-to-reading-tea-leaves/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=otl-reduced-to-reading-tea-leaves