Yardbarker: Gary Stills

Rams Vote For Captains, Sign Players

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 07:46:39 -0500

The Rams reduced the number of team captains from nine to five yesterday and then voted for five players to serve in that role. On offense, Marc Bulger and receiver Torry Holt are captains while Will Witherspoon and Corey Chavous will lead the defense. Safety Todd Johnson has been elected the captain of the special teams. Off the field, the Rams signed cornerback Ricky Manning and came to terms with linebacker Gary Stills. Manning arrived in St. Louis from Chicago after being cut by the Bears. Stills was released by Baltimore where he excelled on special teams. To make room on the roster for Manning, the Rams released defensive back Eric Bassey. An additional player will be released in order to make room for Stills.

St. Louis Rams Sign Gary Stills

Mon, 01 Sep 2008 23:52:29 -0500

The St. Louis Rams agreed to sign Gary Stills to their roster to anchor their special teams. Gary Stills has played in the NFL for 9 years and is 34 years old. This is another solid move by Al Saunders and the St. Louis Rams. Stills has played 16 games, six straight years. Like the [...]

St. Louis Rams Sign Gary Stills

Mon, 01 Sep 2008 23:52:29 -0500

Ravens Trim Down to Final Roster

Sun, 31 Aug 2008 13:31:07 -0500

There were some surprises in the Ravens final round of cuts, but the most surprising were on the defensive side of the ball, and several preseason standouts at cornerback and linebacker were released yesterday. Among the surprises were linebacker and special teams standout Gary Stills and cornerback

Ravens Trim Down to Final Roster

Sun, 31 Aug 2008 13:31:07 -0500

Taking a Look at the Breakdown of the Ravens Roster

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 22:24:42 -0500

The Ravens cut down to the 75-man limit is relatively painless since only five players are dismissed from the 80-man active roster. It is the next roster cut by this Saturday that involves twenty-two players that is very painful. The following is one man's opinion on the final makeup of the 53-man squad: QUARTERBACKS (3) John Beck, Joe Flacco, Troy Smith (with Kyle Boller on injured reserve) RUNNING BACKS (6) Le'Ron McClain, Willis McGahee, Lorenzo Neal, Allen Patrick, Ray Rice, Corey Ivy (with PJ Daniels on injured reserve) WIDE RECEIVERS (5) Mark Clayton, Yamon Figurs, Derrick Mason, Marcus Smith, Demetrius Williams OFFENSIVE LINEMAN (8) Jason Brown, Chris Chester, Oniel Cousins, Jared Gaither, Ben Grubbs, Mike Kracalik, Adam Terry, Marshal Yanda TIGHT ENDS (3) Adam Bergen, Todd Heap, Daniel Wilcox (with Quinn Sypniewski on injured reserve) DEFENSIVE LINEMAN (6) Justin Bannan, Marques Douglas, Amon Gordon, Kelly Gregg, Haloti Ngata, Trevor Price (with Dwan Edwards on injured reserve) LINEBACKERS (9) Brendon Ayanbadejo, Antwan Barnes, Tavares Gooden, Nick Greisen, Jarret Johnson, Ray Lewis, Bart Scott, Gary Stills, Terrell Suggs (with Prescott Burgess on injured reserve) DEFENSIVE BACKS (10) Corey Ivy, Dawan Landry, Jim Leonhard, Derrick Martin, Chris McAlister, Haruki Nakamura, Ed Reed, Samari Rolle, Fabian Washington, Tom Zbikowski KICKING TEAM (3) Matt Katula, Sam Koch, Matt Stover

Ravens v. Patriots Recap - Preseason Week 1

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 02:19:59 -0500

The Ravens and Patriots met in Foxboro tonight for a preseason matchup, and it was not pretty. The Ravens technically won 16-15.

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For the Patriots, Brady and Moss sat, along with other starters. The Ravens sat McGahee and others. Kyle Boller got the start for the Ravens, followed by Troy Smith and finally a brief appearance by first-round draft pick Joe Flacco.

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Boller, the Eternal Rookie, started brilliantly, hitting Derrick Mason a few times and threading some beautiful passes. Then the Pats got to him. He fumbled the first time he was hit, as is his habit. He later threw an interception where the only doubt was whether the two Patriots defenders blanketing the intended receiver could decide which one of them was going to take it. Stop me if you've heard this one before.

Troy Smith played the middle 30-35 minutes of the game, and generally made great decisions with the ball. His biggest failing was in making accurate throws, which shouldn't be surprising since Cam Cameron has tried to tweak his mechanics to allow him to throw the ball more quickly. On some throws he confidently strode and hit his receivers. On others he missed by yards.

Joe Flacco made a pretty good case for worst professional debut of all time. His first snap and pass should have been picked off. His second snap resulted in a lost fumble. He ended the game 0 for 3 with a lost fumble, and none of the three passes were close to complete.

bblahlahblah The Skins are so good at LB they gave up on Robert McCune

There were highlights for the Ravens though. New free agent acquisition Fabian Washington, a CB and former Raiders first round pick, had two interceptions. Free agent acquisition Brendon Ayanbadejo (the second Ayanbadejo in Ravens history) knocked down a two-point conversion attempt that would have given the Pats the lead in the 4th quarter. Ray Rice looked serviceable, though with a weak two yards per carry.

The Ravens defense was, of course, excellent. Ronnie Prude is trying to keep his spot on the team, after his excellent campaign two years ago was tempered quite a bit by his disappearing act last season. The Ravens have a glut of linebackers, with Ray Lewis, Bart Scott and Brandon Ayanbadejo solidly entrenched. Last year's draft pick Prescott Burgess would seem safe, as would Ray Lewis' backup Nick Griesen. Gary Stills is a Pro Bowler on special teams. That leaves quite a backlog for Antwan Barnes (also a 2007 draft pick), oft-injured Dan Cody, Edgar Jones, and my personal favorite, Robert McCune. McCune appeared to be everywhere tonight.

Yamon Figurs, though, stole the show for the Ravens. He had a 52-yard punt return that ended when he carelessly stepped out of bounds at the two. Later he had a 48-yard kick return. He looks like a totally different returner than the rookie who ended his season with a broken leg last year. Special teams were good all-around for the Ravens, who got two field goals from Stover and a third from potential kickoff specialist Piotr Czech. Coverage was excellent, as returners were stopped inside the 20 on at least three occasions.

The Patriots hardly seemed as though they were trying. QB Matt Cassel looked absolutely putrid. His replacement, Matt Guittierez, was better. He took a few sacks though and threw one of the Fabian Washington picks. The last QB, UFA rookie Kevin O'Connell from San Diego State, made poor throws but looked good scrambling.

The bright spots for the Pats (other than the fact they trotted out almost entire backups) were running back and Maryland alum Lamont Jordan and rookie LB out of Michigan Shawn Crable. Crable had an interception. Jordan had some excellent runs and looked quite shifty. His size makes him a great change of pace to Maroney.

I guess the story of the night were the Raiders' cast-offs, Jordan and Washington. Well, them and the fact that the Ravens probably really wanted to win and the Pats are just biding time til they can start the divisional round of the playoffs in January 2009.

Ravens Week 10 - Broken

Tue, 13 Nov 2007 15:45:23 -0500

The saying goes, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." But what if it is broke? As an official homeowner for 4 full months, I've had to learn to deal with many of these daily dilemmas. Take this past Saturday, my first weekend at home in more than a month. I fixed a towel rack, a vacuum, a smoke detector and a light bulb. Well I guess you don't actually fix a light bulb, you replace it, but I was rather proud of my man-of-the-house accomplishments and technically, the light wasn't working (i.e broken) and I took care of it (i.e. fixed it). In any case, the ability to deal with such problems leads me to Sunday's game and what used to be the AFC North Champion Baltimore Ravens. The team appears to be broken. Not mentally, not yet at least, but for some reason they just don't seem to be working right. Fumbles, false starts and just plain ugly football have left the team winless since mid-October. Brian Billick, in his press conference following the game, admitted that he was frustrated. Probably because he can't seem to figure out who broke his 13-3 team from 2006. It was working just fine, that is until the clock struck 2007. It's not the batteries, as Ray Lewis' motor never seems to stop. It's not the parts, as Pro Bowlers fill the roster on both sides of the ball. And as far as I know, no one has been recalled back to the plant, or in this case, the "U". So what could it be? According to this week's Wired Raven, Gary Stills, "There's a dark cloud hanging over us." Although Stills can't be serious, it would explain a lot. Take, for instance, the pre-game flyover. The C-130J cargo-style planes (I know, usually they're fighter jets, but Navy apparently used up the entire fleet during their 74 point explosion at North Texas) seemed to cautiously creep along from one side of the stadium to the other, as if they were trying to avoid a storm cloud hanging overhead. The pilots may have also been aware that the stage was not solely theirs on Sunday as a live video feed from Iraq was transmitted into the stadium just moments before kickoff. A Maryland Army National Guard unit that call themselves "Task Force Ravens" pre-empted the singing of the national anthem and then introduced the Ravens, with Derrick Mason carrying the American flag as the lead horse leaving the stable. Some of the soldiers on screen gave shout outs to specific sections of the stands before giving one final salute as the slightly less important battle in Baltimore began. It's hard to put into words what followed, but a blogger's got to do what a blogger's got to do. So here it goes (courtesy of Thesaurus.com): burst, busted, collapsed, cracked, crippled, crumbled, crushed, damaged, defective, demolished, disintegrated, dismembered, fractured, fragmentary, fragmented, hurt, injured, mangled, mutilated, pulverized, rent, riven, ruptured, separated, severed, shattered, shivered, shredded, slivered, smashed, split. Maybe I should have just stuck with 'broken', although 'riven' is new to my vocabulary and its similarity to the name of our feathered friends could be useful in the future. But back to being broken. On a third and goal just before halftime, Steve McNair tried to find Todd Heap in the end zone for a go ahead touchdown. Unfortunately the ball was tipped and caught by a Bengal instead. Under similar circumstances, the same thing happened on opening night when Kyle Boller tried to find Heap for a score but was awarded an INT when a Cincinnati defender wound up with a deflected pass. Well, at least we've pinpointed the problem. Although the fortuitous bounce did seem to break the spirit of the sold-out crowd and the scant few following the game from the sidelines. (A clear indication of where the Ravens rank in the NFL was that the media presence on the field seemed to be limited to one NFL Films cameraman and the CBS crew covering the game, although they only lasted into the third quarter – see below.) The team wasn't the only defective part on the field on Sunday. Apparently unwilling to continue recording sub-standard football, the camera cart that drives along the sidelines broke down near the south end zone in the third quarter. The crew tried to fix it and at one point I actually saw them taking a rubber hammer to the side of the cart. Now I'm still limited to towel racks and light bulbs, but that can't work, could it? Maybe if there was a dent that they were trying to bang out, but when a vehicle ceases the ability to move, a rubber hammer cannot be the answer. It was unfortunate for the network, because all of the action during the next 15 minutes seemed to take place on the other side of the field. Four fumbles followed by four field goals without ever crossing the fifty seemed to put the game out of reach. At that point, the crowd began showing signs that they too were shattered, or maybe shivered, perhaps riven? Okay, that was forced, but the hometown fans did begin to boo during the second half. After being on the road for the last two games, we've become used to the boo birds, but I didn't realize they had flown in for the weekend. A cheer did rise up from those still left in the building when Kyle Boller hit Mark Clayton for a 48-yard pass late in the fourth quarter. Thus proving that the way to fix the quarterback, just like a light bulb, is to replace rather than repair. Okay, that's a bit of a stretch as Kyle added an interception of his own to the six total turnovers, but his near-scoring strike at least seemed to fix the fans for a moment. After the game came to a close, the press conference was eerily silent as even the microphones at the podium appeared to be, well, broken. Billick's words to the press were barely audible and none of the Ravens players even made it into the interview room. So where does that leave us? How do we fix this? What do we do now, Trip?! (Meatballs reference for those scrolling back up looking to see who 'Trip' was.) The answer isn't easy. It's not as simple as a change of batteries. There are no replacement parts available. Will Ferrell has moved on to basketball season (see below). And I'm pretty sure the rubber hammer won't work on these guys. All we can do to salvage the season is reboot, regroup and return to the stadium next Sunday for a date with Derek Anderson and the Cleveland Browns. The season is on the line; it's time to get sweaty (again, see below); it's time to go for broke.

Is Jonathan Ogden's career over?

Wed, 12 Sep 2007 16:47:25 -0500

Also, read who missed practice today in Baltimore: four big-time names, two each on offense and defense.