After triumphing in Super Bowl XLVII last month, the Ravens are giving back to the city of New Orleans.

Owner Steve Bisciotti purchased and donated two 2013 Harley Davidson FLHP motorcycles for the New Orleans Police Department traffic division. The gifts were presented to mayor Mitch Landrieu and police superintendent Ronal Serpas during a Wednesday morning press conference in New Orleans.

The gift was a show of gratitude for the services provided by the city during the Ravens’ stay in New Orleans the week leading up to Super Bowl Sunday on Feb. 3. Throughout the duration of their stay, the Ravens received police escorts, 24-hour security, and outstanding community support, according to a team release.

“We wanted to do something to show our appreciation for how well our team, our families, and our fans were treated by everyone representing New Orleans,” Bisciotti said in a team statement. “Every place we went, the good people of New Orleans treated us with kindness and tremendous service — across the board. It started in our team hotel, continued with the police, and included many in the hospitality industry. The people of New Orleans were great.”

Pro Bowl return specialist and New Orleans native Jacoby Jones was in attendance to present the gift on behalf of the organization.

If not for teammate Joe Flacco, who threw for three first-half touchdowns in the win over the San Francisco 49ers, Jones would have likely been named Super Bowl MVP after accumulating a Super Bowl-best 290 combined yards. Jones caught a 56-yard touchdown pass right before halftime and opened the second half with a 108-yard kickoff return for a touchdown, which tied for the longest return in NFL history.

“I always talk to my teammates about southern hospitality, and the fact that it was on display enough during our Super Bowl week to have the Ravens donate something to the great people of New Orleans is special,” Jones stated. “Winning the world championship in my hometown and then being able to do something to help the people who protect it is a great feeling.”

The Ravens also took out a full-page ad in the New Orleans Times-Picayune offering thanks to the city and its hospitality.

These gestures aren’t typical of Super Bowl teams in past seasons, but it’s the latest example of the class epitomized by owner Steve Bisciotti and his organization.

“Our officers who assisted the Ravens last month truly enjoyed being of service to this team and this organization,” Serpas said. “It was an exciting opportunity, and this department was honored to be a part of it. These motorcycles are custom-made for the NOPD and are a lasting gift, as they’ll help in our efforts to keep the people of New Orleans safe for many years to come. We can’t thank the Ravens organization enough for their generosity.”

Despite a power outage at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome lasting more than 30 minutes early in the second half, Baltimore prevailed 34-31 to win its second Super Bowl title.

You guys let him do it again.

I joked with CBS Sports’ Pete Prisco during a sitdown at the NFL Scouting Combine last weekend in Indianapolis that he does a marvelous job of getting everyone in Baltimore fired up every time he says something about the Ravens.

Prisco has been a catalyst of controversy in this town for years no matter what he says about the Ravens. As little as one Tweet can light the fanbase on fire, which is odd considering his not terribly lofty spot in the pantheon of NFL analysts around the country. From the handful of conversations I’ve had with Pete both on-air and off-air, he’s not the type that purposely says something to get a rise out of anyone. He does however have no issue with going toe to toe with anyone who doesn’t share his opinions.

It happened again Saturday night.

It started when CBS Sports columnist Mike Freeman posted this story in response to Ravens QB Joe Flacco’s 6 year, $120.6 million contract agreement.

Immediately Prisco took the opportunity to respond, wandering over to Twitter to share his thoughts.

Ravens fans were quick to go into full “freak out and yell ‘TROLL’ as loud as possible mode”. It was a typical back and forth I’ve seen over and over again in the past few seasons. “If you overstate something, I’ll overstate it louder and with more name calling.”

It’s a relevant, timely question. Are the Ravens set up for a dynasty after locking up Joe Flacco longterm in Baltimore?

Sorry Mike Freeman, but probably not.

And sorry Pete Prisco, but maybe.

The truth (as always) is somewhere in the middle. In this particular discussion, the pendulum is pointed more in the direction of Prisco, as history reminds us that dynasties are rare.

I’ve always considered a dynasty to be a stretch of five years where a team wins at least three titles-two of which were won consecutively. Based on that definition, the list of NFL dynasties is quite short. The Pittsburgh Steelers were a dynasty in the late 70′s, the Dallas Cowboys were a dynasty in the mid-90′s and the New England Patriots were a dynasty in the early 2000′s. That’s the list.

The probably of a franchise-any franchise-being able to pull off such a feat is small. Prisco is hardly stepping out on any sort of ledge when he declares “no way”. Freeman argues that the Ravens’ combination of quarterback, head coach and front office is the reason to believe they could be on their way to such heights.

Of course, simply locking up a quarterback is not enough to assume it will happen. The Indianapolis Colts invested nine figures worth of money in Peyton Manning and have one Vince Lombardi Trophy to show for it.

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The Ravens and their fans find themselves in the awkward, yet fortunate, position of trying to celebrate the achievements of last year’s team for all that they accomplished, while also turning one eye toward the future and figuring out what types of adjustments will be necessary to remain competitive and to possibly make another Super Bowl run. So far, all of that talk has seemingly begun and ended with the speculation about Joe Flacco’s contract. Until that matter is resolved, the Ravens will have a tough time making any other decisions about their future, as the salary cap is wholly undetermined until that time.

Reflection on the convergence of circumstances that led to the Ravens improbable playoff run and Super Bowl victory would be difficult to believe if we hadn’t witnessed it with our own eyes. For all of the tremendous and heart wrenching storylines that unfolded around the team, it was a difficult decision made at a difficult time that seemed to have the biggest impact on the team’s ultimate success. Parting company with long time Offensive Coordinator Cam Cameron, and replacing him with Quarterbacks Coach Jim Caldwell was likely the biggest of the numerous catalysts to the Ravens success.

Since that time, Cameron has probably shouldered an unfair amount of the blame. It’s tough to indict Cameron’s offense as the cause of all of the Ravens problems without at least giving him some credit for the foundation he built under those guys. And Caldwell has probably gotten an overstated amount of credit too. It’s unlikely that whatever it was that the Ravens were lacking under Cameron, was taught to them by Caldwell in just about 2 ½ weeks before crunch time was upon them. Make no mistake though, without the change being made, the season probably plays out much differently and the Ravens probably aren’t the Super Bowl champions.

What we have seen from the Caldwell led offense has been enough to have fans giddy with anticipation over what next year might be for this offense. It also has to have the Ravens concerned about the potential of their OC being a lame duck.

John Harbaugh’s ride as Ravens Head Coach has been an interesting one to say the least. As a former Special Teams Coordinator, Harbaugh is typically (and unfairly) seen as a master of neither offense nor defense. Therefore, when fans have praise or criticism to dole out on one side of the ball or the other, it usually bypasses the Head Coach and falls directly to his coordinators. This has been (mostly) a convenient position for Harbaugh.

One thing that can’t be denied is that Harbaugh’s confidence has outpaced his experience since his arrival in Baltimore and has been an essential part of his success as well. While most guys given head coaching opportunities, for the first time ever, at the NFL level have seemed to go out of their way to clear out any coaches from their supporting staff with NFL head coaching experience, Harbaugh has embraced these types.

In his first season as Head Coach, Harbaugh’s staff featured Cameron, vanquished from Miami, Jim Zorn, fresh off a head coaching stint with the Redskins, and Rex Ryan, with whom he competed for the Ravens top job. In business, top managers and CEOs have been called wise for embracing a willingness to surround themselves with people smarter than themselves in the areas that those people are hired to preside over. Harbaugh has done this at the NFL level and done it successfully. Welcoming Jim Caldwell as QB Coach last season was further evidence of that philosophy.

Another aspect of the Ravens success, one that precedes Harbaugh, on the defensive side of the ball has been the practice of promoting from within. The downside of dominant defense has been the tendency of other teams to scalp defensive coaches from the Ravens. The lineage of Ravens Defensive Coordinators, going back to Marvin Lewis, has always entailed replacing the departing coach with someone already on staff and already familiar with the language, tendencies and philosophies that made the last coach successful. The Ravens would do well to make that happen on the offense too. The question becomes whether or not that candidate is already on staff.

Make no mistake about it; with his influence over the Ravens post-season run, Jim Caldwell has made himself a hot commodity once again. It’d be fair to suggest that Caldwell is already at the top of most head coaching wish lists for 2014. Couple that with “Rooney Rule” requirements and the vocal disappointment of the league over no opportunities given to minority head coaches this year, and Caldwell is all but gone barring an offensive catastrophe for the Ravens in 2013.

So while the Ravens haven’t always felt compelled to have a QB coach on staff, it would seem imperative not only to find one for 2013, but moreover to find one that they’d feel comfortable grooming to succeed Caldwell when he likely rides off into the sunset for a head coaching gig after next season.

Obviously when setting the tone for the Ravens’ off-season, everything takes a back seat to resolving the Joe Flacco contract situation. The importance thereof is only magnified by the realization that there are so many questions still to be answered, so many decisions still to be made; but until the Ravens know for sure what their quarterback’s financial future may hold, everything else is essentially on hold. That however doesn’t diminish the fact that there are important decisions outside the QB position to be made before the Ravens begin their title defense and prepare for the 2013 campaign.

Conceding that the importance of Flacco’s deal is paramount to everything else, here are the next 5 major points of consideration for the Ravens to deal with this off-season in order to have hopes of a 6^th straight post-season trip.

#1 – Suring Up the Left Tackle Situation

If Flacco was the biggest difference maker for the Ravens in the playoffs, then further investigation is merited in determining what helped him turn his season, and his reputation, around. For my money, it began with the offensive line. After a season in the proverbial “dog house” Bryant McKinnie was finally given a chance to show and prove, and from there the offense never seemed to look back.

In the lead up to the Broncos game, no one seemed to have any concerns about the Denver secondary. Hindsight might suggest that to have been a result of the constant quarterback pressure the Broncos were able to count on from Von Miller and Elvis Dumervil. Without that pressure however, the Ravens found and readily exploited cracks in the Broncos secondary that no one seemed to know were there in the first place.

McKinnie and the Ravens began this season on unceremonious terms, and pretty much kept things that way until the end. Having proven his value, albeit over a 4-game stretch, there’s still no real assurance that the Ravens will or should trust McKinneie enough to agree to terms on a multi-year deal. On the other side of that coin, there’s no good reason to think McKinnie will feel any special brand of loyalty to the Ravens when others come calling on the open market.

What’s undeniable about the whole episode is that by replacing Michael Oher with McKinnie at LT, the Ravens were able to move Oher to his natural RT position where he represented an improvement over Kelechi Osemele. Osemele then moved to the LG position that the Ravens struggled to find an answer for all season too. This three-fold improvement made the Ravens line exponentially better; and no matter how they address LT going forward, any “solution” involving moving Oher and Osemele back to the positions they played for the majority of 2012 has to be considered multiple steps backward.

#2 – Replacing Jim Caldwell

Continuing with the theme of what was different for the Ravens offense at the end, the departure of Cam Cameron and the elevation of Jim Caldwell to the offensive coordinator position would seem to be the other major factor. The performance of Caldwell’s offense has been celebrated widely within the fan base, and certainly hasn’t been lost on the league at large either.

In an off-season where everyone seems dissatisfied with the impact of the Rooney Rule and the lack of minority hires made in filling head coaching vacancies, Caldwell will all but surely be a hot head coaching candidate at the end of next season. Even getting to the Super Bowl again, and therefore delaying the process for teams interested in Caldwell might not be enough to slow his roll.

In what looks to be a lame duck season for Caldwell with the Ravens, it’s important to figure out if the next guy in line is someone already on staff, or how the team can look to groom a next guy in line, potentially by hiring him as a quarterback coach / OC in waiting.

It has been a week. What just happened Baltimore? I’ll tell you what happened, the Baltimore Ravens losers of their last 4 out of 5 regular season games put on an inspirational run to win the NFL Lombardi Trophy. Is it time to get off the ride? Heck no, the city and surrounding area actually has claim to another National championship in a major sport. It has been 12 years and you don’t know when it will happen again – no you don’t get off the ride. Now, does the roller coaster level out? I sure hope so. That was one heckuva January run. I am not a fan of the roller coaster, not at this stage of the game. I’m to old, my heart can’t take it. Now, back in the day…………….different story, maybe that’s why my heart and blood pressure tells me,” cool out middle aged guy – just sit back and let the chips fall where they may.” Yeah right – not happenin’.

The Baltimore football Ravens took their fans on a ride of a lifetime. All the while catching the eye of sports fans around the country. Underdogs over-achieving, was story line enough. Then add on the Ray Lewis’ retirement. Then add on Ray-Rays religious dramatizations (and the Saturday Night Live skit http://www.myspace.com/video/saturday-night-live/weekend-update-ray-lewis/109174459 ). You go Keenan Thompson. Then to top it off, add on the sibling rivalry of the Harbaugh Brothers coaching against each other in the Super Bowl. “O” and don’t forget the Denver Classic and the dis-mantling of pretty boy Brady and his troll coach Bill Belichek.

The run, I mean the ride. I was lucky enough to be offered a ticket to the Colt game. The Ravens were not going to lose that game. Ray-Ray had announced his retirement during the week and it was going to be his last home game – the Ravens were not losing that game. Las Vegas money, Steve Bisciotti’s money and the NFL’s money was not going to end Ray-Rays run on that game. It was not going to be his last dance. It was an ugly game but they won. Denver game – wow, then wow, then wow again. Definitely one of the top 3 Ravens games of all time. New England game – sweet payback and no retirement party for Ray. San Francisco in New Orleans – hold the phone.

The ride had a couple more heart stoppers left in it. Heck at one point, it even felt like somebody had turned off the lights and play had to be stopped. Ravens up 28 – 6, the tide was a crestin’, 3rd and 14 for the bad guys and ”Boom, Boom, Out Go the Lights – Pat Travers Band. Ok gang, I actually have a little experience with this one – Rule #1, Electrical Engineering for Stadiums 101 – “You don’t lose power to the venue – unless there is a major city grid outage.” Two separate hot feeds to the venue with transfer and generator back-up for life safety. I do not know the history or infrastructure of the Super(?)dome, but somebody screwed up big time. Or a 49er’s fan, got access to the Substation or the Service Level and knew what switch to hit.

It almost changed the outcome of the game. I think the astronauts in the space station orbiting the earth could feel the tension emanating into the atmosphere directly above the east coast mid-atlantic region. It was not a pleasant evening there for about 1-1/2 hours there during the 3rd and 4th quarters, now was it. Still on the roller coaster, still hanging on, still hoping for a safe, happy ending. The power outage changed the momentum of the game. I don’t care what Roger Goodell said, I don’t care what Steve Bisciotti said, I don’t care what the Superdome Facility guys said, the power outage changed the game, but not the outcome. The Superdome and city of New Orleans should not host another Super Bowl until a new properly designed facility is in it’s place. The power outage was a nice final hairpin turn on the ride – it did not help the blood pressure.

Ravens Won.

Ravens Won.

A new generation now knows what it feels like for a local sports franchise to win a National Championship. The city needed it. The State of Maryland and surrounding area needed it. The Baltimore Ravens needed it and Ray Lewis deserved it. You Go Ravens!

Pitchers and cathers reported to Spring Training. Are we ready for another ride? Your darn right we are. GO O’s and Thank You - Ravens. Baltimore Sports Pride is front and center.

D.I.Y.

Fedman

You people have reached an all-time low now.

Seriously.  I thought it was bad when a quarter of the stadium cheered after Kyle Boller suffered an in-game injury, but that’s nothing compared to what we’re currently going through with regard to Joe Flacco.

Last week – and I’m sure, even more again this coming week – a bunch of you either called the show or e-mailed me to talk about Joe Flacco’s contract situation.  Somehow, as if you had been struck in the head by a two-by-four, you managed to exceed the stupidity-cap by saying stuff like this:

“Look, Flacco’s a good quarterback, but we can’t mortgage the franchise for him.”

“If Joe really wants to show what kind of teammate he is, he’ll take a little less money so the Ravens can keep some of their veterans like Kruger, Ellerbe and Cary Williams.”

“Anyone can win one Super Bowl. If Joe really wants that hundred million dollar contract, he has to do it one more time.”

All three of those calls came in to my show.  Scanning the local radio dial last week, I heard a lot more of that nonsense – and then some, as folks who can’t come to grips with the fact that Flacco is a champion just decided to say dumb stuff and hope it passed as intelligence.

It didn’t.

If you aren’t convinced that Joe Flacco is the real deal by now, you should literally sell your season tickets back to the Ravens and  rake leaves on Sundays in the fall.

For starters, Flacco deserves every penny he can squeeze out of Ozzie Newsome.  It doesn’t matter how much it is.  If the quarterback is happy with the deal, it’s fair.  Get it done – and pay the man.

Some folks are saying “he doesn’t deserve to be the highest paid quarterback in the league.”  OK, well, then, how DOES he become the highest paid QB in the league if he’s not that guy right now?  If he can’t earn the largest contract in the league after doing what he has done over the last five years, when CAN he earn it?  Does everyone understand what’s going on here in Baltimore?  After twelve years of employing stiffs at quarterback, the Ravens finally found their gem in 2008.  All he’s done since then is win more games than any other guy at his position in the league.  Three trips to the AFC title game, a Super Bowl title…

Somehow, there are nitwits in town who still think this guy Flacco doesn’t deserve to cash in.

I know we fancy ourselves an upscale, sophisticated sports community, but it’s times like these when I wonder how some of you find your way back and forth to work each day.

Joe Flacco just delivered the city a world football championship and, within days of doing so, you were already back to taking a shot at him or challenging him to “prove” how great he is by winning just one more championship.

I wish I represented Flacco.  Not that Joe Linta isn’t doing a good job for him, but I’d go see Ozzie with a huge duffel bag and dump it out on his desk.  You know what would be in there?  I would have copied enough $100 bills to fill the bag up and then I would spread it out on Oz’s desk and say, “That’s what $150 million looks like in case you were wondering.”  (Yeah, I know, a whole duffel bag of fake $100 bills probably wouldn’t equal $150 million but it’s all in the presentation.)

All the man has done since he showed up here in 2008 is WIN.  That’s it.  He’s started every game, won most of them, and guided his team through four post-season games in 2013 and won the world title last Sunday night.

A week later, and people are still putting the dude down.

It’s embarrassing, honestly.

And sad, too.

The only good news is that Flacco is going to be too busy to listen to talk radio, surf the web or read the newspaper.

You’d be busy, too, if you were counting that much money.

You’ve heard about the big WNST-organized 2:52 march through the streets of New Orleans on Super Bowl Sunday. Now, you can witness it here in real time.

First person to get an accurate headcount gets a free Hurricane next time in The Big Easy!

I’m wondering which 10 of these are the only listeners we have at WNST. LOL…

Enjoy the march…and if you spot yourself, throw us a note: nasty@wnst.net.

We’re planning the NOLA March reunion over a beer in the spring!

Joe Flacco is about to get paid. There’s no question about that, and now that he’s hoisted his first Lombardi trophy, everyone seems to be okay with it. Turn back the clock a couple of weeks and there were few who were willing to consider Flacco as anything more than an average to a slightly above average QB. Turn it back a few days and Flacco was knocking on the door of most people’s top 5’s.  Now after winning the Super Bowl, even the biggest and longest tenured of Flacco supporters have to be surprised to see folks ranking him anywhere between 1^st and 4^th among the NFL’s best signal callers.

This is the way of the fan however, and of the national media as well. You almost have to wonder how much differently the same people would be grading Flacco’s place in the hierarchy if the Ravens defense had failed to keep Colin Kaepernick and the 49ers out of the end zone and Flacco’s Ravens had lost the Super Bowl as a result.

None of that matters now. Flacco has risen to the occasion, not only on the grandest of stages but also at the most opportune time…just ahead of his contract negotiations.

Over the last few weeks for Flacco, everything has changed, and nothing has changed. That’s because the quarterback and his agent have maintained all along that they’re expecting a contract that will set the market and not just one that conforms with the market. Meanwhile, the Ravens have been trying to be fiscally responsible, while also having to acknowledge that allowing the QB to get away was simply not an option. Neither of those things has changed a bit. As leverage goes however, the pendulum has swung mightily in the favor of Flacco’s camp, and the Ravens at least have to feel more confident in the capabilities of the quarterback that they were undeniably beholden to anyway.

Now the question becomes whether it’s in Flacco’s best interest to squeeze every nickel possible out of the club, because he can; or if the QB might be better served in leaving a bit of money on the table in order to allow the Ravens, in a salary cap environment, to continue to put talent around him.

This question would seem to put Flacco in a bit of an awkward position. While Flacco has an agent, Joe Linta, to do his negotiating for him, he also has to decide for himself what’s best. The QB likely has designs on winning more titles; perhaps building a resume that could be considered Hall of Fame worthy at some point, and of course on getting paid too. The agent wants to get him paid not only because he’ll earn his commission off of the contract he negotiates, but perhaps just as importantly because having negotiated the NFL’s biggest QB deal would represent a substantial feather in his cap that would surely be helpful in attracting future clients.

Flacco also has to consider that while his leaving money on the table in order for the Ravens to be better able to acquire and retain talent should benefit him, he’ll still have no real say in how that money is spent. Lets not forget that the Ravens spent approximately 1/3 of their salary cap last year on 4 defensive players in Ray Lewis, Ed Reed, Terrell Suggs and Haloti Ngata. That’s more than they spent on the entire starting offense, including Flacco himself.

Throughout his time as a Raven, Flacco has seen a virtual revolving door of talent on the offensive line and in the receiving corps, and a steady commitment to retention of defensive players who may now be on the downsides of their careers. While this makes Flacco’s achievements, along with his ability to stay healthy, that much more impressive, it may also strengthen his willingness to take all that he can get financially and continue to take his chances with the talent that General Manager Ozzie Newsome is able to put around him with what’s left.

What hasn’t changed about these negotiations is that both sides will eventually reach an agreement that keeps Flacco around for the long term. What has changed about these negotiations is likely everything else. The answers are coming. Now it’s time to hold your breath and hope that those answers are the right ones. .

On a chilly October evening in 1983, I packed myself into a car with four other friends from Glen Burnie and we drove through the city to Memorial Stadium.  There, along with maybe 5,000 other crazies, I waited well past midnight for the Baltimore Orioles to return from Philadelphia in the afterglow of their World Series-clinching win over the Phillies.

I was one of the fence-climbers that night, scaling the fence that bordered the player’s entrance and literally hanging on for dear life just to catch a glimpse of Eddie, Cal and my favorite player of that season, pitcher Mike Boddicker.

I remember the night like it was yesterday.  And we thought it was a big deal back then for 5,000 people to gather and welcome home the team.

For a long time since, Baltimore has been cast as a “baseball town”.

That changed — officially — on February 5, 2013.

Today, as if this statement needed a notary public, it was stamped: Baltimore is a football town now.

Yes, as last season’s successful baseball campaign proved, the folks in Charm City will rally around the local nine if they put together an improbable six months of baseball and work their way into the post-season.

Baltimore still loves baseball.  But more than that, they love winning baseball.

Today in Baltimore, at least 75,000 fans made it into the stadium and another 250,000 or more coated the downtown streets to welcome home their championship football team.

It was a remarkable showing.  Historical, in a lot of ways.

This city has done a lot of things over the years as it pertains to sports.  But they’ve never, ever pulled off anything like they did on Tuesday afternoon.  And there might not be another city in America who would have showed up like Baltimore did both at City Hall and M&T Bank Stadium.

Mark it down until something else surpasses it:  Today, February 5, 2013, is the greatest day in the history of Baltimore sports.

Never before has a Baltimore team been showed that much love from the city they call home.