John Harbaugh

The Ravens 2013 preseason schedule is highlighted by a prime-time home game against the Carolina Panthers on Thursday, Aug. 22 at M&T Bank Stadium, the NFL announced today. That game, which will be the third of four preseason games for the Super Bowl XLVII champions, will start at 8 p.m. and be televised by ESPN. The Ravens will open up the preseason against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Raymond James Stadium. The exact date and time of the game has yet to be announced. In Week Two of the preseason, the Ravens will host the Atlanta Falcons on Thursday, Aug. 15 at M&T Bank Stadium.

Bernard Pollard has a new team in the Tennessee Titans, but he is still talking about his exit from the Ravens. In a recent interview with Houston radio station KILT-AM , Pollard, who was cut by the Ravens a few weeks after he helped them win the Super Bowl, was asked about his surprising release a couple of days into free agency. The conversation shifted to that heated team meeting in October when he, fellow safety Ed Reed and other players voiced displeasure about practicing in pads two days after a blowout loss to the Houston Texans.

I couldn't help but notice a couple of trends with the Ravens' four offseason additions so far. First, the Ravens signed four players who were cut by other teams this past offseason. Why is that significant, other than the chips they might have on their shoulders? By signing players who were released and allowing unrestricted free agents such as Paul Kruger, Cary Williams, Ed Reed and Dannell Ellerbe to sign elsewhere, the Ravens are again setting themselves up to secure a few more compensatory picks in next year's NFL draft.

The significance of replacing Ed Reed resonated strongly with new Ravens free safety Michael Huff, a feeling he imparted to the former NFL Defensive Player of the Year. Before Huff officially signed his three-year, $6 million contract, he texted Reed to let him know that his old job was in good hands. Reed left Baltimore and joined the Houston Texans last week when the nine-time Pro Bowl selection signed a three-year, $15 million contract. “It means a lot,” Huff said Thursday afternoon during an introductory news conference at team headquarters.

Ravens fans have fretted for weeks about the dismantling of their team's legendary defense, but it only takes a cursory review of the relevant 2012 statistics to see that, as always, there is a method to all the recent roster madness. The tremendous success of this franchise in Baltimore has been built on a foundation of hard-hitting, take-no-prisoners defensive football - and the arrival of premier pass rusher Elvis Dumervil should help extend that tradition - but the dramatic turnover that has been taking place on that side of the ball probably shouldn't have come as such a surprise.

Elvis Dumervil passed his physical and signed his five-year contract with the Ravens, the team announced today. Dumervil's five-year deal is for a maximum of $35 million. It includes $12 million in guaranteed money and $8.5 million for the 2013 season. However, all but $1 million of that will be paid out in a signing bonus, meaning Dumervil's cap hit for the coming season will be $2.5 million. That leaves the reigning Super Bowl champions with about $5 million of salary cap space to address their other needs, which include a left tackle, middle linebacker and safety.

The sight couldn't have been easy for Ravens fans: Ed Reed wearing a Houston Texans' hat and later holding up a blue No. 20 jersey. For Reed, a Raven for 11 seasons and one of the franchise's best ever players, it wasn't an easy decision either. At a news conference Friday in Houston in which he was introduced as the newest Texan, Reed called leaving the Ravens “probably the hardest thing ever in life.” “It's not so much as leaving, because like I said, I'm going to be part of the community, and I'm going to be part of this community.

What is wrong with this town? I know there are tons of people out there in Baltimore who are as angry at what just happened to our Super Bowl team as I am, but where is their voice? The word "fan" is short for "fanatic. " Where are the fanatics who will speak up? I listen to the sports talk shows all the time. I hear caller after caller saying stupid stuff like, "I'm excited about the new guys they're going to bring in. " And the line you always hear. "In Ozzie we trust. " On the dollar bill it says In God we Trust.

The reality of the Ravens' salary cap situation and post Super Bowl XLVII world hit coach John Harbaugh early last week. With the Ravens failing to convince wide receiver Anquan Boldin to take a pay cut and not willing to carry his $6 million salary cap hit, Harbaugh knew exactly who to call. “Heck yes,” his brother, Jim, the coach of San Francisco 49ers, said when asked if he was interested in acquiring Boldin, a player that they struggled to stop a month earlier in the Super Bowl.

The most debated move the Ravens made this offseason and arguably the biggest subtraction from their Super Bowl roster was the trade of gritty 32-year-old wide receiver Anquan Boldin to the San Francisco 49ers. Boldin never cracked 1,000 receiving yards in his three years in Baltimore, but he was quarterback Joe Flacco's favorite target and the team's leading receiver in each of the past three seasons. Boldin was traded after refusing to take a pay cut, something that owner Steve Bisciotti says was necessary, albeit very painful.