Another Question

[BeenAround]

I know everyone is in love with what he's done this season but...

 

Did we just see history repeat itself and is this a typical Cameron strategy when playing good defenses? I gotta' tell ya' I don't like what I've seen offensively in our games against the good teams this year. Not to mention last weeks Redskins game.

 

Here's the question; Who was the O Coordinator for the Chargers the year they played ultra conservative against us and allowed McNair to take us down the field for the game winner in the last minute? I know Charger's fans kept blaming it on "Marty Ball" but who was calling the plays? Wasn't it Cameron?

[yagersports]

The Bills tried to be unconventional and called a roll-out for Losman with two minutes remaining and I believe a four point lead. Losman fumbled, the Jets recovered and scored, ballgame.

 

I'm taking a wait and see attitude right now. I wanted that game like everyone else, however this years Ravens have exceeded sooooo many peoples expectations, I'm just gonna enjoy a good season and be glad that Cameron is here and not anywhere else. It seems we have a solid coaching staff and a great core of players. I'm very interested in what Ozzie will do next.

 

I'm also very interested to see if we can win out and make the playoffs with and 11-5 record. Not bad at all with a rookie QB! Also, when we won the SuperBowl didn't we lose to the Titans twice that year before we finally beat them in their house during the playoffs???

[varaven45]

I know everyone is in love with what he's done this season but...

 

Did we just see history repeat itself and is this a typical Cameron strategy when playing good defenses? I gotta' tell ya' I don't like what I've seen offensively in our games against the good teams this year. Not to mention last weeks Redskins game.

 

Here's the question; Who was the O Coordinator for the Chargers the year they played ultra conservative against us and allowed McNair to take us down the field for the game winner in the last minute? I know Charger's fans kept blaming it on "Marty Ball" but who was calling the plays? Wasn't it Cameron?

 

Been,

 

Cam was the Chargers OC in 06 and, yes, I do remember the conservative play calling against us in that game.

 

You may be on to something here with Cameron and the tough D's. However, I watched (in agony) a replay of Sunday's game and clearly saw some interesting stuff.

 

First, Flacco made some horrible throws, even when he was not under pressure. He badly overthrew Heap in the 1st Q, he overthrew Heap in the endzone late in the 1st half (when Mason was open on the left side of the endzone), and he overthrew Mason in the endzone in the 2nd half. To Joe's defense, he threw a pefect ball to Mason in the 1st half that Mason misjudged his leap in the endzone. For what its worth, I am convinced the game outcome is different if Flacco connects on just one of the TD attempts.

 

At the same time, however, our play calling in the last 2 games has lacked the element of surprise, creativity and diversity that we had as most recent as the Cincy game. No Troy Smith, no Wildcat/Suggs packages, no trickery.

Trickery may not have worked against the Stealers but the playcalling was too damn vanilla and Billick-like.

 

Maybe Cam is just afraid to open it up against the top guns (Steelers) but only thinks outside the box for the weak sisters (Bengals). And maybe his apprehension is mostly based on the concern about overwhelming Flacco (too much, too soon).

 

I dont know but this team is now backed into a corner and has to win this week (cant count on help). If we run the same offense this week, we will get the same results and get torched big time in big D.

 

 

[dc.]

He was definitely too conservative. Personally, I think both offenses were too conservative.

 

We had the ball 4 times around the Steelers 20 yard line... only once in those four drives (upwards of 15 offensive plays) did we try for the endzone.

 

We were playing so tight the whole game, when we got close why not go for the endzone right away and make the Steelers think we were serious??? It just didn't make any sense to me.

 

We all knew watching that game... whoever scored a touchdown was going to win the game. Period. And we consistently balked.

[vmax]

Good topic.

 

While at the game I thought it was conservative/safe to the vest. Why run so much and knock your head into the strength of the #1 D?

 

Now it was basically a 50/50 run pass ratio. For fans who had that "shades of Billick" feeling it was because the Ravens would run on 1st and 2nd down...then it's 3rd and long...everybody knows what is comming. 3rd and long....

 

I heard Harbaugh last night and Viv this morning and they basically said the same thing. These plays were the ones that the Ravens coaching staff (especially Cam) thought would best attack the Stealer D....and the Stealers defended them.

Plain and simple.

 

Preston writes that the big play was there but Joe couldn't connect. If he makes a few of those throws then the Ravens win.

 

In the redzone...the Stealer D is very tough...lowest point yielding D in the NFL.

 

Hey...the Ravens O and Cam faced an outstanding defense....and came out on the short end.

Much as it pains me...the Stealers were the reason the O stalled. They played playoff caliber ball.

The Ravens did too.

 

Neither team could score a TD.

 

So in this respect, Cam's gameplan worked: With 3:39 to go, the Ravens were winning the defensive slugfest and the Stealers had to drive 92 yards...against the Ravens D....on a day when they couldn't mount any serious drives.

 

 

[ForceEight]

I fully agree with Max. The gameplan was pretty obviously to pound the ball for the majority of the evening, and give Joe the occasional open look. We had more trouble than we liked rushing that way, and Cam obviously wasn't confident in handing more of the plays to Flacco and asking him to throw into that defense.

 

It did enough for more than 50 minutes, and bit us in the end. It was apparently Cam's opinion that we wouldn't have been in it that long if more of the onus was on Flacco's shoulders. I trust that.

[BeenAround]

Clearly Flacco was off and as I said another post, he's been off IMO for the last two games.

 

Speaking of conservative play calling however, I also wonder about how we defended against the 92 yard drive. I've yet to watch the game again since Sunday but I intend to do so and see if my perception that we only rushed 3 an awful lot during their final drive has any basis in reality.

[vmax]

Clearly Flacco was off and as I said another post, he's been off IMO for the last two games.

 

Speaking of conservative play calling however, I also wonder about how we defended against the 92 yard drive. I've yet to watch the game again since Sunday but I intend to do so and see if my perception that we only rushed 3 an awful lot during their final drive has any basis in reality.

 

 

I haven't watched the tape yet either so I can't answer that. I can say Ben had too much time to throw.

I think what killed the Ravens was Washington was on the sidelines.

[cravnravn]

BA we were rushing 3 on the 92 yd drive..Prevent-Prevents you from winning

[ravinmaniac52]

You really have to look at the Steelers defense in this game if you are looking at the Ravens offense.

 

Joe over-throwing Mason in the endzone. Joe throwing to Heap instead of a wide open Mason in the endzone. Mason not catching the floater that Joe put up in the endzone. There were a few other drops, like Willis for a first down.

 

I can't see pointing at Cam over this stuff. Steelers D did their job. I think the biggest let down was Joe and a few balls that hot the ground.

[STLRaven]

The intended ball targets also had a case of the dropsies. If McClain catches the ball instead of trying to make a break for the end zone first, it's a different game.

 

There were an awful lot of woulda, couldas in the game. Unfortuantely, we came out on the shit-ass end of the stick.

[varaven45]

You really have to look at the Steelers defense in this game if you are looking at the Ravens offense.

 

Joe over-throwing Mason in the endzone. Joe throwing to Heap instead of a wide open Mason in the endzone. Mason not catching the floater that Joe put up in the endzone. There were a few other drops, like Willis for a first down.

 

I can't see pointing at Cam over this stuff. Steelers D did their job. I think the biggest let down was Joe and a few balls that hot the ground.

 

 

BINGO !!!!!