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This has been a pretty fun team this year but the one thing that will likely bite them is their inability to gain yards on short-yardage situations. Either the o-line seems unable to get push on 3rd and short and 4th and short situations or Rice or Pierce are simply not ideal short yardage backs. Do you guys think it's an o-line issue or should we be running Leach more or should we look for Flacco to get the tough yards a la Tom Brady?
I wish I could remember the stat from Thanksgiving, but the announcers mentioned that Tom Brady is basically "undefeated" when it comes to QB sneaking. I've been playing with this (http://pfref.com/tiny/3o1oM) and it looks like the Brady was stopped once in 04, 05, and 07 (fumble which a teammate recovered for a touchdown).
Joe on the other hand is 24/29 in 1yd situations. I think there's a little bit of room for growth - it'd be nice to work on that during the offseason.
No, it would be nice to work on that right now. Flacco should be able to get these 1 yard and inches conversions. Hell, I'm pretty sure he did get 3rd and 1 on Sunday.Quote:
Originally Posted by Shambla
They need to take a play out of Brady's book and hurry up to the ball and get the damn yard with a sneak. It is nearly impossible to stop. Stop over thinking it.
Agreed. There is only 1 play in the playbook with 1 short yard to go--IMMEDIATELY get up to the line and quick snap the QB sneak. If you CAN'T run that play for whatever reason (timeout called, injury, etc.) then you get the first down with some kind of misdirection play. Running straight into the teeth of a defense expecting it is VERY hard to do, particularly if you don't have an elite interior OL, which we don't.Quote:
Originally Posted by JMUpurkfool
So again, fast-snap QB sneak 90% of the time. Otherwise, you need to get creative.
Since picking up a yard or less is basically about desire and the QB's ability to get low, why dont we use Tyrod in these situations? He is athletic, can run the ball, and even if the other side knows what is coming when he comes in it should not matter in a battle for inches.
I think the QB sneak would've worked against SD if Joe had gotten low and just pushed up into the pile. By going high they stopped him. Not sure if Caldwell or someone is working with him but it seems like a simple technique fix
Ahhh, I yearn for the days of Frank's Bulldozing and Paving, Inc., when Edwin's wheels were still healthy, and he and a feller called JO would clear D-ebris from the left side of the forest for 1st down and TD development.
I pretty much agree with everything said above. Brady will get low and dive for the first down. On Sunday it was like Joe walked his way up to pile and just tried to stretch over the top of it.
He still got the necessary yardage in my opinion.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ravenswintitle
They need to get more creative. We have shown over and over that we can't hand the ball off and get a yard when we need it. The one time we did was in the KC game and we gave the ball to Rice, not Pierce. They need to hurry back to the line and run quick sneaks, mixed in with hard counts to get the defensive line to jump. The longer we ask Birk and Reid to block somebody, the less chance we have for success.
I think there are two reasons we have issues with short yardage, from what I've seen...
1) The interior line isn't good. Yanda is, but the other two...Birk just isn't very good as a run blocker at this point in his career. He seems to get very little push and when you are talking short yardage plays, you need to get some push from your C. The LG spot has been an issue all season, and from what I've seen of Reid it still hasn't gotten much better - a little, maybe, but not to an acceptable level.
2) The playcalling and play design. The 4th and one play last weekend, why is that being run outside, which takes longer to develop, instead of just pounding it straight ahead behind Yanda, Osemele, and Leach? I don't get why they bring the extra lineman in, why not put Boldin and Smith out there, have Pitta in tight, still have Leach on the field, but now the defense has to account for the receivers as well and can't play basically their entire defense inside the box.