This is why I said the Harbaugh/Cameron/Flacco triumvirate will never win a SB. Playing scared does not bring championships. Never.
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So last year's AFCCG was Harbaugh/Cameron/Flacco's fault? We HAD that game, Joe threw a damn good pass to Evans. If he holds onto it, we would have been playing the Giants. So how do you figure we will never win a SB with them? It was in our GRASP last year! I loathe Cam Cameron but even he isn't to blame 100% of the time...just 99% ;)
T-82--
Not trying to defend Cameron here, but I had a flashback as I read your comment, "Playing scared does not bring championships". I think a case could be made that the Ravens did something along that line with Dilfer at QB a dozen years ago, and a Super Bowl was won. Obviously the Defense that season was an anomaly, and special teams didn't seem to miss abeat, so I "pre-agree" ;) that it's not a simple situation to explain, but OTOH, one could say that the Ravens 2000-2001 offense played "scared", AND won a championship.
[QUOTE=wickedsolo;521279]They sure seemed to trust him last year in the road...in Pittaburgh...on a last minute drive ...
Your point is slightly flawed wicked. When needing a TD to win the game with under 2 minutes you have no choice but to trust.
but everything is Cam's fault, just read all of the threads on the board. That makes it Cams' fault that they won the game in Pitt
It is a great blog post by Tony. It really hits the nail on the head about how our offensive "issues" are too complicated for simple "it is is X's fault" statements. This becomes apparent in all the heated threads about Cameron and Flacco and who is hurting whom more; threads that for the most part leave Harbaugh out of it.
But Tony's blog correctly points out that Harbaugh has to enter the equation, and in a major way. Harbaugh can rightfully be blamed/credited for our "play it safe" philosophy, or our reluctance to move away from that philosophy (at least as rapidly as we could). It is also Harbaugh that could "solve" the Cameron "problem" if he felt that it was actually a significant problem.
While I am 100% sure Tony will get flamed for violating the "Joe is above criticism" rule around here, that part of his blog is only a partial piece of his interesting take on exactly who or what (and by how much) can be deemed responsible for our offensive mediocrity.
Exactly. And the fact we succeed in such circumstances more than one would guess having watched all the minutes played while we don't "need" to score, makes one wonder if we should be "trying a little harder" to score from the opening whistle versus, say, trying to complete the game without committing a turnover.
Then why even line up in shotgun and drop back if there is no situation where you would throw it? Joe could have fumbled or gotten hurt. If you are effectively forbidden to throw it then call a run play or take a knee.
I would have run it for the very reason Tony mentions. Telling a guy like Flacco "only throw it if you are going to get the first down," effectively puts the entire responsibilty and risk on his shoulders. For Flacco (and a lot of other people/QBs) that directive is, in fact, the same as saying never throw it and eat the sack. Eating the ball when a guy is wide open is the "safe" thing to do.