How did Flacco's pocket awareness improve so much?

**Phantoom** · 02-06-2013, 09:00 AM

I have no idea what it was, but it is tough for me to think it was coaching, just because I have never seen coaching improve someones pocket awareness (past high school at least). Then again, I've never seen a coaching change have this big of an impact before, so who the crap knows.

I hope it keeps up, because he went from Boller-lite to a young Tom Brady back there.

**JohnBKistler** · 02-06-2013, 09:01 AM

Originally Posted by Phantoom

I hope it keeps up, because he went from Boller-lite to a young Tom Brady back there.

Please...he was never as horrid as Boller. (how quickly we forget....with good reason!!)

He improved from Schaub-lite is a more apt comparison...

**Paintballguy** · 02-06-2013, 09:01 AM

Originally Posted by Phantoom

I have no idea what it was, but it is tough for me to think it was coaching, just because I have never seen coaching improve someones pocket awareness (past high school at least). Then again, I've never seen a coaching change have this big of an impact before, so who the crap knows.

I hope it keeps up, because he went from Boller-lite to a young Tom Brady back there.

Coaching is everything. Caldwell understands how to tailor an offense to the players' strengths.

And please don't put Boller and Flacco in the same sentence.

**saintmatthew** · 02-06-2013, 09:27 AM

Originally Posted by Paintballguy

Coaching is everything. Caldwell understands how to tailor an offense to the players' strengths.

And please don't put Boller and Flacco in the same sentence.

Don't put Boller "Self force-fumble fuck my team as I trip over my own feet" in the same sentence as Flacco? Why on earth not? :P

**Phantoom** · 02-06-2013, 09:37 AM

Originally Posted by saintmatthew

Don't put Boller "Self force-fumble fuck my team as I trip over my own feet" in the same sentence as Flacco? Why on earth not? :P

I TAKE IT BACK!!!

:usa:

**wickedsolo** · 02-06-2013, 09:42 AM

Originally Posted by GOTA

It's absolutely the coaching. Flacco and Caldwell are on the same page. Harbaugh said they are both straight ahead thinkers and like to go step by step. Cam was more of a big picture guy. Caldwell fits Flacco perfectly.

Yup.

Harbaugh even said as much in a recent interview. He said that Caldwell and Flacco both have similar thought patterns and ideology.

**alienrace** · 02-06-2013, 09:48 AM

I think it's a combination of things. At times we've seen him have it, but then seem to regress. I think Caldwell has emphasized movement in/out of the pocket more. He's definitely rolling out and running out much more often than he did under Cam.

Of course having an o-line do it's job reasonably helps with all of it.

**Justlovemybirds** · 02-06-2013, 09:52 AM

Putting Kelechi at LG also allowed Joe to step up in the pocket without getting blasted in the chest.

**Ravens44** · 02-06-2013, 09:54 AM

Originally Posted by JStruds

I undersatnd and completely agree that the coaching (and the improved OLine) contributed greatly to Joe's amazing playoff run. But the OP asked specifically about his improved pocket awareness. How did a few weeks of coaching drastically improve his pocket awareness and ability to move in the pocket. No matter how hard headed Cam may have been, surely the rest of the coaching staff (Zorn for example) saw that weakness and worked on it long before this last month or so; how did it suddenly click?

Maybe it has less to do with coaching and more to do with an OL that actually provided a pocket to step up into? At any rate, I am glad it improved so much, because without it the team would not have gone all the way.

This^^^
All Caldwell needed was one full week and the change of the offensive line.
I have always heard that confidence is a HUGE factor in the NFL.
Your head has to be in the right place to succeed.
It allows you to remove the doubts, leave all that noise behind and think clear, become focused and "do what you do".
And with each completion against the Giants, with each first down, with each score until the game ended, Flacco began turning into who he should have been all along.
He hasn't really changed much. He is now who he was supposed to be.
IF you look back to his rookie season we all saw glimpses of what he showed this post season.
He needed a line to give him time to think and look at the defense and to go through his progressions.
And he needed a coordinator who used Joe's strengths.
The worse thing about the previous 4 years was Joe was forced into a system that was NOT modified to fit him.
He was forced to be part of a system that did not use all his abilities.
In fact, the system constrained him, kept him from maturing.
It's like having a guy with sprinter speed wear boots all this time and expect him to run as fast as all the other athletes around him and dogging him when he didn't.

Caldwell let Joe wear Joe's shoes.
And now we all got to see him be, well, himself.
Joe has been that guy all this time.

**NC Raven** · 02-06-2013, 09:58 AM

1. Better Line -- more time to survey the field. Better pocket means more room to move around in the pocket.

2. Better route combinations -- watch the TD to Jones. Someone ran a perfectly timed out -route underneath Jones at the exact moment Jones made his second move upfield. The safety (who was playing inside the CB) bit down on the out route, and Jones accelerated past the CB who may have thought he had help inside from the safety. Just one example, but what you're seeing is more guys open downfield, faster. Rarely now do you see the check down to Rice. Also we see that if Pitta is covered, there are still options for hitting WRs. And they don't take long to develop.

3. More freedom -- The only way to really explain moving in the pocket and throwing on the run now, as opposed to not doing it before -- has to be strict instructions. He didn't suddenly learn how to sense pressure in the pocket.

4. I'm guessing a more understandable system -- Whatever Caldwell is doing differently, it is clear that Joe has improved his ability to see where pressure is coming from to begin with. And the team as a whole is better able to pick it up. Before there seemed to be a defect in the system that led to blocking breakdowns and missed blitz pickups. I don't think the offense all of a sudden learned football -- something Caldwell did made it simpler /easier for the offense to recognize pressures, pick it up, and exploit it. Simply put, blitzes and pressures don't seem to be nearly the issue for the offense that it was before, and at times, our offense now seems able to anticipate and exploit blitzes -- almost a total 180 from what used to happen.