Reading the offseason tea leaves

**ravens47** · 01-10-2014, 06:17 PM

Originally Posted by Dirt1

If Hostler is promoted to OC, he had better succeed along with Castillo. If the Ravens have a pedestrian offense next year and miss the playoffs, Bisciotti should fire Harbaugh.

i agree with u about harbs. i never thought he was that good of a coach. i also thought that ray and ed always covered up his pedestrian coaching by being coaches on the field and the offense just gave it to rice and let him do his thing. harbs' clock management is absolutely poor and it always has been, as preston said when he was grading the coaching staff this year.

**JoeCool5** · 01-10-2014, 06:19 PM

This might sound ridiculous, but, to me, I don't know if Joe impresses as the type who would want to learn an entirely new offense going into his seventh season. So, if Hostler is in fact promoted, I think we'll see a lot of the same schemes, with some major tweaks incorporated into the specific play calling. I can see them improving the offensive line, while adding more playmakers on the outside, and giving Joe more autonomy. Hostler didn't impress in SF, but he does have actual play calling experience, and perhaps a few seasons as an offensive position coach has given him a different view on how to properly do that.

**Dont Know** · 01-10-2014, 06:19 PM

Originally Posted by lobachevsky

Didn't Steve tell the Sad Sack of Krispy Kreme Krumbz that Harbs & Oz basically had next year to fix things, & if they didn't he'd be stepping in?

BTW anyone who thinks Hostler might be a competent OC should click on the link in #14 above. As Don't Know notes, that 49ers fan's complaints have an eerily similar ring, particularly the part about play calling. Also pay attention to the short description of his resume--every job he's had on the offensive side of the ball he's fucked up, including the past few years as WR coach here (sorry but IMHO he hasn't done a goddamned thing to improve any of the receivers).

Here is a probably more credible exposé of Hostlers accomplishments as an OC.

I would love to quote pieces of it, but it really deserves to be read in it's entirety.

**Ravenswintitle** · 01-10-2014, 06:22 PM

I do NOT want Hostler as our OC. But I don't think articles fro 2007 or 2008 are that relative. People learn, mature, gain skills or maybe lose them. I'd have to defer to the Raven's management opinion as opposed to a dated article.

**camdenyard** · 01-10-2014, 06:36 PM

Harbs just lost some political capital, and he's already putting his neck on the line bringing back Castillo. No way he hands the OC reins over to anyone but a proven, successful playcaller. Transferrence of risk as they call it. Whatever happens, the offense cannot fall on its face next year due to crappy coaching or Bisciotti will go apeshit.

For the same reason, they will heavily invest in the OL. This unit will not be set up to fail next year. It could fail due to injury, but not because the likes of AQ Shipley are in the mix for a starting job.

LT - Monroe. He's their #1 FA priority. Certainly over Art Jones.
LG - KO, or Wagner.
C - a proven vet C will be brought in a-la Birk in 2009. Mack would be my first choice. Gino will put on 10-15 pounds in the weight room and back him up. Jensen also in the mix but I predict Gino will come in bigger and stronger and he has the experience thus the edge.
RT - Yanda.
RT - Oher is gone. I see them bringing in a "right price" vet to compete with Wagner and my dark horse, Mims.

**lobachevsky** · 01-10-2014, 07:18 PM

Originally Posted by Dont Know

Here is a probably more credible exposé of Hostlers accomplishments as an OC.

I would love to quote pieces of it, but it really deserves to be read in it's entirety.

Thanky kindly. I'll do the heavy quoting for you. This to me is the nub of it:

You need a big-picture idea of what you want to do, and what Hostler shows is a play-by-play myopia… He’s not looking multi-dimensionally. He can’t flood a zone or force the defense to backpedal.

He’s not working to set up the defense for the third quarter because he can barely figure out what he wants to do now, on second and eight.

My question is, how in the hell could anyone expect Hostler to have gotten any better at play calling when he's had no responsibility for it in the 4 years as the Ravens WR coach?

(You can't even invoke the Peter Principle--IMHO he's already at his level of incompetence as a WR coach.)

**BigPlayReceiver** · 01-10-2014, 07:23 PM

Originally Posted by Flacco Machado

Did Preston say this on the radio? I haven't seen anything in print.

Sent from my VS870 4G using Tapatalk

He mentioned it on the radio, yes. He volunteered the information, no one asked him, "hey is Hostler in line for OC?" or anything like that.
On the heels of his revealing Sun article, I'm personally taking it as if the team is considering Hostler as the first/only in-house choice for OC...IF they go in-house at all.

**Flacco Machado** · 01-10-2014, 07:54 PM

Originally Posted by BigPlayReceiver

He mentioned it on the radio, yes. He volunteered the information, no one asked him, "hey is Hostler in line for OC?" or anything like that.
On the heels of his revealing Sun article, I'm personally taking it as if the team is considering Hostler as the first/only in-house choice for OC...IF they go in-house at all.

Ok, thanks for clearing that up.

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**Raven Werewolf** · 01-10-2014, 08:02 PM

Originally Posted by Dont Know

Here is a probably more credible exposé of Hostlers accomplishments as an OC.

I would love to quote pieces of it, but it really deserves to be read in it's entirety.

The word accomplishments should be in quotes LMAO. Sound like we could be getting Cavanaugh 2.0.

**Bhcforlife** · 01-10-2014, 08:30 PM

Originally Posted by camdenyard

Harbs just lost some political capital, and he's already putting his neck on the line bringing back Castillo. No way he hands the OC reins over to anyone but a proven, successful playcaller. Transferrence of risk as they call it. Whatever happens, the offense cannot fall on its face next year due to crappy coaching or Bisciotti will go apeshit.

That's a great way of putting it.

I seriously doubt that they go with Hostler. I think promoting someone from within on the offensive side is a tough sell to both Bisciotti and the overall fanbase. I don't think Bisciotti would veto it, but again, as you said, it's going to fall on Harbaugh hard if it fails. For that reason alone I see them looking outside and Harbaugh distancing himself from any of the rumored "control" he may have exerted over Cam and Jim while they were here in terms of playcalling.

**Jazz1988** · 01-10-2014, 10:00 PM

Originally Posted by Ravenswintitle

I do NOT want Hostler as our OC. But I don't think articles fro 2007 or 2008 are that relative. People learn, mature, gain skills or maybe lose them. I'd have to defer to the Raven's management opinion as opposed to a dated article.

I don't think the Ravens would make Hostler the offensive coordinator if that was the case then he should had been the offensive coordinator in 2012 instead of Caldwell. Hostler been a Raven since 2008 and he was clearly the only offensive staff member at time with the most offensive coordinator experience when Harbaugh had to make a decision on who to promote as offensive coordinator when Cam was fired but Harbaugh chose Jim Caldwell instead. I don't see how Hostler would be qualified now but we shall see.

**Shas** · 01-10-2014, 10:17 PM

Originally Posted by GOTA

Welcome back Shas. Talk about a Super Bowl hangover. You missed most of the fun this year

Thanks GOTA! I think five years of doing the Report Card piece burned me out a little bit and so, like Ray Lewis, I became semi retired. And my personal life changed a lot in the last year (for the better)...but I have been paying attention. Good to see old friends here. (Talking to you, too, Beau, wherever you are).