Ravens sign Drew Bennett

[effo5231]

That's my point, Effo was specifically talking about 4 WR sets, which I geel are unnecessary all but a once a game or so on average. I see no issue with a player like Marcus Smith entering the season as our 4th option at WR, partcularly if Kelley Washington is the 5th. Thus, we jsut need to bring in a single player that can compete for a starting job.

Maybe you're reading a different thread, my point this entire time has always been that
A. We need someone else in our receiver corps, and
B. If we don't get someone great than we need to be creative about who we use, and
C. No matter who we get we probably need to carry an extra receiver this year because our projected lineup (at the time I was posting) had plenty of injury concerns (concerns that bore out I might add as D-Will is currently injured and Bennett retired because of injury).

Most teams have 4 and 5 wide sets in their playbook... Cam ran such sets in San Diego and Miami, it was only lack of personnel that kept him from doing it here.

First time I ever mention 4 wides. I was arguing that adding some exotic elements to our O was something that Cam has done before and probably wants to do again. Since injury concerns are probably going to require us to carry an extra man anyway, we may as well try to send him out from time to time and spread a D out.

Just because deficiencies in our O line and receiving depth have prevented us from running a decent spread-em-out O at certain points in a ball game doesn't mean we never will. Right now we don't have receivers who can dominate when covered well, 3 and 4 and 5 wide sets will guarantee that someone will face 1 on 1 coverage.

Clearly I never wanted this to be our base O and I clarified that in the very second post I made on the subject. The fact that the Ravens ran a 4 wide set a few times last year bears out my feelings that Cam would enjoy doing it... and when I was arguing for it it was under the condition that we would be entering the season with Mason, Clayton, Bennett, and Williams all on the team.

I feel like I couldn't have been any clearer about this. A four wide package is a perfectly normal method of spreading a team out, and is used by plenty of teams all over the league. Its not something anyone uses to exclusion of their base offense, but it would be a nice wrinkle to throw out there... All of this is moot however because I don't know that we're going to be able to field 3 decent wideouts this year much less 4.

[jonboy79]

We needed another receiver BEFORE Mason hung it up...

This is the first and most glaring point of our disagreement. Which is furthered by..

Quote:
Originally Posted by jonboy79
I'd expect a few more 3 WR sets, maybe a half dozen or more per game, but I'd be surprised if we go 4 or more wide more then a handful of times all season. That's basically a hail mary set.

Only in an antiquated offense is 4 wide viewed only as a hail mary set. When you have the kind of O-line that we're developing who can pass block without the help of two backs and a tight end, and can field the athletes to run the routes, 4 wide is a great way to stretch a D. You force a D to take most of its big hitters off the field, you give your QB lots of targets, and you open running lanes for your back. I would love to see us RUN out of a 4 wide set... but to do so, you need to pass out of it effectively. Which is something we could do with Mason, Bennett, Clayton, and Williams. ...

If you made a point of saying we should use it often enough to gain an advantage running out of it due to previous passing success, I'd say that's overusing a spread set.

I don't want to see a spread it out and chuck it offense, and I think adding lots of talent at the WR position almost necessitates that due to weaknesses caused elsewhere.
Mason or another player to challenge to start, that's all we need unless injuries add up.

[effo5231]

This is the first and most glaring point of our disagreement. Which is furthered by..

If you made a point of saying we should use it often enough to gain an advantage running out of it due to previous passing success, I'd say that's overusing a spread set.

I don't want to see a spread it out and chuck it offense, and I think adding lots of talent at the WR position almost necessitates that due to weaknesses caused elsewhere.
Mason or another player to challenge to start, that's all we need unless injuries add up.

First, I should have been clearer, and I see now where you got the wrong impression. But one does not have to do something often in the NFL for it to affect how teams game plan against you. Flacco's catch against the Raiders is an example... after that play, defenders actually covered him when we ran the Suggs package. So when I said we could run out of a 4 wide if we passed out of it successfully, I only meant that in the point in a game where we are trying to spread a team out (2 minute drill, change of pace etc) it could be a way to break off a nice run every once in a while, but only if we'd managed to make a pass play or two first, otherwise teams would simply cover a guy like Smith with a linebacker and dare Flacco to try to beat them.

As to your second point, that we only need Mason back or someone to replace him, the terrible production of everyone behind Mason makes me disagree.

I think our bone of contention here is that I would like to see the Ravens spread teams out maybe 3 to 5 times a game. Whereas you only want them to have to do 1-3 times... We're not disagreeing by an order of magnitude here, so I'll agree to disagree on how we score so long as we both agree that its important that we do.

[jonboy79]

Fair Enough.