I can't put this performance on Flacco

[bmoreravengirl]

I love Flacco and am not giving up on him, but that INT in the redzone hurt really bad. We were so close to taking the lead I could smell it. All I could do was lower my head in shame. :( :(

[Fanman]

It's clear that since the bye week Flacco has regressed in a major way. I am not sure why, but I think he has thrown only 3 TDs in the last 6 games. One to Mason vs Denver, one to Mason vs Pitts and the one to Kelly Washington last night.

So last night alone he tossed as many picks in one game as he has Tds in the last 6 games. That ratio stinks.

FM

[Jeremiah W]

Both tackles had whiffs or look out blocks on drop backs, and Ben Grubbs was getting abused all night, but Joe was getting happy feet and running from phantom pressure a lot.

Flacco has become way too checkdown happy. Frome the cable cam, you could see WRs and Heap running a step ahead 20 yards deep, but Flacco had already moved off his drop and step up line and is looking for the checkdown.

When you have Ray Rice as the checkdown option, it is not all that bad to target him too often, but not throwing the ball away when the guys are covered is not an acceptable mistake at this level.

You expect him to struggle with reading coverage and picking up blitzes and schemes, but when he is on the run in the redzone, why is he throwing back accross his body into traffic? When the D is not fooled by the flea flicker, why throw the ball into 6 defenders when you only have Mason and Clayton out there? It was 1st down at the 50.

The picks Rodgers threw were the acceptable kind. The 3 Joe threw should not happen in HS.

He has the talent. He has the coaching. He has the playmakers. Maybe not to go for 300 and 3 TDs every week, but to put up 250 and 2-1 TD/int.

The Ravens have enough weapons to get favorable 1 on 1 matchups. Every team has a Cris Carr and a Frank Walker out there as well as a LB or two that can not cover Rice or Heap 1 on 1.

one thing that was missing in this game that I can not blame on Joe was the pace of the O, and the time on the play clock coming out of the huddle. The Ravens did not have enough time to use much motion, shifts, audibles and false cadence to help Joe identify the coverages and blitzes pre snap. All night we saw Rodgers come to the line, pretend to run the play, then change it after we show our blitz and the CBs bail off the line.

I thought the O should have gone no huddle 2 min drill at some point. They did not even seem to be in it at the end of the game.

[3RDRowRaven]

Sorry, but I stopped reading here. Flacco threw a wobbler into triple coverage. There were five Packers near that ball and only two Ravens somewhat in the area.

I agree! Flacco second guess himself and heaved it. He should have looked for another receiver or run the ball himself.

Another thing that bothers me with Flacco, is that he either stands in the pocket for along time or dances around the pocket until he see's a open receiver. I don't understand why Flacco won't run with the ball when he can't find anybody open?

[StingerNLG]

This is one of those times I wonder what game people were watching.

This was easily Joe's worst game as a pro in terms of his decision making. ALL three INT's simply had no business being thrown.

What is frustrating is that Joe knows better. Not sure why or how, but he seems to be rushing his throws, getting happy feet in the backfield, etc.

I hate to say it, but the same issues that more or less ruined Kyle Boller. Joe spent a LOT of time running for his life last night because Gaither and Grubbs were getting beaten completely last night. That tends to shellshock you a bit.

And couple it with receivers that cannot get open and Joe tries to make a play that isn't there. The Heap interception I've watched several time now, and the more I watch it, the more I understand why he threw that ball. Heap simply isn't fast enough anymore to run that route when covered. It was all Flacco had.

Joe made some piss-poor judgements last night, no doubt about it. His worst game as a Raven by far. But it's the result of the same old tired story for the Ravens. Pourous offensive, and a bunch of #3-4 receivers playing #1 and #2 who disappear in games.

Well, except Mark Clayton. He's just a playmaker. He was open all night long. :/

I'm not absolving Joe Flacco here Houston. But it's funny how the same exact issues creep up and have an effect on a QB here in Baltimore. I feel like I'm typing the same things I typed 3-4 years ago.

[HoustonRaven]

Kind of like the chicken and the egg argument, huh Sting.

We have a systemic problem on offense, no doubt.

And yes, thank God we have the "playmaker" Clayton.

[Dave Lap]

Flacco played one of his worst games tonight no doubt. Throwing an interception into coverage on a flea-flicker is totally inexcusable, as is an across the body throw in the red zone. Flacco's decision-making is starting to make me wonder, and I'm one of his biggest proponents. That said, I'm confident that he's going to be a great player in this league. He is not going to get there on his own though - he needs help.

One constant, even dating back to last season, is that Joe struggles when he's forced out of a pocket and asked to throw the ball on the move. He's simply not good at it. He's very good when his mechanics are sound, his pocket is sturdy, and he is allowed to set his feet and throw the football down-field.

But when pass protection falters, as it did tonight and has all season long IMHO, Flacco simply isn't the same player. The guy is a talented thrower of the football, but he's not equipped at this stage in his career to successfully make plays when things break down, even if he can extend them temporarily with his legs. He's just not that player... at least not yet.

This game was lost in the trenches. The offensive line was abused and confused all night, and the defensive line was totally swallowed up after the opening quarter. Greg Mattison's defensive play-calling was vanilla and did nothing to hold a notoriously poor offensive line accountable.

I'm disheartened. I think Harbaugh, Flacco, Rice, Oher, Ngata, and Webb are a not good, but GREAT young nucleus for this team to build around, but I have serious reservations about our offensive and defensive coordinator, the play of our offensive and defensive lines, and our discipline when it comes to penalties.

Hoping for the best, but you get the sense that this just isn't our year.

Excellent post.

You can't lay the blame on any one person for last nights fiasco. Joe had his worst game but still made some good plays. The offensive line got eaten alive. BJ Raji (a rookie) ate Grubbs for lunch and the whole line just didn't seem to have any fire in their bellies on running plays. Also there were a number of plays where Green Bay anticipated the snap count perfectly and hit the line running as the ball was snapped. I'm wondering if we're telegraphing the snap. Either that or Green Bay is psychic.

Our pass rush was pretty awful too. Green Bay had an answer for every blitz scheme. It's obvious that we are pretty transparent.We didn't fool anyone, ever, last night on our blitzes.

I'm surprised that the score was as close as it was with us losing the battle on the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball.

[psuasskicker]

You had only to look across the field at Rogers' performance to see how far Flacco has to go to ascend to the upper echelon of QBs.

...

But as it stands, our playoff chances are on life support and the plug is rapidly sliding out of the socket. Joe Flacco has shown in front of 3 national television audiences that he isn't yet ready to be THE MAN.

I'm still not buying what you're selling. Rodgers has been in the league three more years than Flacco, and learned under one of the best. Let's talk three years from now about how good Flacco is across from Rodgers. Cause right now, Flacco's not too bad.

Kind of like the chicken and the egg argument, huh Sting.

We have a systemic problem on offense, no doubt.

It's a weapons problem. I wrote about this a while ago. The OL is a big issue in that as well. How the hell do you expect a guy to make great decisions if he's constantly running for his life, trying to throw to covered receivers.

Last night was a disaster on every level. No one should pretend this game was any one person's fault. Joe coulda played like Peyton Manning last night and we probably still would have lost. This is what happens when your OL gets their lunch handed to them, your WRs are incapable of getting open without throwing DBs to the ground, your run game can muster only about two runs of more than a yard and your defensive backfield lets the opposing QB throw it at will on you. Everyone should be embarrassed from last night. I hope there's no Heroes and Goats thread this week...it should simply be Goats.

But anyone jumping off the Flacco bus is officially crazy. Three games so far this year with lower than 75 QB rating? You know when the last time Kyle Boller could say that about himself was? College. Flacco has more games with an over 100 QB rating this season than with under 75. His overall rating's still in the mid-80s, and we haven't had a QB start 8+ games with a rating as high as Flacco's since Testeverde in 1996.

He's a second year QB from a D2 school that was thought to be raw coming out. He came in and blew the doors off, and everyone wound up with ridiculously unreasonable expectations for his second year. Now, he's stuck with a suspect interior line and terrible receivers, having a better year than he had last year, and people are jumping down his throat because he's had three bad games?

Flacco's second season isn't all that different from some of the better QBs in the history of the NFL. He may or may not be on track to be a super-stud QB. One thing he won't be, though, is a bust. Even attempting to put him on level with Kyle Boller is laughable. Get the kid some weapons, and he seems to have the talent to be a top ten if not top five quarterback.

But have a little patience. He's had a couple bad games. But you guys jumping off the bandwagon are WAY overreacting WAY too early.

- C -

[Sua Sponte]

Flacco sucked last night no doubt about it, but the O-Line sucked even worse than Joe which leaves Joe's poor performance somewhat understanable besides the poor throws into coverage. The first INT, there were 4 green jerseys around the WR that he under threw anyway. Not to include the under thrown ball to Mason when he beat Woodson and got called for PI. The INT back across the field. Why? didn't he just tuck and run for a gain and try again on third or just throw the ball higher and to back of the end zone were Williams was wide open. The INT across the middle to Heap was a good read and play by the LB, just an athelitic play by a LB but could have been a better throw it was also behind Heap. Flacco was runnning for his life last night. Cam Cameron is over rated and hope to see him and Mattison gone next year.

Back to the O-Line. How can the O-Line shut out Freeney and Mathis and just come back in the past 2 weeks and just completely miss blocks. The Line is back pedaling as soon as the ball is snaped and are playing very soft. Gaither was looking for that big contract, but I don't see it happening after his performance this year. Wouldn't surprize me if we see Oher on the Left side next year. Birk coming in should have improved the interior line you would think (6x Pro Bowl) but it is horrible and he has played horrible. Something is not right. They play dominate sometimes and get completly handled other times. To much up and down.

OT: Foxworth sucks!!!

[psuasskicker]

Cam Cameron is over rated and hope to see him ... gone next year.

No he's not. I'm not sure he's ever had a thinner talent pool to work with. This offense right now has exactly three good to great and three mediocre players.

Great - Ray Rice
Good - Flacco, Oher
Mediocre - Mason, Heap, Gaither

Everyone else on this offense sucks. Not, like, a little bit. Like, massive, donkey ball, suckage.

His track record is ridiculously good. There are maybe five teams in the NFL that wouldn't snap him up for their OC position if we dumped him, and those five would probably snap him up and store him somewhere in the event they eventually need him. The dude did not suddenly forget how to coach football all of a sudden.

- C -

[jonboy79]

No he's not. I'm not sure he's ever had a thinner talent pool to work with. This offense right now has exactly three good to great and three mediocre players.

Great - Ray Rice
Good - Flacco, Oher
Mediocre - Mason, Heap, Gaither

Everyone else on this offense sucks. Not, like, a little bit. Like, massive, donkey ball, suckage.

His track record is ridiculously good. There are maybe five teams in the NFL that wouldn't snap him up for their OC position if we dumped him, and those five would probably snap him up and store him somewhere in the event they eventually need him. The dude did not suddenly forget how to coach football all of a sudden.

- C -

You put Heap in the Mediocre category ahead of McLain, McGahee, Birk? Really? I think he is easily the weakest offensive starter. Followed by Clayton, Grubbs and Yanda, but I wouldn't say it's even close.

[Sua Sponte]

Not sure if anybody mentioned this already, but I know Gruden said it all night long.
Why are we in the huddle for 10-15 seconds and come out with 7-10 seconds to get set and snap the ball, can't adjust can't make reads can't hard count because there is no time and it gives the DL a huge advantage becasue when you have 2-3 seconds to snap the ball they know there is no hard count and get great jumps. Piss Poor... play calling and lack of urgency/tempo on the field