A problem nobody has really discussed.

[Shas]

I think you are overly critical of the O-line performance.

No problem. Everyone is free to draw their own conclusions. I thought the line was horrid in both the running and passing game-- gave the interior group an F and the tackles a D. Rice was just as bad pass blocking.

[Haloti92]

No problem. Everyone is free to draw their own conclusions. I thought the line was horrid -- gave the interior group an F and the tackles a D.

It certainly wasn't good that night, which makes it all the more perplexing to see our pass plays consist of our WRs all running routes where they don't even turn their head back to the QB until at least 5 seconds after the snap.

[Carey]

Great point Darb72, you wonder if this is still a ploy by Cam to keep Joe from changing plays or are they just that unprepared from play to play.

[bensmotorcyclehelmt]

Great point Darb72, you wonder if this is still a ploy by Cam to keep Joe from changing plays or are they just that unprepared from play to play.

Given the results of the offense, either way, that doesn't improve Cam's situation.

[goodandfast]

It certainly wasn't good that night, which makes it all the more perplexing to see our pass plays consist of our WRs all running routes where they don't even turn their head back to the QB until at least 5 seconds after the snap.

This is the frustrating part of Cam's insistence on 'execution' in terms of how to make his offense succeed. If the routes he has drawn up, require the O-line to execute better than they are, to give Flacco enough time for the receivers to get open, when does he make the decision that they aren't executing, so let's do something else?

It's almost like he is more interested in proving a point than in winning games. If your players aren't executing its the coach's responsibility to put them in positions where they can execute.

[RavensQB]

harris-
Again, not trying to be confrontational with you, but can you provide any objective "proof"? I respect your opinion; it may well be that that is the case; it certainly looks like that could BE the case; but I need more than what I hear from message boards and talk shows to convince me that Cameron calls the plays in late in order to ensure that his system and play calls are implemented every game.

Hey Beau,

I have not checked myself yet, But I am willing to bet the pace at the RAMS game was much quicker. It is also the game that it was rumored heavily that Joe changed many of the calls from RUN to pass plays. Heading to the DVR now.

[RavensQB]

Sorry, I'm completely on the opposite side of the fence on this. When I can plainly see that a player like Gurode or McKinnie or Rice are consistently blowing their blocking assignments, it's 100% on them and a complete cop-out to blame Cam for not calling a different play. In most cases, as these guys are getting beat, a different play is still going to fail.

The NFL is about one on one match ups. Your guy has to at least neutralize their guy. Cam can put them better situations to succeed, but Monday night it was way beyond Cam. They were getting torched on the basics. No coordinator was going to stop that.

College ball is the place where coaching can make such a big difference. That's where you see gimmick offenses succeed. The talent level is so variable from team to team, player to player, that good coaches and schemes can take advantage. In the NFL, you're right, the players are all at a very high level. It's very hard for a coordinator to sway the outcome of the game. He factors, but in a much more nuanced way.

Shas,

This is where I have to completley disagree with you. AS the OC when the 1 on 1 blocking assignment KEEPS failing, you change the style or something that does not require the blocking that keeps failing. This is CAM's and always has been CAM's problem. He is going to JAM that SQUARE peg in that ROUND hole.

[York]

This is INTENTIONAL on Cam's part. It's the mechanism that Cam has for controlling the playcalling/game plan. If he gets the play in with only 10-15 second left Joe has only enough time to get the play called in the huddle, get the team up to the line and get the ball snapped.

This shouldn't be a mystery to anyone. He forces Joe to run tet play that he calls and prevents Joe from having the time to call an audible.

Cam is king, Joe is the pawn.

Too late, I believe that they turn the mic off with 20 or 25 seconds left. Joe is just standing there with his fingers in his ear because he can't believe the call that just came in.:girlfight

[lobachevsky]

I totally understand why Cam is being more of a controll freak giving his tenuous standing. That's why I severly question why Stevie B/Harbs/Oz thought it was a good idea to bring back Cam who basically would have been fired if not for the lockout and has about as cantankerous as a relationship as you can have with your young QB that needs to develop on his own.

S&H probably figured that a change with the lockout looming would damage continuity, particularly with all the youngsters on offense--& that Cam & Joe want that ring badly enough to hold their noses to get it done. ()

I guess they just thought that everything would be hunky dory with winning and Cam and Joe would become BFFs...:grbac:

BFFs unnecessary, uneasy coexistence is all that's needed: "The enemy of my enemy is my friend." Hey, worked during WW2. Unfortunately, when they offered him a job as offensive consultant, FDR turned it down flat...:D

The one road game where tempo was fast....Cam got the play in quick so Joe got up to the line quick was the Rams game. Well didnt all we hear afterwards was how Joe checked out of original running plays into passing plays and was lauded for it. Seems to me that Ego-maniac Cam didn't like the praise Joe was getting.

More charitably, Cam might well have thought that successful audibling had gone to Joe's head & he'd crash & burn against a better defense--& they're all better defenses this side of Division I-AA.

Reminds me of when I passed my driving test--first time I asked for the car, Dad said, "What makes you think you know how to drive? You passed a test on a simple course with no traffic--that's not driving." He had a point--but the only way to learn to drive is to drive. (I didn't get the car for 2 months, & then only when I announced I needed it for a date--he was so gobsmacked that some girl had actually agreed to go out with me that he just handed me the keys.)

Keep in mind that this franchise has been risk-averse for years. The prevailing whizzdumb is that the Crows are talented enough to go to the playoffs & maybe even win the Lombardi with a little luck, so long as they don't make too many stupid mistakes or get too many bad breaks. My woefully-uninformed guess is that S&H believe (or Cam went to them & convinced them) that putting too much more on Joe right now is risking too much when the roster's window for a trophy is rapidly closing.

[Thyrl]

Not sure if this has been brought up yet or not, but the Ravens treated Jacksonville like the Georgia Dome on Monday.

Everyone talking about the number of carries Rice didn't get, forget that for a sec and consider this. Counting sacks, penalties and plays, I counted the Ravens in the shotgun 32 times on Monday night.

During all of those snaps, that I can tell, outside the "hurry up" drive at the end, Flacco was silent. Yanda kept an eye in the backfield until Flacco pumped his foot, then turned forward and slapped Birk on the leg. Once Birk felt the slap he'd rock back and snap it. No cadence, no hard count, no noise at all.

On those 32 plays from shotgun, the Ravens ran just once.

So 32x the Ravens lined up, and essentially declared pre-snap that they weren't going to run the ball so no need for the defense to concern themselves at all with that.

Most of those 32x the Ravens offense told the Jags D when to change their look as they could hold their look until Birk rocked forward. From there, since no one is listening for the QB's voice anyway there's no chance to change or kill the play...now it's safe for the defense to show its hand. No wonder the Jags were so effective with a 4 and 5 man rush most of the night. No need to hold your lane since Rice isn't coming and here's a head start on the snap cued by Yanda then Birk.

In those scenarios the tackles and receivers off the line have no chance to see the ball snapped so they instead have to guess and try to jump the count or take cues from the guy beside them and run the risk of getting off slow.

Maybe it's a stretch, but it could explain why Flacco looked so little like a QB at the end of the game when they needed him to be one, as they took a lot out of his hands throughout the game.

[Jsmoove]

Ok Shas makes a great point but you still have to draw plays to the strength of the unit, we are missing our all pro gaurd and basically have a lineman playing out of position, the right side of your line is the strongest, you notice your left side struggling all day with reads then ok load up unbalance right and cramp plays that way of the line til the defense figures it out, when or if they do, take Joe from under center put him in the shotgun spread recievers and flood zones to the the strong side of your line therefore allowing Joe to see the entire versus taking snaps under center and running for his life, it also give the Oline enough to react if with joes working from the shotgun...simple adjustments

[RavensQB]

Too late, I believe that they turn the mic off with 20 or 25 seconds left. Joe is just standing there with his fingers in his ear because he can't believe the call that just came in.:girlfight

It turns off with 15 seconds left on the play clock.