Shift in Offensive Philosophies?

**JAB1985** · 08-08-2012, 02:13 PM

Originally Posted by Paintballguy

If you factor out all the drops last year, Flacco's completion percentage would be close to 70%.

if you count the drops as catches its just closer to his career average of 62%. 70% is extremely hard to do in any system, including WCO, let alone AC.

**psuasskicker** · 08-08-2012, 02:16 PM

Originally Posted by Paintballguy

If you factor out all the drops last year, Flacco's completion percentage would be close to 70%.

It'd be closer to 70% than to, say, 45%, but it would not be close to 70%. And if you factor out all the drops from every QB, several would still have been closer to 70% than Flacco. Plus, there is a 0% chance this team will have no drops this year.

- C -

**Ravens44** · 08-08-2012, 02:18 PM

I would like the receivers to just add the ones that hit them perfectly, right in their hands (look the ball all the way in and secure the catch, period, then worry about running and then celebrating). Those would have changed enough of the last 4 seasons to really have made a difference, IMHO.

**The Excellector** · 08-08-2012, 02:26 PM

Here is what I took from reading this article: The more you hear Joe Flacco speak, you more you realize that this message board was extremely close in its analysis of what was going on with the offense and the coaching staff's approach to the offense.

Nearly every single concern that we have had about the offense has been echoed by Flacco this off-season. One of the few has been the issue of dropped passes, likely, because Flacco does not want to put his teammates out there. However, let's summarize the concerns that Flacco has discussed about the offense's past performances:

Playing not to lose instead of playing to win
On-field control of the offense/ playcalling
Needing to throw more on first down, instead of putting themselves on third and longs
Being willing to take chances for what is right, even it means making a few mistakes or losing some games, i.e., developing your passing offense so that it can perform better in crucial spots later in the season.

All of these issues have been discussed on this board for, at least, two years. We weren't far off at all.

**Paintballguy** · 08-08-2012, 02:34 PM

Originally Posted by psuasskicker

It'd be closer to 70% than to, say, 45%, but it would not be close to 70%. And if you factor out all the drops from every QB, several would still have been closer to 70% than Flacco. Plus, there is a 0% chance this team will have no drops this year.

- C -

This was my bad on the math. The number I got on drops was 31 for last year. That would bump his completions to 343/524 attempts which would be 63%. I'm not saying there would be no drops, but you can't penalize Flacco for hitting receivers in the hands. Plus, you have to factor in all the incompletions which were intentional to avoid a sack.

**leachisabeast** · 08-08-2012, 02:45 PM

I will keep saying this, that Flacco strives in the spread offense. It's where he excelled all through college, and whenever a game has been on the line, the hurry up offense is where he came through most of the time. Obviously Ray Rice and Vonta Leach are still going to be a huge part of this offense since we've invested so much into them, and the fact that they are arguably both the best players in their positions right now, but I do think this year will be different some how. I just think that Cam has finally realised that it's time, or maybe not, we'll see come September.

**bmorecareful** · 08-08-2012, 02:47 PM

Originally Posted by Raveninwoodlawn

Sadly I agree with this.

Although...although I will say that the team did go to a very wide open offense at the beginning of Joe's second year. WE opened up against KC and we were extremely pass heavy and really stayed that way for the first 4 weeks or so...I can't recall a time we threw the ball as much as we did against KC, the first Browns game, and NE since the Vinny years.

But it seemed that as we started to struggle (to no fault of Joe's...Clayton dropped that 4th down pass at the 8, the defense allowed a last second TD against the Bengals and Haushka missed that kick against the Vikings), we pulled in the reigns and we never really came back to that.

Not really relevant years after the fact, but the real reason we "pulled in the reins" after the Vikings game was that Flacco sustained a deep thigh bruise against the Vikings and played with it the rest of the year.

It was never on the injury reports or in the news, but it's been confirmed by multiple sources since then. Flacco could barely move for most of the rest of the 09 season and his mechanics were pretty bad being unable to fully drive throws with his legs.

Actually, the regression in Joe's throwing mechanics was still present a little bit as late as the earlier part of the 2010 season. Go back and watch say for example the first Cincinnati game, Joe was continuously throwing inaccurately off his back foot. I think the 09 thigh injury really took a while for him to come all the way back from. For a current comparison, just look at Haloti, who was rendered ineffective for several months last year with a deep thigh bruise and didn't really get all the way over it until fairly recently.

**Paintballguy** · 08-08-2012, 02:51 PM

Originally Posted by bmorecareful

Not really relevant years after the fact, but the real reason we "pulled in the reins" after the Vikings game was that Flacco sustained a deep thigh bruise against the Vikings and played with it the rest of the year.

It was never on the injury reports or in the news, but it's been confirmed by multiple sources since then. Flacco could barely move for most of the rest of the 09 season and his mechanics were pretty bad being unable to fully drive throws with his legs.

Actually, the regression in Joe's throwing mechanics was still present a little bit as late as the earlier part of the 2010 season. Go back and watch say for example the first Cincinnati game, Joe was continuously throwing inaccurately off his back foot. I think the 09 thigh injury really took a while for him to come all the way back from. For a current comparison, just look at Haloti, who was rendered ineffective for several months last year with a deep thigh bruise and didn't really get all the way over it until fairly recently.

Supposedly Flacco couldn't even sit down on the flight back to Baltimore because of the thigh bruise.

**Stealthbirds80** · 08-08-2012, 02:53 PM

An additional thought on an article I read stated that the routes were shorter, I can see him having a career year in terms of completion, but that falls on the WR/TE to catch the ball. I can see Boldin, Dixon, and Pitta having a lot to do with that. Talk about eating up yardage and boosting completion rates. With a strong arm QB that can fit the ball in tight spaces, it should be successful. For all of this to work, Cam needed at least two downfield threats (clearing throat), enter in Torrey, Jacoby, Laquan, Streeter, and Thompson.

**Ravens44** · 08-08-2012, 03:02 PM

Originally Posted by bmorecareful

Not really relevant years after the fact, but the real reason we "pulled in the reins" after the Vikings game was that Flacco sustained a deep thigh bruise against the Vikings and played with it the rest of the year.

It was never on the injury reports or in the news, but it's been confirmed by multiple sources since then. Flacco could barely move for most of the rest of the 09 season and his mechanics were pretty bad being unable to fully drive throws with his legs.

Actually, the regression in Joe's throwing mechanics was still present a little bit as late as the earlier part of the 2010 season. Go back and watch say for example the first Cincinnati game, Joe was continuously throwing inaccurately off his back foot. I think the 09 thigh injury really took a while for him to come all the way back from. For a current comparison, just look at Haloti, who was rendered ineffective for several months last year with a deep thigh bruise and didn't really get all the way over it until fairly recently.

Just a throw in about Ngata, letting the thigh fully heal could have been a factor contributing to his hamstring issue.
Nagging months long injuries take longer than usual to heal. And it can contribute to the condition of the athlete going into the next season, just a few months later, simply due to inactivity for the healing to occur.

**Haloti92** · 08-08-2012, 03:03 PM

Every QB suffers from drops. Our 2011 "drops" problem is greatly exaggerated around here; people act like we were by far the worst team in the league in drops, which is nonsense. We were ranked poorly, 7th worst if I recall, but 6 less drops and we would have been ranked in the top 10 best (I forgot exact ranking, maybe tied for 8th etc). And 6 less drops raises our 2011 completion percentage about 1 percentage point only.

I wouldn't argue against the claim that our drops, in general, occur at more crucial times and are more damaging (based somewhat on the fact that our style and division tends to produce closer contests), but in terms of shear numbers and the effect they had on our completion percentage, they aren't as bad as some people consistently claim.

**TheJoeFlaccoShow** · 08-08-2012, 03:06 PM

Originally Posted by leachisabeast

I will keep saying this, that Flacco strives in the spread offense. It's where he excelled all through college, and whenever a game has been on the line, the hurry up offense is where he came through most of the time. Obviously Ray Rice and Vonta Leach are still going to be a huge part of this offense since we've invested so much into them, and the fact that they are arguably both the best players in their positions right now, but I do think this year will be different some how. I just think that Cam has finally realised that it's time, or maybe not, we'll see come September.

That won't be with a spread and those two guys on the bench, I can guarantee that.

5 receivers - no Backs, no TE's
4 receivers - 1 back, no TE's or 1 TE no back.

Would love someone to explain the offense to me under those circumstances. It is great to say "yeah spread it out!! throw it all over the lot!!" But it isn't happening, leaving $11 million sitting on the bench.

Everything you hear right now is noise, and nothing more. Noise from the coaches, noise from the media, it means nothing. Whether it comes from Harbaugh or whoever, there are all types of reasons Harbaugh or anyone else makes the comments they do.

There are underlying reasons, ulterior motives and a general tone he wants to set. People read WAY too much into every little thing that comes out of camp. Obviously that is a fans nature, but the reality is you are probably gonna see something similar on offense that (should have) gotten them to the Super Bowl last year.