Dear Mr Caldwell, why did you run on 10/12 first downs in the first half

[BIGBALL]

so you dont think the niners will be ready for runs on first and second down, then it will put us in third and long? i dont get it, we should try to score and be ahead and not rely on the D to make stops

Iggy - every game has a life, an identity, of it's own. Just because he did that here doesn't mean he necessarily will against the 9ers.

[ActualSpamBot]

And switching up with play action on at least SOME of those runs, or using Pierce instead of Rice on some of those runs, wouldn't have been just as, if not more effective?

We mixed play action and Pierce in plenty. Not sure what game you watched but Bernard had 11 touches to Ray's 21.

[RavensRule21215]

We mixed play action and Pierce in plenty. Not sure what game you watched but Bernard had 11 touches to Ray's 21.

First half:

1st and 10 at BAL 13 R.Rice right guard to BLT 15 for 2 yards (B.Spikes).
1st and 10 at BAL 27 R.Rice up the middle to BLT 30 for 3 yards (J.Francis).
1st and 10 at BAL 10 R.Rice up the middle to BLT 13 for 3 yards (D.Hightower).
1st and 10 at BAL 33 (No Huddle, Shotgun) R.Rice up the middle to BLT 35 for 2 yards (M.Cole; R.Ninkovich).
1st and 10 at BAL 46 (No Huddle) R.Rice left end to BLT 48 for 2 yards (R.Ninkovich).
1st and 10 at NE 44 (No Huddle) B.Pierce right end pushed ob at NE 40 for 4 yards (A.Dennard).
1st and 10 at BAL 14 B.Pierce right end ran ob at BLT 13 for -1 yards.

That's 7 plays, for a whopping 15 yards.

THAT'S the game I was watching. What game were YOU watching?

[PerpetuallyBored74]

The LBs started the game creeped up. Which is partially responsible (along with very vanilla runs) for our bad results on 1st down runs. We didn't get them to creep up with those runs. We didn't accomplish much with those runs except maybe tire out the D-lineman a bit, and set-up a possible surprising 1st down play action (that really only surprises them one time only with great effect). It isn't like NE was saying, "oh noes, a 2 yard run, we better get another guy up at the LOS."

And the downside of continued 2nd and 8's and 3rd and 7's (after two runs) is that Joe's first attempts of the game are in obvious passing downs on 3rd and long, which prevents him from getting into a rhythm.

I think the string of predictable 1st down runs, especially considering their minimal yardage can definitely be questioned. That said, again, Caldwell gets an A for the game; but he earned most of that A grade in the 2nd half.

Wouldn't surprise me if Caldwell lost track of how many 1st down runs straight up the gut he'd called in a row. Because all he needed to do was call 3 or 4 in a row, boom play-action, then 5 or 6 in a row, then another play action. And all the runs didn't have to be up the middle; going off-tackle once or twice would have also helped throw the Pats D off-balance.

Great second half from Caldwell once he Unleashed The Flacco, but up until then, the playcalling was kind of 'meh'. The Pats winning the ToP in the 1st half didn't help either, but at least Jim adjusts--albeit a tick or 2 later than I'd prefer--so that right there makes him a million times better than Cam.

Overall, I'm happy with Caldwell. I'll chalk up his "better a little late than never" tendency to his inexperience as a playcaller. But he definitely has shown a feel for the game that Cam never had.

And yes, in general he is executing the Air Coryell correctly.

[Ravenswintitle]

How about after Brady threw the ball away on the 4th down attempt, Ravens took over and passed passed passed, punt. Only burned 30 seconds. Hindsight is a beautiful thing

[ActualSpamBot]

THAT'S the game I was watching. What game were YOU watching?

The one where in the second half, we were able to fit the ball into space between their crashing linebackers and their safeties trying to keep Jacoby and Torrey in front of them, to the tune of 3 TDs all thrown over the middle of the field on intermediate routes.

[RavensRule21215]

The one where in the second half, we were able to fit the ball into space between their crashing linebackers and their safeties trying to keep Jacoby and Torrey in front of them, to the tune of 3 TDs all thrown over the middle of the field on intermediate routes.

LOL @ SECOND HALF. Why don't you read the title of THIS thread? It's talking about the FIRST HALF.

[RavensRule21215]

How about after Brady threw the ball away on the 4th down attempt, Ravens took over and passed passed passed, punt. Only burned 30 seconds. Hindsight is a beautiful thing

D/D. That was obviously the wrong play calls for that d/d situation. But all it does is provide another example of poor play calling. It does nothing to mitigate the poor play calling in the first half.

[ActualSpamBot]

LOL @ SECOND HALF. Why don't you read the title of THIS thread? It's talking about the FIRST HALF.

Weird... it's almost as if my point is that the first half somehow, had an effect on the second half.

[RavensRule21215]

Weird... it's almost as if my point is that the first half somehow, had an effect on the second half.

And THAT point has already been successfully negated by Haloti92 in his post.

[ActualSpamBot]

And THAT point has already been successfully negated by Haloti92 in his post.

No, Haloti92 made an assertion, one which is contradicted by the observations of several other posters. If you want to claim that Haloti92 is some sort of infallible super fan who saw a more accurate version of events than those of us who have been arguing the point I've restated to you multiple times, feel free to do so. Pardon me however, if I find that a terribly unconvincing argument.

[rlh445]

Yea, obviously it WASN'T us consistently running the ball towards their strength that helped open up the field, it was simply Caldwell 'unleashing the Flacco,'. If we don't show we're willing to run it, there would have been no unleashing. I'm not sure how that's not readily apparent. What would you guys have rather seen? More PA? Didn't Haloti92 state that PAs are pretty ineffective if done consecutively? Then what? Joe throwing it 50 times like Cam Cam used to love to do? Game plan has obviously worked, our offense looks great and part of that is our insistence at sticking with the run *SOMETHING EVERYONE WAS CLAMORING FOR ALL YEAR* and yet now apparently DON'T want to see. Lol....