How's that potent passing offense doing?

[Uli2001]

Cam Cameron takes the heat, but he is only doing what his bosses ask him to do, which is feature the passing game. That's an organizational decision that starts at the highest levels, goes through Harbaugh, and only then arrives at Cameron's desk. It is naive to think that Cameron runs this offense on his own.

The Ravens brass has decided, several years ago, that they are going to be a "passing" offense, whatever that means. Sadly, this is reminiscent of the decision to sign Elvis Grbac. It's the same story. Instead of winning with running and defense, as they did in 2000, they completely subverted the identity of this team and wasted Ray Lewis's, Ed Reed's, and now are wasting Ray Rice's career. The Ravens could have 3 or 4 superbowl rings by now.

[Ravenous1]

Cam Cameron takes the heat, but he is only doing what his bosses ask him to do, which is feature the passing game. That's an organizational decision that starts at the highest levels, goes through Harbaugh, and only then arrives at Cameron's desk. It is naive to think that Cameron runs this offense on his own.

The Ravens brass has decided, several years ago, that they are going to be a "passing" offense, whatever that means. Sadly, this is reminiscent of the decision to sign Elvis Grbac. It's the same story. Instead of winning with running and defense, as they did in 2000, they completely subverted the identity of this team and wasted Ray Lewis's, Ed Reed's, and now are wasting Ray Rice's career. The Ravens could have 3 or 4 superbowl rings by now.

The NFL is a passing league, teams that win feature passing QB's and passing offenses. Giants won via Eli Mannings arm, not the run game, the run game was just a compliment to Manning. Name me the last team that won a Superbowl the way you are proposing they do? There will never be another 2000 Ravens....get over it. The rules are such today that it is slanted to allow for offensive production especially via the air. Until that changes, defense is not going to win you a championship. Don't get me wrong, having a good D greatly increases your chances of winning a Super Bowl but having that D without a PASSING OFFENSE that is credible will not get it done. Case in point the Ravens.

[Uli2001]

The Steelers of 2005 won with rushing and defense. The Giants of 2007 did too, EM was still developing at that point. Of course you need to make some key plays in the passing game. The 2000 Ravens made plenty of them. It's the identity of the team I am talking about. Right now, even if somehow they decided to feature Ray Rice more, they couldn't. It takes a certain chemistry of the O-line, a certain streak in the locker room, to be able to come in and push people back and run the ball on them. The Ravens used to have it. Now they don't.

And it goes hand in hand with stopping the run. Show me a great defense that did not have a great rushing offense. You can't play defense if you are on the field for 50 snaps a game.

[festivus]

Thank goodness!

Finally, a thread talking about somebody's opinion about the game on Sunday and somebody's insights on what the problem is with the team.

I've been waiting for this thread all day!

[Ravenous1]

The Steelers of 2005 won with rushing and defense. The Giants of 2007 did too, EM was still developing at that point. Of course you need to make some key plays in the passing game. The 2000 Ravens made plenty of them. It's the identity of the team I am talking about. Right now, even if somehow they decided to feature Ray Rice more, they couldn't. It takes a certain chemistry of the O-line, a certain streak in the locker room, to be able to come in and push people back and run the ball on them. The Ravens used to have it. Now they don't.

Both the Steelers of 2005 and Giants in 2007 had QB who could make big plays in the passing game when needed. They are the closest things to what the Ravens were trying to build though. Both those teams featured solid defense and good running games but they also had the ability to move the ball pretty consistently through the air as well. I don't see either those teams winning a Super Bowl with a lesser QB imo.

[Kevlar]

Problem is the pass interference penalty is too big. Automatic first down every time. The defense has to be totally hands off and its almost impossible to do when both players are getting position. The rule changes favor the pass more and more. Of course teams are going to feature it.

Hopefully one day the rules will swing back in favor of the defender and let these guys play football instead of playing for an automatic first down all the time.

[Raveninwoodlawn]

Cam Cameron takes the heat, but he is only doing what his bosses ask him to do, which is feature the passing game. That's an organizational decision that starts at the highest levels, goes through Harbaugh, and only then arrives at Cameron's desk. It is naive to think that Cameron runs this offense on his own.

The Ravens brass has decided, several years ago, that they are going to be a "passing" offense, whatever that means. Sadly, this is reminiscent of the decision to sign Elvis Grbac. It's the same story. Instead of winning with running and defense, as they did in 2000, they completely subverted the identity of this team and wasted Ray Lewis's, Ed Reed's, and now are wasting Ray Rice's career. The Ravens could have 3 or 4 superbowl rings by now.

Last 6 Super Bowl winners were passing offenses.

What wasted Ray and Ed's careers was the drafting and "development" of Kyle Boller.

The team did return to a run offense though in 08-10 and that didn't win a Super Bowl either.

It's too easy to get up on the pedestal and do the "I told you so" bit when it comes to Super Bowls...no matter what argument used, the odds are for you if you say "Random team X" will not win the Super Bowl.

[HKusp]

Last 6 Super Bowl winners were passing offenses.

What wasted Ray and Ed's careers was the drafting and "development" of Kyle Boller.

The team did return to a run offense though in 08-10 and that didn't win a Super Bowl either.

It's too easy to get up on the pedestal and do the "I told you so" bit when it comes to Super Bowls...no matter what argument used, the odds are for you if you say "Random team X" will not win the Super Bowl.

Drafting and developing Boller didn't waste their careers. Ed Reed has been a Raven for 10+ years, Ray Lewis for 17. The Boller era was less than 3 full seasons. By 2006, they had moved on to McNair, instead of Brees. Had they gone with Brees, where could we be now with regard to SB trophy's? Hindsight is a wonderful thing....

[alienrace]

The passing offense was doing just fine until the last game anyway. One game doesn't break a season.

[iggyman555]

The passing offense was doing just fine until the last game anyway. One game doesn't break a season.

did you watch the chiefs game?

[redmike34]

The debate around here over the last couple of days got me thinking... I was wondering just how comparatively bad the Ravens' passing game on the road is in comparison to the rest of the league. So I did a bit of research and a bit of excel work to compare 10 QBs from likely playoff teams across the league in their performance at home vs on the road. Disclaimer: I am not pointing this out in order to burn Flacco, merely to show where the Ravens level of performance is in relation to the rest of the league that has a good chance to go to the playoffs. I think the numbers speak for themselves...

Schaub home: 129 att, 83 comp, 64.34%, 956 yds, 7.4 y/a, 5 TD, 2 INT, 93.0 rating
Schaub road: 93 att, 57 comp, 61.29%, 694 yds, 7.5 y/a, 5 TD, 2 INT, 93.2 rating

Ryan home: 113 att, 73 comp, 64.6%, 837 yds, 7.4 y/a, 6 TD, 4 INT, 89.7 rating
Ryan road: 123 att, 87 comp, 70.73%, 919 yds, 7.5 y/a, 8 TD, 2 INT, 107.1 rating

Smith home: 108 att, 71 comp, 65.74%, 869 yds, 8.0 y/a, 6 TD, 4 INT, 93.5 rating
Smith road: 82 att, 56 comp, 68.29%, 558 yds, 6.8 y/a, 3 TD, 1 INT, 94.5 rating

Roethlisburger home: 69 att, 46 comp, 66.67%, 495 yds, 7.2 y/a, 3 TD, 0 INT, 102.0 rating
Roethlisburger road: 166 att, 109 comp, 65.66%, 1270 yds, 7.7 y/a, 8 TD, 3 INT, 97.2 rating

Eli home: 160 att, 103 comp, 64.38%, 1319 yds, 8.2 y/a, 8 TD, 6 INT, 91.1 rating
Eli road: 105 att, 66 comp, 62.86%, 790 yds, 7.5 y/a, 4 TD, 1 INT, 94.5 rating

Peyton home: 116 att, 75 comp, 64.66%, 921 yds, 7.9 y/a, 7 TD, 0 INT, 109.2 rating
Peyton road: 111 att, 76 comp, 68.47%, 897 yds, 8.1 y/a, 7 TD, 4 INT, 98.8 rating

Brees home: 133 att, 73 comp, 54.89%, 949 yds, 7.1 y/a, 10 TD, 4 INT, 90.1 rating
Brees road: 140 att, 93 comp, 66.43%, 1148 yds, 8.2 y/a, 8 TD, 3 INT, 101.7 rating

Brady home: 119 att, 77 comp, 64.71%, 798 yds, 6.7 y/a, 4 TD, 1 INT, 91.6 rating
Brady road: 166 att, 109 comp, 65.66%, 1306 yds, 7.9 y/a, 8 TD, 2 INT, 100.6 rating

Rodgers home: 117 att, 83 comp, 70.94%, 841 yds, 7.2 y/a, 7 TD, 3 INT, 100.4 rating
Rodgers road: 145 att, 100 comp, 68.97%, 1138 yds, 7.8 y/a, 12 TD, 1 INT, 117.0 rating

Flacco home: 143 att, 96 comp, 67.13%, 1301 yds, 9.1 y/a, 7 TD, 2 INT, 106.4 rating
Flacco road: 112 att, 56 comp, 50.0%, 566 yds, 5.1 y/a, 2 TD, 4 INT, 55.9 rating

[GOTA]

Drafting and developing Boller didn't waste their careers. Ed Reed has been a Raven for 10+ years, Ray Lewis for 17. The Boller era was less than 3 full seasons. By 2006, they had moved on to McNair, instead of Brees. Had they gone with Brees, where could we be now with regard to SB trophy's? Hindsight is a wonderful thing....

Brees had a torn shoulder and still got $10 million a year offers from the Dolphins and Saints. I can't blame Ozzie, and most other teams, for passing one that one.

Great point about Boller. He was on the team for a while but he certainly wasn't the man for that long.