Ground and Pound

**Ravenous1** · 10-27-2012, 01:01 AM

Okay here me out then call me stupid if you wish lol

Personally if I were John Harbaugh, starting with the Browns game I am changing the offensive philosophy for the rest of the year and returning to a more ground and pound based game. I am not suggesting abandoning the passing game, not suggesting that we ignore the receiving weapons we have, just suggesting that the best thing this team can do for their defense is shorten the game for them. You have Rice who all know what he can do. You have Pierce who has shown some signs of being an effective relief back and Rainey/Allen/Leech who can carry the rock as well. Its clear this is a depleted defense that cannot handle the load of being on the field 40+ minutes a game. The personnel will hopefully tighten things up on the defensive side but that can do so much. Shortening the game would do a great deal more IMO. With a concerted effort to pound the ball you might find that Torrey Smith and Jacoby Jones may get a few less plays come their way but might find the percentage of hits on those attempts to be much higher. THoughts?

**jaydee414** · 10-27-2012, 05:09 AM

no problem with the thought, but the OL needs to be: McKinnie, KO, Birk, Yanda, Oher.

**leachisabeast** · 10-27-2012, 06:38 AM

You know how I feel about this philosophy, this is what we need to do to win games, our offense is simply not built to be a pass first offense. If the time comes however, we all know Flacco on his day can throw the ball around and have big days, and when we need him to do it, he can step up and do it. But for the time being, we can keep the other teams offense off the field for longer periods of time, and pound the ball with Rice and Pierce. The Oline should be McKinnie, KO, Birk, Yanda, Oher. You can't fail with KO and Yanda blocking inside, and with Leach coming up and creating havoc. There is just no way we can have Bobbie Williams in for a ground and pound offense though.

**Captain Offense** · 10-27-2012, 08:27 AM

I do not disagree with the general concept, although I would not call it "Ground and Pound." I think of Jamal Lewis when that phrase is used and I do not think that kind of offense will work. I do think that the running game needs to be a bigger part of the play-calling. I watched the Dallas game and mixture of run and pass was very effective in the two drives; runs which picked up yards but good drop-off passes that worked well too.

I want to see more run-calls to set the table for the pass. Joe is not ready to carry a team yet, so do not have him shoulder the burden. And with the defense they have, the TOP needs to be on the Ravens' side.

**wickedsolo** · 10-27-2012, 10:21 AM

I think what you're trying to say is rather than using the pass to set up the run, which is kind of what they're doing now, use the run to set up the pass.

Problem is the ol - as a whole - is just not very good right now.

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**HoustonRaven** · 10-27-2012, 10:24 AM

Originally Posted by wickedsolo

I think what you're trying to say is rather than using the pass to set up the run, which is kind of what they're doing now, use the run to set up the pass.

Problem is the ol - as a whole - is just not very good right now.

Sent from my DROID X2 using Forum Runner

Agreed.

It's easy for us to say they should be doing X, Y and Z.

But if your line isn't playing up to expectations, it really doesn't matter.

**Captain Silver** · 10-27-2012, 10:35 AM

Hahahaha, tell John to do something, I needed a laugh. He'll do what Cam Cameron says. Period.

**Ravenswintitle** · 10-27-2012, 11:26 AM

He stated last year that to win games you need to control the time of possession and convert third downs.
Other than the Houston game that got out of hand early, they have been very balanced with run/pass ratio being almost even.

**The Excellector** · 10-27-2012, 01:18 PM

This does not surprise me.

**The Excellector** · 10-27-2012, 01:21 PM

Continue to abandon your weaknesses before you make them stronger, while focusing on your strengths, only for well coached teams to force you back to your weaknesses, late in the season, after you've failed to strengthen them.

Ray Rice's touches are actually down and the team is still 5-2. The inconsistency issues with the passing offense aren't going to magically disappear. You won't be able to mask it against quality teams in the playoffs. San Fransisco tried this last year, until the NFC Championship Game, when Alex Smith had to to throw and he couldn't, because they babied him throughout the season.

**leachisabeast** · 10-27-2012, 02:09 PM

Originally Posted by The Excellector

Continue to abandon your weaknesses before you make them stronger, while focusing on your strengths, only for well coached teams to force you back to your weaknesses, late in the season, after you've failed to strengthen them.

Ray Rice's touches are actually down and the team is still 5-2. The inconsistency issues with the passing offense aren't going to magically disappear. You won't be able to mask it against quality teams in the playoffs. San Fransisco tried this last year, until the NFC Championship Game, when Alex Smith had to to throw and he couldn't, because they babied him throughout the season.

What the hell are you on about? The 49ers should have won that game if it wasn't for a ST fuck up, the 49ers would have been playing the Patriots in the SB.

**redmike34** · 10-27-2012, 02:14 PM

Originally Posted by The Excellector

Continue to abandon your weaknesses before you make them stronger, while focusing on your strengths, only for well coached teams to force you back to your weaknesses, late in the season, after you've failed to strengthen them.

Ray Rice's touches are actually down and the team is still 5-2. The inconsistency issues with the passing offense aren't going to magically disappear. You won't be able to mask it against quality teams in the playoffs. San Fransisco tried this last year, until the NFC Championship Game, when Alex Smith had to to throw and he couldn't, because they babied him throughout the season.

He couldn't because they babied him through the season? I suppose that's possible, but I'd consider it equally likely that what you see is what you get with Alex Smith and his capabilities. I think SF gameplanned around his weaknesses pretty effectively--it's just that of the four times last year that they didn't, one happened to be the NFC title game. Doesn't matter how hard you squeeze it, you'll never get blood from a rock...

The Ravens are currently dead last in the NFL in average time of possession per game at 26:06. It's fair to say that this metric is a two-edged sword--it's representative of both the offense's inability to stay on the field (edit: or to score VERY quickly) and the defense's inability to get off the field, but it's worth noting that there's only one other team with a winning record in the bottom ten in that metric. So being 5-2 while losing the TOP battle that badly would seem to be a heroic achievement thus far, but you'd think that playing that way would catch up to you sooner or later. At this point I'm all for keeping the defense off the field as much as possible, and if it means the Ravens have to run the ball more, then let's run the effing ball. We have Leach, Rice, Pierce and Rainey on the roster for some reason or another....