callahan09

I'm holding out hope that Shanahan is coming over as the QB coach...

I would agree that Foster is better than Rice, and that Johnson is better than any of our various #1 receivers over the years (Mason / Boldin / Smith). But in my opinion, it's still rather close, and before Foster broke out in 2010, we had already had a lot of success with Rice in 2009, McClain in 2008, McGahee in 2007, and Jamal Lewis in 2006. And Foster missed somewhere around a dozen games due to injuries, whereas we haven't had our RBs really miss any games due to injury in that entire 8 season span. As far as receivers, Johnson has also missed 19 games in that span, where as Mason, Boldin, and Smith have collectively missed a combined 3 games between them during their times with us, and we had 3 seasons where at least 2 of them were on the roster simultaneously. How many good receivers have the Texans had next to Foster over the years? Offense line, though, I can certainly concede that one, they probably had a much better line, and that makes a big difference.

Since 2006 (Kubiak's span as the head coach for Houston), Houston has cumulatively ranked 8th in yards per offensive play, while the Ravens are 28th, with only Cleveland, St Louis, the Jets, and Kansas City ranked worse. Houston has averaged more than half a yard per play better than the Ravens. And in my opinion, we have had the superior roster.

Vontae totally wants Kubiak. I just hope that Vontae understands even if we hire Kubiak, he may still not have a job with this team, unfortunately for him.

I agree that our TEAM COMPLETION PERCENTAGE on those throws has been questionable and should be better, but I don't know that it's fair to throw the blame at Flacco's accuracy. Those throws require a little synergy between the QB and the receiver, the QB has to know where to expect the player to be, and in our offense, those crossing routes over the middle were totally unreliable, because the receivers weren't getting separation, they were getting jammed at the line, and there was just nothing routine about those throws for Joe. I believe those routes just didn't work as intended and there was not enough consistency in how the receivers ran those routes, how much separation they got, how smoothly they ran those routes, for Joe to be able to accurately predict where to put the ball, and that was the cause of it. It is a timing, chemistry, routine, execution issue from the play itself and the receiver and the QB, and not a matter of the QB not putting the ball where he intended to put it (which is what "accuracy" is).

Comparing Gary Kubiak / Rick Dennison's Houston offenses to the Ravens, so that's a cumulative ranking of the two teams since 2010: Houston to the left of the slash, Baltimore on the right. Points: 14th / 16thYards: 8th / 20thPassing Yards: 13th / 17thRushing Yards: 6th / 16thCompletion%: 9th / 19thSacks (Fewest): 10th / 17thYPA (Rushing): 9th / 29thYards Per Offensive Play: 10th / 26thPlays Per Drive: 9th / 14thYards Per Drive: 12th / 18thTime of Possession Per Drive: 8th / 20thScoring Percentage Per Drive: 14th / 13thTD% Per Drive: 17th / 20thFG% Per Drive: 11th / 4thTurnover Percentage Per Drive: 5th / 7th For all intents & purposes scoring percentage per drive is a tie, it is so close: they had 266 scoring drives, we had 265, while they had 770 total drives and we had 765. So look at it this way, they have 5 more drives than we had, and they scored on one of them. Besides that though, breaking down HOW they are scoring on these offensive drives, they were getting more touchdowns than us, while we were getting more field goals. Outside of those numbers, every single other category favors Houston. And look at their playmakers as compared to ours! They had Andre Johnson at receiver, who missed 12 games over that span of time, and then who else? Kevin Walter? DeAndre Hopkins? Jacoby Jones for two of those years, who we stole and have had for two years. Owen Daniels and Garrett Graham at TE? We had Derrick Mason and Anquan Boldin, and Torrey Smith who together missed a combined 3 games during their times here in that span of seasons. Todd Heap, Dennis Pitta, Ed Dickson, and Dallas Clark at TE. They had Arian Foster as RB, who missed 11 games, and then who, Ben Tate? We had Ray Rice, who only missed 1 game in that span, and Willis McGahee, Ricky Williams, and Bernard Pierce! They had Matt Schaub at QB, who missed 12 games in that span, and T.J. Yates & Case Keenum filling in, versus Joe Flacco at QB, who has missed NO games. Tell me we shouldn't have had more offense than them. We had more depth at all playmaker positions, we had the better QB and who didn't miss any games, they had more top playmakers have to sit out due to injury, I think we had them beat in the roster department on the offensive side of the ball... so why was their offense better than ours across the board? Of course, some of that might be due to the schedule, because we routinely have one of the toughest slate of defenses to play against year in and year out, but in my opinion, our offense, with the roster we've had over these years, has woefully underperformed, and I put that at the heels of the offensive coordinators we've had. I think that what Kubiak / Dennison got out of a lackluster roster in Houston that suffered a lot of injuries and other issues and setbacks over the years, that shows he can make the most out of what he's got, so it would be interesting to see them in Baltimore.

I think he should be signed even if he doesn't play. Let him finish his playing career in a Ravens uniform, or at least wearing Ravens sweats on the sidelines. Even without his ability to play at a high level right now, his input and leadership would be invaluable to this team. He could easily take on kind of a coaching role and be a positive presence in the locker room, then he retires a Raven and maybe becomes a coach officially.

Recognize this fellow?

I was representing the Ravens in Phoenix & Tempe, Arizona in 2006 and 2007, and since then I've been representing the Ravens in Jersey City, NJ and New York, NY.