Inqui

I been hearing that Holster is the favorite for the job......once again if this is true, we don't try new things and stick to internal mediocrity

How do you know he'll run an Air Coryell? For all we know if he gets hired it might have been because of his ideas on a WCO or he pitched the idea of putting Torrey and Deonte on slants more frequently.

It means a lot depending on how you look at it. You and others seem to be missing the point that "imo" and this is jmo, but the offense struggled last year because of injury and having to rely on guys who just shouldn't be relied on heavily. If we had Pitta, Stokley, KO and others healthy all season we would have been much better. What allowed us to have success last year was the interior oline being so good, this year it wasn't. If your oline is bad and you are trying to install a new scheme and you have to deal with new players, chances are you aren't gonna have much success I don't care who you are or what system you have. Was Rex Ryan a poor DC in 2007 when he was forced to rely on guys like Derrick Martin, Ronnie Purude, David Pittman, Jamie Winborne and Corey Ivy when our starters went down? No he just didn't have the talent to run his defense. I saw a lot of that with the offense this past season.

Players usually have a much better idea of what caused the problems that lead to issues then we fans do. I'm not saying because players like him he'll be good, I'm simply pointing out that they like him for a reason. I feel like I'm leading the Hostler bandwagon or something lol

It seems like all you're really saying is "give the guy a chance if he gets hired". I'm surprised that's not a bigger voice around here.

Unless his name is Cam Cameron then we haven't seen his playbook. Fact is, I'm willing to bet 99% of use don't know what we'll get from the guy, we are just looking at numbers and reports from his 1yr in San Fran. That's like saying Billick was the OC of the highest scoring offense at the time in Minn so he'll make our offense good. Uh how did that work out again?

This, this, this, this and this. I'm not advocating for Hostler, but if we do promote him I do advocate the radical course of action and giving him a fair go with this offence. I'd rather not act like the sky's going to fall until it actually falls.

I think the main question about Kyle is whether we're prepared to see him move away from the run in a big way - because from what I've read it sounds like he will. Won't necessarily make him a bad OC, but I remember Cam got heat a couple of years back for not using Rice enough (that magic 25 touches).

Not a fan of the idea they proposed as I don't think it would change the dynamic of the game. I'd be in favour of pushing the kicker back 15 yards though.

I'm really not an expert on the Lions offence, but it seems like their play calling was far more creative than ours - putting Megatron on a few different routes, getting Reggie Bush involved in a few different ways, etc. Might have to watch a few Lions games. What kind of scheme does he use? How about his more common formations?

I wouldn't mind this hire at all. Former QB who has a laid back personality just like Joe. If his tenure in Detriot is any indication he's a really strong play caller who will put the offense in his QBs hands. I'd like to know what his plan is for the offense is. How would he use our guys.

I also think he's one of those guys that you probably don't have to worry about getting a HC job, so he'd be around for a while. Can't wait to see who we interview next

We only today found out that the Shanahan interview was "good", so I wouldn't hold my breath.

Believe me, we'll have a new OC way before Cleveland figures out the Head Coach they will fire in 2015.

Or at least, before the Browns find a guy willing to get fired in 2015.

When do you guys think we will find our OC, What do you guys think should be a reasonable deadline? Before or after superbowl? Before draft?

If we don't have a new OC before the draft I'll tun naked down Queen Street and upload the footage.

Before the Super Bowl I think is closer to 50/50. I think we will, but I could understand taking longer.

As I've said before, this is maybe the single most important decision of this Franchise in last 10yrs or so, at least top 5. This decision could be the key to unlocking the true potential of your Franchise QB who heading into his 7th year and should be hitting his prime, or you could maake the wrong decision and have a Stud of a QB continue to play average because the system doesn't suit him best. This decision could be the one that pushes this team into that unquestioned elite status, because if we can consistnetly put up offensive numbers that rival the best offense, our defense should continue to be top 10 and we'll annually be one of the toughest teams to deal with, instead of being a team who can't beat the Bills. Some might not look at this decision as having this much impact but I do and I think the Ravens do, which is why they are taking their time and doing their due dilligence with this decision.

I think Flacco's ceiling is somewhere in the ballpark of Drew Brees (and I think Drew's 2012 season and his years with Cam should suggest how integral his weapons and his system are in his success). I'm torn between wanting to quickly appoint a guy and focus on signing FAs (mainly our ones) and preparing for the draft; and between wanting the FO to take their time and get it right. I mean, you don't want to dither around looking for an OC for the whole offseason but you also don't want to Jerry Jones the appointment either.

Geno Smith was escorted off a plane by the police at LAX.

 

http://deadspin.com/geno-smith-allegedly-escorted-off-plane-by-lax-cops-1503821554?utm_campaign=socialflow_deadspin_twitter&utm_source=deadspin_twitter&utm_medium=socialflow

I really liked one of the top comments: "Jet jettisoned from jet."

I continue to be excited about who the new OC will be, although I am tired of waiting lol, but I think this is an exciting time for the Baltimore Ravens, because no matter who the new OC is, it appears that many of us fans are getting exactly what we have wanted for years. New direction on offense. Ray Lewis' message 2 years ago after the Evans/Cundiff game was that everything happens for a reason. The debacle that was the Baltimore Ravens offense in 2013, might have been a blessing in disguise.

It sucked in a huge way at the time, but the Evans fiasco got us Jacoby and the Cundiff fiasco got us Tucker. I can understand people maybe keeping Evans over Jacoby (not really going to comment too much on that as it involves a lot of speculation), but I can guarantee there isn't a single Ravens fan out there who'd keep Cundiff on for that 2012 season if it meant missing out on Tucker. Hell, winning the Lombardi in 2013 means there'd be people who'd even be glad Cundiff missed.

I don't really buy the whole "everything happens for a reason" line because it assumes someone has an inside line on the fates and the spiritual dimensions, but this organisation is one of the best there is at adjusting to things that go poorly.

Agree re the Rich Gannon quote. It doesn't seem crazy to think they'd try to stash a few more coaches to potentially replace the next OC. Again, Shanahan as QB coach or something (it's not exactly like he's hot property at the moment). But I still reserve the right to want to know what direction this offence will be taking.

I'm not hoping we hire him, but if we do promote Hostler I think he at least deserves a season before we start saying he did a bad job for us.

I really wouldn't mind him, could have a very good influence on Joe's game

Yeah, I think he'll be able to get Joe going with the short passing game AND attack the middle of the field (I know right, haha). As well as fitting with Juan's schemes and helping make Ray Rice look good again. Wouldn't be opposed to him at this point.

Just saw on NFL Live that Adam Schefter said Kubiak is "interviewing" with us. Suggests it hasn't happened yet, but it will.

The Shanahan news broke pretty fast, so I was expecting to hear something about Kubiak, but you're right. We don't let much get out.

I thought the Shanahan news broke a couple of days after he was interviewed? At least, that's how I understood it.

And like someone said earlier, unless he's from the area or has family living there, you'd think if he was seen in a seafood restaurant in Baltimore that he'd have had a word with Ozzie/Harbs/Joe at some point.

The lack of news so far today is a bit disheartening.  I thought they were going to get this done rather quickly.

I agree. What makes it worse is that if we don't get anything done tomorrow we're all in for a LONG weekend. I wonder how much the Lions taking their time on Caldwell had to do with our OC situation.

The funny thing is, if you would have asked me before this week about Kyle I probably would have allowed the debacle in Washington to sway me away from him. However when I started digging into this guy, I think he's the right man for our offense. For year's I've been wishing ill will on the Houston Texans so that Kubiak could get fired because I absolutely loved that system. But looking at Shanny's system it's like he took the best of his dad and Kubiak and came up with his own creative style to the offense. I think he's the type of guy that likes a certain type of QB, but everyone else in the offense he can make them fit by using them to their strengths.

 

I've been asking for year to get Flacco back into that spread/west coast style offense that he is comfortable with and If Shanahan is the guy he'll do just that. He has just enough movement at the QB position to allow Flacco to be the athlete he is and his play design allows us to attack every level of the defense stretching it both deep and wide. Unless he just blows the interview personality wise, I think he's our guy.

If he was a spoiled pratt like some are trying to make out, I trust that will have shown up in an interview. I'd be willing to bet they asked stuff like how he'd cope with having most of his staff allocated to him or others like that.

If it turns out he's an average guy with as average a personality as you can have after being put through the gauntlet Washington, I like what he can do. Anyone who incorporates screen passes will be a huge upgrade over what we've ever had.

I'll admit it's a lot of stuff in that article that if true, I don't like. However I also see a situation of the Redskins creating a monster and now having to live with it. How is your OC the guy that calls the shots of who he wants to have surround him as coaches, there is no way in hell Ozzie, Mr. B or anyone worth their weight in salt working with the Ravens would allow this to happen. It honestly sounds like scapegoating to me. Yes in the article the guy sounds like a brat, but if his father is basically given him free range and almost allowing him to act like the HC, then I don't see how it's his fault. He is the OC, how in the devil is the develop of Orakpo and Kernnigan his responsibility? lol I could see if the article said he turned a all world QB into a bust, but it was well known what RG3's limitations were as far as being a pro style QB. I actually thought he did keeping RG3 comfortable in his first year, which is much more then I can say for any OC Joe has had.

 

Also it spoke about him treating RG3 like a JV QB, did you laugh at that as well? Sounds like to me he just coached the guy hard, which by the way he needs, but people think he's too harsh. What does he make RG3 take extra reps or something? Do he make him practice things he doesn't do well over and over again until he gets it right like the games best QB do? He is the toughest on his supposed best player, while ownership shows him much favoritism? Obviously you nor I know these answers but I would have liked to know what being coached like a JV QB is. Because if it's simple being coached hard, then he'll fit in perfectly with Harbs staff.

 

Lastly, much like you suggested i'll take this with a grain of salt, simply because things in Washington was so crazy, this guy could have been a source leaking stories for Dan Synder to make the Shanahan's look so bad they'd quite lol. They talk about having a host of young inexperienced coaches and that's not smart as an organization imo, but that's another story, but that's exactly what Kyle did in Houston. He came in and went from WR coach, to QB coach to OC in a matter of 4 years, so it's not uncommon to extend the same opportunity to others, but again, it shouldn't be his call. Now if these same things come out about Kyle during his time in Houston then I'll put more into it, but coming from Washington, I just view it as entertainment.

Yeah, the amount we just don't know is really quite staggering. I didn't mean it to give Shanahan a black mark among Ravens fans, but it seems we're in the process of absorbing as much information about prospective OCs as possible at this point so I went looking. Especially after the guy a few posts above brought up his negative history.

I really don't know what to make of it. On the one hand it sounds like something dysfunctional's going on over there and someone probably has an axe to grind, but on the other you could argue there's no smoke without fire (and apparently La Conforna and Snyder have a bit of a history if the comments are to be believed, so that doesn't help clear the air either way). And on the third hand its 4am and I should have been asleep hours ago, haha. I'm going to reserve judgement on it and trust the FO brought up those allegations (is that the best word?) and others in the interview.

Of course, if there is anything like that going on then you'd back Harbs to snuff out anything he felt was hurting the team environment.

Yea a wholesale change would be tough and take time but I don't think it'll have to be that. The wholesale change to the oline already took place this season with us going 100% zbs, guys like Monroe, KO and Yanda should be much more comfortable with it now, and guys like Gino, Wagner and Jensen will have another full offseason to work in it. With the WRs the biggest thing will be terminology imo because the we started to change some of the route concepts with Caldwell, plus I think going from a more stationary offense to an move up tempo spread type offense will be exciting for them and you learn much faster when you're excited about something.

 

I think the running game will be the biggest adjustment, just because whoever the OC is will have to be on the same page as Castillo and how he teaches the oline. Then the backs have to adjust as well, Juice will probably be the FB which is another adjustment. So yea it could take some time but depending on who the OC is i don't think it'll be too bad.

That Redskins fan I asked earlier did credit Kyle with making the zone run work - even behind an offensive line that by all accounts was almost as bad as ours. And then of course Kubiak's a known disciple of a zone offence. No reason to think either would struggle to work with Castillo (from the Xs and Os perspective, anyway). Juice is one of the guys I'm dying to see. I really hope he can double as a lead blocker and a release valve who spills out of the backfield and takes a screen pass or a quick checkdown.

I just think there'll be growing pains while all the parts and personnel come together. I'm just saying it won't be like changing a pair of socks, and while I for one am more than prepared to live with some stuttering for even as long as a full season or (god forbid) two I just hope people temper their short-term expectations.

I think it's 100% by choice. The Ravens said they were looking forward to making progress on offense with Jim leading the charge and as much as people say that's just coach talk I believe it. When I went out to their practice a couple times at camp, I clearly saw an emphasis on an more ball controlled passing attack that focused on the short and intermediate passing game. Yes the deep ball was still there, but I think Caldwell was making changes, then we saw some of those changes throughout the year but we just didn't have the healthy personnel to keep things on schedule.

 

I think this year we were looking to finally put the nail in the Air Croyell coffin. Norv Turner was just a popular and seemingly logical name because of the Air Croyell system, many people linked him to us. However I don't think he was ever a option. If the Ravens wanted to speak with him they could have at least tried. Browns said they would allow him to interview the Ravens could have at least called their bluff by putting in a request and either exposed the Browns or gotten their man at OC. Plus Norv isn't the only Croyell coach still out their and if we were willing to give McAdoo an interview and he's never been a OC before, I'm sure we would have been willing to give another young coach from that Croyell tree a shot if that was truly our focus.

 

I'm like a kid waiting for Christmas now that I know we are almost guaranteed to move away from the Croyell system. Our offense at least has a fighting chance to be on a even playing field with others now. I don't know who the OC will be but I can't wait to see what he does.

I should have said "albeit maybe not by choice", but that doesn't really change what you said. I think the appeal with Norv (and that Chud still has) was that he represented a straight upgrade for the system - better caller, better set of plays - and the promise of minimal transitional pains, if any at all. I'm still in the camp where sticking with that wouldn't have doomed us, but I think you're right in that the FO's looking at something more modern and hopefully more varied.

Considering the changes the offence will be going through during this offseason, this is probably the best chance we'll ever have to make a big philosophical change. The personnel will be upgraded so we get the normal chemistry stuff early on, which they can work on WHILE adapting to a new system.

I don't think we'll be promoting from within, unless we have a much worse reputation among coaching circles than we suspect (the Browns say hi), and I definitely agree that this is a potentially exciting period for the Ravens. It'll be really interesting to see where we go and what Joe can do.

Although if we do make wholesale changes I just hope the fans are prepared to give the new guy time to put everything in place. No way will a major change work overnight imo.

what did you find?

Apparently he quite likes his yes men. Take that at the value you will.

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/writer/jason-la-canfora/24375961/kyle-shanahan-staff-inexperience-at-core-of-redskins-dysfunction

Norv and the Vikings are close to a deal, per Schefter.

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/10302787/minnesota-vikings-close-hiring-norv-turner-offensive-coordinator?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=ESPN&utm_term=NFL+NEWS&utm_content=NFL+NEWS

Looks like we might be going away from the Coryell, albeit not by choice (or at least having the decisiveness on the matter plucked from our grasp).

ED: Some guy on Twitter's just said it's a 100% done deal, but I think he might be flinching in the trenches on that one.

My biggest issue with Norv is that the system won't change. I see a lot of people say well look at what he did with Josh Gordon, but the thing about Josh is that he's a stud. He's a guy who is a good route runner but just needs some polish. As much of a fan as I am, Torrey just isn't that guy. Pitta would have still be a huge factor but what else? Our WRs would still need to run strong routes and they don't.

Also I think the Ravens have committed to move away from the Air Croyell system. Commiting to a more exclusive ZBS up front doesn't fit what Norv and that system is about imo. They are more power blocking systems. He would have been prefect a couple years ago, but not now imo. With the commitment to the ZBS and the two candidates we've been linked to, I think we are starting too see that profile Harbs spoke of.

A fairly young, creative guy who can keep up with the new style offense in the NFL. A guy that can relate to the players, mainly Flacco and a guy who can open up the offense, but this be able to use our run game successfully. Those are just qualities I think we are looking for based on what we already see.

I think you might be right. There hasn't been too much about going for a guy like Chudz or Norv at this point, beyond the speculation that we might be interested. Then again, we all got taken by surprise with the Shanahan interview so they've probably talked to someone else that they like who we haven't thought of.

I know I'm mooting for Norv in my sig, but at the end of the day I'll be happy if whoever we bring in builds the offence around Flacco and injects the creativity we need to become a consistent offensive threat.

My only issue with that is that it comes from a that doesn't have enough information to know what the play design was supposed to be. Also being at a live game is one of the worse positions to give an in depth breakdown of a game because you are in most cases giving your opinion on the result of a play and now what actually happened with all 22 guys.

Also RG3 never fit that system to began with, which is why Mike never wanted to draft him. So trying to fit that sqaure peg in a round hole was almost un-avoidable. You'll either have a player doing something he isn't really strong at, like reading hot routes, timing throws and reading coverages all of which RG3 struggles with or you have a coach calling plays that he isn't as comfortable calling just to fit your QB. Everytime Kirk Cousins came into that offfense I thought it was run much better then with RG3. So that's my take on that.

Also with the game where he went away from the run, how many plays were read options were RG3 kept the ball? How often were screen passes run in that 2nd half? How man times did RG3 audible out of a run and throw the ball? There's a lot that goes in to it imo. Not saying that guy was right or wrong and I appreciate you sharing but I think much more goes into it then just watching four games live. You and I could attend the same 4 Ravens games and come away with completely different views. One of us may look at the lack of execution and say that caused the play calling to look awful, while the other may think poor play calling lead to poor execution.

I get where you're coming from here, and you can add his bias against the Shanahans (which he'll be the first to tell you about). I mean, I saw an LSU blog post that got excited about Cam Cameron showing up, which is a perspective we as Ravens fans would find almost incomprehensible.

I've never been to a game (I'd love to. Too much debt atm but I would sell the naming rights of my first child or even start lopping off appendages for whoever got me over there), but I'd imagine you at least get to see the whole play as it unfolds. But I do think his point was more that the winning run in 2012 felt like RG3 was making things happen after the play had broken down. I dunno if that ever owed to a bad call or players being useless and the QB making up for it.

That one game I mentioned wasn't an isolated event: it was apparently the worst of a bad bunch. He said it was pretty common for Morris to run for 80 yards in a half en route to a lead or one-score deficit, only to abandon the run altogether in the second half for whatever reason. I think that was just a more detailed account of what you said about him being too pass-happy at times.

Like others here, I just wanted to see what the Redskins fans thought of Shanahan. I do get this guy's limitations (which is why I didn't advocate the same view: just relaying what I read), but at the same time he's also watched every snap for the last who knows how long and he's probably had a better sense for Shanahan's playcalling than we do at the moment. Just food for thought, and what I thought after that food was that he should be a better fit for Flacco. But then, I'm limited by wanting something more interesting than what I'm used to.

Again, whether those plays owe to Shanahan being a bad OC, the system not being the flashiest fit (although what The Raven said about him adding the read option for RG3 is encouraging), his dad dabbling too much, or just being in a losing situation (Jim Caldwell says hi) is something no set of fans will likely ever know.