The Raven

Oh I wish, haha. I appreciate the endorsement

Hostler is meeting with the team tonight, per Aaron Wilson.

Traditionally, yes, but they have also phased in zone blocking in the past two years. They leaned on it a bit more this season.

I suppose Wilson and Shanahan are the top two candidates? I hope so

That's no fault of his. It's well documented that the Steelers' offensive line has been the issue.

Those are good thoughts there. It'd be interesting to have those two work together, as they see the game from the RB's and WR's perspective. One concern if they take that approach. Having Hostler work with Wilson might result in the current system being reflected in the next. We might see some remnants.

A second interview with Kirby Wilson? We must be pretty interested in him

I know right? Haha. I don't think there will be a change though. Probably won't get enough support from coaches and players.

Now here's something I can understand. I would definitely prefer a proven OC that has gotten results. We're 2-3 players and a play caller away from contending for the Superbowl again, so I want an OC that won't be an experiment.

And thank you for listening and also being reasonable!

Source? Hostler never worked with Turner or Martz. Torrey has greatly improved and it's not arguable. I brought up Deonte because he was a horrid route runner in college, but training camp reports said that his route running improved a ton. Yeah you gotta take it with a grain of salt, but he's improved. Derrick Mason said it the other day on WNST, not while with the team, for what it's worth.

Our game plans weren't the reason the offense was bad. The offensive line was the reason the offense was bad. Maybe Caldwell knew he was in our plans and left him be? Maybe they didn't work well together? Lot of potential reasons.

Playbooks can change, it has changed since Cam left, and Hostler can change it more. I think Hostler is a west coast kind of guy. He worked under Mike Nolan, who is part of the Billick coaching tree. Just based off that, I would think west coast. I don't know for sure, though. I get that, but we don't know enough about Hostler. The rumor is that Cam wouldn't listen to Hostler's suggestions, but Caldwell did, and our passing game improved when there was protection. Torrey hasn't improved? Sorry, that's incorrect. A lot of our WRs have actually improved, even Deonte Thompson. Even Derrick Mason is on record as saying Hostler is a good coach and he helped him learn a lot.

Are people here allergic to looking at all the facts or do they just like to believe whatever supports their negative agenda? Seriously, look at the facts. I know all the cool kids like to bash everyone because it's the easy thing to do, but come on. Hostler had bum quarterbacks, a piss poor receiving core, and a shoddy offensive line. How can anyone expect good things from that combination? We as Ravens fans should know that's a recipe for failure, no?

Never said he would do a better job here. Insufficient data. And yes, what we have is a bit better than what they had in 2007. Play calling and scheme this year was mostly good, aside from a few blunders. I understand the want to get a fresh face, but Hostler might not be as bad as some think. Yeah, maybe. Like I said above, insufficient data to judge Hostler. Guys I know it's the popular thing to bash Hostler but you should probably be reasonable and look at all of the facts. Look deeper than the surface, I know you can do it.

Just looked into what the 49ers did in 2008, after Mike Martz took over the OC position. 23rd in total offense. 13th in passing. 27th in rushing. Hmmm... Even a good coach like Martz struggled the next season. How foolish of us to judge without actually looking at the details....

Starting to think Hostler was also a victim of poor personnel. San Fran had a second worst 36 fumbles and a third worst -12 turnover margin. They had four quarterbacks play that year: Dilfer, Alex Smith, Shaun Hill, and Chris Weinke. So, they had little talent or continuity at QB. The QBs were sacked a whopping 55 times combined, and Gore only averaged 4.1 yards a carry. From that, one can infer that the offensive line was an issue. His leading receiver was Frank Gore, who had 53 for 436. Vernon Davis had 52 for 509. Then they had this no name WR named Arnaz Battle who had 50 for 600 and an over the hill Darrel Jackson who had 46 for 497. That was Jackson's second last season, and that was one of just two seasons in which Battle met or surpasses 50 catches and 600 yards. Hmmm... bad offensive line... bad offense... No receivers... where have I seen this before? Disclaimer: I am not saying Jim Hostler is good. I am only saying that in his only year as an OC, he had jack [profanity deleted] to work with. He literally had nothing to work with except for Davis and Gore. Maybe we fans should actually look deeper than the surface before we make judgments. Nothing is ever as simple as it seems. http://www.nfl.com/teams/sanfrancisco49ers/statistics?season=2007&team=SF&seasonType= Lol this got negged? Just another hater. Get in line, bub. Don't like facts, do you?

Aaron Wilson reports that multiple NFL sources at the Senior Bowl are predicting that Jim Hostler will be our OC.

I'm watching him right now, and all I see him do is curls, screens, comebacks, outs, and nines. I haven't seen him go over the middle much. Maybe it's just the play calling, but I don't see him as a physical, over the middle, possession guy that would so perfectly complement Torrey. From what I've gathered, he's a slightly more physical Torrey with a little bit wider route tree. He's not the best against press, like Torrey. There were a few times I saw him try and go east-west and dance too much instead of getting north-south and converting on third. Torrey does that too

I agree with you. Lee does play a lot like Torrey. Almost the same player.

He is, no doubt, but physically, Torrey and Brown are equal. The Steelers utilize Brown's speed the same way we should utilize Torrey's speed. Brown gets a lot of quick slants, screens, and hitches, but Torrey doesn't.

That's true, but look at Antonio Brown. You can't tell me he's more talented than Torrey, yet he caught almost double the amount of passes that Torrey did. Just one example.

Don't know if I can stay behind the Seahawks. While only a handful of players have been proven to have violated NFL substance abuse policy and suspended, the Seahawks have led the NFL in substance abuse related suspensions. Carroll has been associated with many players who have used PEDs. Who knows how many players have used PEDs undetected? I think the NFL might soon be facing a battle against PEDs.

Steelers offense lacked talent at times, but they always figured out how to manufacture an offense. They always figured out how to get the ball to their play makers. Their run game improved as the season went, too.

He's my third pick, but he could move ahead of Linehart. Steelers offense has been very versatile and flexible in recent seasons. Wilson may have had a hand in that. Hostler is my last pick. Linehart gets the edge over Wilson just because he's already gotten results as an OC.