[Blogs] Flacco Weighs In On QB Coaches Move

[BR News]

In light of the Ravens’ firing of Quarterbacks Coach Jim Zorn, his star pupil thinks the offense will be fine.

But Joe Flacco still supports his former teacher.

“Things will go just great,” Flacco said moments after he participated in the MSP Polar Bear Plunge, which benefits Special Olympics Maryland. “We’ve got a bunch of guys who want to win football games and we’re going to win football games. That’s what we do, on a year-to-year basis. We’d like to win a little bit more than we have the last couple of years, but, hey, that’s how it goes sometimes.

“I guess Cam [Cameron, Offensive Coordinator] is going to take more of a role in the quarterback room, he’s always in the quarterback room. He’s going to have his influence. He’s the offensive coordinator. We’re going to do things the way he wants them. And I still wish Jim would have been part of that.”

Without Zorn, Cameron will share quarterback duties with Offensive Assistant Craig Ver Steeg.  And, Head Coach John Harbaugh said he will be more involved with the offensive meetings, after spending his first three years in Baltimore with a more active role on defense and special teams.

“John’s going to be make sure things are ran, that things are going the way he wants them to,” said Flacco.  “I don’t think he’s going to necessarily have too many opinions about what we should be doing and putting in the game plan as an offense, but I think he’s going to be overseeing everything and making sure that everybody is in tune to the meetings and things like that.”

Flacco, who is a spokesman for Special Olympics Maryland, said he took Zorn’s firing personally.

After throwing for a career-best 3,622 yards, 25 touchdowns and 10 interceptions, Flacco believes the Ravens’ offense was moving in the right direction with Zorn on staff.

Flacco said he made his feelings clear to the organization.

“I also feel like a little bit like I’m being attacked,” Flacco said.  “You fire the quarterback coach. Usually when your fire a position coach, it’s because you’re not really happy with how that position did. And when I look back on my season and our season as a team, I mean, we won 13 games.  I felt like I had a pretty good year and you’re firing the quarterback coach?  It’s kind of an attack on me, I feel like.

“This year will be what it is. We’re going to be successful this year. I would have just liked [Zorn] to be a part of it. He would have liked to be a part of it. And I think it would have been good for him to be a part of it.”

[url=http://blogs.baltimoreravens.com/2011/01/29/flacco-weighs-in-on-qb-coaches-move/]View the full article[/url]

[Richmond_Raven]

wow u know what i kind of liked the way joe stuck up for zorn because he is just saying what we all think and that zorn was a scape goat for cams short comings. If you tell me joe did scramble when he didnt see guys open more this season than any other season to me. Joe just needs to come out of his shell and become the leader we all know he can be and until we get some deep threats we need to run a west coast style offense and cam is not seeing this

[TDubbs]

Nice to see Flacco showing some loyalty and passion towards someone he felt got the short end of the stick. No matter how much we wish it was Cam out the door, we have to get past that. We have to hope that he is the best person available to get us to where we want to be.

[Dapo1023]

I agree with Flacco. If the OFFENSE under performed, you fire the damn OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR...not the QB Coach. He did his job, Flacco hit career highs in TDs, yards, and passer rating. Also, 10 picks is his least in three years. Imean, at times it looks like hes playing badly because normally when we lose, its Flaccos fault. But he only cost us one game this year I would say, and thats the Bengals game when he threw 4 picks. The Pats game? McClains penalty played a part...and the breakdown of the defense lost that. Same with Atlanta. Now the Pittsburgh game, one could ague it was Flaccos fault but i dont see how. Its a blindside blitz, he didnt see it coming. Imean I understand Polamalu is right there and you gotta call it out, but Polamalu coming free could is the lines fault. In the play off game, it was a complete OFFENSICE breakdown altogether. Boldin droppin a TD pass (that Flacco put right in his hands) a dropped 1st down pass by Housh at the end (That Flacco put right in his chest) and Ray Rices fumble earlier. Not to mention the line was pitiful this year, low rushing yards, high sacks.

But im babbling now. Either way, Flacco had a solid year. Thats the point i was trying to make. Zorn didnt need to be fired. He made Flacco better if you ask me. Not great, but better. Fire Cam, hes the reason our offense was stagnant. What are the Ravens doin? I feel like this year might be one of our worst if we keep doing dumb stuff like this.

[Purple&Black]

all this tells me is cam cameron has run out of scape goats...next year his neck will be out there so many he will change up his play calling

[stixfix69]

Simple case of Flacco buying into what Zorn was teaching him, over what Cam was wanting out of him.....Zorn came from a Skins team where JC was sacked a ton of times as well, so he understood the need to have Flacco have quicker releases, and reads, but i guess Cam wouldn't have any of that.....

[The Prestige]

Flacco just son'd the Ravens. I love it. He's separating himself from Cam Cameron so if he ever leaves the Ravens, people won't have to question what was wrong with the offense. Kyle Orton and Rex Grossman have separated themselves from Ron Turner after the fact.

Some people will react all shocked. Did you miss the line he gave earlier after the last game that they needed to be more aggressive if they are going to beat teams like the Patriots and Steelers in the playoffs? McGahee and the never-used Stallworth both confirmed that Cameron didn%u2019t like Flacco audibling. Mason ripped the offense as bad. McClain has been frustrated with it. Boldin has said all he needs to with his facial expression.

Expect a lot of audibling this year, whether Cam %u201C-4 Yards And A Cloud of Dust%u201D Cameron likes it or not. Flacco has some serious swag, coming out like that. My favorite line was %u201C%u201CI guess Cam is going to take more of a role in the quarterback room, he%u2019s always in the quarterback room.%u201D

Let's be real, players have the leverage. They don't pay money for tickets, tailgate and/or invite friends over to watch Cam Cameron coach.

[wrm#1]

What Flacco is trying to be polite in saying is he thinks the firing of his position coach STINKS,and since they can't or wouldn't fire him he thinks firing the coach responsible for his progress is a lode of crap and he takes it as an attack on him!

[Bmore'sFinest]

Like the rest of Baltimore I would have liked to see a change at offensive coordinator, but it's just not a logical move with a potential lockout. If there are no OTA's or minicamps there just won't be enough time to install a new offense. The verbiage is to complex to learn in a shortened offseason. Hopefully Cam proves the fan base wrong and we can finally become an elite offense!!! GO PACKERS!!!

[TDubbs]

Hell yeah Buddy. This is your offense, you decide how successful we will be, dont let this control freak cam continue his bs, stand up, read the defenses and call what you see.

[The Greek]

when zorn was hired i said that it was a great move because he is known as a patient teacher who got results. i know flacco will be fine without him but the wrong man was dismissed. our offense underacheived because of cams schemes and playcalling and the mistake the front office made having 3 receivers that were 1 and the same. stallworth battled injuries and to me didnt seem any quicker than clayton or kerry washington. however it is what it is, we need youth and speed at the receiver position. hopefully david reed , james hardy and the draft will be the upgrade we need. i hope we sign or draft a fullback and allow leron mclain to have an increased role in the running game to wear down defenses like he did 3 years ago and it worked and i loved watching him run thru people. it would also be nice to see some slants and actually attack the middle of the field. good luck this offseason making this a stronger and deeper team.

[Raven till I die]

hell no i kno joe knows for a fact that zorn will help him betta than cam...i can feel him not be confidence in what he sayin

[BmoreKing]

I know Flacco, blaming Zorn for Cam's inconsistency and your personal development problems is wrong. I never wanted Zorn to be there in the first place. He's a great mentor but I think he lack that fire! your job Flacco is to focus on beating pit and nothing more!

[On a RAY2RAY basis 52 27]

Tell em why you're mad joe!!!!!!!!!

[Lytec]

whatever, Marc Bulger is the QB coach if you ask me. He's a great veteran to have talk to Joe if we keep him one more year.

[RavenArmor]

All I can say is if Cam's offense doesn't produce this year he's done.

[kdogdeluxe]

i feel as if Harbaugh is playing favorites again. forget cam, if he doesn't change the offense to some power house, ditch him.

[wrm#1]

@Dapo1023,love the post stating facts is not babbling,even rants have truths.The comment about Zorn not making Flacco great,but better ; like you said he did his job,here's the thing-only Flacco can make himself great,but Zorn can help,did anyone think that he would be able to do it in one year?

[rojomcdonald]

I believe David Reed has the potential to be a Desean Jackson type player. If we draft Titus Young from Boise State, we could have an Eagles type offense minus Vick

[p sizzle]

the reason joe "improved" is b/c his supporting cast was better. sure line was down from last year but weapons were better than ever. everyone on this team can get better. EVERYONE. i would like to see ravens have young qb in the wings just in case joe doesnt ever take next step. our 1st rd pick should be either C/G Pouncey, C/G Wiesnewski, WR J Jones or RB M Ingram. in later rds, i also like LB C Matthews, CB J Smith, WR Pettis. hire me, u wont regret it.

[T-ray]

Flacco is, in a way, secretly saying, "why the crap did you fire him?? If you fired anyone, I think it should've been Cam".... but alas, Flacco is humble, so he isn't going to overstep his boundaries any

[RavensNeed AShutdownCorner]

@rojomcdonald haha only thing is desean jackson was drafted 3 rounds earlier than reed. If reed has that type of potential then why would teams wait 5 rounds to get him, the ravens got him bc they were sittin last yearrd 5 with no wrs and had to get one to make the fans happy. Reed is nothing more than a fast player he just doesnt possess the hands route running and just gives you tht feeling. He showed nothing in preseason and didnt do much when we played him this year even though his opportunities were slim to none. The ravens should look jacoby jones devin aroshomodu someone like that young has experience in the nfl and of leading their squad and putting up big numbers

[bleedbaltimoreravens]

Perfectly said "T-ray"

[DefenseWinsItAll]

Hey flacco you need to EARN your respect here in baltimore before you talk like your a permanent resident. "%u201CI also feel like a little bit like I%u2019m being attacked,%u201D Flacco said. %u201CYou fire the quarterback coach. Usually when your fire a position coach, it%u2019s because you%u2019re not really happy with how that position did. And when I look back on my season and our season as a team, I mean, we won 13 games. I felt like I had a pretty good year and you%u2019re firing the quarterback coach?" first of all flacco this is BALTIMORE were not happy with 13 wins we expect SUPERBOWL TROPHYS. im sure you think you had a "pretty good season" well obviously it wasnt good enough because you will be watching the superbowl from your couch and with that "good enough" attitude it doesnt seem very convincing youll be improving much, you given pittsburgh 42 points in turnovers single handedly in your 3 year career here. 42 points! thats more than youve scored. sorry flacco but its not good enough you HAVE to get better we dont settle for second place in baltimore. the steelers would never say "were happy with just 13 wins" they expect to win it all every year. sorry flac 13 wins is NOT good enough

[T.O.]

Words of Joe

"I also feel like a little bit like I'm being attacked," Flacco told the Carroll County Times on Saturday. "You fire the quarterback coach. Usually when your fire a position coach, it's because you're not really happy with how that position did. And when I look back on my season and our season as a team, I mean, we won 13 games. I felt like I had a pretty good year and you're firing the quarterback coach? It's kind of an attack on me, I feel like."

If you can't handle this pressure, then how you going to handle the pressure by the steelers Defense. Seems to me he can't handle neither!

[RavensNeed AShutdownCorner]

harbaughs feeble atitude is rubbing off on joe joe. Hahaha after every game during the press confrences harbaugh is asked oh how do you think so and so did, he says oh i think they are a great player. Someone asked him at the end of the season what he thinks of cam cam, I think hes a great guy hes a nice coordinator. HAHA and he is always saying oh this player has potentiall he has potential she has potential, do i johnny? haha harbaugh needs to learn how to be a little less brisk and be more hard in his press confrences(no [i]<crap>[/i] hes too much of a nice guy, we all hate cam cameron with a passion. He is also feeble he puts his plays card over his mouth like the d-coordinators dont know wht hes gna do, well i sure do run the ball! against the best run defence run the ball! against the worst run defence and best pass defence pass the ball! when rice or mcgahee gains 1yd percarry run the ball! when the best corners are hawking over boldin and mason he wants to pass the ball! he doesnt have a brain or something. We ran the ball nearly 30 times in the semi finals against the steelers while they are the top run defence and ray had the flu and we all know how bad our oline was so there was no pushing back the dline or creating running room anyway. Haha the only reason he is still here is because alot of the ravens position coaches and corrdinators got jobs else where and ozzie and harbaugh r too lazy to hire a new coach its ok mabey cameron will play with some guts and glory next year most likely not but theres about a 1 in one catrillbillion chance that he will. How can you have a great receiving corps like we do and run more thn u pass or even want to? Its any coordinators dream to have those players we had on offense last year and cameron barely even used em housh stallworth reed pitta dixon. To all my fellow cameron haters and boldin housh stallworth rice mcgahee lovers out there give me a thumbs up so wecan fight this cameron guy and he can get whats comin to him a seat on the couch si he can ruin another franchise in madden 11 heh he he

[RavensNeed AShutdownCorner]

flacco will hsve the best season of his career next season when he gets a better coordinator and better guards and tackles and aspeedy deepthreat receiver. I see him having many 300yd games with 3-4tds a gmae he shoulda had that this year but cameron wants to run the ball every play flacco needs a coordiunator who has a dag on i heart 9route tatoo on his chest thats what flacco lacks, more of those 60-80yd bomb passes. If our front office takes care a biz and gets us corners guards tackles and a speedy wideout for flacco he aswell as the ravens will dominate next year they will go 21-0! with the new 18 game season heheh

[coolbilly]

Go Joe!!! Be a leader. But also be accountable. This time it is Zorn, next year maybe Cam, maybe Harbaugh after that or maybe you start gettin it done against Pittsburgh.

[balfan23]

I'm not in the bash Flacco camp at all. I've been backing him all the way, but I didn't like the tone of his response.

Somewhere along the line, someone needs to coach you up Joe, so that when all the chips are on the line and you're up against a true defense, you don't get out there and look lost and chuck up a throw into double coverage that costs us the most important game perhaps in franchise history.

and enough with how many wins we had... we know what our record was. Its not how you perform against Denver in game 5 ... its what you do in the biggest of games against our bitterest of rivals. And its there where we fail. We have to get better at that.

[RavensNeed AShutdownCorner]

Flacco isnt much more words...he is a young, humble, respectable player. Yea he doesnt say the right things when he does talk. The thing is he needs to be yellin at cam, im surprised no one else has yet. If things were ran the way harbaugh wanted them i think our offense would have been a little more intune but harbaugh gives cmeron too much roaming room.

Also i think mason staement somes it all up "yea we went won 13 games, oh well we lost the most important one thats all that matters" those were words spoken by the great receiver derrick mason when he was cleaning out his locker the end of this year. They are true, look at the seahawks they made it to the playoffs and knocked out the saints and they had a horrible year. Thats why its the teams that heat up at the end of the season that do great going in. The ravens almost lost to a 4 win bengals squad and just looked like a pee wee football team. Thats why i love mason he speaks the truth flacco just used the 13 win season as a scapegoat. I sum up our year by how we played against the steelers and thats just it. You dnt have to win games to have a good season but exceeding in the playoffs does.