Why Does Ray Rice Get A Pass, Flacco Always At Fault

[BloodRaven]

[quote name='steeler hater' timestamp='1335098571' post='1054221']
Aw, that's intimidating. Watching too many movies.
[/quote]

What are you rambling about?

[Militant X 1]

to me it is simple. as the QB, Flacco touches the ball EVERY play! so, his play making ability in a game or the lack thereof is going to automatically be magnified. sure, he needs WRs that can hang onto the ball BUT his own personal gameplay must be consistent. i like Flacco and spent the last 2 weeks on the west coast (vacation time) defending him with my friends. however, one friend said something that was interesting.

when i dropped Flacco's "stats" (from his first 4 years in the game that supercedes all other QBs) on him he said; [b][u][i]"Stats are what people lean on and try to use to justify the poor or horrible gameplay from a player that others are witnessing with their very own eyes!"[/i][/u][/b]

i absolutely loved that when he said it cause i understood it! lol! the point? Flacco's personal gameplay (i.e. quick decision making, spot on passes, not holding the ball longer than necessary, the ability to extend plays with his feet etc.) must keep improving...bottomline! i believe this will be his season to make great strides in that area.

~Mili

[JohnJohnson]

Well, I'd say this is pretty easy to answer. People have a warped perception of the QB doing everything on his own, despite the fact that he needs receivers in sync running the right routes, blockers to do their jobs well, and good play calling so that you're not passing the ball with 8 in coverage and running it with 8 in the box. Why did Peyton Manning throw six interceptions against the Patriots in the playoffs one year? They had the offense figured out.

In the case of running backs, it's easy to see that they need a hole to run through. Against New England it seemed like we would get 1 yard per carry, there were not many good holes and when there was one Rice didn't take full advantage (he seems to fall down sometimes for no reason, maybe because he gets so low to the ground). When he was in the game they keyed on him, but when Ricky Williams was in they loosened up. That is why Cam deserves criticism for being predictable. We wasted our first three drives by running for no gain on first down, despite knowing that Belichick's number one goal was to stop Rice. On the fourth drive, we went play action bootleg on first down and picked up 40 yards.

[Ed_Reed20]

Pro Football Focus recently began their "Top 101 players of 2011" list and Rice came in at #85. Their analysis can be questionable at times, but they had some interesting thing to say about him:

[quote]The former Rutgers running back ended the year with our sixth-highest grade of all running backs, but in pure rushing was all the way down in 26th. That should tell you something about the help he gets from his blocking, because Rice didn’t set the world alight in yards after contact (32nd) or forcing missed tackles (32nd). What makes Rice such a good back is that he plays on every down, and this is evidenced by him leading all running backs with a +11.7 receiver grade. So important to the Ravens’ offense, when Flacco was busy letting his team down , Rice was picking up the slack ([i]in the regular season[/i]).

[b]Best Performance[/b]: Week 6 versus Houston (+4.0)

[b]Key Stat[/b]: Second of all backs with 704 receiving yards.[/quote]

[arnie_uk]

[quote name='Ed_Reed20' timestamp='1335776807' post='1067879']
Pro Football Focus recently began their "Top 101 players of 2011" list and Rice came in at #85. Their analysis can be questionable at times, but they had some interesting thing to say about him:
[/quote]was there any call for the flacco insult? Jesus Christ give the man a break.

Regards rice a lot of people say that. He can't break tackles, but I'm pretty sure they don't take into account complete whiffs which RR gets a good amount of due to his cuts, but generally if you get hands on him he can't get away. If he didn't have good hands he wouldn't be much of a rb.

[uhhhh]

[quote name='horus13corvineus' timestamp='1335041286' post='1053992']
now AC Milan is my all time fav italian team, but they don't have the most champions league titles, nor have they done something significant lately... and last they played a final, they lost to Liverpool, which fortunate for me I also support
though [b]no better team than 89-90 AC Milan [/b](and my fav player Marco van Basten)
[/quote]

I think 94/95 AFC Ajax also can make a strong case for being the best ever. Even beat AC Milan in the Champions League final. And who can forget this moment in that game

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wO-VPb2yQcA"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wO-VPb2yQcA[/url]

[Ravenslifer]

[quote name='arnie_uk' timestamp='1335782236' post='1067881']
[b]was there any call for the flacco insult?[/b] Jesus Christ give the man a break.

Regards rice a lot of people say that. He can't break tackles, but I'm pretty sure they don't take into account complete whiffs which RR gets a good amount of due to his cuts, but generally if you get hands on him he can't get away. If he didn't have good hands he wouldn't be much of a rb.
[/quote]

Obviously not, but they specifically mentioned the list was based on 2011 alone, and "what is expected from a position and who exceeded that." 2011 Flacco underachieved given his 2009 and 2010 performances.

[callahan09]

[quote name='Ed_Reed20' timestamp='1335776807' post='1067879']
Pro Football Focus recently began their "Top 101 players of 2011" list and Rice came in at #85. Their analysis can be questionable at times, but they had some interesting thing to say about him:
[/quote]

I fail to see how it was Flacco that let the team down. He didn't let the team down, and he certainly didn't let me down as a fan. Flacco was our best offensive player in the playoffs, so no, I can't say I was let down by Flacco last year. The passing game was a let-down at times, but was it really FLACCO letting us down? It was equal parts great defensive performances against us, terrible receiver output (poor job at getting open, dropped passes), poor pass protection from the line, and poor play calling and game planning from Cam. I don't mean to take all blame away from Flacco, he wasn't perfect, but NO QUARTERBACK IS PERFECT, and I don't think he was even top 5 in reasons for our passing offense failures last year.

[Bltravens]

[quote name='Ed_Reed20' timestamp='1335776807' post='1067879']
Pro Football Focus recently began their "Top 101 players of 2011" list and Rice came in at #85. Their analysis can be questionable at times, but they had some interesting thing to say about him:
[/quote]
I guess they've missed the last 2 playoff runs Rice has played in. If we didn't have so many designed plays to get him the ball as a receiver, or if Cameron didn't have the worst route concepts of all time, Rice would be a middle of the run HB.

[BmoreInBmore]

Ray Rice = Dynamic, Consistent, Playmaker, Allstar.

Joe Flacco = Inconsistent, Mediocre.

Thats why.

[3-4ravdef509]

[quote name='BmoreInBmore' timestamp='1335797468' post='1067995']
Ray Rice = Dynamic, Consistent, Playmaker, Allstar, against bad to average defenses and disappears against good ones.

Joe Flacco = Inconsistent, getting better, mediocre offense, coaching, etc. Steps up against good defenses.

Thats why.
[/quote]

Fixed

[edreedfromtheu]

[quote name='scrock' timestamp='1334948554' post='1053304']
I hear the Flacco bashing about how he can't handle the pressure of the postseason, he can't get it done, he can't lead his team to a SB....which is BS, his first two years he led us to the AFCCG as a rookie, given it wasn't all his doing our defense that year was pretty good. His 2nd year he struggled but he also only had 1 good leg....but his previous two playoff years he's been the reason we've had an offense and won games.

Ray Rice gets a pass because he's such a good regular season player, he has never performed well in the playoffs EXCEPT for that 1 game in New England in 2009? It's like that one run has given him a pass in people's eyes for whatever reason.

Look at his numbers the past two years in the playoffs, they aren't nothing to write home about. It was so bad against the Chiefs in 2010 that they abandoned the run and put it all on Joe, and Joe carried us to victory eating up the middle of the Chiefs defense basically hitting Heap on every play because our WRs could not get separation.

So I ask you, why does the RB take no blame? If Ray Rice showed up and played well against the Patriots this year we wouldn't have needed any last minute drive or last second FG to win...we would have kept Tom off the field and won easily imo...

So please Ray Rice when you get your new deal please earn that money come playoff time, I love what you do, I love you as a Raven, you're awesome in the regular season but come playoff time? You don't do what's needed to win, Ricky Williams outplayed Rice in the playoffs, look it up...Ricky's AVG per run was better than Rice's...I think they should have made Rice the backup and let Ricky run wild, he was hungry, running hard and he wanted that ring.

I'll probably get a lot of negatives for this but it's true.
[/quote]

First of all, looks like you got more positive votes than negative!

The quarterback will get more blame because they are the one making the decisions on the field. They are the one with the ball on every single play. And if they play badly, people will call them out on it.

With that said, I don't think Rice is exactly worth a huge contract extension. And his inability to pick up a blitz, or pass protect... don't exactly help Flacco. I'd say he's the product of a QB who looks to him as his first option 90% of the time, rather than an amazing talent. He's not that powerful, he's not that fast, and he's not that great at blocking. He's short, so he's hard for the other team to see.

But hey, why are we blaming EITHER of these guys? All anyone is going to remember is the missed kick by Cundiff, or the dropped pass by Lee Evans. Forget the fact that the offense wasn't dominating that weak Patriots defense the entire game! That means nothing!

[tigerave]

Until,Joe takes us to the big dance.they will never get off it.But,with this team he has every chance to get there ,if he doent I dont know what happens in the next year or two.Cautiously optimistic.

[melvinmelon123]

[quote name='edreedfromtheu' timestamp='1335821893' post='1068466']
With that said, I don't think Rice is exactly worth a huge contract extension. And his inability to pick up a blitz, or pass protect... don't exactly help Flacco. I'd say he's the product of a QB who looks to him as his first option 90% of the time, rather than an amazing talent. He's not that powerful, he's not that fast, and he's not that great at blocking. He's short, so he's hard for the other team to see.

[/quote]

I agree 100%. The kind of money Rice is asking for is crazy for his talent level, as a running back he is average at best, all of his production comes from him being the focal point of the passing game. With the way the league is now, you can't give big money to RBs, not when it's so easy to find one that can produce at a high level. I really hope Pierce does well, and after this year we can tell Rice to sign a reasonalbe contract or walk.

[ravecaptain]

I like flacco, i like rice, but I don't like cam. he is the reason flacco can't shine and rice goes through dry spells with the stats sheet at times.

[izvoodoo]

You know... if the team were better... the team would be better. I love arguing in circles.

[Blex64]

[quote name='edreedfromtheu' timestamp='1335821893' post='1068466']
First of all, looks like you got more positive votes than negative!

The quarterback will get more blame because they are the one making the decisions on the field. They are the one with the ball on every single play. And if they play badly, people will call them out on it.

With that said, I don't think Rice is exactly worth a huge contract extension. And his inability to pick up a blitz, or pass protect... don't exactly help Flacco. I'd say he's the product of a QB who looks to him as his first option 90% of the time, rather than an amazing talent. He's not that powerful, he's not that fast, and he's not that great at blocking. He's short, so he's hard for the other team to see.

[b]But hey, why are we blaming EITHER of these guys? All anyone is going to remember is the missed kick by Cundiff, or the dropped pass by Lee Evans. Forget the fact that the offense wasn't dominating that weak Patriots defense the entire game! That means nothing![/b]
[/quote]

Define dominate? Our Oline played terribly that game. Yanda for whatever reason had an uncharacteristically awful game, and Birk was clearly worn down by that point, he looked like he was on wheels with the way Wilfork moved him. Even with the severe protection issues, we outplayed NE significantly on both sides of the ball, and I think that game was way closer then it should have been. You can call me a tinfoil hat if you want but Brady got a pick back for free off a phantom call.