[News] Clutch Joe Flacco Nearly Strikes Again

[BR News]

Joe Flacco led a 16-play drive in the fourth quarter to tie the game, but it wasn’t enough.

[url=http://www.baltimoreravens.com/news/article-1/Clutch-Joe-Flacco-Nearly-Strikes-Again/72ea81e6-0ae9-42c9-8983-a4bb319a6180]View the full article[/url]

[reed20fence]

Joe Flacco is not the problem. At some point Harbs has to step up and make the call. The Ravens and the AFC North are not a spread offense, run-n-gun division. Pittsburgh tried to experiment with Ben and that philosophy and it got them nowhere. We are a run-first, ground-n-pound division where the QBs thrive in play-pass and game managing. I know it's a huge and bitter pill to swallow cuz you just signed a $120.6 million QB and wanna see big numbers to vindicate the investment, but that's not when Joe is his most lethal. It worked late last year with Caldwell mixing in the gun with traditional ground-n-pound because it was new and unexpected from us and caught opponents off-guard, but no one is being fooled now. Go back to what works -- balance.

Not Cam Cameron run-run-pass, but actual, unpredictable, get the most from your TEs balance.

[imabmoraven]

Can't blame Joe...the Steelers mixed it up all day. We were out coached again.

[HomeoftheBRAVENS]

Joe Flacco is not the problem. At some point Harbs has to step up and make the call. The Ravens and the AFC North are not a spread offense, run-n-gun division. Pittsburgh tried to experiment with Ben and that philosophy and it got them nowhere. We are a run-first, ground-n-pound division where the QBs thrive in play-pass and game managing. I know it's a huge and bitter pill to swallow cuz you just signed a $120.6 million QB and wanna see big numbers to vindicate the investment, but that's not when Joe is his most lethal. It worked late last year with Caldwell mixing in the gun with traditional ground-n-pound because it was new and unexpected from us and caught opponents off-guard, but no one is being fooled now. Go back to what works -- balance.

Not Cam Cameron run-run-pass, but actual, unpredictable, get the most from your TEs balance.

 

 

 

 

Idk what you've been watching but we're FAR from a ground and pound team.We're lucky if we can gain 2 yards on a run play with 5 lineman,2 te's and Leach blocking.Our offense works best when we spread teams out.The only we've put points on the board this season is when we go to the no huddle and put the ball in Joe's hands.Also,they're not interested in seeing their $120.6M QB put up big numbers to vindicate their investment.If they were,we would still have Boldin.

[GO_Ravens]

We will be back raven nation remember this feeling because I think they will come out of the by week hungry and ticked off.

[ravenwildman]

Flacco is doing fine, Today the D couldn't get them off the field....use the bye week to sort stuff out, come out strong.

GO RAVENS!

[CHARMCITY187]

LMAO "CLUTCH"????? How the heck does playing 50mins doing nothing on offense account as being CLUTCH? How about taking a sack to push us out of field goal range, that was real clutch. or Harbaugh blowing another game with 3 Boneheaded mistakes again. Yea they're so "CLUTCH"

[The_Farm]

LMAO "CLUTCH"????? How the heck does playing 50mins doing nothing on offense account as being CLUTCH? How about taking a sack to push us out of field goal range, that was real clutch. or Harbaugh blowing another game with 3 Boneheaded mistakes again. Yea they're so "CLUTCH"

 

You mean the time when Joe ran around like backyard ball losing 4-5 steelers in the process, and attempting a pass down field to avoid the sack?  Oh... guess you missed that one.

[CHARMCITY187]

You mean the time when Joe ran around like backyard ball losing 4-5 steelers in the process, and attempting a pass down field to avoid the sack?  Oh... guess you missed that one.

Nope saw that 1 too but that is what he is suppose to do. Pocket breaks down either get out of it, or throw it away not take a 10yd sack and knock us out of field goal range. I don't even blame him for this loss or last weeks loss even though the offense hasn't done anything the first 50mins of a game this season. Harbaugh loss this game and last weeks game also. And yes Flacco is Clutch he has 8 INT's and 7TD's. It helps us more when he throws the ball to the other team...

[flufflepuff]

LMAO "CLUTCH"????? How the heck does playing 50mins doing nothing on offense account as being CLUTCH? How about taking a sack to push us out of field goal range, that was real clutch. or Harbaugh blowing another game with 3 Boneheaded mistakes again. Yea they're so "CLUTCH"

You mean the sack where ray rice missed a block and let lamar woodley have a clear line to joe? I guess joes supposed to make miracles happen everytime a rusher comes right at him.

[Ravens_Flock]

Where was Clutch Joe the first three quarters?

[flufflepuff]

Nope saw that 1 too but that is what he is suppose to do. Pocket breaks down either get out of it, or throw it away not take a 10yd sack and knock us out of field goal range. I don't even blame him for this loss or last weeks loss even though the offense hasn't done anything the first 50mins of a game this season. Harbaugh loss this game and last weeks game also. And yes Flacco is Clutch he has 8 INT's and 7TD's. It helps us more when he throws the ball to the other team...

Flacco threw 2 of those in a game where we pretty much had no chance of coming back in once manning caught fire. 5 of them in one game we still could have won had the run defense and o-line stepped up and the last one came in a game where he drove us down the field to win the game anyway.

[flufflepuff]

Where was Clutch Joe the first three quarters?

On the bench waiting for the defense to get a stop

[JCouch23]

Flacco is a beast

[BR Vices]

Flacco played really well. It honestly makes no sense why we lost...

[FloridalovesRavens]

Sure, blame Flacco, why not. He gets the blame for most things anyway. Not his fault all the time. Defense can't gel on back-to-back games. Offensive line dismal and Flacco is running for his life at times. Enough blame to go around on both sides of ball. All is not lost. Take a look at some of the other "elite" teams and you will see what I mean. Go Ravens.

[4evermore23]

Flacco showed up we just need faster starts

[axisofeeble]

Just watching John Harbaugh on the sidelines will show you he is frustrated with the talent Ozzie&he put on the field. The bye week can't fix poorly coached,untalented players. Calling an onside kick shows this ain't your Ray Lewis Ravens anymore,this is a zone blocking finesse,trickery team pretending to be Ravens. We can't run block,we barely protect Joe,the recievers can't beat coveraage much,Ray Rice looks frustrated and a very bad football team just rammed the run down our throats and beat us man for man.Onside kicks? The Ravens I knew never needed them.

[trevorsteadman]

Depressing... Our team struggles again. It seems to be a weekly thing. We can only afford to lose two more games before we are out of the play off picture. I am not doubting the Ravens can get to the playoffs but boy do they shoot themselves into the foot. Luckily this brings us into our bye week. I want to see significant changes when I turn on the game against the Browns in two weeks.

If we lose more than two games we are probably out of the AFC playoff picture. Luckily most teams are struggling too. As of now we are looking at a wild card spot with Cincinnati ahead two games. The Chiefs/Broncos are already pretty much a lock for a wildcard spot since there is two good teams in that division. As of now I see us competing for a better record than the Chargers, Dolphins, and Steelers. Possibly Jets but I don't give them much respect. Being grouped with those teams is disgusting. The only good thing that came out of the Steelers game was our 3 yards a carry against a good defense.

Secondly whoever talks about icing the kicker has no idea what they are talking about. Kickers actually make more after being iced than just taking the kick. The extra time out gives the kicker to help get focused with the sports psychologist.


But in the end I wouldn't read too much into a loss to the Steelers. We have always struggled against them. There's just something about that team that's hard to get over the hump with them. What we should worry about is week in and week out is sudden death from now on. You are lucky to reach the play offs with a 10-6 record. Two huge division games coming up I want to see W's. Go Ravens.

[slowboater]

Just watching John Harbaugh on the sidelines will show you he is frustrated with the talent Ozzie&he put on the field. The bye week can't fix poorly coached,untalented players. Calling an onside kick shows this ain't your Ray Lewis Ravens anymore,this is a zone blocking finesse,trickery team pretending to be Ravens. We can't run block,we barely protect Joe,the recievers can't beat coveraage much,Ray Rice looks frustrated and a very bad football team just rammed the run down our throats and beat us man for man.Onside kicks? The Ravens I knew never needed them.

Agree. I can't find blame in just one area. All parties are responsible.

The offense just isn't ready to play with any urgency at the start of the game. We get the oppositions' A game and the Ravens bring their D game. If the offense played the first half like they played the fourth quarter, the defense would still have legs to make a stop and the record after 7 games could be 6-1, not 3-4.

Maybe winning a SB has taken urgency and desire out of many on this team.

[mjwiseman07]

I know I am going to get blasted here with negatives on this comment but yesterday the offsense seemed to move the ball better. I KNOW THEY DID NOT SCORE A TOUCHDOWN until the fourth but the run game showed some signs of life and they mixed up there play calls more throughout the game. Offsense seemed better but now the defsense seemed to struggle something that has been our strong suit this season. That is what concerns me most I feel like they are plugging leaks and eventually things just bust through. Very concerned with all of the errors that showed up defesnively and inability to stop the run. I just do not see the "drive", "will", "desire" to win anymore. Through the long ball more establish the deep pass threat again. The bad coaching decisions in the past few games just seems like harbaugh thinks he can clown around and it will be okay. Some pretty boneheaded moves have been made by him and he still feels as though it was the right decision. Yesterday was really frustrating and embarassing in that we get the offsense somewhat going and then the defense struggles that really concerns me. If harbaugh does not get serious we are not going to make the playoffs and I do not think he will. He says he is being aggresive I say more like desparation as he is not sure what to do. Starting to wonder how good of a coach he is with these dumb play calls.

[Crusader]

You guys remember when Ray would have broke thru the line and stopped the Steelers before they go in field gold rang? Those were the days!

Our defense is like Cris Davis. They hit a home run when no one is on and fail when people are on base.

[Space11jams]

From analyzing each game we played throughout this season so far, the players look lost on plays, primarily the offense. The schemes that the o-line run is horrible and I'm not feeling them. It doesn't create holes for our back and it leaves Flacco at times wide open. Whatever new their trying to accomplish just isn't working for me. I'm hating the play calling as well. Why are we playing so conservative in the first half in every game? The plays doesn't get creative until we're in the second half trailing. It's ridiculous. I look at other teams in the NFL run their offense and it's a sight to see. We have an outstanding QB that seems to get better every year and we have a really solid receiving corp with a good RB duo. What is the problem?! We can't keep giving wins away because thats what we're doing. Torrey only gets one catch the first half? Rice limited to 200 rushing this season so far? What sense does that make to take your best players out of the game. If you ask me, this problem starts with coaching and the coaching as a whole for offense is terrible. I hate the predictable play calling we do and this is the second coach we had to do the same thing. Run, run, Pass. Run, run, pass. Same running plays attacking the same hole. We don't run delay runs, tosses or nothing. Just the I-form up the same hole and get plugged. No wonder Rice is so frustrated. Where's the creativity, cause lord knows we need it. Putting to much pressure on our defense will leave them nothing if we do make the playoffs.

[Derrel]

Another dud.....onside kick?

[heycuf]

No Fire No Desire from the offense, from the play calling, to the coaches. Defense as usual here in B-more, just wish we had kept Eddie back there.With him the defense would've out scored the offense by now. We can't block, can't run, can't think, can't call the proper plays.What can we do but play defense.Hey Suggs, do what Ray Lewis did back on the first S.B. run when he told Dilfer,"The defense has this,just don't turn it over and just manage the clock".You might want to drop that bug in Flacco's ear.

[heycuf]

Looks like the AFC North will be between the Bungels & Clowns.

[VaRavon]

On the pass to Jacoby, was it me or did the defender hit him before the pass got there????
Might have not made any difference, but 1st and goal would have been alot better... Our "special teams" have not been very specail so far either....

[54th man kj]

This was a painful loss on so many levels. I agree with some that we have lacked a sense of urgency this season but I don't like when people say that we are a defensive team and Flacco needs to be a game manager. True we are extremely reliant on our defense but Flacco has Baller potential if only we could inject some creativity into the offense. We also should ditch that terrible blocking scheme that didn't come until Juan Castillo showed up. (message)
I also think that Joe is doing just fine. He could be better but the players around him need more improvement than he does. yeah yeah I saw the under thrown ball to Jacoby and I have seen that same kind of throw in other games but I have also seen Joe scrambling when the pocket collapses and I have seen more that just check down throws and dare I say quite a few frozen ropes. We need to do more of what we do good and ditch the mentality that says we are only a running team or a defensive team. WE Are a WINNING Team. Thats it!!
Lets Prove it in the next 9 games.

[steelcityraven]

I give Joe credit... he played well. We are so predictable however. I thought Cam was back! Everytime we run it's a draw. if Rice is in the backfield it is a draw or checkdown to him. if Pierce is in the backfield... on running downs... its a dive behind Yanda and Oher.

our passng game is 90% safe calls to the flats.... it looks like we dont trust Joe... and worse yet we dont trust Rice or Pierce. (Many people will say we dnt trust those two bc of the lack of success but truth is if we would deploy them in a little less predictable fashion (trust them) then we may see an improved rate of play!

[4everraven]

Play calling is atrocious. We continue to try and be something we are not this year, a running based offense. Everyone seems to know this except the coaches. They should swallow their darn prides and start coaching to our strength which this year is Flacco and passing. Be creative with the passing attack, seems every other team can be. Why not us? The more creativity schemed by coaches the more excitement we'll see in the players executing it. Why does it seem the coaches are so entrenched and stubborn with what they want the players to do vice maximizing their strengths? Harbs and the staff's stubbornness will lead to what we've seen so far which means the 7-2 run we will need for a shot at the playoffs won't materialize. Hoping Bisciotti steps in and orders major changes in Harbs approach this year.