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[BmoreBird22]

All Flacco proved is that he can't do it by himself. But let's be real no QB can. Sure, Peyton can make his WRs look better than they actually are, but if those WR had crappy hands he couldn't. Every QB needs capable targets. Doesn't necessarily mean talented, but capable. But we didn't have that outside of Torrey last year.

We've upgraded from crap filled burrito with a side of vomit, to average in offensive personnel. So we shall see. Flacco has proven he can win a SB. Anyone who doubts him just needs to go look at that run.

That run is not a fluke. That was just the first time he's peaked for a long period of time. He's always shown flashes of that(vs Minnesota 2009. Vs Pit in regular season 2011, vs NE in playoffs 2011),hell, he flashed it this year(vs Minnesota 2013). It's just the first time he's ever done it consistently. Only time sadly.

Yeah, but the Super Bowl run was the first time with a coordinator that knew how to use the weapons correctly and the only time he's truly had a diverse set of weapons. Plus, the offensive line was gelling. It's not fluke that he played well with a capable offense around him

[Static]

Mosley is already racking up DROY predictions. I think its between him and Mack but Mack won't rack up the tackles Mosley will simply because od position.

Actually let me squeeze Calvin Pryor in that conversation. Any DB coached by Rex Ryan should be good. He is also in a great position to succeed.

[BOLDnPurPnBlacK]

Starting the CJ Mosely for DPOY, not just DROY(if that's even allowed) bandwagon. Locking down TE's, stuffing runs and screens, and calling out the defense/getting everyone lined up.

 

This kid IS going to be great.

[BmoreBird22]

Can a rookie actually win the DPOY or OPOY awards?

[Tiz]

Can a rookie actually win the DPOY or OPOY awards?

Yes

Earl Campbell won football writers MVP in 78 as well as Roy

Dickerson won sporting news MVP in 83 and Roy in. 83

[BmoreBird22]

Yes

Earl Campbell won football writers MVP in 78 as well as Roy

Dickerson won sporting news MVP in 83 and Roy in. 83

Has AP ever done it?

[hawkprey]

Yeah, but the Super Bowl run was the first time with a coordinator that knew how to use the weapons correctly and the only time he's truly had a diverse set of weapons. Plus, the offensive line was gelling. It's not fluke that he played well with a capable offense around him

Honestly, I don't think Caldwell used our weapons correctly. In hindsight, he wasn't very good at running an offense, even in the Super Bowl run. I think it was Kelechi Osemele being inserted at left guard. His combination with Yanda allowed Joe some room to step into his throws and unleash the deep ball. Then again, I've been on the KO bandwagon from the start. I wanted us to draft him and tried to convince some people that he belongs at guard and guard only. 

 

I don't think some people are totally convinced because of last year, but he was playing through an injury that he shouldn't have stepped onto the field with. After flattening Yanda and B. Will in practice, I think it's pretty obvious that he's healthy again.

[Ravensfan23]

Someone is joining the Joe Flacco bandwagon. NFL.COM's Bucky Brooks predicts that Joe Flacco will become a truly elite QB this season under Kubiak.

 

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap2000000370932/article/joe-flacco-ravens-offense-can-thrive-under-gary-kubiak

 

favorite quote: "Flacco has more talent and better physical skills than many of the other quarterbacks who have thrived in the system, which makes it easy to envision him blossoming into a consistent and spectacular playmaker under Kubiak."

 

My favorite quote was

 

"The seventh-year pro will have the opportunity to take more "gimme" throws, which will boost his completion percentage and help the offense stay on track. He'll also benefit from a complementary play-action passing game that will help him find a rhythm in the pocket."

 

I don't know how many times I've complained about our old offense not having enough easy, high percentage throws that allows the QB to get into a rhythm like you see with other QBs. Mike Preston just wrote recently how practice is kind of boring before we are running a lot of dump offs, screens, and flares out of the backfield and I love it. Now don't get me wrong I love the deep ball, but only when it's strategically planned.

 

Flacco will have a really high completion percentage and big yardage in this offense. The YAC element from our WRs is gonna be sick.

[allblackraven]

After flattening Yanda and B. Will in practice, I think it's pretty obvious that he's healthy again.

s/Yanda/Ngata

[BmoreBird22]

Honestly, I don't think Caldwell used our weapons correctly. In hindsight, he wasn't very good at running an offense, even in the Super Bowl run. I think it was Kelechi Osemele being inserted at left guard. His combination with Yanda allowed Joe some room to step into his throws and unleash the deep ball. Then again, I've been on the KO bandwagon from the start. I wanted us to draft him and tried to convince some people that he belongs at guard and guard only.

I don't think some people are totally convinced because of last year, but he was playing through an injury that he shouldn't have stepped onto the field with. After flattening Yanda and B. Will in practice, I think it's pretty obvious that he's healthy again.

I was reading an article that Caldwell didn't change the routes really, he just changed where they went. Instead of running outs and posts to the corner, he ran in routes and posts to the inside. He just changed where receivers worked the field, which was a huge change in terms of how they should be used.

I obviously don't remember exact figures, but the percentage of routes across the middle of the field by Boldin and Pitta under Caldwell was up tremendously compared to Cameron

Kelechi was good, but it's not like he was the difference in a good or bad offensive line. A motivated McKinnie, Oher at right tackle, Kelechi at left guard. The whole offensive line was motivated and playing extremely well together. Kelechi individually wasn't great outside of the Super Bowl. Just got the job done, like the rest of the line

[Bruce_Almty]

Ravensfan23, on 01 Aug 2014 - 8:14 PM, said:Ravensfan23, on 01 Aug 2014 - 8:14 PM, said:

Flacco will have a really high completion percentage and big yardage in this offense.

A really high completion percent for Joe would be something over 60%. Assuming around 1000 plays from scrimmage in a year and 1:1 run to pass ratio would yield 300 completions distributed to Smith/Smith/Jones/Brown/Pitta/Daniels/Rice/others; that seems very doable.

An additional 70 yds/gm and 1 additional TD would give the Ravens a top 10 offense based on last years stats.

Here's hoping

Go Ravens

[Ravensfan23]

A really high completion percent for Joe would be something over 60%. Assuming around 1000 plays from scrimmage in a year and 1:1 run to pass ratio would yield 300 completions distributed to Smith/Smith/Jones/Brown/Pitta/Daniels/Rice/others; that seems very doable.

Here's hoping

Go Ravens

 

If Joe Flacco completes 60% of his passes something went terrible wrong. This offense will be designed around high percentage passes and getting the ball out quickly. People forget that Flacco was consistently in the 60-63% range from his rookie year up until 2010. It wasn't until speed(Torrey, Lee, Coby) was added that offense turned into a heavy vertical one which ultimately lead to low percentage passing.

 

I know you said something over 60% but to really pinpoint that number even more I'm thinking in the 65%-67% range. Yes that seems extremely high compared to the 59% we've seen recently but again I feel this offense suits Joe so much more and somewhere around 66% 4,350yds 33TDs 8Ints is where he should land this year. But I said I wasn't gonna get into what Flacco could do in this offense anymore lol. I've talked about it so much this offseason, i'm just gonna sit back and watch everyone's reaction to the show.

 

Bucky Brooks is the first one to hand in his Flacco hate card for a ticket on The Flacco Bandwagon, expect to see many more by week 10.  

[ravensnick]

My mom and I do this. We try to pick new emerging players that we think will become future stars. So far we have hit on Lardarius (back in his KR only days), Art Jones, daryl Smith (i though he could be a stud the second we signed him), Dennis Pitta, Marlon Brown, and Corey graham before they broke out and maybe a few more I can't remember. I am gonna take Timmy Jernigan and Will Hill.

[hawkprey]

s/Yanda/Ngata

Whoops! I re-wrote that post a few times and almost made the mistake every time. Until I did. Yanda is "offense Ngata" anyway.

[hawkprey]

I was reading an article that Caldwell didn't change the routes really, he just changed where they went. Instead of running outs and posts to the corner, he ran in routes and posts to the inside. He just changed where receivers worked the field, which was a huge change in terms of how they should be used.

I obviously don't remember exact figures, but the percentage of routes across the middle of the field by Boldin and Pitta under Caldwell was up tremendously compared to Cameron

Kelechi was good, but it's not like he was the difference in a good or bad offensive line. A motivated McKinnie, Oher at right tackle, Kelechi at left guard. The whole offensive line was motivated and playing extremely well together. Kelechi individually wasn't great outside of the Super Bowl. Just got the job done, like the rest of the line

I know Caldwell changed things but other than moving Anquan inside, which we did under Cameron from time to time, I don't think he used guys more correctly, just differently. In each of those 4 games, there was a half of play where the offense sputtered because we were running conservative routes. 

 

Also, Oher taking over for KO was a small improvement. McKinnie taking over for Oher was a small improvement. But KO taking over for Reid/Harewood was huge, even if he wasn't an all-star. That's just how bad they were.

[PolishRifle]

If Joe Flacco completes 60% of his passes something went terrible wrong. This offense will be designed around high percentage passes and getting the ball out quickly. People forget that Flacco was consistently in the 60-63% range from his rookie year up until 2010. It wasn't until speed(Torrey, Lee, Coby) was added that offense turned into a heavy vertical one which ultimately lead to low percentage passing.

 

I know you said something over 60% but to really pinpoint that number even more I'm thinking in the 65%-67% range. Yes that seems extremely high compared to the 59% we've seen recently but again I feel this offense suits Joe so much more and somewhere around 66% 4,350yds 33TDs 8Ints is where he should land this year. But I said I wasn't gonna get into what Flacco could do in this offense anymore lol. I've talked about it so much this offseason, i'm just gonna sit back and watch everyone's reaction to the show.

 

Bucky Brooks is the first one to hand in his Flacco hate card for a ticket on The Flacco Bandwagon, expect to see many more by week 10.  

 

I have similar expectations. I'm still saying Joe will have a similar year to Matt Schaub's best season (2009): 67,8% 4770 Yrds 29TDs 15 Ints

I think Joe will go downfield more often, but also take better care of the football (especially after throwing a carreer high in Ints last season), so I would decrease the comp. perc. and Int#:

 

65% 4770 yrds 29TD 11INT

 

Bold prediction indeed, after last year. Just call me a hopeless optimist^^

[ravensnick]

I have similar expectations. I'm still saying Joe will have a similar year to Matt Schaub's best season (2009): 67,8% 4770 Yrds 29TDs 15 Ints

I think Joe will go downfield more often, but also take better care of the football (especially after throwing a carreer high in Ints last season), so I would decrease the comp. perc. and Int#:

 

65% 4770 yrds 29TD 11INT

 

Bold prediction indeed, after last year. Just call me a hopeless optimist^^

I can see joe breaking 4,000 maybe even 4.500 with over 30 tds and under 15 INTs

[BmoreBird22]

I know Caldwell changed things but other than moving Anquan inside, which we did under Cameron from time to time, I don't think he used guys more correctly, just differently. In each of those 4 games, there was a half of play where the offense sputtered because we were running conservative routes. 

 

Also, Oher taking over for KO was a small improvement. McKinnie taking over for Oher was a small improvement. But KO taking over for Reid/Harewood was huge, even if he wasn't an all-star. That's just how bad they were.

Differently or correctly, the Ravens offense was far more productive. Having Boldin in the slot and Pitta running routes over the middle became staples. I don't think you understand how much more frequently it happened, and I can understand without the exact figures, but it was probably a difference of 50%. Boldin moved to the slot on every single three wide set, something Cameron didn't often use. The Ravens even went four wide, which was almost unheard of. Sure, the Ravens offense wasn't always a juggernaut, like when they fumbled the ball in key situations in the playoffs, but they were far better.

I think you're trying to downplay the importance of the offensive line shifts as a whole to try to raise up KO. He wasn't that great outside of handling Justin Smith, which is impressive. Many people actually questioned whether he'd be a good fit at guard because in the playoffs, he struggled more often than not with identifying second level blocks or actually reaching them. McKinnie allowed like one sack if memory serves correctly, and it was against Aldon Smith. Do you really think Oher and KO would have stonewalled Dumervil and Miller the way McKinnie and Oher is? My guess is after how bad they were in pass protection during the regular season, no. The offensive line shifts improved everything and it wasn't just KO magically making the whole line as a whole better

[hawkprey]

Differently or correctly, the Ravens offense was far more productive. Having Boldin in the slot and Pitta running routes over the middle became staples. I don't think you understand how much more frequently it happened, and I can understand without the exact figures, but it was probably a difference of 50%. Boldin moved to the slot on every single three wide set, something Cameron didn't often use. The Ravens even went four wide, which was almost unheard of. Sure, the Ravens offense wasn't always a juggernaut, like when they fumbled the ball in key situations in the playoffs, but they were far better.

I think you're trying to downplay the importance of the offensive line shifts as a whole to try to raise up KO. He wasn't that great outside of handling Justin Smith, which is impressive. Many people actually questioned whether he'd be a good fit at guard because in the playoffs, he struggled more often than not with identifying second level blocks or actually reaching them. McKinnie allowed like one sack if memory serves correctly, and it was against Aldon Smith. Do you really think Oher and KO would have stonewalled Dumervil and Miller the way McKinnie and Oher is? My guess is after how bad they were in pass protection during the regular season, no. The offensive line shifts improved everything and it wasn't just KO magically making the whole line as a whole better

When I say KO was the biggest improvement, I'm talking about in pass protection. Our run game actually got worse, but that didn't matter. I believe Oher and McKinnie still allowed pass rushers into the backfield, but with an improvement at guard, Joe could actually step up to avoid it. Most of the pressure was from the edge and avoidable because of Joe's maneuverability. Pressure up the middle is more detrimental to a deep passing offense. Also, The worst thing you can have on an O-line is two bad players next to each other. KO spaced things out, and sandwiched Birk between two good players, making his life much easier. (BTW, the first time we played Denver that year, Oher and KO held Miller and Dumervil to 1 sack combined.)

 

 

As far as playcalling, I'll give you that the receivers were probably used better, in general. But that's in comparison to Cam. Torrey and Jacoby had their best plays on 9 routes which was nothing new. We still had Anquan and Jacoby run slants when Torrey should have been, and we really could've used more imaginative run vs pass calls. I remember "run-run-pass" dominating the second half of the Denver game and the first half against Indy was an offensive flop because we ran all short patterns that the DBs sat on. We were over-reliant on the run game and didn't use play-action to take advantage. It was really the same offense, except we COULD put more receivers on the field because the protection was better.

[K-Dog]

Poe.

[BSHU_Miami]

Will TRILL

[Ravensfan23]

I have similar expectations. I'm still saying Joe will have a similar year to Matt Schaub's best season (2009): 67,8% 4770 Yrds 29TDs 15 Ints

I think Joe will go downfield more often, but also take better care of the football (especially after throwing a carreer high in Ints last season), so I would decrease the comp. perc. and Int#:

 

65% 4770 yrds 29TD 11INT

 

Bold prediction indeed, after last year. Just call me a hopeless optimist^^

 

Honestly the only part of your prediction I'd call bold is the 4770 yards part and I honestly don't see that as being bold.

 

Yes last year happened and it's a what have you done for me lately NFL, but let's be honest that wasn't the Joe Flacco we know. Even though Joe has been frustratingly inconsistent throughout his career, I think we'd all agree that last year was more about the overall offense being poor not just Flacco.

 

So if we look at his numbers from last year, an slight improvement would just get him back to where he was in 2010 imo. But I think Flacco will improve upon his 2010 numbers and really take off in this offense. For his career he's hovered around 10-12 ints and that was in a offense that forced him to either make tight window throws or low percentage throws down field. In Kubes offense, I agree we will go down field more then they did in Houston but it won't be those "throw it up and see what happens" deep balls. Flacco is one of the best deep ball throwers in the NFL and I wouldn't be surprised to see his numbers increase in that area as far as efficiency. So I think that 11int number is spot on. Fact in that it's a new offense for everyone and mistakes are bound to happen that's a fair number. At his best in this offense I think we can expect 6-8 Ints a year.

 

The 65% is a good number because as you said we'll go deep more often then Houston and we are still learning the offense as a whole and as good as they may look now, you always gotta factor in the mistake element. There will be some mis-reads by both Joe and his weapons that will lead to incompletions and unfortunately ints as well. So that's a fair number but at his best and the offenses best as a whole, I can see Joe around that 66%-68% range in this offense.

 

I'd actually go up on the TD number. 29 would be a really strong year, but I'm looking at all the elements factoring into this offense and I think Kubes might have the best version of this offense he's ever had. Regardless of the system, teams are gonna be cautious of the deep ball getting off the best. Kubes is smart enough to play to this and thus we'll have a lot of WRs working in space. Guys like Torrey, Coby and even Smitty are so explosive and or fast that if you get them in space one missed tackle could lead to a TD. So that will help boost the TD total up. RAC opportunities. Then you have guys like Smitty, Pitta, O.D and even Brown who have all proven to be strong redzone options. Also Flacco is a much better decision maker then Schuab imo which leads me more trust in he redzone. I think that's a fair number but i'm thinking Joe will put a couple more TDs on the board i'd give him 33. 

 

Definitely agree with being optimistic. There is actually a football game on this week and I couldn't be happier.

[Ravensfan23]

Will TRILL

 

I'm hearing great things about him. Never really paid attention to him while with NYG and being a FSU fan didn't care to watch him in college, but I can't wait to see him tomorrow at practice and ultimately in the preseason. I'm of the belief that a man has to want change and improvement for himself, but I also know that being around great people who hold you accountable is great for people who may have had struggles and are looking to rebound.  

 

There are plenty of examples in this Ravens lockerroom of guys who may have gotten into some trouble or had some bad press(Jacoby) and the team, both FO and Players, stood behind them. That has to be very encouraging to Will Hill. If he's as good as Pees seems to think he is, he could be huge for us down the stretch of the season. Adding another play maker to the defense is always good. Plus he could add great insurance to Steward who has struggled with injuries doing his career.

[BmoreBird22]

When I say KO was the biggest improvement, I'm talking about in pass protection. Our run game actually got worse, but that didn't matter. I believe Oher and McKinnie still allowed pass rushers into the backfield, but with an improvement at guard, Joe could actually step up to avoid it. Most of the pressure was from the edge and avoidable because of Joe's maneuverability. Pressure up the middle is more detrimental to a deep passing offense. Also, The worst thing you can have on an O-line is two bad players next to each other. KO spaced things out, and sandwiched Birk between two good players, making his life much easier. (BTW, the first time we played Denver that year, Oher and KO held Miller and Dumervil to 1 sack combined.)

 

 

As far as playcalling, I'll give you that the receivers were probably used better, in general. But that's in comparison to Cam. Torrey and Jacoby had their best plays on 9 routes which was nothing new. We still had Anquan and Jacoby run slants when Torrey should have been, and we really could've used more imaginative run vs pass calls. I remember "run-run-pass" dominating the second half of the Denver game and the first half against Indy was an offensive flop because we ran all short patterns that the DBs sat on. We were over-reliant on the run game and didn't use play-action to take advantage. It was really the same offense, except we COULD put more receivers on the field because the protection was better.

The pressure off of the edges was even far less noticeable, if you ask me.  I agree that KO was a big improvement over Reid/Harewood, but the line as a whole was just gelling and playing so well that I'd be hard pressed to pick who was the biggest reason for that improvement. I would also agree that spreading out the bad players (although, the Ravens didn't really have a "bad player" on the line after the switches). I'd like to see the pressures those two allowed in the first game because from what I can remember, Joe was running quite a bit and made some errant throws because of it. Remember also that the Broncos were pretty much done after three quarters.

 

I think the usage also got more creative. I actually remember Torrey being used in the slot on curls and slants. I don't think Caldwell was a great offensive coordinator, but he at least started to use the middle of the field far more, which was huge. 

 

I don't think using more three receiver sets had to do with the protection. Joe had good offensive lines early in his career and three receivers just were not something often used by Cam. Plus, you look at the Ravens almost exclusively using three wide receivers last year despite how poor the line was, although, that could be attributed to not having good blocking tight ends. It's hard to say. I'm just really glad the Ravens have Kubiak.

[hawkprey]

The pressure off of the edges was even far less noticeable, if you ask me.  I agree that KO was a big improvement over Reid/Harewood, but the line as a whole was just gelling and playing so well that I'd be hard pressed to pick who was the biggest reason for that improvement. I would also agree that spreading out the bad players (although, the Ravens didn't really have a "bad player" on the line after the switches). I'd like to see the pressures those two allowed in the first game because from what I can remember, Joe was running quite a bit and made some errant throws because of it. Remember also that the Broncos were pretty much done after three quarters.

 

I think the usage also got more creative. I actually remember Torrey being used in the slot on curls and slants. I don't think Caldwell was a great offensive coordinator, but he at least started to use the middle of the field far more, which was huge. 

 

I don't think using more three receiver sets had to do with the protection. Joe had good offensive lines early in his career and three receivers just were not something often used by Cam. Plus, you look at the Ravens almost exclusively using three wide receivers last year despite how poor the line was, although, that could be attributed to not having good blocking tight ends. It's hard to say. I'm just really glad the Ravens have Kubiak.

I have the Super Bowl on my computer and tried watching some of it. I can tell you on the first drive that Oher got beat on a run play and gave up a pressure to Ray McDonald. McKinnie got pushed into Flacco on the TD play. Next series McKinnie looked lost on stretch plays and gave up ground on others. The 31 yarder to Boldin was Oher getting manhandled and overwhelmed by a the 1st and 2nd defenders... I mean, watching it again, it was pretty ugly. 

[BmoreBird22]

I have the Super Bowl on my computer and tried watching some of it. I can tell you on the first drive that Oher got beat on a run play and gave up a pressure to Ray McDonald. McKinnie got pushed into Flacco on the TD play. Next series McKinnie looked lost on stretch plays and gave up ground on others. The 31 yarder to Boldin was Oher getting manhandled and overwhelmed by a the 1st and 2nd defenders... I mean, watching it again, it was pretty ugly.

Really? I'll have to see if I can find it because when I think about it, everything moved so smoothly... good thing they got Monroe

[hawkprey]

Really? I'll have to see if I can find it because when I think about it, everything moved so smoothly... good thing they got Monroe

Yeah, I got bored...

 

 

These are just from the first three drives of the Super Bowl.

[Ravensfan23]

Yeah, I got bored...

 

 

These are just from the first three drives of the Super Bowl.

 

imo the oline didn't play great. Even though I do agree that moving KO to LG was the more important move, we have to remember that that was his first time playing the position. So the Colts game wasn't really a good one for him if I recall. However he got better and better as the weeks went on and showed Pro Bowl imo, in that 2nd half of the AFCCG through the Super Bowl.

 

imo KO Birk and Yanda were really the ones that made the oline look much better. As you pointed out, both BMac and Oher got beat often as I remember. It was Joe's ability to step up as well as Caldwell calling for quicker passes that helped keep the sack totals down for Flacco doing that run.

[BmoreBird22]

Yeah, I got bored...

 

 

These are just from the first three drives of the Super Bowl.

Is that two passes and four runs?

[hawkprey]

Is that two passes and four runs?

I think 3 and 3. The top right was a play action fake if I remember right.