[News] Late For Work 10/21: Joe Flacco Isn't The One Who Has Regressed

[757RavensFan]

Just think of all those dropped touchdown passes this season... I count at least 8 or 9... Receivers need to catch those. I remember looking at something that said that Flacco had 1300+ yards that could have been since 2011 before this season that were from dropped passes. That does not include yards after the catch. Flacco is not the problem. 

 

Oh, but he's definitely part of the problem.

[callahan09]

Did you gonna complain about all of the home games towards the end the season? "IF" we were in the playoff hunt around week 10, all the home games on the back end of the schedule would be a HUGE advantage for us. 

A balanced schedule is better than this one.  It's NOT an advantage to have all the home games at the end of the season, because the chances of getting to that point of the schedule with your record in a good position are really bad.  The beginning of the season is when it's toughest to gel, especially for a team that has seen coaching turnover like we had, because the unit has to learn to cohere and work together and get in rhythm, and having to go from the east coast to the west coast FOUR TIMES in the first 7 games of the season, in addition to only having 2 games at home, both division games which are the toughest kind of game you can ask for?  I mean, come on.  The front portion of this schedule is really hard to succeed through.  I complained about the schedule before we ever played a game, and even if we had won every game, I'd still think it's a ridiculous schedule.  Get the facts straight: NO OTHER TEAM HAS TO DEAL WITH A SCHEDULE THIS UNBALANCED.  And not only is it 5 road games in the first 7 games, but once again, I repeat, we are in the unfortunate situation of having to go to the west coast 4 times this season, which is rare as it is, and among those first 5 road games, ALL FOUR of the west coast games are in this front loaded part of the schedule.  No other team has ever had to deal with this kind of schedule.  That's just a fact.

[trevorsteadman]

Looking at the AFC I don't see the Ravens out of the play off picture until their record shows 7 losses. Chances are slim but weirder things have happened in the NFL. Purple kool aid for life.

[trevorsteadman]

Constantly throwing INTs off your back foot is regression in my book.  An 8 year season vet shouldn't still do this.  At least not as often as Flacco has this year. 

Next time he will stand still and get an offensive lineman in his face and throw the ball straight up in the air then....

[fusuymada]

I hope the trade requests continue to go in our direction. Compensatory draft picks are 3rd round at best, mostly 5th 6th and 7th. If we look at our luck in the last 6 years with late round draft picks, or early picks either, we haven't been hitting. So 15 misses are no better than 8 misses, except by using more draft picks to acquire known talent then you stand a better chance. With our history of drafting wide receivers and cornerbacks recently, I would trade the unknown you get with draft picks, for certainties with recievers you know. We have too many holes to fill with draft picks and hopefully we learned from Perriman if you rely on draft picks, you get burnt.

[merryjman]

What DB has played well since Pees got here? Has anyone defensive player found success since Pee Got here? I can think a very few? McPhee seemed to play well under Pees..(albeit inconsistent) Suggs did (but he is TZSizzle). Mosley had a great Rookie year but inconsistent this season. BWllliams has played very well but that may be due to his super high talent level also. Dumervil but has also struggled this season. So basically two...Sizzle and BWilliams.... Maybe Doom? No a single DB has played well since Pees got here and very few others! (in other words... it seems to me that the superstar will continue to play at a high level bc they are superstars.. but if you are not one of the elite superstars in this league.. you will struggle in DPees Defense!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Jimmy Smith has played very well when not hurt. He and many of the others have been plagued by injuries. Smith was picked at the end of the 1st round of the draft, and nobody else in that secondary was picked higher than the 3rd round.  So I don't think it's really justified to blame Pees when he's working with mediocre talent, and the few talented members he does have can't stay healthy. 

 

It's also not fair to give credit to the individual players who are doing well, and to state that Pees and the other defensive staff only deserve blame for the bad and no credit for the good. By the way, Brandon Williams was picked at the end of the 3rd round, so I think "super high talent level" is a bit of a stretch.

[BillyD]

"Flacco has proven he can lead a team deep into the playoffs and even to a Super Bowl title when given the right weapons." Absolute key sentence here. Flacco is this year what I have always thought he was, an above average/good QB. As much as people think they are cap/money analysts by criticizing Flacco's salary, that is just the going rate for an above average/good QB who can win games in the right situation. When too many weapons are taken away PARTICULARLY DEEP threats to match Flacco's strength (BIG ARM), it shows his glaring weaknesses. Unfortunately, this year the Ravens just don't have the extra 'it' factor in any phase of the game. There are no Jacoby splash plays on special teams, not enough defensive stops, turnovers, or TD's, and no over the top explosive offensive plays other than wearing out SSS again before the 2nd half of the year. The fact the all the games were so close says to me that they are not terrible (as in never getting blown out). However, those 1 or 2 plays in any of the phase of the game that was there last year are clearly missing and making the Ravens a Bad/Below average team.

I see your point.  But wouldn't we have to implement some plays from our playbook to do more short and intermediate routes?  And if and when we do, if we have plays like that, don't the receivers have to get open?  Look at some of the weapons on teams that have the "elite" QBs...Brady has Gronk and Edleman along with Amendola, Rodgers has James Jones and Cobb, P. Manning has Thomas and Sanders...for Pete's sake, even Pitt is loaded with Brown, Bryant and Wheaton.  You can't just discount the fact that we have very limited talent at the WR position.  That being said, Joe has to make better decisions.  That's a given.

[757RavensFan]

Next time he will stand still and get an offensive lineman in his face and throw the ball straight up in the air then....

 

There's absolutely nothing wrong w/ scrambling and throwing it away.  

[BillyD]

Oh, but he's definitely part of the problem.

He needs to make better decisions, no doubt.  But he is a hell of a lot better than Boller.

[PurpleReigning]

Great article about Flacco and the Ravens on Grantland.com via the espn website. He's been part of the problem. No question.

[riseNConquer81]

uh oh: people who actually understand football speaking with sense and educated insight about why Flacco isnt posting hall of fame numbers with a receiver corps that barely deserves to be in the nfl.

our fans must be mad since this makes it much harder to be lazy and just pretend Flacco is a bad quarterback.

[riseNConquer81]

How many times will Flacco go to the podium after a sorry game and say "i made a stupid pass" etc before he STOPS MAKING STUPID PASSES!

pretty much every pass that doesnt go to Smith Senior is going to be a stupid pass by default, so get ready for a lot more of them, because that's the only way we're gaining any yards this season.

[steelcityraven]

merryijmen..... I don't care where they were picked. You stated that BWIlliams was picked at the end of the 3rd round so you wouldn't call him super talented???? That is like saying bc Tom Brady was picked in the 6th round... you wouldn't call him super talented? CMon... BWilliams is one of the top 5 interior DL in the NFL. If that is not elite level talent IDK what is???? I don't care where he was drafted. Many players were picked ahead of Carl Davis and he is outplaying them! But Jimmy Smith has not played well this season..... (and I don't think it is injury related) DO you? THe Seahawks, Bengals, Pats, Sqeeelers and many other teams seem to be getting a lot of production out of mid level drafted DB's ..... I guess what you are saying is that the only way we could expect to be good is if we drafted our DB's all in round 1? That's absurd! Many of our DBs drafted in the early rounds have also struggled. (Jimmy, Elam, Brooks, etc) Many of the FAs DBs brought in... who flourished under other DC's struggle to cut it here. (Will Hill, KLewis, KArrington, etc). Many of our DB's leave here and instantly play better under other DC's (DStewart, JIhedigbo, BPollard, Chykie Brown,) and I am betting the RMelvin keeps that trend going too! I have seen it pointed out on this forum and I think it is accurate... not a single DB has played well under Pees and the only Defensive players who have played well under Pees has been the Elite Talents... (Suggs, Dum, McPhee, BWilliams) Even NGata seemed to regress under Pees. Haloti freaking Ngata... SO if you are a DB you wont cut it in Pees system and if you are not an elite defender.... hope you get traded bc you wont cut it in this system either! We have a lot of talent on defense and are averaging giving up nearly 28 points per game..... Yes that is a coaching issue!

[Legendary Ravens]

If Flacco hasn't regressed He hasnt moved Forward either. We can look at him as half empty or Half Full The Truth is he's a very good QB but he doesn't want to be the Greatest.

[Minionhunter]

Flacco is pressing because of lack of open targets, AND the defense seeming to always surrender leads, this leads to interceptions and mistakes. Its like they are caught up in the football equivalent of (Congestive) Heart Failure. There is no escape from Starling's law of the heart, except, maybe the Batista procedure, but it is pretty extreme measures to cut off a large part of the living beating heart and sew it back up and put it back in.

[riseNConquer81]

Constantly throwing INTs off your back foot is regression in my book.  An 8 year season vet shouldn't still do this.  At least not as often as Flacco has this year.

constantly?

good thing you're only talking about 1 play then...

[The Greek]

if i were flacco i would take a knee or throw the ball out of bounds on 3rd downs. when sss and gilmore/williams are covered than flacco makes his stupid decisions by forcing passes to one of his crappy receivers aiken/brown. hope they start ross and get givens more chances down field. give waller more reps. brown should be released

Edited October 21, 2015 by The Greek

[The Mom Gene]

pretty much every pass that doesnt go to Smith Senior is going to be a stupid pass by default, so get ready for a lot more of them, because that's the only way we're gaining any yards this season.

Rise, The recent past has indeed been just that way, sort of.  That being said, I think we just added a couple of decent guys in Ross and Givens.  I liked what I did see from them last week.

[The Greek]

look at their db and cb coaches. they are both in their 1st seasons running these units and it is obvious. coaching changes must be made in the off season and this time harbs needs to do better research and interviews on his candidates.

[Sheek]

I think the Ravens are going to end up with the fourth or third pick which is actually great if they can pull a Rams style coup where they trade back a few spots and get two more first rounders.

The Ravens hvave the potential to go from worst to first next year because of the health returning in stars and the filling of key spots with top draft picks and good FA pickups. A better cap situation is going to help too.

Also maybe I'm weird but I think Joe is doing good this year. Especially considering he has had at least four touch down passes dropped and he's throwing to a 36 yo and then several players that can't get separation. And his left tackle went down for several games as well.

[January J]

A balanced schedule is better than this one.  It's NOT an advantage to have all the home games at the end of the season, because the chances of getting to that point of the schedule with your record in a good position are really bad.  The beginning of the season is when it's toughest to gel, especially for a team that has seen coaching turnover like we had, because the unit has to learn to cohere and work together and get in rhythm, and having to go from the east coast to the west coast FOUR TIMES in the first 7 games of the season, in addition to only having 2 games at home, both division games which are the toughest kind of game you can ask for?  I mean, come on.  The front portion of this schedule is really hard to succeed through.  I complained about the schedule before we ever played a game, and even if we had won every game, I'd still think it's a ridiculous schedule.  Get the facts straight: NO OTHER TEAM HAS TO DEAL WITH A SCHEDULE THIS UNBALANCED.  And not only is it 5 road games in the first 7 games, but once again, I repeat, we are in the unfortunate situation of having to go to the west coast 4 times this season, which is rare as it is, and among those first 5 road games, ALL FOUR of the west coast games are in this front loaded part of the schedule.  No other team has ever had to deal with this kind of schedule.  That's just a fact.

well we had to face the afc and nfc west this year- and we did ask to have those west coast games back to back. But it's quite interesting that the ONLY other team to have 5 of the first 7 games on the road was also the Ravens. That says a lot.

[Minionhunter]

Either Pees is a great coach, making due with a terrible allotment of players, he is making the players look good with what he has. OR Pees is not a great coach and they have good players, but the defense is failing due to his running it. Seems like one or the other. Alternatively everyone could be mediocre and just not working out. This last one seems unlikely to me.

[January J]

Flacco is pressing because of lack of open targets, AND the defense seeming to always surrender leads, this leads to interceptions and mistakes. Its like they are caught up in the football equivalent of (Congestive) Heart Failure. There is no escape from Starling's law of the heart, except, maybe the Batista procedure, but it is pretty extreme measures to cut off a large part of the living beating heart and sew it back up and put it back in.

exactly- if the defense wouldn't be given up so many points flacco wouldn't have nearly as many attempts And wouldn't be trying to force things. Hard to run the ball when your constantly playing catch-up. Flacco lives off of the running game Doing well.

[FloridalovesRavens]

Almost every player in our team has been part of the problem. No one player is to blame. There is certainly enough blame to go around. Let's just WIN one game and go from there. That being said I don't think this will be a win week sorry to say.

[riseNConquer81]

Rise, The recent past has indeed been just that way, sort of.  That being said, I think we just added a couple of decent guys in Ross and Givens.  I liked what I did see from them last week.

yeah, but look at our schedule.

Arizona and San Diego are going to eat those kids.

The Rams are going to eat those kids.

The Browns beat us without Haden. i dont know why he didnt play the other week, but i'll bet he's back in November.

the Seahawks are going to eat those kids.

There arent going to be many open receivers in our future. targets need to be able to catch in traffic, and Joe is going to have to (TRY) to take advantage of tight windows and the smallest margins of error because that's all that's going to be available. He's going to have to do playmaker things and he needs people who can play on the same level to make it work. Smith Senior is the only guy we have capable of doing it until further notice.

[The Mom Gene]

Patience and development will help this team...  There is no immediate solution for instant gratification exists.

[ravensrock89]

Flacco has not regressed, he is ticked off. He has absolutely no weapons to work with.M.Brown sucks Aiken has been a journeyman hoping to be our 2 guy, SSS (love him) but old getting ready to retire. Its like our whole offense is a patch up job and we expect to win with them. When Flacco had weapons he won a Super Bowl and could of won more.He lost Pitta and Rice Boldin and Smith and replaced them with sub par talent. Look at Daultons offense he has like 5 dangerous weapons who make him look good, I think Daulton is not even a top 15 qb. Trading back in the drafts have not helped either hasn't worked rather have less quality players than more average to below average players, example Kindle.

[PalmBayRaven]

Ravens are ranked 28th in the league. We have a better shot at the #1 overall pick in the 2016 draft. Which would mean picking 1st in every round. This is not a one year fix and that is IF we draft well. Poor drafting for the last 5 years has finally caught up to us. Over paying for under performance is also a factor. Freeing up Dead money will help in free agency.

[Flamengo1265]

Six weeks ago we were debating whether or not Flacco was elite, now we're debating whether he is average or below average. Statistically he is below average...... Notwithstanding all of the "if's and buts".

[budman]

Patience and development will help this team...  There is no immediate solution for instant gratifications.

I agree Mom Gene. Aso, why is everyone looking for someone to blame? I thought this was a Team game??