[News] Late For Work 11/2: Joe Flacco Celebrates Best Game Of Season

[trevorsteadman]

I agree with Belichick. Penalties, at least certain ones, should be challenged. Some of these calls are ridiculous and could easily be overturned by a look in the booth. But I also believe that means coaches should get an extra challenge flag. After we have got at least 2 bad calls the last 3 games it is getting really annoying.

 

Also when is the front office going to try harder at getting Flacco weapons? Remember earlier in the offseason we talked about the Ravens paying their skill positions less than almost every team. That is also taking into account Pitta's contract who has barely touched the field the last two seasons. Taking him out of the calculations and the Ravens are probably dead last. We need to pay for talent on the offensive side of the ball. Don't say it is because of Flacco's contract because this season he doesn't even break the top 10 for quarterbacks this season. He will restructure next year, but hopefully the front office learns he needs help like every quarterback in this league.

Edited November 2, 2015 by trevorsteadman

[rmcjacket23]

I agree with Belichick. Penalties, at least certain ones, should be challenged. Some of these calls are ridiculous and could easily be overturned by a look in the booth. But I also believe that means coaches should get an extra challenge flag. After we have got at least 2 bad calls the last 3 games it is getting really annoying.

 

Also when is the front office going to try harder at getting Flacco weapons? Remember earlier in the offseason we talked about the Ravens paying their skill positions less than almost every team. That is also taking into account Pitta's contract who has barely touched the field the last two seasons. Taking him out of the calculations and the Ravens are probably dead last. We need to pay for talent on the offensive side of the ball. Don't say it is because of Flacco's contract because this season he doesn't even break the top 10 for quarterbacks this season. He will restructure next year, but hopefully the front office learns he needs help like every quarterback in this league.

I don't want 6 hour football games, and as such, challenging every call isn't likely to happen anytime soon.

[fusuymada]

I don't want 6 hour football games, and as such, challenging every call isn't likely to happen anytime soon.

With challenges limited to 3 a team, there is no way it will make the game 6 hours.  Coaches will just have to pick and choose better as to what they want to challenge.  I don't see how three challenges as opposed to two challenges, which we do now, will cause the game to balloon out an extra 2 hours.  I guess if coaches had unlimited challenges and could challenge everything then yeah, if challenges are unlimited lets challenge everything but that is just unrealistic and fantasy.  But if you have three challenges and you want to challenge a PI call, it will take no longer to review a PI call than a reception, whether or not someone is in bounds.

[trevorsteadman]

I don't want 6 hour football games, and as such, challenging every call isn't likely to happen anytime soon.

And I agree and that is why the controversy is in the air right now. Of course every call is not going to be challenged but we have seen how many stupid penalties this season that shouldn't have been called or haven't been called? It really has changed outcomes in games and I understand it is part of the game. But you can't say Belichick doesn't have a point. With penalty flags coming out at a historic rate it does affect each and every game especially when they are the wrong call. I don't want 6 hour games either and I don't think anyone does.

[trevorsteadman]

With challenges limited to 3 a team, there is no way it will make the game 6 hours.  Coaches will just have to pick and choose better as to what they want to challenge.  I don't see how three challenges as opposed to two challenges, which we do now, will cause the game to balloon out an extra 2 hours.  I guess if coaches had unlimited challenges and could challenge everything then yeah, if challenges are unlimited lets challenge everything but that is just unrealistic and fantasy.  But if you have three challenges and you want to challenge a PI call, it will take no longer to review a PI call than a reception, whether or not someone is in bounds.

I couldn't count on my fingers how many games were changed due to a wrong penalty this year. And with so many flags coming out we almost have to have some challenged. Maybe not all can be challenged, but certain penalties should. I agree I do believe that an extra challenge per team and you challenging certain penalties would not push back the game too much longer. Plus if you have three time outs, why not have three challenges?

[reed20fence]

I think it's a foregone conclusion that we don't draft WRs that well. The franchises model is to bring in veteran guys as free agents. Most deep contenders in the playoffs aren't really relying on 1st or 2nd year WRs anyway.

That said, it's the wiser approach anyway. The first 4 years of a drafted WRs career can be used to determine whether he's robust enough to survive hits and play through the rigors of a 16 game season. They also take advantage of someone else's investing the crucial years in developing his technique and adding branches to his route tree.

We need guys that can run every route now.

We need guys that can take hits now.

We need guys that have enough knowledge to quickly get on the same page with Joe now.

We need contributors now.

Free Agency is where this franchise finds them So first things first, let's figure out which guys are on the final years of their deals and unlikely to re-sign. Historically those tend to be the tradable guys mid-season.

Edited November 2, 2015 by reed20fence

[FloridalovesRavens]

There sure are a bunch of "dance snobs" in the NFL fan base lol. Tucker can dance that way every game if he wants to. Go Ravens

[rmcjacket23]

With challenges limited to 3 a team, there is no way it will make the game 6 hours.  Coaches will just have to pick and choose better as to what they want to challenge.  I don't see how three challenges as opposed to two challenges, which we do now, will cause the game to balloon out an extra 2 hours.  I guess if coaches had unlimited challenges and could challenge everything then yeah, if challenges are unlimited lets challenge everything but that is just unrealistic and fantasy.  But if you have three challenges and you want to challenge a PI call, it will take no longer to review a PI call than a reception, whether or not someone is in bounds.

But what does that solve? You're keeping the same number of challenges and just opening it up to all plays. Under that scenario, every coach is going to use all three in the first half (because there's at least three questionable calls per half on big plays) and they can't afford to have any remaining at the end of the game. Imagine the fan backlash then when a coach decides not to challenge a questionable foul or non-foul in the second quarter because he doesn't want to burn a challenge, and then there isn't another questionable occurrence the rest of the game and that play is considered to have been "game altering" by fans. Can you imagine how much the fans would bury the coach for that?

 

In which case, from a fan perspective, this will solve nothing, because fans think the officials blow like 10 calls a game, so getting even three of them reversed means you're still failing 70% of the time by fan logic.

 

This ignores the direction you don't want to go down as well. Imagine when coaches start challenging non-calls refs make (such as holding). The officials then, by the letter of the law, start enforcing said rules much stricter, because they now fear they will be questioned AND they want to avoid this.

 

Flags are up, game time is up.

Edited November 2, 2015 by rmcjacket23

[TheConquerorWorm]

There are some young talented WR buried on teams' depth charts the Ravens should be looking to get. Guys like:

Cordarrelle Patterson, MIN (also solves the PR/KR issue because Fumble Ross isn't cutting it)

Justin Hunter, TEN

Cody Latimer, DEN

Paul Richardson, SEA

Marqise Lee, JAX

Rueben Randle, NYG

Sure these guys have some warts but they also have undeveloped talent, are an upgrade over some existing WR and can be had for a low end draft pick. Much better gambles than a 5th or 6th round pick next year.

Edited November 2, 2015 by TheConquerorWorm

[darkraven in va]

Boldin is old and slow and why are we even talking about picking him up. Brady who i cant stand can make his receivers better, if Flacco wants to be that guy, and i think he can be, he needs to be that guy

[GO_Ravens]

I know we won the football game but Marc Tresman has to run the football more. The importance of running the ball is so critical to our success we can not just abandon the run.

[ellicottraven]

I can say with conviction that Steve Smith Sr.'s loss to the Ravens far exceeds on an emotional level the loss of LeVeon Bell for the Steelers. Smith Sr. is just so Baltimore Raven in his DNA it is surreal!

[TheConquerorWorm]

I know we won the football game but Marc Tresman has to run the football more. The importance of running the ball is so critical to our success we can not just abandon the run.

Everyone knows that. But when other teams load the box with 8 or 9 guys (like the Chargers did all game long), running the ball in that instance is foolish. Normally, when the other team loads the box, leaving the WRs 1 on 1, you can take advantage of that. Since Aiken, Givens, Ross or Brown can't really get open against quality DBs, you see exactly why the Ravens can't score TDs or take advantage of that situation. Givens is good on the 9 route but that's about it (pretty easy to defend when you know it's coming). Why do think there are so many passes to TE & Juice? It's because those are the only guys that can get open (in reality, just finding soft spots in the zone). SSS was the only guy that could get open against a quality DB. Even still, your best bet against a loaded box is to try to pass the ball.

 

If I was a DC facing the Ravens, I would load the box to stop the run game making the Ravens throw the ball. Rush 5-6 of those 8 guys and make the WRs try to get open in the 3 seconds Flacco has to get rid of the ball. That's what Arizona did perfectly.

[The Greek]

lee evans and hooshmenzadeh sightings at the castle today

[The Greek]

trestman tries to get the running game established but it has been tough thus far. o-line is not getting the running lanes opened like they did last season. hurst is avg. and now with zuttah out those running lanes will be even tougher to come by

Edited November 2, 2015 by The Greek

[The Greek]

another strong performance from stefon diggs.

[Raven_Don]

@TheConquerorWorm... well let me clean up your list a little bit.. Marqise Lee is injury prone... been battling a hamstring since he got in the league... Rueben Randle is also battling a hamstring... Latimer hasn't produced like they hoped (I'm sorry but if you can't produce with Peyton as your QB you are a little suspect in my book) Cordarrelle Patterson is a play-maker... just not as a WR... doesn't run routes very well.. Justin Hunter has potential... not sure about Paul Richardson... watched some highlights of him.. he relied on speed rather than technique in college... he is a hands catcher might be worth a look...

[RavensBaltimore]

Brady who i cant stand can make his receivers better, if Flacco wants to be that guy, and i think he can be, he needs to be that guy

Kamar Aiken played a year and a half with Brady and had 0 catches. His next stop was Baltimore, where he had 25 catches and 3 TDs. Brady has had a couple chances to extend the careers of aging veterans who were past their prime, and he failed. SSS was declining in Carolina, but with Joe, he had resurgent seasons at 35 and 36, which pretty much never happens. Joe has had 2 receivers over the age of 35 with 1,000 yd seasons. How many qbs can say that? Flacco clearly made Torrey much better. In his prime at 26, he's on pace for his worst season by far without Joe. Ed Dickson's production significantly declined without Flacco, and the same can be said for Owen Daniels so far. Pretty much every one of our WRs/TEs plays better with Flacco than without him. Our offense is ranked in the top half of the league, and put up 30 points in a game where our top 2 WRs were undrafted, and both of our active TEs were rookies. If Flacco didn't make his receivers better, we might literally have the worst offense in the league right now. Brady doesn't make his receivers better. He gets elite weapons like Moss and Gronk. Flacco has been making the most of an extremely limited supporting cast.

[Raven_Don]

@TheGreek... we should have picked Steph Diggs in the fourth with the comp pick rather than waste it on a project corner... sorry but the jury is out on Tray.. this upcoming class of Db's aren't bad either... sorry I know you gotta think of the future and all but come on... Diggs is balling right now.. he beats single coverage with route running and has excellent run after the catch...

[rmcjacket23]

@TheGreek... we should have picked Steph Diggs in the fourth with the comp pick rather than waste it on a project corner... sorry but the jury is out on Tray.. this upcoming class of Db's aren't bad either... sorry I know you gotta think of the future and all but come on... Diggs is balling right now.. he beats single coverage with route running and has excellent run after the catch...

Hind sight doesn't do anybody any good.

[Minionhunter]

Kamar Aiken played a year and a half with Brady and had 0 catches. His next stop was Baltimore, where he had 25 catches and 3 TDs. Brady has had a couple chances to extend the careers of aging veterans who were past their prime, and he failed. SSS was declining in Carolina, but with Joe, he had resurgent seasons at 35 and 36, which pretty much never happens. Joe has had 2 receivers over the age of 35 with 1,000 yd seasons. How many qbs can say that? Flacco clearly made Torrey much better. In his prime at 26, he's on pace for his worst season by far without Joe. Ed Dickson's production significantly declined without Flacco, and the same can be said for Owen Daniels so far. Pretty much every one of our WRs/TEs plays better with Flacco than without him. Our offense is ranked in the top half of the league, and put up 30 points in a game where our top 2 WRs were undrafted, and both of our active TEs were rookies. If Flacco didn't make his receivers better, we might literally have the worst offense in the league right now. Brady doesn't make his receivers better. He gets elite weapons like Moss and Gronk. Flacco has been making the most of an extremely limited supporting cast.

Everyone re-read this post, aside from the fact we are not quite averaging 30/game, it is spot on. Joe does make his tartes better and Brady does not, he uses a couple top shelf targets and gets by with the rest. Kamar is item exhibit #1. Brady couldn't do anything with him, likely because Brady is a whining crying rage addict who only knows how to yell at a person and will only throw to them when they demure to him. Avcado ice cream my butt, he is juicing. Look up the interview with his QB coach who when asked How is Brady performing like this? "Aheem [clears throat], ah, he is a very hard worker." Look it up.

 

Joe does not get his due. Before the suberbowl, before Christmas, Inner Harbor lights show, Night before the game he was eating at Noodles & Co. and was kind enough to take pictiures with my buddies kids before he left.

[Minionhunter]

There are some young talented WR buried on teams' depth charts the Ravens should be looking to get. Guys like:

Cordarrelle Patterson, MIN (also solves the PR/KR issue because Fumble Ross isn't cutting it)

Justin Hunter, TEN

Cody Latimer, DEN

Paul Richardson, SEA

Marqise Lee, JAX

Rueben Randle, NYG

Sure these guys have some warts but they also have undeveloped talent, are an upgrade over some existing WR and can be had for a low end draft pick. Much better gambles than a 5th or 6th round pick next year.

If a guy can't run routes, forget him with Joe.

[RavensBaltimore]

Everyone knows that. But when other teams load the box with 8 or 9 guys (like the Chargers did all game long), running the ball in that instance is foolish. Normally, when the other team loads the box, leaving the WRs 1 on 1, you can take advantage of that. Since Aiken, Givens, Ross or Brown can't really get open against quality DBs, you see exactly why the Ravens can't score TDs or take advantage of that situation. Givens is good on the 9 route but that's about it (pretty easy to defend when you know it's coming). Why do think there are so many passes to TE & Juice? It's because those are the only guys that can get open (in reality, just finding soft spots in the zone). SSS was the only guy that could get open against a quality DB. Even still, your best bet against a loaded box is to try to pass the ball.

 

If I was a DC facing the Ravens, I would load the box to stop the run game making the Ravens throw the ball. Rush 5-6 of those 8 guys and make the WRs try to get open in the 3 seconds Flacco has to get rid of the ball. That's what Arizona did perfectly.

You summed that up well. Running the ball against a loaded box has mostly just put us in 3rd and long situations. In Arizona, Forsett failed to gain more than 1 yd on 8 of 12 carries. We can't afford to keep wasting plays. We pretty much abandoned the run in the first 3 qtrs yesterday, and we moved the ball and scored on almost every possession. That seemed to wear their defense down and open up the running game in the 4th qtr. Against Cinci, we had 1 rushing yd in the second half, and our offense exploded, coming back from a 14 point deficit and taking the lead. Had we not wasted the first half trying to get the run game going, we probably would have won that game.

 

I think Trestman has done a good job getting Juice the ball, as well as our RBs in the passing game, and throwing some screen passes, like the one to Ross that set up our last TD. He knows that our WRs have trouble getting open down the field, and he knows that running the ball has wasted too many downs and killed too many plays. It's a huge cliche for Baltimore fans to say "we need to run the ball more", but this Baltimore fan is tired of seeing us get stuffed on first down, and then seeing the other team send the house on 2nd and 3rd and long, while our receivers can't get away from single coverage. Throwing on almost every down has led to more 1st downs, fewer punts, and put us in more favorable positions.

[EliteRavens]

Flacco is Elite. End of story

[griffrb]

Will Hill tackle and penalty. I'll take it! We need to bring the NASTY back to our defense. No choir boys allowed.

[thunderroach]

Fire harbaugh. Nobody wants to play for him! This guy has shown that anyone who stands up to him gets no playing time and or gets cut! Players and coaches! This owner canned Billick after a bad season when there were a lot of injuries so time to step up and find someone who can motivate and coach players! Let this guy head to college where he can bully players! You cant retain great or even good players and coaches with this morone in charge. "We have to play better,we have to fight through it,we need players to step up,talk talk talk! If you cant coach,motivate,or inspire players this is what you get!Theres a great team out there with players and coaches that left!

Edited November 2, 2015 by berad
profanity

[rmcjacket23]

Fire harbaugh. Nobody wants to play for him! This guy has shown that anyone who stands up to him gets no playing time and or gets cut! Players and coaches! This owner canned Billick after a bad season when there were a lot of injuries so time to step up and find someone who can motivate and coach players! Let this guy head to college where he can bully players! You cant retain great or even good players and coaches with this morone in charge. "We have to play better,we have to fight through it,we need players to step up,talk talk talk! If you cant coach,motivate,or inspire players this is what you get!Theres a great team out there with players and coaches that left!

Just so we are clear... Billick wasn't fired for one bad season.

 

He missed the playoffs three of his last four years (including two sub .500 seasons), and the one year he did, he had the #1 seed and lost in the first round of the playoffs.

 

In fact, in his last six seasons (2002-2007), Billick made the playoffs twice and didn't win a playoff game in either appearance. Including playoff games, he was 50-48 as a coach during those six years.

[she_lovesBirds]

Fire harbaugh. Nobody wants to play for him! This guy has shown that anyone who stands up to him gets no playing time and or gets cut! Players and coaches! This owner canned Billick after a bad season when there were a lot of injuries so time to step up and find someone who can motivate and coach players! Let this guy head to college where he can bully players! You cant retain great or even good players and coaches with this morone in charge. "We have to play better,we have to fight through it,we need players to step up,talk talk talk! If you cant coach,motivate,or inspire players this is what you get!Theres a great team out there with players and coaches that left!

 

Hmmm and hire who my dear friend? 5 out of 7 years of playoffs and a SB isnt good enough for you it seems. In fact it seems Harbaugh's winning ways has spoilt you. You're so used to winning that there's no such thing as a injury plagued season in your books. I just cant comprehend what form of magic you want your head coach to do if he's working with a banged up team, a new OC and no play makers on offense. All the games we've lost we could've won, he has definitely put the right players in the right positions he cant plan the game also. but please do tell me who would work magic and also who are these talented players who stood up to the coach and havent gotten playing time? you talk as if we benched Calvin Johnson for talking smack. I really would like to know where these amazing players are that are currently serving time on the bench. 

[NCMan]

"Marc Trestman will have to be creative in finding plays that will work for other targets". Imagine that. What a concept!!

[steelcityraven]

TBH.. I m impressed the job that Tretman has done in lght of all of the injuries and lack of talent / depth. However.. On the other side of the ball. Pees continues to fall short!!