[News] Ravens' Aggressiveness On Fourth Down Paying Off

[BR News]

The Ravens lead the NFL with 17 fourth-down attempts and have converted a league-high 11.

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[Ravenshine]

Yup, I remember the ESPN commentators talking about this. Personally I've always loved an aggressive offensive stance, risk takers. Not reckless risk takers, but doing it when it counts, when games are on the line....takes guts. On other hand, can't stand conservatism when a big play is needed. Luckily the Ravens have not often acted that way, and while they have me tense on these calls, I'm 'with them' on these 4th down gambles. No guts, no glory. Sure, can fail too, but ...lets just do this and see that we can! That's my kind of football!

Edited December 2, 2015 by Ravenshine

[reed20fence]

I'm sure a 3-7 record plays into the calculus to go for it at that stage as well. Not much to lose.

I loved Gruden's commentary on the night. "Does this look like a 3-7 team to you, Mike? Credit John Harbaugh, he's got these guys flying around the field like they're in the AFC Championship."

Edited December 2, 2015 by reed20fence

[Militant X 1]

I loved those aggressive moves. Nervous about them...but loved them! lol

[rmcjacket23]

Lets face it... if we were 7-3, we aren't going for it on 4th down inside our own 30.

 

Its easy to be aggressive when you are 3-7... there's really nothing to lose.

[ozrave]

@rmcjacket23, the attitude of the Ravens is game by game, not season by season.

[rmcjacket23]

@rmcjacket23, the attitude of the Ravens is game by game, not season by season.

That's great, but there's a zero percent chance we show that level of aggressiveness when you're competing for a playoff spot.

 

The risk is greater than the reward at that point, and John knows that.

 

Lets not pretend like this is some sort of shift into an aggressive mindset where we start going for it on 4th and 1 everytime regardless of field position.

[KidNme]

Happy it worked out. Would have been pretty upset, had they not made it though.

[ellicottraven]

That fourth down call on our own 25 yd line was indded a gutsy call and an awesome call (because it worked). However, it would hve been a suicidal call had we not made it and the Browns capitalized with a TD of their own. In any case, it was one thing for certain, an incredibly foolish call.

 

PS: This post might be heavily negged, but if you are totally honest with yourself, you’ll agree with my assessment.

Edited December 2, 2015 by ellicottraven

[JoshRaven7273]

Lets be honest LOL did anybody besides me almost Have a meltdown along with a stoke when Harbaugh desided to go for it on 4th down around are 20 ''WAY TO GIVE YOUR OFFENSE SOME MORALE COACH!!!! I thought you lost your mind LOL

[HomeoftheBRAVENS]

I'm a fan of this aggressive 4th down play calling.I'm not sure if we'd actually be doing it so much if we were 8-3 and not 4-7 though.Hopefully this aggressiveness carries over into next year when we're back in playoff contention.

[kbman]

There is a very successful high school football coach in Arkansas who almost never punts, and almost always attempts an onsides kick after scoring. His name is Kevin Kelly, and his team at Pulaski Academy is 77 - 17 with two state championships. There are some good points of each strategy to consider. More possessions mean more opportunities to score. Not giving up possession when retaining it has a decent chance of success makes sense from that perspective. And regarding the onsides kicks, you're otherwise giving up possession anyway, plus what you trade off in lost field position when it is not successful is the lack of risk of an even longer return.

[Minionhunter]

I'm a fan of the aggressive calling too. I'm not so sure about almost never punting but I think reduced punting would be a good idea. The onside kicking the majority of the time sounds very interesting too. If you could increase the statistics of recovery accompanied by different patterns of kicking them that might be really interesting.

[Minionhunter]

Another thought I'd that Tomlin goes for it on two point conversions, likely due to necessity when they were running through kickers like tap water, but to his credit be found out they could get them with high efficiency and they now go for it all the time. That is something the Ravens should consider this off-season, adoption of an aggressive go for it 2 point conversion strategy. The odds tend to favor it. Plus it favors development of remarkable 2 yard make it plays which help on the field too. This is weird but I like Tomlin's strategy here.

[Minionhunter]

The point of going for it is playing the odds like professional gamblers. They know the exact odds at all times and thatddetermines success.

[ozrave]

@rmcjacket23, way too complicated. There are plenty of 4th downs we punt away. We play to win.

[FloridalovesRavens]

This team has nothing else to lose so why not. We already lost just about everything else. So proud to be a Ravens fan regardless of wins or losses. Go Ravens.

[drillem]

Going for it on 4th and 1 is like double reverse psycology. The other team thinks you're lining up to try to get them to go offside. Then you shock the h out of them by actually snapping the ball and making the first down. Next season it might be smarter to not go for it as the other team may assume you are going for it and jump offsides. I can see the wisdom of not being predictable.

[Jfravens]

Plus, I had Marc Trestman telling me, %u2018It%u2019s six inches. Go for it! It%u2019s six inches. Let%u2019s do it!%u2019 Once your offensive coordinator believes in it, you really have no choice. I%u2019ll give him credit; he%u2019s the one that really wanted to do it. Great job, trsuting each other. John Harbaugh is the greatest and Trestman is a genius OC.

[mearzunkies]

Harbaugh is a possible HOF coach but Trestman is not great LOL

[ravenstime]

I like being aggressive. Especially when your team is not that good, they need to score points some way and 4th down becomes a down you simply can't waste. A lot of teams lose by punting every 4th down like robots.

If we had a little bit better of a team, I'd say punt more often and let your defense get you decent field position, but right now, we need to use all 4 downs and keep our offense on the field sometimes. The trick is the execution and Flacco is really good at 4th down passes; Schaub was great on the fullback pass and did what was needed, flawlessly. Great execution and great calls by Harbaugh and Trestman!

It helps me to look forward to another game, being that the coaches are giving the players a chance to win some games instead of punt, punt, punt, lose.

[Tru11]

meh we left points on the board that came back and bite us.

 

lost way to many games trying to be cute and not take the points.

 

then again we got nothing to loose with our current record so its easier to make these decisions.

[RavensBaltimore]

That's great, but there's a zero percent chance we show that level of aggressiveness when you're competing for a playoff spot.

 

The risk is greater than the reward at that point, and John knows that.

Last year, in Miami, a game that the Ravens almost definitely had to win to make the playoffs, Harbaugh decided to go for a 4th and 1 in the 3rd qtr at our own 34. So I guess there's a little more than a zero percent chance we show that level of aggressiveness when we're competing for a playoff spot.