Marty stays...fixing the offense heading into 2017

[donkeyking64]

3 hours ago, FlocksGottaFeed said:

Does Our Organization Really Want to "Help Joe"? Really?

Here's the deal: If we really wanted to help Joe the 1st thing to do is to acknowledge and accept who he is. He will never likely be a top-tier QB by the end of his career. He is a reasonably efficient QB who if put in the right conditions can have 'top-tier' QB games from time to time. I'm still a fan of Joe's, but I think our organization is completely missing the boat on what it would take to elevate his play and make it more consistent. More play makers, coaching continuity and dedication are good, reasonable wishes, but Joe's more important need is urgency. It's mental beyond everything else.

1. Firstly, have him admit to himself that he's not a top-tier QB currently although he's had a few great games (playoffs and SB). This will only challenge him to work harder to get to that goal and/or humble him enough to know that he must sacrifice enough to help the entire offensive unit to become top-tier. This may mean giving-up some of his salary to procure more talent around him (i.e. - Brady).

2. Coaching/Continuity: The Marty-thing was a mistake. It won't help Joe to get there at all. The best move would have been to keep Marty as a QB Coach (only). That's adequate continuity. He should have just remained as a season fill-in and continue his earlier role because of his amicable relationship with Joe, but change is needed.

3. Bring-in a new OC that runs the current system, but lights a fire under Joe and doesn't allow him to dictate his play, scheme or even allow him to over-assess his development. Start with the most difficult variations of the current scheme during the off-season and stay with them.

4. Lastly, address his ego before it's too late. Yes, Joe has a huge ego. Examples of this are the "I don't want to be lining up at Z and X. I want to line up behind center..." wildcat rant even though the play averaged over 10 yards per attempt, on the ELITE question "I mean, I think I’m the best," he said back then. "I don’t think I’m top-five, I think I’m the best. I don’t think I’d be very successful at my job if I didn’t feel that way. I mean, come on." and his consistent insistence on not audibly out of bad play calls, work with the entire receiving core and skill players during off-seasons and generally not accepting critic even when it's due.

This said, it's mental. If the organization wants to truly help this soon to be 10 year veteran QB and elevate the team as well, challenge is resolve - don't pander to his comfort-zone. He performs better in that role and so does the rest of the team.

I think one of the problems, actually the only problem I have with any debate on Joe:

1. Salary - get over it everybody please. The going rate for QBs is not $90 million for 7 years anymore ok. When you look around the league and see the Ryan Tannehills and the Jay Cutlers and the Colin Kaepernicks signing for $100+ you should realize that. [profanity deleted] Ryan Tannehill man. Jay. Cutler. These dudes epitomize mediocrity. A QB great, good, mediocre - they are top dollar. Be grateful that at least your $100+ million salaried QB has several playoff wins to his name as well as a Super Bowl

2. What is top tier? You only need your QB to convert on 3rd downs, put the offense in position to score 6 or 3, take care of the football, and then of course give you a shot to win playoff games. That's top tier. List all Super Bowl teams since 2000 and tell me HOW MANY of those teams had QBs who played like "Top Tier".

Point #1 - There have been 16 Super Bowl teams but that's only 6 of them. Did the other winners have "Top Tier" QBs or are you going to tell me the 1st 2 Pats teams had top tier QB play from Brady as did the 2016 Denver Broncos from Manning?
Point #2 - does Joe make that list for you (same can be asked of Eli)? He had a VERY underwhelming regular season, then played top tier in the playoffs. <----you see where this is going? How many times has Matty Ice Ryan played "top tier" during the regular season and then looked like a kid sucking his thumb in the playoffs? Alex Smith? Andy Dalton? Cam

Did you know that Joe Flacco ranks 10th All Time in the NFL with playoff wins? Only current players ahead of him are Brady and Roethlisberger.

Joe (10) is ahead of Eli (8), Aaron (7) and Drew (6).

I won't even go to Top Tier, let's just ask if Joe is a competent QB??? Cause if playoff wins define what makes you competent, he's got more wins than all these dudes that people have been claiming are Elite for years.

 

This is where most people respond by saying - 'well Joe's been on better teams when he made it to the playoffs' or 'the defense won those games' which takes me back to the million dollar question - how do you define "Top Tier" QB. Because if teams that allegedly have a "Top Tier QB" can't figure out how to win with that guy even though he is Top Tier and Elite, what's the point of having the conversation???????????

[BmoreBird22]

33 minutes ago, Tank 92 said:

Zuttah never took off and often ended up in Joe's lap. He had maybe two or three decent games. Other than that he pretty much sucked.  Ducasse while serviceable at times, also played badly at times. Top 10? Not sure how you could say that. Dixon and West did much of what they did on their own through hard, tough running after contact. Really don't recall any huge holes opened for them, other than the first drive in the Cowboys game. Not sure what the difference was, but it's a shame we couldn't have that effort the entire season. 

And sure you can scheme players open, if the players are capable of executing. At the end of the day there were just too many weak links personnel wise to lay full blame on the OC. 

With Ducasse and Zuttah, it seemed like they'd alternate who'd have a good game, outside of Dallas where both were pretty damn good. It just felt like only one of them could have a good game and the other would be a tad shaky. I never felt like they really were awful together in a way that would create a massive liability, outside of the Bengals game where Atkins and Dunlap were eating them alive inside. 

I think a big thing that bothered me was the total lack of commitment to running off tackle. Something that I thought I noticed (take this with a grain of salt) was that the Ravens seemed to run better when they ran off tackle with Dixon. Dixon just seemed to really hit the edge with a decisiveness and really command respect off the edge. I think the Ravens also had an opportunity to really run behind Stanley and Yanda when Yanda went to LG. Stanley finished the season as PFF's top rated T at either position over the course of five weeks and Yanda is always Yanda. I also looked at the stats and both Dixon and West actually ran really well when running up the center, so not really sure what to make of that.

I absolutely think you can scheme players open. It would take multi level concepts and a bit of patients, but there's ways to clear out space. Of course, at that point, you run the risk of only having a singular target and a check-down, but that's the risk you take if your guys aren't getting open anyway.

[PurpleCity5]

8 hours ago, redrum52 said:

It wouldn't surprise me if Pitta was cut.

I wouldn't because it has to happen. Guy just isn't all that effective and to be honest he's only had 4 good games MAX. Outside of that he's been very ineffective. 

My biggest problem with him is that Joe is too reliant on him. Joe talks about being more aggressive but he misses his reads because he sometimes panics in the pocket and just looks for Pitta on the check down, cut Pitta and force Joe to more downfield throws. 

I prefer a Training camp cut because you want to see how the competition stacks up against him, but outside of that, I think he's gone, but then again, it's not my choice to make.

[BmoreBird22]

2 hours ago, K-Dog said:

Copy and paste from another thread.

 

John Eisenberg, a writer whose opinion I greatly respect wrote this on the main page earlier today.  

http://www.baltimoreravens.com/news/article-1/Eisenberg-Regardless-Of-Who-Is-Coordinator-Ravens-Offensive-Philosophy-Needs-A-Makeover/923715ce-9ea8-446a-a924-505cb746a1af

 

It pretty much sums up my thoughts perfectly.

FTA 

THIS is why I am not bent out of shape they are keeping Marty. 

I'm bent out of shape it's Marty because I don't think he's the one to give the team the makeover it needs based on what we saw this season.

[PurpleCity5]

2 minutes ago, BmoreBird22 said:

I'm bent out of shape it's Marty because I don't think he's the one to give the team the makeover it needs based on what we saw this season.

What's funny is that Harbaugh fired Trestman because he wanted to run the ball more, here comes Marty and he has one of the worst first half runs in the league. Thing is, Marty has always featured pass heavy offenses and has a history of negating the run when it's effective, now that wasn't totally the case this season but there were plenty of times where the Ravens should have took the run and decided to pass. 

I don't think he deserves a big pass because it just didn't make this offense that much better, it was still bad, don't think the improvements were too drastic to keep him. 

Harbaugh is going into next season on thin ice, have a bad year or miss the playoffs again and that might be his job right there, I just hope Sean Payton is there when that time arrives. 

[BmoreBird22]

10 hours ago, BOLDnPurPnBlacK said:

And verbiage is a good topic. Bc while Marty should have learned Trestmans verbiage, its not 2nd nature like his own. So the ability to pull a specific play out of your bag of tricks, the perfect play for that unexpected situation, doesnt exist when calling another mans offense... if its not on your menu of plays that you planned during the week, its just darn near impossible. And its not like anyone, marty included, was in trestmans offense long enough to be an expert on it.

Marty, in his own offense, will have this ability. When its 4th and 1 from the 1, Marty will have his full register to go to. Even if its only a play theyve practice a few times, Marty can pull the entire book out at any moment, know the exact play call, and know that the players will know exaclty what he means. Without Trestmans playbook sitting there its not like Marty could crack it open and find what that plays called in Trestmans offense.

And that speaks to situational football. Yes you have an idea of what you like to do in certain situations, but that can change on a whim based on what the defense shows, trends in the game etc... So in your own offense its a lot easier to be better situationally bc you really have everything at your disposal.

The issue I have here is that you don't go into a game with the entire playbook. You probably won't even see every single play from the playbook over the course of the season, or if you do, you might see several plays only once or twice.

But again- these play books aren't going to be different from Trestman to Marty. They're the same WCO. Marty had a chance to go into the play book and pick out specific plays for each week (you're not taking every single play in the play book into a game) and that's what he did. I guarantee Marty didn't just look at all the game plans that Trestman had made prior and put together a game plan of his own that way.

And as far as a fourth and one call goes, he's got absolutely the chance to call a play of his own instead of a play Trestman wanted. Chances are they're huddling for that and not going no huddle, not that Marty shouldn't know Trestman's terminology, anyway. I mean, dude's a football coach and that's what he gets paid to do. If he couldn't learn all the terminology from January to October, he's probably in the wrong business.

[BmoreBird22]

10 hours ago, BOLDnPurPnBlacK said:

Probably bc Caldwell had no offense and didnt want or need to change anything. Tougher to teach an old dog new tricks. Marty knows what he wants, what he likes, what he calls things, and so its gonna be more difficult to use someone elses. Not saying he couldnt or shouldnt have done better.

But Caldwell, as a neutral observer with no experience plainly just looked at the situation, probably asked the players straight up - hey what do you think you should be doing - and then did it.

Heres the thing - it worked for one magical run. Thats it. Its not like Caldwell was some revelation and all it took was throwing the ball more over the middle. HE SUCKED the next year trying to do largely the same thing.

He absolutely did want to change the way the receivers were being used because he absolutely did change the way the receivers were being used.

The thing with Caldwell making changes as a first time play caller actually aids my point. The easy thing for Caldwell to do would be to keep running with the exact same plays that weren't working before because he didn't have a long amount of time to draw up a new game plan and really figure out what would work and what wouldn't.

As the quarterbacks coach, he saw what wasn't working for the team, thought of a solution, and picked out plays that would work and made sweeping changes in just two weeks. 

I'm sure he did get input from the players, just like Cameron would have, but Caldwell was smart enough to recognize the issue and see how to fix it. Marty as a former play caller should have been able to see the issue even more clearly and present an even better solution than Caldwell, but he failed miserably in that regard.

As far as 2013 goes, I think losing Pitta, Boldin, Birk, and KO to injury/retirement/trade, having Oher and McKinney (for half the season),  having an injured Yanda, and having an injured Rice might have played a way bigger part than anything else. His line featured Gino (is he even in the NFL still?), Shipley, and Oher for like 12 games. His second target was Marlon Brown. I would say Caldwell had a fairly comparable offense in 2012 to what the Ravens just had in 2016 and Caldwell far out-couched Marty.

[Ravensfan23]

25 minutes ago, jazz1988 said:

I don't like the idea of Dennison being a quarterback coach in a offensive scheme that doesn't have Gary Kubiak or Kyle/Mike Shanahan as the offensive coordinator.Now if John Harbaugh wanted to bring Rick Dennison aboard to be  The Ravens offensive line coach or offenseconsultant then that would be better.  There are only three guys that make  alot sense to be The Ravens quarterback and that is Greg Knapp, Greg Olson, and Jim Zorn because they all have worked with Marty M or bought up under the same offensive coordinator as Marty M.  Mike Mccoy could be a good candidate as well but not sure how well he would fit in with Marty M.

I don't think Mike McCoy would be a good fit. He's more in the mold of a Cam Cameron, so much of what he asks from his QBs is holding the ball, staying patient and allowing things to develop. Of course i'm just guessing here because I don't know the guy just know he comes from that same system we had back in 08-12'

If the Ravens are gonna be true to this WCO which according to Harbs they feel it best suits Flacco, they need a QB coach that's not only very familiar with the WCO but preferably someone who either was a QB in the WCO or coached QBs a long time in the WCO. I think the biggest hurdle for Flacco to get over this offseason is understanding that the WCO passing game is directly tied to your feet. It's not about arm strength it's about your feet being on time with the routes being run. Secondly, even though the WCO is about timing and precision, you still have to patiently move through your reads. He sped through far too often this year. I think he needs a QB coach who can not only help him with mechanic and reads but also someone who has actually played/gameplan vs almost any defense you can throw at the WCO. For this reason I'd like to see Greg Knapp as the QB coach if fired by Denver. 

 

[BmoreBird22]

11 minutes ago, PurpleCity5 said:

What's funny is that Harbaugh fired Trestman because he wanted to run the ball more, here comes Marty and he has one of the worst first half runs in the league. Thing is, Marty has always featured pass heavy offenses and has a history of negating the run when it's effective, now that wasn't totally the case this season but there were plenty of times where the Ravens should have took the run and decided to pass. 

I don't think he deserves a big pass because it just didn't make this offense that much better, it was still bad, don't think the improvements were too drastic to keep him. 

Harbaugh is going into next season on thin ice, have a bad year or miss the playoffs again and that might be his job right there, I just hope Sean Payton is there when that time arrives. 

I will totally eat crow if I'm wrong, but this year gave me absolutely zilch to feel encouraged about.

The Ravens as a whole managed 4.0 yards per carry. West had 4.0 and Dixon had 4.3. Dixon especially was killing it over the second half of the season. There really was no reason to not run the ball other than an absolute disdain for running the ball, which is weird since he featured one of the best rush offenses in the NFL in NYJ. 

I would just hate to see the same sloppy mechanics and lack of desire to run the ball next season. The Ravens offense was just too horribly inefficient and ran the ball far too little to not entertain some interviews.

[jdynamite]

8 hours ago, cwfRaven said:

Agreed. I suppose we don't know for sure that we didn't make any inquires, but if we did, clearly they weren't serious inquiries. 

 

 

We may not know for sure, but I'm sure someone like A.Schefter, J.Hensley, G.Downing, R.Mink, M.Preston, etc would have had a rumor or an Insider Report if the Ravens setup any potential interviews.   

We're only 2 days from the regular season finale!   They could have at least interviewed McCoy. 

 

[jazz1988]

5 minutes ago, BmoreBird22 said:

I'm bent out of shape it's Marty because I don't think he's the one to give the team the makeover it needs based on what we saw this season.

I don't know but we shall see for sure.  I feel like The Ravens in general just need to bring in more guys/position coaches that will be on the same page with Marty M then build from there. I think some people underrate how impactful position coaches can be especially if they on the same page as the offensive coordinator. I don't think Gary Kubiak offense is nearly successful if he wasn't allow to bring in his own guys especially Rick Dennison.  I could be wrong but Josh Mcdaniels himself wasn't successful as The Rams offensive coordinator which was a year where  he wasn't allowed to bring in his own guys to support his scheme/ideals.

 

 Marty M play calling can be criticize last year and rightful so but there's no such thing as a prefect offensive coordinator.

 

[jdynamite]

Really makes even less sense for Harbaugh to just outright name him the OC going forward and saying he's confident all these aspects will improve.  All he needs to do is go back and read every weekly transcript of himself saying, we need to get back to Ravens football, we need to run more.

Literally the only thing Harbaugh mentioned that actually happened was getting Dixon more touches and he said that for about 4 weeks before Dixon started seeing the touches. 

They feel that a 13 play drive for 40-50 yds and  ends in a 45+ yd FG is great

[D_UP]

Get ready for groundhogs day next season. Mediocrity here we come!  

[Ravensfan23]

12 minutes ago, BmoreBird22 said:

I will totally eat crow if I'm wrong, but this year gave me absolutely zilch to feel encouraged about.

The Ravens as a whole managed 4.0 yards per carry. West had 4.0 and Dixon had 4.3. Dixon especially was killing it over the second half of the season. There really was no reason to not run the ball other than an absolute disdain for running the ball, which is weird since he featured one of the best rush offenses in the NFL in NYJ. 

I would just hate to see the same sloppy mechanics and lack of desire to run the ball next season. The Ravens offense was just too horribly inefficient and ran the ball far too little to not entertain some interviews.

game film speaks much louder than what we as fans see. Even watching all 22 angles as fans doesn't compare to what these coaches and players see when watching film. 

You and I have had the not running the ball enough convo and i've said you were 100% right in our talks. However we have to get to the bottom of exactly what's going on. The Ravens are sold out to running the WCO and unless your name is Kubiak more often than not you're gonna throw the ball considerably more than you run it in the WCO. That's just the way it is. The WCO by design spreads the defense horizontally with the passing game and using the run off of it. I'm sure you already know this, just saying. So those dink and dunk passes are here to stay because they are an extension of the run game. I don't think we see a average more than about 26 attempts per game over the course of the season. Which means Flacco will still throw 38-41 times per game. If we look at the numbers over Marty's 10 games that's about how they average out. 
So now knowing that this is probably the play distribution we'll next season, the question becomes, how do we get more out of the running game. Honestly I think the way you improve the running game and have even more attempts is to improve the passing game. The WCO offense is more of a precision offense and the Ravens passing game was anything but, from Flacco to the WRs, to the Oline. If the Ravens can improve on those 5-7 yard precision routes designed to keep the offense ahead of the sticks, I think we'll see more rushing attempts because the Ravens will produce more 1st downs and improving the precision helps in the redzone so scoring will improve as well. Also finding a few playmakers that can not only run those precised routes but make something happen after would be great. I'm looking at Perriman and Camp to be those guys next and they both have work to do.

Despite the Eagles game, I think the Ravens run the ball more with a lead late in games. However that aggressive nature ain't going nowhere so expect to continue seeing the offense try to put teams away midway through the 4th quarter with a 10-14 point lead.  

[ellicottraven]

5 minutes ago, D_UP said:

Get ready for groundhogs day next season. Mediocrity here we come!  

Here we come? Mediocrity has been staring back at us from the mirror for the last 4 yrs! Short of Kube's 2014 ( an outlier) we've been the epitome of mediocrity since that miraculous Ray Lewis inspired playoff run in 2012.

[ellicottraven]

Tony Lombardi's article on Russell Street Report basically nails our season, the coaches and players right on the head! Here's a link to it for those that are interested...

http://russellstreetreport.com/2017/01/03/the-good-bad-ugly-and-the-megan-fox/ravens-get-better/

[LosT_in_TranSlatioN]

5 hours ago, Moderator 3 said:

Here's a nice sane article on the "situation".

	Jamison Hensley (@jamisonhensley)
1/3/17, 6:46 PM John Harbaugh taking a gamble by putting his faith in Marty Mornhinweg es.pn/2j28uEB

 

This gamble is the equivalent of if I bet my entire life savings on the Cleveland Browns going undefeated next year. 

[ellicottraven]

2 minutes ago, LosT_in_TranSlatioN said:

This gamble is the equivalent of if I bet my entire life savings on the Cleveland Browns going undefeated next year. 

LOL!! Great analogy indeed....

[PurpleCity5]

1 hour ago, BmoreBird22 said:

I will totally eat crow if I'm wrong, but this year gave me absolutely zilch to feel encouraged about.

The Ravens as a whole managed 4.0 yards per carry. West had 4.0 and Dixon had 4.3. Dixon especially was killing it over the second half of the season. There really was no reason to not run the ball other than an absolute disdain for running the ball, which is weird since he featured one of the best rush offenses in the NFL in NYJ. 

I would just hate to see the same sloppy mechanics and lack of desire to run the ball next season. The Ravens offense was just too horribly inefficient and ran the ball far too little to not entertain some interviews.

I just heard from CBS/BR or somewhere that Marty's offense are always pass heavy, on BaltimoreSun article by Mike Preston, it's mentioned that Marty constantly butt heads with Rex Ryan because of Ryan's desire to run the ball more, I just find that funny considering that the same thing might have happened this season with Marty and Joe or Harbaugh, either but Joe mentioned tons of times of running the ball and it seemed that him and Marty might have had some disagreements about that. 

What strikes me is that some people blame players fully and some blame coaches fully or evenly distribute the blame. I see both sides to that, players need to execute better, no doubt about that but coaches need to game-plan and scheme better, what you saw against New England was simply us getting out-coached. I get it, these are professional players, but I say damn that, these are professional head coaches. 

I don't see why they couldn't interview other candidates either, makes no sense to me. It seems like Harbaugh was to impressed with what Marty did late in the season and I just find it difficult to see what was too impressive in that stretch.

Edited January 4 by PurpleCity5

[allblackraven]

55 minutes ago, ellicottraven said:

Tony Lombardi's article on Russell Street Report basically nails our season, the coaches and players right on the head! Here's a link to it for those that are interested...

http://russellstreetreport.com/2017/01/03/the-good-bad-ugly-and-the-megan-fox/ravens-get-better/

Every Raven fan should read that article. The only missing bit in it is Hester experiment that went on for too long and might have robbed us of some points and maybe one or two more ticks in a W column.

[Slim]

Another coach who won't let go... Guys have proven times and times again, they were not good coaches, keep on having jobs out there and won't let go.

 

Funny how sometimes, the NFL looks like politics, we just see the same faces year in year out and basically nothing changes.

[Jacquouille]

I'm basically of the unpopular opinion that it's Ok. It was timid, but Marty gave more opportunities to the run game. The offense looked more consistent, moved the ball and would have been even better if not for a couple terrible Joe INTs. 

I will let Marty prove himself this season. I'm more disappointed that we will get to see the prevent defense once more.

[Davesta]

1 hour ago, Jacquouille said:

I'm basically of the unpopular opinion that it's Ok. It was timid, but Marty gave more opportunities to the run game. The offense looked more consistent, moved the ball and would have been even better if not for a couple terrible Joe INTs. 

I will let Marty prove himself this season. I'm more disappointed that we will get to see the prevent defense once more.

I mean... Of course he gave more opportunities when comparing to trestman. Is that saying much? 

[Jacquouille]

1 hour ago, Davesta said:

I mean... Of course he gave more opportunities when comparing to trestman. Is that saying much? 

It's not saying anything, Trestman was the worst. But I mean Marty at least got a running game going that did well in the final stretch and I'm expecting him to rely more heavily on it next season.

[GrimCoconut]

I'm curious here but what was our run:pass ratio per game this year? Can anyone supply me with that data? I have a small theory and I want to see the data before I spout off a possibility about our run game. 

[ellicottraven]

6 hours ago, allblackraven said:

Every Raven fan should read that article. The only missing bit in it is Hester experiment that went on for too long and might have robbed us of some points and maybe one or two more ticks in a W column.

Didn't think about Hester, but, totally agree.I thought it was among the most comprehensive article encapsulating our season and the Ravens moving forward.

Edited January 4 by ellicottraven

[allblackraven]

49 minutes ago, GrimCoconut said:

I'm curious here but what was our run:pass ratio per game this year? Can anyone supply me with that data? I have a small theory and I want to see the data before I spout off a possibility about our run game. 

Close to 1 run to 3 passes for the season.

Edited January 4 by allblackraven

[GrimCoconut]

5 minutes ago, allblackraven said:

Close to 1 run to 3 passes for the season.

I mean per game? I want to see how it trended so I need to know run:pass for all 16 games. 

[JoeyFlex5]

I would like to see flacco with 4 decent targets and no "very good" or "security blanket" targets. 

He always plays best when he can spread the ball around. Since pitta returned he hasn't been doing that, he's been getting tunnel vision with pitta. I think for Joe to get back to being joe, oddly enough, we gotta get rid of his most familiar target. 

He played his best when pitta was playing great and making the tough catches he needed to, boldin was doing the same, and torrey was there for the big play and he was being schemed as the primary target for big plays. He had no reason to stare one guy down and try to force feed because everyone was playing well and Joe had chemistry with them. 

Without pitta and sss, I think we could see a new Joe. As crazy as it sounds. We aren't as deficient as we were in 2013, so we could actually see him spread the ball around and do better.

[rmcjacket23]

15 hours ago, Tank 92 said:

Just a guess, but I wouldn't be surprised if Harbaugh gave Kubiak a call yesterday. 

I doubt it. The guy announced his retirement from coaching less than 24 hours earlier. Really would be quite inappropriate to make that call anyway.

If all Kubiak wanted to do is not be a HC and be a coordinator, he could have done that in Denver most likely, which is obviously where he would prefer to be.