flacco crapping the bed

[BuffOrange]

I think the 3 turnovers deep in their own end is what played into the Steelers hands.

 

I went through the official gamebook and counted 36 pass attempts. The Ravens did throw the ball much more than they ran it -- 16 rushing attempts. The running game was highly ineffective, but it was essentially "what they do" under Cameron with packing the box with extra blockers. That just doesn't confuse the Steelers one iota. Cameron is also out of the vertical stretch school and getting big chunks in the pass game, so those sorts of plays are again "what they do." But, again, the Steelers know that as well and left them with the alternative of dumping the ball off to Ray Rice. Rice touched the ball more than all the other Ravens offensive weapons combined and simply was not effective (2.6 yards per carry, 4.6 yards per catch, a back breaking fumble, and several bad whiffs at picking up the Steelers rush). I don't think Joe had a great game, but there were other culprits on the Ravens offense to include in the blame game. JMO.

 

As far as spreading the Steelers out and such, the Ravens do have a collection of veteran "possession" WRs so that isn't completely out of the question; but, like you said it isn't what Cameron does. Marty ball will win a team a lot of games, but it continues to show weaknesses in the playoffs.

 

I thought the Patriots showed everyone about 8 years ago (before Brady was ever playing at a HOF level) that achieving "balance" against the Steelers is just banging your head against the wall and doesn't achieve anything. Funny how the announcer cliches are never heard from when a team throws twice as much and beats them. They are built to stop the run - running for the sake of running is what plays into their hands.

Edited January 16, 2011 by BuffOrange

[Rico]

I think the 3 turnovers deep in their own end is what played into the Steelers hands.

 

I went through the official gamebook and counted 36 pass attempts. The Ravens did throw the ball much more than they ran it -- 16 rushing attempts. The running game was highly ineffective, but it was essentially "what they do" under Cameron with packing the box with extra blockers. That just doesn't confuse the Steelers one iota. Cameron is also out of the vertical stretch school and getting big chunks in the pass game, so those sorts of plays are again "what they do." But, again, the Steelers know that as well and left them with the alternative of dumping the ball off to Ray Rice. Rice touched the ball more than all the other Ravens offensive weapons combined and simply was not effective (2.6 yards per carry, 4.6 yards per catch, a back breaking fumble, and several bad whiffs at picking up the Steelers rush). I don't think Joe had a great game, but there were other culprits on the Ravens offense to include in the blame game. JMO.

 

As far as spreading the Steelers out and such, the Ravens do have a collection of veteran "possession" WRs so that isn't completely out of the question; but, like you said it isn't what Cameron does. Marty ball will win a team a lot of games, but it continues to show weaknesses in the playoffs.

Absolutely. Nevertheless, that stretch of his in the 3rd quarter (after the Rice fumble) cost them the lead, and eventually the game. He had that shell-shocked, Bledsoe-ish look on his face, and I knew it was over. Joe Cool is cool when everything is going his way, but he doesn't respond to adversity very well. He's still very young though, and may grow into the part, but I think the Ravens' window of opportunity may be closing.

[DrDawkinstein]

Never been impressed with Flacco, and have never believed he is anything more than "ordinary"

 

I think Fitz is just as good, if not better.