sp6488 Posted May 9, 2018 Share Posted May 9, 2018 59 minutes ago, JustAnotherFan said: This is a good post overall and you make some solid points. Couple of things though... I strongly disagree that winning close games are just luck. It's the old saying "good teams find a way to win". You play for 60 minutes. Not 59. Your explanations for missing the playoffs these last 2 years are reasonable -- but this also begs the question that if your team put themselves in a position to let one play become the deciding factor while playing in the same division as the 1-31 Browns, did you really deserve to be in the playoffs to begin with? Now I understand that division games are always tough, but this is the Browns that we're talking about. Just something to consider. @wackywabbit addressed this comment for the most part, but the Browns thing is sort of a red herring. They're 4-0 against them in the quoted stretch and beat them by 5, 21, 14 and 17 points, so it's not like they eked most of those games out. Not sure how the close games point is necessarily related to that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danand Posted May 9, 2018 Share Posted May 9, 2018 Besides the people who say team wins is not a QB stat, if we look at how the Ravens have fared as a team in 10 years - they have 5 straight years of PO appearences, then 2013 they where 8-6 and failed and was 8-8 just outside playoffs, 2014 back in again, 2015 they placed a record of players on IR including Flacco and had the ONLY losing season in 10 years, 2016 they where 8-6 and failed again and was 8-8 just outside the playoffs. The deciding factor was another defensive collapse against the steelers in week 16. 2017 they ended with a 9-7 record after another loss because of a defensive collapse. In that same timespan, it is only teams like the Packers, Steelers, Patriots, Seahawks, Falcons, Bengals and the Saints which are equivalent or better. Looking at the Ravens playoff losses, they lost to the 2008 Steelers (SB champs), 2009 Colts (lost SB), 2010 steelers (lost SB), 2011 Patriots (lost SB), 2014 patriots (SB champs). They haven't lost to the Dolphins, Chiefs etc. they faced in the playoffs with Flacco at QB. To sum up, they must have done something right, and Flacco have been a part of that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frenchie Posted May 10, 2018 Share Posted May 10, 2018 Let me start by saying that I don't really care for Joe Flacco. I don't think he's a bad player, but IMO, he tops out as a slightly below average starter. Lackluster numbers and overblown contract aside, its unfair to blame the team's misfortune on one player. I'm not making excuses for him, but lets be honest here, the Ravens receiving corps has probably been one of the weakest in the league over the last 5 years. A 30-something year old Steve Smith and an oft-injured Dennis Pitta are about the only decent targets Flacco has had to work with since the Superbowl year. Likewise, in the last 5 years, the Ravens' run game has also been among the leagues' worst, ranking in the low 20's in either total yards or yards/rush every year, except 2014, which coincidently, was a playoff year. Looking through some of the posts in the thread, most of the animosity toward Flacco seems to come from his contract, and I agree, it's bad, but there are dozens of players in the league getting more money than they are worth, so let's throw the contract out of the equation. The team offered the money, he signed the contract, case closed; can't blame Flacco for that. And honestly, at the time, you really can't blame the team either. They had just won the Superbowl; he was playing great. If they didn't pay, someone else would have. In hindsight, it was a miss, obviously, but at that time, what other options were available that were definitively better than Flacco? I will say, I don't think Lamar Jackson will be the answer. They basically traded away two 2nd round picks to reach for a project QB at pick 32. and this is a guy they'll have to change the entire offense to suit his skillset. My prediction is a poor man's Mike Vick. He'll make a career off of a couple highlight-reel plays, but behind the glitz and glamor, no substance... What's also interesting is how they wait til now to finally bulk up the receiving corps, just as Flacco looks to be on the way out. So I guess if there's anyone to blame, it's whoever is making these personnel decisions... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
footbull3196 Posted May 11, 2018 Share Posted May 11, 2018 When you average 5.7 ypa with one of the best defenses in the league having your back, you absolutely deserve to be blamed for your lack of success. It wasn't on him that the Ravens missed the playoffs in 2016, but it was in 2017 because he held that team back so much Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danand Posted May 11, 2018 Share Posted May 11, 2018 9 hours ago, footbull3196 said: When you average 5.7 ypa with one of the best defenses in the league having your back, you absolutely deserve to be blamed for your lack of success. It wasn't on him that the Ravens missed the playoffs in 2016, but it was in 2017 because he held that team back so much These are the kind of posts we get from people watching stat sheets and not games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wackywabbit Posted May 11, 2018 Share Posted May 11, 2018 1 hour ago, Danand said: These are the kind of posts we get from people watching stat sheets and not games. Nah, Flacco was terrible the first half of last season. If he was at least average we probably win 2 more games and are comfortably in the playoffs. Clearly he was limited by injury, so you can get into a semantic case about "fault", but as an entity that is supposed to help us win games, Flacco did keep us out of the playoffs in 2017. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danand Posted May 11, 2018 Share Posted May 11, 2018 31 minutes ago, wackywabbit said: Nah, Flacco was terrible the first half of last season. If he was at least average we probably win 2 more games and are comfortably in the playoffs. Clearly he was limited by injury, so you can get into a semantic case about "fault", but as an entity that is supposed to help us win games, Flacco did keep us out of the playoffs in 2017. he was certainly a part of it the first half of the season. I just think people tend to forget how bad we were hit by injuries, which played a huge factor as well. We where playing backups backups week 3. I actually thought about looking through some 2017 games just to remind my self how bad this offense was, and what it eventually turned into. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danand Posted May 11, 2018 Share Posted May 11, 2018 I can suggest watching the coaches film on the Ravens Colts game this year. It pretty much shows how Flacco really did not have a great season, but it also shows how very inept this offense was as a whole. Rarely are there more than 2 receivers on the field (Wallace and Chris Moore), the third wide receiver is Michael Campanaro and the fourth wide receiver is runninback Buck Allen. Also the route running doesn't give Flacco many options, especially not down field. There are 2 times where he could very well take the chance on a deeper throw with the greater risk being worth it, but overall there was very little opportunity to be an explosive offense with that playcalling and those players on offense. Also, Austin Howard was even worse than I recalled. He got beat often and quick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paraven Posted May 14, 2018 Share Posted May 14, 2018 On 5/11/2018 at 12:02 AM, footbull3196 said: When you average 5.7 ypa with one of the best defenses in the league having your back, you absolutely deserve to be blamed for your lack of success. It wasn't on him that the Ravens missed the playoffs in 2016, but it was in 2017 because he held that team back so much you mean the top defense that couldnt make a crucial 4th down stop for the years in a row? They let Andy freaking Dalton go down and score the game winning TD on a 4th and long play. To me, it was more the defense that let the team down since the last SB win. This in mostly due to the fact that so much was invested in the defense, and when push came to shove, they still couldnt get the stops. Dont forget in 2014, flacco twice had a 14 pt lead over the eventual superbowl champs NE. Again the defense blew that game.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ILoveTheVikings Posted May 15, 2018 Share Posted May 15, 2018 Flacco is a mediocre QB that caught lightning in a bottle and had a historic SB run. He can be angry all he wants, but who cares? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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