Hensley on Flacco

[Sports Guy]

http://espn.go.com/blog/afcnorth/post/_/id/32903/changes-have-knocked-flacco-off-target

[Tony-OH]

Great article by Hensley. This really stood out, "When a defense blitzes (meaning five or more rushers), Flacco has completed 40.5 percent of his passes (15 of 37), according to ESPN Stats & Information. Only Jaguars rookie Blaine Gabbert has a worse completion rate in those situations."

That has been a weakness for some time but to have only a rookie be worse than you in this situation means either the game plan for a blitz is not very good or Flacco is still not reading and reacting to blitzes very well. This has to improve of the Ravens will be seeing a lot of blitzes. I think a lot of this has to do with the fact that the Ravens don't have an established slant/comeback receiver like Mason. Of all the guys they look go, Mason is the guy they didn't replace well. I think Boldin has to try and become that guy or else Doss needs to start seeing action.

[Jimbo81]

How many of those 37 attempts were dropped passes?

I can think of 3 last week without looking.

[Sports Guy]

Great article by Hensley. This really stood out, "When a defense blitzes (meaning five or more rushers), Flacco has completed 40.5 percent of his passes (15 of 37), according to ESPN Stats & Information. Only Jaguars rookie Blaine Gabbert has a worse completion rate in those situations."

That has been a weakness for some time but to have only a rookie be worse than you in this situation means either the game plan for a blitz is not very good or Flacco is still not reading and reacting to blitzes very well. This has to improve of the Ravens will be seeing a lot of blitzes. I think a lot of this has to do with the fact that the Ravens don't have an established slant/comeback receiver like Mason. Of all the guys they look go, Mason is the guy they didn't replace well. I think Boldin has to try and become that guy or else Doss needs to start seeing action.I think part of this issue is that Cameron is having the WR run the wrong routes and they aren't doing enough 3 step drops, working out of the shotgun, etc...

Also, they need to run more to keep the blitzing off of them.

[Miller192]

Great article by Hensley. This really stood out, "When a defense blitzes (meaning five or more rushers), Flacco has completed 40.5 percent of his passes (15 of 37), according to ESPN Stats & Information. Only Jaguars rookie Blaine Gabbert has a worse completion rate in those situations."

That has been a weakness for some time but to have only a rookie be worse than you in this situation means either the game plan for a blitz is not very good or Flacco is still not reading and reacting to blitzes very well. This has to improve of the Ravens will be seeing a lot of blitzes. I think a lot of this has to do with the fact that the Ravens don't have an established slant/comeback receiver like Mason. Of all the guys they look go, Mason is the guy they didn't replace well. I think Boldin has to try and become that guy or else Doss needs to start seeing action.

Flacco was the second most blitzed QB last year. He was blitzed 49.5% of the time. Against the Blitz, his TD to INT ratio was 3:1, second best to only Peyton Manning.

Historically, he has completed 63.4% of his passes against the blitz and ranks 6th overall against the blitz according to ProFootballFocus.

Tough to really make any analysis in 2011 especially after only 4 weeks.

[Tony-OH]

Flacco was the second most blitzed QB last year. He was blitzed 49.5% of the time. Against the Blitz, his TD to INT ratio was 3:1, second best to only Peyton Manning.

Historically, he has completed 63.4% of his passes against the blitz and ranks 6th overall against the blitz according to ProFootballFocus.

Tough to really make any analysis in 2011 especially after only 4 weeks.

Where did you find those stats? ESPN does some good split stats but I don't see anything for blitz. I'm really surprised by his previous "success" against the blitz since Flacco has never seemed very good under pressure. The other thing is the O-line has a lot to do with blitz protection so those numbers can be skewed. You almost have to do it by time.

Either way, I don't think anyone thinks Flacco is going to be this inaccurate all year under any conditions. The Jets game really skewed his numbers badly.

[Miller192]

Where did you find those stats? ESPN does some good split stats but I don't see anything for blitz. I'm really surprised by his previous "success" against the blitz since Flacco has never seemed very good under pressure. The other thing is the O-line has a lot to do with blitz protection so those numbers can be skewed. You almost have to do it by time.

Either way, I don't think anyone thinks Flacco is going to be this inaccurate all year under any conditions. The Jets game really skewed his numbers badly.

Here you go:

http://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/2011/05/12/beating-the-blitz/

I left out Sanchez, he's ahead of Flacco in TD:INT for 2010 as well.

I think you're right that this isn't likely to continue. I think Hensley should've considered how Flacco performs against the blitz historically before attributing the blitz pressure as a reason for his inaccuracy.

It's just week 4. Joe's looked great in some games and ugly in others, we'll see how it plays out.

[ccbird]

Here you go:

http://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/2011/05/12/beating-the-blitz/

I left out Sanchez, he's ahead of Flacco in TD:INT for 2010 as well.

I think you're right that this isn't likely to continue. I think Hensley should've considered how Flacco performs against the blitz historically before attributing the blitz pressure as a reason for his inaccuracy.

It's just week 4. Joe's looked great in some games and ugly in others, we'll see how it plays out.


Yeah, personally I love to see teams blitzing Joe compared to dropping LBs. He does really well in finding the 1 on 1 coverage. It's the tight window, 2nd level throws(over the LB under the safties) where IMO he has a tendency to struggle.

[Sports Guy]

Its very tough to look good when teams are blitzing and you have to wait for your WR to come out of a 15 yard out route.

[MarylandAaron]

Its very tough to look good when teams are blitzing and you have to wait for your WR to come out of a 15 yard out route.And your WR's are slow as molasses.

[NewMarketSean]

Flacco can and does usually bounce back after bad games or a bad streak. So far he's been inconsistent, but that's to be expected when you play strong defenses and you're working with a bunch of new guys on offense. If I was a betting man, I'd say that Flacco -- and the offense -- looks a lot better after the bye week. It came at the perfect time, IMO.

[Dipper9]

Flacco can and does usually bounce back after bad games or a bad streak. So far he's been inconsistent, but that's to be expected when you play strong defenses and you're working with a bunch of new guys on offense. If I was a betting man, I'd say that Flacco -- and the offense -- looks a lot better after the bye week. It came at the perfect time, IMO.

I agree. Flacco looked bad against a Rex led defense. Not that hard to believe he had a bad game. His other bad game came against Tennessee, who is now 3-1 and might just be a lot better than anyone anticipated. I'm not ready to crucify Flacco just yet.

[Miller192]

Flacco can and does usually bounce back after bad games or a bad streak. So far he's been inconsistent, but that's to be expected when you play strong defenses and you're working with a bunch of new guys on offense. If I was a betting man, I'd say that Flacco -- and the offense -- looks a lot better after the bye week. It came at the perfect time, IMO.

Oh, there's definitely change coming.

[Aglets]

One change I'm hoping to see is I think it'd be nice if the first guy we drafted in 2010 AND the first guy we drafted in 2011 actually play on the field.

[Sports Guy]

Oh, there's definitely change coming.In what way?

[NewMarketSean]

Oh, there's definitely change coming.

Well, now you have to tell us Miller!

[flashjordnk]

Well, now you have to tell us Miller!

Truly...with no Ravens game this week, I've been really pressing to get my football fix in. The suspense here is kind of killer.

[Miller192]

The short story is you might see Harbaugh calling some of the plays on offense.

[BaltimoreTerp]

The short story is you might see Harbaugh calling some of the plays on offense.

Does the long version involve Cam Cameron, the harbor and a new season of The Wire?

[primetime]

The short story is you might see Harbaugh calling some of the plays on offense.

I remember reading/hearing in the off season that Harbs wanted to be more involved in gameplanning on both sides of the ball. He had really put a lot of faith and trust into his coordinators the first 3 seasons and was very hands off when it came to the offensive and defensive game plans.

My question is this (not for anyone to answer per se but more of a rhetorical question) will Harbs be in the offensive meetings and involved in installation of the gameplan? Or will he just take over the play calling during certain in game situations; a la Billick taking over play calling in the redzone.

[ccbird]

The short story is you might see Harbaugh calling some of the plays on offense.

OMG. Are you freaking kidding me. A ST coach calling offensive plays. I will have seen it all.

[Hooded Viper]

The short story is you might see Harbaugh calling some of the plays on offense.

Wow that just tells me all I really need to know about Cam coming back next season, even if we win a SB I can't imagine the players or Harbs wanting him back.

[Miller192]

OMG. Are you freaking kidding me. A ST coach calling offensive plays. I will have seen it all.

You took that way too far. He's not going to let Cameron throw the ball at will when they're up 3 scores. He's not taking over play calling.

[NewMarketSean]

You took that way too far. He's not going to let Cameron throw the ball at will when they're up 3 scores. He's not taking over play calling.

Yeah but wasn't it Flacco who wanted to keep passing until the clock expired?

It seems like Flacco wants to go in one direction, Cameron in another, and Harbaugh is finally saying "enough".

[Miller192]

Yeah but wasn't it Flacco who wanted to keep passing until the clock expired?

It seems like Flacco wants to go in one direction, Cameron in another, and Harbaugh is finally saying "enough".

It's more than I can really put in a post here but they're really not too much tension to it. Harbs thinks that Cameron is trying to do much sometimes. He's got no problem being aggressive but not when they've built a big lead and you've got a line that is pretty good in run blocking.

[Sports Guy]

It's more than I can really put in a post here but they're really not too much tension to it. Harbs thinks that Cameron is trying to do much sometimes. He's got no problem being aggressive but not when they've built a big lead and you've got a line that is pretty good in run blocking.Basically, get the big lead and if/when you do it, pull in the reigns some and run the ball.

[ccbird]

Basically, get the big lead and if/when you do it, pull in the reigns some and run the ball.

That's just obvious stuff though. I mean throwing as much as we threw the last two weeks when we were up big was just ridiculous. It's unfathomable to me that an OC needs to be told to pull back the reins in those situations.

[Sports Guy]

That's just obvious stuff though. I mean throwing as much as we threw the last two weeks when we were up big was just ridiculous. It's unfathomable to me that an OC needs to be told to pull back the reins in those situations.Perhaps thats why Harbaugh is "taking over". He wants the obvious to be done at the right times and he sees that it isn't being done.

[Tony-OH]

You took that way too far. He's not going to let Cameron throw the ball at will when they're up 3 scores. He's not taking over play calling.

Makes sense to me and it's what I would hope he would do. Harbaugh is at a point where he needs to be able to walk over to Cam and say, "Run some clock" and Cam should put in a run, short safe throw mode to eat up some clock.

[Tony-OH]

That's just obvious stuff though. I mean throwing as much as we threw the last two weeks when we were up big was just ridiculous. It's unfathomable to me that an OC needs to be told to pull back the reins in those situations.

Obvious to everyone not named Cam Cameron.