Whether it’s related to politics, music, sports, motion pictures, you name it, it seems these days that whenever someone is critical of someone or something they are labeled “hater”.
I suppose then that when parents correct their children and are critical of undesirable behaviors they are “haters” too?
It’s an overused term and really it’s a cop out.
The term is embraced by many who are apparently more comfortable sticking their heads in the sand and hope that a problem goes away by dishing out more hugs, support, new toys and cotton candy.
As Chris Rock once said, “I guess that’s how you was raised!”
I’ve been labeled by some out there (you know who you are) as a John Harbaugh hater and a Joe Flacco hater. That’s sheer lunacy. This website was born out of my love and passion for the Baltimore Ravens.
Many in the media – in fact most, will not express or admit their fandom. For some they aren’t fans at all. They believe that it is a sign of weakness and compromises their objectivity. I get that, but that’s not me. I wear the fandom like a badge of honor.
When the Ravens lose it kills me. I barely feel like watching any of the other NFL games and I dread having to dial up NFL Gameday Rewind and watch the game again in order to properly dissect the results and share my opinions with you on this piece of cyber real estate.
Let me be very clear…Harbaugh is BY FAR my favorite head coach because he’s MY guy. Same thing for Flacco – he’s MY quarterback (in my best Adam Schein voice). Criticisms directed their way by me are done so because I think they can both be so much better. BUT to be better they have to accept, act upon and correct their flaws otherwise what you see is what you’ll always get.
And for me that’s just not good enough. I’m sure you agree.
So with that in mind I’d like to direct you towards one of my pet peeves as it relates to Flacco – predetermining his throws.
We all painstakingly remember the pick 6 in Chicago and yes I get that Ray Rice missed a cut block. But unexpected things do happen post-snap and because Flacco decided pre-snap where he was going with the ball, bad things can and do happen.
“I saw Vonta (Leach) open in the flat and the next thing you know, I saw a guy run the other way with the football… he was just a lineman”, Flacco said following the loss to the Bears.
“You’re not really paying too much attention to him. You’re trying to get a read down field and we had just a little curl-flat combo going, and Vonta came pretty open.”
Maybe you SHOULD pay attention Joe!
Fast-forward to the 1:07 mark of the first half with the Ravens facing a third and 16.
Flacco momentarily glances to his left. It is purely head movement to pull the safety away from Joe’s intended target. Joe didn’t hold the glance long enough to be effective nor did he actually “see” that half of the field when his head pivoted that way. Had he trusted his eyes and not his pre-determined target he would have spotted Torrey Smith to the left who had found an opening that could have produced a first down.
Instead Flacco goes with the primary receiver for the play called (by Jim Caldwell, Harbaugh or some combination thereof), lets it fly and it becomes his second interception of the half – an interception that the Bears converted into 3 points.
“I was just trying to give Dallas (Clark) a 1-on-1 shot up the middle where he was running with the MIKE linebacker and the guy made a pretty decent play.”
Pretty decent play? The only thing missing from that gift was a pretty bow.
Pre-determining his throw convinced Joe that Clark would have 1-on-1 coverage. Obviously he didn’t.
Pre-determining throws cost the Ravens 10 points and until this stops, Flacco, despite the hot 5-game stretch to conclude the 2012 season, will never amount to anything more than an “Above Average Joe” with an elite paycheck.
Things like that can stymie the progress of a franchise.
This isn’t hate, just observations of a bad habit that needs to be corrected.
Unless of course you think that somehow this bad habit will magically go away on its own.
Frosted Lucky Charms anyone?
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