32 seconds til the half, 3 time outs, and you're kicking away to open the 3rd quarter. What do you do?

[B-more Ravor]

Preface: I'm in no way saying that I agree with this......

....but, my take is that they felt they were going to be able to control Batch and Pittsburgh's O in the 2nd half and were satisfied with a 7-point lead.

Therefore, they weren't willing to take a chance and risk putting Pitt in position to be able to score again before the half.

I don't think they felt that Batch could beat them and were satisfied with playing it conservatively.

........and, they were wrong.

[RavenMadness]

Preface: I'm in no way saying that I agree with this......

....but, my take is that they felt they were going to be able to control Batch and Pittsburgh's O in the 2nd half and were satisfied with a 7-point lead.

Therefore, they weren't willing to take a chance and risk putting Pitt in position to be able to score again before the half.

I don't think they felt that Batch could beat them and were satisfied with playing it conservatively.

........and, they were wrong.

Playing not to lose......

cost them an important game!

[B-more Ravor]

Playing not to lose......

cost them an important game!

Yup.

[lobachevsky]

Rice has fumbled three times total in the past three years (48 games). "What if he fumbles" isn't a valid argument for sitting on the ball there, in my opinion.

Over his regular-season career Rice has fumbled 7 times in 1,157 carries, i.e. once in every 165 rushes. Going into a shell in fear of something that happens less than 1% of the time isn't prudence, it's catatonia.

[redmike34]

The sign on the way out of our ECP in Iraq read "Complacency Kills."

It also loses football games. This team is far too content, far too often, with small leads.

[RavensNTerps]

The thing is we NEVER played "not to lose" early in the Harbaugh tenure. We were great at stepping on team's throats and never letting up our attack. Something has changed and it hasn't been the coaches. I think that they tried to build around Flacco, he's disappointed in his ability to really LEAD a consistent offense, and they've had to scale back.

[Random Thoughts]

A fumble is just an example of what could have happened.

You're up against the #1 total defense, #1 pass defense, and #5 run defense in a close game. You really think the Ravens are going to be able to get in a position to score? Why take that risk in a game that you know is more than likely going to come down to a FG?

Now of course there's a small chance some plays are made an the Ravens get some points. It just wasn't worth the risk IMO.

If this was a few years ago, I would agree with you. However, number 1 defense is not as formidable as the rank would have historically indicated. We definitely could move the ball against them last Sunday than we could a few years ago when the Steelers had a top ranked defense.

Hell, even Oakland was able to move the ball against that defense for a game winning field goal.

[Coastergenius]

What if he fumbles? Then the Steelers have an opportunity to get points and get the ball to start the 2nd half. I have no issue with Harbaugh playing it safe there.

So for a 10% of committing a turnover there and giving up 3 points, you give up perhaps a 25% chance of getting down the field to hang 3 points on the scoreboard? That worry doesn't make sense if you do the math.

[Corey]

The thing is we NEVER played "not to lose" early in the Harbaugh tenure. We were great at stepping on team's throats and never letting up our attack. Something has changed and it hasn't been the coaches. I think that they tried to build around Flacco, he's disappointed in his ability to really LEAD a consistent offense, and they've had to scale back.

Yeah, there is more to it than meets the eye. It is certainly time for a change in offensive philosophy but I think the organization might be coming to the realization that Flacco is not the guy that they thought he was.

[The Excellector]

I think he really needed to go to the bathroom so he had em run out the clock

Alright, this was funny. lol.

[The Excellector]

Preface: I'm in no way saying that I agree with this......

....but, my take is that they felt they were going to be able to control Batch and Pittsburgh's O in the 2nd half and were satisfied with a 7-point lead.

Therefore, they weren't willing to take a chance and risk putting Pitt in position to be able to score again before the half.

I don't think they felt that Batch could beat them and were satisfied with playing it conservatively.

........and, they were wrong.

This is what really happened. Which is why it's the coach's fault that they lost. They couldn't get any pressure on Batch and played their CBs ten yards off of the ball. With their end of the half strategy, you would've thought they would come for Batch's throat in the second half. They barely came for his ankles.

[The Excellector]

The thing is we NEVER played "not to lose" early in the Harbaugh tenure. We were great at stepping on team's throats and never letting up our attack. Something has changed and it hasn't been the coaches. I think that they tried to build around Flacco, he's disappointed in his ability to really LEAD a consistent offense, and they've had to scale back.

In the early days, they had a rush offense that could pound the daylights out of you in the second half, with a lead. Flacco would hit a play action or two and the game was out of reach. Now, the rush offense doesn't have it like that and the coordinator can't scheme around the problem.

[RavensNTerps]

In the early days, they had a rush offense that could pound the daylights out of you in the second half, with a lead. Flacco would hit a play action or two and the game was out of reach. Now, the rush offense doesn't have it like that and the coordinator can't scheme around the problem.

But we never, ever just settled for the win when we had a lead. We stepped on opponents throats. The answer is so obvious to see but people don't want to see it.

Yes, Joe Flacco is much better than all of his predecessors to ever don a purple jersey in Baltimore. Yes, we were burned by Kyle Boller. Yes, Anthony Wright, Steve McNair, Jeff Blake, Chris Redman, Trent Dilfer, Tony Banks, Scott Mitchell, and Stoney Case all stunk.

But what we're getting out of Flacco now is what we're getting because we've given him more rope to hang himself with. You can't run that offense we ran in 2008. Not anymore. Not with a 5th year QB. Not and expect to have any success. Flacco has taken on more and more responsibility and as he has he has sunk this offense below where it should be.

[lobachevsky]

In the early days, they had a rush offense that could pound the daylights out of you in the second half, with a lead. Flacco would hit a play action or two and the game was out of reach. Now, the rush offense doesn't have it like that and the coordinator can't scheme around the problem.

Fish may rot from the head but offenses crumble starting with the OL. What the offense doesn't have is a line that can block very well in either the running or passing game. Go review Filmstudy's OL grades.

That's probably not entirely or even mainly on the players. It's common wisdom that the line is the slowest part of the offense to jell, because the blocking schemes require so much mutual understanding to make adjustments on the fly. The OL has been (to put it charitably) a work in progress ever since McKinnie showed up late for TC. Once they decided to give Oher an extended audition at LT (where he has occasionally risen to adequacy) it threw the rest of the lineup out of whack & they've been struggling to find a workable combination since. Birk's had his problems with age, but having a bum-of-the-week club at LG hasn't helped, and KO's inexperience is starting to show (&/or he's hitting that rookie wall).

And whatever coaching they're getting from Moeller the drunk doesn't seem to be helping. It seems likely to me that in retrospect the second worst personnel decision this team has made in recent years will be seen as retaining him after his second DUI--they should have advised him to concentrate full-time on his recovery, wished him well, & pulled the plug. And that the worst will be hiring him in the first place. (Remind me what his personal connection with the Harbaughs is?)