How Jim Caldwell Elevated Joe Flacco to Elite Status and Saved Our Season

[Firststater]

Cam trusted Joe to throw the outs to a WR with reliable hands who ran precise routes. Partly IMO because Flacco's arm strength made those throws very low-risk. (I remember one sideline pass in the 2008 Cowboys game where the Dallas DB broke on the ball thinking he had an easy pick-6 & it rocketed right past him into Mason's hands.) He didn't trust him to throw over the middle, mainly (IMO) because of a couple of high-profile INTs where Joe didn't seem to see the coverage (I remember when they were driving for the go-ahead score vs the Colts in 2009 & Flacco tries to force the ball to Rice with no less than 3 Colts right in front of #27, & Brackett picked it).

Cam never trusted Joe. You could make the case that in years past (1) the offense was terrified of blowing games in which the defense had played well enough to win, & (2) he never knew when Good Joe would morph into Bad Joe & do precisely that. That 11/09 loss to the Colts is a classic example--the D picks Manning 3 times but the O can't get into the EZ & comes up short in crunch time with that incomprehensible pick.

What brought it all to a head this year was the combination of a tough schedule & injuries which made the defense much less reliable. Playing not to lose when on offense was no longer an option; they were going to have to rise or fall with Flacco, but Cam never trusted him enough to really let him loose. Caldwell trusts Joe & makes the adjustments to let him do what he says he can do & wants to do.

Excellent analysis. The prior offensive inconsistency has to be relegated to several factors: Flacco's inconsistency when he feels pressure due to a porous offensive line, he panics under pressure; Flacco showing poor leadership skills (showing poor time-management skills and taking control of the offense in crucial situations) resultant from Cameron's lack of trust, his iron-clad control, and the OC's inability to analyze defensive vulnerabilities; The poor offensive line play limited Flacco's confidence to move around in the pocket; Flacco had a tendency to hold onto the ball too long and made himself vulnerable to sacks and hits because of a poor offensive line; and a big issue was Cameron not knowing when to adjust to the run game when it became obvious that bad-Flacco was on the field. Cameron stubbornly forced a passing game when it was not working as a result of poor offensive line play and/or Flacco overthrowing or under-throwing open receivers. Flacco's confidence has recently been elevated as a direct result of a better offensive line. Flacco is now moving in the pocket and is getting time to go through progressions and is hitting an open receiver over the middle when another wide receiver (Smith) is double-covered. The rest is history.

[Teavo]

LOL, I like this. I can just see Cam Cameron as general during Antietam or some such:

Aide: "General Cameron, the rebels are covering both our flanks, but the middle is wide open for exploitation. We should make an adjustment to our battle plan and attack the middle of the battlefield".

Cam: "Meh. Adjustments are overrated. Shut up and stick with the plan. Have Colonel Flacco continue to press the flanks at all costs."

Northern Newspapers next day: "Colonel Flacco's inconsistency and poor execution caused the Union Army to lose it's third straight battle yesterday."

[OriAl]

Caldwell was very passive in much of the fourth quarter and overtime in Denver, and in the first half in Boston. It was Harbaugh and Flacco who said at halftime Sunday that the offense had to be opened up. Caldwell then did as they suggested. The results were great.

[BcRaven]

Caldwell was very passive in much of the fourth quarter and overtime in Denver, and in the first half in Boston. It was Harbaugh and Flacco who said at halftime Sunday that the offense had to be opened up. Caldwell then did as they suggested.

Listening to your Head Coach and starting QB are very good attributes. Apparently Caldwell is more flexible than Cam, therefore more successful... Bc

[OriAl]

Listening to your Head Coach and starting QB are very good attributes. Apparently Caldwell is more flexible than Cam, therefore more successful... Bc

That's a good attribute to have.

[mmi16]

We can definitely see it in the red zone. All three of Flacco's touchdowns against the Pats were in the middle of the end zone. With Cam calling the plays, we usually saw fade or out routes, and never a quick pattern. We have big, strong receivers, especially Q and Pitta. We didn't use those strengths under Cam.

We got TD's out of those Red Zone visits - with Cam, more than likely, we would have been kicking field goals.

[Everything_Ravens]

I like how Flacco is now willing to throw the ball up if Boldin is covered one on one, and let him out physical the db for the ball. I hardly ever saw that in the Cameron offense.

I can't believe we stuck by Cameron for so long. He had to have been one of the worse offensive coordinators in the league. There is no chance any intelligent franchise hires him, except maybe as a running backs coach.

wow wow WOW!! Lets not get carried away here! i was just as happy as anyone else when he got fired but lets not forget this guy won more than he lost. He is definitely not "one of the worse oc in the league". We just had high expectations around here and his production or lack there of at times, seemed to keep us from getting over the hump to that next level.

[Paintballguy]

wow wow WOW!! Lets not get carried away here! i was just as happy as anyone else when he got fired but lets not forget this guy won more than he lost. He is definitely not "one of the worse oc in the league". We just had high expectations around here and his production or lack there of at times, seemed to keep us from getting over the hump to that next level.

Cameron was one of the worst play callers in the nfl. I wouldn't say worst oc because he could put together an offense.


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[lobachevsky]

@trailhiker85: Having just reread James McPherson's Battle Cry of Freedom (IMO the best 1-volume history of the Civil War era) I commend you for a pithy & trenchant analogy.

@Firststater: Improved OL play (leading to greater QB trust & comfort) is certainly key to Flacco's ascension, but I would wonder how much of that turns on play-calling that provides Joe with faster-developing options & keeps the opposing pass-rush honest. Like most everyone here I will be curious to get the scoop on the OL reshuffle--was McKinnie out of shape, or unmotivated, or "in the doghouse," & what (& whose) actions finally got him back into the starting lineup & playing to (near) his potential. (I don't think we'll see the real story on that for months, if not years, but it will be interesting whenever.)

[BmoreBrawla]

Can we make all the Cam apologists in the media(99% of the media) and posters here wear a scarlet letter?

[trailhiker85]

@trailhiker85: Having just reread James McPherson's Battle Cry of Freedom (IMO the best 1-volume history of the Civil War era) I commend you for a pithy & trenchant analogy.

And I commend you for being able to effectively use adjectives like "pithy" and "trenchant" ...

[bacchys]

It's weird to think that Mason was, theoretically, more effective in Cam's offense than Boldin was. I wonder why Cam seemed to know how to use Mason...but not Boldin?

I don't think it was Cam knowing how to use Mason better. Mason was a brilliant route-runner, and Flacco trusted him.

We used to complain about the other receivers not getting open (Clayton, D. Williams, Houshmandzadeh, and even Boldin), but I noticed that whenever Flacco threw to one of them he was wiiiide open. Three, four steps open. With Mason, even if the defender was right on him Flacco would make the throw. He trusted Mason to make the catch. He had that with Heap, too, but Heap spent more time as a blocker during Flacco's first two seasons than receiving.

Boldin in a lot of ways is a bigger, stronger Mason, but he's not as good at route-running as Mason. He relies more on his strength than precision route-running. We saw that with Talib in the early going in the AFCCG. Flacco's built that same trust with Boldin over the last couple of years, however, and we saw that, too, on the two TD receptions he had in the AFCCG.