2nd half drives - breakdown

[Kyle Cactus]

I know there will be a lot of complaints about Cam this week. Among them will be a tendency to play conservatively with a tight lead. This is not the only complaint people have, but it seems like the easiest to evaluate. I thought it'd be interesting to bring up the actual data from the game to look at the aggresiveness of our play calling in the 2nd half.

Below I took ESPN's play-by-play info and broke it down by drive. Becuase of the sustained drives in Q3, we only had one drive. We had 4 in Q4.


Q3 10:54
Ravens up 7-3
1st and 10 at BAL 34 J.Flacco pass incomplete deep right to A.Boldin.
2nd and 10 at BAL 34 R.Rice up the middle to BLT 46 for 12 yards (T.Polamalu).
1st and 10 at BAL 46 J.Flacco pass incomplete short left to A.Boldin.
2nd and 10 at BAL 46 (Shotgun) J.Flacco pass incomplete deep left to E.Dickson.
3rd and 10 at BAL 46 (Shotgun) J.Flacco pass short right to D.Mason ran ob at PIT 39 for 15 yards.
1st and 10 at PIT 39 R.Rice right guard to PIT 36 for 3 yards (L.Woodley, L.Timmons).
2nd and 7 at PIT 36 J.Flacco pass short left to T.Houshmandzadeh to PIT 28 for 8 yards (I.Taylor).
1st and 10 at PIT 28 (No Huddle) R.Rice left guard to PIT 25 for 3 yards (N.Eason, J.Farrior).
2nd and 7 at PIT 25 (No Huddle, Shotgun) J.Flacco scrambles up the middle to PIT 11 for 14 yards (W.Gay). PENALTY on PIT-I.Taylor, Illegal Contact, 5 yards, enforced at PIT 11.
1st and 6 at PIT 6 J.Flacco pass incomplete short left to A.Boldin [T.Polamalu].
2nd and 6 at PIT 6 (Shotgun) J.Flacco pass incomplete short right to E.Dickson.
3rd and 6 at PIT 6 J.Flacco pass incomplete short left to R.Rice [L.Woodley].
4th and 6 at PIT 6 (Field Goal formation) B.Cundiff 24 yard field goal is GOOD, Center-M.Cox, Holder-S.Koch.

Summary:
3 Runs
8 Passes (I counted the scramble here since the intent was a pass play).



Q4 12:46
Ravens up 10-6
1st and 10 at BAL 34 D.Stallworth right end to BLT 23 for -11 yards (L.Woodley). Reverse
2nd and 21 at BAL 23 J.Flacco pass short middle to R.Rice to BLT 36 for 13 yards (J.Farrior, I.Taylor).
3rd and 8 at BAL 36 (No Huddle, Shotgun) J.Flacco pass incomplete short middle to D.Stallworth [L.Timmons].
4th and 8 at BAL 36 (Punt formation) S.Koch punts 48 yards to PIT 16, Center-M.Cox, fair catch by A.Brown.

Summary:
1 Run
2 Passes



Q4 9:46
Ravens up 10-6
1st and 10 at BAL 48 R.Rice right tackle to PIT 49 for 3 yards (L.Timmons, J.Harrison).
2nd and 7 at PIT 49 R.Rice left tackle to PIT 48 for 1 yard (J.Farrior).
3rd and 6 at PIT 48 (Shotgun) J.Flacco pass incomplete short middle to A.Boldin (B.Keisel).
4th and 6 at PIT 48 (Punt formation) S.Koch punts 35 yards to PIT 13, Center-M.Cox, fair catch by A.Randle El.

Summary
2 Run
1 Pass



Q4 4:43
Ravens up 10-6
1st and 10 at BAL 28 W.McGahee right tackle to BLT 30 for 2 yards (J.Farrior, L.Timmons).
2nd and 8 at BAL 30 (Shotgun) J.Flacco pass incomplete short right to D.Mason. PENALTY on PIT-B.McFadden, Defensive Pass Interference, 8 yards, enforced at BLT 30 - No Play.
Timeout #1 by BLT at 03:56.
1st and 10 at BAL 38 R.Rice right tackle to BLT 43 for 5 yards (E.Hood, B.Keisel).
2nd and 5 at BAL 43 J.Flacco sacked at BLT 38 for -5 yards (T.Polamalu). FUMBLES (T.Polamalu) [T.Polamalu], RECOVERED by PIT-L.Woodley at BLT 28. L.Woodley to BLT 9 for 19 yards (E.Dickson).

Summary:
2 Run
2 Pass



Q4 2:51
1st and 10 at BAL 18 (Shotgun) J.Flacco sacked at BLT 10 for -8 yards (J.Farrior).
2nd and 18 at BAL 10 (Shotgun) J.Flacco pass deep left to A.Boldin ran ob at BLT 26 for 16 yards.
3rd and 2 at BAL 26 (Shotgun) J.Flacco pass incomplete short middle to T.Houshmandzadeh (I.Taylor).
4th and 2 at BAL 26 (Shotgun) J.Flacco pass short right to A.Boldin to BLT 34 for 8 yards (W.Gay).
1st and 10 at BAL 34 (Shotgun) J.Flacco pass deep right to A.Boldin to PIT 47 for 19 yards (R.Clark, T.Polamalu).
1st and 10 at PIT 47 (No Huddle, Shotgun) J.Flacco pass incomplete short right to D.Mason. PENALTY on PIT-B.McFadden, Defensive Pass Interference, 8 yards, enforced at PIT 47 - No Play.
1st and 10 at PIT 39 (Shotgun) J.Flacco pass incomplete deep middle to T.Houshmandzadeh (R.Clark) [J.Harrison].
Timeout #2 by PIT at 01:14.
2nd and 10 at PIT 39 (Shotgun) J.Flacco pass short middle to R.Rice to PIT 34 for 5 yards (J.Farrior, A.Madison).
3rd and 5 at PIT 34 (No Huddle, Shotgun) J.Flacco pass short right to E.Dickson to PIT 31 for 3 yards (J.Harrison).
Timeout #3 by BLT at 00:37.
4th and 2 at PIT 31 J.Flacco pass incomplete short left to E.Dickson.

Summary
0 Run
10 Pass


On our only Q3 drive: We started with a 1st down pass play, and continued to call pass plays through the drive. It was dissapointing to come up short with 1st and goal on the 6. Maybe there were some issues with play calling here, but aggressiveness wasn't among them.


Our opening Q4 drive: Obviously the failed reverse killed this drive, so it's hard to evaluate how 'aggressive' Cam's approach was at this point. Since a reverse is a higher risk/reward play than a standard run play, I guess you can classify that as an aggressive 1st down call.

One side of me says Cam was trying to be aggressive and make something happen here. The other side of me says this play is unlikely to work against the disciplined defense of the Steelers. Be aggressive by putting the ball in the air. But hind-sight is always 20-20.


Q4 Drives at 9:46 and 4:43 (both up 10-6):
If there's a case to be made for conservative play calling it's here, but there isn't a ton to go on. We ran the ball on 3 of 3 1st downs.


Last Drive:
They had to throw.


Ultimately, up by 1 possession against the Steelers I feel you still have to play to score, not run clock. We did have aggressive play calling in Q3. In Q4, it seems we got more conservative, keeping the ball on the ground. The one 'aggressive' 1st down call we had was still a run play.

There's more you could look at but this is a least a start. I'm sure Filmstudy will have some great insights later in the week.

[Kyle Cactus]

Of course, it has to be pointed out that the turnover that set up the Steelers TD was on a pass play.