QB is Sharp in Game 2 Despite a Lack of Patience
Week 2 for all intents and purposes, was Joe Flacco’s Preseason Game 2. And the progress he made from Week 1 to 2 was very noticeable.
Flacco was on time with his throws and delivered lasers on at least three occasions – the skinny post to Jeremy Maclin on the team’s first possession, plus his two scoring tosses to Maclin and Buck Allen.
Overall Joe’s accuracy was very precise, connecting on 25 of 34 throws (73.5%) and with a little help from Breshad “Butterfingers” Perriman, the completion percentage would have been even more impressive. Flacco also looked very nimble on boots and waggles, showing no sign of any lingering effects from what is believed to be a herniated disk.
But by his own admission, Joe left some plays on the field.
“It was fun. It was good to get going. I was a little disappointed in myself. I feel like one of the things I can do is stay pretty patient when I go out there and play, and today I definitely felt like it got the best of me a little bit. We had some guys running open. I thought there was a couple of plays I was trying to do a little bit too much, hoping for too much, and I either missed something or threw a pick way down there. Once I got past all that stuff and being kind of mad at myself, the fact that we were winning and having fun as a group, it was definitely fun.”
During the first quarter the Ravens ran a well-designed waggle that provided Flacco with three clear and present options. Ben Watson navigated his way to the right flat and he was Flacco’s target of choice. But with plenty of time to throw and within his lane of vision, were two other receivers that provided more inviting options.
With a little more patience, that Flacco admitted had momentarily escaped him, he had an option with Nick Boyle who may have been a broken tackle away from a score, and a bit deeper, he had a similar option with Mike Wallace that also could have produced a score.
If Joe makes the kind of progression from week 2 to 3 that he made after week 1, it’s fair to expect him to take a more vertical approach to this same play if its number is called in London.
Gameday Experience
My colleague Adam Bonaccorsi opined earlier this week on the Ravens Gameday Experience, concluding that it was a flop. And given all of the pregame hype, emails, Tweets, Facebook posts, articles etc., suggesting that the game intro would be a riveting fan experience, reality fell far short of the trumped up expectations.
Among the things Adam critiqued was the music. It did little to work up the fans in attendance and Adam came down heavy on the musical choice of Taylor Swift.
What’s next, The Spice Girls?
Well, one fella, Robert Popik, from the Ravens multi-media staff, went to Facebook to take exception to Adam’s critique.
Instead of fighting back and trying to justify lame musical choices based on iTunes sales, maybe, just maybe Robert, you might want to get more in touch with your audience and give them what they want. No matter how many cry-me-a-river breakup-inspired songs Swift produces, none of them are a fit for a football game in a blue-collar town.
C’mon man!
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Ravens News & Notes
The Ravens released RB Jeremy Langford over the weekend and replaced his spot on the 53-man roster with RB Alex Collins. The roster calisthenics were a bit perplexing at the time but no one can really complain about the results thus far. Earlier this week the Ravens reclaimed Langford after he passed waivers and placed him on the practice squad once again. Yesterday during practice, Langford limped off the field and today he was placed on Injured Reserve, where he joins 15 other Ravens…Tony Bergstrom had an inauspicious Ravens debut on Sunday (video below), subbing for the injured Marshal Yanda. It was only one game, documented here by FILMSTUDY, and the hope is that Bergstrom can play better than a turnstile at The Tube in London. If not he’ll get a quick hook. Bergstrom, like reserve lineman Luke Bowanko, were added to the roster just prior to the start of the season. If either is deemed a failure and let go, the Ravens are on the hook for the salary and corresponding cap figures unless either is picked up by another team. Currently the Ravens have $4.067M in available cap space.
