Ravens Fans Have Spoken
by Bruce Raffel on Feb 17, 2012 2:00 PM EST
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PrintListen up, Baltimore Ravens! The readers of Baltimore Beatdown have voted on a variety of topics and their collective voices heed warning and speak volumes as to what the team needs to do to take that final step to get to and ultimately hoist the Lombardi Trophy high as victors of the Super Bowl, starting next year in New Orleans and then who knows where else?
The following ten polls were recently posted on The Beatdown and the majority of votes went like this:
How should the Ravens build their wide receiving group this off-season? Free Agency: 54%
Would you want to see TO in a Ravens uniform next season? No: 60%
Where does the Ravens defense need to improve the most? Edge Pass Rush: 64%
(Click on the 'Jump' to see the results of the other seven recent polls)
What offensive position will see the most change this off-season? O-line: 88%
Randy Moss or TO on the Ravens next season? Neither: 47% (Moss: 39%)
Most improved Raven in 2011? Webb: 83%
Which position will the Ravens target in draft? Offensive line: 46% (LB: 36%)
Should Ravens keep Billy Cundiff? Compete in Training Camp: 56% (No: 25%)
Should the Ravens sign Mario Williams? Yes: 56%
Biggest Disappointment of 2011? Lee Evans: 57%
To the Baltimore Ravens Front Office: Do not ignore the will of the people, as the readers of Baltimore Beatdown are among the brightest minds in the NFL (the sharpest tacks are another whole story!). These fans know their football and the majority have spoken. Follow these directions and the roadmap to the Promised Land will be in your grasp instead of just within your reach.
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KUDOS, BALTIMORE!
SHOULD ADD JUST ONE MORE:
SHOULD CAM CAMERON BE FIRED AS OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR? :)
ftafree-California Raven's Fan
Noooooo!!!
Waste of time, as we all know what the vote will say….
aka 'Rexx'
by Bruce Raffel on Feb 17, 2012 4:47 PM EST up reply actions
Might give Ozzie, and company, some food for thought just in case he comes out conservative again next season!
ftafree-California Raven's Fan
Four straight playoff appearances and two AFC championship appearances with Cam’s offense…he should stay. We need playmakers!
We need playmakers!
I think it’s fair to say that I’ve been one of Cameron’s biggest detractors here, but there’s definitely a place in the conversation for the shortcomings of the players. The offensive line was horrible for a good chunk of the season, and average-at-best outside of that, for the most part. Our run game suffered pretty horribly from something like weeks two through nine (I did an analysis of this earlier and don’t remember the exact numbers; there might be something about it in the “Is Ray Rice Elite?” thread). Our receivers were definitely not consistently put in position to succeed, but even when things happened to work out well, they left entirely too many plays on the field.
All that said, there’s still plenty of reason to want Cameron gone. I’m just tired of the transference issue here (and this isn’t directed at you, Joshua Stein). It seems like you can’t discuss Cameron’s performance without somebody chiming in with “Cameron didn’t drop that pass!” That’s awesome, and I totally agree. Cameron’s offense is at least not so totally fucked up that he has himself out there running routes, but that seems like an insanely low bar to set to me. Cameron’s lack of drops are one of the very, very few high points in his career these past couple of seasons.
Water covers 2/3 of the Earth's surface. Ed Reed covers the rest.
State your case, back it up with facts and reasonable opinions ...
Bruce Raffel
by Ampallang on Feb 17, 2012 6:07 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs
Right, Cam didn’t drop that ball. And Cam is not our “elite” running back rushing for 60 yards on 20 carries in the playoffs. I love Rice, don’t get me wrong…but he has to show up in the postseason. And Joe needs receivers that separate and can catch the ball. For a PROFESSIONAL football team, I don’t think that’s too much to ask.
That's the O-line. And playcalling. Rice is a 5'8" 180lb. back who does damage hitting the holes and in open field.
by concretejimmy on Feb 18, 2012 8:02 AM EST up reply actions
This. 100% of the blame can’t go on Cam because there was some plays that completely falls on the player’s backs and they need to just go out and execute. However, this still isn’t the ideal system to be using for our players which is also a big chunk of the problem. Can we get to the Super Bowl with Cam’s offense? yes, but it’s more so to do with the talent we have more so than Cam’s play calling and design IMO which puts a lot more pressure on the players to make ridiculous plays.
On Ed Reed:
"I’ve told him to his face many times, ‘You’re the greatest safety ever to play the game,’"
"We all learn from each other, but we all learn most from him."
- Troy Polamalu
Because of talent on team. No Superbowl last two years. Cam Cameron.
by concretejimmy on Feb 18, 2012 7:59 AM EST up reply actions
or he could adjust his scheme to fit our players strengths
but he hasn’t done that at all in 4 years, so I’m not gonna hold my breath.
Between four people.
Sergio Kindle, McPhee, Mcadoo, Kruger will make an impact next year in the pass rush department.
by Raven_all_day on Feb 17, 2012 9:10 PM EST via mobile reply actions
Do you think we'd still be having this conversation if
Evans had held onto the ball, Flacco had seen Leach in the flat, Cundiff had hit the FG, we made and won the Super Bowl?
Not a Cam fan at all, but the blame goes from the top to the bottom.
aka 'Rexx'
I personally still would. Like I mentioned in that game Cam called a pretty good game overall, but still it’s tough to be consistent running that offensive scheme.
On Ed Reed:
"I’ve told him to his face many times, ‘You’re the greatest safety ever to play the game,’"
"We all learn from each other, but we all learn most from him."
- Troy Polamalu
No, we most likely wouldn’t. But since you can’t fire the players, Cam will get a lot of the grief from fans. Once again, HE DIDN’T DROP THAT PASS.
But he did cause the O to start out slow by running it right at Wilfork reportedly and on the 3rd and 5 or so late in the game called that draw that was a horrible call. Like we mentioned players have to make those plays, but Cam doesn’t do a great job of consistently getting them in position to make those plays.
On Ed Reed:
"I’ve told him to his face many times, ‘You’re the greatest safety ever to play the game,’"
"We all learn from each other, but we all learn most from him."
- Troy Polamalu
I agree there are maddening lulls in the offense at times, and that is certainly on Cam’s playcalling. Believe me, I am not trying to say that our offense is perfect because I watch every game to know that is definitely not the case. But I will say that I think Cam gets a little too much grief and blame…that comes with being a coach. We still need guys on the outside that can separate and consistenly catch the ball, but with four straight playoff appearances with Cam at the helm, our offense CAN compete.
That’s the problem I personally have with Cam. We definitely do need guys on the outside who can separate consistently and as of right now we don’t have that, which is why he should be developing routes that can help cause separation by using bunch formations or rub routes and things like that. As someone else said it’s like trying to hammer a square peg into a circle. We simply just do not have the pieces in place to run the type of offense he’s installed and I believe until we get those pieces that as the OC he should be making adjustments and developing plays that allow these guys to gain separation easier. Rarely do you ever see a player wide open down the field for us. I just think he needs to do a better job of utilizing the personel that we do have. Most our plays come from either Torrey just out running the guy or Boldin or someone else making an extremely tough catch with a DB all over them, which is more props to the players than the play calling.
On Ed Reed:
"I’ve told him to his face many times, ‘You’re the greatest safety ever to play the game,’"
"We all learn from each other, but we all learn most from him."
- Troy Polamalu
I agree that we need more creative plays. But, we’ve seen success with this current offense. It will all come together one day, I think.
Not while Cam is here
his system requires elite talent at every skill position and on O line, and it’s just not possible to have that in the salary cap era. That’s why I wrote the trade Boldin, sign Jackson post, because that would actually be a much better fit for Cam’s system. Might actually work for once.
No team has elite talent at every skill position, so that won’t happen. And to say “it’s not possible” after two AFC Championship appearances in four years, to me, is not true. Cam did not drop that ball…
I believe what he’s saying is you need elite guys at all levels at the offense for it to be consistently successful. His offense requires 2 deep threats since there’s a lot of deep routes, which makes the line have to block longer and you need the running game to be effective so that you can use play action to help out the line with blocking and open things up for the outside guys. There’s just so many pieces that have to be working soundly together for the offense to consistently produce. Like you said it has showed it can produce, but the problem is it hasn’t shown that it can produce consistently.
On Ed Reed:
"I’ve told him to his face many times, ‘You’re the greatest safety ever to play the game,’"
"We all learn from each other, but we all learn most from him."
- Troy Polamalu
No team has elite talent at every skill position, so that won’t happen
Exactly, which is why Cam needs to adjust and compensate for weaknesses and accentuate our strengths, but he has no ability at all to do that.
And to say "it’s not possible" after two AFC Championship appearances in four years, to me, is not true. Cam did not drop that ball…
I didn’t say it’s not possible to have success as a team. Our players succeed despite Cam, not because of him. You can not honestly say you don’t think our offense underachieves.
As far as the drop, if Cam wouldn’t have called some boneheaded plays earlier in the game, we probably wouldn’t have been in the position to need a game winning drive anyway. For that matter, if he didn’t fuck up the Jax/Sea games, we’d have been playing at home and had a much better chance at winning.
I said earlier that we have maddening lulls on offense at times, so I know there are some things that are wrong with his system. But having said that, I think Cam sometimes gets thrown to the wolves a little too much.
Since this discussion is coming up again…
http://www.baltimorebeatdown.com/2012/1/20/2720464/the-air-coryell-offense
If you haven’t seen it yet Joshua, read it. I wrote this a few weeks back on the offensive system we run and why it does and doesn’t work.
"Don't throw it, don't throw it, don't throw it. I know y'all going to throw it, they going to throw it anyway. I wouldn't throw it. Don't do it." - Ed Reed
"53 Mighty Men of Baltimore"
by WestminsterRaven on Feb 18, 2012 3:02 PM EST up reply actions
That was a great write up
I think the majority of people here know their shit about football. We’re not just blaming Cam for the sake of blaming someone. There are many legitimate reasons that he has not been good for our team.
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