Ravens- OC Cam Cameron Fired (1 Viewer)

[lod01]

Even if Caldwell gets back to running it more, that's still only a fraction of the story.

Pierce is getting a bigger share of the pie than any backup ever did under Cam, who was one of the last remaining OCs that preferred a workhorse back. Just as bad, the touches Rice IS getting are less productive without Cameron than they were with him. Rice's YPC and YPR have both dropped precipitously since Caldwell took over.

Since Caldwell took over, the following trends have popped up, getting worse every game we get further away from Cam's leftover influence:

• Ravens are running less
• Rice is getting a smaller percentage of those runs
• Rice is getting less production out of those runs
• With fewer designed passes to him, Rice is getting less productions out of his receptions

It's not surprising that Rice was OK for a few games after Cam left. We've seen this a million times before when a coach or coordinator leaves. Their influence hangs around for a few games as the transition is made to a new system. Every week we move away from Cam we see less and less of his leftover influence, which leads to less of the offense running through the RB, less production when the RB does get the ball, and more of a split between multiple backs.

Again, nothing new here.

• LT's production dropped off quickly year over year after Cameron left. To be fair, LT's age played a role as well but he had the greatest RB season of all-time in Cam's last year there, and within two years his YPC had dipped to 3.8 at age 29 and it was 3.3 the next year at 30. The Chargers' run game has never even been close to what it was with Cam again.
• The Dolphins' RB production, and especially Ronnie Brown's, disappeared as soon as Cam was fired. It has never even been close again. People forget that Ronnie Brown was the runaway FF1 for the half season he played under Cam before getting hurt.
• We're seeing the same trend with Baltimore. Rice is a good enough RB that he won't disappear, but the 2000/15 upside/production he had with Cam is long gone, and has disappeared rapidly.

And this part is just showing a total lack of creativity. I remember back in 2007, SF was sucking balls weekly and they called in this guy to help the offense. They were on a 7 game tailspin. Offensive coordinator Jim Hostler was clueless. Can't remember his name but he designed short passes to Gore. Gore finished that week with 21-116 rushing and 11-98 receiving. They won the game. The guy left town and it didn't take long for the existing coaching staff to total forget what the guy taught them.

I am really amazed at how bad some coaching in the NFL is.

 

[MAC_32]

Maybe if they didn't get way behind either in the first half or early in the third quarter they could run the ball more. IMO, too small a sample size to conclude much of anything. Most teams would love to run the ball to burn clock and seal a win. You can't do that when you are 10+ points behind. Sure, it's nice to say that running X amount of times = win. But I think that it's better stated as winning = having the ability to run X amount of times.

Uhh, they were beating the Broncos at halftime week 1. And never down by more than 13 to the Bills.

In both games their runass ratio was out of whack before the game even gave them an opportunity to go in pass heavy catch up mode.

 

[Sylira21]

I just don't get this. He'd rather ride with "Mr. Five Picks" than the proven production of Rice (and to a lesser extent Pierce)?

If there's O-Line problems, usually the answer is to run MORE, not less. Plays into linemen's strengths and masks their weaknesses (they get to attack not defend, and get to work together, rather than a bunch of individual battles). Yeah, I can buy the "they got behind" story as a contributing factor, but they had half their nine runs in the first quarter then two runs in the second quarter, zero runs in the third quarter (against 18 passes)...if they panicked starting in the second quarter that they were behind and had to throw throw throw...that's horrible coaching. If Rice was not really 100 % then they should have stuck with Pierce and tried that some. If the defensive formations were such that they dictated passes instead of runs...then they better figure out how to get the Super Bowl Stud to be able to throw to his own team a little more often when facing eight in the box.

It was poor coaching or poor execution, or probably both.

 

[MAC_32]

I think the ship on Cam's scheme has sailed, but I'll save that for another argument.

Even if Caldwell gets back to running it more, that's still only a fraction of the story.

#1 Pierce is getting a bigger share of the pie than any backup ever did under Cam, who was one of the last remaining OCs that preferred a workhorse back.

#2 Ravens are running less

I'm highlighting this because it is #1 flawed and #2 false, at least as far as 2012 is concerned. Pierce got more touches after Caldwell came on board last year, but it was not at the expense of Rice. Rice's touches stayed steady, the total amount of carries went up.

If they go back to that model they will win and Rice owners will be happy again. Rice will be looking at 15-20 carries/game and Pierce at 10-20, Rice with more involvement in the passing game. Even if his game's are more like 17-75-1 5-37 instead of the 150+ yard days his owners will be happy.

There's no reason for the Ravens to get away from what they were successful doing last year. If they're trying to win anyway. If they're trying to justify Flacco's contract then they're not doing a good job of it. Quality > Quantity.

 

[hotboyz]

As a raven fan and batimore resident yes we have gotten away from the run but they have gotten away from it because the blocking and online play has made the run gam impossible to get established. The online play in the run game has been horrible. Also remember the Ravens bought in Eagles cast off and long time harbaugh friend Juan Castillio to be the run game coordinator. I think that is where the problem begins!

 

[Hu-Tang Clan]

You know which other NFL team needs to do this and dump the OC in the middle of the season for the sake of the offense and season? Giants. Sorry to highjack the thread, carry on.

 

[Squintz82]

A lot of people look at stats and don't really see what the issue is, which lies with the O-line. Because of that, they are running less, running less effectively, and it's effecting the passing game as well as well. They need to adjust their blocking and stop being so predictive in their playcalling.

 

[FreeBaGeL]

A lot of people look at stats and don't really see what the issue is, which lies with the O-line. Because of that, they are running less, running less effectively, and it's effecting the passing game as well as well. They need to adjust their blocking and stop being so predictive in their playcalling.

Ah yes, I forgot, another crazy set of coincidences surrounding Cameron.

LT went from a 3.6ypc to the #1 FF running back when Cam came aboard, then back to 3.8ypc within a year of him leaving...by coincidence.

Ronnie Brown had far and away the best 7 games of his career in the only 7 games he played with Cam....by coincidence.

Now, the Ravens went from an ineffective timeshare pre-Cam, to a workhorse stud with Cam, and back to an ineffective timeshare when Cam left...by coincidence.

There's always an excuse. The fact of the matter is that when Cam comes aboard his running back suddenly becomes a top 3 dynasty option and when he leaves that guy falls drastically down the charts. This has happened at every single stop of his career. What's the old saying? Fool me once?

 

[hotboyz]

i keep hearing u talking bout rb performance we'll how has the Qbs performed during and after Cam Cameron

 

[MAC_32]

You're writing like no other factors contributed to LT, Ronnie, and Rice while playing for Cameron.

 

[fatness]

I keep thinking the Ravens are making a mistake, not in firing Cameron, but in thinking Flacco is better than he really is and in thinking he just needs the right QB coach and "weapons".

That's still my opinion.

Today I read that Jim Harbaugh was blaming the offensive line. When does Flacco get the blame?

 

[MAC_32]

Still no flacco fan, but he isn't to blame here. Offense isn't geared towards its strengths. It's trying to be a passing offense without the weaponry. Put him in the pre nuk Texans offense and he's more successful. Or give him the appropriate weapons to run an air raid.

 

[fatness]

They've been trying to give him the "weapons" for years. He's an average to above-average QB who hit a tremendous hot streak when it benefited the team and himself the most (the playoffs last year). But he can't carry a team for a season.

I agree the playcalling is idiotic. The first 25 plays of the second half were pass plays. Maybe that makes sense some games for Manning or Brady, but not most QB's and not Flacco. Any Ravens fan in this topic could have called better plays than that.

 

[MAC_32]

They've been trying to give him the "weapons" for years. He's an average to above-average QB who hit a tremendous hot streak when it benefited the team and himself the most (the playoffs last year). But he can't carry a team for a season.

agree with everything but the first sentence. Flacco was at his best with boldin, Pitta, and a developing torrey smith. They didn't add to the arsenal and let a key piece go. I understand why they did, but between that and the pitta injury they needed to adjust the scheme and clearly they haven't.