Baltimore Sun columnist Mike Preston compared Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco to Super Bowl champion Trent Dilfer in his most recent article.
When Joe Flacco completed only 10 of 20 passes for 172 yards, it was as if Trent Dilfer was quarterback again. The Ravens shouldn’t tinker with the strategy.
By mid morning Monday, Ravens offensive coordinator Cam Cameron was probably locked in his laboratory wondering how he was going to get receivers Derrick Mason and Anquan Boldin 11 catches each against the Cleveland Browns Sunday.
Don’t do it.
Preston urged Cameron to keep Ray Rice going, who he argues is the teams top offensive player.
Do you think that Preston is right about the Ravens offense?
A couple things:
1- I don't think Flacco looked like Dilfer on Sunday. Even at his most passive (i.e. Sunday) Flacco is still significantly more aggressive in terms of downfield looks than Dilfer ever was in the 2000 season.
2 – Even if we could press a button to make Flacco become the 2000 Dilfer why would we? Such an action assumes that the Ravens 2010 Defense is similar in terms of quality to the Ravens 2000 Defense. That simply is not true. I assume even Mike Preston would concede that.
I agree that Preston's comments were silly and short sighted. Flacco was a dropped pass and one foot landing out of bounds from throwing 4 TD's on Sunday. Sure the run game worked agianst NO, but it has not for most of the season. In order for the Ravens to make any sort of play-off run, they will need Flacco to make plays downfield.
3 things can happen when you pass and two of those 3 things are bad. I agree with Preston that they should focus on the run when possible. Teams like Pittsburgh won't allow the run game to get started,but when they play Indy in the first round, run the ball and keep it out of Peyton's hands. Sure, they need to make plays downfield, but Ray Rice is your best player – use him. If it becomes a shoot out between Peyton and Flacco, I think Flacco loses, despite Indy's injuries.