Ravens fans are mad as hell and they aren’t gonna take it anymore. Baltimore is sitting at .500 (5-5), but are still in the playoff hunt. There’s been a lot of outcry after losses and everyone tries to point the finger at someone when the Ravens go down.
Sunday the Ravens scored 15 points on five field goals. They were 0 for 4 in the red zone and failed to convert a 1st and goal on the one yard line. Lots of fans have criticized Cam Cameron for bad play calling in this game and this year, but I would like to point the blame at Coach John Harbaugh.
It’s tough to pin blame on one play, one player, one event, or one person. For example, Ed Reed‘s fumble didn’t cost the Ravens the game. However, choosing the put Ed Reed in a position to fumble may have. (As a side note I hate having Ed Reed receive punts. Ed has enough health issues with his neck, I feel like we’re asking for a career ending injury).
The same has been true for the kicking game this entire season. Steve Hauschka was bad, John Harbaugh, a special teams genius, let Matt Stover walk.
Those who criticized Cam Cameron’s play calling didn’t see the big picture. I’ll credit Harbs and company for putting together a great game plan to beat the Colts. They knew that they had to mask their weakness on secondary and keep Peyton Manning off the field. Baltimore did just that, they won in time of possession and created three turnovers for the offense to work with.
Baltimore had long drives with 3-4 yard running plays and short screen passes to Ray Rice. These allowed the Ravens to move the chains and keep the clock ticking. Was it Cam’s fault that Baltimore couldn’t put the ball in the end zone?
Clock management has been a reoccurring problem with the Ravens, that’s the head coach’s fault. Last Monday night against the Browns the Ravens wasted all three of their timeouts half way through the first quarter. This week against the Colts John Harbaugh spent two timeouts on a poor challenge call. You can’t afford to that, especially when you have had quite a few breaks go your way in the earlier part of the game.
It’s tough to pin the loss on one person, but when the leader of the team makes the mistakes the blame is obvious.
