I know that I haven't blogged anything recently, and that has mostly been due to the busy schedule of a college student, but partially because of my main motivation as a sports writer hasn't been there.
One of the reasons I started this page was because I was a frustrated member of the Baltimore community. As an avid watcher of ESPN's SportsCenter, I am often frustrated with the lack of national attention that Baltimore teams receive (I mean for God's sake, the Raven's Steelers game was briefly mentioned while Tony Romo's 2 interception performance in a loss required 20 minutes of discussion every hour). Furthermore I am often frustrated by Baltimore's unique condition of sports bipolar disorder. Every fall Friday the city is proudly wearing their purple, yet every Sunday evening (win, lose, or draw) the game was never good enough for Baltimore. This is never more evident then when listening to 105.7 The Fan on Monday's. I swear to God that Joe Flacco could throw for 5 touchdowns, 350 yards, and the Ravens could win the game 35-7, and everyone will call in Monday morning bashing on Flacco for the one interception he threw, or the one sack he took on third down. And if the "fans" aren't bashing on Flacco, I promise Cam Cameron did something wrong (probably calling a run play on 3rd and 9 with 1:32 left in the game, which was won long ago, thus giving the ball back to the opponent). So with this in mind, Baltimore sports 'fans' have riled me up once again, and because of that I decided to write this post.
Today the Ravens lost a close game to the Redskins, which caused Baltimore to come out calling for the heads of offensive coordinator Cam Cameron and defensive coordinator Dean Pees, and of course, quarterback Joe Flacco.
Lets put this into perspective. Flacco threw for 3 touchdowns, the second most of any quarterback this week. He also had a rating of 121.4, the second highest of any qualifying quarterback. Yes, he did have an untimely red-zone interception, but you could easily blame that on the lack of time provided by a subpar O-line. So I can't see any blame landing on Flacco this week.
Secondly, Cam Cameron has received a lot of blame for an 'underperforming' offense. However I don't see the underperforming part at all. The Raven's offense ran for 178 yards on the leagues third best rushing defense, who previously allowed only 91 yards per game. They also scored 28 points today. Of the 15 games played so far this week, 28 points would have won 10 of those games. And I don't think it is far to include the Giants and Seahawks into this equation, but I did anyway. They also tallied 359 yards on offense, more than 19 of the 30 teams to play this weekend. Also, they had a 3rd down efficiency of 50% and a RedZone efficiency of 75%. All of these factors would lead to a win 9 times out of 10. One of the final criticisms I've heard most about Cam Cameron this week is that fan's are asking why he did not play Ray Rice more throughout the game. Ray had 20 carries for 121 yards, while Pierce had 8 carries for 53 yards. That means Rice was a part of 71% of all rushing plays today, a pretty high percentage for someone who apparently didn't touch the field according to social media.
Now lets move on to Dean Pees, our defensive coordinator. With all the stats just mentioned for the offense, it is easy to blame the defense for stumbling in the 4th quarter and costing us the victory. But I will not sit here and say that it is in any way Dean Pees's fault, and anyone who does needs to rethink their decision. If all players were healthy, are starting middle linebackers would be Ray Lewis and Dannell Ellerbe, with McLain receiving playing time. Today are starters were Jameel McLain and Albert McLellan (normally and outside linebacker). But not to worry, McLain received a neck injury late in the third quarter and was replaced by Bynes, who was subsequently injured. So for the game tying and game winning drives, our middle linebackers were Brendan Ayanbadejo and Albert McLellan, neither of which normally play the position. This is of course not to mention the fact that pro bowler Suggs is out, Webb has been out for several weeks, and 2nd string CB Jimmy Smith is still out. This leaves Dean Pees with out 6 of his 11 starters, and he lost 2 players who had been playing well in the game. So to blame Pees for this loss is unacceptable,
In my opinion there are two types of band wagon fans. First the common bandwagon fan, Skip Bayless for example. This type joins the fan base of any team doing well. This year that would mean someone not from the greater DC area all of the sudden becoming a avid Redskins fan. These types of fans are annoying, but at least understandable, I mean, it is only natural to root for a team that is winning and fun to watch. But then there is the 2nd type of band wagon fan, the much much worse type. This is a fan who has been a proud supporter of a team for many many years, but the second they lose a tight game in a rivalry match up, that fan bashes on his team and 'disowns' them, so pretty much any fan of any Philly based sports team. To me this type of bandwagon fan is unacceptable, you are either a fan of the team or not. The reason I bring this up is because it truly upsets me that so many people in Baltimore can complain that a team, who is 9-4, is probably going to the playoffs for the 5 straight year, has had a rough two came span, losing by a combined 6 points, both on last second or overtime field goals. Especially when its the same Baltimore fans who stood by the O's through 14 straight losing seasons. If you are a Baltimore Fan, I can only say this one way, GROW UP. You have been privileged to watch a great team play football in Baltimore for the past 5 years. No, they may not have won or appeared in a Superbowl in those 5 years, but hey, there are 30 teams that miss out every year. At least we can say we were close, unlike the Browns, Bills, Dolphins or Jaguars.
