Flacco vs. Smith
ESPN is reporting that Tommy Bowden has been fired as Clemson's football coach following Thursday night's loss to Wake Forest, which lowered the Tigers' record to 3-3.
And Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo could miss at least four weeks with a broken pinkie finger, an injury sustained yesterday on the first play of overtime.
See...the Ravens aren't the only football team with issues.
Plenty of fans are calling for Troy Smith. Are you one of them? Should head coach John Harbaugh go back on his word and remove rookie Joe Flacco as the starter?
I'm still not sure why Harbaugh went public with his plans to keep Smith as the backup. Now he's sort of painted himself into a corner.
I don't believe Flacco is the main problem on this team, but he has to cut down on the turnovers. What happened to managing a game and sending that royalty check to Trent Dilfer?
The Orioles don't have enough depth to overcome injuries. It appears the Ravens are in the same boat when it comes to their secondary.
Roch,
One of the things I want to know is if Flacco is not getting the ball to the open man or if no one is open to throw to. I know our receivers aren't the best at getting open and because of that, feel you cant judge Flacco when there is no one to throw too. For the most part, he is getting good protection and time to throw, but not really finding anyone to throw too.
So with the lack of camera angles that show the receivers running their routes, its hard for me to judge how he is playing. I give him a pass if there is no one to throw to, but would lean towards Smith if he is missing the open man.
So I guess my question to you is, how much could Flacco really due on Sunday vs the Colts.
No way. Flacco has more experience now after starting 5 games than Smith.
Let the ship take its course. Does he need to cut down on turnovers? Yes. But adding Smith that game doesn't change at all yesterday, imo.
I think they've got to stick with Flacco for now. He's the future. After investing a first round draft pick on him and deciding to start him right away, you can't pull the rug out from him this early. It could kill his confidence and ruin what could be a bright future for him in Baltimore. You've got to expect that a rookie quarterback is going to struggle a bit, unless his name is Matt Ryan. ;)
I may feel differently if Flacco is struggling around halftime this coming Sunday, though. ;)
I know very little about football as I only started watching a few years ago to keep my wife happy. Yes you read that right, my wife made me get into football. My obversations over the last few years have drawn me to one conclusion. It doesn't matter who our quarterback is if we can't protect him and give him the time he needs to make a proper throw. Until we protect our quarterback, it doesn't matter how good he is or isn't.
He should have been fired along time ago , he was so over rated. Another coach fitting the same MO is Tommy tuberville he will be next.Speaking of depth roch we don't really have any with the exception of defensive line and linebacker. If anybody else gets injured the person we have to put in is very inferior in talent.I really thought we were going to address this issue in the off season but here we go again.You are 100% in making that point because it does apply to the oriole as well. That is really what separates the good teams from the bad ones. Boston, Tampa bay had more then there share of injuries this year and still managed to fill the wholes.We are light years behind all the organizations in our division it's not even funny.
Flacco stays as the starter. Very few quarterbacks put up great numbers their first year and while he is turning the ball over more than we would like, he's a rookie. He shows all the intangibles of being a very successful qb and you can't take the starting role away from him one week after saying that he's the starter the rest of the season.
I thought that the purpose of Harbaugh declaring Flacco the starter for the rest of the season was to quell any media speculation that he might be replaced if he has a rookie type game. He had one and yet here we are talking about him being replaced. He won't be replaced unless he's injured.
was I dreaming or did a tearful T.O cry "that's my quarterback, that's my teammate" before angrily blaming the devil for hurting Romo to keep T.O from fulfilling his destiny as a vessel for God's glory? Pffft!
Troy Aikman was 0-11 his rookie year as a starter. TD to Int 9-18.
His 2nd year he was 7-8 and a 7-8 TD to Int ratio.
Stick with Flacco
This is a sad time to be a Baltimore sports fan.
In my opinion Troy Smith was never given a fair shot in the regular season to actually see what he can do. I think he should have been put in last season when we were in the middle of a nine game losing streak. At least then we would have known whether or not he had what it takes to run this offense. Also, if I'm not mistaken, the coaching staff thought he looked pretty good in training camp. If not with the Ravens I do see Troy going somewhere else and becoming a differnce- maker.
hey don't for get that he is rookie he will make rookie mistakes, but he has a bright future in baltimore. the alreasy have a super bowl deffense and in 5 years the COULD have a super bowl offense. Thier defense will keep them in most games joe just need to learn to get rid of the ball quicker and not to force a pass I think by the time joes retiers he will have at least 3 rings
I wouldn't say that Troy hasn't had a fair chance....he knows more than anyone that opportunities present themselves at odd times. He wasn't the starting Ohio State QB at one time, but he got a chance and things worked out for him.
Flacco has got talent, but is he too fresh? I would venture to think that Flacco may be able to learn something by being on the sidelines. Sometimes you need to take a step back. Maybe that's what he needs to do, but regardless not using Troy is a waste of talent too.
Flacco is not the problem. he checks down better than any QB we have had. The problem is we have NO DEEP THREAT what so ever. It is real easy to defend the Ravens when you can just put all 11 defenders within 5 yards of the line of scrimmage. Mason is older then the book of Job and heap has the hands of Dr. Romano after the helicopter. Our recievers have a harder time getting open then an adult book store next to a church.
An offensive line that can't block with the help of a Tight End and Running Back and receivers who drop or short arm as many passes as they catch... And we're debating which Quarterback would be more successful?
I say stick with Flacco for 5-6 years like you did with Boller.