Five Things I'm Sure About (sort of)

[44Deezel]

Originally Posted by The Goat

Two points (well maybe three). Every analyst has clearly stated Flacco works in the simplest system possible and nothing like a WC. Baltimore runs behind a much superior o-line to ours and then Flacco gets to throw downfield here and there to the open receiver. Extreme simplicity is the theme. Pennington is tried and trued vet and while some may disagree I've always thought he was a very smart QB... so he did well in a new system that has some excellent weapons. No surprise. And for Matt Ryan... carried by a healthy RB and o-line all year. Did you watch yesterday's game? W/o Turner burning it up Ryan looked like just another rookie - held the ball forever (as JC has the tendency in our brand new system), struggled w/ accuracy, and IMO he rushed several throws.

Good points. I'll add a couple -

Flacco throws a much better and more accurate deep ball than Campbell, so when he does get a shot to throw downfield, he doesn't sqaunder it (how bad did Campbell overthrow ARE against the 49ers... would have been a TD). Campbell needs to put more air under the ball. Flacco also seems to have much better pocket-awareness. He steps up in the pocket, while Campbell gets balls tipped, because he doesn't.

Pennington - He's always been accurate, but he's taken his knocks much like Campbell. I think the main difference is coaching. Case in point, the Fins marched down the field on their first drive today without completing a single pass to a wide receiver. Zorn should have gotten the RBs more involved in the passing game and played Betts and Cartwright more often. Look what the Chargers did yesterday throwing to their RBs and Tight Ends. DOH! - Pennington just threw his third INT.

Ryan - yes, the O line and running game helped, but he demonstrated to me that he will be a better QB than Campbell. He's a rookie, while Campbell is in his 4th season. Ryan helped the pass protection by making quick decisions and getting the ball out quickly. He also put up good numbers with the same receivers Vick almost had run out of town (remember Peerless Price and all the talk of TO going to ATL, because White and Jenkins weren't that good?).

All that said, I think Campbell might have done just as well on all 3 teams. But he played for a team that needed him to do more and he either couldn't or didn't. He should have gone down swinging against the 49ers (with nothing on the line), but he turned in 156 yards.

We should know for sure next year.