Monday 23 January 2012

A Question of Timing

Is it better to be emotional on the sidelines, or the strong silent type? Last night showed the positives of the latter.

Towards the end of the Ravens @ Patriots game the cameras showed a passionate John Harbaugh pushing one of his coaches out of the way to call a time-out that the Ravens could ill afford to waste, at a guess because he didn't like the play call. This disarray on the sidelines would prove to be a harbinger of what was to come.

With only a few minutes left on the clock Ravens offensive coordinator had called his best drive of the season, picking on wide receiver turned defensive back Julian Edelman with Anquan Boldin in the slot (Edelman was responsible for a blown coverage that sprung Boldin down the sideline), but the drive started to stall inside the Patriots red zone and the Ravens unravelled when their goal within their reach.

The first marginally questionable Ravens call came on 2nd and 3 just inside the 15. The Ravens called a pass play that almost came off with receiver Lee Evans having the ball knocked out of his hands by former Raiders practice squad player Sterling Moore. If they had run for the first down (a high percentage play with the Patriots more likely to give up the first down instead of the score) and called a time out they would have had time for a couple of shots with 20 seconds on the clock and even the possibility of spiking the ball if a player came up short.

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