Flacco locking in on Mason and Rice?
It's become quite apparent that running back Ray Rice and wide receiver Derrick Mason are quarterback Joe Flacco's favorite targets, but the numbers supporting that theory are somewhat staggering.
Of Flacco's 219 completions this season, Rice and Mason have combined for 101 catches, which makes up 46.1 percent. Although tight end Todd Heap and wide receiver Kelley Washington have been solid, wide receiver Mark Clayton has caught more than one pass in each of his last three games, and wide receiver Demetrius Williams continues to be absent in the game plan.
So are Rice and Mason more successful at finding gaps in opponents' coverage or is Flacco not as comfortable with passing the ball to others as he is throwing it to Rice and Mason?
"Well, I think he's got a comfort level with those guys," coach John Harbaugh said Monday. "If you look throughout the season, he's hit those guys on a lot of plays. Todd [Heap] has been hitting some big plays, obviously, Kelley [Washington] – Mark Clayton earlier in the year. Different plays, different guys are open, and in different situations they’re not open. Every play stands on it’s own, and we’ve studied those with Joe. So, we’re going to try to get the ball to everybody."
Still, there's a line of thought that Flacco needs to deliver the ball to teammates other than Rice and Mason just to give opposing defenses a different look and discourage them from shading their coverages towards Rice and Mason. In fact, Flacco's pass to Rice that was intercepted by Indianapolis Colts linebacker Gary Brackett appeared to be thrown into triple coverage as the Colts keyed on Rice.
Harbaugh said he is not concerned about defense scheming to cover Rice and Mason.
"People tilt their coverages different ways, but we had Derrick wide open in that last drive," he said. "So I’m pretty sure they weren’t tilting their coverages to Derrick. We got him open on two double-move five routes, and so they weren’t tilting their coverages to him then. I think Ray got loose a couple of times in the last drive, and they ended up stopping our other backs. So no, I don’t think that’s the case right now, and I think we have plenty of weapons to go to."
Comments
Harbaugh alway had comment to prove we are wrong... But the fact is that beside Ray Rice and Mason, we don't have no other threat... no more third down pass to kelley "flash" washington. no more deep throw to clayton who has more speed than mason. demetrius williams is out of the plan. too much high passes in the middle for heap "ribs". Come on! we need to open up the play book and come back to a one two punch running game... The only thing we are going to have is a tired ray rice with so much carries and risking an injury...
Posted by: mika from france | November 24, 2009 1:30 PM
on the interception the play was for heap yet boller , i mean flacco threw into triple coverage for rice
Posted by: larry g | November 24, 2009 1:49 PM
Larry G is correct. When you watch the replay, Flacco is not reading the defense at ALL. He is watching Rice the entire way out of the backfield and threw into triple coverage. Rice even said himself that he expected Flacco to go somwhere else with the ball based on the defense.
Posted by: KS | November 24, 2009 2:44 PM
Having a little trouble digesting this. What would be a good percentage for your top two options? Consider that Flacco has 5 real options: Mason, Rice, Heap, Clayton, Washington. If it were 100% evenly distrubited you woudl expect each option to get 20% of his looks. That means that Mason + Rice should account for 40% if it were evenly distributed. The fact that they account for an extra 6% makes sense since you generally want the ball in their hands more then the other 3... In fact I wouldnt have been surprised if it were higher then 46%
Posted by: Nick | November 24, 2009 2:47 PM
He is looking to Rice and Mason way too much. He threw that boneheaded interception trying to get the ball to Rice, it was a dumb move but these were the only guys making plays. When your leading receiver is your RB you have a serious issue in the passing game.
Posted by: Marcus | November 24, 2009 2:47 PM
I am not going to simply bleed purple, but the Colts have a very good defense. Our receivers are lacking, look at the seperation that Manning's receivers had and the room he had to throw.
Same is true for Cincinnati's group of receivers. Is our offense vanilla because of Flacco or the other parts? Let's give Nick credit for the math, he is correct in his assumption. And let us not forget Joe is still in his second year. Go look at Mannning's numbers for his first three years. Until you get the added weapons, there is only so far that Joe can go.
Posted by: upper deck bird brain | November 24, 2009 3:17 PM
The Ravens need to go with a true spread offense. Go with 4 wide and spread the defense. Put Demetrius Williams in there and give him a chance. They should put Demetrius and Washington on the outside and put Clayton and Mason in the slot. That is where they belong. You can even mix it up and put Heap out there when needed. Heap is too injury prone and has proven he is not a reliable every down player. Put him in certain situations so he is not overused. They also should consider using Rice and McGahee in the shot gun so there are two threats out of the backfield. They won't be able to key on just Rice, as McGahee is also a capable receiver out of the backfield.
Posted by: Frank Rizzo | November 24, 2009 3:32 PM
I keep telling everyone that Flacco get's tunnel vision with Mason and Rice , he tends to leave other player's wide open because of that lack of zoominjg around the field for other open reciever.....
Posted by: songod7 | November 24, 2009 3:34 PM
Coach Harbaugh, the facts are that the offense has become predictable and ineffective. Maybe if you didn't have so many players in your doghouse so that even when they are allowed to suit up and play, they actually will have their numbers called, our opponents would have something else to think about besides Mason and Rice. This stubborness is what got the last coach fired. That guy had his favorites too! Before the season started you told us that the Ravens didn't need another receiver because "we like what we have". Really. Then get someone else involved in the passing game to take the heat off Mason. We clammored to keep Stover and for a receiver, and you thought it was funny. What a sense of humor we fans have.
Posted by: RC Fillmore | November 24, 2009 3:49 PM
I agree with upper deck bird brain - Rice and Mason are the only weapons we have. Give Joe some decent receivers who are at least as tall and fast as their defenders, and I think you'd see the ball spread around more. But until then, Joe can only use the few arrows he has in his quiver.
Posted by: Bruce | November 24, 2009 3:52 PM
Brackens just made a good play on the INT. He sold rush and actually engaged with the lineman before dropping back. Rice had the two defenders to his right beat. Just a good call by the defense to me.
Posted by: T | November 24, 2009 4:02 PM
@ Upper deck bird brain, U ARE EXACTLY CORRECT!!!! Buffalo Bills style circa 1990-94! Spread the O, USE D. Williams, Mason can be our Wes Welker, no disrespect in that, K.Washington wide, Clayton/Heap in the other slot, how hard is that? Rice/McGahee & Troy Smith option/wild Raven packages once in a while, change it up!! Very reasonable and not to hard to do... Spider Man, aka Demetrius Williams will leave here and go to play with Peyton, Brees, Eli, Brady, Schaub or any other good/great QB and be A STAR, watch!!! Come on Harbs/Cam, use this guy and change up the vanilla offense and at least use what we have to get Flacco options in the passing game besides Rice/Mason, what if eithe gets hurt God forbid, we are done I guess!!!
Posted by: Anonymous | November 24, 2009 4:38 PM
Haha - so many football experts! We should do this, we should do that. That's what happens when things aren't going your way and that's ok. Remember, in 2000 we went 5 games without scoring a touchdown before we got it together and won it all. I'm not saying this team will do this. Too many holes at WR and CB.
Posted by: JnyU | November 24, 2009 5:16 PM
Anonymous, really? I guess there are reasons you don't leave your real name. If you are still convinced that Demetrius will be a star, then you are sorely mistaken. He'll do about as well James Roe after he's out of here.
Posted by: Mr. Deez | November 24, 2009 5:43 PM
The catches for the year are not the right barometer. What are the percentages of passes or catches for Rice and Mason during the past 3-4 games?
Posted by: Chris | November 24, 2009 5:55 PM
It comes down to this-
We need more than one playmaker at the wide receiver position
Posted by: Mark in DE | November 24, 2009 7:08 PM
Joe might be thinking of his pocket presence a little more than a defense ahead of him.However,both primary reciever and qb need to biuld confidence about the play being called.Incomplete passes are'nt the worst thing in some cases.Joe will still have to check down when necessary,but, maybe a stronger,better effort to throw to the primary route will biuld some confidence to complete the play.
Posted by: Dan R. | November 24, 2009 8:08 PM
The main problems are:
1. There ARE no other playmakers besides Mason and Rice.
2. Cam Cameron has demonstrated a noticeable lack of ability to develop balanced, NFL offenses. In SD, all he did was hand the ball off to LT and throw to Gates. Gates, their TE, was the leading receiver while Cameron was there. Here, Rice is the leading receiver. Cameron does not seem to be able to coordinate all of his players and the results are exactly what's been evident this season. There simply IS no coordination to the Ravens offense, and Cameron, along with the obvious lack of talent, are the reasons.
Posted by: JB | November 25, 2009 8:23 AM
Williams in the dog house , Clayton missing in action(#1 draft choice) , Heap is hurt , WHO IS LEFT ?.....................Rice and Mason are simply the only weapons poor Joe has to use , who's fault is this ?..................
Ozzie has been way too slow in moving in the receiver direction for this team , it has come back to haunt them big time , just like the corners..................does anyone really think this is a playoff team ??????????????
Posted by: spy | November 25, 2009 11:23 AM