Going no-huddle
In Sunday's 30-7 victory over the Denver Broncos, the Ravens went no-huddle 31 times, according to the official gamebook compiled by the NFL.
That's not a season high for this offense, which went no-huddle 42 times in the season-opening 38-24 win against the Kansas City Chiefs.
But it is worth noting as it would appear that second-year quarterback Joe Flacco has gained the confidence of offensive coordinator Cam Cameron to call the play, line up the offense, and make audibles (if needed) without consuming time off the play clock.
Wide receiver Derrick Mason said another factor was the team's plan to keep the Broncos defense on the field without being able to change personnel and packages.
"You just try to keep a team off balance," Mason said Monday. "They’re a very athletic, very fast-moving team, and you want to keep a team like that off-balance as much as possible. So whether it’s no-huddle or whether you want to call it sugar-huddle, we want to put the pressure on opposing teams’ defenses, and we wanted to wear them down. We thought if we stayed out in our no-huddle package for a little while and kind of mixed it up a little bit, that would pose some difficulties for them."
Comments
It was more of a hurry up offense to me. No-huddle constitutes using the play clock. Flacco was running up to the line and snapping the ball with 15 to 20 seconds left on the play clock. Would love to see that against the bengals
Posted by: Tom | November 3, 2009 10:49 AM
"appear" that Flacco has confidence? No **** Sherlock. He was calling plays and running excellent two-minute drills LAST season. Get a new pair of glasses there Ed, your hindsight ain't what it used to be.
Posted by: Chris | November 3, 2009 12:11 PM
It makes sense you'd beat their defense with the no huddle. When Rex Ryan and Mike Nolan ran the defense here that was the biggest weakness they had. Remember the game against Arizona a few years ago? Arizona brought in Warner and went no huddle and all the sudden made it a game because we couldn't substitute. Peyton Manning burns our D the same way, that and he's Peyton Manning.
It's about time we started using it against someone else.
Posted by: Kyle | November 3, 2009 12:38 PM
Been wondering where this has been most of the season. It's a useful weapon, especially if we have versatile personel in the game (pass catching RB's, TE we can either block with or split out wide, FB we can keep as blocker or featured runner with other RB in motion out wide) We need to start using these kinds of things to our advantage. We have a good enough QB, we should use him to maximum effectiveness and advantage.
Posted by: Geof | November 3, 2009 1:59 PM
Um, have you all forgotten that Cam Cameron had Flacco running a no-huddle offense in the first game LAST season. I repeat, in Flacco's first NFL game EVER, he ran no-huddle. This guy is the real thing, folks, and Cameron is a fantastic offensive coordinator.
Posted by: Jonathan | November 3, 2009 6:11 PM
Hey the League used to do it to us to foul up substitution packages. Pay back's a b****. Looking forward to hurrying up Indy's defense. Like to see that TOP in our favor last week. Helped keep our D fresh while an embarrassed Denver D was gassed by the 4th Q.
Posted by: Tucker in Sec. 527 | November 3, 2009 10:17 PM
Fantastic game calls Sunday!
Posted by: PaPaJim | November 4, 2009 10:54 AM