Factoid
Picking through the numbers, I notice that Joe Flacco was sacked more often than any other quarterback last year when his team was inside the 5. This caught my eye, since the controversy last month with Jim Zorn being fired (Zorn was the team's quarterbacks coach, and Flacco liked him).
Flacco also came up small in the playoff loss at Pittsburgh, passing for only 125 yards. Sure, he was victimized by drops by Anquan Boldin and T.J. Houshmandzadeh, but he didn't play well enough.
Anyway, when the Ravens were inside the 5 last year, Flacco attempted only 9 passes (or rather, he ran only 9 pass plays, since 3 of those turned into sacks). That's a remarkably high percentage. The rest of the league combined was sacked, on average, only 5 percent of the time -- once per every 20 pass attempts.
Was this a case of him taking some sacks to preserve field goal attempts? Not as far as I can see. He just wasn't good in that part of the field. Here's the rundown on those 9 plays, in chronological order:
at New York, Week 1
2nd and goal and the 1. incomplete for LeRon McClain
at Pittsburgh, Week 4
3rd and goal at the 2. incomplete for Derrick Mason
4th and goal at the 2. incomplete for Anquan Boldin
vs. Denver, Week 5
4th and goal at the 1. sacked for minus-14 yards
vs. Miami, Week 9
3rd and 3 at the 5. completion to Ray Rice for 2 yards
2nd and goal at the 5. sacked for minus-10 yards
at Atlanta, Week 10
1st and goal at the 5. 5-yard touchdown to Boldin.
vs. New Orleans, Week 15
2nd and goal at the 5. incomplete for McClain
3rd and goal at the 5. sacked for minus-10 yards
Overall, that works out 2 of 6 passing, with 1 TD, and 3 sacks. And just 1 TD in 9 pass plays. The 2 completions was the lowest of any team in the league in that part of the field. Every team -- Panthers, Bills, Browns, etc.
It's a part of the field that Flacco definitely needs to work on.
—Ian Allan
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