OT is a Debacle

I attended the Ravens-Browns game yesterday, which will become infamous for Phil Dawson's game-tieing field goal that landed in the endzone. A lot of people had already left the stadium after Matt Stover hit the go-ahead field goal with less than a minute left. Those who were still there had already started filing out of the stadium before most realized that the game might not be over. It was obvious from where I was on the opposing 30 yard line and hundreds of feet up, that the ball landed in the endzone. However, I began to realize without the help of replay that the ball must have hit the support and not the horizontal goal post. Word came back as people waited in the aisles, that the FG was good and the game was going to OT. Most Baltimorons were incredulous at this point, but I wasn't upset. The kick was good and the refs got the call right in the end. It sucked...but Ravens fans would have wanted it that way if the situation was flipped.

I've always hated the way the NFL plays overtime games. The idea that a team can lose a game in overtime without ever running an offensive play is ridiculous. Sudden death works in hockey or soccer when there is most likely to be multiple change of possessions before the deciding score. However, with football it is a failure. I would much rather see the alternating possession system that the NCAA uses. Each team's offense and defense atleast has an impact in overtime. If the NFL doesn't want to go that route...then let the game end in a tie. That would have been a much more deserving result to yesterday's game.

The game itself was entertaining in the 2nd half. Baltimore's 37 yards of offense in the 1st half was pitiful. However, they looked like a great team at times in the 2nd half. How a team can go from looking that bad to that good is astounding. Kyle Boller looked good throwing the ball down the field in the 2nd half. Of course he still overthrew the soft passes over the middle, and gave up a pick-6 when he got rocked in the red zone. The offensive line was absolutely horrible in pass protection. Boller was sacked six times, and was pressured into a lot of bad throws. For some reason it took the coaching staff a whole half to realize that the offense could be successful when Boller took a three step drop instead of five or seven.

In regards to the coaching...where was it on special teams? Josh Cribbs has been an individual highlight reel for the Browns lately, yet the Ravens kicked the ball off to him SEVEN TIMES! Matt Stover was able to squib one kickoff threw the endzone, but otherwise they tried nothing different. Cribbs had 245 yards on kickoffs alone! Cribbs fielded each kick to his left, and Cleveland ran the same return each time. Since Stover has a weak leg, why not squib it more than once. How about a sky kick to a blocker, or kicking it to Cribbs' right. Of all the miscues in this game, the kickoff team was the worst. On Cleveland's tieing drive and game winning drive in OT, they got the ball on their 43 and 41 yard lines. It was impressive that they came back to win that game, but the Ravens certainly made it easy at times.