Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh defends OC Cameron firing as need-based call – NFL News
Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh has defended the decision to sack offensive coordinator Cam Cameron but denied it stemmed from the team’s loss to the Washington Redskins on past Sunday (Dec. 09), while independent reports confirmed it is well within
the line of the team’s agenda to push for no-huddle offence more consistently in future.
A number of views have come up since the coach announced the surprise move. One of the opinions called it an uncharacteristic of the coach to come up with such a decision and all of sudden in the closing period of the season.
Another view is that Cameron and quarterback Joe Flacco were not getting along well, and apparently the coach’s reluctance to no-huddle offence was the main reason behind it.
Since arrival of Jim Caldwell, who is new offensive coordinator at Cameron’s place, Flacco said to have been enjoying the no-huddle offence but some sections of media have recently reported that the quarterback complained the team was moving from it gradually.
Cameron being the offensive coordinator was a direct subject of the QB’s criticism and the head coach did not see the situation moving forward to a solution. As it appears on the surface, Cameron was the main hurdle in consistent promotion of the new offensive
scheme, and it also seems that there was a lack of coordination between QBs coach Caldwell and OC Cameron.
Harbaugh himself admitted the latter factor when he said:
"I think you guys all know, you've been around Jim all year, you know what kind of coach he is, what kind of offense (he) ran in the past. All those things apply."
So it is probably the team’s wisdom that they decided to part ways with Cameron to hand all the responsibility to Caldwell. A particular point to note here is that the team has lost past two consecutive games and in both games Flacco’s performance has remained
below par.
On one hand, it reflects on the aspect that the QB was apparently in bad terms with the outgoing OC and on the other, there was a problem with the offensive scheme that affected the offence leader’s performance to an extent.
Although the move has been seen a well thought decision and might help the team on the offensive line, its timing nevertheless is a surprise for many.
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