12-19-2016, 09:34 PM
(12-19-2016, 08:46 PM)BmorePat87 Wrote: 1. Sure, I just don't think it means as much as a whole year of growth.
2. Yes, Harbaugh is a better HC than Marv.
If you look at his years around it, he was putting up an average of 95.5 rating and was performing well above his regular season numbers. Yea, a run where you average 117 versus 95 is a big difference, but it's hardly a fluke. He had been progressing since then. He got hot, but he had been hot for the last two post seasons.
Even in the next post season he entered, he put up like 114 against the Steelers and had a rating of 103 against the Patriots before he threw one deep to Torrey Smith at the end of the game after the D blew a 14 point lead and Smith gave up on the route and let the Pats get a pick. Flacco went into New England and put up a 14 point lead, saw the D blow it so he then put up another 14 point lead before they blew that one too.
I like Harbaugh, but I don't know how you credit this complete 180 in the playoffs on just head coaching.
I don't credit Harbaugh completely, although I feel good game planning and prep can make a world of difference and Marv has proven time and again that he's deficient in that category...in the playoffs.
The playoffs are obviously just a different animal. Good coaching, 5 games of early experience, and not feeling the pressure of the entire team on his back (the Ravens carried him to 3 wins when he was terrible), probably was a great help to him and his confidence.
Do I think Dalton can be as great as Flac co has been (for the most part) recently in the playoffs? Probably not, but maybe. Who knows. All I know is that Dalton's sitch has been far less friendly than Flacco's, and I'm one of the few Bengals fans who refuses to hold the red head (or any player) fully accountable until some other coach gets a crack at it.
The training, nutrition, medicine, fitness, playbooks and rules evolve. The athlete does not.
