Issue to me is how often they help PUT THEMSELVES in that situation where folks can justify the "well they HAD to throw" situation.
Take Sunday. 24-7 deficit at the half. First drive the Ravens punted, Cincy had to go a long field and stalled, kicked a FG.
Second drive, INT (a HORRIFIC pass on FIRST down)... Cincy scores a TD on a short field.
Next drive, INT on a catchable PASS but an INT nonetheless... Cincy scores a TD on a VERY short field.
Last drive of the half, under a minute left, on 2nd down they throw incomplete (allowing Cincy to NOT burn a TO and more time to do something should they get the ball back). Then the goal line fumble that turns in to an INSTANT TD.
21 points off short fields or worse, all on passing drops. 3 points off normal "long distance" drives.
I know it "sounds" strange, but ESPECIALLY when this team is featuring Huntley or Brown at QB, against a good opponent, they should be running HEAVILY. 3 and outs and punts are going to happen sometimes (but not always). Throw off play action pretty much exclusively.
Roman called a game in the first half that basically handed Cincy the shovel to dig the Ravens hole for them. So yeah, they "had to throw more" because in large part, they imposed that on themselves. He does it too often.
I think a lot of this back-and-forth debate on being either run or pass heavy is personal biases relative to age. The younger posters on here are going to prefer Lamar or the backups throw the ball a lot, which is more in tune to the type of offenses prevalent in the league now. I get it. I'm a little bit older, more impressed with a great running attack and love to see it enforced on teams. With that said, you have to utilize what your strengths are, dependent how the offense has been constructed. For some bizarre reason, Roman creates this amazing, complex run game and then doesn't seem to believe in his own system. It reminds me of people who go on a diet and start working out for the first time. They do great in the first couple of weeks, they're motivated, see that the plan is working and start to believe in themselves. Then after a few weeks and the progress begins to plateau, they lose interest, they panic, they think there has to be a better way because now the results depend on self-discipline and fortitude to keep at it. Why on earth would Roman think Brown throwing the ball 44 times was the answer to winning the game? Did he or Harbaugh even care whether they won or not? I sure wonder sometimes. If ever there was a time to run the ball all day, it was Sunday. So, they only get 2 or 3 yards on some carries? Did they stop giving Barry Sanders the ball after he could only get a couple of yards or even no gain? If you know Dobbins and Edwards can break 15-20 yard runs, then you have to get beyond the ones where they don't. Maybe you have to punt sometimes. So what? You've eaten up clock, you keep the opposition in a long field, and you let the defense do its job. No, it's not pretty, it's not exciting for most but do you want the team to win or don't you? I can tell you this much- if they don't run the ball at least 40 times this Sunday night, they have ZERO chance of winning. None. The ratio with this offense the way it's currently assembled should never deviate from 40 rushes to 20 passes. If they completely deconstruct this roster, get a quarterback who has a great arm, throws with uncanny accuracy, has receivers who don't drop balls, get consistent YAC and score touchdowns, then I'll be all for a pass heavy offense. Until that happens, if you want the team to win, you run until you can't run anymore.
