Ravens Offensive Coordinator Todd Monken May Have Cost The Ravens Another Shot At The Super Bowl
Diamond Images. Getty Images.Ravens Offensive Coordinator Todd Monken has had a busy week. He interviewed for the Jaguars open Head Coaching job on Thursday.
He also interviewed for the Bears head job on Friday.
It's hard to blame him. The guy wants to be a Head Coach and the process is broken. Teams shouldn't be allowed to even interview guys until the season is over.
But Monken does deserve some criticism over today's play calling as for the second straight year, the Ravens are going home and wondering why they didn't run the ball more. And while the balance was certainly a lot better, 30 runs to 25 passes, my issue comes on a drive late in the 3rd Quarter.
The Ravens were down 21-13 and got the ball with five and a half minutes left on their own 29 yard line. The next four minutes they absolutely bulldozed the Bills undersized defense. Here's how the drive went:
- Derrick Henry 6 yard run
- Derrick Henry 3 yard run
- Derrick Henry 17 yard run
- Lamar Jackson 12 yard pass to Mark Andrews
- Justice Hill 22 yard run
- Derrick Henry 15 yard run
- Derrick Henry 5 yard run (Touchdown)
Now you're down 21-19 and you've got a decision. Chase points with 1:37 left in the 3rd Quarter? You're down two, so I do like the call to go for two there. But you also just ran the ball six times for 68 yards. You've got a 6'2" 247 lbs. Runningback whose nickname likens him to a tractor. WHY THE HELL WOULD YOU NOT GIVE DERRICK HENRY THE BALL FROM TWO YARDS OUT?!
Last year in the AFC Championship game against the Chiefs, the Ravens, who were a run-heavy team all year, ran the ball six times with their Runningbacks. Monken came under fire and certainly the balance was better. But with the game on the line, why are you not giving it to the guy who ran it 325 times for 1,921 yards at 16 TDs?!
It's hard to argue with the final two point conversion. I would've like to see them run it there too, but Lamar Jackson put the ball right on Mark Andrews and he dropped it. If you run the ball, you dance with the one that brung you. But Monken decided to get cute and do a sprint out and throw the ball to his Tight End.
If Pete Carroll and the Seahawks get killed for not handing the ball to Marshawn Lynch on the goalline, why isn't Monken not getting destroyed for not giving it to Henry? I honestly don't see how these two are very different. Especially on the drive in the 3rd Quarter. Just a horribly called game in crunch time in my opinion and yet again the Ravens go home because of it.
We talk about that and much more on this week's Shred Line. Catch it here: