Posts tagged CamCameron at FanHouse

Sometimes you can't make a coordinator into a head coach in the NFL. Malcolm Cameron (yes, that's Cam Cameron's real name, though I guess it's reassuring to know his name isn't Cameron Cameron) would be a perfect illustration. He's a great offensive coordinator, yet his one head coaching stint in the NFL resulted in disaster, as he went 1-15 with the Dolphins last season.

I remembered thinking it was an awful hire for the Dolphins, simply because -- even though he's a great offensive mind -- he was such a terrible head coach at Indiana, my alma mater. I endured watching 38-35 losses on a weekly basis during college, thanks to Cam's lack of defensive prowess. He couldn't even get to a bowl game with Antwaan Randle-El and his high-octane offense. Seriously, if you can't succeed in the Big Ten, how are you cutting it in the AFC East?

Today, Cameron won his second game of the season in Miami, as an opposing offensive coordinator for the Baltimore Ravens. Coincidentally, his lone victory in Miami last season came against the Ravens.

Just as was the case last year, I'm sure Dolphins fans are happy to see him exit South Florida.

Stay on top of all the postseason action with FanHouse's NFL playoff coverage.

When the Ravens faced the Dolphins in Week 7, both teams were 2-3 and coming off forgettable 2007 seasons. I'm pretty sure nobody had Baltimore finishing the year 9-2 or Miami winning the division. Yet 11 weeks later, here we are.

The Ravens won 27-13 back in October in what has now become a familiar formula: run, run, play-action; matriculate the ball down the field; control the clock; and let the defense take care of the rest.

Pretty much everybody likes the Ravens tomorrow, partly because of their suffocating defense, and also because the Dolphins haven't beaten anybody outside the AFC East. Of their 10 non-divisional games, Miami was an impressive 7-3, but the teams they beat combined for a 36-76 record. So, yeah, there are some skeptics. The Ravens, on the other hand, smoked the Eagles, Redskins and Cowboys, and played the Steelers well enough to win. Twice.

Now the question becomes: can Miami concoct variations of the Wildcat that will work against Baltimore's defense? And when running a conventional offense, will Chad Pennington be able to play up to his MVP candidate form against the Ray Lewis All-Stars?

As we get ready for the Wild Card Weekend matchup of the Dolphins and Ravens, Brian Miller from PhinPhanatic and Tony Lombardi from ProFootball24x7 were nice enough to offer some insights on their teams for this week's Behind Enemy Lines feature.

Sportz Assassin: How do both of you feel about how your teams are playing heading into the playoffs?

Brian Miller (PhinPhanatic): I like the fact that no one is giving us any real credit for getting there. Jim Mora says on air that the best AFC East team is New England and there has been little "props" for winning the division as most of the kudos surrounds simply the turnaround. The Ravens are three-point favorites in this game and the Phins are getting tired of feeling second rate.

Tony Lombardi (ProFootball24x7): The Ravens are really beginning to gel in Cam Cameron's offense and now they are getting contributions from Mark Clayton and Willis McGahee. Joe Flacco has come on strong since the last meeting with the Dolphins and has the third highest road QB rating among NFL quarterbacks. And of course the team's defense is always dependable. The Ravens could be a dangerous post season participant.

We say it every week, but this time it's legit: this is the biggest game of the year. The Cowboys host the Ravens tonight and the postseason is on the line. The Steelers-Titans and Panthers-Giants get-togethers will determine playoff seeding, but whatever happens, all four teams will be playing in January.

There's a very real chance that the loser of tonight's Baltimore-Dallas affair will be on the couch with the rest of us in two weeks.

The Ravens are coming off a tough loss to the Steelers that wasn't without controversy. Still, at 9-5, rookie head coach John Harbaugh has done more with this outfit than anybody expected, and the other rookie, quarterback Joe Flacco, has been everything the too-numerous-to-count "franchise QBs" of the past decade (courtesy of Brian Billick!) weren't. And, of course, there's the defense, which, as always, is dominant.

The Cowboys managed to weather a month of Brad and Brooks, and now that Tony Romo is healthy, they've reassumed the role of NFC playoff contender. There's the ongoing Terrell Owens sideshow, but I'm convinced that that's more a media creation than a divisive locker room issue. That said, it's probably in everybody's best interest if Romo only throws T.O. the ball from now on.

Some five months before the 2007 season, the Ravens, having jettisoned Jamal Lewis, were in the market for a feature back. They would send their '07 third- and seventh-round picks, as well as a 2008 third-rounder to the Bills for Willis McGahee, Buffalo's 2003 first-round selection.

It was a lot to give up, but the Ravens, coming off a 13-win season, felt they were one player away from a serious run at another Super Bowl. Turns out, they'd only win five games and head coach Brian Billick would lose his job.

McGahee would rush for more than 1,200 yards in his first season in Baltimore (4.1 average), with seven touchdowns, but he's struggled this year. In 10 games, he's managed just 521 yards on 3.4 yards per carry, and now splits time with rookie Ray Rice and Le'Ron McClain.

Last Sunday against the Redskins was one of McGahee's worst efforts since coming to Baltimore (11 rushes, 32 yards, lost fumble), and he readily admitted as much yesterday. Via the Carroll County Times' Aaron Wilson:

The 0-13 Lions have many believing that a winless season is not only possible, but probable. This is 0for08, FanHouse's eye on the Detroit Lions and their quest for a winless season.

As the Lions continue their march to sweet, inglorious perfection, we should take a moment to recognize that Detroit fans, while they have a strong case, aren't the only ones suffering. The players aren't exactly enjoying the 2008 season, and are facing the very real possibility of earning one of those scarlet "0-16" patches.

In fact, things have reached such a low point that Lions center Dominic Raiola makes no apologies about giving the finger to less than supportive fans.

But asked if he regretted giving the fans the business, he said he didn't. "I don't take one thing back," Raiola said Monday. "I'll say the same thing to a fan that I see in the street. I wish I could give my address out to some fans. I'll do that.

"But, you know, I can't. Nobody plays with fists. Everybody wants to play with metal. So I can't. I'm so frustrated. I'm tired of being a doormat for people to just talk to us how they want to talk to us. I'm just not going to put up with it anymore."

Raiola's right, of course. Sure, the players are partly responsible -- they are playing, after all -- but head coach Rod Marinelli also deserves much of the blame, along with since-departed Matt Millen, the brains behind the current roster. (In fact, word the street is that Millen is still running the show. I'd be more shocked if you told me the Lions wouldn't bungle their first-overall pick in April.)

As the Detroit Lions gird up their loins to hit the field of battle on another turkey day, they face quite a daunting task. No team in the history of the NFL has ever lost 16 games in the regular season. That's probably because they only play 16. You have to be a really, horrifically brutal football team to finish 0-16, which is why no one has accomplished that feat before.

A peek at the Lions schedule from here on out shows their task. Any win for an 0-11 team would be an upset, but this is a stout group left on the docket for Detroit. They play the Titans (10-1), Vikings (6-5), and Saints (6-5) at home, while traveling to face the Colts (7-4) and the Packers (5-6). The most winnable game would seem to be Green Bay, but beating the Packers in Lambeau on December 28th isn't an easy task for a team used to the indoors.

Simply put, I think the Lions are going 0-16. I actually have for quite some time.

Let's examine their profile against some of the worst teams in NFL history (Super Bowl era) to see where they might rank.

Somewhat overshadowed by the end-of-game Matt Light Hair-Pulling Extravaganza! was the news that Dolphins head coach Tony Sparano tried to bench linebacker Joey Porter and failed miserably. Porter's only been in Miami two seasons, but he has a history of paying his coaches no mind (or, more specifically if you're Cam Cameron, no respect)

Unlike Cameron, however, Mr. Peezy admitted he was wrong to ignore Sparano. Via NFL.com's Adam Schefter:

Porter personally apologized to Dolphins coach Tony Sparano for refusing to leave the closing minutes of Sunday's 48-28 loss to the Patriots after he drew 15-yard penalties on back-to-back plays.

Not only did Porter apologize to Sparano, he apologized to the rest of his Dolphins teammates as well. Porter knows that what he did Sunday was wrong and he tried to take responsibility for it after the fact

Schefter also writes that "there could be further repercussions from the team or the league." Given that Commissar Goodell has decreed Light will be fined but not suspended for fighting like a 13-year-old girl (nice call, Logan Mankins!), I can't imagine that they would punish Porter for disobeying his coach.

Of course, I never thought I'd see the day when players would get fined for dancing in the end zone so what do I know. That's right: nothing.

I mentioned earlier that this looks like Troy Smith's team, even it if hasn't been made official yet. Still, despite the end of an era (a pretty depressing era, but an era nonetheless), a slew of coaching changes, and a bunch of new faces, it looks like the same-old, same-old for Baltimore's offense.

At least according to Mike Lombardi, former Raiders personnel dude-turned internet scribe.

The Ravens hired Cam Cameron to run their offense; he knew it would require a major rebuilding effort. Based on this summer, the job might be even harder than many thought. When the Ravens drafted Delaware quarterback Joe Flacco in the first round it was with an eye on the future.

No one expected him to come in and start right away, but then again, no one thought he would be so far behind. Flacco's progress has not been as quick as some hoped and this is hurting the progress of the offense.

Hardly surprising, I guess. I mean, the Ravens haven't played a regular season game since Brian Billick was fired and you're not going to solve the offense's myriad problems during one offseason. Cam Cameron is an obvious upgrade over Billick/Neuheisel/Cavanagh*, and Joe Flacco is coming from Delaware, a D-IAA school.

He's going to need time to get up to speed, and that he's "so far behind" right now isn't that big a deal. Of course, that's easy for me to say; I didn't trade up in the first round to draft him, and I don't have a track record of taking future NFL busts.

It could be worse, though: Billick could still be the coach and Boller the starter.

* to be fair, Neuheisel was OC in name only

Training camps are underway, the NFL season is right around the corner, and to get you ready for 2008, FanHouse previews all 32 teams, "heat index" style. We'll rate each club in 10 categories on a scale of 1 to 10, high score wins.

Quarterback: The position has been an issue in Baltimore since, well, the club moved from Cleveland. Brian Billick turned out not to be such a smart guy, after all, which explains Tony Banks, Elvis Grbac, Chris Redman, and Kyle Boller. Second-year player Troy Smith showed promise during a brief stints last season, but Joe Flacco is the team's newest franchise quarterback. Now it's just a matter of getting him up to speed on running the offense. Heat Index: 4

Running backs: Letting Jamal Lewis walk after the 2006 season was a no-brainer, even if he had a resurgence of sorts with the Browns. Willis McGahee is more than capable when healthy, and rookie second-rounder Ray Rice should see plenty of action. Heat Index: 7