At the State of the Ravens news conference Thursday, Steve Bisciotti addressed the fans' dissatisfaction over an underachieving offense, but the Ravens owner said that won't influence his team's moves.
Bisciotti supported coach John Harbaugh's decision to retain offensive coordinator Cam Cameron and endorsed Joe Flacco as his franchise quarterback.
Cameron has taken a brunt of the blame after the offense fell to No. 22 this season and managed 126 yards (a postseason record-low for the Ravens) in a 31-24 playoff loss at Pittsburgh last week. Bisciotti spoke with Harbaugh for a total of five hours spanning three straight days and consequently agreed that a change at offensive coordinator wasn't the answer.
"We like Cam under fire as our offensive coordinator next year," Bisciotti said during the 45-minute question-and-answer session with local media. "The fans' frustration can't lead us to offer somebody up for sacrifice for the things that went wrong."
Newsome, who described himself as a "sounding board" for Harbaugh, also backed the move to retain Cameron. In all three seasons with Cameron, the Ravens ranked in the top half of the NFL in scoring.
"I'm onboard with John and his decision," Newsome said. "And I'm also onboard with the process that John is going to undertake to make us better. Based on past experiences, the track that he's taking that will lead us to more success."
A year after Bisciotti put the growth of the offense squarely on Flacco, he continued to express confidence in the third-year starting quarterback.
Compared to 2009, Flacco's touchdowns (25) and quarterback rating (93.6) increased this year, his interceptions (10) decreased and his passing yards (3,622) remained essentially the same.
Bisciotti said Flacco has the ability to be one of the top quarterbacks in the league. Whether he'll ever be in the conversation when talking about elite ones, Bisciotti said, "We think so. We hope so. We're going to work to get him there. It might take killing off Peyton [Manning] or something like that to accelerate that process."
General manager Ozzie Newsome said Flacco shouldn't be considered a young quarterback after making 56 NFL starts.
"Over the past three years, I have been able to see a guy who can make all the throws, a guy that has poise, a guy that has command of this offense, but also a guy who can be inconsistent and not get it done at times," Newsome said. "It's upon all of us to take him to the next level. What that next level is? I don't know. But he has to be a better quarterback in 2011 than he was in 2010."
The offense didn't reach expectations partly because the wide receivers didn't meet theirs. Two of the Ravens' new wide receivers – Anquan Boldin, T.J. Houshmandzadeh – set career lows for receptions in a 16-game season and the other addition, Donte' Stallworth, caught a career-worst two passes.
The Ravens signed Stallworth in February, traded for Boldin in March and added Houshmandzadeh days before the season opener.
"If we'd have all the pieces in place at the beginning of March, the success of all of those guys would be increased," Newsome said. "If you can build continuity at the beginning of the offseason and build it all the way through, I think the production is there. That's the way I look at it. That's why I can take some of the blame."
Harbaugh said the Ravens will "rebuild the offense from the ground up" this offseason and he will take a hands-on approach with it.
"I don't want to give you the impression that I'm going to do it," Harbaugh said. "Cam drives that. The offensive coaches drive that."
Here are other topics covered Thursday:
•Bisciotti is confident that there will be a full season played in 2011 and a salary cap will return to the NFL. Many players are bracing for NFL owners to lock them out on March 4 if a new collective bargaining agreement isn't reached.
"We've got some work to do, there's no doubt about it," he said. "But it doesn't do me any good not to be optimistic. I know how intelligent and committed our group is to getting a deal done."
•**Bisciotti said the Ravens are close to extending the contract of Harbaugh, who is entering the final year of his deal. Harbaugh, who earned about $2.5 million this past season, is expected to make $4 million per season (which is on the same level as Pittsburgh's Mike Tomlin) when he signs his extension, a league source said.
"I'm sure it will take another week or two because he's a tough guy to bargain with," Bisciotti said. "He'll get extension. We're pretty happy with him."
•**Bisciotti's biggest disappointment this season was the Ravens' running game, which dropped to No. 14 this season.
"The run game let us down," he said. "When you're getting 4.8 yards per carry, that's the staple of your offense. You can't take what you're good at for granted and just think you're going to build on that."
•**Bisciotti defended the radio comments made by Harbaugh earlier this year when the coach told an unhappy fan to root for someone else. It was in response to the fan calling for defensive line coach Clarence Brooks to be fired.
"I know John. Really, it didn't faze me," Bisciotti said. "We can take all the criticism in the world, but ... if your solution is to whack our partners, that's what John got frustrated with. Good organizations don't respond that way. And our goal, more than anything, is to be a quality organization."
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