TMQ: In the city of Edgar Allan Poe, a mysterious disappearance

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Sunday’s title games taught two basic lessons: tactics matter, and offensive line is the essence of football.

Kansas City at Baltimore the home Ravens, number-one rushing team in the NFL, inexplicably abandoned the run – though bad weather and home crowd energy favored running.

The Ravens were held to half their season rushing average, on their own field, and to 18 points below their season scoring average. It wasn’t just the TMQ immutable law that high-scoring teams peter out in the postseason. It was that, adjusting for sacks and scrambles, Ravens coaches radioed in a mere 11 runs. (Adjusting for sacks and scrambles, Kansas City coaches called 30 runs, which is a typical number.)

No magician has ever made a rabbit disappear like Baltimore coaches made the run disappear!

Readers may expect me to propound at this juncture, ‘Tis Better to Have Rushed and Lost Than Never to Have Rushed at All! But Baltimore going pass-wacky trailing by 10 with half the game remaining is more an example of another TMQ law: Don’t Panic Now There Will Be Plenty of Time for That Later.

When the Baltimore call was run, good things happened. Fourth-and-1 in the first quarter, a sixth offensive lineman enters the contest, star left tackle Ronnie Stanley shifts to unbalanced right and Lamar Jackson runs for 21 yards, setting up the Ravens’ lone touchdown.

Why did this action disappear for the remainder of the game? Why did Baltimore keep throwing super-short passes on third down? Where did the run go?

Photo by Sander Sammy on Unsplash

“Dr. Watson, bring me the Ravens game film.”

One sensed new Ravens offensive coordinator Todd Monken – who’s changed employers 14 times in coaching – wanted to put himself into the head coach vacancy conversation by showing he could turn Jackson into a pocket passer.

Let Lamar be Lamar! It’s what wins games.

The Lions’ two failed fourth-and-short attempts in the second half also show why tactics matter – though not because they didn’t work.

Lions head coach Dan Campbell was torched on social media for the two plays. Vindictive insults from people who do not know what they are talking about should never bother anyone! Note: I have just described 98 percent of Twitter.

Had either attempt succeeded, Detroit likely would have won. Fourth-and-short is an attractive down-and-distance to try to convert.

There was a little complication and a big complication with the Lions fourth-and-short calls.