Cameron: "I flunked the second half"

August 16, 2010 6:12 PM by Dan Kolko View Comments

During offensive coordinator Cam Cameron's press conference today, he was asked how he would evaluate the play of running back Jalen Parmele in last Thursday's preseason opener.

Parmele, who has looked good in training camp, did not continue that solid play against the Panthers, rushing seven times for negative-seven yards and losing a fumble.

But Cameron doesn't blame Parmele for his incredibly poor (atrocious, dreadful or horrific also would have worked there) performance.

In fact, he blames himself.

"I flunked the second half, so everybody's off the hook in the second half of that game," Cameron said. "Give Cam Cameron an 'F' in the second half, and give anybody that played in the second half a passing grade. We'll do a pass/fail in the second half."

Cameron was so frustrated with his play calling that he didn't even address the actual question about Parmele. He truly wants to discount all the numbers from the second half.

That might be a good idea, actually.

The Ravens had only 29 total net yards in the second half, including negative-10 through the air. They went 1-of-7 on third downs in the final two quarters, had only four first downs, and fumbled the ball three times (one of which they recovered).

It was not a pretty picture.

Part of that could be blamed on the weather, and part could be blamed on the fact that the Ravens were working with their third and even fourth-team offense

But Cameron doesn't choose to blame anyone or anything but himself. And he says the second half will be much smoother on Saturday when the Ravens face the Redskins in their next preseason contest.

"We're going to improve in the second half in these preseason games," Cameron said. "We're going to find a way to improve our production in the second half with all these young players, because we... I failed miserably giving those guys a chance the other night."