CHANGE IS GOOD: Jim Caldwell (right) has made Ray Rice a bigger part of the Ravens’ offense since taking over as offensive coordinator. (AP)
NEW ORLEANS — There has been a ton of attention on Jim Harbaugh’s bold decision to make a midseason change at quarterback, but big brother John had a bold move of his own.
Fourteen weeks into the season, Ravens coach John Harbaugh fired offensive coordinator Cam Cameron and replaced him with quarterbacks coach Jim Caldwell. The move worked so well that the Ravens are now in Super Bowl XLVII.
The Ravens offense, once inconsistent, has been a machine in the playoffs, averaging 27.7 points per game. So Caldwell must deserve a lot of credit.
“None whatsoever,” he said yesterday.
Well, we know who leads the Ravens in the humble category. When the change was made on Dec. 10, quarterback Joe Flacco was stuck in neutral, the Ravens offense would go long stretches without using running back Ray Rice and the season was hanging in the balance.
In a 31-28 overtime loss to the Redskins on Dec. 9, cameras caught Harbaugh and Cameron arguing on the sideline. The next day, Cameron was out.
“John Harbaugh and I were sounding boards for each other,” general manager Ozzie Newsome said. “This is something that was talked about for a number of weeks. I did have the background that I went through with Brian Billick when he let Jim Fassel go. So, I knew what questions to ask and what we needed to do. It’s always the unintended consequences that we try to look after to make sure we’re making a good decision.”
Caldwell met with the offense when he took over and delivered a simple message.
“I didn’t really have anything contrived, for the most part,” he said yesterday. “I’ve been around long enough to know that I’m not going to go in and try to be something other than I am, myself. I present it the way I present, and I talk about the things I believe and we believe in. This is not Jim Caldwell’s offense, it’s the Ravens offense. They’ve been running this offense for quite some time, and we just tried to come in and make certain that we tried to get them headed in the right direction.”
The team lost to the Broncos in Caldwell’s first game as the play caller, but then busted out against the Giants. They won 33-14 over Big Blue with a season-high 533 total yards. In the playoffs, they have been a force. Flacco has eight touchdowns and no interceptions in the postseason and Rice is back to being an integral part of the offense.
“Jim is a great football coach, great leader for our offense,” tight end Dennis Pitta said. “He’s done a tremendous job. I think a change was needed. I think we hit a plateau as an offense with Cam Cameron, for whatever reason. Cameron’s a great coach but I think we needed a change. It was a bold move to make the change in Week 13 like John did, but it ended up being a great decision for us. Jim has really got us to play some good football as of late.”
Caldwell was a head coach in the Super Bowl three years ago with the Colts. He got fired after a 2-14 season in 2011 when quarterback Peyton Manning was injured. Even with his success this season, he was not contacted for one head coaching opening after the season.
“You have to understand,” Caldwell said about his firing in Indianapolis. “This business is about winning. We didn’t win. It doesn’t matter in this league. It doesn’t matter about injury, it doesn’t matter about players. None of that matters. The bottom line is, you have to win football games. We didn’t win. When you don’t win, you’re subject to get fired, so we were. So you have to go look for employment elsewhere.”
The Ravens are glad he did.
brian.costello @nypost.com