NEW ORLEANS -- It's been a redemptive season for Baltimore Ravens offensive coordinator Jim Caldwell.
A year ago, he was the face of the Indianapolis Colts' failures without Peyton Manning, fired after a 2-14 nightmare. He landed with the Ravens as a quarterbacks coach soon after and ascended to offensive coordinator when Cam Cameron was let go in early December.
Now Caldwell has his second Super Bowl ring. Truth be told, the Ravens didn't change their scheme radically once Caldwell took over, but the 2012 season still acted as image rehab for a coach who's well-respected in league circles.
Around The League caught up with Caldwell in the winning locker room on Sunday night, where we asked him if he saw Joe Flacco's dominant postseason run coming.
"I'm not certain you can ever say you can see a dominant playoff run like this," Caldwell said. "To win the Super Bowl, it's difficult. But if you ask me if I saw improvement coming? That I thought he was going to be exactly what he showed this year? Yeah, and he's not finished yet.
"He's young. Five years in this league at that position is really nothing. This is where you start to see a lot of growth and development with these guys. I think you're going to see him even get better."
Caldwell recalled his first time in front of the team after replacing Cameron.
"I told them collectively what I saw. I've been around a lot of teams I've coached in the past, but very few teams had the ability to run the ball like this team, had the ability to throw the ball because we have playmakers," he said. "And what I wanted to do was just try to make things as simple as we possibly can and let all that talent come to the surface."
Peyton Manning came out in support of Caldwell last month, saying Caldwell deserved another shot as a head coach. Leading the offense of a Super Bowl champion with a young star quarterback entrenched, Caldwell is in great position to continue his move back up the NFL personnel ladder.
Follow Dan Hanzus on Twitter @DanHanzus.
