It’s 4th-and-3 at the Pittsburgh Steelers’ eight-yard line with two minutes remaining and the Baltimore Ravens down four points, making it touchdown-or-bust territory. Baltimore’s running backs were averaging 6.45 yards-per-carry on the day, so of course, they lined up in a jumbo package and let their young ball carriers feast, right?
Nope.
The Ravens lined up in a spread formation with Jackson as the only player in the backfield. He took the quarterback keeper two yards and fumbled, turning the ball over and all but killing the Ravens’ chances of winning the game.
If you’ve watched Baltimore play at all over the last two seasons, you’ll be all too familiar with this decision. Offensive coordinator Greg Roman has often abandoned the run at the worst possible times. Whether it be early in a game when an opposing offense is capable of putting up big points (even with the score close), or in game-critical moments like this, Roman has left his running backs as little more than spectators.
While Jackson deserves the burden of this loss as a whole, Roman earned a heavy dose of criticism himself. With the game on the line, Roman took out his most effective players on the day to give it to a guy who had three fumbles, two interceptions, and at least one near-interception on what was absolutely the worst game of his professional career.
I could better understand any argument to give it to Jackson if Baltimore’s running backs had been boom-or-bust throughout the game. However, of the 31 rushing attempts Gus Edwards and J.K. Dobbins had on the day, a grand total of seven were for fewer than three yards, including a one-yard touchdown run. If we take out Edwards’ one-yard touchdown, 80% of the Ravens’ runs by running backs in Week 8 would have picked up that first down. Compare that to Jackson’s five designed runs (not counting sacks or this specific run) that went for fewer than three yards (66.66% success rate) and even the analytics make it sound like a poor decision.
Jackson can and undoubtedly will bounce back but he unquestionably had a terrible game in every single regard possible. If you’re Greg Roman, why give it to a guy who had struggled through the air, on the ground, and with turnovers? Going even further, why completely take the option off the table to even make the defense believe it was going to a running back by lining up in a spread set? It’ll be on Ravens’ fans minds until Baltimore either starts winning games against quality opponents, changes that philosophy, or someone answers the question earnestly. But frustrations are quickly mounting against an offense that just can’t get out of its own way this season.
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