There has been some concern in the past few weeks about the state of the Baltimore Ravens offense. The defending AFC North Champions are 4-1, and their defense is playing at a high level, but the inconsistency on the offensive side of the football is worrisome for some.
Quarterback Lamar Jackson, for his part, is not too concerned at the moment:
"We're 4-1 so it doesn't really matter. We're doing fine without me running as much." @Lj_era8 pic.twitter.com/pKeaPDoO3z
— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) October 14, 2020
But at this point in the season, the Ravens are just 20th in total offense with 1,698 yards gained. Jackson has thrown for just 894 yards, a far cry from the numbers he posted a season ago when he secured his first league MVP. Last week in a win over the Cincinnati Bengals, the Ravens offense accounted for 20 points, but Jackson completed 19 of 37 passes for only 180 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. The Ravens running game, dominant a season ago, managed 161 yards on 24 carries, but 42 of those came from one carry from wide receiver Devin Duvernay and another 37 came on one carry from running back J.K. Dobbins. Strip those away, and you have 22 carries for 82 yards. Solid but not the dominance from 2019.
Head coach John Harbaugh gave credit to the Cincinnati Bengals defense during his Monday press conference, and he did so rather expansively.
“They did do something completely different. They ran a true college four-three type of a look. They were playing quarters with the safeties low. They played that in the past, but they hadn’t played it yet this year. So, it was a new defense that we thought we might get, but we didn’t get a chance to rep it out very much, just because they hadn’t done it yet this year. And that is indicative, to your point, and that happens to us quite a bit. So, that’s something we’ve got to learn to deal with and handle as an offense, because we run a unique scheme. As far as the passing numbers, I went back and looked at that. I’ve got them here. I really don’t have a problem with the numbers – 37 passes and [24] runs. That’s something, but that’s not the whole story. There were 11 passes in two-minute at the end of the half, so 11 of those passes came in two-minute.
“We had two two-minute drives at the end of the half, and those are pretty much all passes, so those are going to be passes. So, those 11 passes are what they are; they’re situational. On first and second down throughout the course of the game, we had 20 runs and 13 passes. So, that’s a high number in the NFL. It’s even high for us. Isn’t it about 60%, if you do the math? I’m not sure. You guys are probably better at math than me. I don’t mind 20-13 as far as a run-pass ratio on first and second down. Third down – we had 11 passes, and we had four runs, even. So, that’s something … It’s really based on whether you’re in third-and-short, third-and-medium [or] third-and-long. So, a lot of this stuff is situational. Then at the end of the game, we had five plays in the fourth quarter, including the victory play at the end. So, it’s almost like they ran our four-minute for us at the end of the game, the way they were moving the ball down the field kind of methodically trying to get that score. So, they kind of chewed the clock up for us. I would have loved to have punted, forced a punt, got them off the field and gotten the ball back and had a chance to run the ball some more at the end of the fourth quarter. So, I think the basic, raw numbers are more indicative of the situations that we were in, than they were any design or anything play-calling-wise.
“I think what we all want to do is just continue to improve execution and how we attack defenses that we’re going against. So, like I said last week, we’re still very much a work in progress. We have a lot to improve on. Run, pass, run-pass options, quarterback-driven, play-action pass; all those things are things that we have to chase all areas and continue to improve. And I think the game planning, and in the end, the run-pass numbers, will take care of themselves.”
In this video breakdown we’ll look closer at the Ravens passing game against Cincinnati, highlighting both some missed opportunities from Baltimore, as well as some of those different things the Bengals did to confuse the Ravens and throw off their timing in the passing game:
If you are a Ravens fan, your silver lining is this: Sometimes missed opportunities are a stepping-stone to bigger things, provided you learn the applicable lessons. In the weeks ahead we’ll see if the Baltimore offense learns those lessons.