Street Talk

BEHIND THE NUMBERS: Tracking the Ravens’ new offense

by Scot Kleinfeld

November 26, 2008
4:00 am

Reading Time: < 1 minute

BTN will provide the team rankings of the Ravens opponents for an easy comparison tool for the remainder of the season.

Although the passing and total yards stats are still very low, the offense has become reliable and efficient in the Red Zone. Cam Cameron’s play calling inside the 20 yard line has the Ravens at a TD conversion percentage of 54.5%. One reason the yardage numbers are not there is because lately the defense has been creating turnovers and giving the offense a short field to work with. The Turnover ratio ranking is also at a season-high of +6.

The defense should be able to continue to feast as the only remaining opponent with an offense ranked inside the top 20 is Dallas.

Check back each week to see if Cam’s new system is leading the boys in the right direction this year. Here’s where the offense stands after week 12.

Ravens offense

Statistic	2007 Rank	2007 Avg.	2008 Rank (thru week 12)	2008 Avg. (thru week 12)
Total offense (yds / gm)	22^nd	302.0	24^th	311.9
Pass yards per game	23^rd	189.7	29^th	168.5
Rush yards per game	16^th	112.3	4^th	143.5
Pts per game	24^th	17.2	T-13^th	23.5
3^rd down conversion %	18^th	38%	13^th	42.7%
Penalty yards per game	29^th	54.6	27^th	55.1
Penalties per game	27^th	6.7	28^th	7.3
Turnover ratio	32^nd	-17	T-5^th	+6
Red zone conversion %	27^th	42.2%	14^th	54.5%

Remaining 2008 schedule

Team (record)	Offense Ranking (PPG)	Defense Ranking (PPG)
at Cincinnati (1-9-1)	31^st	24^th
Washington (7-4)	27^th	5^th
Pittsburgh (8-3)	23^rd	1^st
at Dallas (7-4)	12^th	20^th
Jacksonville (4-7)	24^th	14^th
Total winning %: 27-27-1 (.491)

Photo by Sabina Moran

Scot Kleinfeld

Scot is a Baltimore native, a Towson University graduate, and has followed sports since the early 1980's. Scot likes to go inside the numbers and get the real "411" on the wins and losses, hence his Behind The Numbers column. Besides being an avid sports fan, Scot has been involved with televison sports production as an Associate Producer since 1993 for WMAR, ESPN, ESPNU,ESPN2, and the former Home Team Sports network. In addition to his television work Scot has written articles for Baltimore Magazine, Lacrosse Magazine and Patuxent Publishing. These experiences make him a natural as the creator of the Media Watchdog, another of SK's fine contributions.