Since the Ravens beat the Chargers 34-6 at M&T Bank Stadium back on October 17th and advanced to (5-1) on the season, they’ve gone (3-3), yet still sit atop the AFC North with a one-game lead over the Bengals.
Including his efforts against Derwin James & Co, covering six games, Lamar’s passer rating is a putrid 72.9, featuring 8 scoring strikes against 10 interceptions. He’s also been sacked 24 times. Tyler Huntley subbed for Lamar Jackson in Chicago going 26 of 36 for 219 yards, 0 TD’s and 1 INT. That somewhat shaky performance actually raised the team’s passer rating dating back to the win over LA to 73.4. Huntley was sacked 6 times facing the Bears – so make that 30 sacks allowed over the course of 7 games.
To put those sack totals in perspective, in 2020 the Ravens allowed 32 sacks the entire season and in 2019 they surrendered 28 sacks over the course of the 16-game campaign. Obviously something is seriously wrong and it’s more than just bad offensive line play.
The Ravens have been blitzed regularly over the course of these last 7 games. They know it’s coming and not only have they failed to take advantage of it (the best offenses do), the Ravens can’t even figure out how to neutralize it. Game after game the Ravens offense:
• Is slow to the LOS, thus undermining their ability to make pre-snap adjustments
• Fails to utilize hot reads to exploit abandoned areas by blitzers
• Seldom moves the pocket to provide O-line relief
• Has the most mobile quarterback in the history of the NFL yet they aren’t interested in designed boots, rollouts or waggles to pressure defenses
• Refuses to implement the use of a no-huddle offense until they are in desperation mode
Last week when asked if the Ravens might consider using Devin Duvernay in more creative ways similar to the way the 49ers use Deebo Samuel, Greg Roman had this to say:
“We have tons of stuff sitting in the vault, you know what I mean? Whether or not we choose to unlock the vault … It’s a long season. The thing you’ll probably notice is teams that go crazy with that stuff, it dries up after a little bit, and then [they say], ‘Now, what do I have?’ I like to space things out throughout the course of the season.”
What are you waiting for G-Ro?
I don’t pretend to understand football the way Roman does. He’s forgotten more about football than I’ll ever know. But what I do know is that if a team shows an opponent some new wrinkle, they have to account for it. The opponent has to spend time in meeting rooms and in practice preparing for it. When they’re on the field they have to think about said wrinkles and thinking by the laws of nature, slows down a defender. And guess what happens when a defender does slow down because he’s forced to think too much?
Opportunities arise for the offense.
It’s said often about people who accumulate wealth for the sake of stuffing their financial vaults, that you can’t take it with you when you’re gone.
Maybe Greg Roman should heed that advice as it relates to his alleged vault.
