The Ravens beat the Broncos.
Barely!
For weeks I’ve been beating a drum that sounds like this:
“Keep improving each week, steal wins along the way, and good things will happen!”
The Ravens stole a win yesterday against the Broncos. It was a game that the Ravens would never have won against a good team. And this just in! The Broncos aren’t a good team. Their offense is inept and their head coach is in way over his head. Just ask Broncos fans.
As for the Ravens, they aren’t all that great either. Is there a universe that currently exists where the Ravens could compete with the likes of the Bengals, Chiefs, Bills, Eagles, Cowboys, 49ers…need I continue? Yesterday was Fool’s Gold, but John Harbaugh wants you to believe that it was a character revealing win.
"Character gets rewarded in the end. That was a character victory." pic.twitter.com/ak6w5CYXv5
— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) December 4, 2022
Is anyone else tired of this rhetoric? Is anyone else tired of hearing that the Ravens are going to go to work, correct the mistakes and keep stacking good practices. The Ravens offense couldn’t stack hot cakes at the neighborhood pancake social.
Who’s got it better than us?
If you said, “Nobody!”, then perhaps I can interest you in some Blockbuster stock.
Let’s put this all in perspective, shall we? The Ravens, the AFC North leader at (8-4), head to Pittsburgh in Week 14 to take on Kenny Pickett and the (5-7) Steelers – as 2 point underdogs. But don’t fret. The Ravens have character, they plan to stack good practices, get better every day and most importantly, nobody has it better than them.
I doubt that you’d get No. 8 to agree.
Even before his injury in yesterday’s game, Lamar Jackson has looked rather dreadful for a while and certainly not worthy of a $23M/year contract, much less $50M. His chaotic and oftentimes frenetic style of play has now become a disappointingly familiar look. He doesn’t trust his receivers; he holds the ball too long; his mechanics are awry and he just seems to keep repeating the same mistakes with little sign of progression. And unfortunately there’s more of the opposite – regression.
That said, it isn’t all on Lamar. Let’s face it, he’s saddled with an offensive coordinator whose route concepts in the passing game are about as cutting edge as an 8-track player. He’s saddled with a collection of receivers on the 53-man roster (DeSean Jackson is on the practice squad) who have combined career totals of 296 catches for 3,194 yards and 20 touchdowns. To put that in perspective, the Cincinnati Bengals top 3 receivers through 12 games just this season, have a combined 159 catches for 2,218 yards and 15 TD’s. This collective posse of receivers that the Ravens dress is an embarrassment. Some might not even survive cutdown day at the University of Alabama!
How did it get this bad?
Yesterday, four Ravens receivers combined for 17 catches. Not exactly a bad number until you consider that those completions totaled just 94 yards – 5.5 yards per catch.
An extremely Tyler Huntley spray chart.
He finished with the fourth-highest single-game completion percentage of any qualifying Ravens QB ever (84.4%) but averaged just 5.8 YPA, one of this week's lowest rates. pic.twitter.com/dJWcjdrXBJ
— Jonas Shaffer (@jonas_shaffer) December 5, 2022
Whether he goes to Stanford or not remains to be seen, but it’s clear that Greg Roman has to go. Yes he implements wonderful ideas and concepts to the running attack. But perhaps those have plateaued while the passing game completely tanks. That double reverse/flea flicker/gadget play/cluster that finished with James Proche throwing an interception in the end zone to a player who was quadruple-covered – DID THAT REALLY HAPPEN?
Trailing 9-3 in the fourth quarter and facing a 2nd-and-7 from the Broncos 29, Roman drew a play in the dirt that looked like something a group of 10-year-olds at the neighborhood park might design. Only the kids probably would have scored.
Perfect specimen of "GREG ROMAN IN HIS BAG."
Ravens receiver James Proche has never thrown a pass in high school, college or in the pros. Can't understand why Greg Roman still has a job in this league. The incompetence is egregious. #RavensFlock #DENvsBALpic.twitter.com/MOrsaGRIa2
— Maher 🇵🇸 (@pabloikonyero) December 4, 2022
Someone please toss Roman’s “Vault” into that dumpster fire. Please!
So where do the Ravens go from here?
I think it’s fair to say that the offense under Roman’s guidance, has peaked. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not all his fault. Not his fault that the team’s anchor on the offensive front has played in just a handful of games across 2 ½ seasons; not his fault that Lamar misses wide open receivers; not his fault that the team has far too many drops; not his fault that he’s been without the services of Gus Edwards and J.K. Dobbins for most of the season. But Roman is culpable and something has to give or the season will give out.
If the Ravens want to take that next leap necessary to compete with the conference’s best teams, the passing game HAS TO improve. Otherwise they will be one and done in the playoffs, assuming they even get that far. We will see the same thing unfold in January that we’ve seen in Januarys past under the Harbaugh/Roman tag team. We’ll see opponents force the Ravens to beat them through the air after clamping down on the run game and Mark Andrews. And they won’t be able to.
And when the team is sitting at home watching the playoffs come mid-January, the organization’s leaders will look towards 2023 and the tough offseason decisions that lie ahead. Will they pay Roquan Smith? Will they pay Lamar? Can they attract free agent wide receivers with THIS offense guided by THIS offensive coordinator?
Is there any reason to think that the results will be any different?
And by the way, how can anyone take an offensive coordinator seriously when he rationalizes the Ravens deliberate pre-snap approach that has cost them a league-leading number of delay of game penalties, like this:
“So, if we snap the ball an average of four seconds later than other teams, over the course of a 70-play game, now you’re talking, what, four-and-a-half, five minutes where their offense can’t touch the ball. Those are treasures.” ~ Ravens offensive coordinator Greg Roman
The Broncos ran out of time during the end of the game. So I’m sure during their post-game evaluations the Ravens’ brain trust will conclude that had they gotten to the line of scrimmage faster, they may have lost the game. Logical right?
But I digress…
In the end, yesterday is who the Ravens are, for now.
And that’s the way it will stay as long as they continue down the path of this same, tired, obsolete approach to offense.
[Related Article: Ravens v. Broncos Report Card]
Other Thoughts
The Ravens offensive line was manhandled by the Broncos in both the run game and passing game…I wonder what DeSean Jackson thinks of the Ravens offense…Nick Boyle had zero offensive snaps. So Charlie Kolar’s debuted has been delayed again because, why?…Speaking of delayed debuts, David Ojabo. Hello?
The Ravens defense tackled very well while limiting YAC opportunities for the Broncos. The two most active tacklers, Roquan Smith and Patrick Queen were outstanding. The pair combined for 20 tackles, three of which were for losses…The kick and punt coverage teams were very good, with notable standouts Daryl Worley and Kevon Seymour.
“Lamar [Jackson] has a knee, but it’s not a season-ending-type of knee. We’ll get more tests tomorrow and let you know how long it’s going to be; we’ll see. Hopefully, I’ll have something for you tomorrow afternoon, certainly by Wednesday it will be more definitive, but’s it’s going to be a number [of] days to weeks. We’ll see; we’ll see if he can go back this week. If not, it’ll be some time after that shortly.” ~ John Harbaugh following yesterday’s game
We’ve been down this road before with Harbs and his injury projections. Who among you is going with “days” over “weeks”? I’ll wait…
But, all that said, the Ravens beat the Broncos, didn’t they?
11 Responses
Objective and incisive as usual, Tony! I don’t trust Harbaugh’s injury assessments anymore than I trust his old school, plodding, keep it close and play not to lose offensive philosophy that eschews the passing game in a league that bends over backwards to emphasize the pass! Assuming Roman goes, true to form, Harbaugh will hire another OC to do his bidding as he has his entire career here! So, I don’t expect anything to change while he’s here with good WRs deliberately avoiding playing in his system! Not sure what it will take to ultimately replace him, but Bisciotti did set a precedent with Billick! In closing, I will always be grateful to Joe Flacco, whose immense talent enabled him to win when it counted most in spite of Harbaugh’s system and inferior surrounding talent…….
Let’s hope Bisciotti is as objective as he seems when interviewed by someone who IS playing lights out, Marlo.
Tony, when you are right, you are right. I will hold my thoughts on Roquan until the end of the season. There’s a lot of trash to be thrown out though.
I’m sure the late snapping the ball thing came straight from the analytics department, just another reason to not overuse analytics in football. It’s application to the game is suspect. For the most part, the results here and around the league have been a resounding failure for analytics in football. That’s not to say there’s no place for it, teams just need a better understanding of how to best utilize it.
I like Roquan Smith, but his signing was the move of a team with deep playoff aspirations looking for the final piece of the puzzle. Given the abject failure of the offense, we are not that team. We are more likely heading for rebuilding vs. the AFC Championship game. We’re going to miss those two draft picks in April.
What did you expect Harbaugh to say in the locker room after a nail biter? We stink on offense but we won? The whole league now is a PR You Tube/Twitter video that’s what coaches get hired for now. Can you imagine Lombardi on video after a regular season game like yesterday? Cussing out his O line ? Personally I would love it but its not 1968 anymore Toto.
If Lamar doesn’t play next week, there’s no doubt in my mind the receiver statistics will be double the norm. Huntley, simply reads and reacts quicker.
Teams don’t defend Huntley the way they do Lamar. Huntley was running for his life against broncos he wasn’t reading and reacting to anything. If the organization thought so highly of Huntley as some fans do why hasn’t he been named the starter and Lamar traded?
this
This is like Groundhog Day again with Harbs. I believe that he believes and he is wrong. He is caught up in the rapture of the win – this ugly victory is just ugly and not heroic. He is so tied in with gRo that it’s hard extricate. He better figure it out fast or I know biscotti will for him. It may be time for Harbs as well if Lamar does not make it another year. Build on defense. If the next couple of games don’t go as planned – Baltimore should become sellers and earn back some picks for a building year.
Always coach speak with Harbs. Will never mention how the online grades out but so obvious just watching.