Okay, I've had time to simmer and gather my thoughts and I'm just going to spew them out.
1. If this is what Greg Roman has to offer offensively, then why is he here? I don't know how much of the passing game improving is Tee Martin and Keith Williams, how much is Greg Roman, and how much is Lamar Jackson just being an elite quarterback and it's hard to have a bad passing game with an elite quarterback, but what I do know is that the running game is supposed to be Greg Roman's forte and right now, they're awful. Take away Lamar's long run and the Ravens had 3.2 yards per carry. And most of that was really just Lamar breaking a few nice runs. I shutter to think what the running game looks like with someone like Joe Flacco in at quarterback.
It seems like the Ravens are getting away from the read option on running plays. Someone can feel free to correct me if I'm wrong on this one, and that may be due to Lamar wanting to run less and focus on being more of a passer. If that is the case, can the running game prop itself up on its own? Can the Ravens run a smash mouth football style when Lamar isn't accounting for a guaranteed 1,000 yard season and threatening defenses and drawing so much attention to himself? I don't know.
With all of that said, it's very frustrating with the run game (which is supposed to be Greg Roman's forte) because the Ravens only really sustained one long drive. Every other drive outside of the 10 minute drive was 3:01 or less. The Ravens are just absolutely failing to grind the clock and it ended up costing them big time. It's an absolute failure that the Ravens allowed four touchdown passes in the fourth quarter, but the Dolphins had four possessions in the fourth quarter largely because the Ravens could not sustain a drive.
And most infuriatingly, the absolute commitment to what wasn't working. The run game was ass with the running backs. The Ravens had the ball five times within the five yard line on one drive and four times at the 1. Why would you run all five times when you've seen it stuffed? And then not only that, but the Ravens kept doubling down on it in critical situations. Personally, I'd have done what the Patriots did in 2014 against the Ravens in the playoffs- literally just stop running with the running backs. Use the pass game as an extension of the running game if you want, but Lamar was absolutely cooking. I'd have rather placed the ball in the hands of the best player on your team instead of *checks notes* Mike Davis and Kenyan Drake... Yeah, they aren't it, chief.
I'm getting a little scrambled with my thoughts, but just to add this in- I have zero issue with going for it on fourth twice. However, I have extreme issues with the short yardage play calling. The dive didn't work the first five times. Why would it work the next five?
2. Just an absolute failure by the defense. I know a lot came down to injuries, but where was the pass rush? After the pass rush performance against the Jets, I'm actually in disbelief that the Ravens disappeared as much as they did. Miami did some work to revamp their offensive line, but it's not like they got the 2014 Cowboys offensive line out there. This offensive line, minus Terron Armstead, feels like it's pretty much a wash with the 2021 line and that line was considered the worst in the NFL and one of the worst lines in recent memory.
It's just infuriating because Tua is an atrocious quarterback on the move and when pressured. I hate PFF with a passion, but I don't know how else to really get this point across, but they graded Tua -40 points when pressured vs not pressured.
So, we have a terrible offensive line and a quarterback that's poor against pressure. The Ravens showed a really good pass rush, especially from the interior against the Jets, so naturally this works in their favor, right? I just don't get how the Ravens managed to manufacture zero pressure. The commentators pointed out that on three straight plays, Houston was unblocked and that honestly feels like the only pressure the Ravens got. I know they only finished with two quarterback hits.
I absolutely loathed Wink because he was unable to get pressure while being the most blitz happy coordinator in the NFL. He showed no creativity and zero ability to manufacture a pass rush. It's infuriating that the issue reared its ugly head again. However, I can't hold that too much against MacDonald because...
3. Eric DeCosta really fumbled the ball. The Ravens knew coming into the season that Ojabo is coming off of an achilles, Bowser is coming off of an achilles, Edwards is coming off of an achilles, and Dobbins is coming off of a blown up knee. Naturally, it would seem wise to have a contingency plan.
I know the Ravens were in on ZDS, but once that fell through, it really seemed like the Ravens got caught with their pants down. They had no contingency. So instead, the Ravens are now relying on two OLBs on the main roster and PS call ups, which is great for a premium position in the NFL. I really do hope that Bowser and Ojabo come back and have great seasons, but in the very real chance that the injuries cause them to have slow seasons, what then? What are the Ravens going to do?
I have the same thought process about the running backs, but so far, it appears they wouldn't make a ton of difference, anyway. The line is just not getting it done and the only real switch I could see is Stanley in for Mekari, but Stanley hasn't been known to be the most road grading of tackles. I mean, he's a good run blocker, but he's not going to be the missing link that all of a sudden turns the failures of the running game back to 2019.
I just view the failures of the offseason like how I did in 2020 when Yanda retired. Everyone and their mother, except apparently the Ravens, knew that losing Yanda was an absolutely massive blow and would require a very concerted effort to make sure the offensive line didn't fall apart because of how much the Ravens were losing with no Yanda. Well, the Ravens didn't have a contingency plan and rolled the dice on Phillips and it blew up in their faces. They of course remedied this in 2021 by getting Zeitler, who has been great, but why is it taking a full season to fix the known issues? In the case of the pass rush, more than one.
The sad thing- it's not going to get any easier because Lamar is not playing himself into a cheap contract at this rate. At this rate, he's going to cost even more and then roster construction gets even tighter. The Ravens have got to do better.
So, anyway, I view it as a top down failure at every level of the team. I think the team, outside of Lamar and a select few others, really blew this game. And that really sucks because this could very well be a "what if" game come playoff time.
