The Ravens are going to run the heck out of the ball this year. Unless they’re not. They’ve been working in a lot of new plays at their OTAs.
Baltimore, recall, put up insane rushing numbers in the second half of last season, running the ball like they were an Oklahoma or Nebraska team from the ‘70s. (While simultaneously having by far the league’s worst passing offense.)
In the first half of the season, with Joe Flacco at quarterback, the Ravens averaged almost 200 more passing than rushing yards per game. (194 more passing yards if we use net yards – with sacks factored in.)
In those first eight games, the Ravens gained 75 percent of their yards on pass plays.
| PASS/RUN YARDS (G 1-8) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Team | Pass | Run | Pct |
| Tampa Bay | 357 | 90 | 79.8% |
| NY Giants | 275 | 78 | 78.0% |
| Atlanta | 320 | 92 | 77.7% |
| Minnesota | 299 | 87 | 77.4% |
| Pittsburgh | 314 | 102 | 75.5% |
| Baltimore | 283 | 97 | 74.5% |
| Green Bay | 301 | 106 | 74.0% |
| Oakland | 259 | 95 | 73.1% |
| Cincinnati | 252 | 93 | 73.1% |
| Jacksonville | 258 | 95 | 73.0% |
| Kansas City | 310 | 115 | 73.0% |
| New Orleans | 290 | 112 | 72.1% |
| Arizona | 166 | 68 | 71.1% |
| Philadelphia | 260 | 107 | 70.9% |
| Detroit | 249 | 104 | 70.5% |
| New England | 267 | 115 | 69.8% |
| Indianapolis | 264 | 118 | 69.2% |
| LA Chargers | 270 | 129 | 67.7% |
| Miami | 226 | 108 | 67.7% |
| Houston | 256 | 123 | 67.5% |
| LA Rams | 292 | 151 | 65.9% |
| Denver | 248 | 133 | 65.0% |
| Washington | 222 | 122 | 64.6% |
| Chicago | 230 | 128 | 64.2% |
| NY Jets | 200 | 114 | 63.8% |
| Cleveland | 215 | 127 | 62.8% |
| Tennessee | 178 | 110 | 61.8% |
| San Francisco | 215 | 134 | 61.6% |
| Carolina | 228 | 144 | 61.3% |
| Buffalo | 149 | 97 | 60.5% |
| Seattle | 203 | 137 | 59.7% |
| Dallas | 188 | 129 | 59.4% |
In the final seven games, with Lamar Jackson at quarterback, the Ravens became an insanely run-dominant offense. In the second half of the season (which I’ll define as the final eight games for each team) the Ravens gained a league-low 44 percent of their yards on passes.
| PASS/RUN YARDS (G 9-16) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Team | Pass | Run | Pct |
| Pittsburgh | 312 | 79 | 79.8% |
| Philadelphia | 274 | 90 | 75.4% |
| Indianapolis | 294 | 97 | 75.2% |
| Tampa Bay | 284 | 100 | 73.9% |
| Kansas City | 309 | 117 | 72.5% |
| Cleveland | 286 | 109 | 72.4% |
| San Francisco | 269 | 104 | 72.1% |
| Atlanta | 262 | 105 | 71.4% |
| LA Chargers | 241 | 105 | 69.6% |
| Green Bay | 229 | 103 | 69.0% |
| NY Jets | 195 | 89 | 68.7% |
| Dallas | 254 | 117 | 68.5% |
| LA Rams | 272 | 128 | 68.0% |
| Minnesota | 206 | 100 | 67.4% |
| Carolina | 252 | 123 | 67.2% |
| Denver | 214 | 105 | 67.1% |
| Oakland | 210 | 109 | 65.9% |
| Detroit | 198 | 103 | 65.8% |
| New England | 266 | 139 | 65.6% |
| Chicago | 215 | 114 | 65.4% |
| NY Giants | 231 | 128 | 64.2% |
| Houston | 217 | 130 | 62.6% |
| Washington | 156 | 100 | 60.9% |
| New Orleans | 215 | 141 | 60.4% |
| Arizona | 150 | 100 | 59.9% |
| Cincinnati | 160 | 118 | 57.6% |
| Tennessee | 194 | 143 | 57.5% |
| Buffalo | 200 | 151 | 57.0% |
| Miami | 136 | 109 | 55.5% |
| Jacksonville | 131 | 120 | 52.1% |
| Seattle | 184 | 183 | 50.1% |
| Baltimore | 162 | 209 | 43.7% |
You might figure, given the data, that the Ravens would have a good chance of finishing first in rushing and last in passing in 2019.
But Baltimore has a new offensive coordinator, and apparently things are looking radically different. Marty Mornhinweg is gone, and it’s looking like Greg Roman (the new coordinator) is going to work in a lot more passes.
Lamar Jackson says the changes are more severe than he was expecting. Strangely, he also indicates that nobody from the team told him in February, March or April that the offense would be so severely re-worked.
"Coming in, I didn't know we would have a totally different offense,” said Jackson, in an article appearing on CBS Sports. "When I got here, coach was like, 'Yea, we have a totally new system. You're going to have go through this and that.' It's been getting to me a little bit."
I still expect to see lots of running. I don’t know that Jackson is much of a passer just yet. But if it’s a little more balanced than what I was expecting, that would make Hollywood Brown a little more appealing with a late-round gamble pick. And more passing might allow Mark Andrews to put up top-10 tight end numbers.
—Ian Allan