It’s early, but I think we’re going to see a dramatically different Ravens offense in 2023. It will have a different offensive coordinator, and that’s a start.
Much-maligned Greg Roman announced today that he’s resigning. With the struggles they’ve had passing the ball, I’m not sure he would have been given the opportunity to come back.
Roman has been Baltimore’s offensive coordinator since 2019, and on his watch, they’ve had the most productive running game in the league, averaging 32 more yards per game than any other team. They averaged 175 rushing yards in Roman’s 66 games, with 77 rushing touchdowns.
It helps, of course, to have the game’s best running quarterback, but Roman also contributed with his play-calling and offensive design. Roman also had his fingerprints on San Francisco’s offense 10 years ago, when it was putting up big rushing numbers with Colin Kaepernick.
| RUSHING STATS (last 4 years) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Offense | Yds/G | Yds/Att | TD |
| Baltimore | 175.2 | 5.27 | 77 |
| Tennessee | 143.2 | 4.71 | 86 |
| Cleveland | 139.9 | 4.85 | 75 |
| Philadelphia | 139.2 | 4.71 | 89 |
| San Francisco | 132.1 | 4.50 | 84 |
| Indianapolis | 129.3 | 4.57 | 67 |
| Dallas | 126.6 | 4.44 | 71 |
| Buffalo | 126.4 | 4.65 | 64 |
| Seattle | 125.6 | 4.79 | 60 |
| Arizona | 123.9 | 4.53 | 78 |
| Chicago | 123.3 | 4.47 | 52 |
| New England | 121.4 | 4.30 | 73 |
| Minnesota | 121.3 | 4.46 | 67 |
| New Orleans | 120.8 | 4.26 | 66 |
| Green Bay | 120.1 | 4.51 | 59 |
| NY Giants | 116.1 | 4.51 | 53 |
| Carolina | 114.8 | 4.38 | 72 |
| Denver | 114.2 | 4.31 | 51 |
| Las Vegas | 113.4 | 4.31 | 59 |
| Washington | 112.1 | 4.18 | 49 |
| Kansas City | 110.5 | 4.49 | 63 |
| Detroit | 109.3 | 4.29 | 59 |
| Jacksonville | 107.5 | 4.53 | 41 |
| Atlanta | 107.0 | 4.10 | 51 |
| LA Rams | 104.0 | 4.02 | 64 |
| LA Chargers | 99.9 | 3.98 | 57 |
| Cincinnati | 99.3 | 3.96 | 52 |
| Pittsburgh | 97.8 | 3.84 | 45 |
| Houston | 96.6 | 3.99 | 42 |
| NY Jets | 95.3 | 4.00 | 42 |
| Miami | 92.4 | 3.79 | 49 |
| Tampa Bay | 91.2 | 3.89 | 54 |
Roman, however, was never able to develop much of a passing attack. During his four years, the Ravens ranked next-to-last in passing yards, averaging only 196 yards per game. A 104-50 ratio of touchdown passes to interceptions, at least, which is an above-average ratio.
| PASSING, YARDS PER GAME (last 4 years) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Offense | Pct | Yds/G | TD | Int | |
| Tampa Bay | 65.1% | 292.2 | 144 | 64 | 80 |
| Kansas City | 66.4% | 291.0 | 148 | 37 | 111 |
| LA Chargers | 66.5% | 274.8 | 119 | 55 | 64 |
| Dallas | 65.6% | 264.4 | 123 | 53 | 70 |
| Las Vegas | 66.6% | 252.2 | 101 | 49 | 52 |
| Buffalo | 63.5% | 250.2 | 132 | 53 | 79 |
| LA Rams | 65.3% | 246.4 | 99 | 64 | 35 |
| Minnesota | 67.1% | 246.3 | 125 | 43 | 82 |
| Cincinnati | 64.8% | 242.2 | 108 | 53 | 55 |
| San Francisco | 66.7% | 240.9 | 109 | 53 | 56 |
| Detroit | 64.1% | 240.7 | 107 | 49 | 58 |
| Green Bay | 66.3% | 239.2 | 140 | 28 | 112 |
| Miami | 63.8% | 237.9 | 97 | 60 | 37 |
| Atlanta | 65.3% | 234.7 | 93 | 50 | 43 |
| Arizona | 66.7% | 231.7 | 91 | 53 | 38 |
| Seattle | 67.6% | 228.8 | 131 | 38 | 93 |
| Houston | 65.5% | 226.8 | 101 | 55 | 46 |
| New Orleans | 67.0% | 225.5 | 117 | 41 | 76 |
| Jacksonville | 62.6% | 225.1 | 86 | 50 | 36 |
| Philadelphia | 61.7% | 222.3 | 94 | 47 | 47 |
| New England | 64.8% | 215.8 | 80 | 50 | 30 |
| Pittsburgh | 63.8% | 214.7 | 88 | 55 | 33 |
| Indianapolis | 63.9% | 211.4 | 90 | 49 | 41 |
| Cleveland | 61.3% | 210.0 | 89 | 55 | 34 |
| Carolina | 61.2% | 208.7 | 63 | 71 | -8 |
| Denver | 61.1% | 208.3 | 75 | 57 | 18 |
| Tennessee | 65.3% | 205.6 | 100 | 40 | 60 |
| Washington | 63.5% | 199.8 | 79 | 60 | 19 |
| NY Jets | 59.1% | 199.6 | 70 | 64 | 6 |
| NY Giants | 62.3% | 198.6 | 74 | 54 | 20 |
| Baltimore | 63.9% | 196.4 | 104 | 50 | 54 |
| Chicago | 62.8% | 187.5 | 81 | 63 | 18 |
Statistics compiled using search tools at Pro-Football-Reference.com
Where things go from here, remains to be seen. They’ve got to figure out if Lamar Jackson is coming back. They probably want him to return, but they could have difficulty re-signing him.
At coordinator, I expect they’ll be looking for somebody who can add some juice to the passing game. I expect they’ll add a notable receiver (in addition to getting Rashod Bateman back), but I think they’ll also want to add a coordinator who can bring in some new ideas about how to draw up the plays. If they can continue to post top-5 or top-10 rushing numbers while making the passing game more viable, that would make for a dangerous offense.
For now, the roles of all of the players on this offense are up in the air. Obviously, the entire offense is radically different if they move on from Lamar Jackson. Mark Andrews won’t be as heavily used if he’s sharing the stage with a pair of good wide receivers. And J.K. Dobbins (pictured) could be used in a more traditional way, perhaps catching more passes to go along with his rushing production.
—Ian Allan