National Post (National Edition)
Reworked offence could be feather in Ravens’ cap
Whatever eye-popping new offence the Baltimore Ravens have cooked up for this NFL season, head coach John Harbaugh is promising schematic diversity.
New Ravens offensive co-ordinator Greg Roman has designed what Harbaugh suggested earlier this week might — in the same way “the game was probably revolutionized with Bill Walsh and Joe Montana” with the San Francisco 49ers in the 1980s, from a passing standpoint — spin NFL offence in an entirely different direction.
“What’s the next era going to be? We’re about to find out,” Harbaugh said.
No one in the Ravens organization is taking a step back from that bold statement, either. “I just have to go out there and prove coach right, that’s all,” second-year starting quarterback Lamar Jackson said.
For his part, Roman on Sunday confirmed to reporters that, yes, what he has designed is “definitely a next-level-type thing compared” to the nifty, motion-heavy, read-option-flavoured run/pass attacks he designed under John’s brother Jim for ex-49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick from 201214 and for former Buffalo Bills QB Tyrod Taylor under Rex Ryan from 2015-16.
In an interview Wednesday with Postmedia, Harbaugh said Roman’s offence is specifically designed for Jackson and his backups, primarily Robert Griffin III (who sparkled in a dual-threat spread attack at Baylor and during his rookie season in a similar offence with the Washington Redskins) and rookie Trace McSorley (who shone in a cutting-edge, read-option spread offence at Penn State). “It’s still football,” Harbaugh said. “It still has all the elements of football. … But by the same token it’s not the standard quote-unquote NFL passing offence and complementary run offence.”
Following Wednesday’s training camp practice at team headquarters in front of close to 1,500 fans, Harbaugh not only touched on the much-talked-about new offence and his quarterbacks, but the big effects two free-agent signees have had, plus his thoughts on the new rule that allows pass interference to be reviewed.
HERE’S AN EDITED VERSION OF OUR Q&A: Q Last year at this time, you revealed to me that Jackson not only would play in 2018, but play at quarterback. Uh, you were right.
A I had some control over that.
Q As with Jackson last year, are you able to say whether rookie Trace McSorley similarly will see some playing time and at quarterback?
A I’d just say anything is possible, especially with Greg Roman. Anything’s possible. And you’ve got Robert Griffin, too. He’ll be backup quarterback when he returns.
Q What can you tell me about this novel new offence you’ve been promising without tipping your cards?
A I think it’ll be different, but something people are used to seeing. It’s still football. It still has all the elements of football, so if you love football, y’know, it’s football. But by the same token, it’s not the standard quote-unquote NFL passing offence and complementary run offence.
Q I saw a lot of Roman’s offence in Buffalo and players there talked about the extraordinary thickness of that playbook. Has he streamlined it or just given everybody thick binders — or thick iPads, I guess it is now?
A Yeah, thick iPads (chuckles). There’s a lot to it. We have a lot of elements, but we spent the whole off-season on really trying to do as much as we can to make it as learnable and as logically coherent as we could. That’s just something I think we owe the players. He’s done a good job with that. But, yeah, we’ll be doing a lot of stuff.
Q Is it built around not just Jackson, but all the quarterbacks you now have?
A Yeah. We wanted to stay consistent with that. You always build around the quarterback. So we don’t want to have different-styled quarterbacks, like we did last year, then we had to deal with that (schematic change) in the middle of the season. That was our situation last year and it was a good situation; we had Joe Flacco. But this year, we put them all in the same category.
Q And I guess it’s better to hammer out all those growing pains in spring and summer as opposed to in November.
A Exactly.
Q Running back Mark Ingram (formerly of New Orleans) and safety Earl Thomas (formerly of Seattle) might be the two least talked-about but most impactful free-agent acquisitions of the NFL off-season.
A I agree.
Q What does Ingram bring to your offence?
A Well, I knew Mark by reputation and that people liked him. But I didn’t know until having him around what type of leader he is. What a positive influencer he is and how much energy he has and how hard he works. All those things — things you hope you get, but when you get them like we get them with him to that level, it’s pretty encouraging.”
WE SPENT THE WHOLE OFF-SEASON ON REALLY TRYING TO DO AS MUCH AS WE CAN TO MAKE IT AS LEARNABLE AND AS LOGICALLY COHERENT AS WE COULD.