Ravens’ new offense doesn’t live up to hype
Uninspiring win in opener leaves plenty of room to grow
Coach John Harbaugh probably had the best summary for the Ravens’ offense in a 25-9 season-opening win against the Houston Texans on Sunday at M&T Bank Stadium.
“I thought the offense played a winning football game,” Harbaugh said. “I’m proud of them. I’m really happy with what we did. I’m looking forward to where we can go from here.”
That’s about it.
It was a highly anticipated offensive performance, maybe the most eagerly awaited since the Ravens played their first game at old Memorial Stadium in 1996, but there was nothing magical about this show. There was nothing that made anyone think that Kansas City Chiefs coach Andy Reid was calling the plays in Baltimore now, or that this offense was the reincarnation of the St. Louis Rams’ “Greatest Show on Turf ” at the turn of the century.
The Ravens had only 265 yards of total offense, three fewer than the Texans who were playing with a rookie quarterback in C.J. Stroud and without three starting offensive linemen. Calling this performance, along with the 13 penalties for 106 yards, ugly would have been nice.
“I was talking to some of the guys, it’s just different getting out there in a game — the game speed, operating, the crowd noise — all of it,” Harbaugh said. “It’s something you get a sense for and that kind of goes in not playing in the preseason a little bit, but they handled it, and now we’re off and running.”
It’s understandable why Harbaugh was downplaying the offensive performance. There are still 16 games left in the regular season, and the Ravens didn’t play most of their starters in the three preseason games. Yet, at the same time, that’s what made Sunday’s opening so appealing.
The Ravens forced former offensive coordinator Greg Roman and his prehistoric run-dominated offense to step down in February and brought in Todd Monken, who won the past two national championships while calling plays for the University of Georgia. The Bulldogs averaged 39.8 points and 472 yards per game during their title runs.
We kept hearing how things had changed, how quarterback Lamar Jackson was calling his own plays and how this offense was going to evolve into a highly sophisticated passing attack featuring receivers Odell Beckham Jr., Nelson Agholor, Rashod Bateman and rookie Zay Flowers.
That was never on display Sunday. Fans got a sniff of it with the explosiveness of Flowers, who had nine catches for 78 yards. Bateman had three catches for 35 yards and Beckham had two for 37, though he did draw two pass-interference penalties.
But other than that, it was a pretty ho-hum affair. Worse yet, the Ravens had only 110 rushing yards on 32 carries, with most of the damage done by Jackson (38 yards on six attempts).
Where was Roman when you needed him, especially against a defense that had given up a league-worst 170.2 rushing yards per game last season? There was nothing Sunday that you could point to and say, “Oh my, Todd Monken is really dialing them up today.”
In fact, there was some surprise in the first half when the Texans sacked Jackson once and banged him around like a piñata nearly every time he dropped back to pass. Throughout training camp, the Ravens had run an abundance of tight end and running back screens, but the only ones they ran Sunday were the quick hitches to Flowers.
Where were the screens? Where were the draws? Where were the rubs and flood patterns I had seen in those training camp sessions? Why weren’t the Ravens giving left tackle Ronnie Stanley some help when defensive end Jonathan Greenard was beating him consistently in the first two quarters?
I expected more out of Jackson, too. The coaching staff talked about how he was going to take control of this offense and change plays at the line of scrimmage. But Jackson was Jackson. On some plays, he has the touch of Hall of Fame and former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Joe Montana. And on others, he has the decision-making process of Bubby Brister, the fumbling, stumbling former Pittsburgh Steelers starter.
Jackson fumbled twice Sunday and threw an interception while rolling to his right and throwing across his body in the first quarter. Cornerback Steven Nelson picked it off at Houston’s 16-yard line, squandering a chance to at least kick a field goal.
That throw shouldn’t be made by a quarterback in his sixth season.
“I feel like we had our up-and-down moments,” said Jackson, who completed 17 of 22 passes for 169 yards in his first game after signing a five-year, $260 million deal in April. “You can see where my ceiling would be, and then some moments, it’s like, ‘What were we just doing? What are we doing questioning ourselves out there?’ Like I said, it’s the first game — a little hiccup [the] first time we’re with each other on that field. I feel like the sky’s the limit though.”
Greenard had a different explanation. “I mean, he’s a guy, like, we know he just got paid,” Greenard said. “So, he wanted to sit in the pocket as much as he could, more than he wanted to run. He was trying to stay in the pocket. It kind of worked to our advantage at times. We wanted to attack him going into the game, and him staying in the pocket, it made our job easier.”
That’s hard to believe.
Right now, the Ravens’ offense is a work in progress. It’s only Week 1 and everyone knew it was going to take some time to work some kinks out.
After the Ravens scored on their opening drive of the third quarter to go ahead 15-6, the game was pretty much over. The Texans weren’t going to catch up with that pop gun passing attack.
Plus, maybe the Ravens didn’t want to show too much because they face the Bengals in Cincinnati next week. That’s the hope, right?
Right?