Despite the Ravens scoring 38 factors and racking up greater than 500 yards of offense of their 38-6 win over the Detroit Lions on Sunday, Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback and NFL analyst Kurt Warner noticed a number of room for enchancment.
“Although they threw for a bunch of yards, it’s still not smooth and connected,” Warner stated on his YouTube present. “It’s kind of clunky right now.”
Offensive coordinator Todd Monken didn’t essentially disagree.
“There were certain things we did that were really outstanding that you look at and say, ‘Wow, we can build on it.’ And there’s other things that can get glossed over because you won, and you look at it and go, ‘That has to be a lot better, or we can’t be who want,’” Monken stated Thursday. “There were some elite things that we did, and there were some things for sure we have to clean up and not just counting on that [No.] 8 is going to run around and make a play, right? He is going to do that. That is what he does, but that’s not my job. Our job is to be elite and getting guys in the right spots, calling it, being aggressive, getting the guys in the right spots and letting our talent shine.”
Warner stated that spacing among the many receivers was “not great” and that gamers weren’t all the time the place they have been imagined to be.
He additionally recommended the timing of some performs being off, and that quarterback Lamar Jackson was capable of put up so many yards due to his capability to “work through the issues and make plays.”
One of these was a brief go to Gus Edwards that became an 80-yard acquire. The play was initially designed as a unadorned bootleg to the left, Monken stated, however Jackson as a substitute rolled proper, seeing an edge rusher free on the left facet of the road. Edwards had the choice to dam or launch on the play and selected the latter.
Another was the Ravens’ third play of the sport, a 46-yard completion to Zay Flowers over the center. However, Warner famous that tight finish Mark Andrews and Edwards have been too shut to 1 one other on their respective routes, primarily permitting one defender to cowl each of them. That resulted in Jackson having to go to his fourth choice, Flowers.
Later within the first quarter, on a 16-yard completion to receiver Rashod Bateman on a again facet hook, Warner once more identified the shortage of house between Andrews and Edwards, forcing Jackson to go to his fifth learn on the play.
“I don’t disagree with some of the things [Warner was] saying,” Monken stated. “I think in terms of making sure that we’re on point, in terms of your spacing, in terms of everybody being on the same page, but do I think that’s any different than most weeks? No. You can break down anybody and say, ‘Hey, I think that was maybe taking the other side of the narrative.’ Because there was so much one side, so you go to the other side of the narrative a little bit. I don’t think either side’s wrong.”
Yet regardless that Monken was given a sport ball following the victory, stated there was some frustration over issues they need to have executed higher.
“It’s consistency in terms of route depths here and out of the huddle, if we’re changing a play,” he stated Thursday. “There’s simply, over time — and that is no completely different than any sport — there’s a missed project right here, getting lined up right here, how we’re doing it right here, so we’re listening to it out of the huddle, getting lined up, [and] our spacing’s proper. So once more, so we don’t rely on some ad-lib, not an ad-lib, simply Lamar making a play and making up for it.
“Those are things that he has a unique ability to do, but when you really take off is you shrink those other things.”
Still, there have been loads of issues that went proper in what was simply the Ravens’ largest offensive output of the season.
The preparation for it stemmed from what Monken and several other gamers referred to as the perfect practices of the season final week. There was additionally the efficiency of the offensive line, which didn’t surrender a sack and gave Jackson loads of time to throw.
Then there may be the dynamic playmaking of Jackson, all the time a menace to run and able to eluding defenders lengthy sufficient for receivers to work their means open.
“It makes defensive backs have to cover you two times, basically,” Flowers stated.
“You have to practice that all the time because when you have an electric quarterback like we do we understand it’s important to give him a target,” stated Nelson Agholor, who was the recipient of a landing go from Jackson after the quarterback spent greater than 9 seconds scrambling earlier than discovering the receiver at the back of the top zone.
Now the one query is whether or not they’ll maintain it going this week in opposition to the 1-6 Cardinals, or if they’ll take a step again enjoying in opposition to a lesser opponent.
For now, although, it’s moving into the suitable course, Jackson stated, and Monken was happy with the top outcome.
“That’s the way it should look,” Monken stated. “I don’t suppose you ever anticipate scoring touchdowns in your first 4 drives. But that’s what you’re paid to do. You’re paid to place a product on the market, maximize your gamers’ potential and we did that. It feels good, and it seems like crap when it doesn’t.
“We’re just getting started. We really are. We just have to build from here.”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com