The Ravens have three regular-season video games left to considerably improve their offensive manufacturing or coordinator Greg Roman’s four-year tenure will in all probability finish.
There is nearly no different determination that may be made with an offense in such disarray. The Ravens have scored solely two touchdowns and a complete of 29 factors of their final three video games. A large receiver hasn’t caught a landing cross since Week 3, and they’re tied for No. 23 in fourth-down effectivity and No. 29 in purple zone offense.
If this was Roman’s first or second 12 months, there might be a reprieve. But with the Ravens failing to advance previous the divisional spherical in Roman’s 4 seasons because the play caller, each group proprietor Steve Bisciotti and coach John Harbaugh should not have any different alternative.
Goodbye Greg Roman.
There is a manner out, however a number of issues should fall into place for the Ravens to make a deep postseason run. Three groups thought of higher than Baltimore within the AFC — the Buffalo Bills, Cincinnati Bengals and Kansas City Chiefs — have extremely ranked run defenses however have struggled to cease prime working groups.
Even although halfbacks J.Ok. Dobbins and Gus Edwards are nonetheless slowed by knee accidents suffered a 12 months in the past, the Ravens have the No. 2 ranked dashing offense within the NFL, averaging 164.7 yards per sport.
Now it’s only a matter of bettering the passing offense. It doesn’t should be on the extent of the working sport, however the Ravens want extra steadiness so opposing groups respect the deep ball and again away from the road of scrimmage.
The Ravens had some success earlier within the 12 months till quarterback Lamar Jackson began turning the ball over, which led to losses to the Bills and New York Giants. The Ravens then went right into a game-managing mode with a brief passing assault and have caught with it ever since.
“We have to be able to do that to get where we want to go, that’s for sure,” Roman stated of bettering the passing sport.
That might be an issue. The Ravens will likely be with out their prime large receivers, Rashod Bateman and Devin Duvernay, for the remainder of the season. While the Ravens had Jermaine Lewis and Qadry Ismail (2000) and Jacoby Jones and Torrey Smith (2012) of their Super Bowl-winning seasons, the one pace receiver on the present roster is 36-year-old DeSean Jackson. Two of the group’s different prime receivers, Demarcus Robinson, 28, and Sammy Watkins, 29, are additionally previous their primes.
The Atlanta Falcons may worry these guys on Saturday, however how about these defenses in Buffalo, Kansas City and Cincinnati?
Plus, there may be the Roman issue. There have been a number of instances all through his tenure by which the Ravens dominated working the ball, just for him to shortly abandon it as quickly as they fell behind. In the 13-3 loss to the Cleveland Browns on Saturday, the Ravens had just one designed run within the fourth quarter towards a group that was struggling to attain factors.
There are instances when Roman outsmarts himself as a substitute of enjoying to his group’s energy. He ought to have whipped out the Barry Switzer playbook and pounded the Browns with the previous Oklahoma Wishbone.
Maybe he has the Harbaugh drawback of paying an excessive amount of consideration to the analytics as a substitute of counting on his intestine. Harbaugh deserves a number of the blame, too. As the coach, he ought to demand sure issues in sure conditions and dictate the correct calls.
Ravens defensive gamers are beginning to be bothered by the dearth of offense, too, which is why outdoors linebacker Tyus Bowser posted that “Fire Greg Roman” paper floating outdoors the group’s facility on social media. He apologized publicly and later met with Roman to work out any issues, however the intent was apparent: this offense wants a spark or a change.
You can level a number of fingers at a number of folks throughout the group for the lackluster offense. Former basic supervisor Ozzie Newsome may by no means draft a top-notch large receiver. Current GM Eric DeCosta has struggled as properly, and ought to be questioned on why he retains drafting receivers within the first spherical who had been harm in faculty like Bateman and Marquise “Hollywood” Brown.
But all eyes will likely be on Roman the subsequent three video games. He was introduced in as coordinator as a result of the Ravens thought they had been constructing one thing massive with Jackson’s explosiveness as a runner. They needed to construct their offense round him and did with run-blocking offensive linemen.
But their dedication to working the ball has price them an opportunity to signal a prime large receiver in free company. In 5 years in Baltimore, Jackson hasn’t made important progress as a passer and the group’s passing sport is out of date.
Fortunately, Roman nonetheless has three video games left to straighten this offense out. The Ravens are within the win-loss enterprise, however the leisure subject as properly. Right now, they aren’t very entertaining.
If the correct corrections aren’t made, then somebody has to go.
It’s in all probability Greg Roman.
()
Source: www.bostonherald.com