2021 Ravens Passing Game - What will it take to get over the hump?

[edromeo]

They have to fix the Oline and they know it. If LJ has time to read the field I think his mechanics would improve. Those are the two biggest issues now.

Agreed on the OL. But, I don't think better protection/having more time does anything to actually improve Lamar's mechanics.

I also think they have to find another solid TE who is a receiving threat and can block. WR is important but they need that second threat at TE in this scheme

I'm curious why consider another TE such a high priority? I'm actually curious and interested to know.......

[Laxdad24]

Agreed on the OL. But, I don't think better protection/having more time does anything to actually improve Lamar's mechanics.

I'm curious why consider another TE such a high priority? I'm actually curious and interested to know.......

Not to answer for RWT but my $.02 is ..

Unless Breland is Atleast equal to Boyle and healthy ...we need another good TE. This scheme works better with 2 TE sets. Forget WRs. They don’t really wanna block. But TEs usually block anyway. So let’s run some 3 TEs sets. Plus if we get a great one ( Andrews ) we can let Andrews walk next year if need be.


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[Ravenswintitle]

Not to answer for RWT but my $.02 is ..

Unless Breland is Atleast equal to Boyle and healthy ...we need another good TE. This scheme works better with 2 TE sets. Forget WRs. They don’t really wanna block. But TEs usually block anyway. So let’s run some 3 TEs sets. Plus if we get a great one ( Andrews ) we can let Andrews walk next year if need be.


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yep I'll piggy back on this - it's the Hurst role. Right now there is Hollywood and Andrews and teams can focus on them. I'm not discounting Boyle who is a solid player but he's really more in a HB role. They need another receiving TE threat.

What does that mean? Teams would have to play them more 'straight up' rather than focus on Andrews. It gives Roman a full compliment of plays without subbing personnel. And that run blocking would be sweet.

Hurst had 30 receptions on 39 targets and we've lost those targets and made it easier for defenses.

The injury to Boyle put a magnifying glass on it as well IMO

[Laxdad24]

yep I'll piggy back on this - it's the Hurst role. Right now there is Hollywood and Andrews and teams can focus on them. I'm not discounting Boyle who is a solid player but he's really more in a HB role. They need another receiving TE threat.

What does that mean? Teams would have to play them more 'straight up' rather than focus on Andrews. It gives Roman a full compliment of plays without subbing personnel. And that run blocking would be sweet.

Hurst had 30 receptions on 39 targets and we've lost those targets and made it easier for defenses.

The injury to Boyle put a magnifying glass on it as well IMO

Guess we watched the same games. Lol.


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[RevBarnes]

yep I'll piggy back on this - it's the Hurst role. Right now there is Hollywood and Andrews and teams can focus on them. I'm not discounting Boyle who is a solid player but he's really more in a HB role. They need another receiving TE threat.

What does that mean? Teams would have to play them more 'straight up' rather than focus on Andrews. It gives Roman a full compliment of plays without subbing personnel. And that run blocking would be sweet.

Hurst had 30 receptions on 39 targets and we've lost those targets and made it easier for defenses.

The injury to Boyle put a magnifying glass on it as well IMO

Agreed. I get people wanting James or Moore instead of Hurst but Hurst had definite value.

[The Wizard of OZ]

To me, definitely improve the OL and also bring in at least 1 WR and 1 TE. Any WR we get, IMO, needs to be an extension of what we do well, so that we can use his skillset there. Hollywood, has shown me that he can live on the perimeter. I think Duvernay can work the slot. Now I think we just need a Swiss Army Knife guy as an extension of the run game and also a weapon in the passing game. I think if you've seen my other post you know who I want. But we'll see.

[StalkRavenMad]

Don't snap over Lamar's head?

Maybe another Tall player to throw the ball to in the End Zone?

Mostly, better oline. When healthy, the Ravens have 2/5 good oline. When Stanley was hurt it was down to 1. The best number for any type of normal oline is 5. The Browns have 4/5 very good oliners and the 5th is a rookie first round pick. So, it's not like it's unheard of to have 4 very good oliners. The Ravens should have that.

The Ravens had the biggest point differential in the NFL last year. They've been to the playoffs every year since Lamar, after 3 years of no playoffs with Flacco.

Each game is different, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. And it appears that Mahomes is very very good, so beating the Chiefs might be difficult.

If you look at the only actual important game the Ravens lost, there was a ton of suck out of the Center, Right Guard and Right Tackle positions. That oline suckage clearly effected the game.

Fix that.

Also, there was one single really bad play. And that was the -14 Int. How does that get fixed?

It does not at all get fixed by a short and fast WR. Putting another short and fast WR on the field in that situation probably makes things worse. Lamar looked for his big target (the others were small, or at least smaller), his target, Andrews, seemed pretty covered, but Lamar threw it anyway.

The WRs that were out there might've been the strongest available at yards after catch, but that wasn't what was needed in that situation. The Ravens should be putting another big, tall pass catcher out there when the pass catchers are in the end zone, or near the end zone.

I've been saying a long time now, and will for a few months more, about hybrid OL/TE. 6'9 320 Spencer Brown or Drew Himmelman. Tight Ends / Defensive Ends in High School and Offensive Tackles in college. I'd think that both would be excellent inline TE blockers, and I'd say they'd probably be better than any inline TE blocker ever. There's something about being 320 and 6'9 that tells me that they're going to be able to do the job of Inline TE Blocking. It's possible they don't move as well as someone like Nick Boyle who can do a very good job of blocking from a lot of different spots.

As TE's I would assume that they would not bring the varied route running and the speed of Mark Andrews, or anything close to that. But they can run into the end zone, a handful of yards, stand near the sideline and face the QB. And I'd say that these new hybrid TE/OLs would make that catch. Maybe not always, but quite often, usually, typically. Since the idea is to change the outcome of that game, I'd think 6'9 320 pound TE would have a good chance of doing that. Additionally, in that particular game, the Ravens might have wanted 2 of those 6'9 320 giants, because neither RT nor RG was doing a good job. You could have, in theory, 1 giant playing RT and next to him at TE, the other giant. What you could do, if you had one, is put him at RT except when you wanted him to play TE, in which case you put Phillips or Fluker in.

It seems like these 6'9 320 OT/TEs might be able to fix either one or both of these problems. Need big red zone threat, need better OL.

You can't have your Tackles also worrying about catching passes. After the QB your tackles are the single most important player on offense. You want your 6acjlea concerned with keeping your QB upright not catching passes. Also I dint know too many 6'9 320 athlete that are able to move the way a TE needs to move. Is this giant going to be able to make the contested catch or the catch in traffic? Things are compressed in the red zone and you either need someone that is quick enough to get open or you need someone that will make a contested catch. The only way that you see eligible linemen make catches in the red zone is off of play action where they are wide open with no one within 10 yards of him. It took the Ravens 3 years to trust Pat Ricard to be that pass catching FB and that was after three years of practicing making contested catches.

[EdReed4HOF]

Spending a ton of money on a receiver would be a bad idea, I started a thread about this. It's about efficiency, not volume. As good as Allen Robinson is I doubt he would even put up 1K yards in this offense. That doesn't mean that they shouldn't go out and try to improve the receiving corps, but if you think any pass catcher is putting up big numbers, you're crazy.

[stevez51]

Someone posted a while back about how some of the patterns bring too many players into a large group crowding the area. Watching some replays it is right. Too many times seeing 2-3 TE/WR in the same area along with a crowd of defensive players. Need to spread it out.

[edromeo]

Not to answer for RWT but my $.02 is ..

Unless Breland is Atleast equal to Boyle and healthy ...we need another good TE. This scheme works better with 2 TE sets. Forget WRs. They don’t really wanna block. But TEs usually block anyway. So let’s run some 3 TEs sets. Plus if we get a great one ( Andrews ) we can let Andrews walk next year if need be.

yep I'll piggy back on this - it's the Hurst role. Right now there is Hollywood and Andrews and teams can focus on them. I'm not discounting Boyle who is a solid player but he's really more in a HB role. They need another receiving TE threat.

What does that mean? Teams would have to play them more 'straight up' rather than focus on Andrews. It gives Roman a full compliment of plays without subbing personnel. And that run blocking would be sweet.

Hurst had 30 receptions on 39 targets and we've lost those targets and made it easier for defenses.

The injury to Boyle put a magnifying glass on it as well IMO

I actually never considered Hurst as a great loss. I agree that Boyle's injury hurt though.

Overall, I agree with your guys view that having another receiving threat at TE would help though.
They would fit in to the offense as already constructed and it would add another reliable threat to an area of the field where Lamar and Roman have proven success.

So maybe this is the better path.
In essence you could do more of the same (which is proly what Harbs/Roman want) but you could do it better.
I get caught up in wanting to see Lamar progress to a level that I doubt Roman can take him.

Thanks for the response gents.
I might start looking at some TEs.

[edromeo]

Don’t see it. Team isn’t gonna pay up for top FA Wr. Can’t seem to develop drafted ones.

Improve the Oline. Get Lamar back to basics with fundamentals and it is what it is. Just hate to see team mortgage the future on Lamar when there is no way we make a Super Bowl with this scheme.

C'mon bro its the offseason. Hope springs eternal. I do have my doubts about this scheme (and Roman's gameplan and in-game adjustments). But, I still think with a few things breaking the right way and other areas stepping up that this offense is good enough to win a SB with improved play up front and fundamentals from Lamar. It would help if another playmaker emerged though.

[edromeo]

Better pass pro, another above average pass catcher, and Lamar improving fundamentals. If those things happen they will be fine.

Simple. Concise. Confident. Well said bro