The Injuries, Big Ben's Final Game and Farewell to A Cursed Season

[drjohnnyfever]

I mean with the stereotypical run based offense, you'd think we would have done some homework on Pitt and came out running the ball down their throats. I know the run game hasn't been there, but against one of the worst run defenses, why not at least try

I know the 2019 season was special and often those kinds of seasons and stats are impossible to duplicate fully, but since then, we have really strayed from "hammering" the run game. Maybe the league has caught up, but it sure seems to me that when there is a minimal gain or a failed run play, the play calling goes quickly away from it and then stays away from it.

It's impossible to know what this season could have been without injuries and Covid. I just hope that the Oline gets squared away and stays healthy. I think that's essential for anything else to work in this offense. But the not running the ball, even with aged RB's against the 3rd or 4th worst running DEF in the league needs some 'splainin' !

 

[rossihunter2]

I know the 2019 season was special and often those kinds of seasons and stats are impossible to duplicate fully, but since then, we have really strayed from "hammering" the run game. Maybe the league has caught up, but it sure seems to me that when there is a minimal gain or a failed run play, the play calling goes quickly away from it and then stays away from it.

It's impossible to know what this season could have been without injuries and Covid. I just hope that the Oline gets squared away and stays healthy. I think that's essential for anything else to work in this offense. But the not running the ball, even with aged RB's against the 3rd or 4th worst running DEF in the league needs some 'splainin' !

hard to say that we strayed away from the running game in 2020 given that season also was a top 5 all-time NFL rushing season too...

we strayed away from the run in 2021 because we werent a good running team - in many games a 1st down run was just a wasted play so it makes sense that we would shift and go to more run heavy game-plans for particular games where it might give us the advantage (e.g. chargers)

i get that we didnt run the ball maybe as much as people want - but we still ran the ball 40 times against the steelers which was more times than we dropped back

 

[drjohnnyfever]

hard to say that we strayed away from the running game in 2020 given that season also was a top 5 all-time NFL rushing season too...

we strayed away from the run in 2021 because we werent a good running team - in many games a 1st down run was just a wasted play so it makes sense that we would shift and go to more run heavy game-plans for particular games where it might give us the advantage (e.g. chargers)

i get that we didnt run the ball maybe as much as people want - but we still ran the ball 40 times against the steelers which was more times than we dropped back

Well, In 2019 we were healthy in all phases of running... Oline, RB's, and Lamar's "newness." Yet, there were 3 - 1,000yrd rushers: Lamar, Ingram, and Edwards/Hill combined. In 2020, we lost Yanda, but still ran Lamar for 1,000, and Edwards/Dobbins/Hill combined for about 1,800, plus a few bit players combining for another 200 or so. This year is almost not worth remarking on, but Lamar/Huntley combined for 1,000, Freeman/Murray got 1,000 and then bit players combined for another 300. We could say some of that was injury to Oline and aging RB's; I'll grant that.

But here are the overall rushing attempt numbers:
2021 - 517 - 2479 yrds., 2020 - 555 - 3071 yrds, 2019 - 596 - 3296 yrds.

Passing attempts:
2021 - 591 - 4267 yrds. (67% catch), 2020 - 392 - 2919 yrds. (65% catch)*, 2019 - 424 - 3350 yrds. (68% catch)

This is the first season that passing attempts have outpaced running attempts in this 3 year period with Lamar. I would suggest that if it ever happened before, it occurred with the worst performing of the Raven's teams.

75 more plays in the passing game 2021. 173 more rushing plays in 2020. 172 more rushing plays in 2019.

The thing that also stands out to me, tho, is how the number of attempts of rushing has dropped since 2019. And if I were to somehow add in the leveled stats, which I'm too lazy to do - and I know you'll disagree anyway , the numbers would be worse still with 17 games this season. We do not run the ball with with the same frequency. This is even more upsetting when you see game stats like the Steeler game. We threw the ball 31 times and only benefited from 16 receptions. Whereas running the ball 36 times we out-gained the entire receiving core 249yrds to 141. And two of the longest runs of the season occurred... 46 and 23 yards. It's been the eye test for me, but the numbers don't lie.

 

[rossihunter2]

Well, In 2019 we were healthy in all phases of running... Oline, RB's, and Lamar's "newness." Yet, there were 3 - 1,000yrd rushers: Lamar, Ingram, and Edwards/Hill combined. In 2020, we lost Yanda, but still ran Lamar for 1,000, and Edwards/Dobbins/Hill combined for about 1,800, plus a few bit players combining for another 200 or so. This year is almost not worth remarking on, but Lamar/Huntley combined for 1,000, Freeman/Murray got 1,000 and then bit players combined for another 300. We could say some of that was injury to Oline and aging RB's; I'll grant that.

But here are the overall rushing attempt numbers:
2021 - 517 - 2479 yrds., 2020 - 555 - 3071 yrds, 2019 - 596 - 3296 yrds.

Passing attempts:
2021 - 591 - 4267 yrds. (67% catch), 2020 - 392 - 2919 yrds. (65% catch)*, 2019 - 424 - 3350 yrds. (68% catch)

This is the first season that passing attempts have outpaced running attempts in this 3 year period with Lamar. I would suggest that if it ever happened before, it occurred with the worst performing of the Raven's teams.

75 more plays in the passing game 2021. 173 more rushing plays in 2020. 172 more rushing plays in 2019.

The thing that also stands out to me, tho, is how the number of attempts of rushing has dropped since 2019. And if I were to somehow add in the leveled stats, which I'm too lazy to do - and I know you'll disagree anyway , the numbers would be worse still with 17 games this season. We do not run the ball with with the same frequency. This is even more upsetting when you see game stats like the Steeler game. We threw the ball 31 times and only benefited from 16 receptions. Whereas running the ball 36 times we out-gained the entire receiving core 249yrds to 141. And two of the longest runs of the season occurred... 46 and 23 yards. It's been the eye test for me, but the numbers don't lie.

right but we still ran the ball 40 times against the steelers... you cant run every play

and in fact i think its pretty clear you shouldnt lol

im 100% advocating for a similar level of pass-run ratio as this year moving forwards - the value we got out of the running game in 2019 was unprecedented, we got lots of yards in 2020 from the running game but a lot less value and it required a lot more from lamar running between the tackles in 2020 to get us there (a lot of the inverted veer and counter bash plays)

there's more value to be had offensively from passing game efficiency - more area that's untapped their for potential improvement - im not saying we abandon the run like the bills seem to do but there's no reason we shouldnt be a pass-first offence with the weapons we have and with lamar at QB - especially given the current makeup of our OL too which has the personnel (when healthy) to be a much better pass blocking unit than run blocking...

would seem stupid to invest so much in the passing game only to not try and maximise the personnel we have - what would be the point of drafting 8 wide receivers in the last 4 drafts (and 2 TEs) including 3 1st round picks, 3 day 2 picks and another 4 day 3 picks (2 4ths, a 5th and a 6th) if we have no intention of using them...

also worth pointing out that run-pass ratio is also somewhat to do with game situation - we passed the ball a lot in 2021 because we were down multiple scores in multiple games - we ran the ball less because we had very few games where we were in front and salting away a lead

 

[drjohnnyfever]

right but we still ran the ball 40 times against the steelers... you cant run every play

and in fact i think its pretty clear you shouldnt lol

im 100% advocating for a similar level of pass-run ratio as this year moving forwards - the value we got out of the running game in 2019 was unprecedented, we got lots of yards in 2020 from the running game but a lot less value and it required a lot more from lamar running between the tackles in 2020 to get us there (a lot of the inverted veer and counter bash plays)

there's more value to be had offensively from passing game efficiency - more area that's untapped their for potential improvement - im not saying we abandon the run like the bills seem to do but there's no reason we shouldnt be a pass-first offence with the weapons we have and with lamar at QB - especially given the current makeup of our OL too which has the personnel (when healthy) to be a much better pass blocking unit than run blocking...

would seem stupid to invest so much in the passing game only to not try and maximise the personnel we have - what would be the point of drafting 8 wide receivers in the last 4 drafts (and 2 TEs) including 3 1st round picks, 3 day 2 picks and another 4 day 3 picks (2 4ths, a 5th and a 6th) if we have no intention of using them...

also worth pointing out that run-pass ratio is also somewhat to do with game situation - we passed the ball a lot in 2021 because we were down multiple scores in multiple games - we ran the ball less because we had very few games where we were in front and salting away a lead

I don't disagree about every play being a running play.

I don't disagree about a mix of run and pass offense.

What I see is a team that is still inefficient in the passing game. A team that has no go to - altho they certainly try with those Andrews to the sideline and Andrews up the seam plays - in the passing game. All of the short grinding stuff, the running plays, the short dumps near the line, when successful - which means: you should master it to be proficient at it - open up the deeper plays. I guess it just gets chalked up to injuries this year, but even the eye test over the past two seasons seems to show that they are forcing the pass plays in situations where even a modest gain on a run would have been better than the pass play. And I guess the imbalance of pass plays this year could be attributed to the playing from behind. The only problem is we are still talking about the same aspects of the passing attack and seemingly neglecting the run.

I also don't disagree about using the investments in the receiving ranks. I think there was improvement from last year, but when you are hitting at only 50% in a passing attack with 2 int's against a team that ended up surrendering over 200 yards in rushing, and you continue to throw it, something is fishy to me.

 

[rossihunter2]

I don't disagree about every play being a running play.

I don't disagree about a mix of run and pass offense.

What I see is a team that is still inefficient in the passing game. A team that has no go to - altho they certainly try with those Andrews to the sideline and Andrews up the seam plays - in the passing game. All of the short grinding stuff, the running plays, the short dumps near the line, when successful - which means: you should master it to be proficient at it - open up the deeper plays. I guess it just gets chalked up to injuries this year, but even the eye test over the past two seasons seems to show that they are forcing the pass plays in situations where even a modest gain on a run would have been better than the pass play. And I guess the imbalance of pass plays this year could be attributed to the playing from behind. The only problem is we are still talking about the same aspects of the passing attack and seemingly neglecting the run.

I also don't disagree about using the investments in the receiving ranks. I think there was improvement from last year, but when you are hitting at only 50% in a passing attack with 2 int's against a team that ended up surrendering over 200 yards in rushing, and you continue to throw it, something is fishy to me.

i mean for most of the season though we werent getting modest gains on running plays - we were just putting ourselves behind the chains

and our passing game was pretty explosive to begin the year - lamar for the first 6 or 7 weeks was leading the league in ADOT and i think he was top 2 or 3 in YPA - the passing game was a downfield attack that was difficult for teams to deal with until they were able to shrink the offence

yes we were racking up yards on the ground too but a significant proportion of that was lamar running the ball who through most of the season before his injury was accounting for something like 85% of our offensive output statistically

and specifically with the steelers game - i agree with you - especially in the 2nd half and especially in the redzone they should have kept running - was more disagreeing with you on the general trends you brought up about the offence - but latavius murray was rolling and then we didnt run when we got into 1st and goal which made little sense to me

 

[ChainedBird]

I'm hoping we head back to a run first offense. With Roman, Lamar and Gus/Dobbins back from injury we just need to stiffen up the OL and we'll be back to dominant. We even have an improved supporting cast of receivers to stop them from crowding the box.

 

[RavensMania]

I was checking Brandon Stephens grades down the stretch and boy did he do well, except the game vs the Bengals, although even in that game his tackling was very good.

I also thought it was interesting that he had one snap on offense for pass blocking.

 

[rossihunter2]

I was checking Brandon Stephens grades down the stretch and boy did he do well, except the game vs the Bengals, although even in that game his tackling was very good.

I also thought it was interesting that he had one snap on offense for pass blocking.

surely must have been a special teams snap or something early in the year... did we run any fake punts early in the year?

alternatively it's just an error lol

 

[Ludy51]

surely must have been a special teams snap or something early in the year... did we run any fake punts early in the year?

alternatively it's just an error lol

Or we lost so many O-lineman we got desperate

 

[RavensMania]

surely must have been a special teams snap or something early in the year... did we run any fake punts early in the year?

alternatively it's just an error lol

nope it was against Pittsburgh in the last game, but it may have been on the fake punt vs Pittsburgh.