• Welcome to PurpleFlock! Sign up here so that you can chat with your fellow Ravens fans.

The Running Game, The 4th Quarter and Everyone's Blood Pressure

redrum52 said:
This is what I've tried stressing when I said I don't fuck with Roman. Why does it seem we can't run the ball well in a traditional method?
Click to expand...
Well, combination of a) I don't think we have a great run blocking Oline unit and b) we don't run a traditional offense anyway. Plus "traditional method" is basically Power I, which means a FB as an extra blocker. That would be considered "traditional". Modern NFL running games are actually quite non-traditional.
 
rmcjacket23 said:
I mean, I'd have to look at the analytics, BUT, I'd say its a product of how you shaped your offensive line. I don't think this Oline is anywhere close to the run blocking unit you saw in 2019 or even 2020. I think this unit is significantly improved in pass protection, and designed that way.

So I'm not sure taking extra blockers off the field in exchange for a third receiver is going to make the running game work at all. Like you saw last year what the running game looks like with bad run blocking and worse RBs. It's basically "Lamar/Huntley, go make plays", which doesn't work either.

Also pretty clear that this team isn't anywhere close to being a team that should be running base-3 WR sets either. Defenses will eat us alive in that scenario, because they know they can win man coverage frequently, and they don't have to load the box to stop the run either.

I personally find it refreshing (though possibly not sustainable), largely because pretty much every NFL defense, including our own, is built to stop the pass these days. Most teams are playing variations of Cover 2 with deep safeties, not giving up big plays in the passing game, and daring people to run on them. And we're obliging.
We just need to be more efficient in the passing game, utilize play action more, and give some better looks. Screen passes, deep shots, etc. We're clearly not very creative with route concepts.
Click to expand...
What you're saying here is totally reasonable. And I would even agree that it is slightly refreshing that we've attempted to make a unique identity for ourselves. My huge issue is that we swung too far in that direction because of the overreaction to what happened in 2019.

The roster wasn't constructed to win in the passing game at all. This is the lowest quality corps of WRs we've had in awhile. Roman can't do much with it and that's why you find your team hyperfixating on the run using Ricard 75% of the time.
 
rmcjacket23 said:
Well, combination of a) I don't think we have a great run blocking Oline unit and b) we don't run a traditional offense anyway. Plus "traditional method" is basically Power I, which means a FB as an extra blocker. That would be considered "traditional". Modern NFL running games are actually quite non-traditional.
Click to expand...
How effective do you think our run game would be without Lamar? And your point about the passing concepts is another reason I don't like Roman. Curious about your opinion of GRO as OC. I personally don't see this team achieving what they want with him running the offense.
 
redrum52 said:
How effective do you think our run game would be without Lamar? And your point about the passing concepts is another reason I don't like Roman. Curious about your opinion of GRO as OC. I personally don't see this team achieving what they want with him running the offense.
Click to expand...
I mean I hear you. I really do because it's frustrating and everything seems ass backwards. However I truly ask, what do you want Roman to do with this 2022 Ravens offense.

He can't use 3 WRs. If you put DRob, Proche, or Wallace on the field you're wasting a spot on offense. The best he can do is try to establish the run game and hope to get play action working well enough that Andrews can get his and occasionally Bateman or Duv can make a big play. It's really not great at all but he's working with literal garbage.
 
UPennChem said:
I'm going to be unbiased but consistent on this one. The defense in general has been better weeks 4-7 compared to weeks 1-3. In the Browns game in particular I thought the defense played an extremely weird game. The first drive was one of the worst defensive performances by a Ravens team I think I've ever seen. They then gave up another scoring drive on the following possession. Then they start playing lights out until the fourth when it mattered. They give up a TD. Then if we don't get lucky that the refs made the right call on Cooper's OPI (these don't get called constantly) they give up a second TD and we're losing again. Same classic story. Then when they go to kick the game tying FG (also a horrible result for the defense) they get so lucky on a false start with an explanation so long I couldn't possibly understand it and they miss.

All in all the defense has been generally trending upward for a few games but with absolutely no ability whatsoever to play a clean 4th quarter. And because of that, I still HATE them.
Click to expand...
Yea i feel ya. They Definitely have no killer instinct and don’t inspire a ton of confidence. If the offense can just get things in gear and the defense continues to play like this we atleast have a chance at making a run. Which is very different from where we stood after the dolphins game
 
UPennChem said:
What you're saying here is totally reasonable. And I would even agree that it is slightly refreshing that we've attempted to make a unique identity for ourselves. My huge issue is that we swung too far in that direction because of the overreaction to what happened in 2019.

The roster wasn't constructed to win in the passing game at all. This is the lowest quality corps of WRs we've had in awhile. Roman can't do much with it and that's why you find your team hyperfixating on the run using Ricard 75% of the time.
Click to expand...
Well I think the roster is being constructed in a way to pass more. I think they did a ton to fix pass protection issues on the Oline, and I think through 7 games, that's largely shown itself to be true.

I don't think they've done enough with receivers, but I think expecting them to overhaul the Oline in pass pro and come up with a long term solution at receiver, in one offseason, isn't reasonable.

If Hollywood was on this team, would people be complaining about lack of receivers? You'd have two first rounders and Andrews. I think everybody would agree that's enough.
Well Hollywood was on this team for the bulk of the critical personnel period in the offseason. He didn't get traded until the draft. Once that happens, its pretty obvious replacing him isn't going to happen in the offseason. There's no assets to get, and you can't just overhaul your draft strategy hours before because of a trade. That's a recipe for disaster.

I never expected this season to be a pass-heavy attack with WRs. They're doing about what I expected... run the ball a lot more and lot more effectively, use TEs, and pepper Bateman and Andrews with targets. That's what I expected. I don't think they'll go into next season with this same thought, though.

What I want this offense to be is multiple. I want them to be able to win in many ways, not just one way. I don't care how many attempts Lamar has. I don't care how many rushing yards he has, or even how effective the run game is, on a weekly basis. I want this team to be able to attack other teams weaknesses and beat them there. That's what I want.

Some weeks we've been effective at that, others not so much.
 
redrum52 said:
How effective do you think our run game would be without Lamar? And your point about the passing concepts is another reason I don't like Roman. Curious about your opinion of GRO as OC. I personally don't see this team achieving what they want with him running the offense.
Click to expand...
I don't know. With Huntley? Pretty effective. Would depend on who the QB is. If it were Flacco, not effective at all. But that's because you've chosen a line and RBs that fit what you want to do in the running game. If we had Tom Brady at QB, we'd be changing quite a bit of our personnel to fit his skills.
 
rmcjacket23 said:
What I want this offense to be is multiple. I want them to be able to win in many ways, not just one way. I don't care how many attempts Lamar has. I don't care how many rushing yards he has, or even how effective the run game is, on a weekly basis. I want this team to be able to attack other teams weaknesses and beat them there. That's what I want.

Some weeks we've been effective at that, others not so much.
Click to expand...
This is the key. If we could do this, we'd be playing out our best and highest potential. Problem is we're actually not even close to this.
 
UPennChem said:
This is the key. If we could do this, we'd be playing out our best and highest potential. Problem is we're actually not even close to this.
Click to expand...
I mean I think we're doing a good job of exploiting teams weaknesses, but that's not like a 100% proposition. It doesn't work every play on every drive. You've still gotta be able to execute both sides effectively.
 
rmcjacket23 said:
I mean I think we're doing a good job of exploiting teams weaknesses, but that's not like a 100% proposition. It doesn't work every play on every drive. You've still gotta be able to execute both sides effectively.
Click to expand...
And both sides of the ball sputter in the second half particularly the 4th quarter
 
rmcjacket23 said:
I mean I think we're doing a good job of exploiting teams weaknesses, but that's not like a 100% proposition. It doesn't work every play on every drive. You've still gotta be able to execute both sides effectively.
Click to expand...
right now, consistency is a problem and we haven't been able to string together drives in several games.

I didn't get a chance to watch the game yesterday, but can you tell me if Bateman was on a snap count?
 
RavensMania said:
right now, consistency is a problem and we haven't been able to string together drives in several games.

I didn't get a chance to watch the game yesterday, but can you tell me if Bateman was on a snap count?
Click to expand...
He wasn't! But similarly to the rest of the season he's just not that involved in the offense
 
RavensMania said:
right now, consistency is a problem and we haven't been able to string together drives in several games.

I didn't get a chance to watch the game yesterday, but can you tell me if Bateman was on a snap count?
Click to expand...
UPennChem said:
He wasn't! But similarly to the rest of the season he's just not that involved in the offense
Click to expand...
He clearly was. He played less than Duvernay. It wasn't like Stanley restrictive, but he was clearly on at least somewhat of a limitation.
At the very least, he's not out there on obvious run downs.
 
rmcjacket23 said:
He clearly was. He played less than Duvernay. It wasn't like Stanley restrictive, but he was clearly on at least somewhat of a limitation.
At the very least, he's not out there on obvious run downs.
Click to expand...
He played 6 less snaps than Duv. I'll give you that he wasn't out there in the obvious running situations. But he's clearly healthy enough to be playing.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top