Mailbag: What Needs to Be Fixed the Most for the Ravens?
Mink: It’s important to remember that this team has far more advantages than disadvantages. Nevertheless, the Ravens undoubtedly need to improve if they hope to fulfill their Super Bowl dreams.
Now that’s out of the way, the red-zone offense is my biggest concern. This season, the Ravens have scored a touchdown on 51% of their travels, good for 24th place in the league. It was obviously a major issue during the previous two weeks, allowing the Panthers and Jaguars to stay in the game longer than they ought to have. Throughout the remainder of the regular season, the Ravens will play more “should-win” games. They must make more frequent capital in the red zone if they hope to prevent more unexpected outcomes. They also won’t be able to rely as much on their defense to get stops when they play strong offenses in the future. They will have to win by a larger margin.
My initial response was that the passing offense, which now ranks 26th in the league with 193.4 yards per game, needed to get better. Interestingly, though, the Ravens’ passing DVOA (defense-adjusted value over average) puts them seventh in the league. Contrary to popular belief in Baltimore, the Ravens have been quite effective throwing the ball, even though they don’t accumulate many passing yards due to their strong ground game. Since Rashod Bateman left the lineup, they have been lacking in big plays, so perhaps DeSean Jackson can provide them more.
Downing: The Ravens need to get better at this. They were harmed in the first half of their Sunday loss to Jacksonville by their rush against the play clock, which has been a consistent theme this season. This season, Lamar Jackson has done a good job of controlling the play clock; however, the Ravens frequently appear to rush in the last few seconds of the play clock and arrive late to the line. This week, head coach John Harbaugh revealed that offensive coordinator Greg Roman had told him to expedite the plays and improve the efficiency of the entire operation. The Ravens showed improvement in the second half of their game on Sunday and did not experience any game delays; however, this season, the operation has been conducted far too quickly.
