Baltimore Ravens need to spread ball around more in passing attack

Mark Andrews and Marquise Brown can’t do all the heavy lifting for the passing game. Lamar Jackson has to spread the ball around a bit more: 

The Baltimore Ravens should be very excited about Lamar Jackson, Mark Andrews and Marquise Brown. This is the main trio that has made the Baltimore Ravens the number one offense in the NFL through two weeks. Things are going well however Lamar Jackson has to remember to spread the ball around.

Andrews leads the team with 16 receptions while Brown has 12. Eight other players have a combined 20 receptions. Hayden Hurst and Nick Boyle are behind Brown with four receptions a piece. When you do the simple arithmetic it adds up to 24 receptions for tight ends and 18 grabs for wide receivers. If you took out Brown’s 12 receptions, that’s only six receptions for wide receivers.

The Ravens don’t need to reinvent the offense. They are taking what the defense has given them. Mark Andrews is almost impossible to cover and Marquise Brown is one of the best speedsters in football. The Ravens have found their two most dangerous weapons in the passing attack and they have to keep feeding them. Greg Roman just has to remember that everybody knows where Jackson wants to go with the football.

Getting Willie Snead and Miles Boykin involved in the offense is a good idea. It gives the defensive coordinator of the opponent something to think about. In the last game the Ravens played off the Cardinals’ fear of getting beat by Brown. They faked a screen to Brown and it left Andrews wide open. Jackson’s favorite targets aren’t a secret and it can be used to facilitate opportunities for others.

Stopping Andrews and Brown isn’t easy. Bracketing Andrews almost seems like the only way to deal with him, yet that makes it a little harder to make sure Brown doesn’t beat the defense deep. If you play man coverage, Brown can just needs to be one player and he’s got a catch and nobody can keep up with him running across the field. If you play zone coverage Andrews is going to find the windows and rack up huge chunks of yards at a time.

Imagine how hard the offense will be to stop if the Ravens got more of their play-makers involved. Snead is one of the best at getting open. He’s a sneaky good route runner with reliable hands. Last year Snead caught 62 passes. The Ravens have to get Snead to be the third option in this passing attack. He has the chance to be the secret weapon.

The more the Ravens get Boykin in to the action, the more they are going to get out of him. Boykin has just two receptions this year and one of them is a touchdown. He may not be on a Hollywood Brown level however he is extremely talented.

The Ravens have two young superstars for Jackson to throw the football. Diversifying the passing game just a little bit only makes life better for Andrews and Brown. The more Jackson spreads the ball around, the more dangerous the entire offense will become. Getting more wide receivers into the box score is the next step for this offense.