The Baltimore Ravens offense has to continue to add speed to their already lightning fast offense:
If you learned anything from Lamar Jackson‘s first full season as a starter, it’s that speed kills. The more fast, elusive and dynamic players the Ravens have, the more problems they will create. Speed has to be the focus for the offense moving forward. If they get enough of it, they might just become unstoppable.
In 2019 every defense had two objectives when they faced the Baltimore Ravens. The first objective was to almost over commit to not getting beaten by Lamar Jackson’s running ability. The second objective was to take away Marquise Brown as the big play threat for the offense. Defensive coordinators believed that if they did that, they could slow the Ravens down enough to win the game.
Defenses understood that the run game of the Ravens was going to be successful. They knew that the Ravens were going to get 100 yards on the ground; it became the fourth law of motion. They knew however that for the Ravens to get to the sweet spot in terms of rushing yards, the number that gave them nearly inevitable victory, they needed Lamar Jackson to get a good chunk of the production.
Defenses knew that the Ravens had two main weapons in the passing attack. They knew that taking away Marquise Brown wasn’t going to solve their Mark Andrews problems. In fact, with all the problems the Ravens presented them with Jackson, defensive coordinators knew they had to live with Andrews having a big day in the box score.
The Ravens had an offense opponents had to slow down, not stop dead in their tracks. The reason the offense worked so effectively is that it forced the defense to flat out deal with things they had no way of stopping.
The goal for the offense has to be creating an attack with so much speed, the opposing defense has too much to worry about. What if Marquise Brown wasn’t the only home run threat in Baltimore? What if they had another wide receiver with the same kind of speed as Brown?
What if the Ravens added two speed demons to their offense? Imagine it. The defense would have to always be worried about the big play down the field. Creeping the strong safety in the box would be a bold move. This would create opportunities for the most prolific run game in NFL history to break it’s own records.
If the Ravens had two legitimate blazers at the wide receiver position and Andrews able to get them big chunks of yards in the passing game, it would change the way defenses attacked them.
The Ravens just got 125 receptions from the tight end position this past season. As long as the Ravens have Andrews, Hayden Hurst and Nick Boyle, they will have big weapons in the passing attack. Miles Boykin and Jaleel Scott are both big targets and if either one of them makes progress as a third or fourth option at wide receiver, that’s at least one more big body Jackson can count on in the passing attack.
There are multiple ways to go about it, however if the Ravens have to choose between size or speed, it’s an easy call. They need to not only be the fastest offense in the NFL, but the fastest offense ever assembled, with the fastest quarterback alive. Speed is the name of the game as far as the Baltimore Ravens should be concerned.