One of the big questions with the transition from Gary Kubiak to Marc Trestman as offensive coordinator is how much will he change the scheme. Trestman has said he is keeping the scheme intact with minor changes, and that would seem true based on him keeping all of the coordinators from 2014. The offense set Ravens records last year, and was ranked in the top 10, so why fix what is not broken?
However, a bigger question for me was whether Trestman could improve on Kubiak's numbers. My biggest concern last year which I hope Trestman could improve on was also my biggest pet peeve last year, and that was the offenses' habit of starting slow in games. This habit cost us several games, and nearly cost us several more (Tenn, Jax). It was a common theme in almost all of our losses. The biggest losses which come to mind in which we suffered because of this were:
- Week 1 vs. Cin: One (non-penalty) 1st down before halftime, zero points until 2:20 in the 3rd quarter.
- Week 5 vs. Ind: One 1st down 1st quarter, 5 2nd quarter (4 passing), but only 3 points. 3 1st downs, 0 points 3rd quarter.
- Week 16 at Hou: One 1st down each of 1st 2 quarters, 4 1st downs through end of 3rd.
So a recent quote from Flacco has given me confidence that the issue is being addressed for 2015, even if it was just said in passing. Here is the quote from BR.com:
In the midst of telling reporters how similar Marc Trestman’s offense is to that of former offensive coordinator Gary Kubiak, Flacco outlined one key difference.
"We’re trying to do some new things so that when teams come after us, we can hurt them a little bit more," Flacco said.
It was just a passing comment, but pretty big news, actually. Although the Ravens’ offense set franchise records for points and yards under Kubiak in 2014, it did struggle at times against heavy-pressure defenses. Remember Houston?
Most fans were sad to see Kubiak go, but they’ll love Trestman if he can make opponents pay for putting pressure on Flacco.
A more aggressive scheme and playcalling from Trestman would not shock me at all, and is actually what I am expecting from the offensive guru and quarterback whisperer. This offense is going to come after you, like Kubiak did on his good days. The games he came out slinging are the games we took big leads and put points on the board- Week 5 vs. Tampa Bay comes to mind, as does Week 9 vs. San Diego before we blew it. New England in the playoffs is another game the offensive started off incredibly aggressive, and the Pittsburgh win wasn't too shabby. That is the offense I want to see week to week, not the hot mess we saw in the Indianapolis, Houston or Cincinnati games. And Flacco's little glimpse gives me hope that is what we will be getting. This is going to be a great season, I can't wait for it to begin!