Ravens News 11/30: Draining the Clock and more

Ravens film study: Why Greg Roman’s offense needs to be ‘faster’ before the snap - Jonas Shaffer

Maybe the most confounding element of the Ravens’ slowdown is how quickly it’s happened. In 2015, Roman’s only full year as Buffalo’s offensive coordinator, the Bills snapped the ball with three seconds or fewer on 16.3% of their first-, second- and third-quarter plays, according to nflfastR. In 2019, Roman’s first year as play-caller in Baltimore, his late-snap rate jumped only slightly, to 18%.

There were marginal upticks the next two years, too: 20.7% in 2020 and 22.2% in 2021, when the Ravens had eight delay-of-game penalties, tied for fifth most in the NFL. Both marks would’ve ranked among the five highest this year, but still significantly lower than the team’s 2022 pace.

Roman, asked about the offense’s late arrivals to the line of scrimmage after the team’s season opener, said in September that “sometimes it’s good to drain the clock. People don’t realize that sometimes, but it’s really good at times. You can really drain a clock in the course of a game. I think we set the all-time NFL record for time of possession a couple years ago, and a lot of it was because of that process, really. And there are times when that’s not the way to go.

“So the bottom line is, we want to be efficient with how we operate, and we’d like to be at the line of scrimmage, most of the time, to where we can operate.”

With only six games left in the regular season, and the Ravens’ battle for playoff positioning only tightening, the clock is ticking.

One thing we learned about each NFL team in Week 12: Chiefs’ major weakness unveiled; Broncos star CB in slump - Jeff Kerr

Baltimore Ravens

Red zone issues part of another late-game collapses: This collapse can absolutely be blamed on the defense, but let’s not miss the fact Baltimore went 2 of 5 in the red zone in Sunday’s loss to the Jaguars. In goal-to-go situations, Baltimore was 1 of 3 — as Lamar Jackson was only 1 for 4 for 5 yards in those situations.

The Ravens are 24th in the NFL in red zone offense (51.7%) and 20th in goal-to-go situations (66.7%). Jackson completed just 46.4% of his passes in the red zone, although he has 13 touchdown passes — but only six since Week 4.

If the Ravens score more touchdowns in the red zone, perhaps the two-score collapses will be less frequent. That was part of the case this week.

Ravens Eye View: Week 12 vs. Jaguars - Ryan Mink

Fourth red-zone trip

The Ravens have another read-option run, this time using Duvernay as a speed threat on a jet sweep. Baltimore also draws the Jaguars’ inside linebackers towards the sideline with Edwards as a decoy lead blocker and Powers pulling out wide. Jackson has a huge hole and nearly powers his way through the safety for a touchdown.

On the 1-yard line, the Ravens have a well-designed fake with Andrews faking as a blocker before releasing into the end zone. He’s wide open but just drops the on-target pass.

This time, Baltimore calls on “The Bus” to be a sledgehammer at the goal line and Edwards shows great determination and power, slamming into the defensive tackle who breaks loose from Tyler Linderbaum and continuing to churn his legs for the touchdown.

Fifth red-zone trip

With just more than two minutes left and the Jaguars down to one timeout, the Ravens go for the jugular. Again, the Ravens use their tight ends, with Oliver starting as a blocker before releasing into a crosser that’s wide open. He punches it into the end zone for the score.

Oliver would have needed to go down at the 1-yard line to pick up a first down but not score. The Jaguars still had the two-minute warning and then would’ve used their final timeout, so the Ravens could not have gotten the clock under a minute before a field-goal attempt to take the lead. Harbaugh said milking more time off the clock was “definitely a consideration, and we would have probably gone more for that if we thought we could milk it all the way down.”

2022 NFL Season: Grading all 32 first-round picks after Week 12 - Sam Monson

25. BALTIMORE RAVENS: C TYLER LINDERBAUM, IOWA

Overall Rookie Grade: 69.2 (Rank: 1/4)

Principal Opponent: Davon Hamilton

Week 12 Snaps: 72

Linderbaum gave up two pressures against Jacksonville across 40 pass-blocking snaps. He faced a pair of monstrous defensive tackles on the interior but was often on the move on pull blocks to attack the edge of the Jaguars’ defensive front. He ranks 12th among all centers in PFF grade on the season, but his pass protection has been an issue at times. He has surrendered 17 total pressures, the sixth-most among centers.

NFL Week 13 Power Rankings 2022: 1-32 poll, expectations - Jamison Hensley

10. Baltimore Ravens (7-4)

Week 12 ranking: 7

Realistic expectation: Winning the AFC North.

Despite getting upset by the Jaguars, the Ravens have a favorable schedule the rest of the way. Baltimore plays five straight games against teams with losing records before playing at the Bengals in the regular-season finale. That’s why Baltimore has a 78.2% chance to win its first division title since 2019. The bigger question is how far the Ravens can advance in the postseason. Lamar Jackson is 1-3 in the playoffs for his career, throwing three touchdowns and five interceptions.

Week 13 NFL Power Rankings: Cowboys Crash the Top 5. How High Can They Climb? - Austin Gayle

9. Baltimore Ravens (7-4 | last week: 6)

Lamar Jackson is rightfully frustrated. Much of the Ravens’ roster is injury-plagued and lacking talent. Like Jackson, OC Greg Roman doesn’t have a ton of options to work with, but he is struggling to maximize Jackson in the dropback passing game. ESPN’s win probability model had the Ravens at 70 percent or higher to win in the fourth quarter in all four games they’ve lost this season, including Sunday’s game in Jacksonville. As talented as Jackson is, none of it will matter if the Ravens can’t play more complementary football and close out games in the playoffs.