Ravens John Harbaugh shares next step for Lamar Jackson and the offense

Last season the Baltimore Ravens scorched the earth, lit up scoreboards, and demolished opposing defenses with their punishing rushing attack that set the single-season record and finished first in scoring. In order to reach even greater heights and accomplish greater feats in 2020, Head Coach John Harbaugh believes that the next step for MVP winning quarterback Lamar Jackson and the entire unit is to take is improving the deep passing game.

One area in particular that the Ravens offense wasn’t as efficient in that he wants to see improvement in is connecting in more deep shots when the defense loads the box to stop the run and creates one on one opportunities for receivers and tight ends down the field.

“Those corners are going to be one-on-one and those safeties are going to be one-on-one against receivers, especially on downfield throws, and we got to make them pay for it,” Harbaugh said during a conference call with PSL owners last week. “I really do believe that’s the next step for this offense from an execution standpoint. I really do believe Lamar is going to take the next step and our receivers are going to take the next step.”

The Ravens ran the ball more and better than any other team last season and don’t intend on deviating from that formula. However, when their receivers found themselves in single coverage because the opposing team committed more bodies near the line of scrimmage to stuff the run, Jackson and his targets didn’t connect nearly as often as they could have and left plays out there.

Jackson improved leaps and bounds as a passer from his rookie year to his sensational sophomore campaign. He went from being largely doubted as a competent passer to leading the league in touchdown passes with 36 despite being ranked near the bottom of the league in attempts. He was extremely deadly from the inside the pocket where he threw a league-high 25 touchdowns.

While Jackson was lethal throwing between the numbers in the middle of the field, an area of his game that he struggled with at times and needs improvement is outside the numbers. However, not all of those missed opportunities on the perimeter should be attributed to him alone. Outside of seven-year veteran Willie Snead, the Ravens receiving group was full of youth and inexperience last season. Both of the rookies that they drafted last year—Marquise Brown and Miles Boykin—started 11 games and both are expecting to have breakout seasons in year two.

The Ravens drafted another pair wideouts in this year’s draft with Devin Duvernay (third round) out of Texas and James Proche (sixth round) out of SMU. Former first-round tight end Hayden Hurst was traded to the Atlanta Falcons this offseason but they still have 2019 Pro Bowler Mark Andrews fresh off a breakout season and premiere blocking tight end Nick Boyle who as also proven to be a capable and trusted pass catcher.

The connection between Jackson and his receiver is vital to unlocking the deep passing game and taking advantage of the lighter boxes and single coverages opportunities when they present themselves. He will be getting together with several of his teammates in his home state of Florida ahead of training camp to work on improving chemistry and getting a better feel for one another like he did to dramatically improve from year one to year two.

Harbaugh mentioned earlier this offseason that he wants the Ravens to field an offense that is “undefendable” and the more time they put in on working on the downfield passing attack, it will result in an even more balanced and potent offense. While they are still going to committed to their run-first mantra and philosophy on that side of the ball, completing more deep passes could make them even more dangerous than the team that finished with a league and franchise-best 14-2 record that included rattling off 12 straight wins after a 2-2 start.

“I wouldn’t say we’re going to scrap the run game and I wouldn’t say we’re going to become a more conventional offense – that’s the last thing we want to do,” said Harbaugh. “We didn’t change the offense to scrap the idea that we want to cause people problems. We just want to get better at taking advantage of weaknesses.”

A potent running game can set up the passing game with plenty of opportunities to make big plays. When the defense is hellbent on not getting run over time and time again and devote more attention to stopping the bleeding in the ground, and aerial assault would overwhelm the opposition.

“We should have more guys open and we should have bigger plays and we should create more opportunities in the passing game because of that run game,” Harbaugh said.