Top five things Ravens need to do during bye week: Fix the run game

The Baltimore Ravens are heading into their bye week with a near-perfect record of 5-1 even though they have played far from flawless to achieve it on both sides of the ball but especially on offense as of late.

The stretch run to what they hope will end with an all-expense-paid trip for a chance to play for the franchise’s third championship on the first Sunday in February 2021 won’t be easy.

Here are is one of the top five things they need to do during their week off to give themselves their best chances of getting to Tampa represent the AFC in Superbowl 55:

Fix the run game and the rest will follow

The fifth and final thing the Ravens need to address and improve upon during their bye week is the exact thing that has been their offensive identity since reigning league MVP Lamar Jackson took over as the full-time starter at quarterback.

Baltimore was the most dangerous team down the stretch of the regular season last year and was able to rattle off 12 straight victories after a 2-2 start to the season thanks in large part to a revolutionary rushing attack that first-year Offensive Coordinator Greg Roman constructed and unveiled that shattered records and took the entire league by storm.

With Jackson as the focal point, Roman and the Ravens were able to steamroll opposing defenses with seemingly relative ease by using multiple tight end sets and a potent power running game that allowed them to grind the clock and as well as defenders into submission.

This year’s offense needs to get back to being as close to the same bullies they were for the majority of last season as they can and it all starts upfront with the offensive line that hasn’t performed up to their established standard as a whole consistently enough this season.

Regression across the board after such a historic season was to be expected but the absence of their future Hall of Famer and eight-time Pro Bowler Marshal Yanda at right guard has taken an obvious toll on the still talent rich unit.

“We don’t think about it, we don’t dwell on it, but if you want to make a comparison [between offenses], that’s it,” Head Coach John Harbaugh said. “Marshal, he played at a Hall of Fame level for years, but especially last year. I think in a lot of ways last year was his best year. He had so many good years, but he never played better than he did last year. He was just dominant. He was blocking two guys oftentimes.”

Yanda was the ringleader of big boys that paved the way for Jackson to shatter the single-season rushing record at the quarterback position as well as for the offense as a whole to break a team rushing record that stood for over four decades.

In addition to being the veteran leader of the bunch, Yanda was like a second quarterback on the field who helped his fellow linemen get lined up right diagnose defensive pressures presnap.

He also assisted them with blocks once the ball was snapped and his assignment was taken care or sometimes while he was doing his job simultaneously.

He has been replaced in the starting line up by rookie Tyre Phillips who won the starting job in training camp over the more heralded competition but he as well as the unit a whole has struggled with pre-snap, dead ball, and holding penalties.

“Really, it’s just a matter of doing a better job,” Harbaugh said. “We practice them every single day. We’ve just got to be locked in way better than that. It goes for the alignment issues as well. Those are issues that really shouldn’t happen. Last year we were one of the best in the league, both cadence, and pre-snap formation stuff. We run a lot of motions. We put guys in different spots. We’re very creative that way. But with that, you have to be locked in. That’s something we need to improve on.”

I’ve already highlighted two roster moves the Ravens could make that could help them run the ball more effectively and efficiently going forward in two previous editions of this five-part series when I suggested that they should replace Phillips at right guard and sign or trade for a third tight end.

Both moves would benefit the running and passing game but if the Ravens can work out the kinks and iron out the wrinkles to get their rushing attack clicking on all cylinders, then the rest of the offense will be able to flow through it as it did last year.

Jackson was able to lead the league with 36 touchdown passes during his MVP campaign in large part because he often had several wide-open windows and targets to throw in and to thanks to all of the extra bodies that opposing teams were sending in an attempt to slow down the Ravens’ prolific rushing attack to no avail.

Baltimore currently ranks second in the league in rushing yards (986), third in rushing yards per game (164.3), and first in yards per attempt (5.4) which is not a steep fall from the top spot they finished and broke records with last year.

However, if they want to get the passing game going and start humming more consistently on offense and not rely on chunk runs to make their averages look more formidable or have so many lulls as they did in their most recent game against the Eagles in Week Six when they punted a season-high seven times, they’ll need to take it up a notch.

Fixing the run game will require more than just filling the void at the third tight spot left by the trade of Hayden Hurst to the Falcons or replacing Phillips at right guard with a more experienced option.

It is going to take a combination of better overall execution by the offense as a whole from every position as well as a return of some of the innovative formations, personnel packages, and play calls from Roman that made his unit so unpredictable and difficult to defend.