The Ravens opened the offseason talking about their desire to see more production from their running game and they made a move in that direction by adding Greg Roman to their coaching staff as their assistant head coach and tight ends coach.
The Ravens led the league in pass attempts last season while ranking just 30th in rushes. Roman ran offenses for the 49ers and Bills that thrived on the ground and ranked among the league leaders in rushing attempts, so that would seem to signal a change in approach.
Roman agreed that the team is looking for more balance, but he made a reference to former boss Rex Ryan when saying that the Ravens aren’t looking to tilt too far in the other direction in 2017.
“I wouldn’t try to pigeonhole us just yet that we’re going to try to be ground and pound,” Roman said, via the team’s website. “Who really wins big doing that? I think you have to have balance. But that doesn’t mean we’re not going to make people respect us in that phase of the game.”
Game situations can force changes in plans as teams are likely to run more often if they are protecting leads. The Ravens need to do more to get in the lead in the first place and some of their offseason will be spent making moves in hopes that the run game can be part of that equation as well.