Ravens offensive coordinator Greg Roman has had success building running games in his past stops, but the passing attacks haven’t been quite as successful.
Given the reliance on the run game down the stretch last season, that’s something that might be a cause for concern for some in Baltimore as Roman redefines the team’s scheme heading into Lamar Jackson‘s first full year as a starter. During an appearance on a team podcast, Roman said the best chance for his previous teams “to win was to operate within a specific formula” while adding that there were times they had big numbers through the air when the situation called for it.
Roman also said it was “fool’s gold” to go into things with the goal of hitting a specific amount of passing yards, but knows that whatever he comes up with for 2019 has to be more balanced than the approach that sputtered in a playoff loss to the Chargers.
“Everybody wants you to have to fight left handed,” Roman said. “The best thing we can do is be able to fight with both hands. We want to be able to run it and pass it. There will definitely be more of a balance there. That’s how you win — that’s what makes it sustainable.”
Jackson’s growth as a passer will have a lot to do with the success of any approach the Ravens take and Roman said the 2018 first-rounder sees the field well. The key is to get him “mechanically and fundamentally progressing” to take full advantage of what he sees during plays.