John Harbaugh: Ravens’ offense will be unlike any we’ve seen in the NFL

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Ravens coach John Harbaugh thinks a full year of preparing quarterback Lamar Jackson to do his thing will result in a whole new world of offensive football.

Told on NFL Network that his predecessor as Ravens coach, Brian Billick, expects the Ravens’ offense to look unlike any ever seen before in the NFL, Harbaugh said Billick is right.

“I would kind of agree with that, I really do,” Harbaugh said.

Told that Cam Newton‘s career high is 139 carries, Harbaugh said Jackson will run the ball more than that.

“I’d bet the over on that one. I’d bet the over for sure on that one,” Harbaugh said.

Harbaugh suggested that the Ravens may help usher in a new era in offensive football, much like the 49ers did in the 1980s.

“The game was probably revolutionized with Bill Walsh and Joe Montana,” Harbaugh said. “What’s the next era going to be? We’re about to find out.”

Whether it works or not remains to be seen, but finding out should be fun.

90 responses to “John Harbaugh: Ravens’ offense will be unlike any we’ve seen in the NFL

  1. Ravens’ offense will be unlike any we’ve seen in the NFL….

    …Until week 9 when the Pats figure it out and then the rest of the NFL catches on

  2. Wait until they stack the box forcing Mr. Jackson to throw down field. It will definitely be something we’ve seen before.

  3. What’s the next era going to be? Uhhh, not this. That is for sure. Also, we have seen this. Multiple times. If they do a really good job, he might end up like Vick. A threat for sure, but never winning anything. It has to be throw first, throw second and maybe run third. Anything else is a gimmick and just waiting for an injury. Cam Newton is twice his size and can’t handle the beating. This won’t end well.

  4. Why would a head coach show his hand to the country like this….? Unless, of course, he’s not intending to have his pride and joy QB NOT run that much.

  5. Their offense will look like the 49ers with Kapernick circa 2012-2013. Th same type of QB and the same offensive coordinator.

  6. Running QBs don’t win Super Bowls – at least not until they learn to pass from the pocket (Steve Young). Cunningham, Kaepernick, Newton….

  7. The career of most NFL running backs is about 4-5 years. Quarterbacks, for the most part, usually play into their thirties. So I doubt Lamar Jackson as a primary runner is going to last that long.

  8. All it’s going to take is one hit, and the “new offense “ is over. Look what happened to Jimmy G last year. Though, time will tell.
    Didn’t Raven fans boo that new offense during the loss to the Chargers??

  9. John Harbaugh: “Ravens’ offense will be unlike any we’ve seen in the NFL”

    I have it that they are going to moonwalk into the end-zone on passing plays and at least one lineman will pop and lock when they run the ball. Should be exciting stuff!

  10. Harbaugh talks too much. Even if this is the case, why are you even mentioning it? Now the other 3 teams are thinking outside the box on what your offense may include this year. Think Belichick says nothing because he’s nervous or because he’s calculated?

  11. Good luck keeping the receivers interested with Jackson running all over the place

  12. Harbaugh lets that skinny kid run the ball that much….he wont last the season…

  13. If Harbaugh lets that skinny kid run the ball that much….he wont last the season…

  14. It might be different than the rest of the league, but “different” doesn’t always mean “good”. Jackson averaged 17 carries per game as a starter last year, and that’s not sustainable. He needs to learn how to improve his passing or else he will end up like RG3, Kaepernick, or Taylor. Opponents will simply look to shut down his running game and force him to function as a pocket passer. For now, he’s just an “athlete with an arm” and not an actual NFL QB.

  15. They better bring back Keenan Reynolds to be the backup running QB once Lamar Jackson gets hurt.

  16. So the I’ll take the under on Jackson playing more than 9 games before he goes on IR. The last thing a team should do is want their franchise QB running and getting hit.

  17. If he is going to run 10+ times per game, I am betting on injuries before game 8 changing the offense with a new qb.

  18. One of the things I like about Lamar is that he keeps a low profile. I couldn’t even tell you what his speaking voice sounds like. He just quietly goes about his business.

    Seems a lot of the shade that gets thrown his way is undeserved.

  19. The 1978 Patriots set an NFL record for most rushing yards in a single season, with 3,165 yards.

    4 players over 500 yards rushing including Grogan, the QB.

    The NFL has seen everything before.

  20. “Ravens’ offense will be like unlike any we’ve seen in the NFL”…since 1925, anyway.

  21. I dont even like jackson or the ravens. but everyone else in the nfl looks the same and plays arena football so I enjoyed the unpredictability of the ravens games.

  22. You mean where the QB runs too much and gets clobbered and pulverized by week 7? I think we have seen that before.

  23. In other words, teams will be stacking the box by Week 3 with man coverage on the outside, daring Mr. 50% to complete a long ball. At least they’ll get to play a 4th place schedule the following season.

  24. *yawn.* their d is outstanding, but their offense?… c’mon man. hasn’t been anything special since they came in the league. i expect more of the same this year.

  25. “Harbaugh suggested that the Ravens may help usher in a new era in offensive football, much like the 49ers did in the 1980s.”

    In this new era, teams will carry 5 QBs because they’re getting injured constantly from running the ball 10-20 times a game.

  26. whodatalien says:
    July 29, 2019 at 11:33 am
    I dont even like jackson or the ravens. but everyone else in the nfl looks the same and plays arena football so I enjoyed the unpredictability of the ravens games.

    ————

    It looked like arena football for a while in the regular season, but they let the DBs play in the playoffs and it was much better.

  27. Yeah yeah yeah. There once was a man named Michael Vick who I’m sure could run and throw circles around Lamar Jackson. What did he ever win? Let’s see Jackson win a playoff game before we declare him to be the centerpiece of a revolutionary offense.

  28. daphne49er says:
    July 29, 2019 at 11:06 am
    Running QBs don’t win Super Bowls – at least not until they learn to pass from the pocket (Steve Young). Cunningham, Kaepernick, Newton….

    18 4 Rate This

    ——————–

    True… if you look at guys that a have won at least two Super Bowls Montana, Elway and Staubach could run and scramble, but they could play very well from the pocket too. The rest of the multiple winners have been basically pocket guys. Basically zero true running guys.

  29. like all the others, it might be successful for a year at best till teams figure it out and you’re back to square one. instead of focusing on a qb who you can actually trust to regularly throw the ball

  30. everytime someone says this, the offense is completely predictable and boring. He has the same players he had last year! If he came out and used only running backs at every position or something super weird like that, then I’d be on board ha ha!

  31. Running him all the time is only going to get him hurt. The only way an offense like that would work over the long term would be if you had 2-3 similarly skilled guys and just went to the next one as injuries happened.

  32. They aren’t going to make a pass attempt all season because they dont actually have a QB. Something we’ve never seen.

  33. Ravens are going to be the team that the Browns are predicted to be on paper. Harbaugh won a Super Bowl with Flacco and should have won another one if Lee Evans could have caught a ball right in his hands, and Jackson is better. I go back and look at what he did his last two years at Louisville, and it’s nothing short of amazing as that’s one of the worst offensive lines I’ve ever seen, and you wouldn’t even know it because people didn’t notice due to how well he played.

  34. I can see him being carted off the field after 3 games. It doesn’t work in the NFL unless you have 3QB’s just as good as Jackson. It does work in practice when you have a red shirt on.

  35. It will be a new look… up until the time his dual threat quarterback gets injured because he’s running the ball so much. That’s the biggest problem with that type of quarterback, and smart coaches and gm’s know it.

  36. I remember back in the day when the “run and shoot” was all the rage. I remember watching teams that deployed such offense and I remember thinking, so what’s the huge innovation? It looked like football to me.
    You still have to block, read defenses, run, throw, catch and make 1st downs, right?
    Run and shoot
    West coast
    Wildcat
    Read option
    What shall this “new” offense be dubbed, East Coast, Atlantic, Run and Slide…?

  37. It is all a ruse and Jackson has transformed into the mega pocket qb he was born to be, and the new offense isn’t no running at all. It is pocket jackson throwing nothing but hail marys the entire game. Not one run.

  38. welcometothefold95 says:
    July 29, 2019 at 11:42 am
    *yawn.* their d is outstanding, but their offense?… c’mon man. hasn’t been anything special since they came in the league. i expect more of the same this year.

    —————-

    Ravens football is great defense, great running game and mediocre but opportunistic passing. Seems like that’s where they are headed, which has been pretty successful. But yeah, more of the same.

  39. They will need three Lamar Jackson’s on the roster to make it work through injuries. Do they have that? Trace McSorley? RG III? RG III didn’t last long doing this. What do you do when you don’t have Lamar? Change your entire offense to fit a new QB? This is like the guy that does the magic trick where he lights himself on fire. There aren’t too many episodes before it is over. But they drafted him, so I guess they gotta…

  40. The sad part is when fans are tired of seeing this new awesome offense, they will be chanting for RG3! hahaha

  41. We’ve seen the Wildcat… Bringing back the wishbone?
    —————–

    Browns ran it for a few series last year. Lets see the Wing T and the A-11

  42. What this will eventually turn into is the home plate slide offense. Lamar fakes the throw, runs, and slides over and over and over. They get into the red zone, try giving it to Ingram, and kick a field goal. Rinse and repeat. Justin Tucker has a monster year and sets the new NFL record for points in a single season, and the Ravens finish 9-7 or 8-8 and out of the playoffs.

  43. Worst front office move in Ravens history was wasting a 1st round pick on a guy who inaccurately throws wobblers and hasn’t the foggiest idea what to do with his footwork. Expect Harbaugh’s “whole new world of offensive football” to mean “bottom 5″.

    Super Bowl Coach Billick was fired by Bisciotti immediately after his 2nd losing season. Super Bowl Coach Harbaugh and his”whole new world of offensive football” is likely headed to his 2nd losing season. When Harbaugh is canned, hopefully Roman goes out the door with him.

  44. The Chiefs are already running the Pro-Raid offense, the Pat’s do too about 20-25% of the time using mesh and y-cross, and AZ is adding their version of the Pro-Raid.
    No news here.

  45. That’s because it’ll be the most disgusting offense we’ve seen in the last 30 years.

  46. Lamar needs to talk to his backup, RGIII and find out what happens to running QBs. In 2012, Robert Griffin III was the best thing to happen to the Redskins and they won the division. He got injured in the playoffs and was NEVER t6he same. Lost that burst, and now he’s backing up Lamar. Oh yes, now he has a fractured thumb and they’re still in training camp. For further references, see Carson Wentz and Cam Newton.
    Interestingly enough, 2 non-running QBs, Tom Brady and Drew Brees are in their 40s and still playing at a high level. What have we learned here?

  47. This will be the end of Jim’s career in Baltimore. Someone said that the Pat’s will figure it out by the 9th game. I’m betting the under on that. Teams already have film on this charade. Hang in there Joe Callahan, your time is coming.

  48. Whatever you say there little John. Just make you sure you hit the books as much as you watch film before you play the Pats. Don’t want to hear you crying at the podium about how the rules prevented you from winning after Tom and Bill break your new toy.

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