Aggression Part Of The New Era Of The Ravens

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Photo credit © Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

By Alex Woodward

 

The new era of Ravens football came with little resistance after Lamar Jackson led Baltimore to its first playoff appearance since 2014 last season. There were doubters about Lamar but for the most part it seemed like the fan base bought in especially after Baltimore’s Week 1 curb-stomping of the hapless Dolphins. Things got a little complicated this past Sunday when the Ravens fell to the Chiefs 33-28 in a game riddled with missed opportunities, bad play calls and some questionable decision making. The latter of those is in reference to coach Harbaugh showing more aggression in a single game than I can remember. The Ravens were 3-4 on 4th down conversions but couldn’t punch in any of their 3 two-point attempts. Fans and local media were frustrated by those risky decisions against the Chiefs but one thing is perfectly clear...aggression is part of the new era of Ravens football.

Coach Harbaugh has vehemently defended those decisions on Sunday and the analytical reasoning’s behind them. In short, the Ravens felt that they needed to control possession of the football more than positioning on the field. It shows a lot about the staff’s confidence in the offense and also the lack of confidence in the defenses ability to stop the Chiefs. They felt like 3 or even 7 points each possession wasn’t enough to keep up with the Chiefs. Was it a little bit of overthinking on their end? I think so but after sleeping on it…I’m not as upset with Harbaugh’s aggression against the Chiefs as I was at around 4:30pm on Sunday. They were facing arguably the best offense in the NFL, they were riding high after seeing Lamar Jackson thrive in the first 2 weeks of the season and I think they felt that if they could control the pacing and scoring on the road, that would give them the advantage. Most people were most upset about going for 2 when trailing 30-19 instead of just making it a 10 point deficit but according to the analytics community, Harbaugh should be commended for his aggression. Pro Football Focus called it the “Decision of the Week” and coach Harbaugh has no regrets when looking back.

"Getting it to nine gives you a much better chance of winning than taking it into overtime, and you still have a chance to do that with the second 2-[point conversion>,” Harbaugh said. "And if for some reason they happen to kick a field goal or score a touchdown, it also enhances your odds. So, while you may think getting it to 10 is the thing to do, it’s the thing to do if you want to go into overtime. It’s not the thing to do if you want to win the game in regulation, and that’s what we were trying to do.”

To put it plainly, the Ravens wanted to go in there and complete the comeback in regulation. Not play for overtime. Were they too aggressive? You could say that now because it didn’t work but if it DID work… we would be praising Harbaugh and the coaching staff for their aggression and innovation. It was part of the game plan going into the game and I like that they had the confidence to think that they could do something like that. The team just didn’t execute and there were a few other officiating factors in the loss as well.

The bottom line: this may be the most confident the Ravens have been in their offense since the Super Bowl season and they will continue to do whatever they think gives them the best chance to win. If that means they have to make analytical decisions that will go against what most fans think is the right thing to do…they will do it. Having Lamar Jackson also doesn’t hurt when you’re trying to convert on 4th down or on a 2 point attempt.
“I like Lamar and I believe in Lamar as a quarterback. I believe in all of our guys’ ability to make a play. We didn’t make those plays in this game. We’ll study those from a football standpoint – what we could have executed better, plays we called, the defenses we got. You have to give the Chiefs credit. They came up and made plays. They stopped us three times, so that’s why they won the game at the end, you could say." Harbaugh continued. "But as far as the decision to go for it, it was the right thing to do. Getting in there? Yeah, heck yeah. Lamar is a big part of that. Our running backs are a big part of that, [and> our offensive line. He’s going to make a lot more of those over the course of his career than he’s not.”
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