Early Takeaways from the New-Look Baltimore Ravens Offense

The hiring of offensive coordinator Gary Kubiak was one of the biggest coaching moves of the NFL offseason. As one of the smartest offensive minds in the game, the debut of his new Baltimore Ravens offense was eagerly anticipated by fans and players alike.

Though the results against the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 1 looked good on paper (5th-most total yards in the league), it was far from an impressive performance for the new-look offense.

One game does not a season make, however, and there is plenty of time for the Ravens to correct their mistakes. Given the very small sample size at our disposal, overreactions and extensive extrapolations are unwise, but here are some interesting takeaways from the Week 1 action.

Personnel Groupings

You can learn a lot about an offense just by looking at who’s actually on the field. Below are the snap counts of the different personnel groups used by new offensive coordinator Gary Kubiak in Week 1:

Some observations from these numbers:

• “11” personnel was the overwhelming favorite against the Bengals, and 3WR sets in general ruled the day accounting for over 60 percent of the 88 total offensive snaps.
• The 2TE formations that Gary Kubiak loved so much in Houston only received 28 percent of the snaps.
• Baltimore only used two backs (i.e. got Kyle Juszczyk on the field) for 18 snaps.

The overreliance on three-wide sets is at least partially due to circumstance. Despite never trailing by more than 15 points, the Ravens virtually abandoned the rushing attack. Kubiak used mostly “21” packages (2 RBs, 1 TE and 2 WRs) to start the first half, and then switched to three-wide more frequently as the game went on.

Based on Kubiak’s past, I’m expecting 2TE sets will be more prevalent in the offense moving forward, but Week 1 was a good indication that we should also expect more 3WR packages from Kubiak than we’ve seen from him before.

In Baltimore, he has more depth and talent at wide receiver than he ever had in Houston and he’s sure to take advantage of it.

Player Snap Counts

Kamar Aiken made some unexpected contributions in Week 1.

By and large, the amount of reps each player got was what we expected but here are some of the more interesting takeaways from the individual snap counts:

Low snap counts for Kyle Juszczyk (18) and Owen Daniels (30)

The reason for this was the aforementioned offensive imbalance that saw the Ravens shift to a pass-heavy attack. In terms of getting the best 11 players on the field, three wide receivers is the way to go for this Baltimore roster.

That said, incorporating Juszczyk and Daniels gives the Ravens more flexibility and makes them a much more unpredictable offense (for more analysis on the schematic advantages that Juszczyk provides, check out this Dan Bryden piece on the subject). Look for those snap counts to go up for both players against Pittsburgh.

Kamar Aiken makes an appearance

While the battle for the final wide receiver spots was hotly contested, those “bubble” wideouts were not expected to make an impact for the offense barring some kind of injury. Despite the depth in the receiving corps, Aiken received 12 snaps with the offense and acquitted himself very nicely.

He quietly registered four catches for 40 yards and, though he didn’t make any spectacular plays, his reliable hands were a welcome (and rare) sight in Week 1. Aiken even snuck on in a couple of the Ravens’ 4WR sets, replacing Jacoby Jones or Marlon Brown in those instances.

It’s unlikely that Aiken sees an increase in playing time (given the talent ahead of him) but his performance was reassuring and backed up what we saw in the preseason. He is a quality WR5 and provides great depth in the event of an injury (or a prolonged case of the “drops”) to one of his fellow receivers.

Expect Big Things from Dennis Pitta?

I’m not going to read too much into the snap counts from one game, but it’s worth noting that Dennis Pitta tied his career-high with 83 snaps. There are some factors that boosted those numbers, like the pass-heavy offense and the Vontaze Burfict injury that took the Bengals’ best cover linebacker off the field.

Regardless, it’s clear that Pitta is going to be a huge part of this offense, leading all skill position players in snaps and targets (tied with Steve Smith Sr. at 15).

For reference, here’s how involved Pitta has been in the Ravens’ offense over his career:

It’s unlikely that he continues to get as much playing time as he did in Week 1, but it also looks certain that he’s going to eclipse his previous marks in Baltimore and receive more snaps than he ever has before.

He was the Ravens’ best pass-catcher against Cincinnati and will continue to be Joe Flacco’s go-to target against the Steelers.

             

Offensive Imbalance

Joe Flacco marvels at his ridiculous blunder to end the first half. AP Photo/Nick Wass.

After all the talk about Gary Kubiak’s run-first philosophy and how he would revive the rushing attack, it didn’t take very long for the new coordinator to abandon it. Joe Flacco tied his career-high with 62 pass attempts (which he set in last year’s Week 1 debacle against the Denver Broncos). In many ways, the second half resembled most of last season with the Ravens not really looking to run and operating out of the shotgun (Flacco lined up under center on only 39 percent of the snaps).

The only difference was that they were actually achieving some success on the ground despite a talented Bengals defensive front. They averaged 4.6 yards per carry as a team and Justin Forsett was consistently churning out big gains with a 6.4 YPC average that was not skewed by any huge runs (his longest on the day was the 13-yard TD).

Baltimore never trailed by more than two touchdowns so the play-calling was a little perplexing. See the disparity for yourself:

Joe Flacco should never be attempting that many passes. That's not a criticism of him, that's just not who he is as a quarterback. Furthermore, the Ravens passed on an inordinate amount of their first downs making things a little easier on the Bengals defense by becoming more predictable.

Bernard Pierce’s fumble and subsequent benching played a role in the decreased emphasis on the “ground and pound” strategy, but there’s no excuse for an imbalance of those proportions.

In Week 2, expect Kubiak to emphasize the running game against a Pittsburgh defense that just conceded 183 yards, 6.1 yards per carry and 2 rushing touchdowns to the Cleveland Browns.

Drops

This was one of the perfectly thrown deep balls by Joe Flacco that fell through the hands of his target. Getty Images/Patrick Smith.

Joe Flacco made his fair share (and then some) of bone-headed plays and throwing errors, but the offense was severely hampered by a deadly outbreak of the drops that affected all of the receivers.

According to ProFootballFocus (subscription required), the Ravens as a team registered more drops than we saw in any other game of Week 1. Here are the Ravens who dropped the ball—literally and figuratively:

Some of the early drops came as a result of off-target passes from Flacco, but most—like the perfectly lofted deep balls to Jacoby Jones and Torrey Smith—were the result of mental lapses by the wideouts. One can optimistically hope that the lack of focus was the result of playing in the new offense for the first time at full speed in a meaningful context.

Whatever the reason, the Ravens don’t have any margin for error against the Pittsburgh Steelers, so they can’t afford to have a repeat performance.

What Needs to Change in Week 2

Gary Kubiak's game plan wasn't the biggest issue with the offense, but he has some work to do to prepare for his first Steelers Week.

The Thursday night matchup against Pittsburgh is about as "must-win" as it gets in Week 2. The Ravens can ill afford to fall into an 0-2 hole in the division with the prospect of needing to win in Pittsburgh and Cincinnati to make up that deficit.

Gary Kubiak's strategy was sound to start, but a lack of execution on the field and the subsequent changes to the game plan left a lot to be desired. Here's what I want to see from the Baltimore offense in Week 2.

More Screens

Kubiak threw out a ton of different screen concepts in the preseason, but the Ravens only called three screen plays in the season-opener. As Chris Worthington explored in detail, the screen game can help take pressure off the offensive line and exploit overaggressive blitzes (as we witnessed firsthand on the myriad of screens Hue Jackson dialed up for the Bengals).

I don't need to see 15 screens, but a few more attempts would go a long way towards keeping that Steelers defense honest.

Stick with the Ground Game

The lack of offensive balance has already been discussed, so it should come as no surprise that I'm calling for a more balanced approach this week. Baltimore's new-look O-line played very well in Week 1, and Kubiak needs to take advantage of the trio of capable runners at his disposal.

"Bigger" Formations

This goes hand-in-hand with the point above, but the Ravens' most versatile offensive personnel grouping is the "22" package with two running backs and two tight ends. Normally, such a formation would hinder a team's ability to pass the ball, but that's not the case for this team.

Both tight ends are better receivers than blockers, and the same could also be said for Kyle Juszczyk. I've harped on a lot about "unpredictability," but that's how you win in the today's NFL.

Defenses are too smart and there's too much scouting out there to line up and simply "win" each matchup. You have to scheme up ways to win and keep defenses off-balance. The "22" is the best weapon Baltimore has to accomplish that feat.

Designed Play-Action Rollouts

This became a "talking point" by the talking heads over the offseason: "Is Joe Flacco athletic enough to run Kubiak's play-action game?" Last year, we saw how good Flacco is when he's on the move and making plays with his feet.

The problem, however, was that none of those plays he made last year were by design. The same can be said about Week 1.

Play-action was used, but Kubiak didn't do enough to get Flacco moving. Let's hope we see more of that in Week 2.

Get Torrey Smith the Ball Near the Line of Scrimmage

Torrey Smith is an overrated deep threat and an underrated player after the catch. He obviously has the blazing speed required of any deep threat, but he's not great at tracking the ball nor at winning jump-ball battles in the air.

On the contrary, he surprised me last year by racking up yards after the catch. He did so by fighting through tackles and by using his speed in the open field to just beat defenders to the edge and turn upfield.

Thanks to the proven underneath threats on the roster (Pitta and Smith Sr.) Torrey Smith's primary role in the offense will still be to take the top off opposing defenses, but he's too good a playmaker with the ball in his hands to relegate him to running "9" routes all game.

Against a questionable trio of Pittsburgh cornerbacks (Ike Taylor, Cortez Allen and William Gay), Smith will have an athletic advantage over whomever he's lining up against. That means that there will be some opportunities for big plays, but Kubiak needs to throw in some shallow crosses and screens for Smith to get his best playmaker the ball.