The offensive for the Baltimore Ravens saw some fundamental changes in the 2023 season compared to years past. With Todd Monken taking over as offensive coordinator for Greg Roman, the team’s philosophy on that side of the ball would change.
Monken ran a system that relied more on passing the ball than Roman, who wanted to establish the run game and lean on the athleticism of quarterback Lamar Jackson. At times Monken’s scheme dissolved into Jackson creating plays on his own, but for the most part, this unit clicked.
Jackson is on track to win his second MVP award, but the team fell short of their ultimate goal of winning a Super Bowl. They were eliminated by the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Championship Game, the first the Ravens have ever hosted.
As we head into the 2024 offseason, expect to see more changes from the Ravens offense. This time, they are going to get Jackson more involved, but not on the field. Instead, he will be part of the process when it comes to the game plan and setup of the unit.
“Lamar’s a driver. He’s got to be involved in the setup of the car even more,” Ravens coach John Harbaugh said Friday at the team’s end-of-season news conference.
Jackson set several career highs in his first season with Monken as the coordinator. He threw for 3,678 yards and completed 67.2 percent of his passes. Jackson had more freedom to adjust plays at the line of scrimmage under Monken than he did previously, something he liked.
After a meeting between Harbaugh and Jackson this week, it was revealed that Jackson is getting even more involved with the game plan. After being given the keys to the offense in 2023, he is looking to take even more ownership of that unit.
“Those are things that are on his mind, and those are things that he’s going to be involved with the staff talking about,” Harbaugh said. “I’m excited about that. He wants to do it, and he’s just into it, man.”
It will be interesting to see what kind of changes, if any, this leads to for the Ravens offense. Having quarterbacks involved in the scheme and game plan is always a good idea as they are the ones who are executing it on the field. They could see different things during the action that the coaches miss, which could give their team an edge.
Heading into Year 2 with Monken as his coordinator, Jackson should be even more comfortable with the scheme being run. That could lead to an even more productive season, especially if the Ravens continued upgrading the weapons around him.
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