In an ongoing offseason series, experts from The 33rd Team offer three things each team can do to improve in 2023.
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The Baltimore Ravens have qualified for the playoffs four of the past five seasons, but they have not advanced past the Divisional Round in any of those. There are three things the franchise has to address if it wants to make a run next season at its first Super Bowl berth since the Ravens won the big game after the 2012 season.
3 Ways to Improve Ravens
1. Get Quarterback Situation Settled
The first thing is one that we’ve been talking about for a long time with Baltimore, the quarterback position. The Ravens must get the quarterback position settled, period. They’ve got a good, young, talented quarterback in Lamar Jackson. Teams that have their quarterback situation settled with a talented guy tend to be in a better position to make a playoff run.
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The Ravens have a couple of options with Jackson.
They can put an exclusive tag on him, which will cost about $44 million, but Jackson would be off the market — the quarterback position would be settled for the 2023 season.
The Ravens also could put the nonexclusive tag on Jackson — that’s about $32 million. However, that likely would prompt offer sheets from other teams. If the Ravens matched the offer, then the quarterback position would be settled.
However, if the Ravens choose not to match the offer sheet, then Jackson is gone, and Baltimore would receive two first-round picks. That would be draft capital to help them either draft or trade for another highly talented quarterback. It also could mean turning to free agency to find his replacement.
However they do it, the key is to get the quarterback situation settled.
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2. Adjust Offensive Philosophy
This adjustment is necessary to keep the quarterback healthy. That’s a philosophical shift away from running Jackson all over the place all game, every game.
You can play the game a certain way — nobody is immune to injury — but you can play the game in a way that minimizes the possibilities of some of these injuries. Remember, Jackson was unavailable and unhealthy down the stretch for the Ravens the past two years.
Baltimore has a new offensive coordinator, Todd Monken. He needs to understand this shift and put it into action. I’ve been there. It’s so tempting to run Jackson too much — he’s dangerous with the ball in his hands. But too much, in this case, is just as bad as not enough.
3. Open Up Offense to Win More Close Games
The third thing that the Ravens must do is win more of their close games.
They were in 12 games decided by single digits, and they only won six of them. That happened despite Baltimore having the NFL’s No. 3 scoring defense, which allowed just 18.5 points per game. So getting back to the idea of a philosophy shift — the Ravens probably should open things up a little bit on offense, right?
If they open it up on offense, they will have more opportunities to get ahead by one or more scores and then turn that vaunted defense loose.
Marty Mornhinweg is a former NFL Head Coach and assistant. He is best known for coaching quarterbacks and coordinating offenses for the Green Bay Packers, San Francisco 49ers and Philadelphia Eagles while winning Super Bowl XXXI. Follow him on Twitter at @MartyMornhinweg.
