Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson made quite the leap in Year 2 by securing MVP honors. Offensive coordinator Greg Roman is now doing what he can to make sure that he continues to grow into their franchise cornerstone.
Although it may be difficult for a reigning MVP to find areas to improve, Roman acknowledged the importance of ensuring that Jackson is making the necessary strides his development, via Ryan Mink of the team's official website:
“Lamar is still relatively a young player,” Offensive Coordinator Greg Roman said. “Really, all aspects of his game he was able to look into with a critical eye and discuss certain things. I think it's been very valuable for him. I don't think it's been just one thing, it's really everything.”
Roman added that it will be imperative for Jackson to be capable of attacking every area of the field this season with the Ravens:
“We're talking about pushing the ball to spots where the defense is not,” Head Coach John Harbaugh said. “Our offense – like any offense – the idea is to force people to defend certain things. Hopefully, they can't do it in a balanced way, and you have to overcommit resources to certain aspects of the game. That's the chess game.
“Picture a bar graph and there's 50 or 60 things that every day you're measured in each category at,” Roman said. “If you can get all 50 of those up 2 percent or 3 percent, then you're a much better player at the end of the day.
Roman feels Jackson's explosive skill set leaves them with plenty of options on offense.
“I think there's a magic to his style and how he plays – some creativity. We always want to focus that creativity and that energy into winning football and winning football decisions on the field – accuracy, timing, vision, all those things. It's a constant, slow, steady upward tick in all those different categories.”
Baltimore led the most formidable rushing attack in the 2019 campaign with Jackson at the helm. While this blueprint was a recipe for success during the regular season, it made them one-dimensional in the playoffs.
The onus will be on Roman to not only continue identifying Jackson's strengths and weaknesses in the passing game but ensure that the playbook is constantly being fine-tuned to help him succeed.
Fortunately, that should not be too difficult given the tremendous strides he has made under center.
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