The Baltimore Ravens had a great 2023 campaign, but it once again marred by a lack of success in the playoffs. While Lamar Jackson won his second MVP award, he was unable to turn it into his much-desired first Super Bowl appearance. As a result, the Ravens have once again been hard at work finding ways to improve their team for the 2024 campaign.
For the past few seasons, Jackson hasn't always gotten a ton of help from his supporting cast, which has led to him needing to step up and do something spectacular to win Baltimore games. The goal is to make his life easier under center, with big additions such as Derrick Henry being brought in to help accomplish that. Head coach John Harbaugh still wants Jackson at the center of what the team does on offense, and he's been impressed with how he's taken on the challenge of finding new ways to make the unit better moving forward.
“He's got a lot of thoughts. I think he's looking at every aspect of his game. He starts with himself; that's what I love about Lamar. [He asks,] ‘What can I do better?' And that's why he continues to improve. Then, he goes to what we need, what we need schematically in his view, and he trusts the coaches. We talked and shared ideas schematically, also personnel-wise.”
“We're kind of working on that now, and then, he'll come back, and he'll look at everything, and we'll want to know what he thinks. Like, ‘Do you prefer this or this? Are you comfortable in this direction or that direction? What do you like? [Are there] any other ideas you had since we talked last?' Lamar will be part of the architecture. I believe he'll be a big part of the architecture of the offense.” – John Harbaugh, BaltimoreRavens.com
Ravens hoping to take the burden off of Lamar Jackson's shoulders
We've seen how Jackson can take over games on his own throughout his career, but in the playoffs, it becomes a lot tougher to do so. With opposing defenses locking in on his playmakers and forcing Jackson to make things happen on his own, he's struggled, even though he's one of the best dual-threat quarterbacks in the league. At some point, the front office needed to bring in some reinforcements to help him achieve his main goal of winning a title.
With those new weapons comes a new scheme on offense, and it may take some time for Jackson to figure things out. Since he's their most important player, though, Harbaugh wants to make sure Jackson is in the loop when it comes to their offensive scheme, and it's great to hear that he's been so involved in the process. It may be a bit weird at first, but if it leads Baltimore to the promised land, it will surely be a change that will be looked back on as shrewd.
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