Offensive Play Calls ‘Need to Be Faster’

Far too often, the Ravens were rushing to beat the play clock before snapping the ball during Sunday’s 28-27 loss to Jacksonville.

The problem has cropped up in other games over the past several years, and Head Coach John Harbaugh wants it to stop.

“It’s on us,” Harbaugh said. “We did a lot of substituting in the first half. We ran more complicated plays and formations, in terms of shifting. I don’t think we got off the field as quick as we can.

“(Offensive Coordinator) Greg (Roman) told me, ‘I got to call the play faster.’ Communicate it better in the huddle or whatever. The whole thing needed to be faster. The rhythm and tempo was not like we needed it to be at all.”

Harbaugh said the Ravens did a better job in the second half and ran more no-huddle plays. But the overall crispness of the offensive operation is something Baltimore will examine closely after a game in which they struggled in the red zone and squandered opportunities to score more points.

Another sequence they’d like to do over occurred early in the second quarter, when Lamar Jackson was stopped for no gain on fourth-and-one at midfield. The officials originally ruled that Jackson had made a first down on his third-down run. But the ball was re-spotted and placed short of the first down marker, setting up fourth-and-one.

The Ravens were late getting to the line on fourth down and the play overall looked disjointed. Instead of calling timeout or punting, the Ravens ran a quarterback sneak and Jackson was stoned. The Jaguars quickly answered with a four-play touchdown drive to take the lead – another costly change of momentum in a frustrating game for the Ravens.

“I’d like to have that one back,” Harbaugh said of the fourth-down play. “We didn’t run it well. We didn’t communicate it well. It was just a bad play.

“I don’t want to make excuses. We thought it was a first down, then it wasn’t a first down, then the play clock’s running. We’ve still got to be on top of it. I think Lamar has been really good…