Why This Year Will Be Different for Lamar Jackson and the Ravens
Coming off a disappointing season, will this year be different for Lamar Jackson and the Ravens?
The question was posed to “Good Morning Football’s” Manti Te’o and Willie Colon. Both analysts answered in the affirmative, but for different reasons.
Te'o pointed to a revamped defense under first-year Head Coach Jesse Minter as cause for optimism.
"There's been a lot of conversation about the Baltimore defense the past few years of how it takes a long time for that defense to start going, almost half the season, and then they become what we are known to see the Baltimore Ravens as: a dominant, turnover machine," Te'o said. "You bring in a person like Jesse Minter to kind of solve all those riddles. So what I'm excited about is we hopefully will see a Baltimore Ravens team defensively that will have more momentum going into the second half of the season."
For Colon, it all starts with Jackson.
"I think right now you're betting on Lamar," Colon said. "You have a two-time MVP at quarterback. You have a juggernaut running back in Derrick Henry. You have a new voice and a new air in the building in Jesse Minter and [Offensive Coordinator] Declan Doyle. You still have playmakers in Zay Flowers and Mark Andrews.
"Right now, you're looking at a team, if they stay healthy, they will remind us who Lamar Jackson is and what they can be."
Pundit Says Players Have Bought Into Doyle's New System
With this week's mandatory minicamp in the books, The Baltimore Sun’s Sam Cohn looked at what was learned from the two days of practices.
One of his main takeaways was that people are excited about Doyle's offense.
"He's teaching players an entirely new language," Cohn wrote. "Ravens team cameras caught Doyle in conversation with his quarterback, likening the new terminology to 'learning Spanish.' Wide receiver Zay Flowers echoed that sentiment, tacking on that Doyle 'teaches you in a certain way where you remember the plays, where there's not too much stress on you.' Sometimes Doyle talks too fast, but 'he is a genius,' according to Flowers, and a 'human computer,' Defensive Coordinator Anthony Weaver said.
"That manifests in the funky schematic differences we've seen during padless practices. Plus, he's already gaining respect points, cursing out Jackson for pitching the ball when he was supposed to tuck it or hounding the offense to tighten up their huddle. Consider this overly simplistic three-step process for the Ravens offense to succeed: players buy into the new system, Doyle calls the right plays, and they execute most of them. Based on feedback throughout voluntary practices and mandatory minicamp, Doyle checked off the first box."
Two Draft Picks Who Stood Out at Minicamp
Two players who stood out at mandatory minicamp to Press Box’s Antonio Barbera were rookies: second-round outside linebacker Zion Young and fourth-round wide receiver Elijah Sarratt.
"Young was in the backfield and set the edge consistently from OTAs through minicamp," Barbera wrote. "During an 11-on-11 scrimmage on Tuesday, he blew through the offensive line multiple times in a row and got into a brief skirmish with a few linemen afterward.
"[Sarratt] made the play of the day during Tuesday's minicamp, catching a Lamar Jackson lofted deep ball along the sideline with a defender in his lap. Sarratt's celebration after wasn't boastful, but rather one of a player visibly gaining confidence that he belongs. He was also working on fielding punts. At Indiana, Sarratt's hallmarks were route-running and making catches out of the slot. If he can add big-play ability to the Ravens, he won't just gain confidence, he'll gain starter reps."
