The Baltimore Ravens didn't need long to show how exciting this can be. Week 1 brought explosive plays, wow moments, and fireworks. Their new-look offense seems on the verge of creating problems for opposing defenses. In the season opener, the Indianapolis Colts had nothing to do except hope Baltimore put itself behind the chains or self-destructed via a penalty.
Over 500 yards piled up. 41 points were scored. It was an onslaught in every sense of the word. Declan Doyle's unit shredded the Colts, and that's putting things mildly.
That production wasn't simply the result of having Lamar Jackson, Derrick Henry, and a collection of talented pass catchers. The Ravens also spent much of the afternoon moving those pieces around, forcing Indianapolis
to process different looks before and after the snap.
According to Jackson, that confusion is a major part of what Baltimore is trying to accomplish in Declan Doyle's offense. He spoke of this while chatting with the media recently.
"[It creates] more explosives [and] advantages. They do not know if I am going to run it, [if] Derrick [Henry] will run it. Is it a run play? Is it a pass play? [It is a] disadvantage [for the defense] each and every down, and we need that. We need that with this type of system."
That idea goes beyond simply moving a receiver across the formation. Baltimore wants defenses to question where the ball is going and who will be the focal point of a particular play.
"The confusion [the offense] is creating with the motions. [Our opponents] do not really know how to pinpoint a guy on our offense. This guy might be the strong suit on this play, and it isn't that. It [can be] any given guy. That is [how] I feel like our offense is giving [the defense] that disadvantage."
That unpredictability becomes even harder to handle when Jackson operates from under center. Against Indianapolis, he took more snaps from under center than in any previous game during his career, giving the Ravens another way to force defenses to account for multiple possibilities.
"What I take from [watching] film [and] from us doing all of that [is to] keep getting sharper, just keep getting better, keep making things look [better and] keep trying to confuse the defense as much as possible. It is a long season. That was only game one, but we just have to keep going, keep getting better at practice and hopefully our season keeps doing what it is doing right now."
The concept also explains why Baltimore doesn't necessarily need one player to dominate the offense every week. Jackson said the motion and movement can help different players get open, making it harder for a defense to identify the primary threat and build its coverage around that player. That could become especially important in Week 2.
The Ravens are dealing with wide receiver injuries, with Zay Flowers dealing with a hamstring issue andJa'Kobi Lane now on injured reserve. Rather than dramatically changing the offense, Baltimore can continue leaning into a system designed to distribute opportunities among the players available.
Jackson expressed confidence in the receivers who could see expanded roles, including Rashod Bateman, LaJohntay Wester, Devontez Walker, Chris Moore, Elijah Sarratt and Xavier Guillory. The quarterback's comments also offer insight into why the Ravens generated so many explosive plays in the opener. The objective isn't necessarily to manufacture a specific matchup on every snap. It's to create enough movement and uncertainty that the defense has to account for everything.
Jackson knows there is still plenty of room for improvement after one game. He emphasized the need to keep getting sharper and make the offense's various looks even harder to diagnose. If Baltimore can keep creating that level of uncertainty while getting more precise each week, defenses may have an increasingly difficult time figuring out where the football is going.
This article originally appeared on Ravens Wire: Lamar Jackson explains how Ravens offense keeps defenses guessing
