Baltimore fans everywhere are breathing a sigh of relief as the headline of Greg Roman fired makes the rounds. It has been a long time coming as Lamar Jackson and the offense as a whole has regressed continuously since his MVP season. Now the Ravens are in the market for a new coordinator that will hopefully develop Lamar’s passing more and bring the offense to this century.

To the Greg Roman Supporters

Before we get into this, there has been a weird group of people that are coming out stating that this parting of ways is a bad thing. That Roman is the reason Lamar won MVP and that the Ravens are going to be worse off now that Roman is gone. 

Anyone that likes football knows if Acho is arguing a point it is usually more ridiculous than most. This is nothing against Acho but he seems to argue the minority opinion on things just to be different. If he actually believes this he is kidding himself. Alex Smith in the two seasons with Roman as OC averaged 192 passing yards per game with 38 total touchdowns in 28 games (Including playoffs). He is also citing him getting Kaepernick to the Superbowl as credit to Roman. You know who probably deserves credit? The head coach, Jim Harbaugh. An offensive mind who had three seasons of 11 or more wins in four total with the 49ers. Jim Harbaugh who has caused Michigan to return to college powerhouse status. Why would you credit Roman here when Harbaugh seems to be the bigger factor. Lastly he mentions Lamar Jackson’s mvp campaign. Again, what part of Roman gets credit for this. It seems like Lamar won that award despite Roman not because of Roman. He only threw it 400 times (As compared to someone like Mahomes who threw it almost 600 times in his MVP season). Why would Roman get credit for Lamar succeeding exponentially in an offense that only allowed him to throw a fraction of the time to his fellow contenders. 

What Greg Roman Was Not at Fault For

While Roman’s input into personnel decisions cannot be truly known, we assume he was not responsible for the draft decisions and trade decisions and the insistence on not getting Lamar established weapons. It seems the Ravens have been determined to not do what teams like Philly and Buffalo have for their superstar QBs. They have refused to trade for established players like Diggs or AJ Brown. Instead, they try to hit in the draft on mid round picks or first round gambles. Instead of Rashod Bateman (who we do like by the way) they could have had a guy like AJ Brown. The same goes for Hollywood as they could have sent that pick for a proven wide receiver. Obviously they were different seasons and it does not line up but the point remains the same. If Greg Roman does have more say in the personnel and was a reason for this then it is good he is gone.

So Why is He Gone

This offense has regressed with Roman over the years. It seems like his offense with Lamar was innovative at first (or at least different) and now the league has solved it and Roman has failed to adjust. Lamar has not developed as a passer and some may be quick to blame Lamar, but look at his start to this season before Bateman and Andrews went down with injury. Watching a Ravens game was painful at times over the last few years, with so many read options and poor play concepts that caused them to never be true contenders. The passing plays in particular seemed terribly drawn up. The offense also completely fell apart without Lamar this season, showing just how valuable Lamar has been and who is more important. While you cannot expect a backup to play like a starter, you still need your offense to be somewhat capable (or not miss a beat like San Fran…twice) and it seemed like the Ravens could not even move the ball. The poor play calling and issues culminated in an awful QB sneak call that was not even on the goal line that resulted in the playoff loss to the Bengals. Sure he cannot control Huntley fumbling there but what in the world was the play call. The Ravens need to go out and find a more creative coordinator that can transform this passing offense and, by extension, open up more running lanes  and success for Lamar. Someone like a certain former Tampa coordinator that was just scapegoated may be the perfect fit.