Head Coach John Harbaugh knows the Ravens passing game hasn't been humming for weeks, but he expressed confidence Monday in Offensive Coordinator Greg Roman and his staff to fix it.
The Ravens scored just three points in Cleveland and have mustered only two touchdowns in the past three games. While the rushing attack has flourished the past two games, Baltimore's passing game has struggled without Lamar Jackson.
The Ravens posted 94 passing yards on 17 attempts in Pittsburgh, then just 138 yards on 30 attempts in Cleveland. Baltimore is averaging 180.6 passing yards per game (only five teams have fewer).
On Monday, Harbaugh was asked if he was considering making any coaching changes to shake up the passing attack.
"I've got confidence in everybody," Harbaugh said. "We have great coaches and great players at the highest level, battling every single day to get everything as good as it can be.
"All of our coaches including Greg and everybody else, are fully capable of understanding the pass game and what we've got to do to get it done and scheming it up and all that kind of stuff. We can do things a lot better, we can look at how much we're calling, how much motion and stuff we put in, all the football-related X-and-O stuff, we're definitely looking at really hard."
The Ravens' passing game will obviously get a boost when Jackson (knee) returns to the field. There was a report over the weekend that he's expected to be back Saturday against the Atlanta Falcons.
Baltimore has been operating a mostly quick-release, short passing attack with Tyler Huntley under center. Jackson's return will open up more opportunities for big plays and the magic that only Jackson brings.
Still, it's going to take more widespread improvement from the passing attack for the Ravens to turn things around. And that's what Harbaugh, his coaches and players will be working on this week.
"I love the fans talking about everything. We're together, man. We're a team," Harbaugh said. "We're spending all of our time getting ready for the Atlanta Falcons with every ounce of energy we've got and a bunch of very, very good people at what they do, who understand everything about our team better than anybody else possibly could. … All that end-of-the-bar talk is for the people sitting at the end of the bar."
Ravens Talked About Run-Pass Ratio After Loss
One of the biggest questions coming out of the Ravens' loss in Cleveland was why Baltimore threw the ball 30 times despite playing without Jackson and the ground game rolling in Cleveland.
Trailing by 10 points with a little less than 11 minutes to play, the Ravens did not run the ball on either of their final two drives. J.K. Dobbins' last run was a 37-yard gallop near the end of the third quarter.
"It wasn't that we were opposed to running the ball, but when you run the ball, the clock runs," Harbaugh said. "And we were looking at how many possessions we were going to get, and called more passes. We didn't run the ball in the fourth quarter once we got after 11 minutes, so you look back at that real hard and you say, 'Yes, we could have run it.' We were hitting them with some good runs, and maybe we would have popped a few runs because we were doing well. That conversation is one that we had yesterday.
"But by the same token, you're down two scores and it's going to be two possessions, probably, to have the chance to get it back. So, you want to make them as quick as you can. I know we did want to get the first score before we would have to onside kick. That was kind of one part of the discussion. So, once we got to that second possession, at that point in time we were definitely throwing the ball. So, I think we're talking about that time, 11 minutes to maybe eight minutes, where we could have done some runs at that point. And, we talked about that."
Harbaugh Has No Injury Updates on Jackson, Calais Campbell, Marcus Peters
While reports are circling about the status of the Ravens' injured players, Harbaugh isn't going to be the source.
Harbaugh said he doesn't want to get into providing injury updates on his players this time of year with the stakes so high.
"I think I'm going to climb behind the barricade of it's probably not the time to put a lot of information out there on our injuries, just for competitive purposes," Harbaugh said. "So, we're just going to let that develop and see where we go with it and not try to walk the tight rope of what we say."
Jackson has missed the past two games. Defensive lineman Calais Campbell (knee) and cornerback Marcus Peters (calf) exited the game in Cleveland and didn't return.
ESPN's Jeremy Fowler reported Monday that Campbell is considered a "long shot" to play against the Falcons. NFL Network's Ian Rapoport reported that Peters' injury doesn't look too serious either.
If Campbell and/or Peters miss time, it would require more from defensive end Brent Urban, cornerback Brandon Stephens, and others.
Harbaugh Wanted More Snaps for David Ojabo
Rookie outside linebacker David Ojabo made his NFL debut Saturday, but only played one defensive snap and four on special teams.
Ojabo took the spot of rookie cornerback Pepe Williams on the gameday roster, but Ojabo is still behind Tyus Bowser, Justin Houston, Jason Pierre-Paul and Odafe Oweh in the outside linebacker mix.
"I was hoping he'd get five, six, seven plays," Harbaugh said. "We've got a lot of healthy outside linebackers right now, so it's hard to get those guys enough snaps. Our discussion among those guys right now is, 'We've got a lot of really good players; when you get out there, play with your hair on fire,' which those guys want to do. And I think David Ojabo adds into that mix."
