The preseason is generally a huge slog. Not only do the games mean nothing, you also do not even get the usual aesthetic benefits of football because you have to watch sloppy third stringers play each other for large swaths of the game.
However, one of the biggest things you CAN take away from preseason is figuring out what potential schematic changes new coaches plan on using in the upcoming year. And one of the biggest questions heading into the year is what changes, if any, Marc Trestman plans to implement in the Ravens offense. While Trestman has said he doesn’t plan on changing the Ravens offense, he has also said he plans on utilizing Justin Forsett more in the passing game. The preseason is our first chance to see how Trestman plans on incorporating the running backs into the passing game.
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The Ravens first play of the preseason was a designed play for Kyle Juszczyk. He lines up in the slot and shifts into the backfield in way that makes him look like he’s going to act as a lead blocker. The Saints think it’s a run play and commit to stopping Forsett, allowing Juszczyk to slip to the right of the field for a seven yard gain.
If this play looks kind of familiar, it’s because it was the most frequent way that Ravens got Juszycyk open last year. I covered it in my running backs and fullbacks end of year review from earlier this summer. The Ravens ran this play two additional times against the Saints. The only attempted passes to half backs were safety valve passes to Lorenzo Taliaferro out of a play action.
This gives us an early idea of how Trestman plans to both keep the Ravens playbook from last year while increasing the role of both running backs and fullbacks in passing scheme. Instead of trying to teach a new scheme with Trestman’s specific designated passing plays to running backs, he’ll likely just increase the number of plays that result in passes to running backs that already were in Kubiak’s offense.
While it’s still early, this means we should expect a higher percentage of play actions plays from Joe Flacco this upcoming season. According to Pro Football Focus, Flacco was 20th out of NFL quarterbacks in play action passes last season. Expect that number to rise much higher by the end of 2015.
The Ravens ran more designed running back passing plays in the second game. The key to these running back passing plays is that pass catchers streaking downfield stretch the field and leave few defenders to cover a running back coming out of the backfield and running and delayed route over the middle.
Here’s an example. The Ravens line up on 3rd and 13 with a three wide out and one tight end set. The two of the Eagles linebackers pick up the extra Ravens receiver and tight end, leaving only one linebacker to defend the middle of the field.
Drawing away the Eagles defenders creates a matchup that looks like this for the Ravens, leading to a 13 yard game.
There were other interesting ways the Ravens used their receivers to create room for the passing game to the running backs. Near the end of the game, the Ravens had Aldrick Robinson line up left and run a slant. This leaves Fitzgerald Toussaint, with a head full of steam towards the left side with the closest Eagles defender heading the wrong way, completely open, resulting in a nine yard gain.
None of this means we can predict what Trestman plans on calling in the regular season. But if he does decide to utilize running backs in the passing game more, these first two preseason games show how he’d accomplish it. As we approach these last two preseason games and the regular season, be on the lookout for the Ravens use the play action more than 2014 and involving running backs especially when they have a three wide receiver one tight end formations.
Will is a Ravens fan born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland. He has previously written for Baltimore Beatdown at SB Nation. He is currently a senior at St. Mary’s of Maryland.