(Photo Courtesy: Shawn Hubbard, BaltimoreRavens.Com: https://www.baltimoreravens.com/news/zay-flowers-returns-ravens-practice-wide-receiver-injury)
We are officially at the point of the offseason where I’m done talking myself into things. I want to see some football.
Luckily, we’re almost there, and Thursday gave us a couple more reasons to feel pretty damn good about where this Ravens offense is heading into Week 1. Zay Flowers is back on the practice field, Lamar Jackson apparently thinks defenses have no idea what’s coming, and some of the stuff we saw from Declan Doyle during the preseason gives us at least a few clues about what he might be talking about.
So yeah, I’m ready. Let’s get into it.
Zay Flowers Looks Ready For Week 1
This was the one everyone was waiting for.
Zay Flowers was back at practice Thursday for the first time in two weeks after dealing with an undisclosed lower-body injury. He hadn’t practiced since the Vikings joint session on August 20 and was still running off to the side on Wednesday, so getting him back with the team a day later is a great sign. Per ESPN’s Jamison Hensley, Devontez Walker was the only Raven who didn’t practice Thursday.
And look, there was never really any indication this was something serious. In fact, if you listen to the Baltimore Collective, Jeff Zrebiec was pretty clear last week that this was being done out of an abundance of caution. But with Week 1 coming up, you wanted to actually see him on the field before completely forgetting about it.
Now we have.
Flowers is the unquestioned No. 1 receiver in this offense, and the Ravens just paid him like it. He’s also a chess piece Declan Doyle can deploy all over the formation, especially if a guy like Ja’Kobi Lane can function in three-receiver sets with Flowers aligned beside him. That opens up all kinds of possibilities with jet motion and pre-snap movement, both to help Lamar Jackson identify coverages and to get defenders moving before the snap. When you pair that with the Ravens’ run game, Flowers becomes a really difficult piece for defenses to account for.
Lamar Jackson Is Pretty Damn Confident in his Offense
Well, Lamar Jackson certainly isn’t trying to lower expectations.
Lamar joined Adam Schein on SiriusXM this week and was asked about the Ravens’ new offense under Declan Doyle. His answer was pretty direct:
“I don’t believe a defense is prepared for what’s in store for them.”
Okay then!
Lamar went on to talk about all the different things the Ravens can do offensively, specifically mentioning the play-action game, dropback passing game and everything they can do on the ground. He also talked about the amount of movement in the offense and how Doyle has stressed everyone knowing what everyone else is doing on every play.
