The Baltimore Ravens have fired offensive coordinator Marc Trestman and have tapped former Eagles and Jets OC Marty Mornhinweg to assume play-calling duties. It appears that the Ravens hope to ignite the offense as the Buffalo Bills did moving on from Greg Roman. Baltimore has only managed 18.8 points per game (23rd in NFL) through five weeks despite facing some of the most forgiving defenses in the NFL: Washington (24.4), Oakland (27.4), Jacksonville (27.8), and Cleveland (29.6).
Perhaps most concerning and what ultimately got Trestman fired was his propensity to put the ball in the air an overwhelming amount of times despite the Ravens effectively running the football (last two games). Joe Flacco currently leads the NFL in pass attempts (216) and has disappointed with a 5:4 TD/INT ratio and 5.94 yard average besting only Blaine Gabbert in terms of quarterbacks that have enough pass attempts to qualify. Flacco averaged 39 pass attempts through Weeks 1 – 3 all resulting in wins. However, during Weeks 4 – 5 (both losses) Flacco attempted an average of 49 pass attempts despite the Ravens averaging 5.0 and 6.2 yards per rush in those games respectively. Baltimore lost both games by a combined seven points and never trailed substantially.
Flacco openly criticized the offense (pot calling the kettle black) prior to Trestman’s firing but the former head coach of the Bears didn’t exactly play to Flacco’s strengths (West Coast offense and Flacco don’t mix). Expect more Terrance West and Kenneth Dixon in the coming weeks as well as an increase in deep shots downfield to the likes of Steve Smith Sr., Mike Wallace, and Breshad Perriman despite fewer pass attempts overall.