Getty Lamar Jackson celebrates with Marquise Brown.
The Baltimore Ravens had an up and down season during the 2020 year, and as a result, their final grades for their work have the same feel.
Things didn’t click with any consistency whatsoever for the Ravens on one side of the ball, and as a result, the team gets graded stiffly for their work this year. Baltimore was lopsided in terms of their defense and their offense, and as a result, improvements are going to have to come this offseason in order to help the team over the hump for 2021 and beyond.
While the Ravens accomplished more than they did in 2019-20, that doesn’t mean everything about 2020-21 was a success or even a failure. Here’s a look at an honest assessment of how the Ravens performed on every side of the ball this season.
Ravens Offensive Grade for 2020 Season
B-
If there’s one spot on this Ravens team that deserves to be called into question, it’s the offense. Greg Roman’s attack struggled with consistency most of the year. While the Ravens were solid on the ground, the team was too one-dimensional at times to do serious winning. The Ravens are at their best when they can run to set up the pass, but this year, it seemed opposing defenses had a leg-up in terms of scouting and were able to box in Lamar Jackson and keep his big play weaponry in check. The Ravens probably need a big-time wideout to help open things up down the field and help Marquise Brown to be more successful with his speed. Whether they can find that or not on the open market or in the draft remains to be seen, but the depth at tight end and wide receiver is something that needs to be a big focus for the offseason. Better depth up front will help as well along the offensive line. The Ravens have an elite runner in J.K. Dobbins, but they cannot let the threat of his running go to waste without a passing attack to match. Baltimore’s offense was just alright a season after lighting the league on fire, so there are some concerns Roman will have to address with regards to scheme. All this combines to make the Ravens just decent enough and average on offense in 2020.
Ravens Defensive Grade for 2020 Season
A-
Considering all that went wrong this season for the Ravens on defense, it’s amazing the team was able to have an elite year. That’s a testament to Don ‘Wink’ Martindale, the defensive coordinator who surprisingly did not receive any love at all on the recent head coaching market. Martindale did a great job to keep the team together as well as continue the development of stud players like Marlon Humphrey as well as rookies like Patrick Queen. The Ravens won many games thanks to their defense, and it was this group that kept the team afloat as they were dealing with a COVID-19 crisis in their locker room around Thanksgiving.
Ravens Special Teams Grade for 2020 Season
A-
Any time you’ve got Justin Tucker, you’ve got one of the best kickers in the league. Punter Sam Koch is also good, so the Ravens had a stout special teams group for the 2020 season in light of these players. Replacing Morgan Cox will be a huge focus of the offseason, but the expectation is the Ravens will once again be good enough on special teams as they usually are. Tucker showed his vulnerabilities in the playoff loss in Buffalo, but he wasn’t the reason the Ravens lost that game. This special team group rarely is, which keeps them amongst the best in the league even during an up and down season.
Ravens Coaching Grade for 2020 Season
B+
John Harbaugh is as solid a leader as an NFL team will find, and Don Martindale is an elite defensive coordinator. The Ravens also lost David Culley off their staff as a head coach, which was a show of how much respect their team has in terms of leadership. About the only question revolves around Greg Roman considering the up-and-down nature of his offense. If Roman can come back in 2021 refocused and find a better approach, that would be huge for the Ravens. He will need to do that, or else there will be major questions about his future set to swirl in Baltimore next year. For now, he gets a mere slap on the wrist for having offensive troubles that may have been a bit outside his control given the changes up front to the line. Regardless, it was still a solid job by the entire staff this past season on the whole.
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