What might a Greg Roman offense look like in Washington?
Greg Roman is the most established offensive coordinator available right now. Should the Commanders interview him and what might his offense look like in Washington?
The Washington Commanders search for a new offensive coordinator remains ongoing with five candidates having now been officially interviewed. It’s unknown how many candidates the Commanders will seek to interview, but there are still some names out there that could be intriguing options. One of the biggest names available is Greg Roman, former offensive coordinator of the Baltimore Ravens.
We’ve yet to hear if Roman plans to coach this year and if he would even consider Washington, but his style very much suits what Ron Rivera wants in an offensive coordinator. So while we await news on who will be hired, I thought it might be fun to take a look at what kind of offense Greg Roman could potentially bring to the Commanders.
Running game
The reason Roman fits in so well with what Rivera is looking for is his commitment and belief in the running game. Roman has a long history of coaching offensive lineman and tight ends before he became an offensive coordinator, and even as a coordinator he’s been known as a run game specialist. He’s favors a gap scheme approach which differs from the primarily zone-based candidates that Washington has interviewed so far, but none of those candidates can boast the same success that Roman has had with the running game.
In Baltimore, he designed an outstanding run scheme where just about any offensive lineman could be asked to pull on any given play, giving the defense a very hard time with fitting their gaps properly.
Here are three examples of some gap scheme runs from the Ravens against the Bengals from earlier this season. The first play has the tight end going in motion before the snap and then kicking out the edge defender. The center then follows him once the ball is snapped, pulling to the edge and wrapping around the left tackle as he picks up the first linebacker. The right tackle then follows suit and leads the way for the running back to work freely up to the secondary.
On the second play of the clip, the scheme changes. This time the tight end lines up as a fullback and arcs around the defensive end to block the linebacker. The right guard then pulls instead of the center and he kicks out the edge defender, while the right tackle wraps around and seals off the linebacker inside. This subtle change is enough to create a huge lane for the running back.
The third play of the clip is a copy of the first play schematically, but having been called in sequence with the other two, you can see the impact that the subtle changes in which lineman pulls and which lineman blocks which defender can have. The edge defender starts to work down the line but spots the center pulling towards him and begins to brace himself. The center then ignores him and works up to the next defender, which gives the tight end a nice look for his block on the edge defender. You can see once again a huge lane is created and it's up to the safety working from deep to make a tackle to save a huge play.
Washington had some success running gap scheme plays this season, particularly with Brian Robinson at running back. To be this effective with it though, they would need to invest heavily in the offensive line this offseason, which needs to be done regardless in all honesty. But rather than finding perhaps lighter and more agile lineman for the zone scheme, Roman’s offense would require bigger maulers for this type of run game.
The other part of what made Roman’s run game so effective is the involvement of the quarterback. Lamar Jackson is a special talent at quarterback and Roman designed a fantastic run scheme to make use of his talents as a runner as well as a quarterback. He had all the typical read-option schemes you see with a lot of quarterbacks these days, but he was also willing to be more creative.
On a typical read-option scheme, the quarterback reads an unblocked defender and either hands the ball off to the running back inside, or keeps it himself and runs to the edge. But here, Roman switches up the roles of the running back and quarterback. This time, instead of the running back working inside, it’s the quarterback that runs inside with the running back working to the edge. On the first play of this clip, we can see the unblocked edge defender crash inside towards Jackson, so he hands the ball off to the running back who zips around the defender and gets to the edge with a full head of steam.
On the second play of the clip, you can see the defense is a lot more weary of that runner working to the edge. This time it’s a receiver on a jet sweep instead of the running back, but the overall concept is the same. The unblocked defender on the edge stays wide to account for the threat of the jet sweep, allowing Jackson to pull the ball and keep it on a run inside. The blocks set up perfectly for Jackson to break free into the open field and he takes it all the way to the house for a 79-yard touchdown.
Sam Howell isn’t the running threat that Lamar Jackson is, but he’s a capable runner at the quarterback spot. In college, he kept the ball on running plays just like this and had a great deal of success doing so. It’s not something to call 20 times a game, but having the threat of it a few times a game, along with other read-option schemes and the base gap scheme runs that Roman designs make it a complex run system that is hard to stop when it gets rolling.
That style of offense is exactly what Ron Rivera says he’s looking for, making Roman the ideal candidate if he’s open to the idea of coaching in Washington. However, Ravens fans and media will tell you that he’s not the perfect coordinator. While Roman is an excellent coach of the running game, his passing attacks have historically left a lot to be desired.
Passing game
Roman’s background is in the old school west coast offense, where a lot of passes were seen as extensions of the run. They can be quick hitters and mirrored concepts that can work in certain situations, but can often be dull and ineffective in others.
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