Ravens rookie offensive coordinator Declan Doyle spent almost as much time talking about where he might hypothetically call plays for the first time this season as anything else.
Of course, if you were him and you just turned 30 and you got hired by a team in Super Bowl-or-bust mode with an older roster, you’d probably rather opine about topics like that than how you’re going to click with a two-time MVP quarterback. You’d rather discuss this minutia about the process of doing the job, rather than discuss how much as it stake with this job.
He’d rather engage about this detail than speak at length about his actual offense and reveal much about it, hoping its newness and the lack of any film on him will work as a shield of sorts and cloak him in mystery through this transition. And so it is that we first heard that Doyle would weigh operating from the press box and then move to the sidelines during the preseason games to see which he prefers.
And then, after an excellent offensive performance against the Eagles at home, with Doyle stationed above the team, we figured he might change course and stay up there in Minnesota for Fake Game 2. And he did, and now he’s going to go ahead and stay up there for Week 1. So let me make another prediction: He’ll be on the sidelines by Week 4.
“My gut was basically like, ‘Hey, stay up here and let us roll,’” Minter explained after Tuesday’s practice, “because we do not have enough reps left as a coaching staff to be able to go through the dress rehearsal and hit the practice of it. So, Minnesota was good because they are a little bit unique in the challenges that they bring, and your ability to adjust to that defense kind of as the game goes.
“They do some things from a personnel standpoint that change the way you call the game, and so I really wanted to be able to practice that as a staff where I am putting something on the field, I am getting information from them, and then I am calling the game accordingly. So, I felt like, again, clean communication structure in game two.
“So, I am going to go back up there in game three, and we will roll from there. But it is something that I talked to other coaches around the league about, other play callers. I talked to [Buffalo Bills head coach] Joe Brady specifically, I talked to some other guys, and the advice that they gave basically was, ‘Go where you feel comfortable being able to communicate to the staff, being able to solve problems in a clean and efficient manner.’ So, that is really what I wanted.”
Doyle is going to have a baptism by fire.
There are going to be changes and adjustments coming that he couldn’t possibly anticipate right now. What Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores threw at him Saturday is still a fraction of what’s coming in games that count in the standings.
Doyle is seeking comfort and stability. It’s the same reason he is talking about wanting to script out as much of the game as possible and be able to stick with that. All of that is natural … and a small fraction of that might really work over time for him. This is a total start-up right now. He is running an under-center offense that is forcing new footwork and timing and verbage and tempo and cadence.
Doyle was raving about the ability to communicate with the quarterbacks and his staff from above, but there was no chaos, his starters weren’t even playing, there weren’t injury situations that would immediately impact things. It was sterile. Sundays won’t be sterile and receivers flipping out or heated exchanges between players and coaches can’t be addressed from above.
Says here there is going to be back-and-forth and ebbs-and-flows in this process, and at some point early in the season – barring a miracle start for an offense that is totally brand new – Doyle is doing to be on the sidelines. I’m not sure how much of it will be specific to Lamar Jackson, as great as he is, but I bet by the time the Ravens fly back from Brazil after facing the improved Cowboys that Doyle is going to see what the sidelines have to offer, with so many totally novice receivers and tight ends on his roster that might be struggling to adjust.
My friend Pat Kirwan, longtime NFL personnel exec and host on Sirius XM radio who is incredibly plugged into the game, thinks Doyle is going to have to move around, too.
“If he’s up in the booth, he can’t control Lamar,” Kirwan pointed out on “The Daily Flock Show” Tuesday. “By Week 3 he’ll be down on the field, because he’s going to have to eyeball him and grab him and talk to him eye-to-eye and face-to-face, so it doesn’t sway away from what he wants.
“And he’s going to have a challenge with that …I had guys that tried it (in the booth) and then they went down on the field for facial recognition and as they plan for their head-coaching job themselves. That’s not where Declan is at this point. But Declan’s going to be frustrated to leave Lamar down on the field.”
Again, I’m not as caught up in one individual, per say. What if Derrick Henry isn’t feeling the way the game is being called? What if there is some confusion around offensive coaches on the sidelines, because this staff is very light on NFL experience? What is he is feeling too isolated up there or a little out of his depth?
I don’t think this offense is going to hit the ground running as some sort of juggernaut. The center just got here, one of the guards is a rookie, the left tackle has needed to be shuffled in and out of games and rotated for series at a time in the past. Outside of Zay Flowers they don’t have a proven player in the passing game in his prime.
That first half against the Vikings was rough. Other games will be rougher. Plenty of young coaches have spent the spring being bestowed with “genius” tags and other hyperbolic nonsense, as Flowers led the charge on. And many of them have failed, including many from this Sean Payton family tree (as Payton acknowledged with us on “The Daily Flock”).
Doyle will likely be fine. He will likely need time to become fine. And everything is going to have to be up for review along the way until he gets there.
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