How the Ravens Have Changed Since the 49ers Last Faced Them

Four years ago when the 49ers and Ravens last faced each other, Baltimore had a different offense and Lamar Jackson was a different quarterback.

Back then, the Ravens offensive coordinator was Greg Roman, who was the 49ers offensive coordinator under Jim Harbaugh. Niners know Roman well. His system features an extremely dense, intricate running game with every concept you can imagine, and an unusually simple passing game for an NFL offense.

Roman's system suited Colin Kaepernick for a couple years until teams caught up with it. Then Roman's system helped Jackson win the MVP Award in 2019, because he's such an explosive and dynamic rusher.

But eventually, defenses caught up to what Roman was doing in Baltimore, too. Defenses always catch up with Roman, because he runs a gimmicky system. It's not sophisticated enough in the pass game, and the NFL is a passing league.

So the Ravens fired Roman and replaced him with Todd Monken, who is a passing specialist. Suddenly, Monken has simplified the Ravens overly-complex run game, and it's still one of the best ground attacks in the league. In addition, Monkey has greatly improved the Ravens' play-action passing game and drop-back passing game, and challenged Jackson to improve as a passer.

This is the evolution Jackson needs. He doesn't need a coordinator who focuses on his rushing ability -- Jackson can run effectively no matter what the play designer draws up. What he needs is a coordinator who pushes him to grow as a passer, just as Andy Reid pushed Michael Vick to grow as a passer in Philadelphia.

So when the 49ers face Jackson on Christmas Night, shutting him down won't be as simple as defending scrambles and zone reads. They'll have to defend a pocket passer as well.