The More Declan Doyle Talks About His Influences The More We Learn About Ravens New Offense

The more Declan Doyle talks about the offense he is concocting for the first time and his goals and objectives and influences, the clearer it becomes how much it will change from years past in Baltimore.

It’s confirmation of trends and alterations we reported at length on through the spring, and there have been no surprises if you’ve been reading along. And when we discussed what Doyle is trying to accomplish with his primary mentor, Broncos coach Sean Payton, and the architect of the most ripped-off offense in the modern NFL, Rams coach Sean McVay, on “The Daily Flock Show” they helped us determine how the final few pieces fit. and what it means for Lamar Jackson.

Doyle will try to hold back a lot of what he wants to accomplish from the preseason games – which begin Saturday against the Eagles – wanting to save as many surprises as possible for the games that count. And now he will have to operate without veteran third-string quarterback Skylar Thompson, a significant wrinkle that will impact evaluations of critical young players. And it will undoubtedly result in an even more watered down and rote version of what was previously in store.

But now weeks into training camp, we’ve heard Doyle himself talk about the importance of altering tempo and cadence, taking early-down, play-action deep shots and attacking defenses downfield in short yardage. The overwhelming reality that this offense will be under center like never before in Jackson’s tenure isn’t a secret at this point. And Doyle has strongly alluded to the use of Jokers - hybrid players fulfilling multiple positions at once – without using the word Payton engrained into his football psyche.

For all the talk of throwing the ball, Doyle’s work under Payton (New Orleans and Denver) and Ben Johnson (Chicago) means he is going to run the ball a ton and do it old school with I formations and blocking tight ends and hybrid fullbacks (Jokers) and Doyle isn’t even shying away from another 300-carry season from 32-year-old back Derrick Henry.

“Sean McVay, [Kyle] Shanahan, Sean Payton, Ben [Johnson] — these are guys that I have watched for a long time,” Doyle said after Wednesday’s practice. “You watch the sequencing, and this is my eighth year in the NFL. Really, since the beginning, you start to watch those guys and how they craft a game plan, how they attack a defense.

“Those are things you're trying to emulate when you're building a plan as an assistant, and certainly something that we're trying to do as an offensive staff as well."

Wearing His Influences On His Sleeve

He isn’t hiding who he is stealing from, and that’s the case for everyone. McVay broke down for us what he took from Bill Walsh on the show, and Payton told us he isn’t too big to steal from McVay. It’s not about what he is picking and choosing at this point, it’s about how quickly the players adapt to it, and whether they can avoid pre-snap foibles and procedural mishaps.

Doyle is going to have to learn to adapt in-game and determine when it’s time to chuck a game plan and whether an opponent is too prepared for what he had cooked up. It came as no surprise Wednesday, and was a nod to the reality of his novice status, when Doyle said he will lean heavily into his pre-game script of playcalls.

“I would say that in general, we try to script as much as we can so that our guys have a really good feeling of what we're going to do,” Doyle said. “I read a book by Bill Walsh a long time ago, and he basically talked about how the more decisions you make in the air conditioning, [the better,] because guys have a good feel for what you're going to call.

“You've made the decision based on data and facts, rather than being out there and it kind of feels a certain way and you may lead yourself astray from where you should go.”

What’s most important in the second half of camp is that the offensive line can fall into place, and Doyle builds a deep enough reservoir of potential playmakers he can thrust into as many different situations as possible. The fact that so few players and coaches have strong ties to the coaching family tree he is closest aligned with remains surprising, and the personnel on his side of the ball simply have far more warts and questions than on head coach Jesse Minter’s side of the ball.

For all of the excitement and hype and talk of Doyle being a genius, anyone who thinks this offense is coming out of the gates looking like a juggernaut is probably fooling themselves. He can borrow quite a bit from his mentors, but there is no substitute for doing it yourself.

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