Bedard: Ravens OC Greg Roman the x-factor against Patriots' sterling defense

When you have as much success as the Patriots have had over the past 20 years, not many people are going to have much of a track record of success against you. Even those have had "some success" against the Patriots ... you're going to have a mixed bag. Nobody ever "dominates" or wins consistently against New England. So you have to take victories in very small doses.

Ravens offensive coordinator Greg Roman would be one of the coaches who have had some success against the Patriots in recent years. He owns a 2-3 record against the Patriots with wins with both the 49ers and Bills, but even that can be couched. Certainly the Patriots defenses he beat in 2012 and even 2016 are a lot different than this version. And those 49ers went to the Super Bowl, and the Bills beat a Patriots team quarterbacked by Jacoby Brissett.

Will those past games help Roman this week?

"You really consider everything and move forward, but that was a long time ago," Roman said.

Let's take a look at Roman's numbers in past games against the Patriots, and then go over some of the concepts he has used and is likely to employ again on Sunday night.

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As you can see, Roman has done a nice job against the Patriots. Athletic quarterbacks behind good offensive lines with some weapons at his disposal have been a constant. But he knows this will be a different matchup.

"Oh, we're very excited about the challenge," Roman said. "We're looking at a really good defense, a really good defense, and they play really well together from the front to the back. That's what you want to be going against. That's who you want to compete against, and we're just preparing day by day, step by step like we always do."

Some of the staples of a Roman-led offensive attack against the Patriots:

There will be some designed quarterback runs that attack the middle and the edges. He loves to use draws out of the shotgun, but he'll also pull a guard or tight end and allow the quarterback to run as tailback around the end. Sometimes it will just be the tailback. That keeps the defensive edges guessing.

Here's Taylor scoring an embarrassing touchdown against the Patriots.



Roman loves a power running game, so you'll see a lot of guard pulling, usually with a tight end or back acting as another lead blocker.





Roman loves to manipulate the defense to get linebackers matched up on his running backs, which gives his quarterback some easier throws in the flat. But they'll also attack vertically at some point. They did that here against Shea McClellin, but Roman also liked to pick on Dont'a Hightower at times.





With a running quarterback, you're likely to get a lot of zone coverage because in man coverage, the defenders often have their backs to the ball. Against zone, Roman's favored concept is to send multiple targets at one defender and put them in a bind. It's not anything unusual, but if a team defaults into Cover 3, Roman has some really good concepts that the Patriots have struggled with over the years.



With some new wrinkles, Roman has modified this concept to attack the coverage principles of the defense even more. This touchdown against the Cardinals was just beautiful design and good execution.



RAVENS WRINKLES

Jackson is a much better passer than Kaepernick or Taylor ever were. He is not afraid to fit the ball into tight spaces and will take some risks, as you can see on this zone throw to tight end Mark Andrews.



Jackson may be the most gifted runner as a quarterback that I've seen since Michael Vick. He's that good and has Vick's same natural instincts as a runner. No one will ever be as explosive as Vick, but Jackson has the ability to pick up a 3rd and 20 against zone coverage if the defense is not disciplined.



CONCLUSION

Yes, Roman has had some success against the Patriots and his concepts are sound. He's usually had the benefit of some really good offensive lines.

But he's never faced a Patriots defense like this one. What gives the Patriots an advantage this time, I think, is that they cover so well with the cornerbacks that I think it frees up a Devin McCourty to act as a spy or another linebacker in the middle of the field as a fail-safe against Jackson. McCourty is fast, and he's the best tackler on the team. His ability should allow the Patriots to still cover man to man a good part of the game.

Of course, this will put a lot on the plate of Duron Harmon, which I don't like doing. If McCourty is used more as a weapon, then Harmon has to be on point with his reads and angles, or else the threat of a big play is there.

One thing I do worry about with the Patriots is their ability to defend the edges against some of the power run concepts. If they're more worried about Jackson in the middle of the field, they might be slow on the edges and could give up some plays there.

This should be a great matchup between Roman and Bill Belichick, who will be looking to take away what the Ravens do best first, which is running the ball. Roman, who has had an extra week to prepare for this game, knows that as much as anyone.

"Yes, he's definitely well known for that, so I think he definitely – if there's anything obvious or whatnot – I think you can bank on it at some point," Roman said. "But they could also mix it up, too. ... I think, really, their success starts with their front seven and how they destroy blocks and build a wall. If you look at the Super Bowl, they just completely wrecked the game. And there's probably a lot of opinions on what happened and this and that, but you have to block that front seven. They have really physical guys up there, and that's where it starts.”