Tempo is becoming the heartbeat of the Ravens’ new offense, and that urgency doesn’t stop with the skill players. It reaches the offensive line, where Dwayne Ledford is pushing a simple idea hard: get set faster, get to the line with purpose, and make the defense feel it.
Receivers have already talked about how explosive the attack could be with all the motion and shifting designed to open up shots downfield. Lamar Jackson has pointed to the faster pace, the changes in how and when the ball gets snapped, and the increased use of under-center play action. But the big men up front have to live in that same speed world, too.
Ledford, who coaches the offensive line and coordinates the run game, said he even has a camera tracking how the group breaks the huddle and reaches the line of scrimmage. For him, it’s not just about looking clean. It’s about sending a message and putting pressure on the defense.
"There's a camera that we have - I make sure that a camera watches how we break the huddle and how we take the line of scrimmage,” Ledford revealed during a media session after practice this week. “That is something that, like I told the guys today, we can be like everybody else or we can look different.
“It is OK to be different. When we break the huddle, we want to take the line of scrimmage.
It's going to do a lot. It is going to put stress on the defense, the faster we can get lined up.
Also with that, it is just going to help everything from an operation standpoint.
“It's your intent - [it is] like, 'Hey, we are getting up there. We are showing you we are ready to go.'
So, it is a mindset. It is just getting those guys to understand the mindset that we are wanting from them - with little things like that.”
That emphasis matters even more because this is all new. Offensive coordinator Declan Doyle is installing the system for the first time, and even he still hasn’t settled on where he’ll be calling plays from on game day.
In a setup like that, every second saved anywhere else matters. The offense has to be organized, sharp and ready to snap the ball without dragging its feet.
Jackson has spent plenty of time in slower offenses during his career, including units that ranked in the bottom five in the NFL in time of possession per play. Ledford, meanwhile, is trying to build the kind of operation that can move with real pace when the moment calls for it.
The model isn’t hard to find. Last year in Chicago, with Doyle under head coach Ben Johnson and installing a new offense there, the Bears played at the fifth-fastest pace in football.
The players up front are hearing the message clearly. First-round pick Vega Ioane, a starting guaed, said Ledford has set the tone with his approach.
"It's a great culture,” said first round pick Vega Ioane, a starting guaed. “He's a great coach.
He's brought in the mindset of - I'm sure you guys have heard it - speed off the ball. That comes with everything else.
“He's a big technical guy, but in the room, he's a chill, relaxed guy. We talk about film, next thing you know, we're talking about life stuff, things like that. It's a good balance in between."
Roger Rosengarten, the starting right tackle, described Ledford as someone whose presence is impossible to miss.
"High energy. I am sure you guys probably know. Led's voice carries across the facility, but I feel like that is what you need in an offensive line coach to establish himself as the leader and set the example for how we want to play.”
There will be rough edges. Pre-snap mistakes can still show up in the preseason, and the depth behind the starters is a concern. Doyle dealt with plenty of those issues last summer and into the season, and the same kinds of growing pains could show up again as the new system takes hold.
Still, Ledford’s message is already sinking in. He wants the line to get to the ball faster, finish harder and show up on film as a unit that doesn’t just block well, but closes the play the right way.
“’Hey, we can get up to the ball much better than this,’” Ledford said of his group this week. “Hey, we can finish a lot better than this.'
As I told them, the mark of a good offensive line is when the ball carrier - whoever it may be - is down, we have multiple guys around him. That's what we want to be known for.
We want to make sure we're a group that when you turn on film, you see a lot of finishing."
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