OWINGS MILLS, Md. \u2014 Declan Doyle’s relationship with Lamar Jackson began while interviewing to become the Baltimore Ravens’ offensive co-ordinator.<\/p>\n
Doyle spoke to the two-time NFL MVP for over an hour on a video call and it seems that lengthy conversation went very well.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really wanted to see if we were compatible,\u201d Doyle said Wednesday as first-year head coach Jesse Minter introduced his three newly hired co-ordinators. “And if that was a fit.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 29-year-old Doyle ultimately accepted Minter’s offer after a year as Chicago’s offensive co-ordinator. With the Bears, Doyle helped second-year quarterback Caleb Williams\u00a0throw for 27 touchdowns and 3,942 yards\u00a0while reaching his first postseason.<\/p>\n
In Baltimore, he’ll add the role of primary play-caller and the challenge of helping Jackson, also 29, return to the level that twice earned him the league’s top individual honour.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve always been too young for every job I\u2019ve ever had,\u201d Doyle said. \u201cAnd what I\u2019ve noticed is it really doesn\u2019t matter. Knowledge is power and if they feel like you can help them, if they feel like you can help accelerate their career and our goals as a team, guys are willing to listen, to be taught and to grow and to work together.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jackson threw only 21 touchdown passes last season, his fewest when making at least 13 starts, and rushed for a career-low 349 yards. The Ravens missed the playoffs for only the second time since drafting Jackson in 2018, precipitating John Harbaugh’s firing and Minter’s arrival.<\/p>\n
Doyle praised Jackson’s \u201chunger to learn\u201d and suggested his clearest path to improvement is within the scripted offence.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe challenge with him for a defence is that they have to defend two plays on every play,\u201d Doyle said. \u201cThey have to defend the first play that we call … and then they have to defend the second element, which is him creating on his own. That second act, that\u2019s the stuff that he\u2019s done since he was a kid.<\/p>\n
“That first play can be more consistent at times \u2014 with his eyes, with his footwork, within the system.\u201d<\/p>\n
Minter also introduced\u00a0defensive co-ordinator Anthony Weaver\u00a0and special teams co-ordinator Anthony Levine Sr.<\/p>\n
Weaver played four of his seven NFL seasons in Baltimore, held multiple assistant roles under Harbaugh and interviewed for the Ravens’ head-coaching position, among others. However, Minter will call defensive plays.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis job, and being a coach here with this staff and these players, is hardly a consolation prize,\u201d said Weaver, who was also previously a DC in Houston and Miami. \u201cI\u2019d be lying to you if I said seriously that I wasn\u2019t disappointed that I didn\u2019t get a head job. But ultimately, I just came back to, why am I doing this to begin with?<\/p>\n
“Selfishly, I\u2019m in it to try and win a Super Bowl, right? To be part of a group that\u2019s forever. … Secondly, I\u2019m here to serve. I\u2019m here to serve players and help them reach whatever God-given potential they have.<\/p>\n
“I don\u2019t need to be a head coach to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OWINGS MILLS, Md. \u2014 Declan Doyle’s relationship with Lamar Jackson began while interviewing to become the Baltimore Ravens’…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":483784,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[436],"tags":[49,48,514,82],"class_list":["post-483783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/483783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=483783"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/483783\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/483784"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=483783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=483783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=483783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}