Declan Doyle didn\u2019t begin his tenure with the Baltimore Ravens by diagramming plays. He began it with a conversation. Before accepting the offensive coordinator job, the 29-year-old spent more than an hour on a video call with Lamar Jackson, wanting to make sure the partnership made sense on both sides.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really wanted to see if we were compatible,\u201d Doyle said. \u201cAnd if that was a fit.\u201d <\/p>\n
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Jackson, a two-time MVP still only 29 himself, is now entering another reset year after Baltimore missed the playoffs and underwent a coaching change. Doyle arrives with the task of elevating an offense that saw Jackson throw 21 touchdown passes last season \u2014 his fewest in a year with at least 13 starts \u2014 and rush for a career-low 349 yards. The mandate isn\u2019t to reinvent Jackson. It\u2019s to refine the operation around him. But has Doyle already started to take a shot at his QB?<\/p>\n
The Claim: Declan Doyle criticized Lamar Jackson\u2019s post-snap decision-making last season while also encouraging him to attend OTAs, something he skipped a year ago, as Baltimore looks to have him restructure his contract to create salary cap space.<\/p>\n
Source of the Rumor:<\/p>\n
The rumor stemmed from a post by Skip Bayless, who tweeted:<\/p>\n
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\u201cThe new Ravens OC, a 29-year-old who has never called an NFL play, just criticized Lamar Jackson\u2019s after-snap decision-making last season \u2026 while urging him to be at OTAs (he wasn\u2019t last yr) as Balt wants Lamar to restructure to create cap. This will not go well.\u201d<\/p>\n
The post suggested Doyle questioned Jackson\u2019s improvisational instincts and subtly called him out for skipping voluntary offseason workouts.<\/p>\n
Verdict: Multiple readers and reporters who followed the press conference noted that Doyle did not criticize Lamar Jackson at any point during the introductory session. The OTA comment applied to the entire roster, not Jackson specifically. And that Doyle repeatedly praised Jackson\u2019s talent, mindset, and developmental potential. So the claim is FALSE.<\/p>\n
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What Doyle actually said: When discussing Lamar Jackson\u2019s game, Doyle framed the conversation around how difficult he is to defend, not around what he lacks.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe challenge with him for a defense is that they have to defend two plays on every play,\u201d Doyle said. \u201cThey have to defend the first play that we call \u2026 and then they have to defend the second element, which is him creating on his own.\u201d<\/p>\n
That \u201csecond element,\u201d the improvisation, was not presented as a flaw. Doyle described it as something Jackson has been doing \u201csince he was a kid,\u201d pointing to a natural instinct that puts constant pressure on defenses. Where Doyle identified potential improvement was within the structure of the called play.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat first play can be more consistent at times, with his eyes, with his footwork, within the system.\u201d<\/p>\n
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The emphasis was not on limiting Jackson\u2019s creativity after the snap. It was on sharpening execution before the play breaks down. The implication was that if the designed concept operates more efficiently, Jackson\u2019s off-script ability becomes even more dangerous.<\/p>\n
Doyle reinforced that tone throughout the press conference. He described<\/a> Jackson as someone with a \u201cgrowth mindset\u201d and a \u201chunger to learn,\u201d making it clear the coaching staff is eager to build alongside him rather than overhaul his game.<\/p>\n As for offseason participation, Doyle was asked broadly about expectations for attendance during the spring program. His response applied to the roster as a whole.<\/p>\n \u201cWe would expect them to be here and certainly it is voluntary. But also, if you want to say that you\u2019re going to win a championship \u2026 certainly that\u2019s going to take work.\u201d<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n The language was plural, \u201cthem,\u201d and he explicitly acknowledged the voluntary nature of OTAs. At no point did he single out Jackson, reference last year\u2019s attendance, or connect the comment to contract discussions.<\/p>\n The post Fact Check: Did Declan Doyle Criticize Lamar Jackson in His First Press Conference as Ravens OC?<\/a> appeared first on The SportsRush<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Declan Doyle didn\u2019t begin his tenure with the Baltimore Ravens by diagramming plays. He began it with a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":762174,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2052],"tags":[184,117,2282,9441,7,895,6,57,169],"class_list":{"0":"post-762173","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-baltimore-ravens","8":"tag-baltimore","9":"tag-baltimore-ravens","10":"tag-baltimoreravens","11":"tag-declan-doyle","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-lamar-jackson","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","16":"tag-ravens"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116096890746202925","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/762173","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=762173"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/762173\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/762174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=762173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=762173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=762173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}