Todd Monken on offensive line critique: ‘You have to own it’

The most talked about part of the Ravens has not been their winless start through two weeks; rather, it’s about the offensive line issues. Heavy criticism has fallen on the players, coaching staff and front office for their experiment to get younger at offensive line. On Thursday, Offensive Coordinator Todd Monken talked about the message the team has had since their Week 2 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders.

“...you have to own it; that’s the way it is,” Monken said. “That’s what they ask us to do, is to look in the mirror and say, ‘How do we get it better?’ Don’t feel sorry for yourself. How do we get it better? How do we keep working? How do we help the guys out?”

Monken didn’t single out players or the position, and shouldered the critique with them in admitting he must put them in better positions to improve.

“It’s not all [on] them. I have to own the things that I can get better at,” Monken said. “What can they get better at? What can we do schematically? We can help ourselves by staying ahead of the chains, right, [and] not putting ourselves in passing situations. That’s the nature of what we do, right? When we’re not having success, that’s the way it is.”

The Ravens have been narrowly defeated in both games. Arguably a toe away from defeating the reigning Super Bowl champions to open the season and a few lapses from victory over the Raiders in Week 2. But that isn’t the case and they’re not pretending to be.

“We’re paid to have success, and I think we’re headed in the right direction; I really do,” Monken said. “We’re close. We really are. We’re a couple of plays away from being 2-0. We’re not. That’s the nature of this league. How do we find those little percentage points to get better? That’s our job.”

It’s not just the Monken or the offense who believe they’re close to getting on a roll and playing to their standard. Defensive Coordinator Zach Orr said the same thing when talking about containing elite wide receivers.

“I feel like we’re right there; we’re really close,” Orr said. “We just have to continue to tighten up the screws just a little bit, and as coaches, we can do a better job [to make sure] that guys are fully locked in and fully understand what’s going on. I think that we’re on our way. I thought we took a step – the step wasn’t good enough – but I’m excited about what we’re going to look like this week.”