After the first week of NFL action, overreactions to the games run rampant. Jameis Winston is a bust, Peyton Manning is done and the Buffalo Bills are going to win the Super Bowl.
Some Ravens fans are about to jump off the cliff as well. While it’s true that the Denver Broncos are likely a top-five defense, the Ravens were statistically the worst offense in football opening week. Yikes.
While it’s only one game and there were actually a lot of positive takeaways for the Ravens from this past Sunday, the wide receiver situation is most definitely not one of them. No pass-catcher had more than two receptions, Kamar Aiken actually put up negative yards, and Michael Campanaro was a non-factor. With no real threat outside of Steve Smith Sr., the Broncos were able to key on the 36-year-old receiver and make him all but a non-factor as well. The bottom line is this shouldn’t surprise anyone. The results the team will see from their receivers in 2015 are a reflection of their investment. Sometimes the saying is true: you get what you pay for. The Ravens wide receivers are a bargain-basement bunch.
With Breshad Perriman missing significant time, behind Smith the Ravens’ top receiving options are two undrafted free agents in Kamar Aiken and Marlon Brown and Michael Campanaro, who the Ravens traded back into the seventh round to take in 2014. The Ravens remained steadfast and confident throughout training camp and the preseason that even without Perriman they had enough. But in Denver the Ravens truly looked like exactly what they are on paper – a receiver group whose top option is 36 years old, with a handful of journeymen who at best should be nothing more than complementary pieces in an NFL offense. Some will fault the offensive line, but even when Joe Flacco did have time in the pocket, it was obvious that receivers were gaining little to no separation.
You can’t fault the Ravens for the injury to Perriman. It’s an unfortunate situation that you just can’t anticipate. But even if Perriman had stayed healthy through training camp he was still viewed as a raw prospect coming out UCF. He’s not what Odell Beckham Jr. was coming out of LSU, and he’s not what Kelvin Benjamin was coming out of Florida State. That’s not to say that he can’t be with time, but anyone expecting a similar spark to what Beckham gave the Giants after missing the first four weeks of 2014 will be disappointed. And the fact that one injury to a potential starting receiver has left the Ravens so thin at receiver is proof that regardless of the injury, there wasn’t enough depth there to begin with.
Ozzie Newsome and the Ravens front office are among the best in football, but there is no denying that identifying and retaining talented receivers is the one major blemish on their record. Whether it’s been striking out with draft picks like Travis Taylor and Mark Clayton, or trading productive receivers like Anquan Boldin for a sack of marbles, it’s an area where the Ravens have consistently struggled. Some analysts make a living discussing whether or not Joe Flacco is elite; the truth is we don’t really know and probably never will until the Ravens get him his own Antonio Brown or A.J. Green.
The Ravens’ struggles on offense will persist through 2015. This isn’t to say they won’t make the playoffs or that their season is over, because they may, and it’s not, but the horrid offensive output the Ravens mustered this past Sunday should come as a surprise to no one. When it comes to dynamic playmakers they’re razor thin, and they’re getting a fair return in the minimal investment they’ve made at the position.
