REALITY: Shareece Wright had 11 tackles for the Ravens Sunday.
Perception: For a guy who only had 40 tackles in all of 2015, Wright was a stud on Sunday. He looked like a different player. In his 6th season in the NFL, and his second in Baltimore, Dean Pees and the other coaches must be coaching him up. He was flying around that field and looking like a few other players the Ravens have had in the secondary in recent history. If he can continue to be that kind of player, the Ravens might have found a diamond in the rough.
But I really like what I saw from Wright and Eric Weddle. If Lardarius Webb can get back to where he has been, we could see our best secondary in recent memory.
REALITY: Joe Flacco was credited with -3 rushing yards Sunday against the Bills.
Solomon Wilcox has been terrible on #Ravens game today but only thing he got right was that Flacco will NOT look to run at all.
— Joe Polek ??⚾?⚽? (@JoePolek) September 11, 2016
Perception: Obviously Joe Flacco is not a running quarterback like Tyrod Tayler, RGIII, or Russell Wilson, but he in the past he has been mobile when needed. But Sunday, you could just see… he had absolutely no interest in running. There were a number of times that he was chased out of the pocket and in the past he would have taken off for a couple of yards. Sunday, when out of the pocket, he would try to come back. He was hesitant. He has every reason to be after what he went through over the last 10 months. I just hope it’s more about him worrying about it than anything else.
REALITY: 10 receivers had receptions for 258 yards.
These might be the best set of receivers the #Ravens have ever had on one team.
— Joe Polek ??⚾?⚽? (@JoePolek) September 11, 2016
Perception: Flacco was spreading it out in the 1st half. He was looking good and so were his receivers. The Mike Wallace touchdown pass across the middle was a great play call and a great pass. Dennis Pitta made some nice catches on throws that were low. Breshad Perriman made an outstanding catch for his first NFL reception. Steve Smith Sr had 5 catches. Seven receivers had a catch of over 10 yards.
But when you step back and look at the history of the Ravens receivers, you could say that this year’s team might have the best group of receivers that we have seen in Baltimore. Smith Sr., Perriman, Wallace along with Kamar Aiken and Chris Moore can all do some real damage. Pitta, Kyle Juszczyk, and Crockett Gillmore add a lot to the offense as tight ends. Even Justin Forsett and Terrance West out of the backfield give the Ravens a real good crop of pass catchers, and that will only get better once Kenneth Dixon returns. That is something we have not seen in a long, long time in Charm City.
REALITY: The Ravens lead the regular season series with the Brown 25-9.
Perception: The Ravens won their last meeting, a 6-point victory in Cleveland, but the Browns pulled out a three-point overtime win in Baltimore last October. Surprisingly, the Ravens are just 4-2 against the Browns since 2013. For as bad as Cleveland has been, that doesn’t seem good enough, if you ask me.
RGIII is out for the Browns, so Josh McCown is the starting QB for Cleveland on Sunday. That might not be good news for the Ravens. Last October McCown was 36-for-51 for 457 yards and two touchdowns in their win against the Ravens. In November’s loss to Baltimore, McCown was 21-for-38 for 212 yards and one touchdown.
McCown has always been one of the top back-up quarterbacks in the NFL. Frankly, he is a better QB than a few of the starting QBs in the league. He will make this game tougher than if RGIII was starting.
McCown starting and the Ravens ugly win last week actually has some national “experts” picking the Browns to win this week. But for me, there are two picks that I make every week, no matter what: Patriots to win (I know), and the Browns to lose.
Ravens win 24-17.
