The Week 13 victory over Miami was by far the Ravens’ most complete performance of the 2016 season. Even after stashing a handful of rookies on IR and the practice squad, the rookie class currently accounts for two entrenched starters (Ronnie Stanley and Tavon Young—three if Alex Lewis can return), three fringe starters/solid rotational players (Michael Pierce, Kenneth Dixon and Matt Judon) and two special team contributors/occasional players (Chris Moore and Patrick Onwuasor). Let’s use those categories to track the rookies’ progress.
Starters
In a game that featured almost-Ravens rookie Laremy Tunsil, Ronnie Stanley shined while Tunsil struggled. The sixth overall pick stalled pass rushers all afternoon and finished the game without committing a penalty. He occasionally struggles to find a man at the second level in the running game, but overall Stanley played a clean game. He finally seems to be jiving with all-pro guard Marshal Yanda, after Yanda’s move to the left side. Good for Stanley to have played so well with a player in the building, in Tunsil, whose career will always be compared with his own.
Tavon Young continues to do Tavon Young things. He made two superb open-field tackles, the first of which stopped the Dolphins on third down and gave Young what was reported to be a stinger—only leading to a few missed plays. His coverage was smothering, and he was rarely targeted by Ryan Tannehill. When he was tested, he defended with aplomb, notably locking up Jarvis Landry’s comeback route in man coverage and deflecting away a third down pass attempt when Landry slipped a bit. That play resulted in a missed FG try on Miami’s opening drive, giving the Ravens some nice momentum, on which they quickly capitalized by taking a 14-0 lead.
Fringe Starters
Michael Pierce put in another shift, with 14 snaps. He did not record any tackles or make highlight plays, but his first step off the snap continued to be surprisingly quick, and he generated consistent push that disrupted running lanes for Jay Ajayi and Tannehill’s pocket.
Kenneth Dixon was somewhat surprisingly out-snapped by Terrance West 37-24. He converted the important first quarter fourth down conversion on the fake fullback dive/halfback pitch. Dixon’s refusal to go down when Andre Branch nearly ripped his helmet off on that play is the reason coaches felt comfortable parting ways with a less ferocious runner like Justin Forsett (as great of a guy as Forsett is). Dixon finished with an impressive 56 yards on just six carries and added four catches for 21 yards. His first few steps of acceleration are truly explosive.
To his credit, West has not regressed as Dixon improves, so it’s safe to say that the Ravens have a very promising two-headed monster, as Dixon has just a bit of extra twitch that complements West’s power nicely.
Fifth-rounder Matt Judon continues to supply supplemental pass rush, logging 17 snaps Sunday. He showed great discipline to stay home despite an underneath route by the tight on a third quarter Tannehill bootleg, where he flew to the quarterback while remaining under control as a tackler, and brought Tannehill down for a big sack. Two more sacks would give him an impressive 7.0 on the year, and give him third most for a rookie in Ravens history. While his sack was important, I was most excited about Judon’s commitment to setting the edge, a task that second year linebacker Za’Darius Smith has struggled with at times this year.
Under-the-Radar Contributors
Undrafted linebacker Patrick Onwuasor quietly leads all special teams tacklers with nine such tackles. He has shown a nose for the football and does offer some versatility on defense which is valuable to have in the deeper parts of your roster.
Chris Moore got more looks than usual on Sunday. He lined up for 13 plays, and showed good burst on a seven-yard reverse, but saw two passes on successive fourth quarter plays bounce off his hands. Both would have been tough catches in tight coverage, but the rookie from Cincinnati will be disappointed not to have made a few more plays for the offense.
Rookie Notes:
Kamalei Correa was inactive for the second straight week.
Coach Harbaugh said this week that Alex Lewis is still “a good ways away” from being ready to return from his high ankle sprain.
