Editor’s Note: Today’s Hot Take Tuesday is brought to you by HLK Custom. But yeah, we get it. It’s not Tuesday. There’s been a lot to talk about but we think you’ll agree, this was worth the wait!
Hot take #1: The Ravens have the worst ILB group in the NFL
Patrick Queen and Malik Harrison have PFF grades of 37.1 and 30.1 respectively. That puts both near the bottom of the league. Queen has been a bust so far. He is too small to shed blocks, often looks lost out there and has no idea how to cover a TE or RB. Harrison was supposed to be a big hitter, run stopper type guy and he has also looked lost. The 2 of them are tackling terribly and teams are targeting them at will.
Kristian Welsh and Chris Board aren’t exactly stepping up and playing well either. At least with Queen and Harrison, they are young and talented, so improvement is possible. But after a full off season workout program and a training camp where Queen looked better, we all had hopes he would come in and play better. I am not ready to give up on these guys yet but that time is fast approaching. Who would have guessed that losing LJ Fort could be this big of a deal?
Patrick Queen’s film sessions this week should just be being forced to watch this on repeat while Ray Lewis screams at himpic.twitter.com/DMHA7aJN0E
— Russell St. Report (@RussellStReport) September 26, 2021
Hot take #2: Lamar Jackson is the league MVP through 3 games
This is a tough call. Gregg Rosenthal tweeted out yesterday that Lamar leads the NFL in yards per completion and yards per carry. That’s an insane stat for many reasons. Obviously, the idea that a QB can lead in that category is crazy but it also shows that Lamar is pushing the ball down the field and that is something we wanted to see. And just think, if Hollywood was able to catch easy balls the other day, that stat would be even better, not to mention his WR corps is missing arguably its highest upside piece in Rashod Bateman. No team asks their QB to do more than Lamar does, which means he should always be in the MVP conversation. That being said, I don’t think you can give the “3 game MVP trophy” because of the turnovers, especially in the Vegas game.
Hot take #3: Patrick Mekari is the best RT on the team
I am not sure this is really a hot take, especially after seeing the week 1 performance of Alejandro Villanueva. That being said, if Ronnie Stanley plays this year (and that situation isn’t looking good at all), the Ravens are going to have to bench Villanueva. Mekari showed well at RT last year and while he is a C/G by trade, he has transitioned well to RT. His PFF grade is 65.5. That’s not great but it’s not bad either. Its serviceable enough and you figure he can improve with more reps over there.
Hot take #4: Nick Boyle is the IR’ed player the Ravens miss the most
On Monday, John Harbaugh said that Bateman and Miles Boykin should be back at practice this week. He also mentioned that Boyle would not practice. The Ravens currently have 16 players on IR. Some of them are short term and some are done for the year, led by Dobbins, Edwards and Peters. But Boyle is the guy they miss the most. His blocking is very important to this offense and with Stanley out, his importance is elevated. Boyle is also a better pass catcher than people give him credit for, so he can help the offense that way as well.
Hot take #5: The game vs Denver on Sunday is the most important non division game of the year.
Denver is an improved team. Bridgewater gives them stability on offense and they have a good defense. They are undefeated but they have also played arguably the 3 worst teams in the NFL, so you can argue that they have not been tested at all.
After this game, the Ravens have a stretch of 4 home games and a bye week over the next 5 weeks of the season and your road games after that are against the Bears and Dolphins. With a tough closing stretch to the season, it is always imperative for the team to rack up the wins early. Some of those upcoming home games are against very good teams but still, they are games you should win at home. I always felt 2-2 was the most likely scenario coming out of the first 4 games because of all the injuries but that 3-1 was the best case. If they can get that best case scenario, it really sets up them well for the next several games.
