Ravens Receiving Report – Week 17
It was interesting to watch the Greg Roman offense being operated by an old veteran QB. The ball came out on time. There were open receivers; Josh Johnson was only sacked once. It “looked” like a normal NFL passing game. Johnson completed 70% of his passes, same as Tyler Huntley did against Green Bay, but with a decent yards-per-attempt (7.6, equal to Lamar Jackson’s on the year).
So, does that mean that the Ravens are better off with Josh Johnson at quarterback than with Lamar Jackson? Well, not so fast.
Against Cincinnati, the Ravens had no plays of 20+ yards until the 4th quarter, when the Bengals were nursing a 20-point lead. The biggest play in the early going of the game was an 18-yard completion to Tylan Wallace in the second quarter, and even then the Bengals already had a 17-point lead.
The Ravens had no rushing game at all (16 for 39; 2.4 ypc). They had four 3-&-outs (I’m counting one drive where they failed to convert on 4th down as a 4-&-out).
Lamar produces big plays in the passing game, and his presence opens up the running game. This is one of those situations where the eye test fools us, I think. The offense may look more “regular” with someone like Johnson under center, but that’s both good and bad. You need the high-variance; big plays create scoring.
Game stats:
Mark Andrews: still a beast. Every defense knows they have to key on him, and he still cranks out hundred-yard games with double-digit yards-per-target.
Career day for James Proche! He looks like a player, doesn’t he? Gets open in traffic, catches every damn thing that comes near him. A tough possession-receiver.
Rashod Bateman’s first official touchdown. The refs robbed him of one a couple weeks ago, to my eyes; I think he had broken the plane. Well, he’s finally on the board now.
Marquise Brown’s trend of bad games is up to eight now. One good one against Minnesota plus one okay game vs Pittsburgh, and the rest sub-par. Here are the game-by-game stats:
This is officially a “problem” now. I’m not trying to say that Marquise specifically is playing bad; I don’t know enough to say that. There could be a ton of reasons for production to decline: lack of chemistry with the backup quarterbacks, or poor pass-pro meaning no time for the QB to look for deep shots. A lot goes into Wide Receiver stats, beyond the specific player.
It’s good to see the Ravens develop alternate weapons, like Proche & Bateman. But they need production from their “number 1 Wide Receiver,” and they haven’t been able to generate it over the last eight games.
Andrews needs 15 yards to pass Michael Jackson 1996 for the Ravens record in receiving yards in a season. He’ll probably get that in the 1st quarter Sunday. What do you think his final stat line will be for the season? He’s on track for around 1340 yards over 17 games.
Proche keeps being a pleasant surprise. He just catches the ball! I want to see more.
Next up: Happy New Year, and then Matthew Stafford & the Rams come to Charm City. They’re a very good team. But the Ravens are tough to beat at home, and Lamar might be available to play.
If the Ravens win this, and the Chiefs beat Cincinnati, then the division is still in play. Crazy season!
