The Ravens beat Joe Flacco and the New York Jets, 24-9, in Week 1. RSR staff react to the win here.
Derek Arnold
It wasn’t pretty. But if you want to consider the first half of the game as actually the fourth preseason game, and factor in the rain and wet footballs…it gets a little more stomach-able. Devin Duvernay made an amazing catch on the team’s first touchdown, and Jackson’s no-look pass on Duv’s second was Mahomes-esque. The running game was largely disappointing, and the OL of course lost Ja’Wuan James for what looks to be quite a while. Defensively, Justin Houston impressed, while Odafe Oweh was a bit of a ghost, at least on the counting stats – we’ll see what the film reveals. Overall though, decent pressure and a nice first showing from Mike Macdonald’s unit, which had several sacks stripped away by ridiculous flags in the secondary. Kyle Fuller suffering what looks to be a serious knee-injury in garbage time was crushing.
1-0 is 1-0, and it’s hard to be disappointed with a two-touchdown victory.
Kevin McNelis
Not gonna lie, I was more than a little nervous about the anemic pace in the first half, especially with the bread-and-butter running game largely ineffective. The radio crew correctly pointed out that the Jets defense was stacking the box and daring the Ravens to throw.
How’d that work out?
I absolutely loved seeing Devin Duvernay’s number getting called in the end zone, and it seems like it’s been a long time coming for a guy that fans have been begging to see more involved.
I’d mentioned in the Bold Predictions piece that I figured the defense would bend but not break in some spots, but ideally, I’d like us to do less of that than what we saw today. It’s not every week you get to play a 37-year-old Joe Flacco.
Sincerely hoping Ja’Wuan James is ok, but it didn’t look good. Fingers crossed that Ronnie was just resting up for his premiere.
Ron Toothe
It wasn’t pretty to start, but the Ravens pulled out a quality win in some tough(ish) conditions at MetLife Stadium against the Jets. The offense struggled throughout the first quarter, which was understandable in Week 1 of course, before Lamar Jackson found Devin Duvernay for a long touchdown to finally give the Ravens some breathing room. From there, we saw what happened. It was all but academic.
One player in particular who deserves major praise is Patrick Queen, who was all over the field in this one. He contributed 5.5 tackles on the day to go along with a crucial half sack. Earlier in the week on Russell Street Replay we mentioned him as a potential unsung hero for the 2022 Ravens, and he took a solid first step towards that on Sunday!
Quality win, we’re on to Miami!
Ben Dackiw
Nice to start with a lopsided win, but losing Kyle Fuller puts a damper on my spirits.
I think the rust in the first half can be chalked up to lack of reps in the preseason. Greg Roman needs to be better, and he was better in the second half. Lamar, of course, was great.
Welcome back, Mike Macdonald. Tackling looked better, Patrick Queen was a monster and the D-Line had poor Joe Flacco running for his life.
The Ravens might be looking for a new DC in a year or two. Mike Macdonald will be getting HC offers very soon.
The secondary looking so good without Marcus Peters, albeit with Kyle Fuller who will most likely not play again this year, is very encouraging.
We will know a lot more about where this team is after week two.
Nikhil Mehta
Let’s start with the bad news first: Ja’Wuan James went down and had to be carted off, and Kyle Fuller looks like he had a significant injury as well. That’s two starters at key positions gone, in Week 1. Yikes. Patrick Mekari looked great at LT, though, and Brandon Stephens held up at CB with Marcus Peters arriving soon. Still, not a great start after last year, and I’m sure that will be the focus this week as diagnoses trickle out.
BUT…
The Ravens continued their Week 1 excellence in all three phases, and you can’t really argue with that. The slippery conditions were somewhat of an equalizer early on, but everyone seemed to sharpen as the game continued. The offense was unsteady initially, but Lamar Jackson found his rhythm in the second half with some spectacular passes to Rashod Bateman and Devin Duvernay. The defense was lights-out all game, constantly getting pressure on Flacco and forcing fumbles.
Honestly, this team is exactly what I expected to be. A ton of potential with their talent, but the vulnerability of their existing injuries will be a governor on their throttle all year long, especially on offense.
Darin McCann
A win on the road is always a good thing, so let’s embrace that. There were also tremendous performances along the defensive line, and some terrific playmaking by a maligned group of playmakers on the offense. It started very sloppy, got less sloppy and had some moments of brilliance.
A good day in the standings, but there is some real concern for the health of Kyle Fuller and Ja’Waun James.
Rob Shields
This was an unsurprisingly ugly game. With all the injuries and guys out or just coming back and the lack of time the regulars got in training camp, I expected the Ravens to look a little ugly today.
They did win comfortably, which I didn’t think would happen but they didn’t look great doing it. The Oline struggled for most of the day. Receivers struggled to get open for most of the game and had some drops. The run game was non-existent.
The defense were shaky at tackling at times but they did a great job of getting a pass rush on Joe all game long. The pressure up the middle today was as good as we have seen in Baltimore in quite some time and that was with no Travis Jones out there.
The Jets out gained them by 100 yards. They easily won TOP. The rain helped to keep them close.
That said, Lamar made the big throw to Bateman (the one he was looking for all day but couldn’t get it off because of the pressure) that really separated the two teams and that essentially ended the game right there. You got the win and that’s what is important. You gotta win games like this and this team should be a lot better as the season goes on.
The losses of Kyle Fuller and Ja’Wuan James likely for the year are big losses though. More so Fuller than James but the loss of depth on the line and the secondary is big, especially with that happening last year and you still have guys coming back. Â The Ravens will need to figure that depth issue and try to keep guys on the field.
Chad Racine
The offense had quite an abysmal start and looked like a team that had rust from no preseason play. As the game went on those concerns began to disappear. The losses of Fuller and James is certainly a concern because both of those injuries appeared serious.
The defense played a great game without all-pro Marcus Peters and promising rookie Travis Jones. Marcus Williams showed up big in his first game as a Raven.
Miami played well and beat the Patriots today comfortably 20-7. Next week should be a tougher match-up.f
