Knee-Jerks: Ravens 27 Saints 13

The Ravens head to the bye at 6-3 after beating the New Orleans Saints on Monday Night Football 27-13.

Roquan Smith played well in his Ravens debut as the defense set the tone.

RSR staff react to the win here.

Derek Arnold

Roquan Smith was my dream trade deadline acquisition, and after one game I feel quite vindicated. He was the X-factor in slowing down Alvin Kamara, both in the run game and the pass game. Justin Houston‘s incredible season continues. Calais Campbell reminded us what we missed when he was out due to illness last week. Tyus Bowser made his presence felt immediately. Kyle Hamilton had his first NFL interception wiped out by a bogus PI call on Chuck Clark (whose brain fart gave the Saints a tiny bit of late life on the long TD catch & run).

Offensively, it was a little ugly, which was to be expected with all the pieces missing. Lamar missed a few throws he should have hit, and the problems getting the plays in on time – that have been going on for years – finally boiled over as Jackson & Ronnie Stanley appeared to be yelling at each other after a delay of game penalty (and many near-misses). But Kenyan Drake showed some juice, Lamar took things upon himself when needed, and the o-line made some nice adjustments after getting beaten badly early.

6-3 going into the bye. Double-digit leads in every game so far. Not bad. Get Gus, JK, & Mark back. Integrate Ojabo. Excited for this team.

Darin McCann

There’s nothing wrong at all with this win. The offense came in shorthanded at the skill positions thanks to the injury bug, and their star quarterback was a hair off with his passing much of the game, but they got a great performance from Kenyan Drake and an improving offensive line to put up 27 points on the road against a talented defense.

The new-look defense is definitely a cause for some optimism, outside of a glaring screw-up on a late touchdown, and Justin Houston is playing like a man who enjoys his snap counts and green light to chase quarterbacks.

They moved to 6-3 heading into the bye week, with a chance to get some of their big guys back soon. This is a good night.

Kevin McNelis

Serves me right for doubting them.

I’d originally predicted that it looked like a beat-up Ravens squad would struggle tonight, but it looks like they were galvanized by the pressure. Lamar looked like himself, even showing some fire when the offensive rhythm was off.

Roquan Smith… mercy. He absolutely belongs in a Ravens uniform. That defense looked like a different unit with Roquan and Tyus Bowser in the fold, and Justin Houston practically ate Andy Dalton alive.

What a way to enter the BYE week. They’ve earned the rest.

Rob Shields

This was a bigger win (in terms of margin of victory) than I expected.  The Ravens played extremely well defensively.

Newly acquired Roquan Smith set the tone early with some big tackles and Justin Houston is a beast. Ironic that in a week Matt Judon tweeted out about how the Ravens don’t pay guys but the Ravens have a great player in Houston at a fraction of the cost.

Offensively, they did enough especially with the injuries (did Ricard get hurt tonight?).  The run game looked good and the threat of Lamar really shows in that running game.

But if I can be slightly negative for a moment, the offense continues to have too many mistakes.  Lamar misses too many throws. You can’t win in the playoffs completing 55% and throwing for under 150 yards. It didn’t hurt tonight but it will against the better teams in the biggest moments. And then you had the sequence towards the end of the game where they didn’t get the snap off and then almost did it again on the next play.

All of these little mistakes can’t happen if you want to beat Mahomes or Allen in January.

Overall it was a very good win and the bye is coming at a great time. The team looks poised to go on a big run, especially with the schedule setting up as it is.

With the news from Jay Glazer yesterday that OBJ will be cleared by the end of this week, do the Ravens go after him and get him here during the bye week?  It’s something to watch.

Chad Racine

It was nice having a game without any stress. Going into the bye with a three-game winning streak feels good. The Ravens got the job done being down several key offensive pieces.

Justin Houston has been a dominant force since returning from a groin injury. The pass rush in general is shaping up to become a strength.

Roquan Smith is as advertised with back to back stops to stall a drive dead in its tracks. For someone that just has been on the team for only a week he played a lot of snaps. Just wait until he really knows the defense.

Both sides of the ball played well tonight and the team is hitting its stride at the right time. It’s just feeling like a different team right now.

Chris Schisler

There’s nothing bad to say about the Ravens win over the Saints. Nothing consequential anyway.

For the second consecutive game the Ravens put up 27 points. Lamar Jackson hit 10 different players in the passing game. Greg Roman called his best game of the season and the run game rolled. The Ravens were crazy efficient on third down. Kenyan Drake averaged over four yards per carry. Lamar Jackson had 7.5 yards per carry. The Ravens controlled the ball for over 37 minutes. You can’t beat that. The game never felt in jeopardy and in this season that’s saying something.

The defense gave up a garbage time touchdown. It was an odd play where Marcus Peters and Chuck Clark thought the play was over before it was. The defense was dominant. The Saints converted only on three of 13 third downs. They ran just 48 plays, punted five times, allowed four sacks and had a turnover.

Can we talk about how dominant this defensive front is? Roquan Smith made a nice impact in his first game as a Raven. Justin Houston is a sack machine this season. Justin Madubuike was incredible. The Ravens dominated the Saints offensive line. The Ravens dominated this contest.

This is a big win. The Ravens are in a good spot going into the bye week. Three straight wins and first place in the AFC North is exactly what the doctor ordered.

Jared Pinder

What a dominant win by the Ravens.

This defense looked awesome; if Chuck Clark didn’t give up on that one play, they held the Saints to six points.

The Ravens offense has got to be better. Everyone on this unit has to play better. Lamar has to hit more passes, the O-line has to pick up blitzes (looking at you, Linderbaum), and of course, the drops need to stop.

For God’s sake, can someone hold Roman accountable for the lack of hustle getting to the line and snapping the ball with less than three seconds left, please? To add insult to injury, Lamar is starting to get frustrated with the offense, and I agree with him.

For the offense, please just run the ball and fix these issues that have been a problem since 2019; stick to what works and run some more play-action, please.

For the Defense, just keep this up…Ojabo and Marcus Williams are going back soon, so they are ready to rock and roll.

A nice way to head into the bye week at 6-3.