The Baltimore Ravens don’t have a game this week. That’s fine…we have a lot to talk about.
We have four downs and in John Harbaugh style, we’re going for it!
Here are your four downs: Bye week edition.
First Down: They are who we thought they were! (it just took a minute)
The Baltimore Ravens started the season 3-3. Since then, they’ve gone on an impressive three-game winning streak. The Ravens control their destiny in the AFC North. If they keep winning, the Bengals won’t catch them. Baltimore came to life with a strong second half against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 8. Then they delivered a fairly drama-free win on Monday Night Football in Week 9.
The Ravens are 6-3. They are who we thought they would be — a Super Bowl contender.
The Ravens are starting to bully teams the way they did in 2019. The three-game winning streak shows a familiar pattern.
Step 1: The Ravens control the game by winning the time of possession battle.
Step 2: The Ravens have 150 rushing yards or more.
Step 3: Hold the opponent to around 20 points or less.
Over the last six games, the Ravens have allowed just 20.16 points per game. For the season, they average slightly higher at 21.8, thanks to outliers against the Miami Dolphins and the New England Patriots. The stats are finally starting to show the true story and aren’t being skewed by the early season anomaly.
The Ravens started the season with a new defensive coordinator and new pieces to work into the defense. It was always going to take time for everything to come together. Tua Tagovailoa took advantage of a defense that hadn’t found its groove. The Ravens defense changed for the better after the first quarter of the season.
The offense has been forced to change a little bit as well. The last few games the Ravens haven’t had a healthy Mark Andrews, so Lamar has had to spread the ball around. Ten different players caught a pass Monday night. The offense looks more vibrant and alive when everybody gets involved. Lamar Jackson has seemingly found his swagger again. The Ravens are contenders in a wide-open AFC, just as we thought they would be when the season kicked off.
It took them a while to find themselves, yet they did. That means it’s on like Donkey Kong.
2nd Down: The biggest problem for the offense
The biggest problem facing the Ravens’ offense is that they aren’t utilizing their weapons enough. Going into the Saints game all we could talk about is how thin the Ravens were at wide receiver. Devin Duvernay was only targeted once in New Orleans. How does that make sense? Demarcus Robinson either thrives like he did in Tampa, or completely vanishes: he’s had a game with six receptions and another with three receptions. That’s nine of his 16 receptions in just two games.
The most obvious example of underutilizing a player is Isaiah Likely. The rookie tight end had to wait until the Thursday night game in Tampa Bay to have a big night. The entire idea of loading up at tight end was to have a dangerous 1-2 punch for the offense. It shouldn’t have taken Andrews getting hurt for Likely to be an active player for this offense.
Likely and Duvernay should be putting on a show for Greg Roman’s troops. Duvernay has proven that he can get involved in the run game and even give it a bit of a spark. He averages 7.9 yards per carry and has only gotten seven rushing attempts. Duvernay should have gotten at least double the touches in the ground game. It adds an interesting element to this offense and it plays to Roman’s strengths as a play caller. If they’re not going to do that, at least throw him the football. He’s basically the number-one receiver now. When he gets in the open field he’s a problem.
How do the Ravens not want more of that?
Ravens fans constantly whine that they don’t have enough playmakers. But then the team neglects the playmakers that they do have. Think of the Ravens’ offense as a boring cheese pizza. It doesn’t get exciting until you add some tasty toppings. The same old thing gets old.
They have the ingredients they need and they’re not using them. Let’s hope that gets fixed over the bye.
Third Down: Division games are the key
The AFC North is essentially a two-team race at this point of the season. The Cincinnati Bengals have shown to be a flawed team, yet they’re 5-4 and on the Ravens’ tail. The biggest advantage the Ravens have is that the Bengals’ division record has obvious blemishes having lost all three of their AFCN games so far. That could hurt them, especially if it comes down to tiebreakers at the end of the year. The Ravens beat the Bengals and they don’t play them again until the final week of the regular season. The worst the head-to-head record can be is 1-1, so it would then go to division record. Currently, that’s Baltimore 2-0, Cincinnati 0-3. Advantage: Ravens.
The AFC North is known as one of the tougher divisions annually, but that’s not the case in 2022. The Browns are 3-5 and they don’t get Deshaun Watson back from suspension until Week 11. The Steelers are 2-6 and have looked worse than they have in over two decades. Division games are always tough, but the Ravens have no excuse if they don’t have a winning record in division play. They have four more division games. They need to win at least three of these games. If they win all four, that alone puts them at 10 wins.
The schedule isn’t tough, at least on paper. They have a chance to run away with the division crown and wrap things up before the 17th game.
Winning division games gets the Ravens very close to where they need to be at the end of the regular season.
Fourth Down: Reinforcements can boost this team
Tyus Bowser is back. David Ojabo is back. Gus Edwards has already shown he can make a huge impact on this team. The Ravens traded for Roquan Smith. Charlie Kolar is entering the fold. Marcus Williams and JK Dobbins will return from injury at some point.
Edwards is a game-changer for the offense. If he can stay healthy the offense will be more efficient. Edwards brings some energy to the offense, and is a sure thing on the ground. In just two games back, he looked like his old self and the offense received a noticeable spark. The Ravens got by without him in New Orleans, but for the Ravens to be at their best, they need number 35.
Justin Houston has established himself as a sack master this season. He has 8.5 sacks, a pick, and a forced fumble. Bowser’s return could mean big things for the pass rush department. It won’t just be the Houston show. Bowser’s availability helps Odafe Oweh more than anybody.
Oweh can focus more on pass rushing, as Bowser does more in coverage and run defense than any of the other edge players. Bowser’s strength is doing the dirty work and being multi-dimensional. If you tell Oweh to seek and destroy the quarterback, his stats are going to go up.
Roquan Smith has already shown himself to be a game-changer. His impact will go up after the bye week when he’s much more familiar with the defense and his assignments. The defense was already getting better. Now it has a chance to be dominant. That’s what happens when you add a top-5 player at the linebacker position.
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