The Ravens have a difficult task at hand this week. They return to where their season ended in another heart-wrenching loss in the playoffs with something to prove. The players feel it and want to show that it was a fluke and that they are better than the Bengals, but they will have to do it again with a handicap.
No changes with Ravens practice attendance from yesterday. The four not practicing are CB Marlon Humphrey (foot), S Marcus Williams (pec) and OL Ronnie Stanley (knee) and
Tyler Linderbaum (ankle)— Jeff Zrebiec (@jeffzrebiec) September 14, 2023
At this point, we can expect that none of these important pieces are playing on Sunday. We still need to see how the Ravens actually match up against the Bengals because they are never healthy when they play them. Bengals fans can fight that fact all they want, but the truth is that they haven’t played a fully healthy Ravens team since this new era began in 2021. The closest we got was the first meeting last year, but even then, pieces were missing.
At least it looks like Mark Andrews will be playing, but the offensive line looked like garbage against the Texans, and now, without key pieces, they will have to face a devastating pass rush. This game seems bleak, but I don’t know what else to say; guys must step up.
What can help the Ravens is Zay Flowers:
𝗥𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘀 𝗪𝗥 𝗭𝗮𝘆 𝗙𝗹𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿𝘀:
“You have to worry about stopping Lamar. That’s just going to get us open even more, and when Mark comes back it’s going to get even scarier.” pic.twitter.com/l6uFINU6wN
— Ravens Nation LIVE (@LIVERavenNation) September 14, 2023
Zay is right here. When healthy, this offense has the potential to be unbeatable, but the execution has got to be better.
Luckily, it does seem like the coaches understand what went wrong, will adjust:
"It's a work in progress. The best thing we have is another opportunity to correct it." OC Todd Monken pic.twitter.com/T4nvfipAyc
— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) September 14, 2023
Todd Monken continues to be the realest offensive coordinator the Ravens have had in a while. There are no excuses, no comments about “vaults.” He keeps it honest and doesn’t sugarcoat how he feels. Hopefully, the offense will look more in sync with Andrews out there.
However, there might have been a different reason why the offense looked like it did Sunday, especially in the first half:
The Ravens slow offensive start vs. Texans could have been because the team was “holding things back”, per @jeffzrebiec.
He writes that it would make sense if the team didn’t feel they needed to go deep into their playbook to get the win.
— Ravens Nation LIVE (@LIVERavenNation) September 14, 2023
This isn’t saying Monken held back because they overlooked the Texans, but it does make sense to hold back a little bit in Week 1. This could explain why we saw so much with Zay on the jet sweeps and the screen game.
They may open up the playbook against the Bengals because of how important this game is.
What will also help this offense will be how the defense holds up. Another player stepping up is going to be huge for the Ravens:
𝗣𝗙𝗙 𝗼𝗻 𝗥𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘀 𝗟𝗕 𝗢𝗱𝗮𝗳𝗲 𝗢𝘄𝗲𝗵:
“His performance against the Texans was the most complete he has looked since entering the NFL.” pic.twitter.com/Z1BkxPm5CP
— Ravens Nation LIVE (@LIVERavenNation) September 14, 2023
Odafe Oweh had a great game against one of the league’s premier pass protectors in Laremy Tunsil, so imagine what he will do to Orlando Brown Jr., who stinks in pass pro. I don’t want to give your hopes up, but this could be a big week for Oweh and the pass-rush.
The most important thing for now, even more important than a Week 2 division win? No more big injuries, please!
One Response
It would be surprising if Monken did NOT hold back a lot in the game against the Texans. Looking forward to see what the new Ravens offense has to show us against the Bengals.