Like the last time the Ravens visited the UK, there was a lot to digest after the game. Unlike the last time, however, things tend to taste a little better after a win than an un-pantsing to the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Let’s get to the grades.
Offense
Overall: B-
It was a tale of two halves, yet again. The Ravens generated 242 yards of offense and 18 points in the first half, and only 118 yards and six points in the second. The only punt they had in the first half resulted in the Titans muffing the catch and the Ravens stealing a field goal before the break. But that second half went punt, interception, punt before they somewhat figured things out to lock down a pair of field goals. Those were two big drives at the end. But that well-celebrated red-zone offense took a nap today.
Quarterback: B+
The numbers won’t necessarily bear it out — 21-30, 223 yards, a touchdown and interception, to go with 62 rushing yards — but Jackson was pretty good today. The throw up the seam to Mark Andrews for 38 was absolutely gorgeous, and the touchdown to Zay Flowers was prime Lamar set-scramble-find. The interception was ugly, but looked like a miscommunication (stop us if you’ve heard that one before) between Jackson and Rashod Bateman. He picked up a few first downs with his legs, too.
Running Backs: C
Both Gus Edwards and Justice Hill had a few moments, but neither had a particularly productive game. Edwards picked up 41 yards on 16 carries, but did have a big 12-yard catch on third down at the end of the third quarter. Hill garnered 35 yards on eight carries, and produced exactly 0 yards on three catches. Lamar was the big runner on the day.
Receivers: B
This group bounced back from last week’s disaster with a good performance. Andrews led the way with 69 yards on four catches, and Flowers had six grabs for 50 yards and his first career touchdown. Odell Beckham Jr. tantalized the crowd with an electric 32-yard catch-and-run, and Nelson Agholor produced 40 yards on two catches. Bateman had two catches for 15 yards and was the target on that pick. He could use a big week.
Offensive Line: C-
They had a tough time against a very stout front. The holes were just not there in the traditional run game, but there were some well-executed passing lanes that allowed Jackson to hit some easy inside throws and take off for good gains on the ground. Andrews had nowhere to go on his keeper play, and the line was just generally moved backwards way too much. The pass blocking seemed better this week, but the Ravens definitely focused on quick passes again.
Defense
Overall: B+
The Titans are not exactly an offensive juggernaut with Ryan Tannehill at center. They are, well, below whatever that status might be with Malik Willis taking snaps. The Ravens held the Titans to 233 total yards of offense. Consider this: Derrick Henry ripped off a 63-yard run and Tyjae Spears had a 48-yard catch-and-run. Outside of those two plays? 122 yards. The Ravens also had six sacks and an interception. Big plays count. And they hurt. But they seemed to be the outliers today on a good defensive day.
Defensive Line: B+
Henry had a few splash plays, but the line mostly won the battle up front, often moving the Titans’ line backwards. Justin Madubuike had a monstrous day, with five tackles, two sacks, two tackles for loss and four quarterback hits. Jadeveon Clowney was everywhere, too, with two sacks, two tackles for loss and four quarterback hits, himself. Broderick Washington was active with three stops. Michael Pierce got flagged for a hit on Tannehill, but… I guess that’s today’s NFL.
Linebackers: B+
Patrick Queen and Roquan Smith — week in and week out — are making their collective case as the best linebacking duo in the National Football League. Today, each produced nine tackles, and Queen particularly stood out, with a sack, a tackle for loss and a quarterback hit. The two combined to bring down Willis short of the markers on third down to force a punt. Did Roquan Smith actually let a Titans receiver to get back up off the ground before tackling him so the clock would wind down to the 2:00 warning? It looked like it. Let’s just agree he did so we can add it to his legacy here that simply builds every week. Malik Harrison is having his best season this year. He made a big tackle on the sideline of the first play of the second quarter that forced a third-and-one and the Ravens then forced a punt. Those are big plays during a long season.
Defensive Backs: B
Kyle Hamilton got ejected from this game and I’m still a little upset about that, so let me catch my breath. OK, I’m fine. And I actually get the decision, even though I don’t think Hamilton meant harm as much as he meant to break up a potentially big play. The breakup Marcus Williams had on that deep play late in the first half showed tremendous range and toughness as he had to extend his opposite arm because of the limitations on his other shoulder. Brandon Stephens was in the mix of a lot of plays today, with the good being his pass break-up in the end zone and a good tackle to prevent a long gain, along with getting beat a few times and getting bailed out on a pass interference when the pass was deemed uncatchable.
Marlon Humphrey was mostly good, and Ronald Darby had a big play in the end zone to force an incompletion. Geno Stone showed again that he is a “plus” on the field with a big interception.
Special Teams: B+
Have an extra point blocked and a penalty that wipes out a two-point conversion? The absolute ceiling on your grade as a special teams unit is a B+. They got it. Justin tucker kicked six field goals, Devin Duvernay had a 70-yard punt return and averaged 30.3 on the day, and Jordan Stout had another nice game punting, landing two of his three inside the 20, one of which was muffed and recovered by Del’Shawn Phillips.
Coaching: B
Again, I love how Mike Macdonald calls a defense, and how he uses his best pass-rushers to be his, well, pass-rushers. Remember when people used to complain about Greg Roman’s inability to adjust his offense during the course of a game? Are we seeing this again this year, where the offense looks good from the start, gets adjusted to and falls flat outside of Jackson creating plays out of nothing? The Ravens showed glimpses late when they spread out again and used speed to make plays. That seems to be the medicine for this team. I liked the conservative fourth-down decisions against this Titans’ offense and coach. Take the points wherever you can find them.
14 Responses
As I’ve commented elsewhere, the Ravens are fortunate that there aren’t many good teams in the NFL! And, the defense has yet to face a good QB because there aren’t many of them either! So, a win is better than a loss, but it’s hard to get excited about this team…..
I agree it is hard to get excited about this team, especially because we’re seeing the same thing weekly, they are consistently inconsistent.
The offense starts off strong moving the ball up and down the field but settles for FGs. Then they stall for a period and/or have some miscues (different thing each game fumble, int, drops, Lamar and receiver not on same page.)
excellent observation…appears to be a down year in the nfl(the afc in particular)….even k.c. is struggling with teams they are much superior to….
this detroit game is really interesting….goff looks like one of the best qbs in football…forget what the talking heads say..this guy plays under control and runs that offense effectively…..he deserves much more credit than he`s getting…detroit is a solid team and if we sleep on them,they`ll beat us….
looking forward to this game as much as any to this point…..if we beat detroit and go 5-2 it will go a long way toward erasing the disappointment of losing two games we really should have won…we follow detroit by playng a reeling cardinals team and our peospects of going 6-2 would look extremely promising….that said,given the magnitude of upsets we`ve seen,nothing is a given in 2023….but you have to like our chances vs arizona…
this is going to be a really fun game on sunday vs a legit opponent playing consistent,winning football( a team with a road win over k.c.)… a measuring stick….we might get lucky and meet them without having to see either david montgomery or jamyr gibbs…
I feel like a breakdown of this game is incomplete without mentioning the Refs.. The titans first 3 scores were all aided by penalties some very questionable.
• First FG aided by a late penalty for holding Hopkins and he and Marlon were fighting and Humphrey got a hand in there.
• There was the penalty on Williams, where he was already in position and leaping forward to the ball and Hopkins ran into him. That was ridiculous the defender has the same right to the ball, and Williams was definitely playing the ball.
• Roughing the passer on Pierce thrown well after the incompletion and negating a would be 4th & long.
It really felt like anytime the Ravens had some momentum the Refs had to heat check them.
I’d go on further besides the refereeing is not only being pathetic but I feel there’s an undercurrent of trying to ruin the ravens opportunities to win games…
The other issue is why the hell are teams like Baltimore and Tennessee in London, and help me understand when the last time Kansas City/ Pittsburgh/ New England/ Miami/ Dallas/ San Francisco/ Green Bay have played in London?
Let’s have a moment of brutal candor, the NFL doesn’t want the good teams/ poster boys flying over the Atlantic and wasting their week in a non-essential game. Baltimore is relegated to a nonessential team, you can all live in your denial, yeah, you’ll find out how deep that river is…
The chiefs are playing in Germany. They played last year in Germany. The Patriots are playing there this year too. And the pats are far from being a good team. So you don’t really have a point there. There’s a difference between pointing out something that’s unfair and complaining about a non-existent disadvantage
a voice in the wilderness…i think the penalty and ejection of kyle hamilton was totally legit…i think it was the classic example of spearing…he launched himself at a defenseless receiver helmet crown first….. head high and was deadly accurate….i love hamilton…he`s going to be an all pro at some point…
i don`t care about intent(impossible to gauge “intent”…a stupid argument made by our post game radio crew…who aren`t exactly the best,imo)…and i don`t care whether he`s wearing a ravens` uni…i call em ike i see em and that was classic spearing…. thems the rules…
Given the weakness of the league at the QB position and the neutering of the defense I would say the Ravens over all got fair grades this week. Its not like you play guys like Brady, Marino, Tarkenton, Bradshaw, Montana and Unitas every week so we don’t really know how good this defense is yet.
A few good points made. The D seems to be very good overall. As far as not playing top rated QBs. You play who’s on your schedule. Who are the top rated QBs? We will see how good the D is when we play them.
The offense definitely inconsistent. It’s like they take breaks and sometimes the O loses momentum. Could it be the officiating? Could be. I have my theory on the officiating but it’s all my opinion. I just think we have seen this for several seasons where we can’t play 60 minutes of hard smart offense. When we can do that we will one of the top teams in the league IMO.
It was a good win. We had few injuries I am aware of. That all that matters. We have a big game against the Lions at home next week. This is a big game. The Lions had/have a few injuries. We need a big win next week. Let’s just TCOB.
It’s too many times when the offense stops attacking.Scared play calling.going east and west instead of throwing the ball down the field. It’s why it’s the same script every week.Get a lead,stop attacking
Am I alone or are we playing with only 10 able tacklers on Defense. Marcus is INJURED and it shows up huge when he tries to tackle. Sure, he makes a play or two, batting passes. But it’s really evident he is getting runover on a consistent basis. I’m a fan of his, however a one-armed safety in todays NFL is a glaring weakness.
I get it. I was thinking the same. He needs to sit. Better with Hamilton and Stone, with Stephens as the backup. Concerned about Marlon too. He is getting beat regularly, and it is only bad QB play that has kept him from being exposed – like in the Squealers game vs Pickens.
He probably came back too soon.
no love for kyle van noy?…a brilliant front office move(as was clowney)…clowney was everywhere….queen was everywhere…madubuike`s is becoming a force…..
those 4 guys are making our front 7 downright formidable….clowney and van noy are an exponential improvement over oweh and ojabo…..
the drop game was an anomaly…a little disppointed that keaton mitchell wasn`t used offensively but theres time for that…people are making an issue of justice hill not doing more in the passing game….i think he`s playing well and it might be a schematic issue…as we`ve seen the guy makes people miss….put him in more advantageous situations and he`ll produce…between hill and mitchell we have more explosiveness in our backfield than at any time in recent memory(with gus being the perfect complement)
lamar played well..the int was nearly a momentum changing play but i`m not going to obsess on one or two mistakes..we`d all like more td`s but overall lamar played under control…a little too much “me” around the goal line is my one issue with lamar…sometimes it`s better to be the decoy….
A win is a win,,,Justin Tucker proved why Harb’s played it smart and did not let Lamar call the 4th down go for it..and linebakers and D all the way..good pick up with Van Noy he is playing well in the system…