After a dominant week 1 win, the Ravens came crashing back down to earth Thursday night on the road against the Bengals. A lot of things went wrong for the Ravens, not the least of which was an early injury to star LB C.J. Mosley (more on this later), and in the end they got too far behind to make a real comeback. A defense that looked unstoppable against the Bills didn’t seem able to get a stop in the first half as QB Andy Dalton was able to find open targets and get the ball out before pressure could get to him. The Ravens offense started off just as poorly as the defense as each of their first 4 drives ended either in a punt or interception. The running game never materialized for the offense, and they had to rely on Joe Flacco’s arm to crawl back into the game. While the Ravens did manage to make it interesting in the game in the 4th quarter, largely due to some defensive adjustments, issues along the offensive line largely inhibited the attempt at a comeback.
While the Thursday night road game was a definite disadvantage, the Ravens now have a ten day rest before a home game hosting the 2-0 Denver Broncos. The Broncos are yet to be tested on the road as they won both games at home against fairly weak opposition, but nonetheless they have some talented players that could give the Ravens some real problems.
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On offense, the Broncos boast the 2nd best rushing offense in the NFL, led by rookie RB Phillip Lindsay who is averaging 6.1 YPC. They also possess a very strong trio of WRs including Demaryius Thomas, Emmanuel Sanders and rookie 2nd round pick Courtland Sutton. After seeing how A.J. Green torched the Ravens on Thursday night out of the slot, defensive coordinator Wink Martindale is going to have to come up with a game-plan to shutdown Sanders who also does a lot of his work out of the slot and is the most dangerous WR the Broncos have. I do think the Ravens should fare well against the outside WRs with CBs Marlon Humphrey and Brandon Carr who have done an excellent job through 2 games at limiting opposing WRs.
The biggest challenge will likely be slowing down the Broncos running game, especially against the Ravens nickel defense that has had issues in run defense recently. The Ravens LBs will have to quickly read and react, and with C.J. Mosley likely out for this game, Wink is going to have to come up with creative ways to supplement the run defense. Rookie LB Kenny Young who has impressed so far should see an increased role with Mosley out, but how the other LB position will be filled is still in question. Patrick Onwuasor has looked lost on defense and recently re-signed Albert McClellan is not a three down player. We might even see the Ravens try to supplement the LBs with an additional safety or perhaps Tyus Bowser will see more snaps lining up at ILB. Whatever approach the Ravens end up taking, the results will have to improve from their week 2 showing if they hope to slow down the Broncos.
The Ravens offense was able to put up decent numbers last Thursday, but even though they were able to move the ball effectively at times, turnovers and two failed 4th down conversions killed several drives. Furthermore, any effectiveness has really only come from passing the ball as the Ravens rushing attack has not been good through two games. This likely won’t get much easier Sunday against the Broncos as they have let up the 6th fewest rush yards and only 3.6 YPC.
The Broncos are a bit more vulnerable against the pass, allowing 262 yards per game and an eye-opening 9.0 YPA. Indeed, last week Derek Carr was able to complete an extraordinary 29 of 32 passes (while still somehow managing to lose the game). In the past the Ravens have gone against the script and attacked teams in ways that did not appear to make sense, and had some success doing such, so it could be that the coaching staff sees something on the film and try to attack the Broncos defense on the ground. However, I find it much more likely that the Ravens once again lean on Flacco’s arm to carry the offense.
The biggest obstacle the Ravens will have to face on offense is the Broncos edge rushers headlined by All Pro Von Miller who may be the best in the NFL. He has already accumulated four sacks through two games, and with Ronnie Stanley possibly less than 100%, the Ravens should be worried about how they can slow him down. If Flacco is going to pass the ball a lot, Marty Mornhinweg should take a page out of the Bengals approach last week and give him a number of quick reads combined with designed roll-outs and bootlegs that can allow for deeper routes to develop. John Brown has quickly emerged as the Ravens top WR and he could be in for a big day against a Broncos secondary that has been exploited early on. The key to this match-up for the Ravens will be the play of the offensive line. If they can keep Flacco relatively clean like they did in week 1, the offense has a good chance to have an effective day. If it looks more like their Thursday night game this one could get ugly.
This is a winnable game for the Ravens, but they will need to execute on offense and come up with a good game-plan to slow down the Broncos ground game. Starting the season 2-1 is certainly much more preferable than 1-2, and if the Ravens have real playoff aspirations this is a game that they almost have to win. I do think the ten day rest will help the team prepare, and I am going to predict a win for the Ravens 27 – 20 over the visiting Broncos.
Ravens Analyst
Gabe is an avid fan of the NFL and Ravens football. He grew up in Westminster, MD, and attended college at Johns Hopkins University majoring in Biology. He earned his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the University of California, Los Angeles, and now works as a R&D Scientist developing Transplant Diagnostics assays. Gabe has appeared as a guest on 105.7 The Fan.