The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly For The Ravens At The Bye

The Baltimore Ravens have arrived at their Week 7 Bye, sporting a 5-1 record. Their season picks up November 1st, when they host the Steelers. That game vs. Pittsburgh one of five November games on the schedule.

Before we look ahead, let’s look at what we’ve seen so far in the Ravens initial six games.

(You can discuss this on the BSL Board here.)

The Good:

• Let’s start with again mentioning the record. The Ravens are 5-1. The lone loss to the defending Super Bowl champions. Baltimore is 3-1 in the Conference, and 3-0 on the Road.

• The Ravens have outscored their opponents by a league high 75 points.

• After Week 6, the Ravens rank 2nd overall in Football Outsiders’ DVOA rankings (18th ranked Offense, 4th in Defense, 1st in Special Teams).

• Hollywood Brown has played in all 6 games, and is on pace for a 1,000 yard season. We’re still waiting on more from Miles Boykin, but after 13 catches in his initial 16 games as a Rookie last year, he does have 11 grabs so far here in ’20. Mark Andrews has 5 TD’s.

• Devin Duvernay looks promising.

• The Ravens are averaging 5.4 yards per carry on their 181 rushing attempts.

• The Ravens are 7th overall in points per game (29.8), and allowing a league low 17.3 ppg. The defense is 5th overall in 3rd down conversion %.

• Calais Campbell is coming off of a 3 sack game at Philadelphia, and the 34 year old has shown he has still plenty in the tank.

• Patrick Queen was the AFC Defensive Player of the Week, after the win vs. Cincinnati. Ridiculed for his play in the Opener vs. Cleveland, and again vs. Kansas City, people seemed to forget he’s a 21 year old rookie who didn’t have any preseason to help acclimate. The reports are he works hard. He has the physical tools. He’s still learning. When he can think less, and react more; watch-out.

• Marcus Peters and Marlon Humphrey are elite corners, and an exceptional duo. Think Chuck Clark and DeShon Elliott have been solid at Safety. Jimmy Smith good in the role he’s been utilized.

• Tyus Bowser is playing well. Jaylon Ferguson seems better setting the edge this year, and more comfortable overall.

• The Ravens are tied for 2nd overall with 22 sacks.

• Lamar Jackson is not putting up video game numbers, but by ESPN’s QBR Metric, he’s the 9th ranked QB overall right now. Why am I including this as ‘Good’? Because by all accounts the offense and Jackson is a bit out of whack currently, but yet still productive overall. If this is the floor, the Ravens are in good shape.

The Bad:

• I think it’s fair to say the Ravens are 5-1, and lead the league in point-differential; but have yet to look particularly good.

• The Ravens are 3rd overall in rushing yards per game, but they’ve yet to bully teams on the ground. Jackson and Mark Ingram are tied with 50 attempts. Gus Edwards has 48. JK Dobbins has 25. Ingram and Edwards are both averaging 4.5 yards per carry, but both only have two games each with 10 or more carries.

• There is a sense from most Ravens fans that the most talented option in the backfield at this point is Dobbins. He had 11 touches Sunday at Philly (9 carries, 2 receptions). Will the Ravens start to feed him the ball more-often, or will he continue to be the third option in a three-man rotation?

• There was genuine excitement about Justice Hill going into his rookie year last year. At this point, he’s completely forgotten about. Seems like the focus with him over the off-season (at-least after Dobbins was drafted) should have been with the return games.

• I was hoping to see Malik Harrison be able to provide some immediate help with 3rd down rush. Hasn’t happened so far.

• Injuries happen, but losing Tavon Young to another season ending injury hurts. Real ability there, and losing that slot help is an issue. Anthony Averett is now also going to miss some time. Secondary should be okay, but Averett misses a chance to really get comfortable.

• I thought the Ravens missed Brandon Williams this past weekend in Philadelphia. I like Williams, and think he provides value to the roster. I was hoping to see his play raised to another level after moving back to his more natural position. That hasn’t happened.

• Matthew Judon has 2 sacks on the year, both coming vs. Washington. We don’t expect Judon to be elite, but there are too many weeks where he is a non-factor.

• While Ferguson seems better setting the edge this year, you could really use him to provide some consistent pass-rush opposite Judon.

• While the Ravens are tied for 2nd overall in total sacks, it feels like they have to scheme pressure. They can’t just line up and have their front four get to the QB. Obviously it would be particularly helpful vs. Kansas City if they could.

• Brown is on pace for 1,000 yards, but has 1 game with 100+ yards receiving, and just 1 TD. Boykin has 11 catches vs. 13 all of last year, but he’s yet to become any type of factor. Either use Snead and his experience more often, or make a move to the youth. Duvernay looks exciting, but he has 12 targets on the year. James Proche is looking for his first NFL reception.

• The Ravens offense is just 17th in 3rd down conversion %.

• Andrews had 5 games in ’19 with at-least 75 receiving yards. 58 is the high so far here in ’20.

• The loss of Hayden Hurst was never addressed, and it’s negatively impacted the offense.

The Ugly:

• We knew losing Marshall Yanda was going to impact the line. How could it not? You needed Ronnie Stanley and Orlando Brown to dominate at their Tackle positions. I imagine Stanley has continued to grade out above average, but it feels like Brown has regressed.

• The Ravens are searching for answers with the group of Bradley Bozeman, Matt Skura, Tyre Phillips, Ben Powers, DJ Fluker, and Patrick Mekari. I don’t know if the answers exist on the Ravens roster, but the play at Center and RG particularly has to improve. I thought Fluker as a decent addition, but if there are concerns (as rumored) about his fit in the scheme you want to run – why was he added? You lost a Hall-of-Fame caliber Guard, who was still playing at Pro Bowl level in ’19. We know replacing that isn’t easy. And to the Ravens credit, they’ve tried to add bodies and options. But to-date, it’s not working.

• The Ravens will go as far as Jackson takes them. Against the Eagles, he showed some of the straight-line explosion which has been missing from his game this year. He still hasn’t looked quite right going side-to-side. Based on that, we wonder if the groin injury he had in August has been bothering him. Jackson isn’t playing poorly, he just isn’t playing at an MVP level. Jackson has to be elite for this team to reach it’s potential. Lights need to fully go on after the bye.

• I’ve felt the offense has lacked identity this year. Last year it felt like they had a prolonged drive or two every game. Were willing, and desired to run the ball down the throat of their opponents. I think you should get back to that mentality and commit to running the ball 30+ times a game. Set-up the play action. To mix metaphors and sports, it’s felt to me the Ravens are trying to hit a ‘Grand Slam’ on every offensive possession. Looking for the highlight reel play. I’d like to see focus on winning 1st down, and sustain drives. That said, they’ve got to hit a few more big plays a game, and get the chunk yards they are currently missing in the offense.

Overall Thoughts?

Every discussion is framed by expectations. It can be more fun as fans when expectations are lower, and a team exceeds what was anticipated.

The 2019 Baltimore Ravens went 14-2, and every preview from every outlet entering 2020 had the Ravens as the NFL’s 2nd best team and with significant odds to win the Franchises’ 3rd Lombardi Trophy.

We’ve yet to see the Ravens play particularly well, and they got whupped by the Chiefs in that head-to-head showdown.

That has a lot of Ravens fans collectively down on the prospects for this season.

The flip-side to those arguments is that 5-1 is 5-1.
Leading the league in point-differential, while not playing near their best; is pretty telling as well.

It would be shocking if the Ravens collapsed and didn’t reach the post-season.

Pretty much any Power Rankings you can find, still has the Ravens in the Top 5.

This is a team with talent, that remains one of the prohibitive favorites to reach and win a Super Bowl.

November is going to be very interesting.

You’ve got two games against the undefeated Pittsburgh Steelers.
Obviously those games are going to be telling in-terms of who wins the AFC North.

You’ve got road games at Indianapolis and New England.
Neither game being games you can sleep through.

You’ve also got the undefeated Tennessee Titans. There shouldn’t be any trouble getting up for a Titans team which knocked you out of the playoffs last year.

The focus for the Ravens after the bye has to be on week-to-week improvement. If the Ravens get through November in good shape, they have a chance to finish really strong with a pretty mild remaining December / January schedule.

And if the Ravens want another crack at the Chiefs, it’s about improving over the next 10 games, getting back to the playoffs and earning that opportunity.