Super sky point to the late Denny Green for giving us one of the best post-game press conference melt downs of all time. In his angered state, he emoted an obvious sentiment but it was quite poignant in its simplicity. Green was speaking specifically about the Arizona Cardinals preseason opponent, the Chicago Bears. However, his quote, “They are who we thought they were!!” can just as easily apply to the 2021 Baltimore Ravens.
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Going into the bye, the Ravens suffered a sobering loss to division rival Cincinnati, in which all of their warts were on full display. Defensively, they missed tackles and blew assignments, both of which lead to explosive plays given up and long touchdowns. Also, the inability to apply any consistent pressure to the quarterback allowed Joe Burrow to operate with relatively ease. On offense, Baltimore was plagued by a slow start and empty possessions. Also, their inability to move the football on the ground (with anyone besides Lamar) keeps them off schedule and regularly in poor down and distances.
There was a silver lining though, they were going into a bye week so there was hope for improvement during the respite. That hope sprung from the franchise’s excellent post bye week record under John Harbaugh. The Ravens did improve their post bye, win-loss record but they did not assuage any fears regarding their shortcomings.
The offense was again plagued a slow start; 4 of their first 5 drives came up empty. There were 3 Sam Koch punts and Lamar Jackson interception. Even though the opening drive culminating with a Tucker field goal, it was buoyed by a suspect personal foul call for a horse collar tackle that went Baltimore’s way.
It wasn’t all bad news for the offense though. The 1st half ended with a Jackson touchdown pass to Devonta Freeman. The Ravens were able to shake off the 2nd half opening special teams breakdown to go on 3 consecutive touchdown drives. During this stretch, the offense controlled the clock and had an effective run/pass balance, which actually included some positive contributions from the running backs. There were also big catches by rookie Rashod Bateman and tough YAC yards from Hollywood Brown.
On the defensive side of the ball, things started off ugly. A busted coverage that lead to an opening drive, 50 yard TD strike to Justin Jefferson. The subsequent Vikings drive featured a 66 yard run by Dalvin Cook, where the defense got beat to the edge and then looked like they were on roller skates when trying to make a tackle. This drive also ended in a touchdown. Even the Ravens exemplary special teams faltered by allowing a kickoff return TD.
In the interest of full disclosure, the defense did show some signs of life from midway through the 2nd quarter until the final drive of regulation. There was more discipline, better tackling, good plays on the ball by Marlon Humphrey and Josh Bynes was seemingly everywhere. Even Patrick Queen chipped in with a spot on diagnosis of a running play where he shot the gap and registered a tackle for a loss. With all this said, the defense still couldn’t get any kind of consistent pass rush and failed to get Kirk Cousins to the ground. Also, despite locking down for the crucial 3 and out in overtime, they buckled on the Vikings final drive in regulation and allowed a game tying touchdown.
While we hold out hope for the return of some injured players and we focus on a pulse from the running game, as well as some improved fundamentals from the defense, the same concerns that plagued the Ravens going into the bye mostly stuck with them coming out of the bye. Slow starts on offense, which lead to getting behind early, giving up explosive plays on defense, failure to mount any kind of pass rush, short of sending 7 guys and an inability to hold a late lead. Faced with these apparent flaws, the Ravens still find themselves at 6-2, atop the AFC North and in striking distance of the number 1 overall seed in the AFC.
With 8 games under their belts, I think it’s safe to invoke Denny Green because the Ravens are indeed who we thought they were. A flawed team with plenty of blemishes but they’re luckily in a league full of flawed teams. What gives the Ravens a leg up is an outstanding head coach with unwavering faith in his players, along with that guy wearing the number 8 jersey. Baltimore’s season will go as far as Lamar Jackson can carry them, as he proven time and time again, he’s good enough to elevate the team in spite of their weaknesses. To put it simply, Lamar Jackson is who we think he is.
Jamie has been a Baltimore sports fan since he can remember. He grew up in Gwynn Oak and currently resides in Hampstead with his wife and 2 kids. He graduated from UMBC with a Bachelor of Arts in History. He’s currently employed at Verizon Communications in Hunt Valley.