Week 11, Ravens Fast Five: Forget What You Think You Know

The Ravens, somehow, found a way once again, in a 16-13 win in Chicago. Five fast thoughts on the game, taking the Ravens to 7-3 on the season.

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1. Nothing matters. Just find a way to win.

I just don’t even know anymore. I literally said, “there is no way Tyler Huntley is leading a game winning touchdown drive here,” just seconds before he began to do just that.  

I also said prior to the game, upon the news that Lamar Jackson wasn’t going to play, that defense would have to hold the Bears to less than 13 points if the Ravens wanted to win. Well, it was 13 on the nose.

2. I’m perplexed by Greg Roman’s game planning.

Tough finding out that Lamar Jackson is going to sit this game out with illness. But why are we not trying to establish a running game, against a team with two of its best defensive linemen out for this game as well? Over 40 drop backs, asked of Tyler Huntley, in a game where game script never suggested an emphasis on the aerial attack until the very last drive of the game.

Not to mention, Huntley taking six sacks in the game, the Ravens O-line still can’t pass block.

Flip side of that coin, the run game wasn’t efficient with Devonte Freeman and Latavius Murray averaging 3.1 and 3.2 yards per carry respectively. But prior to the last drive that included a couple big pass plays, the passing game was inefficient as well. 4.3 yards per attempt. At the half, the Ravens had 6 plays that went for negative yards.

Missing some guys, sure. But even with Lamar Jackson running the same plays that were called, I don’t see how it would have been any more efficient, at least through the air. They aren’t utilizing the middle of the field enough.

3. Big plays are still an issue for this defense.

At one point in the 3rd quarter, Bears receivers were averaging over 23 yards per catch. Thankfully at that point, the Bears had completed only eight passes on the day.

Normally I’d say something like “they were lucky they played the Bears because a better team with all those plays would have scored four times by now.” But this is the NFL. The most unpredictable league. The 1-8 Texans just beat the 8-2 Titans. Good luck figuring anything out about how to survive a game in this league.

The Ravens defense allowed five plays of over 20 yards. Just to let you know how out of hand this game really could have gotten, Darnell Mooney averaged 24.2 Y/R on five catches. He was targeted 16 times. A more accurate quarterback, maybe Mooney has an all-time kind of day.

Conversely, the Ravens had zero plays of over 20 yards…until their final drive when they claimed two, including a 21-yard pass interference.

4. Defense felt like a throwback, in the way they handled a rookie quarterback.

There used to be a time when the Ravens dominant defenses of the past, absolutely feasted on rookie quarterbacks. I was hoping coming into this game, we would see that. The Bears offensive line is as bad as the Ravens. Would have been a good day to turn loose the beasts. Turn up the aggression on a youngster, confuse him, initiate him into the NFL.

Despite the big plays allowed, the Ravens did limit Justin Fields to only four completions in 11 tries. He picked up 23 yards on four carries. A 9.8 QBR.

Don’t want to see guys get injured, but they did knock him out of the game. For the second straight week, the Ravens have knocked out the starter, only for the backup to be scarier than the starter. I was a bit scared to see Andy Dalton warming up, who promptly got the Bears on the board in just two plays.

5. The next seven games will show us who the Ravens really are.

The league is funny. We’ve seen the upsets that occur every week. But come playoff time, teams won’t be subject to major “upsets” for the most part.

Anyone the Ravens play in the next seven weeks, could be playoff teams. Five of those games are against the AFC North, which is completely up in the air with all four members above .500. Sprinkled in there are the 8-3 Packers and the 7-3 Rams.

However you want to look at it, the Ravens can no longer play down to an opponent, if you think that happens to teams. They will encounter playoff caliber matchups for the next seven weeks. Put what has happened the past 10 games in rearview mirror. It doesn’t matter. It’s fugazi. When the Titans make the playoffs, no one is going to care that they lost to the Jets and Texans this year.

If the Ravens make it through the next seven weeks without too many blemishes, no one will care that it took a world record to beat the Lions. Or, take your pick of games they played with fire but escaped unburned.

We’ll see in seven weeks if the Ravens are battle tested or not.