Ravens Destroy Denver; Will Host Cincinnati Thursday Night

After a sad outing last week in Cleveland, the Baltimore Ravens got back on-track today with a 41-10 blowout win over the Denver Broncos.

With the win, the Ravens improved to 6-3 overall, winning for the 6th time in their last 7 games.

The Ravens will now have a short-week as they prepare to host the Cincinnati Bengals Thursday night.

The Bottomline

Denver is a young team, in their second year with Sean Payton at the helm.
You can see the improvement he has brought to the Broncos, as they’ve already been molded into a fringe playoff contender.
By DVOA, the Broncos were 11th overall entering today, with the 5th best defense.
Denver faced higher competition than they’d seen so far this year, and were largely slapped around.

The Ravens losses against Cleveland last week, and vs. Las Vegas in Week 2 are reminders that this is the NFL.
Even the best teams can lose to the worst teams any given week if they play down to the competition.

I think the story about the Ravens is that if they play their game, and they avoid helping the opposition out via turnovers and gaffes; it’s going to very hard for anyone to beat them.

The Ravens don’t have to play their best game to beat most teams.
If they play close to their best game, the teams that can potentially play with them are very limited.

After the Browns loss last week, I asked would they learn from that loss, or mistakenly look at as an aberration?
The next time the Ravens play a complete doormat, we will see if they learned.
Meaning we will see if they’re mentally ready to go when they face a team the entire world tells them they’ll beat.

Today the Ravens were ready to go from the opening kickoff.
That was partly having some respect for the Broncos.
It was also partly wanting to get the bad taste of last week out of their mouths.

If the question after last week was would the Ravens learn from the loss, my question after today is how many times do the Ravens show up in their remaining 8 games?

Baltimore going 6-2 over these remaining 8 games, feels like worst case scenario to me.

What Happened Today? What Are The Takeaways?

Lamar Jackson was 16 of 19 for 280 yards, 3 TD’s, and a perfect passing rating.

The Ravens averaged 7.3 yards per play.

The Baltimore offensive line provided a clean pocket for Jackson, and were mauling the Broncos as the line of attack.
This left Jackson with open windows, and the Ravens were regularly making plays in space.

Zay Flowers finished with 5 catches, 127 yards, and 2 TD’s.

Derrick Henry had 106 yards over 23 carries, and 2 TD’s.

A Denver Field Goal with 54 seconds left in the half made it a 17-10 game.

It took Jackson and Flowers two plays to make it a 2 TD game, at 24-10.

So far this year, Denver had been a strong team in the 3rd Quarter of games.

The Ravens took the kickoff to begin the 3rd Quarter, and immediately went 11 plays, and 70 yards, finishing a 5 minute drive with another TD.
This gave the Ravens a 3 TD lead, and effectively the game was over.

Baltimore would outscore Denver 17-0 in the 2nd half.

Other Notes?

• Henry and Flowers had their combined 4 TD’s, and Justice Hill had 8 total touches; but most of the other skill position players were quiet. That’s not a knock on any of them, and is just the reality of the Ravens having a lot of ways to attack teams. Opposing teams aren’t taking away Jackson and Henry; but those two will understandably continue to be the focal points for opposing defenses. That means that Flowers, Mark Andrews, Rashod Bateman, Isaiah Likely, Diontae Johnson, Nelson Agholor will have lots of opportunities to makes plays 1×1.  Who will make plays any given week, will come down to match-ups. They’re all good enough that they have to be accounted for, and you can see the pressure the Ravens offense puts on teams.
• Tavius Robinson has 2 sacks, Trenton Simpson had 1, and Malik Harrison had 1. Robinson has flashed multiple times this year.  At this point, he has earned more time.  9 tackles, 2 Tackles For Loss, and a Pass Defended for Simpson.
• Kyle Hamilton missed the pick which would have won the game last week, but he was back to flying around today.  Hamilton was an All-Pro last year,  as were Nnamdi Madubuike, and Roquan Smith.  I’m not sure how Madubuike has graded out, but he’s been quiet most weeks. Smith hasn’t had a great stretch. I feel like he’s at his best moving forward and attacking, and that he’s being asked to fall back in coverage too often. One reason to believe the Ravens defense can improve down the stretch, is that this trio has yet to collectively reach the level they were playing at last year. If I’m Ravens Defensive Coordinator Zach Orr, I’m reviewing what worked best with this group in ’23, and trying to figure out how I can unleash them during the remainder of ’24.
• Denver did average 4.1 yards per carry on their 30 attempts. There were a couple of Broncos rushes between the tackles. I thought the difference was not having Michael Pierce. That said Broderick Washington had a couple of good moments.
• While pleased about Robinson, David Ojabo and Adisa Isaac were again inactive. I think it’s a mistake if the Raven don’t add some EDGE help here before the 4PM Tuesday Trade Deadline.
• Justin Tucker made his 2 Field Goal attempts, and was 5 of 5 on the Extra Points. He also hit the goal post on his initial extra point (it went through), and narrowly made one of his two field goal attempts. He’s previously stated he’s dealing with a mechanical issue. You have to wonder if has a bit of the yips at this point, because for him (basically the best NFL Kicker ever); he continues to look not fully right.
• Thought Ravens OC Todd Monken had a strong game.
• The Defense wasn’t perfect today, but just 319 total yards for Denver. The Broncos were 1 of 5 on 4th down, and held scoreless in the 2nd half.

Next Up? Cincinnati Comes To Baltimore Thursday Night

The Bengals pulled to within a game of .500 (4-5) with a 41-24 win vs. Las Vegas today.

Joe Burrow had 5 TD’s today, with TE Mike Gesicki having 5 catches for 100 yards, and 2 TD’s.

WR Ja/Marr Chase had 7 catches on 11 targets.

WR Tee Higgins, and RB Zack Moss were inactive.

RB Chase Brown had 120 yards on 27 carries, and also had 5 receptions.

Cincinnati had 5 sacks today, with 4 coming from 3x Pro Bowler DE Trey Hendrickson.

Since the Ravens beat the Bengals 41-38 in Overtime October 6th, Cincinnati has won 3 of their last 4.

If the Ravens win, Baltimore improves to 7-3, with 2 head-to-head wins against the Bengals, who would 4-6.
If the Bengals win, the Ravens would fall to 6-4, and the Bengals would have split the head-to-head matchups, and be just one game behind Baltimore at 5-5.

It’s a huge game for both teams.

One thing you’ll notice in the October 6th boxscore is that Henry only had 15 carries.
The Ravens could win another shootout, but I think keeping Burrow off the field might be the best defense.

ESPN’s Match-Up Predictor gives the Ravens a 69.1% chance of winning.

Entering play today, the Bengals were ranked 18th overall in DVOA, 10th overall in Offense, 25th overall in Defense, and 18th in Special Teams.