The Ravens are now 2-0 after a hard-fought, come from behind victory over the Cleveland Browns on the road. This game started out looking an awful lot like one of the ugly losses from 2015, but the 2016 iteration of the Ravens stayed resilient and focused on both sides of the ball after falling behind 20-0 in the first quarter. After a blocked PAT-scoop and score put the Ravens on the board, the offense started slowly chipping away at the three score deficit, finally taking the lead for good early in the 4th quarter.
What do the Ravens need to do in week 3 to continue their winning ways? You can discuss the upcoming match-up against the Jaguars on our message boards and follow along Sunday in our game thread.
There were certainly a number of positives and negatives to take away from week 2 on both sides of the ball. Week 1 standout CB Shareece Wright had a very poor game all around, missing a tackle on Isaiah Crowell’s 85 yard TD run, and also getting beat by rookie WR Corey Coleman for a 3rd and long TD. The Ravens defense was particularly bad on 3rd down allowing the Browns to convert 8/15 of their opportunities. On the positive side of things, Timmy Jernigan and Michael Pierce were able to generate fairly consistent pressure rushing from the interior of the DL, knocking down QB Josh McCown a number of times and forcing him to head to the locker room at one point. The run defense was strong aside from the one big TD run.
The Jaguars are a young team led by 3rd year QB Blake Bortles, and their inexperience has shown up early on this season. Jacksonville was heralded as a potential playoff team in 2016 after breakout offensive production by Bortles and WRs Allen Robinson and Allen Hurns in 2015 coupled with the addition of several big money free agents and highly regarded draft picks on defense. Week 1 was a close home loss to the Green Bay Packers, but in Week 2 the Jags were absolutely manhandled on the road by a San Diego team that just lost its star WR and has not yet even dressed their #1 draft pick. The Jaguars have not been able to run the ball effectively with 2nd year RB T.J. Yeldon, and Bortles has seemingly regressed in his 3rd year.
All that said, the Jaguars are still a talented team and will be playing at home vs the Ravens. When the Jags have the ball, they are going to look to pass early and often against a Ravens secondary that had a lot of questionable moments in week 2. Allen Robinson was looking like a top 5 WR in 2015, and while he hasn’t gotten on track yet in 2016, he will nonetheless be a tough cover for the Ravens top CB Jimmy Smith. I do expect Smith to follow Robinson around the field similar to how he covered Sammy Watkins in week 1. Hurns is a strong WR2 and TE Julius Thomas will have to be accounted for by the Ravens. The Jaguars use a lot of 3 WR sets, so look for the defense to play a lot of nickel (5 DBs) with either Anthony Levine of Tavon Young as the 5th DB depending on down and distance. The Ravens pass-rush has been solid so far this season, with Jernigan and Pierce providing the bulk of the work from the inside. The Edge-rushers have not made much noise at this point, and the Ravens have to be hoping Elvis Dumervil will be able to make his first appearance of 2016 in this road match-up.
Joe Flacco and the Ravens offense had a number of both good and bad moments in week 2. His 1st quarter INT was a great play by CB Joe Haden jumping into the passing lane, but it’s also the kind of play you’d like your 9th year veteran QB to avoid. The running game had a few strong moments in the 2nd half, but overall it was never able to function with any consistency. OC Marc Trestman got away from the run when the game looked like it was starting to get out of hand, and Flacco was able to lead the team back with his arm. TE Dennis Pitta had a huge game for the Ravens, converting multiple third downs and picking up some big chunks of YAC. Pitta looks like he is 100% back and that is great news for the Ravens who have greatly missed his consistent production over the middle. Flacco was also able to find Mike Wallace for 2 TDs, and Steve Smith Sr. came down with a couple big catches as well.
The Ravens are starting to look like a very formidable passing offense even without a reliable rushing attack, but it is very dependent on the OL as Flacco has always performed much better when working in a clean pocket. The Browns did not provide much of a pass-rush in this game, and while Jacksonville has had its struggles in this area as well, they do have considerably more talent on their roster. Free agent acquisition Malik Jackson was a vastly underrated player in the Broncos’ front 7, and while he hasn’t made his presence felt in Jacksonville the talent is there. Dante Fowler Jr. has tallied 2 sacks for the Jags in his first season of action and the Ravens will have to prepare for his presence on the edge. The Ravens will likely look to get their rushing attack going against a Jaguars defense that has left a lot to be desired through 2 weeks, and Flacco could be in line for a nice game as the Jaguars defense has already allowed 6 passing TDs to opposing QBs.
Overall, the Ravens week 3 match-up at the Jaguars is looking like a close one with the Vegas line as a pick’em. The Jaguars will be pretty desperate looking for their first win and will prove to be a tough test for the visiting Ravens. There are match-ups that can be exploited here by both teams, but in this case I think the home team will come out on top.
Ravens 23 – Jaguars 27
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.