The Baltimore Ravens have never had a more dramatic start to the season in franchise history. Before the season even started the Ravens were decimated by injuries. In the last preseason game second-year running back JK Dobbins, who was almost unanimously projected by “experts” and fans alike to have a massive breakout season tore his ACL. As unfortunate as that was, the Ravens still had Gus Edwards. A very good and underrated running back who would do great filling in. Then he tore his ACL the following week in practice as well. Oh, and star corner Marcus Peters tore his ACL literally minutes later! So needless to say expectations going into the season were lowered and if you told me we would go into our bye week at 5-2 I would tell you that is great news and we have started great. So why am I still disappointed right now?
First of all, I am writing this less than 48 hours after watching us get absolutely dominated by the Bengals. But, also there are some massive holes on this team (especially on defense) that need to be resolved before the season is over. Losing Marcus Peters was massive. Anthony Averett has done a terrible job filling in. A lot of Ravens fans have thought he has done very well filling in but I couldn’t disagree more. Every time he is in coverage he is a half-step behind the receiver and it has killed us. Especially on Sunday. Averett entered last week as the most targeted corner in the league but what the Bengals did was on another level. He was targeted sixteen times! I don’t think people realize how big of a number that is. Fine, he did a nice job breaking up a few passes, but when you are targeted sixteen times I sure hope that is what you are doing!
Our other major problem has been tackling. We have missed more tackles than any team in the NFL this season and that is obviously a great way to lose football games. Second-year linebacker Patrick Queen has not stepped up until these past two weeks where he started playing the other side as the “WILL” (weakside) linebacker instead of the “MIKE” (strongside) linebacker. The less he plays, the better he does. That isn’t ideal.
All of that said, we are still 5-2 and the AFC is wide open. No team has emerged as true contenders and I still believe that the Ravens absolutely have what it takes to make a potential Super Bowl run. Our offense is still great and is taking the next step into being elite. Lamar Jackson has been playing the best football of his career. I honestly couldn’t care less what the numbers say, he has completely evolved into a new and improved quarterback. His ability to run has always been there, but he is now passing at an elite level. His favorite target, Mark Andrews has taken another positive step forward. He was already a top 5 player at his position entering this year, but he is arguably the best tight end in football this year. Hollywood Brown is also emerging as one of the best deep threats in the NFL, and first-round wide receiver Rashod Bateman is back and starting to become a big part of the offense.
The Ravens need to get healthier. The injuries started before the regular season even began and we can’t afford to have more, but if they can continue their improvement as we start to get players coming back from injury (Nick Boyle, Derek Wolfe, Sammy Watkins, Latavius Murray, and Chris Westry are all expected to return to practice this week) this team has real Super Bowl potential.
MOOSE PRINTS 