The Ravens performed impolite hosts to a different NFC contender, driving their overpowering protection and a neatly various working sport to blow out the Seattle Seahawks, 37-3.
Here are 5 issues we discovered from the sport.
The Ravens are for actual
Kyle Hamilton dropped to the turf for pushups — penance for an interception he didn’t make — as common supervisor Eric DeCosta regarded on in mock disbelief.
Was this a tense second in a touch-and-go sport between postseason contenders?
Not in any respect. It was visible proof of simply how free the Ravens felt late within the third quarter after their protection had spent the afternoon beating up one other NFC heavyweight.
Just because the Detroit Lions had two weeks earlier, the Seahawks traveled to Baltimore a assured crew, winners of 5 of their previous six video games and first of their division. They left completely overwhelmed, testifying to the house crew’s high quality.
“They just went to work, and we didn’t stop them,” Seattle coach Pete Carroll mentioned. “We couldn’t make any first downs and couldn’t convert on third down. So, it’s just a really hard, long day against a really good team. They took it to us.”
After declawing the Lions, 38-6, the Ravens had been reluctant to show off. They appeared much less so this time, recognizing that they’d not simply gained decisively however had overwhelmed up an achieved opponent on each side of the ball.
They ran the place they wished on offense, permitted no respiratory room on protection. The all-for-one spirit — Hamilton’s pushups, defenders pursuing the ball like their hair was on fireplace when the sport was already out of attain, teammates crashing our bodies as they thrilled to Odell Beckham Jr.’s first Ravens landing — evoked recollections of the 2019 crew, which gained 12 in a row to shut the common season.
The distinction, mentioned holdovers from that crew, is that this one is likely to be extra balanced with extra mature leaders.
“I said this in camp; I think this is the most talented team I’ve been a part of, the team with the most potential since I’ve been here,” veteran left sort out Ronnie Stanley mentioned. “I still believe that to this day. I just think in every position group we have, we don’t really have any weaknesses.”
The Ravens will rapidly revert to not getting forward of themselves. They’ll ignore the ability polls that come out over the subsequent few days, proclaiming them the NFL’s greatest. They’ll remind us how fleeting this exultation might be in the event that they’re flat subsequent Sunday towards the Cleveland Browns.
John Harbaugh was prepared with that context at the same time as he allotted plaudits to greater than a dozen gamers throughout his postgame information convention.
“As a coach, it’s fulfilling because all the things you work on, and all the things that guys work on, you see it transferred onto the field in a game,” he mentioned. “The guys have success doing the things that you want, but you also understand that it’s one win. You don’t get credit for more than one win, no matter what the score is.”
It’s folly to suppose every other approach in a season that has already featured its share of narrative swings.
That mentioned, run-of-the-mill groups don’t deal with a pair of division leaders by a mixed rating of 75-9. The Ravens are very, excellent, they usually comprehend it.
They ran over Seattle with variety greater than uncooked energy
They had complained per week earlier that maybe Todd Monken stored his run sport within the holster longer than he ought to have towards an Arizona protection that stored dropping eight into protection.
Seattle, eighth in DVOA towards the run, introduced a extra formidable check on paper, however the Ravens minimize to the chase this time round. After two unsuccessful drives to begin the sport, they unhinged a scorching protection with selection. Would or not it’s Gus Edwards slamming into a niche or Lamar Jackson holding the ball to knife into open house? Rookie Keaton Mitchell entered within the second quarter like an adrenaline shot to the center, averaging an absurd 15.3 yards per carry in his first prolonged dose of NFL work.
In the primary half alone, the Ravens ran for 121 yards to Seattle’s 30, rolled up 17 first downs to the Seahawks’ 4. Those numbers would solely mushroom from there. They completed with 298 dashing yards, the fourth-most within the 28-year historical past of a franchise recognized for floor assaults.
“There were moments there where we just ran the ball five-plus times in a row and kept getting first down after first down,” Stanley mentioned. “That can be demoralizing for a defense.”
Even with out proper sort out Morgan Moses, who ceded his snaps to reliable Patrick Mekari due to a shoulder damage, the offensive line paved the best way for the Ravens to do as they happy.
Fans hoped DeCosta would add a marquee again akin to Derrick Henry or Josh Jacobs on the commerce deadline. But if Edwards is that this environment friendly within the pink zone, Jackson this huge a menace each time he takes off, Mitchell this troublesome for defenders to pin down, they had been higher off not expending the assets.
The edge rushers have wildly exceeded expectations
On Seattle’s first two possessions, when the sport nonetheless felt like a defensive battle between equal opponents, Jadeveon Clowney stuffed working again Kenneth Walker III twice and deflected a third-down cross.
After an odd fumble by Beckham on what appeared the Ravens’ last drive of the primary half, Kyle Van Noy took heart stage, roaring off the sting to drop Geno Smith on second down and stripping him on third down. That turnover wiped away Beckham’s sin and handed the Ravens the sphere objective they’d seemingly squandered.
“I think that’s the turning point in the game,” Harbaugh mentioned.
On a day when the Ravens’ protection shined in each approach conceivable, the veteran exterior linebackers DeCosta signed in August (Clowney) and September (Van Noy) set their course.
Odafe Oweh additionally continued his forceful comeback from the ankle sprain that value him 4 video games with two tackles and a sack.
The Ravens added 4 sacks to their league-best whole. Seattle went 1-for-12 on third down. Aside from a 50-yard strike to DK Metcalf within the second quarter and a 35-yard hookup with Jaxon Smith-Njigba within the fourth, Smith, one of many NFL’s most correct passers, put no constructive imprint on the sport.
We might credit score any layer of coordinator Mike Macdonald’s protection for this crushing efficiency. Geno Stone made his league-leading sixth interception. Marlon Humphrey and Brandon Stephens checked a pair of wonderful huge receivers. Justin Madubuike recorded a sack for the sixth straight sport, a Ravens report.
“A big part of what you saw today with that was I think the complementary football between the coverage and the rush,” Harbaugh mentioned. “The coverage got the quarterback to hold the ball, and then the rush got there a number of times.”
But it was a day to sing hosannas for the surface linebackers deemed insufficient by so many analysts who surveyed the crew’s roster earlier than the season.
The Ravens confirmed curiosity within the high edge rushers obtainable eventually week’s commerce deadline however had been unwilling to pay too steep a worth partly as a result of the Clowney and Van Noy signings have paid off handsomely.
“Who needs training camp?” the 32-year-old Van Noy mentioned afterward, drawing laughs.
“We knew who we had, the experience that they’ve got, how they still play to this day,” linebacker Patrick Queen mentioned. “It’s everything that we practice, everything that we preach.”
Beyond the cross rush, Queen pointed to the Ravens’ success neutralizing Walker as an outdoor menace. He got here in averaging 4.4 yards per carry however completed with 16 on 9 makes an attempt.
“We talk about dominating, and that’s kind of something that we really lean on each other for, and we mean it,” Van Noy mentioned. “We don’t just go out there to win; we want to dominate.”
This was a day to carry up struggling Ravens
Three days earlier than he confronted the Seahawks on his thirty first birthday, Beckham confronted questions on his frustrations. Why had he slammed his helmet on the sideline throughout a win over the Arizona Cardinals through which he caught no passes on 4 targets?
“I’ve got high expectations, high standards, but ultimately, it’s a team game,” he mentioned.
Such diplomacy apart, it was obvious how hungry Beckham felt to interrupt out and the way hungry his teammates had been to facilitate his first landing as a Raven.
When the second lastly got here within the fourth quarter Sunday, it hardly mattered that the Ravens didn’t want the factors or that the throw got here from Tyler Huntley as a substitute of Jackson. Joy radiated off Beckham, who had not scored because the first quarter of Super Bowl LVI, almost 21 months earlier. Huntley was so pleased he bowled Jackson over within the celebration.
Beckham had briefly appeared in peril of extra frustration after he misplaced his deal with on the ball whereas spinning to the bottom late within the second quarter. But that mishap in the end mattered little on a day when he reached season highs with 5 catches and 56 yards and topped his cake with the long-awaited landing.
“To see him come back — that’s what you expect out of a player like that, a veteran player who has done it before,” Harbaugh mentioned. “Odell ran a great route [on] a double move back out to the corner.”
Tight finish Isaiah Likely has dealt along with his personal frustrations this season, albeit effectively exterior the highlight that shines perpetually on Bateman. The coaching camp star of 2022 had caught all of 4 passes within the first eight video games of his second season.
Which was why Harbaugh made a degree of shouting out the three first downs Likely transformed on a four-catch afternoon, together with a rugged 17-yard catch and run to jump-start the Ravens’ first landing drive.
The Ravens must hold profitable as a result of so is everybody else within the AFC North
The Ravens have peaked larger and faltered lower than their three divisional foes, however that doesn’t imply they’re working away with the AFC North.
The Pittsburgh Steelers (5-3) typically resemble a sputtering jalopy in a world of electrical sports activities automobiles, however they hold profitable.
The Cleveland Browns by no means appear to know who’s going to play quarterback in a given week, however they moved to 5-3 with a shutout of the hapless Cardinals.
After a ragged begin, the Bengals (5-3) are taking part in prefer it’s 2021, saying their blessings for quarterback Joe Burrow’s mended calf.
The Ravens will lead by 1 1/2 video games after they start their second run via the division Sunday towards the Browns. Projection techniques, whether or not you like ESPN, The New York Times or Aaron Schatz’s DVOA, strongly favor them to carry that lead.
But they know one stinker might cut back their result in negligible.
“We’re just worried about playing to our potential,” Stanley mentioned. “We know we play in the toughest division in the NFL. We’ve always had that mindset. We believe we should be undefeated at this moment in time, but we’ve just got to keep pushing to play to our potential.”
Week 10
Browns at Ravens
Sunday, 1 p.m.
TV: Fox
Radio: 97.9 FM, 101.5 FM, 1090 AM
Line: Ravens by 4 1/2
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Source: www.bostonherald.com