With the very best document and scoring margin within the AFC and a 1 1/2-game lead of their division, the Ravens have aced their season up to now. And that’s with three maddening collapses constructed into their resume.
But common supervisor Eric DeCosta and coach John Harbaugh didn’t assemble and hone this roster with the aim of trying good on the primary weekend of December. The subsequent two months will outline them and particularly quarterback Lamar Jackson, who has but to return near a Super Bowl in six in any other case dazzling seasons.
With that in thoughts, what can we nonetheless have to know in regards to the 2023 Ravens, who’ve already answered lots of the questions we posed heading into the season? What flaws may very well be exploited, what traps set, to maintain them from reaching their lofty objectives? Here are 5 urgent questions as they look forward to a troublesome five-game stretch run and the playoffs past.
Can they depend on Ronnie Stanley?
Stanley injured his proper knee within the season opener and reinjured it within the Ravens’ Nov. 12 loss to the Cleveland Browns. He missed only one sport earlier than beginning at left sort out Sunday night time within the Ravens’ 20-10 victory over the Los Angeles Chargers. His efficiency in opposition to the good Khalil Mack and different Chargers move rushers was alarming; he surrendered a team-high six pressures and earned the bottom grade of any Ravens offensive participant, in accordance with Pro Football Focus.
For the season, Stanley leads the crew’s offensive linemen in pressures allowed and penalties. Though 15 of these 28 pressures had been packed into the 2 video games he performed instantly after coming back from harm, Harbaugh didn’t mince phrases Monday in assessing Stanley’s knee-related struggles.
“It’s not been great,” he stated. “I think he’d probably be the first person to tell you it’s not been great. He needs to get stronger and get his technique right. He needs to get out at practice and keep growing back into … He’s a great player. We want to get him back into playing at that high level.”
The Ravens invested $98.75 million to lock in Stanley as Jackson’s chief protector, a transfer that made all of the sense on the earth coming off his All-Pro efficiency in 2019. Almost for the reason that day he signed, nevertheless, accidents have robbed him of the mobility and durable base that made him a star at one of many league’s premium positions.
Stanley confirmed he might nonetheless play at a near-elite stage final season and hoped to construct on that this yr after a wholesome offseason. His knee harm has clouded that hopeful narrative.
To be honest, Stanley bounced again from his preliminary harm to ship stable performances within the Ravens’ wins over Tennessee, Detroit and Arizona. Perhaps the bye week, as Harbaugh prompt, will do him a world of excellent. If he continues to be the participant we noticed in opposition to the Chargers, nevertheless, would the Ravens take into account turning to Patrick Mekari?
It could be a shock on condition that Stanley’s PFF move blocking grade continues to be greater than Mekari’s. The Ravens really feel, accurately, that they‘re strongest when they hold Mekari in reserve as a utility lineman. But the Chargers’ strain pushed Jackson to a subpar efficiency, they usually can’t let that change into an everyday prevalence because the playoffs draw close to.
The Ravens additionally appear unlikely to eat $17.8 million in lifeless cash to maneuver on from Stanley earlier than June 1 of subsequent yr, however they should draft a future beginning sort out in April given his accidents and the actual fact proper sort out Morgan Moses will flip 33 earlier than subsequent season.
When performs breakdown, to whom will Lamar Jackson flip within the absence of Mark Andrews?
The Pro Bowl tight finish’s ankle harm, which can in all probability sideline him the remainder of the season, was a pointy blow to the Ravens’ Super Bowl ambitions. As Jackson has stated many occasions, he doesn’t have the identical instinctive reference to every other receiver. When chaos ensued, he knew he might search for No. 89 in a free patch of floor.
“There are times when they do things, and they do it so fast that you think that that was the play,” quarterbacks coach Tee Martin stated. “Mark may break a route off, Lamar may throw it back-shoulder or throw it on an angle that it wasn’t meant for it to be thrown on, but he saw Mark’s body language going that way, [and] he threw it toward that angle. And you just can’t make that up; you can’t practice that; you can’t re-create that.”
There are loads of interesting choices remaining. As Harbaugh stated just lately, the Ravens are in all probability higher geared up to play with out Andrews than they might have been in any yr going again to 2019.
Isaiah Likely, Andrews’ understudy, is a real risk to defenses. Offensive coordinator Todd Monken stated he has extra “twitch” attending to the surface than Andrews, a top quality we noticed when Likely turned a verify down move into an 18-yard acquire in opposition to the Chargers. Is he constant sufficient to be Jackson’s go-to? He nonetheless must earn that belief.
Jackson has flashed pretty timing connecting with Odell Beckham Jr. on slants in current weeks. The veteran famous person nonetheless has loads of vigor in his legs after he catches the ball on the transfer. But will Beckham, who’s nursing a shoulder harm, be on the sector persistently sufficient?
Rashod Bateman’s surgically repaired foot has held up, and he’s made just a few terrific catches in visitors, however Jackson nonetheless appears inclined to look elsewhere for lengthy stretches.
Which brings us to Zay Flowers, who leads the crew in targets, receptions, receiving yards, and missed tackles pressured (per PFF). We’ve seen Jackson goal Flowers on numerous fast passes to the flat with blended outcomes (together with a 68-yard landing erased by a sketchy holding name), however the rookie appears the best choice to affix Andrews within the go-to pantheon given his dependable arms, his present for creating separation and his versatility to line up outdoors or within the slot. Will he and Jackson be taught to function on a singular wavelength? The reply to that query might decide the Ravens’ offensive ceiling come January.
Can Justin Tucker and the Ravens’ particular groups return to excellence?
Tucker has spoiled us. That a lot was apparent from the minor panic that ensued after he missed a rushed 44-yard discipline aim try within the fourth quarter in opposition to the Chargers.
Fans might shrug off Tucker’s earlier 4 misses this season. The first two had been from 59 and 61 yards, respectively. He hit the left upright on a 53-yard try in Arizona and had a 55-yard try blocked in opposition to Cleveland. Inside 50 yards, he was impeccable as ever.
But Tucker acknowledged one thing was off when he hooked his try to increase the Ravens’ lead in Los Angeles. He didn’t really feel his ft had been totally beneath him. Perhaps it was as a result of, as Harbaugh defined Monday, the Ravens had been speeding to beat a play clock that had began earlier than they anticipated.
With the miss, Tucker was not probably the most correct kicker in historical past, falling behind the Atlanta Falcons’ Younghoe Koo. Fans fired off social media posts questioning if the best fixed in current Ravens historical past is all of the sudden diminished in his twelfth season.
A little bit of perspective is warranted. Tucker, 34, has labored by way of relative dips prior to now. For instance, he made simply eight of 19 makes an attempt from 50 yards or past in 2014 and 2015. He rebounded along with his best statistical season (38 of 39 general, 10 of 10 from 50 yards or past) in 2016. His leg has appeared as sturdy as ever in warmups and on his wayward makes an attempt. He’s nonetheless as devoted a technician as you’ll discover in any sport.
Harbaugh, who takes particular groups as significantly as anybody within the NFL, didn’t sound involved. “It’s just a miss,” he stated. “He’s human, and I’m sure glad we have him. [I] always will be.”
The Ravens’ particular groups lapses haven’t been restricted to Tucker’s misses. Spotty punt protection is the chief offender for his or her unfamiliar No. 19 rating in particular groups DVOA. Nagging accidents have periodically robbed Pro Bowl returner Devin Duvernay of his explosiveness.
When they matched up with the league’s greatest groups in years previous, the Ravens counted on a marginal benefit in particular groups. Their emphasis on the game’s third part is a signature of Harbaugh’s tenure. Right now, that edge is lacking.
Is there a spot within the armor of the league’s second-ranked protection?
When a narrative appears too good to be true, we search for the lie. It’s human nature.
That’s to not recommend there’s something deceptive in regards to the Ravens’ distinctive defensive efficiency by way of 12 video games. It’s merely outstanding that they’re main the league in sacks and holding opponents to 4.2 yards per move try when our best issues coming into the season centered on their move rush and their secondary.
Injuries have bitten them. Pro Bowl cornerback Marlon Humphrey missed the primary 4 video games with a foot harm and has missed the final two due to a calf pressure. Their final line of protection, security Marcus Williams, has additionally missed six video games and primarily performed with one arm in just a few others due to the pectoral harm he suffered within the season opener. A nasty ankle sprain stored their high younger move rusher, Odafe Oweh, on the shelf for 4 video games.
None of those absences undid them.
That’s a tribute to the standard veterans — outdoors linebackers Jadeveon Clowney and Kyle Van Noy, cornerback Ronald Darby, nickel again Arthur Maulet — DeCosta added throughout coaching camp and the primary month of the season. It’s a tribute to the absurd versatility of second-year security Kyle Hamilton, to the unrelenting enchancment of defensive sort out Justin Madubuike, to the unquenchable thirst for hits we see from linebackers Roquan Smith and Patrick Queen. It’s a tribute to coordinator Mike Macdonald’s ever-changing seems — 355-pound nostril sort out Michael Pierce dropping into zone protection whereas Maulet blitzes, why not? — that make it nearly unattainable for opposing play callers to select on a selected Raven.
The different high defenses within the AFC North function singular sport wreckers in Myles Garrett and T.J. Watt. The Ravens current a extra confounding puzzle as a result of they assault with so many alternative faces doing so many alternative issues. Their codependent rush designs and zone protection schemes, designed to restrict chunk performs, are fixed however don’t hinge on a single man.
So the place may they be weak as they transfer into probably the most troublesome a part of their schedule, with highway video games in opposition to the Jacksonville Jaguars and San Francisco 49ers and a New Year’s Eve dwelling date with the Miami Dolphins?
Well, we’ve got seen the entrance seven go quickly delicate in opposition to groups that run proper at them. The Ravens have allowed 4.3 yards per carry, twenty first within the league, they usually gave up 178 speeding yards of their loss to the Browns. Some of this can be a pure concession as they gear their assault towards stifling quarterbacks, however how will that look in opposition to the 49ers’ Christian McCaffrey or the Dolphins’ Raheem Mostert?
We’ve additionally seen quarterbacks discover success in the midst of the sector, whether or not it was Cleveland’s Deshaun Watson figuring out delicate spots within the Ravens’ zone or Cincinnati’s Joe Burrow choosing on their linebackers.
No protection can cease the whole lot within the trendy NFL, and to the Ravens’ credit score, they hardly ever present the identical vulnerability two weeks in a row.
How a lot can the Ravens trip Keaton Mitchell as they seek for a constant offensive id?
The undrafted rookie from East Carolina has shocked the league’s high speeding assault to historic ranges of effectivity since he joined the common lineup within the Ravens’ Nov. 5 romp over the Seattle Seahawks. Mitchell is greater than only a sprinter good for just a few gimmicky performs to the surface. He runs by way of tackles, evidenced by his unbelievable common of seven.48 yards after contact per try, as charted by PFF. That’s an unsustainable tempo however hints on the big-play component Mitchell has delivered to Monken’s floor designs.
The Ravens have typically lived as much as the lofty expectations followers set when the crew employed Monken to switch beleaguered Greg Roman, rating sixth in factors per sport, fourth in offensive DVOA and third in purple zone effectivity. But they’ve fallen out of rhythm at occasions and did not construct on leads within the second half, creating lingering doubts about how they’ll look in opposition to elite opponents in December and January.
The shock, maybe, is that their effectivity nonetheless flows extra from the run — with extra unfold and zone ideas in-built beneath Monken — than the move. Jackson stays a singular gravitational power, even when he’s handing the ball to another person. Gus Edwards is the crew’s greatest finisher close to the aim line. But it’s Mitchell who has streaked onto the scene as an X issue.
If the Ravens are to keep away from the fourth-quarter meltdowns that led to 3 defeats, this floor sport — equal components energy, elusiveness and deception — can be their chief weapon.
Monken and his workers weren’t certain how a lot work to offer Mitchell after he returned from a shoulder harm that sidelined him for the beginning of the season. How would he deal with the subtler arts of move safety? How productive might he be between the tackles?
Their religion in him, and the upside of an already-potent floor sport, heightens weekly. Don’t be shocked if he touches the ball a dozen occasions a sport going ahead.
“As he gets more and more comfortable, we get more and more comfortable with him and certain personnel groupings when we get him in there,” Monken stated Monday. “He’s certainly going to only continue to get better with reps, especially … in terms of the pass protections [and] some of the detail things. Handing the ball off to him is probably the least of that.”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com