Ravens coach John Harbaugh mentioned the offense remains to be “a work in progress.”
Quarterback Lamar Jackson’s evaluation: “Inconsistent.”
Running again Gus Edwards? “It’s kind of like a fire right now and everybody is eager to put it out.”
Six video games into the season, Baltimore’s offense remains to be looking for its footing.
The Ravens are fifteenth in scoring with 22.2 factors per sport, which ranks behind the Houston Texans and is tied with the Washington Commanders. They’re solely marginally higher in FTN Fantasy’s Defense-adjusted Value Over Average, rating tenth. And their 339.2 yards per sport is barely Eleventh-most, behind the Indianapolis Colts and barely forward of the Minnesota Vikings.
Most evident are their passing numbers; the Ravens’ 194.3 yards per sport rank decrease than the 1-5 New England Patriots and the 0-6 Carolina Panthers.
There are different points which have stood out as effectively. Last week in London, the Ravens had been simply 1-for-6 scoring touchdowns within the pink zone regardless of coming into the sport with the league’s high offense contained in the opponent’s 20-yard line. The week earlier than, in a loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, they’d seven dropped passes. Turnovers have additionally proved pricey at occasions. And whereas the Ravens have began quick, they’ve additionally fizzled as video games put on on, scoring the third-most factors within the league within the first quarter and the Twenty fifth-most within the fourth.
“Teams do a great job of adjusting,” Jackson mentioned. “[They’re] changing up their defenses on us in the second half, and then I’ll say, it takes us a little bit of time to catch up to them.”
The Ravens can at the very least take some solace realizing they aren’t alone, as scoring is down leaguewide.
Through the primary six weeks, the NFL common of 20.62 factors per sport is the second-lowest output of the previous 10 seasons. The common explosive play charge of 10% can be the bottom by way of six weeks because the begin of TruMedia’s play knowledge in 2000. Quarterbacks are averaging the bottom anticipated factors added per dropback and per go try in historical past. And success charges operating the ball are close to the NFL common over the previous twenty years.
Still, the Ravens spent more cash on offense than any workforce within the league and haven’t had a lot to indicate for it. Jackson, within the first season of his five-year, $260 million contract, has solely thrown 5 landing passes.
“We’ve got to do a better job of scheming it, do a better job of executing when we have those opportunities,” first-year offensive coordinator Todd Monken mentioned Thursday of the Ravens’ red-zone woes from per week in the past. “We’ve done a good job the last couple of weeks of moving the football. That has not been the issue. We’ve solved some of those things in terms of being more explosive, creating an identity, having a better rhythm. But turnovers and execution at the wrong time have hurt us. There’s no way around it. We’ve got to be better.”
Monken additionally pointed to second-half struggles, which value the Ravens of their losses to the Indianapolis Colts and Pittsburgh Steelers and almost did so towards final week towards the Titans.
Now the 5-1 Detroit Lions, tied for one of the best document within the NFL, come to M&T Bank Stadium. In addition to that includes one of many league’s finest and most dynamic offensive assaults below coordinator Ben Johnson, they’re additionally drastically improved on protection.
Last season, the Lions had been final within the league in defensive anticipated factors allowed. This 12 months, they’re tenth, which is tied with the Cleveland Browns for the most important leap this season.
Much of their success may be attributed to star edge rusher Aidan Hutchinson and rookie defensive again Brian Branch, who memorably returned an interception for a landing in Detroit’s season-opening win over the defending Super Bowl champion Chiefs in Kansas City. But the general scheme has modified, too, with a big shift from man protection to zone.
Detroit has additionally generated the sixth-highest stress charge this 12 months regardless of having the fifth-lowest blitz charge, and it boasts the second-stingiest run protection within the NFL, permitting simply 64.7 yards per sport.
Yet the Ravens enter Sunday’s sport feeling as in the event that they gave away each of their losses, video games they led by double digits however finally failed to complete regardless of a number of alternatives to take action.
“I think it’s just don’t let off the gas,” large receiver Odell Beckham Jr. mentioned. “I really feel like [if] you let off the gasoline … This is the National Football League; each workforce is able to profitable any Sunday. So simply discovering methods to shut these video games off.
“This is a team in here that’s 4-2; it feels like [we] should be 6-0. And maybe those two losses were the best things that happened for us to allow us not to take any moment for granted — or opportunity — and just being able to capitalize when we do have that time.”
Seven weeks in could be an excellent time to take action. The schedule will solely get tougher the remainder of the way in which.
“Not turning it over, being explosive, converting on third down [and] scoring touchdowns in the red zone are all big part of what makes an offense successful and all the ways why [a] defense is successful,” Monken mentioned. “All those things correlate, and we’re close.”
We’ll discover out simply how shut — or how far — come Sunday.
Week 7
Lions at Ravens
Sunday, 1 p.m.
TV: Ch. 45
Radio: 97.9 FM, 101.5 FM, 1090 AM
Line: Ravens by 3
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Source: www.bostonherald.com