Report Card: Stop Me If You’ve Heard This One Before…

Ravens drop another winnable game

Once again, the Ravens were facing an inferior opponent who seemingly had no chance to compete with the much-ballyhooed Ravens. Once again, the Ravens laid an egg. And then they fried the egg. And then they threw it in a dirty ashtray.

Let’s look at some grades:

Offense Overall: C

The Ravens generated 387 yards of offense, and averaged 5.9 yards per rush. They also saw their MVP-candidate quarterback throw for a couple touchdowns and have a rating of 101.8. Oh, and they had no turnovers. But, still, they were kind of meh for the majority of this game. The offensive line appeared overwhelmed at times, the quarterback missed some throws, the receivers yipped on some catches and inopportune penalties bit them again. They were also a woeful 2-for-10 on third downs, and 0-for-2 on fourth downs. Not a great showing.

Quarterback: B-

Lamar Jackson did some nice things today, putting together 335 yards of offense and throwing two touchdowns, but he missed a few big opportunities, as well, including an easy touchdown pass to Zay Flowers in the second quarter and a wide-open Isaiah Likely late. The Browns also dropped a few relatively-easy picks today. It wasn’t a bad day by any means, but the Ravens needed a superhuman effort today from their star, and it didn’t really happen. There were a few moments, that being said. The third-and-six to Likely in the third quarter while being taken down was exceptional, as was the touchdown pass to Agholor when he climbed the pocket and fired off a laser. The Ravens just needed him to hit one or two more of the easy ones today, too.

Running Backs: B

Derrick Henry rushed for 73 yards on 11 carries, had a touchdown and broke loose for a 39-yarder. Justice Hill contributed 19 yards on three catches, but he badly missed a block on a third-quarter sack. Patrick Ricard had a nice block on Henry’s touchdown. They were fine today, but probably not used nearly enough.

Receivers: B

Zay Flowers had a nice day, putting up 115 yards on seven catches. Rashod Bateman had a big 28-yard catch, but missed a super-easy pass in the fourth quarter when he stumbled, and another fourth-quarter drop on third down. Nelson Agholor had a touchdown, but he had a huge drop, too. Mark Andrews continued his improved play, and made a nice grab on his touchdown catch, using his body to shield the defender. Andrews also drew a big PI in the third quarter.

Offensive Line: D+

They were overwhelmed way too often today, and both Ronnie Stanley and Tyler Linderbaum had costly penalties. Linderbaum did make a huge block on a catch-and-run by Likely on the first drive. Roger Rosengarten had a big block on Henry’s touchdown. They lost this battle more often than they won throughout the day, not giving Jackson enough clean pockets.

Defense Overall: D+

A lot of the same problems, except it was Eddie Jackson being the offender on a bunch of plays, as opposed to Marcus Williams. They only managed two sacks, dropped even more interceptions than the Browns did and could not generate pressure without blitzing, which, obviously, exposes an under-manned and poorly-playing defensive backfield.

Defensive Line: C

They lost Michael Pierce and Brent Urban early, which put them at a pretty big disadvantage, and I’m guessing exhaustion played a bit of a role in their inability to impact Winston. Tavius Robinson blew up a run in the first quarter, and combined with Nnamdi Madubuike for a sack at the end of the first half. Broderick Washington killed a drive by batting down a pass, and Odafe Oweh stuffed Nick Chubb late in the first half.

Linebackers: C-

Roquan Smith had eight fairly-quiet tackles. Trenton Simpson recovered a fumble on Kyle Hamilton’s sack and had a big run stop on third down to kill a fourth-quarter drive. Kyle Van Noy was in on one big run stop in the third quarter and blew up a screen that same quarter.

Defensive Backs: D+

Hamilton was awesome for the bulk of the day, but he will long regret that dropped easy interception that would have ended the game one play before the Browns’ go-ahead touchdown. Still, he had 10 tackles, a sack, forced fumble, two quarterback hits, two passes defensed and some bone-jarring hits. Eddie Jackson was involved a lot, but not always in a good way. He dropped an interception in the end zone in the first quarter. Was beaten by David Njoku on a third-quarter touchdown. Missed a tackle on another touchdown. And then got whipped by Jerry Jeudy on a crosser in the third quarter. Oh, he then got beaten again on the winning touchdown. Jalyn Armour-Davis gave up a few catches, but he wasn’t bad overall. Ar’Darius Washington blew up a run for a loss in the second quarter.

Special Teams: C

Justin Tucker didn’t look sharp, and he missed a big 50-yarder in the fourth quarter when he hooked it left. Sanoussi Kane had a huge hit on a second-quarter kickoff. Jordan Stout was good, averaging 52.3 yards on four punts, kicking two bombs from his own end zone and landing another at the Cleveland 13 in the third quarter. Tylan Wallace made a questionable decision to field a punt inside his own 10, but the Ravens scored on the ensuing drive anyway.

Coaching: B-

There were some things I didn’t love — getting cute on two short-yardage plays, for instance. Derrick Henry is a beast, but putting him in wildcat on 4th and 1 when Lamar Jackson exists cuts down on the Ravens’ effectiveness simply by subtraction. I also didn’t like the shovel pass to Likely in the third quarter in the red zone. Don’t overthink it. Also, sometimes I think it would benefit the Ravens to force the run game, even when the defense is lined up to take it away. The defense needs someone to consistently get to the quarterback if the Ravens are going to have problems covering on the back end. One of those things has to be good, and right now it’s not. I’m not sure what is coaching, and what is lack of people doing things they are being paid to do.

Either way, the Ravens have to fix this defense, or they will get beaten when their offense isn’t humming.

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Source: https://russellstreetreport.com/2024/10/27/report-card/report-card-stop-me-if-youve-heard-this-one-before/