The Ravens are a uniquely weird team in Week 14 of the NFL season.
They're weird because their QB position is a great unknown.
Joe Flacco is, of course, the world's most underwhelming Super Bowl MVP, and has sucked this year. We know who he is, we have millions of hours of underwhelming tape to depressingly watch. And he returned to practice this week, but did not play, Eric Berry style.
But that might change. He may see the field.
Which is interesting, because their backup QB, Lamar Jackson, a 1st round selection by the Ravens (albeit with the 32nd pick), is a very weird player. He runs, and runs, and runs with the ball. His completion percentage is a not-terrible 60%. And he's only played three weeks, so tape on him is slim.
We know this: he is fast, he is not afraid to run the ball, and he's a damn gazelle when he does.
The good news: we can probably spy him. His weapons are bleak. Alex Collins is his #1 RB, and he's averaging 3.6 yards a carry. His #1 receiver is John Brown, who initially looked like Tyreek Hill when he first hit the league, but has since statistically slowed down and is now just a good receiver with very difficult speed to account for. Michael Crabtree is their #2 alongside Willie Snead, and Tyreek Hill has more yardage than both of those guys combined, but Crabtree has had good games against us in the past.
As a result, the Ravens are still somehow 13th in the league in yardage, they are averaging 25 points a game.
The Ravens have good pass protection, as they've only given up like 25 sacks or something like that. Ronnie Stanley is their LT.
But really, the Ravens offense wins by trying to run the ball, passing decently, and then letting Lamar Jackson get creative.
As far as the defense is concerned.................. biggest test of the year right here folks.
#1 rated defense in yardage (they're allowing under 300 yards/game).
#1 rated defense in points (they're allowing 17 points/game).
I think it's safe to say we're going to beat those averages but they should still slow us down pretty significantly. I don't know if Patty will have another 4 TD game here.
The Ravens get good pressure on the QB -- they're 9th in the league in sacks, and the pressure comes from everywhere. Suggs has always played well against us but he only has 5.5 this year. They blitz a good amount.
Simply put, the Ravens pass defense will be the biggest challenge Mahomes faces all year. They're allowing under 200 yards passing all season. Eric Weddle is a goddamn general at the back of their defense, and they've got a solid corner or two despite the fact that none of their corners are true ballhawks. Brandon Carr will make a rare appearance against the Chiefs, which is whatever, but he's apparently playing well.
The Ravens have a mean defensive line, and maybe the meanest NT in the league in Brandon Williams. I'm willing to bet they drop everyone in coverage, smother Kelce, and dare Spencer Ware to beat their DL. That's a very tall order, and I don't think our run game is up to the challenge. Mahomes will need to tap every ounce of his MVP talent to get yardage.
In special teams, they have arguably the greatest kicker in modern NFL history in Justin Tucker. They've had one punt return for a TD.
They're 7-5. They're on a three game win streak. Lamar Jackson has started all three games.
Their wins: Bills, Broncos, @Steelers, @Titans, Bengals (no Dalton), Raiders, @Falcons
Losses: @Bengals (Dalton), @Browns, Saints, @Panthers, Steelers
That schedule is all over the place. They beat Pitt in Pitt, but pathetically lose to the Browns. The most damning game on the schedule is the Saints game, where they only lost by a point.
How is this team so good? I've asked before. They have no elite talent on offense and are still racking up yardage and point. They have a damn good defense but don't intercept the ball and they don't have any sack masters like the Chiefs do.
Originally Posted by Halfcan:
Yes. The Chargers would be 2 back and even if we lose the last 2 games of the season, would have the edge over them.
The other option to secure the West without help from the Chargers is to win against Baltimore, Seattle, and Oakland. We would hold the AFC West tiebreaker and finish with the same record if they win out. [Reply]
Originally Posted by DJ's left nut:
People have called about 6 different games this year 'trap' games. They've been wrong, but they keep doing it.
This game, OTOH, is an actual trap game. A somewhat down opponent (who's playing well of late) prior to the game that will almost certainly decide our season against LAC. It's a home game against a very strange opponent who provides a wrinkle that we haven't seen yet and have no good way to prepare for. It comes after a divisional game against a rival. It has all the earmarks of a true letdown game.
This one could get iffy fairly quickly.
Sutton should scrap whatever the hell he has been trying to do on run defense and start over this week. You know they think we are soft up the middle and we are. They are going to try and play ground and pound football so we better be ready for them.
Originally Posted by smithandrew051:
The other option to secure the West without help from the Chargers is to win against Baltimore, Seattle, and Oakland. We would hold the AFC West tiebreaker and finish with the same record if they win out.
Every team we play has major flaws and have scored 100 less points than us. They will have to play a nearly perfect game to beat us and I don't think they will. Chiefs finish 14-2. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Halfcan:
Every team we play has major flaws and have scored 100 less points than us. They will have to play a nearly perfect game to beat us and I don't think they will. Chiefs finish 14-2.
Originally Posted by Halfcan:
Sutton should scrap whatever the hell he has been trying to do on run defense and start over this week. You know they think we are soft up the middle and we are. They are going to try and play ground and pound football so we better be ready for them.
STOP THE RUN! Number 1 Goal this week!
Have you watched some of the recent breakdowns on the run defense?
Man, I just don't know what the hell else Sutton can do; what he can truly scrap. I mean he has guys just abandoning their gap so that three of them can crash the same hole and take each other out while the RB just hits the simple cutback for 15 yards.
His safeties won't engage blockers, his down lineman aren't finishing plays. I mean it's incredible just how often these guys are making high school level mistakes.
Veach needs to wear some of this as well. He and Reid were the ones touting the 'attitude' we added to the defense. I'm not seeing it. The best I can see is Hitchens trying really hard when he's taking himself out of the play. The guys putting forth effort are doing so stupidly. The guys that seem to know where they're going don't seem to care if they actually get there.
I think we've definitely reached the 'new voice' stage because I don't know how the hell you get this kind of myriad of mistakes all around the D. But I also don't think it's a result of anything Sutton's defense is doing in particular. These guys are just fisting themselves with fair frequency. [Reply]
If they throw the ball fewer than 20 times, it's going to be a really close game. That means they've kept our offense off the field.
That said, the formula for the Chiefs is to get a stop, get the lead, get a stop, add to the lead, play pattycake the rest of the game on defense. It's worked 10 times thus far. The only teams is hasn't worked against, where our defense had given up the lead with 2 minutes to spare, are very good.
The Ravens have 5 losses. They aren't the Rams or the Patriots. We are at home. I think we win but it'll be just as frustrating on defense in the 2nd half as it's been all year. [Reply]
Originally Posted by DJ's left nut:
Have you watched some of the recent breakdowns on the run defense?
Man, I just don't know what the hell else Sutton can do; what he can truly scrap. I mean he has guys just abandoning their gap so that three of them can crash the same hole and take each other out while the RB just hits the simple cutback for 15 yards.
His safeties won't engage blockers, his down lineman aren't finishing plays. I mean it's incredible just how often these guys are making high school level mistakes.
Veach needs to wear some of this as well. He and Reid were the ones touting the 'attitude' we added to the defense. I'm not seeing it. The best I can see is Hitchens trying really hard when he's taking himself out of the play. The guys putting forth effort are doing so stupidly. The guys that seem to know where they're going don't seem to care if they actually get there.
I think we've definitely reached the 'new voice' stage because I don't know how the hell you get this kind of myriad of mistakes all around the D. But I also don't think it's a result of anything Sutton's defense is doing in particular. These guys are just fisting themselves with fair frequency.
This is why I think it's new voice time. They just aren't playing disciplined football. At all. I don't know that ol Bob can really change that. [Reply]
Originally Posted by O.city:
This is why I think it's new voice time. They just aren't playing disciplined football. At all. I don't know that ol Bob can really change that.
I believe there was a tweet posted in the GDT that Sutton was on the sidelines yelling at players in the secondary. That was early on in the 2nd half....and we got fucking worse. Obviously no one on the defense was listening to him. [Reply]
Originally Posted by The Pest:
I believe there was a tweet posted in the GDT that Sutton was on the sidelines yelling at players in the secondary. That was early on in the 2nd half....and we got fucking worse. Obviously no one on the defense was listening to him.
It's not like they'll get benched so why should they care?
Not that I think you could get much worse trying someone else. [Reply]