Whatever this Ravens prosperity thing is right now, it still doesn’t look right. And I’m not talking about vibes or style points or whether Lamar Jackson is smiling enough on the sideline. I mean the football. The actual product. The part where this franchise is supposed to be turning the 1-5 “opportunity” into a January miracle. Because even after five straight wins — and yes, five straight wins in this league is no accident — almost nothing about the Baltimore Ravens feels easy, explosive, or championship-ready.
Not yet, anyway…
But, so far so good, as the Ravens have positioned themselves in the pilot’s seat of their season’s destiny even if the twisted path still looks murky with more competent quarterbacks looming beginning Thursday night.
Now, don’t get it twisted. I’m not here burying them. I’m the guy who said in October, when they were staggering around like me coming off my colonscopy anesthesia at GBMC, that they’d still win the AFC North.
So, for me, they’re on schedule.
But I’m also the same guy who watched every snap on Sunday and said what everyone who witnessed it said out loud – this team isn’t right because Lamar isn’t right, right now. And the offensive line isn’t good enough to make it all alright. And the only thing bailing them out right now is a slowly emerging defense that suddenly looks capable at least against the lowlights of the NFL.
And Joe Burrow, Aaron Rodgers and Drake Maye are the next set of names for the defense to defend. As Luke Jones says: it’s a marked step up in weight class.
8
They’ve won five in a row and sit at 6–5 and have their claws on a piece of first place. This is all very real. But it’s also very fragile because without a peanut punch by Marlon Humphrey, a lot of feelings could’ve been hurt by the lowly Jets for the holiday.
And when the most inspiring performance of your Sunday comes from your punter, that’s not exactly the cover photo of a Super Bowl contender.
Look, we’ve all watched Lamar long enough to know what “Lamar” looks like in the phone booth. The electricity. The burst. The ability to erase angles and run out of sacks like he’s 11 years old playing tag on the playground. That guy hasn’t been on the field since early September.
Even the Jets could see it — and the Jets see almost nothing clearly.
He’s taped up – both ankles. He’s had a hamstring, knee, ankle – whatever lower-body hockey injury you want to call it since Week 3. And the part nobody wants to say out loud is the part I keep repeating on Baltimore Positive: Lamar running is still by far their best play.
When 90% of Lamar is on the field, the Ravens become pretty ordinary because he becomes more ordinary – if not glaringly less special or a one-of-one chess piece that you can’t answer for on every play over four quarters.
He can’t take off. He doesn’t beat linebackers to spots. The threat of him taking off evaporates, and suddenly Derrick Henry is running into a wall and the offensive line is blocking like traffic cones at The Y Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning.
8It’s bordering on heroic for Lamar at this point because he’s banged up and gutting it out. And they’re winning because of it, I guess. But there’s no chance on earth this is getting him healthier and that Thursday night against the Bengals won’t be a similar slog.
The hope — the prayer, really — is the 10-day mini-bye afterward gets him closer to 100% because if he doesn’t heal significantly into December, then everything changes for the ceiling of this operation.
You can win sloppy in November; you cannot win sloppy in January. And the offense hasn’t looked “good” since Labor Day and Buffalo. It was barely functional against the gawdawful Jets, a team that traded away its two best defenders.
And the short-yardage stuff? My God they almost needed five downs at the goal line but give John Harbaugh the credit for the big stones and Todd Monken for continuing to attempt to be creative if not gadget-aware. For a team with Derrick Henry, Patrick Ricard and a two-time MVP quarterback who used to be the most terrifying runner in the sport, they treat 3rd-and-short like it’s a physics equation.
The offensive line is not good enough. Period. They haven’t protected well. They don’t move bodies in the run game. And yet — this team can absolutely still win the Super Bowl.
Here’s where the hopeless purple optimism comes in for all of the haters. And it’s not reckless, fan-boy optimism. It’s the truth: there is no superpower in the AFC right now.
Kansas City is stumbling. Buffalo is schizophrenic. The Colts, Broncos, and Patriots all think they’re contenders, and maybe they’re right because the AFC has turned into an open raffle.
8If Lamar gets healthier — and if they hold this thing together long enough — the path is right there. Wide open. Waiting. They’ve got enough stars to line a Pro Bowl roster. Enough pedigree. Enough scars. Enough coaching. Enough institutional muscle memory. I’ll buy into them winning on the road against neophyte quarterbacks in the cold in New England and Denver in January.
And the defense — well — the defense is suddenly the adult in the room.
The defense is becoming more real — but certainly untested of late. You can only play who’s on your schedule, and Tyrod Taylor, J.J. McCarthy, Dillon Gabriel, and Shedeur Sanders aren’t exactly the ’99 Rams. But six straight games allowing fewer than 20 points should be enough evidence to believe the Ravens can still arrive where they want to go in January with the ability to take the ball away and affect a game.
Of course, watching Kyle Hamilton limping on Sunday doesn’t give a lot of hope to a Thursday return. He is the most irreplaceable piece they have outside of Lamar and an absence for any period of time would deal a heavy burden to a defense that improves when he shows his versatility and dominance. But new faces are emerging as well. Nate Wiggins looks like the real deal. Travis Jones is balling. Teddye Buchanan looks like a player. And Alohi Gilman and Dre’Mont Jones are the moves they should’ve made in the spring but making them in the fall still counts in January if this professional upgrade continues at all three levels of the unit.
It’s simple: beat the Bengals and get Lamar off his feet for a week.
It’s hard to win five games in a row in the NFL – ever!
And if Lamar heals, if the offensive line stabilizes a smidge a week, if the defense keeps ascending, and if they find even one week of old-school Ravens offensive rhythm and mojo – and that means finishing drives – I wouldn’t bet against any prediction that this thing could absolutely pop and feel a lot differently in January.
8So, yeah — can the Ravens win the Super Bowl? Sure. They have enough talent for a January tournament.
But you’d certainly prefer that they start looking the part and only wins over the likes of first place teams and not allowing well-coached-up-on-Lamar division foes in the Bengals and Steelers to wreck your season a second time beginning on Thursday night.
It’s all sitting there for the former 1-5 squad. Now, after five in a row against the JV, can the Ravens improve and earn their way through the thickest part of a playoff march with Lamar Jackson nursing a bad wheel?
You bring the turkey and I’ll bring the pumpkin pie and we’ll find out.
Happy Thanksgiving! (Gobble, gobble.)
