BALTIMORE — Maybe Lamar Jackson and the NFL’s best offense are all the Ravens need to win a Super Bowl.
After all, we’re talking about a franchise that won its first championship with a record-setting defense that carried a below-average quarterback and offense a quarter-century ago. Perhaps we should just resign ourselves to calling these the Bizarro Ravens with a historic quarterback and offense propping up a lousy pass defense.
Through 10 games, Jackson is on a path to winning his third MVP award in six years and is playing better than ever, having already thrown as many touchdowns as he did all last season — when he won his second MVP. On the heels of his latest four-touchdown effort to erase a 14-point deficit in Thursday’s 35-34 win over Cincinnati, we’re running out of superlatives to describe this human highlight reel who repeatedly dazzles with both his arm and legs. The man who is tied for the NFL lead in touchdown passes (24) and trails only Joe Burrow in passing yards also ranks 16th in overall rushing yards entering the weekend.
Incredible.
In an era of sports in which we overreact and exaggerate just about everything, Jackson truly is 1-of-1 with only a postseason legacy needed to fortify an increasingly surefire Hall of Fame career. And he’s not yet 28 years old, meaning he has time to do that despite past January disappointments and the reign of Patrick Mahomes and Kansas City until someone knocks them off. But you don’t want to take any of this for granted either.
The Ravens have the NFL’s leading rusher in Derrick Henry, a second-year wide receiver on pace for a 1,000-yard season in Zay Flowers, a three-time Pro Bowl tight end in Mark Andrews, and no shortage of other running backs, wide receivers, and tight ends capable of stressing a defense with offensive coordinator Todd Monken calling the plays. Ask the Bengals about seldom-used wideout Tylan Wallace, who more than doubled his career receiving yardage total on Thursday night and was responsible for the longest pass play of Jackson’s career. The Ravens haven’t even gotten newcomer receiver Diontae Johnson or returning running back Keaton Mitchell into the mix yet.
With two double-digit comeback wins against the Bengals in the last six weeks, Jackson and this offense have answered concerns about being able to play from behind. Perhaps the answer is as simple as outscoring everyone on the way to Baltimore’s first Super Bowl title in 12 years.
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Just don’t tell that to three-time Pro Bowl cornerback Marlon Humphrey, who wasn’t in a celebratory mood despite both Jackson and head coach John Harbaugh crediting his forced fumble in the third quarter sparking the turnaround. That play only does so much to mask the defense surrendering four touchdown passes and over 400 passing yards to Burrow and needing a 2-point conversion stop to preserve a one-point win in the final minute. The Ravens were again embarrassed by Bengals wideout Ja’Marr Chase on a night when fellow star receiver Tee Higgins was out, making it obvious where Burrow wanted to throw the ball.
Baltimore’s 32nd-ranked pass defense still couldn’t stop it, prompting Humphrey to call his side of the ball “the little bros” continuing to be carried by Jackson and the offense. The Ravens have already surrendered four more touchdown passes and just 314 fewer passing yards than they did all of last season. Some drop-off was expected with the departure of defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald and a couple other assistants as well as the free-agent exits of defenders like Patrick Queen, Jadeveon Clowney, and Geno Stone, but going from one of the elite pass defenses in the league to one of the worst is unacceptable, especially in Baltimore. And the scary part is this group — so far anyway — has avoided the kind of season-ending injuries that derailed the worst Ravens defenses of the past.
You had to wonder what Ray Lewis was thinking watching Thursday’s game in person. It was only a few weeks ago that fellow Hall of Famer Ed Reed opined that the current Ravens “don’t understand the other side of finishing and being a championship team right now.” That certainly applies to this defense, no matter how tremendous Jackson and the offense continue to be.
“We’ve really lost that standard, and I feel like that falls on me,” said Humphrey, the longest-tenured member of the defense who’s had a good season individually. “We’re going to keep chasing at it. We’re going to keep working at it because I’m not really satisfied with what I’ve built in this secondary, where it’s gone.
“I just don’t think playing like this, we can go far. It’s cool winning. It’s great we’re winning, but I want to go far. I want to go to the end. The way we’re playing, something has got to change.”
Humphrey and other defensive players have defended first-year coordinator Zach Orr and the rest of the coaching staff, insisting they aren’t executing what they practice in the games. Struggling against elite quarterbacks like Burrow and Mahomes is one thing, but this defense has also faltered against Gardner Minshew and Jameis Winston this season, leaving little room for confidence even when they have played well like they did against Buffalo in Week 4 and against Denver last week.
Is this sustainable for three or four straight weeks against playoff teams in January into early February?
8Defending the middle of the field remains a mess with even All-Pro linebacker Roquan Smith looking like a shell of his former self in coverage and the safety play outside of Kyle Hamilton — whose ankle injury appears to be minor thankfully — being a disaster. Cornerback Brandon Stephens continues to be targeted on the outside and struggles to find the ball even when his coverage is sound.
And it’s not as though the defense has kept the status quo either as former defensive coordinator Dean Pees returned as a senior advisor after the first Bengals game in early October. High-priced safety Marcus Williams — who again looked utterly lost against the Bengals on Thursday — was benched in Cleveland, and backup safety Eddie Jackson was a healthy scratch against the Broncos. Baltimore traded for former Pro Bowl cornerback Tre’Davious White earlier this week and waived edge rusher Yannick Ngakoue before Thursday’s game to return David Ojabo to the outside linebacker rotation after the 2022 second-round pick had been a healthy scratch the previous two games.
Yes, the Ravens are throwing plenty against the wall in hopes of something sticking defensively. Even a strong pass-rush performance — led by three sacks by Nnamdi Madubuike — against a bad Cincinnati offensive line missing left tackle Orlando Brown only did so much to slow Burrow from carving them up.
“Nobody pointed any fingers out there, but we have to get better,” Harbaugh said. “That’s just not the standard. That’s what the defensive guys were saying in the locker room — that that’s not the standard. We have to be much better. We have to take pressure off our offense too.”
That the defense could threaten to keep Jackson and the Ravens from breaking through in January would have been unthinkable last season, let alone when you ponder the history of the franchise. Baltimore is currently surrendering 25.3 points per game — which would be its worst mark since the inaugural 1996 team allowed 27.6 per contest — and nearly as many passing yards per game (294.9) as total yards allowed (301.4 per contest) last season.
The Ravens are 7-3 in spite of their defense, but the playoffs are now just two months away, meaning the clock is ticking louder to get this fixed.
Even after Thursday’s thrilling win, the thought of wasting such an incredible season from Jackson and the offense remains unsettling, especially considering the roles were flipped for so much of this franchise’s history.
Bizarro Ravens indeed.
