BALTIMORE — Lamar Jackson described the Ravens offense as “pick your poison” after Sunday’s 30-23 win over Washington.
Derrick Henry emphasized the need to continue “being humble” while praising a once-maligned offensive line that’s improving by the week.
Zay Flowers insisted Baltimore “can keep getting better as the year goes” on, a scary thought for the rest of the AFC.
Asked about the many ways this offense is bludgeoning opponents, Tyler Linderbaum said, “That’s the goal — to be efficient like that.”
Even Mark Andrews has come out of early-season hiding and caught his first touchdown of the season on Sunday.
No matter the description, it’s all coming together in the wake of an unnerving 0-2 start — at least on the offensive side of the ball. The pass defense remains a work in progress after rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels threw for 269 yards and two touchdowns, but the Ravens offense had its way with the Commanders, overcoming early sloppiness to score points on five straight possessions and concluding their final drive in victory formation after another long Henry run helped close out a tight game for a second straight week.
After four straight wins, four consecutive scoring outputs of at least 28 points, and touchdowns on 17 of their last 20 trips inside the red zone, the Ravens have found their offensive identity.
8
It’s explosive, efficient, and unpredictable, which is what a championship-caliber team desires. The success obviously begins with a two-time MVP quarterback, who’s now joined by a future Hall of Fame running back continuing to defy Father Time at age 30. But this offense is more than Jackson and Henry, a reality that was on full display Sunday.
For the second straight week, Henry was mostly contained — 38 yards on nine carries — in the first half as the Commanders were determined to stop the run, but that hardly mattered with Jackson throwing for over 200 yards to exploit a Washington defense playing more man coverage than expected. Flowers took full advantage to the tune of nine catches for 132 yards — both career highs — on nine targets before intermission as no defensive back was able to stick with him.
In the second half, Flowers wasn’t even targeted, but that merely allowed others to join in the fun as Henry and Jackson got going on the ground and the likes of Andrews and Rashod Bateman did the heavy lifting as receivers with both setting season highs in receiving yards for a second straight week.
The Ravens had a touchdown drive of 93 or more yards in each half, went 6-for-10 on third down, and averaged a whopping 7.4 yards per play. Other than the opening-drive interception — an off-target Jackson throw that went off Andrews’ hands — and Linderbaum’s botched snap that nearly resulted in a turnover on Baltimore’s second possession, the offense played very clean football with just one punt and two accepted penalties.
Every time Washington scored, the Ravens answered, keeping the impressive Daniels at least one step behind throughout the second half.
“I just feel like we’re good at what we have to do,” said Flowers about the current state of the offense. “If we have to run the ball, we’re going to run the ball. If we have to pass it, that’s what we’re going to do. And if we have to do both — like we did today — then that’s what we have to do.”
As Jackson used extensive play-action to eclipse 300 passing yards in back-to-back weeks for the second time in his career and Henry went over 130 rushing yards for the third time in four games, the Ravens set an NFL record with a sixth consecutive game of at least 150 yards and a touchdown both through the air and on the ground.
8Scary stuff, especially when your defense is lacking like Washington’s was on Sunday.
Of course, we’re just six weeks into the season, and Baltimore hasn’t exactly faced a murderers’ row of defenses to this point. We’ve certainly seen the Jackson-led Ravens look scary through the air and on the ground as the 2019 team was the first in NFL history to average more than 200 passing yards and 200 rushing yards per game. On the way to his second MVP award in five years, Jackson set several career passing marks last season while the Ravens led the league in rushing for a third time in five years.
But the arrival of Henry and the emergence — or reappearance in Andrews’ case — of multiple pass-catching weapons have lightened the burden on Jackson, which sounds silly to say since the 27-year-old is again putting up monster numbers as both a passer and runner. An improving offensive line and savvy play calling from offensive coordinator Todd Monken are making it all possible, especially with Jackson in even greater command of the offense in his second year in this system.
Jackson himself acknowledged this possibly being the most balanced offense the Ravens have had since he took the reins in 2018.
That the Ravens have gone on this winning streak with a defense that’s still trying to find its way should be frightening to the rest of the AFC. If Zach Orr’s still-talented group can reduce the big plays allowed through the air and tighten up inside the red zone to better complement a terrific run defense, Baltimore will become even more difficult to beat down the stretch.
But the way this Ravens offense is rolling, that may not even matter all that much.
