The tradition of the stands emptying out early continued in downtown Cleveland on Sunday. The Ravens came to town; the Browns looked like they didn’t want to play.
Once it was clear that quarterback DeShaun Watson wasn’t going to suit up for the home team, it was only a matter of the final score. The Ravens won 28-3 and it wasn’t that close. Young Dorian Thompson-Robinson looked as overwhelmed as any rookie quarterback we’ve seen this side of Spurgeon Wynn.
It was almost too easy. That’s a win in Cincinnati and another in Cleveland. Now 2-0 in Ohio, the Ravens will head back across the border for the AFC North sweep to yins in Pittsburgh, who got blistered by the lowly Houston Texans. Gotta love when Coach Cowher tells ya at halftime: “They’ve got real problems!”
One of them is that Lamar Jackson is coming to the Confluence on Sunday and beginning to feel the confidence of another efficient 15-of-19 effort for 186 yards and the double deuce of two passing touchdowns and another pair afoot. While we were worrying about Todd Monken and the efficiency and success of the new offense and Lamar Jackson’s promise and improvement in the passing game, the brutal truth is that the rest of the AFC North sucks.
The Ravens are one dumb decision by the head coach last week against the Colts from being 4-0 and not even being remotely impressive as a powerful football team. They’re doing all of this without 25% of their starters and they keep losing more guys. Morgan Moses will be an MRI candidate this week and we’ll worry about the right side of the line after the Ronnie Stanley jolt to the left side.
As Coach Hardball always says: “It’s not pretty.” Once again, it doesn’t need to be. The style points are in the result for a four-touchdown win on the road in the division.
Patrick Mekari and Daniel Faalele might be part-time turnstiles but when you’re never in 3rd and long and the quarterback has the most elusiveness in the history of the sport, you find a way. That’s especially helpful when the running backs can find a decent play on first down. The penalties and putting the ball on the carpet plagued the Ravens early in Cleveland but once that was eliminated, this was as easy of a win as the team can hope for this season. NFL games don’t usually look this easy.
And who would bet against John Harbaugh on the road against a backup rookie quarterback?
The Ravens won’t see a good team until the Lions arrive on October 21, and might start to see some of the key players on the roster get healthy and return before November. It’s getting late early as the NFL heads to the quarter pole. The Ravens are a weirdly lackluster 3-1. They haven’t looked like a great football team. They haven’t needed to and won’t need to anytime soon.
Lamar Jackson to Mark Andrews still works. And Zay Flowers in space will work. And Lamar is throwing the football better – and still not throwing a lot. The running back by committee and running behind the ragamuffin offensive line is working enough for the time being. All of the OBJ and Bateman and passing fireworks chatter has given way to what the Ravens can do well – control down and distance and run well enough to allow Lamar to find space or a receiver. And when the defense gives you the ball on the 10-yard line, you punch it in.
Four sevens and no Justin Tucker bombs. And when you can win by 25 points on the road in your division without breaking a sweat, it bodes well for whatever adversity is no doubt lurking later in the season.
I spent the first month thinking the Browns might actually be contenders. No Nick Chubb. No DeShaun Watson. No good. And on Sunday, the men of Jim Schwartz were on the field too much.
Meanwhile, it’s the Ravens defensive unit that are the quiet – if not unlikely – heroes of the 3-1 start. Roquan Smith is a dude. Kyle Hamilton has arrived. The versatility of what Mike Macdonald is trying to do on the back side and the plug and play of even a Kyle Van Noy tells you this unit can have some fun torturing poor Mitch Trubisky on Sunday in Pittsburgh now that it appears Kenny Pickett was hurt against Houston.
As for the Lamar experiment driving the new car, it was another choppy effort when penalties and mistakes stall drives before they can begin. Still too many 3-and-outs, but the offensive line can only be so good for so long as currently comprised with moving parts and backups with low ceilings and a turnstile floor against the likes of Myles Garrett and T.J. Watt. Lamar and Justice Hill also put the ball on the ground and that must cease.
There will be plenty of time this week for the infirmary update the injury to Moses and the reality of getting OBJ, Bateman and Stanley back on the field for Lamar and the offense. Getting Tyler Linderbaum back was a plus. And the backside of the secondary hasn’t faced a real challenge from a quarterback who can go down the field. Getting Marlon Humphrey back before that happens can only help.
Pittsburgh looks inept. Cincinnati looks worse. And that Titans win also serves as a wakeup for the London trip over the hill after the Steelers.
The Ravens are doing the one thing you must do to win your division: beating everyone on the road.
Now, who is starting Game 1 on Saturday and who are we playing?
Lots of baseball ahead. The Ravens are just fine and will be waiting in first place after the Orioles World Series parade in November.
