With the Ravens flattening Denver in a 41-10 blowout win to improve to 6-3 on Sunday afternoon, I’ve offered a dozen thoughts, each in 50 words or less:
1. Lamar Jackson missed nearly as many practices (two) and had as many touchdown passes as incompletions (three) in posting a perfect passer rating against one of the NFL’s top defenses. He’s second in touchdown throws and passing yards and 17th in overall rushing. It’s like he’s playing a different sport.
2. Zay Flowers has eclipsed 110 receiving yards in four of his last five games with the exception being Week 7 when he labored through a first-half ankle injury. Not only is Flowers playing like a true No. 1 receiver, but he’s rapidly climbing the league’s power rankings at the position.
3. Though Derrick Henry wasn’t thrilled with his performance, Next Gen Stats credited him with forcing 13 missed tackles to eclipse 100 rushing yards for the fifth time in the last seven games. He already has Baltimore’s first 1,000-yard rushing season since 2020. Just keep him fresh and healthy for January.
4. Nelson Agholor noted, “We’ve done a good job chasing balance in the air and on the ground.” Baltimore is second in scoring, fourth in passing yards per game, and first in rushing. Jackson is second in passing yards, Henry first in rushing, and Flowers fifth in receiving yards. Balance indeed.
5. That reinforces why the Ravens don’t need their pass defense to improve all that drastically to be able to win a championship. The stops on fourth down and in the red zone were a step in the right direction, especially on the heels of the Cleveland debacle. Just be decent.
6. That said, Bo Nix had some opportunities with his fourth-down overthrow to a wide-open Troy Franklin to begin the second quarter standing out as a game-altering play. You can’t squander those facing an offense that’s so challenging for even elite defenses to handle right now.
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7. Clock mismanagement and a couple penalties preceded Denver kicking a field goal to make the score 17-10 with 54 seconds remaining in the first half. The next time the Broncos offense touched the ball with any practical opportunity to score, the Ravens led 31-10. Opponents’ margin for error is tiny.
8. The pass rush collected four sacks, but those came after Nix had plenty of time in the pocket — a credit to the coverage — and were accompanied by a so-so 33.3% pressure rate for the day, per Next Gen Stats. Adding an impact piece to that puzzle would be extremely helpful.
9. Not only did Tavius Robinson lead the Ravens in sacks, pressures, and quarterback hits, but he also dropped into coverage for a nice pass breakup. Both Robinson and Trenton Simpson played well, which is what you need from some unproven youngsters to hope for meaningful defensive improvement across the board.
10. Though active, Travis Jones didn’t play on defense as he rested an injured ankle that’s really limited him the last couple weeks. Diontae Johnson played 17 snaps and ran only six routes, but there’s no need to rush him, especially after Agholor made that 29-yard catch early on.
11. A week after being benched in favor of Eddie Jackson, Marcus Williams played 63 snaps while Jackson was a healthy scratch, continuing the “As the (Safety) World Turns” saga. Nix catching the trick-play touchdown on him wasn’t a highlight anyone wants to be part of, but Williams was solid otherwise.
12. It sounds silly saying a three-loss team looks unstoppable, of course, but how Baltimore demolished an opponent that entered the day 5-3 makes the defeats to Las Vegas and Cleveland all the more maddening. Ronnie Stanley reiterated a familiar talking point: “The only thing that can stop ourselves is ourselves.”
