Four Downs: Ravens Looking at a Taste of Their Own Medicine?

What do you get when the two best running teams meet? The Baltimore Ravens and Washington Commanders could be a complete track meet. The Ravens are coming off a 41-38 win over the Cincinnati Bengals that was so insane it defied logic. The Commanders have just one loss on their season and have new excitement flowing through their team. Here are the four things you have to think about with this game.

First Down: A Bit of Your Own Medicine

The Washington Commanders are led by the front-runner for the NFL’s Rookie of the Year award. Jayden Daniels has thrown for over 225 yards in every game except the season opener and he’s run for a total of 300 yards on 57 rushing attempts. If Lamar Jackson represents the beginning of an evolution at the quarterback position, Daniels is the next link in that progression. Jackson has 53 running plays on the season for 363 yards. While Daniels is one of the most challenging players for most teams to prepare for, the Ravens should be the least surprised by what he brings to the table. You can see that Daniels is quickly becoming Jackson’s contemporary – the comparison is obvious and provides a jolt of energy for the game on Sunday.

Washington is second in the NFL in rushing yards with 892. The Ravens are firmly ahead with 1,056 yards on the ground. The Green Bay Packers are the only other team to have over 800 rushing yards. Washington’s leading running back is Brian Robinson Jr. who is averaging 4.5 yards per carry (but who has not practiced so far this week). Austin Ekeler, who has been limited, is making a difference as a runner and a pass-catcher. His role has a striking resemblance to Justin Hill’s with the Ravens.

Stopping the run is important in any game yet it means a bit more in this contest. The Ravens know all too well what happens when a team built to base everything off the ground game is bottled up in the backfield. Daniels has been amazing in clutch situations and the night game win over Cincinnati especially showed that. Still, Daniels and the Commanders haven’t been forced away from their Plan A this season. If the Ravens can dictate the game to the Commanders they will see if Daniels can rise to that kind of test.

Second Down: Don’t Give Washington’s Defense The Right Situation

The Commanders allow 23 points per game and have a respectable defensive unit. The biggest test for the Ravens will be moving the Commanders off the ball in the run game. Jonathan Allen and Daron Payne are massive space eaters who clog up the rushing lanes and occupy blockers. For a Baltimore context, think of when the Ravens had Sam Adams and Tony Siragusa. Bobby Wagner may not be the linebacker he was in his prime with the Seahawks, but he’s a high grade headhunter of the football. The moral of the story is that Washington has a lot of big bodies to move out of the way and they have the linebacker play to aggressively get to the ballcarrier as the offensive linemen are occupied. That’s the general concept of the Washington defense and when it works, it works. The Commanders beat the Browns 34-13. Cleveland saw the run game get taken away by the script of the game and Washington teed off with seven sacks.

The Commanders do have times where they struggle to stop the run. The Cardinals picked up 181 yards on the ground against them, though it’s important to note that it was in a 42-14 loss. The Giants were able to pick up 129 on the ground while the Bengals had 124 rushing yards. This is welcome news for the Ravens, whose star running back averages 114.4 rushing yards a game and whose MVP quarterback averages 72.6 yards per game. The test will be if the Ravens can run it in between the tackles with Washington’s beefy front. It’s a good game for more Todd Monken creativity in the run game. Look for a Zay Flowers Jet sweep and plays designed to get outside with Derrick Henry.

The big question is what happens if this game becomes about passing and the situation of the game takes away the Ravens orientation towards the run? Jackson will have to be the crafty evader he was in the backfield last week to get through a game like that. Washington can make life hard on the opposing quarterback and so the Ravens must dictate the style of this game. Whoever controls the line of scrimmage the most consistently is going to win the game. These offenses are beacons of efficiency. The game will be about which team has more negative plays. In a game where both defenses respect the horror show the quarterback they are facing can deliver to them this spooky season, both teams have no choice but making their opponent as one dimensional as possible.

Third Down: Keep Leaning on the Tight Ends 

Good things happen when you throw Isaiah Likely the football. It’s almost shocking that he had nine catches for 111 yards in the opener but hasn’t seen more than three catches in a game since. Likely may be the most explosive playmaker the Ravens have so he needs to be used. Mark Andrews isn’t having a very Mark Andrews like year – that said he’s one of the Ravens best blockers. He needs to be featured for that reason alone but getting him going in as a weapon for the offense almost seems to be the answer to unlocking the next gear for the offense. Charlie Kolar is coming off his most impressive performance and is a versatile tight end. The Ravens want to run the football which leans towards the interests of their tight ends anyway. The play-action passing game to tight ends is a core component of the offense. Every Sunday should be tight end’s day in Baltimore.

If you look at the matchups in this contest, the tight ends could be the Baltimore cheat code. Washington won’t have a defensive back or a linebacker who can deal with the size of any of the Ravens tight end trio. Andrews and Likely are oddly in a position where either one of them could be used as a decoy for the other. Kolar even joked about the idea that nobody was worried about him after his stellar showing in Cincinnati.

The tight end-focused attack lines up with the run heavy priority of the offense. The Ravens have three viable blockers and three viable targets that each offer something different. The Ravens can almost go with the hot hand like most teams do with running backs and switching up their looks with the tight end by committee approach can keep the defense guessing. The Ravens need to fully commit to this concept against their Beltway foes.

Fourth Down: Match the Sunday Night Intensity

The Ravens have a habit of playing down to their opponent or coming out a bit flat in games they are supposed to win. The good news is that Washington is surprisingly strong and this game is looked at as a toss-up. This is another game where just about any outcome is possible. The Ravens could blow the Commanders out of the water with a showing like they had against the Bills. If the Ravens make the mistakes they made against the Raiders, the Commanders might just blow the Ravens out. The most likely scenario is that both teams will have packed their Sunday best and it will be the showdown it’s meant to be. After a game where the Ravens willed their way to win but ultimately got lucky it’s important to see which Ravens team shows up at M&T Bank Stadium.

The fact of the matter though is that if the Ravens play like they did against the Bills, they aren’t losing. The Ravens started out 0-2. This is a “show me something” game. We need to see if they can deliver their best football in a game like this. The Commanders have something to prove and a positive energy that you can’t help but enjoy as a football fan. The Ravens need to bring their energy to this game. The Ravens just got away with one – this is not a game where you can mess around.

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