Ravens Remain in the Green After Fifth Straight Win

The Ravens beat the Bucs 41-31 in a game that wasn’t as close as the final score indicates, but its still a game you walk away frustrated, despite the elite level of play we are seeing from Lamar Jackson and the Ravens offense.

It was another week of offensive domination, dumb mistakes, penalties and the defense getting gashed at times.  John Harbaugh pointed out that the defense stopped Tampa on six straight drives, and that’s great, but the game didn’t only consist of those six drives. Defense and special teams must play better and after last week’s drop in penalties, that issue arose again last night.

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Stock Up

Rashod Bateman

Bateman has been healthy since the beginning of last year and its showing now. In 2023, despite being healthy all year, Bate and Lamar Jackson did not have any chemistry. Well, things have changed this year, and I expect Lamar to keep looking for him more and more going forward.  For my money, Rashod is the most talented WR on the roster, and he needs to be utilized more often.

Ronnie Stanley

He continues his dominant season. According to Next Gen stats, he is the only left tackle in the NFL to not allow a sack with 50+ pass blocking attempts (he is at 224).  He has been a huge key to the offensive domination. Could a contract extension be in order?

Justice Hill

He continues to be the unsung hero for this team. He did miss a blitz pick up last night (though on the Manningcast, the guys said Tyler Linderbaum’s indecisiveness was the culprit), but he is elite at pass blocking and continues to make big plays in the passing game. He isn’t getting a lot of opportunities because of the presence of Derrick Henry, but he is making the most of them when he gets them.

Marlon Humphrey

Prior to the knee injury (hopefully he’s OK), Humphrey turned the game around with his two picks. Marlo is quietly having a Pro Bowl year. He isn’t allowing much in coverage and his tackling has been solid. Let’s hope he was just held out for precautionary reasons and the knee won’t affect him long term.

Justin Tucker

I guess he is back to normal, huh? He is back to drilling 50+ yard kicks and everything is down the middle again.  Good to see and glad he got his issue corrected.

Stock Down

Four-Quarter defense

Yet again, the defense let the team down late. In the fourth quarter alone, the Ravens allowed about 200 yards of offense and 21 points. I know the onside kick kept them on the field in back-to-back drives and Tampa had the ball a lot more and there was some garbage time yardage…but still, they have to button up. This is a consistent trend, and I don’t know if it’s Zach Orr in over his head, guys just making dumb mistakes, or what but it needs to be figured out.

“Game over in their mind. They don’t understand the other side of finishing and being a championship team right now.”

Ed Reed as Peyton comments on the Ravens giving up easy TDs late

— Russell St. Report (@RussellStReport) October 22, 2024

Special Teams

Yes, Tucker seems to be back, which is great, but everything else is still a bit of a mess. Harbaugh continues to need Tucker to boot it into the end zone because he doesn’t trust his coverage team, Jordan Stout is up and down whenever he actually gets a chance and now, we have to worry about the onside kick coverage team. There have been two onside kicks recovered this year in the NFL, and both have been against the Ravens. These mistakes keep teams in games when they have no business in them.

Mistakes

In addition to the onside kick, the backwards pass to Zay Flowers that resulted in a fumble was just another version of the Ravens being too cute. They were up huge in the game, the clock is your friend…why are they doing that stuff? Why tempt fate? Why give the other team any momentum, especially when you have a reputation as a team that keeps coughing up up big leads? The ego and arrogance to do something like that, when this is a consistent problem, is next level.

The standard isn’t beating a good-but-not-great-Bucs team. Rather, it’s beating the Chiefs in January. You can’t get away with these things against that team and expect to win. Button up these mistakes NOW, so they don’t sink your ultimate aspirations later.

Pass Rush

The pass rush needs to improve. The Bucs offensive line is very good and deserves credit, but Baker Mayfield had a lot of time way too often yesterday. While I wouldn’t call the pass rush “bad,” it’s just not as consistent as it needs to be. If the Ravens make a trade deadline move, a pass rusher would be nice.

The post Ravens Remain in the Green After Fifth Straight Win appeared first on Russell Street Report.

Source: https://russellstreetreport.com/2024/10/22/ravens-stock-exchange/week-7-2024/