Report Card: Ravens Top Bucs for 5th Straight Win

The game started out a little sketchy, morphed into a thing of beauty if you’re a fan of the black and purple, and then kind of dissolved into a weird, sloppy mess of missed assignments, a bungled onside kick and a score that probably told the story when all’s said and done even if took a zany trip to get there.

Let’s look at some grades.

Offense Overall: A

The Ravens generated 508 yards of offense, scored 41 points on the road and had these drive results after a promising opening possession was neutered by a pair of sacks: Touchdown, Touchdown, Field Goal, Field Goal, Touchdown, Touchdown, Fumble, Touchdown. When they get rolling, they get absolutely rolling, and tonight was no exception. Again, penalties put them in bad situation after bad situation, but they typically just slide right out of trouble like nothing ever happened. This is a stellar unit right now. A fumble and those back-to-back sacks were the only things keeping this from even a higher score.

Quarterback: A+

Lamar Jackson is truly playing on a different level right now — which is a mouthful when discussing a twice-honored MVP. He was 17-22 for 281 yards and five touchdowns — good for a rating of 158.1 — and ran for another 52 yards. He was patient. He was explosive when opportunities presented themselves. And he was clutch. The Ravens were 4-for-5 in the Red Zone, and he even got out for a big block on Derrick Henry’s big fourth-quarter run. The deep throw to Rashod Bateman for a 49-yard touchdown was a seed, and the touch on his second touchdown throw to Mark Andrews was almost equally as impressive.

Running Backs: A

Henry had a quiet first half, only running for 23 yards on four carries. But he spoke awfully loud in the second half, as has been his calling card this year. He finished with 169 yards on 15 carries, and added a 13-yard touchdown reception. There is very little more exciting than realizing Henry has split a gap, and we got a taste of that with his 81-yard run. Justice Hill showed crazy explosion again, with 44 yards and a touchdown on three catches. Patrick Ricard dropped a pass that could have been a big gain, but he also laid a huge block on Henry’s 81-yarder.

Receivers: B

Bateman had two huge plays in this one, a 59-yarder that moved the Ravens into scoring position in the second quarter, and he made a great move to spring open on his 49-yard touchdown. He finished with 121 yards on four catches. Mark Andrews continued his recent improved play, with two touchdowns and 41 yards on four grabs. Zay Flowers started out looking good, with a 19-yard run and 11-yard catch, but went off with an apparent ankle injury and seemed to go on and off the field the rest of the way. Nelson Agholor had a nice 20-yard catch to make a Justin Tucker field goal a little easier, and Isaiah Likely and Charlie Kolar combined for three catches, and some nice blocks on the edge.

Offensive Line: C+

This unit is playing above nearly everybody’s expectations, and they were fine again tonight — paving the way on some explosive runs, and building nice pockets, particularly in the second and third quarters. But the penalties are a huge problem, and will cost this team at a big time if they are not fixed, and there are still some lapses in communication and assignments. Now, Daniel Faalele led a pack of blockers on Hill’s touchdown reception, and Ronnie Stanley had big clocks on a catch-and-run by Zay Flowers in the first quarter and Henry’s big run. Tyler Linderbaum, Faalele and Roger Rosengarten built a great pocket for Jackson on his 49-yard touchdown to Bateman.

Defense Overall: C

I’m conflicted here. They gave up 31 points and nearly 500 yards — but, they also got two picks, nearly had a few more, and gave up quite a bit of that damage in garbage time. Marlon Humphrey had a huge impact on the game before leaving with an injury. His end-zone pick when Tampa already had a lead was so big, especially considering the Ravens came down and scored four plays later to take the lead. The Ravens had three sacks and did some good things, but their typically-stout run defense wasn’t quite as stout, and there were still some wide-open guys downfield.

Defensive Line: C

This was one of the tougher games of the season for this unit, particularly in run defense. Still, they had their moments. Nnamdi Madubuike had a tackle for loss, forced Baker Mayfield into Kyle Van Noy’s sack and combined with Roquan Smith to stop a third-down scramble by Mayfield in the third quarter. Odafe Oweh was good, coming up with a big run stop in the first quarter, ending a drive with a third-down sack and chasing several runs back into the middle. Michael Pierce broke through a few times early, but didn’t impact the play, however he did wrap up Mayfield on a two-point conversion attempt. Travis Jones had a sack wiped out by a penalty, and Brent Urban was active, with four tackles.

Linebackers: B

Roquan Smith had one of his better games, with 18 tackles, 11 of them solo, and some bone-rattling hits. Trenton Simpson was in on a lot of plays, too, with eight tackles, including one for a loss. The pair combined on a huge third-down stop for no gain in the third quarter, and Smith forced a fumble with a huge hit, but Tampa Bay recovered.

Defensive Backs: B-

Humphrey was huge in this one, and it could be argued that he has changed the course of two games this year with big interceptions — the Bengals game being the other. Let’s hope his injury isn’t too serious. Kyle Hamilton was very good in this one, with 11 tackles and a pass defensed. He laid a thumping hit in the fourth quarter that resulted in an incompletion. Nate Wiggins had a pick go off his hands in the third quarter, and also had another nice breakup in the third quarter. Mike Evans was wide open on his first-quarter touchdown and Cade Otton was getting way too many catches in the middle of the field. Ar’Darius Washington had a pick go through his hands and into a receiver’s for a big gain, but also had six tackles and a sack. He has a nose for the ball.

Special Teams: B

Why can’t the Ravens recover onside kicks like everybody else does? Other than that, some stuff to like. Justin Tucker has his mojo back, and drilled a 52-yarder. Both Justice Hill and Chris Collier had kickoff returns of 35 yards or longer. Jordan Stout booted a 57-yarder, and Tampa only had one punt return for seven yards.

Coaching: B+

I liked a lot about the coaching tonight, particularly on the offensive side. Todd Monken and Jackson seem to be really in a good place, as Jackson seems to have answers to all the questions an aggressive play-caller in Todd Bowles was throwing his way. The team continues to ride Jackson in the first half, and Henry in the second, and it’s hard to fault that plan. At all. It’s really hard to blame the constant miscommunications on defense on the coaches, when you need the players to handle their responsibilities, but it just keeps happening. It’s up to the coaches to get it fixed. No big game-management problems for me tonight. Pretty clean game overall against a good opponent on the road.

The post Report Card: Ravens Top Bucs for 5th Straight Win appeared first on Russell Street Report.

Source: https://russellstreetreport.com/2024/10/22/report-card/report-card-ravens-top-bucs-for-5th-straight-win/