OTL: Can This OL Hold Up in Cleveland (and Beyond)?

We had the Wednesday scaries when Lamar Jackson didn’t practice; however, we got a positive update on him on Thursday, when he returned to practice. Along with that, we need to discuss how this offense is going to score on a ferocious Browns Defense and what potential hiccups could result in a loss.

Let’s get this out of the way: Lamar is back.

#Ravens QB Lamar Jackson (knee) was a full participant today. Good sign.

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) November 13, 2025

It does seem like every year we have a situation where Lamar misses a practice during this mid to late November timeframe, doesn’t it? Although this time it isn’t caused by stomach aches from gas station shrimp or cramping. This is a real injury for Lamar; luckily, he said he feels fine, which is good. While it is good that he is back and is good to go for Sunday, we are going to shelve this point about Lamar and injuries for now. Don’t worry, we will come back to it.

The biggest challenge on Sunday is going to be scoring enough and efficiently so that the defense can feast on a bad rookie quarterback. Unlike most weeks, this isn’t about the defense; it is much more about the offense and what exactly their plan is on Sunday.

The Ravens are already down Rashod Bateman for Sunday, so they need someone who hasn’t gotten playing time recently to step up:

Tez Walker please save us https://t.co/vm8XCiTqct

— RAMEY (@HoodieRamey) November 12, 2025

Devontez Walker has an opportunity to shine, and he needs to seize it. He actually looked pretty good at the start of the year, then Isaiah Likely came back, and it seemed like his role just vanished. If Tez steps up, who knows, maybe this could have some cap casualty implications if he shows he can be a good number two WR.

Ok, but it won’t be the third WR that causes the Ravens to win or lose on Sunday. We have to discuss the elephant in the room, the main thing holding this team back: the offensive line.

The OL is limiting this team’s ceiling, and they have now gotten Lamar hurt two times this season:

We’ve seen Lamar take two of the biggest hits he’s taken as a Ravens in 2025.

One from Ed Oliver and one from Dallas Turner.

This offensive line needs to be better in pass protection. They are quite literally protecting the franchise. #RavensFlock

— Cole Jackson (@ColeJacksonFB) November 12, 2025

The pass blocking is atrocious right now. Even in the run game, they aren’t the greatest, and it is killing them in the red zone. When they get into the red zone, the line just gets blown up consistently. Notice that Cole doesn’t single out one or two players; this is a problem with the unit as a whole. The guards are terrible, no doubt, but the tackles aren’t doing their jobs either. Ronnie Stanley has been fine, but he got his butt whopped by Myles Garrett last time, and look who is waiting on Sunday. Roger Rosengarten got Lamar hurt last week when he failed to pick up a blitz, so he isn’t blameless either. This leaves Tyler Linderbaum on an island in pass protection, which is not what you want for an undersized center.

Look, 72 and especially 77 are hot garbage and shouldn’t be starting, but the others aren’t blameless. As much heat as Zach Orr has taken, he has at least gotten his side of the ball to play better. This is a failure from the players, the coaching staff, and the front office down. Yes, even George Warhop and John Harbaugh deserve a ton more blame than they are getting for this. Is Warhop even a good coach at this point? All that we’ve seen has been mediocre at best and drop-dead terrible at worst.

Emery Jones may come back and give them solid play at guard, but that’s a lot to ask of a guy making his first NFL starts, and outside of that, how in the world does this get fixed?

The answer is scary: it doesn’t. Maybe we, as a fanbase, just need to wake up and accept that this is who they are —a bad unit.

Something weird could happen, and the receivers could drop a billion passes on Sunday with the defense struggling. Outside of that, if this team loses on Sunday, this OL will be the reason. Furthermore, whenever they do end up faltering short of a Super Bowl, this OL will be the reason. Someone needs to answer for that.

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Source: https://russellstreetreport.com/2025/11/14/out-to-lunch/otl-can-this-ol-hold-up-in-cleveland-and-beyond/