Ravens fans, it's almost time for the revenge tour to begin. I don't know if it'll end in a superbowl win or not (hopefully it does), but this season is looking like it'll be fun. Let's discuss about some things, starting with the draft class. It's 100% too early to know how good or bad this draft class is or will be, but holy $h*# it's looking good so far. Let's talk about these draft picks 1st round Kyle Hamilton - He's not playing on a level to match the hype he's received so far (what a way to start after my first paragraph lol), but it could simply be an issue of overthinking. He's playing almost all game and he's being moved all over. The coaches are probably trying to gauge how he plays in different situations and he may be overthinking. He's had flashes though. Tyler Linderbaum - Nothing really to comment on here, no real data to go off of. 2nd round David Ojabo - Same as Linderbaum, likely doesn't play before November. These first 3 are the ones that received most of the hype after the draft, but they aren't the ones that are making this draft class look special, at least not yet. They obviously still have as much a chance to be top tier players, just like they have a chance to be busts. But let's talk about where the real excitement is, which is from the 3rd round and lower. 3rd round Travis Jones - This kid looked like a man amongst kids out there. He's been getting good push from the NT position and just dominating his man far more than not. He should be fun to watch playing next to Calais Campbell. Might prove to have been the best tackle in the draft, and the Ravens will be hoping the injury isn't an impactful one. He'll be needed. 4th round Daniel Faalele - Looks like a brick wall out there. Could possibly slide him in as a starter at RT right now and he'd play well. Would have growing pains here and there, but what rookies won't? Jayln Armour-Davis - Has been dealing with injuries. No real info Charlie Kolar - Also dealing with injuries Jordan Stout - Book it, the next Sam Koch. Strong leg and learning the tricks of the trade from Sam himself. Has had some great punts so far Isaiah Likely - The absolute star of the Ravens preseason so far. This kid looks like a flat out game changer. Great hands, great routes, great yac potential. Looks to be the next great Ravens TE. For a run first team that would need at least 3-4 targets in the passing game, he's clearly going to be one of them. Damarion Williams - Has had pretty good coverage so far. Shows a lot of flashes and good play. Reminds some of Lardarius Webb. Outside of the injuries, every 4th rounder that has played has looked great. 6th round Tyler Badie - He's looked great as well. Runs hard, catches well, however I can't speak to his blocking. Assuming Dobbins is at least 85%, Badie along with Mike Davis will help Ravens fans forget about last year's RB trio. Imagine how this draft class will look when Linderbaum locks up that center position with good play, Ojabo becomes a pass rushing nightmare opposite Oweh, and the game slows down for Hamilton and he becomes a terror in the secondary.
Let's also talk about more than the draft picks, we have more additions to the team that weren't there in week 18 last season due to injury. Lamar Jackson - expect another season where he's discussed in the MVP race. Lamar is as dialed in as he's ever been. Throwing better (by all accounts) than he ever has, he's also betting on himself. He's either going to go out there and dominate to prove he deserves the big contract next offseason, or he'll get it before week 1 and go out there and dominate to prove it was money well spent. Either way, this is going to be a special season for Lamar. Marlon Humphrey and Marcus Peters - Both are back at practice and I wouldn't be surprised if both are back to pre-2021 levels of play. Especially with the safeties they'll have behind them and without Mr Cover-0 as the DC. Assuming they stay healthy, I'll be surprised if they have less than 7 turnovers between them (and even that feels low). JK Dobbins - Now this is a player coming back with a chip on his shoulder. Hopefully he didn't rush his recovery, but if he's back to playing at pre injury levels, he'll help make the Ravens offense even more of a nightmare to defend Then there's other additions to the team like Kyle Fuller and Marcus Williams. The secondary seems almost a lock to be a top 5, probably top 3, unit in the league. The team still has question marks. The interior LBs are still a "wait and see" area, as is the o-line as a whole. If Ronnie Stanley is finally healthy again, along with all I've said the past two posts, I'll put my name on saying this is no worse than a 12 win team.....but who knows if Stanley if Stanley will ever be healthy again. Even without him, the Ravens revenge tour is starting about 20 days, and it's going to be fun to watch.
A true NFLer so far... great pickup! As for Jackson and Dobbins - they must stay healthy as they are as of right, 'keys to succes'.
The "smart" money (read: talking heads and twitter) are all picking the Bengals to win the AFC North. I've never been considered smart. My money is a push between the Ravens and the Steelers.
Overall, I'm with you on this. I feel like the Bengals had an ideal situation last year, compared to what happened with the rest of the AFC North. I don't seem them as being hands down better than any team in the north.
Burrow is the best QB in the division. This division still might get three playoff teams. Bengals, Steelers and Ravens. Can’t see the Browns with smoked brisket for QB.
I don't know how much I agree with that, but he very well might be. I'll say this, there aren't too many starting QBs in the league that would look bad throwing to Chase, Higgins, and Boyd all year long
And now Ronnie Stanley has been taken off the PUP list after passing his physical and conditioning test. Supposedly he's in great shape. Let's hope this isn't a repeat of last year. Also, all fans should know that even if he is health, finally, that he likely won't immediately play like the former All Pro he was. On a negative side, Tyus Bowser has been placed on the PUP list for the regular season and will miss the first four games at least. It's sad news as he's one of the defenders I most wanted to see play under the new DC
The Ravens are almost always expected to have a good defense, and this year is no exception. The pass rush is a question mark until proven otherwise, as is the LB core and the health of players in the secondary. There's also first time NFL DC, Mike Macdonald. Yet even with all that, most would expect the defense to still be good, and they will probably be right. Eyes are on the Ravens offense in Baltimore. Lamar Jackson is back after experiencing his first big injury of his professional career. He'll be playing behind an o-line that needs to prove itself and throwing to receivers that nobody fears at the moment...........but maybe they should. Mark Andrews is a stud, plain and simple. There's no need to discuss him further. Rashod Bateman might be the true #1 the Ravens have been looking for. He's shown, in limited opportunities, an ability to get open and make the tough catches. He won't need to be a top tier #1 in this offense, but he just needs to build upon last year as the main guy in the WR room. There's also new additions like Isaiah Likely. Likely sat out preseason game 3, because his spot on the team was locked up after preseason game 2. In game 2, Likely dominated to the tune of 8 targets and 8 catches for 100 yards and a TD.......while only playing 15 snaps that game. Granted I don't expect him to catch every target thrown at him for the next 17+ games, put if he can build upon this and play nearly as well, it'll go a long way for the Ravens offense. Lastly, there's DeMarcus Robinson. He's on his 3rd team, but as a vet he just didn't exactly what you'd expect a veteran to do against future practice squad players and amazon delivery guys, he torched them left and right while making it look each. 4 ctaches for 135 yards and a TD, with another 20+ yard TD being ruled incomplete due to not getting 2 feet inbounds. These four, along with the exery down threat that is Lamar Jackson, and potentially a healthy JK Dobbins could end up being part of an offense even better than the 2019 Ravens offense, in terms of skill positions. It'll come down to the offensive line and whether or not they can replicate the overall play of the 2019 line. The key factor there will be whether or not Ronnie Stanley is actually healthy. If he is, this line should definitely be just as good overall as the line that protected the NFL MVP. This post was about the offense, but we'll talk about the defense soon. Clearly I'm a big Ravens fan, but the potential the defense has, along with the offense, could lead to one of the better seasons in Ravens history.
And a week later, Stanley is actually practicing. And not just individual drills, but full on team drills. The only left is to see if he's fully healthy and not looking like he did in last year's Raiders game
Well, Lamar didn't resign. He'll play the year on the 5th year option. Last time a Ravens QB did that it ended well. Let's hope the same happens again. The big question on everyone's mind will be whether or not Lamar is a Raven next year. Of course they can tag him, but he may also ask for a trade to a team willing to pay what he wants (or a team without Greg Roman)
Im hearing he has been ruled out for Sundays game now. Ja'Wuan James is expected to start at left tackle in Stanley’s place.
Yup. But he's really only practiced about a week total. After a 2 year injury, it's more than reasonable that he may take awhile to be ready. I'm betting he'll return for the Bills game in week 4
I’m starting him on my fantasy team. I like him better than Waddle from Miami in my flex position. I really think Dobbins can light it up.
Ravens running back J.K. Dobbins won’t play against the Jets on Sunday. Dobbins missed all of last season after tearing his ACL during the preseason and said he would “damn sure” be ready to play in the season opener, but the Ravens felt otherwise after a Sunday morning workout. Dobbins told Diane Russini of ESPN that the team will make him inactive for the game. Mike Davis, Kenyan Drake, and Justice Hill will be the available backs for the NFC North squad in their trip to MetLife Stadium. The Ravens will face the Dolphins in their home opener next weekend and we’ll see if that’s the spot for Dobbins to play his first game since the 2020 season. PFT
