Let me take you back to a few days before week 1. The Ravens had just lost all their RBs, CBs Marcus Peters and Chris Westry, DL Derek Wolfe was dealing with an injury, TE Nick Boyle was still recovering, 1st Rd pick Rashod Bateman had just had surgery, QB Lamar Jackson was returning from covid again, and much more. At this point, the Ravens were written off by most. "They'll be fighting for 3rd place with the Bengals while the Browns, and possibly Steelers" lead the division. This was the belief by most "experts" and many fans. Fast forward to week 7, the Ravens and Bengals are about to battle for the division lead while the Browns will need to beat a decent Titans team, without their QB or top 2 RBs, to move out the basement and put the Steelers there. It's amazing what the Ravens have been able to do, with all these injuries, on the back, legs, and arms of Lamar Jackson. It's also impressive what the Bengals have been able to do with the dynamic duo of Joe Burrow and Ja'Mar Chase. The Burrow to Chase combo has been lighting up defenses so well that Chase is on pace for 1500 receiving yards as a rookie. Speaking of defense, the Bengals are 8th in yards allowed and 5th in points allowed. They are going to make it hard for Lamar Jackson to continue his undefeated streak against them. This looks to be yet another fun game. This is an interesting season so far. The Ravens have lost a close game against a decent opponent, barely won close games against bad teams, and completely dominated what most considered a top 7 team at worst (prior to the matchup). The Ravens have started 5-1 four total times in their history. The first two times were the superbowl seasons. The last two times were last year and this year. Every Ravens fan is hoping it ends like the first two. LET'S GO, RAVENS!!!
Don't know what to make of this one. I am less concerned with Jamarr Chase as I am Joe Mixon. Our weakness is MLB, and TEs and RBs can pick our D apart. Not to mention getting the ball out quickly to avoid sacks. Call me a homer, but Cincy has played well, but not really beaten anyone of note. They lost to a poor Chicago team. They barely beat the Vikes, barely beat the Jags, aside from the recency bias of betaing down the Lions, I really don't see them as a dominant team. Our best offensive strategy is to run the ball, control the clock and keep Burrow off the field. If the Bengals go up tempo, get the ball out quickly to TEs and RBs, and dominate time of posession, they have a good shot. If not, I think we win this one by 10+.
I agree with Prag's assessment. He sees much of the same things that I do with the defense. Cinci's D is decent but it won't stop Lamar and I can see another 30 plus point game provided they protect the football.
Well, looks like we're losing to Cincy. The Bengals are legit this year and the Ravens aren't quite as good as they good be. Still good, but not consistent. Too many missed tackles today. The problem all season so far
The Ravens D played peewee defense today. No tackling whatsoever. An embarrassing performance and one that will be felt at the end of the season when/if they go to the playoffs. The offensive line was overwhelmed and dominated by Cinci's front 7 as well. The makeshift line is a shambles after losing Mekari early on and this is going to be a determining factor in the next few weeks.
well that was a painful game to watch. Cincy is definitely better than I thought and will be tough to beat at their place if w want a split. I will say, aside from all the fair criticism here, that I feel like Lamar often gets stuck in these narratives where he thinks he has to bomb the ball downfield all game long. I feel like he was doing that unneccesarily yesterday all game. On first down he was often looking for the huge chunk play instead of taking the shorter checkdown and gaining positive yards and by waiting he gave the defense the chance to continuously apply pressure all game long. When the oline struggles he has to take the quick hitters, check downs and rb's out of the backfield to keep the chains moving. That is my critiqu of him yesterday. He was trying to score the 10 point touchdown and kept putting the offense in 3rd and long and that is a recipe for disaster. Defense played terrible as well, they could not tackle or cover and generated about zero pressure. Terrible game all around and that is one to flush and start fresh on the by week to come up with better plans for the next few games.
Yeah, Lamar is the opposite of our previous QB, he hates the checkdown. This game, as well as most this season, pretty much prove Lamar has to be beyond great for this team to win. He's clearly the MVP of the year. MVP doesn't, or shouldn't, mean best player. At one point Lamar had 8 carries for about 63 yards while everybother RB plus Duvernay had 7 carries for 0 yards. I was wrong about Baltimore still having a good run game so long as we had Lamar and Roman. Even they can't turn shit to gold. On a brighter note, Rashod Bateman looks fantastic as of now. He's going to be a great underneath WR and chain mover. Let's hope the team can get it together during the bye. The Lamar led Ravens are 7-4 in November and 13-1 in December so this team still has a chance to finish strong. They need to come out the bye firing on all cylinders and win the next 3 games. If they reach 8-2, and get some players back in that time (Wolfe, Westry, Boyle, Watkins) I think they'll be in good shape to finish the season strong and make a playoff run. Also hoping EDC finds some o-lineman soon. Mekari going down could be the straw that breaks the camels back. The o-line is the biggest detriment to the season right now, followed very closelt by defensive tackling.....or the inability to tackle.
Reinforcements coming. Derek Wolfe has been activated and is back to practicing. If I recall, Boyle is also. Now we just wait for Westry, Watkins, and Murray to return. That's about as healthy as we can get
