Top takeaways from the Battle of the Beltway: Ravens

The Baltimore Ravens broke the all-time series tie with their interconference and instate rivals in the Battle of the Beltway with a 31-17 win over the Washington Football Team in Week Four.

It wasn’t a flawless performance by the Ravens but coming off a short week where they were humbled by the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs at home in primetime, they came away with a double-digit road win over a team that they were expected to beat handily.

The Ravens had great bounce-back performances from several players on both sides of the ball and had some other less-heralded players step up for some injured starters.

Overall it was a solid performance in all three phases for Baltimore and if it weren’t for a pair of acrobatic interceptions that set Washington’s offense up on the Ravens’ side of the field.

The first occurred just before halftime and the other came in garbage time. Baltimore likely would’ve outgained Washington 350-289 instead of by the slim margin of 350-343 and blown them out by more than 30 points.

Here are some of the top takeaways that I observed from the Battle of the Beltway from a Ravens’ perspective:

Patrick Queen bounced back in a big way

The Ravens first-round rookie inside linebacker got exploited by the Chiefs last week and was even benched for a time during the game. Against Washington, he showed just why he was taken so high in the draft and why his expectations in year one and beyond are through the roof as well.

Queen was an absolute tackling machine on Sunday and was flying around all over the field making plays around and behind the line of scrimmage. He led the team in combined tackles with a new career-high of 12 including three for loss, nine of which he made solo.

“He played really well,” Head Coach John Harbaugh said Monday after watching the tape. “The run game, I’ll tell you, he made a lot of good plays. He was sorting the schemes. He read the schemes well. He made a bunch of tackles for us at the point of attack and also, some rally tackles, too.”

His most impressive play came in the second quarter on the play just before Washington scored their first touchdown. Running back Peyton Barber leaped in an attempt to score from one yard out but he was met midair by Queen who delivered a powerful blow with just one arm that dropped him behind the line of scrimmage for a one-yard loss.

He will continue to improve and learn with every experience he gains as the season progresses, and there will be several more instances where he will showcase his playmaking ability as he did in Week Four and in the two weeks prior to the game against the Chiefs.

Pass protection held up surprisingly well with Ronnie Stanley

Even though Washington was without their top rookie and second overall pick Chase Young at defensive end and had placed stud backup defensive tackle Matt Ioannidis on injured reserve last week, they still boasted a talented defensive front with multiple first-rounders that could get after the quarterback.

The Ravens’ inability to keep reigning league MVP, Lamar Jackson, off the turf had been an issue in the team’s first three games. Baltimore’s offensive line had given up four sacks in back to back games heading into this matchup and hours before the game they had to reshuffle the starting lineup because their First-Team All-Pro left tackle Ronnie Stanley who was listed as questionable on the final injury report with a shoulder injury was a surprise addition to the inactive list.

The Ravens moved starting right tackle Orlando Brown Jr over to the left side and inserted veteran DJ Fluker into his spot. It was Brown’s first time protecting a quarterback’s blindside since college and Fluker hadn’t started a game at tackle since converting to guard in 2015.

Despite having two players playing out of position and a rookie at right guard, Baltimore’s pass protection was superb compared to their previous performances. Jackson was sacked just once but it came outside the pocket when he couldn’t find an open receiver and decided to hit the deck instead of throwing the ball away. They provided him with consistently clean pockets and ample time to throw.

“D.J. and Orlando did a tremendous job. [They] adapted on the fly and it speaks volumes for the type of football players they are,” Harbaugh said Sunday after the game.

It was a pleasant surprise considering they were without their best offensive lineman and it will give them confidence going forward in the unit’s ability to perform at a high level if their oft-injured stalwart pass protector were to miss a game or extended period of time in the future.

“Orlando, and put Fluker in there, both those guys did a great job,” Harbaugh said Monday. “I felt good about it during the game. After watching the tape, I probably felt even better about it.

“It’s not easy. On Friday, all of a sudden we’re flipping things around, making sure everybody knows what they’re doing. It’s a credit to them that they knew what to do. Really, flipping those techniques, is not as easy as you might think. Especially the defensive line we were going against in this last game. Those guys did a good job.”

Mark Andrews has resurgent performance after two quite weeks

The Ravens star tight end who broke out and earned his first career Pro Bowl in 2019 and in the season opener against the Cleveland Browns he appeared to have picked up where he left off with five catches for 58 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

However, he was limited to just four catches for 51 yards on 11 targets over the next two games. Opposing defenses had made limiting him a focal point of their approach and were rolling coverage to wherever Andrews was lining up and his production took a dip as a result.

Against Washington, he was one of the many Ravens players that bounced back. His resurgent performance was reminiscent of his hot start to the season in Week One. He hauled in all three of his targets for 57 yards and his second two-touchdown game of the season.

“I think this league is all about not getting too up, not getting too down,” Andrews said Sunday after the game. “I’m confident in my ability, and today was good.”

On his first touchdown, he looked like a wide receiver with the way he was able to reel in a 25-yard pass from Jackson and get both feet down in bounds before his momentum carried him out of the left front corner of the endzone. His second came on a perfectly passed 22-yard strike where he was able to get behind the defense in the red zone and Jackson squeezed the ball between two defenders.

Andrews led the Ravens and all tight ends in touchdown receptions last season with 10 and after adding four more through the first four games of the 2020 season, he now leads the entire league with 14 over that span. He is still one of Jackson’s most dangerous and trusted targets in the passing game and their connection is as strong as ever.

“Our chemistry never really left,” Jackson said. “It was just a hiccup in the game, I guess. We’re good. It was great to have the chemistry going today.”

“We’re working hard in practice, and we’re just hitting our stride,” Andrews added. “We’re just going to keep on getting better.”

Pass rush showed great progress

Oct 4, 2020; Landover, Maryland, USA; Baltimore Ravens outside linebacker Matt Judon (99) sacks Washington Football Team quarterback Dwayne Haskins (7) during the first quarter at FedExField. Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports

The Ravens defense has been generating a lot of pressure over the first three weeks but wasn’t been able to produce to sack numbers to go along with them. Against the Chiefs last week, they failed to record a single sack of reigning Superbowl MVP Patrick Mahomes. Afterward, Baltimore’s Defensive Coordinator Don ‘Wink’ Martindale called the pass rush a “work in progress”.

On Sunday against Washington, the Ravens pass rush showed great progress. Martindale’s unit relentlessly harassed and pressured second-year quarterback Dwayne Haskins. Baltimore brought him down three times and had plenty of close calls that resulted in quarterback hits.

Outside linebacker Matthew Judon was a menace off the edge as he led the pass rush charge. He accounted for two of their three sacks, which were also his first of the season, and recorded the most quarterback hits with five. Second-year edge rusher Jaylon Ferguson recorded the team’s third sack which was his first of the season as well.

“The thing I love about Matt is, it matters to him,” Harbaugh said. “He really cares. He wants to be the difference-maker at all times. Sometimes it just works out for you. I felt like he was playing hard, he always plays very hard. He was in the right spot and of course he was able to get the quarterback down. He had a great game. I don’t think it’s a lot different than other games, it just kind of worked out a little bit better.”

Jackson is still not missing Hollywood deep

As good as Jackson was throwing the ball against Washington compared to his nightmarish outing versus the Kansas City six days earlier, he still left some plays out on the field, especially down the field. There were a handful of instances where wasn’t able to connect on deep balls to speedy wide receiver Marquise ‘Hollywood’ Brown.

Although Brown still wound up leading the team in receptions and receiving yards with four for 86 yards, he could’ve had a monster game and easily eclipsed 100 yards receiving if Jackson has been just a little more on target on one of the four other targets that went Brown’s way but were either too far in front of the speedster or just slightly off target to where it gave the defender a chance to make a play on the ball.

“A couple of passes to Marquise, we shouldn’t have been coming off the field without a touchdown,” Jackson said.

Marlon Humphrey is worth every penny of his new contract

Last but certainly last least, the play of Baltimore’s First Team All-Pro corner was arguably the most impressive of any player on either side of the ball or in any phase of the game. On Thursday the Ravens made the former first-round pick the second-highest-paid player at his position in the entire league by signing him to a five-year extension worth $98 million, and on Sunday he showed just why he deserved such a handsome reward and why he’s in the conversation for one of the best defenders in the game.

He was suffocating on coverage both in the slot and when he lined up in his natural habitat on the outside, finished with a career-high nine tackles—eight of which were solo—deflected a pass and forced what has become his routinely timely turnover by ripping the ball out of the grasp of Washington running back J.D. McKissic.

“Anytime I’m around the ball, I just try something, whether it’s a tackle – whatever it is – an interception. However way we can get a turnover, it’s big for the team,” Humphrey said. “The biggest thing that you can have on defense is a defense that creates turnovers, whether it’s an interception or a forced fumble or sack.”

Washington did their utmost to keep their top wide receiver Terry McLaurin away from the Ravens’ top coverman. McLaurin feasted on every other corner not named Humphrey in single coverage and finished with game-highs in catches and receiving yards with 10 for 118. However, he only managed to catch one pass for just three yards on plays in which Humphrey was the one guarding him in man coverage.

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