Baltimore Ravens Are in Perfect Place to Right the Ship
At the first quarter mark in the season, the Ravens are playing nowhere near their potential. They played out of their minds on defense the first two weeks, but these last two have been nothing short of pitiful. The Ravens need to play better in all three phases of the game and they need to figure it all out within these next two weeks.
The next two weeks, the Ravens play the Oakland Raiders in Oakland, then come back home to play the Chicago Bears. Coming into the season, the match-up against the Raiders was projected to be one of the toughest games on the schedule. Going up against an offense with Derek Carr, Marshawn “Beast Mode” Lynch, Amari Cooper, and Michael Crabtree is almost as tough as it gets, but surprisingly they have not played as well as projected. Carr will be out for the next two to six weeks with a fracture in his lower back, meaning former first round pick EJ Manuel will be under center. Lynch has been an average running back so far this season, rushing for only 12 yards last Sunday against the Denver Broncos.
The following week, the Ravens get to play rookie Mitch Trubisky in his second career start, as head coach John Fox finally announced a switch at quarterback. The Ravens have no choice but to win this game if they want to be in playoff consideration. The Bears are without Cameron Meredith and Kevin White (their top two receivers) and start running back Jordan Howard has been dealing with injuries all season. Their only threat is rookie Tarik Cohen, but he splits carries with Howard and the Ravens have always had a great run defense. Yes the Bears did sneak out an overtime win against the Pittsburgh Steelers with Howard and Cohen running all over that defense, but the Ravens have feasted on rookie quarterbacks at home. In the Harbaugh era, the Ravens are a perfect 9-0 against rookie signal callers at M&T Bank Stadium.
The Ravens have a ton of holes to fill, and this is the perfect time in the schedule to figure everything out. They go up against two not-so-good defenses with either a backup or rookie quarterback. If they want a chance at the postseason, they need to win at least one, if not both of these games. The offense needs to have Alex Collins as the starting running back and Joe Flacco to have more awareness in the pocket. The offensive line needs to prove they can play somewhat well without Yanda and the defense needs to pressure the quarterback and lock down the middle of the field. Both Blake Bortles and Ben Roethlisberger had all the time in the world and kept finding someone in the middle of the field for 10-15 yard gains. I just hope they can figure this all out and compete deep into the season.