Top Takeaways from Ravens commanding win over Texans: Pass protection woes

The Baltimore Ravens continued to look like the cream of the NFL crop in Week Two after they followed up their dominating win in their season opener with another landslide victory over the Houston Texans on the road 33-16 this past Sunday.

This was a rematch of a Week 11 game from last season when the two teams met in Baltimore and even though the Texans scored more than doubled their messily seven points from that rough outing, they still didn’t fare much better as the Ravens made more plays than their hosts for most of the day on both sides of the ball.

Here is one of the top takeaways that I observed in the Ravens Week Two win:

Pass protection issues persist

The Ravens dominated the Texans both on the scoreboard and the ground with 230 yards rushing in their second straight blowout victory. However, it was far from a flawless performance from their offensive line.

While they rebounded from a run blocking standpoint in the second half after a sluggish start in the first two quarters by paving the way for their running backs to rack up 186 of their net rushing yards in the final two quarters, their pass protection sprung leaks all game long.

Reigning league MVP Lamar Jackson was under pressure almost every time he dropped back to pass and was sacked four times. They did a poor job of trying to limit the impact of the Texans’ five-time All-Pro defensive end JJ Watt for most of the afternoon. The three-time Defensive Player of the Year was extremely disruptive and led Houston’s defense with two sacks.

If it weren’t for Jackson’s incredible athleticism, elusiveness, and uncanny way of eluding defenders behind the line of scrimmage and in the open field, the Texans pass rush might have feasted all game long. Thankfully for the Ravens starting offensive line that is still breaking in a rookie at right guard and has two other starters dealing or returning from injuries, they have the most dynamic talent at the quarterback position in the history of the NFL.

Last week against the Cleveland Browns in the season opener, Jackson was only sacked twice but was pressured all game long much like he was against Houston before Offensive Coordinator Greg Roman decided to dial up more runs and keep the ball on the ground for the majority of the second half.

Tyre Phillips is the aforementioned rookie who is tasked with replacing a future Hall of Famer at right guard following the retirement of eight-time Pro Bowler Marshal Yanda this offseason. The third-round pick out of Mississippi State has had mixed results in his first two career starts after winning the starting job in training camp despite not having any semblance of a real offseason program due to COVID-19. He was solid in his debut in Week One but struggled a bit against the Texans, as did the entire line as a whole.

On the injury front, starting center Matt Skura has made a miraculous recovery from a serious season-ending knee injury he suffered late last season but has looked less than 100 percent in the first two games of the season as he continues to work his way back.

Ravens’ stalwart All-Pro blindside protector Ronnie Stanley has been dealing with ankle and hip injuries over the first two weeks of the season. Right tackle Orlando Brown Jr who made the Pro Bowl last season as a first alternate has struggled with consistency against athletic edge rushers. The only member of the starting five offensive linemen that have been consistently performing at a high level has been left guard Bradley Bozeman.

Winning tends to mask all deficiencies no matter how minuscule or glaring but given the circumstances of the offseason that was altered and condensed by the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s completely understandable that not every facet of the team is humming.

As long as the team as a whole is operating as the well-oiled machine that the Ravens have shown to be in the early going of this season, allowing a buffering period for the offensive line to get healthy, improve and learn how to work better with one another in harmonious accord before casting any aspersions is only fair.

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