Stocks Continue to Rise After Wild Win, but Where’s the Football IQ?

The Ravens beat their division rival, the Cincinnati Bengals, in a thrilling OT game. In a game that may have been a must win game for the Bengals, the Ravens found a way to win despite poor back-end defense and a running game that struggled for most of the day.  They survived monster days from Joe Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins and showed that they can come back when down double digits in the fourth quarter.

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Stock Up

Lamar Jackson

I do not think Lamar Jackson can win his 3^rd MVP award until he wins a Super Bowl, or at least an AFC Championship. Yes, the votes are tabulated before the postseason starts but I think this will be similar to Nikola Jokic. Jokic should have won his 3^rd MVP a few years ago but he hadn’t had a lot of postseason success, and many held that against him. Lamar will likely be the same BUT if he keeps playing like he did yesterday, it will be tough to take the trophy from him.  The TD pass to Isaiah Likely after the fumbled snap will be tough to beat for play of the year.

Zay Flowers

Zay Flowers hasn’t done a whole lot this year for various reasons, but he really stepped up yesterday.  Its not even just that he had seven catches for 111 yards, but he made several critical and tough catches. Yesterday was his best game of the year and they needed every bit of it.

Nnamdi Madubuike

Mads always has an impact because of the attention that he draws but he made several splash plays yesterday. He got his first solo sack and was disruptive all day long.

Tight Ends

The Ravens tight ends had 10 catches for 142 yards and 3 TDs. Mark Andrews continues to lose snaps to Kolar and Likely and those 2 continue to step up and make plays.  Andrews made some big catches yesterday as well, so that was good to see. These guys have done a wonderful job blocking all year but this game, they also stepped up in the passing game.

Justin Tucker

Justin Tucker nailed a 56-yard FG to tie the game and eventually kicked the game winner. Tucker is not typically a guy that lacks confidence but even he had to have had doubt creep in his mind for longer field goals. Yesterday had to make him feel good.

Todd Monken

Coming into this game, the Bengals were one of the worst run defenses in the league. You know the Ravens came in expecting that they would be able to carve them up on the ground but the Bengals, who got healthier up front, did a very good job against the Ravens run game, until the final Derrick Henry scamper.  But Monken did a good job adjusting to the game and not only did they attack more with the pass (especially after Dax Hill got hurt) but they ran a hurry up offense, which is something Lamar has always thrived in. I doubt they came into the game expecting to do that, but it worked well.

Stock Down

Marcus Williams

Is he done as a productive player? Lately there’s been some chatter about Marcus Williams being the worst free agent signing in Ravens history.  While I don’t think that is true, he is the worst safety in the league this year, according to PFF and anyone with eyes. He is taking poor angles, missing assignments, and just can’t cover anyone anymore. Somehow, he played better with a torn pec last year than he is this year when healthy. We are not aware of any injury and it’s hard to believe he doesn’t understand the defense, but he is really hurting the team in almost every way. The Ravens have to consider making a change.

Zach Orr

I am a Zach Orr fan, and I think he’s going to be a very good DC and may be the next Baltimore head coach… BUT he’s struggling right now. Yesterday, he kept blitzing, and Burrow was tearing it apart. The Bengals dominated on 3^rd down and many of them were 3^rd and long situations. The pass defense has been an issue this year and yesterday, there were too many blitzes. Drop everyone back, make it harder to throw. Burrow is too good and Chase & Higgins too good one-on-one to do what Orr kept doing. He was slow to adjust. I am guessing we will hear that there were some communication issues on the back end but that can’t keep happening. Orr must coach them up better. Perhaps the real loss on the defense wasn’t Mac Macdonald but Dennard Wilson, who was the DB coach last year.

Special Teams

What is going on with the Ravens ST this year? For the last decade-plus, the Ravens teams have been top three. Every week now, they are making crucial mistakes. Whether its missed FG, bad punts or poor coverage…and then yesterday, Tylan Wallace made an awful decision to not field a punt that led to a safety and then Collier couldn’t field a kickoff and the ball ended up inside the 10-yard line because it bounced off of him and went out of bounds. That one didn’t hurt them as much but stuff like that just can’t happen.

Clock management/Football IQ

The final few minutes of the first half were a total train wreck for Baltimore. Between the aforementioned poor decision by Wallace on the punt, the missed block by either Roger Rosengarten, Daniel Faalele, or Pat Ricard that resulted in a safety and then the inexplicable decision making by John Harbaugh and Lamar, you will struggle to find a worse sequence.

First of all, for Lamar to snap the ball before the two-minute warning made no sense. He snapped it right at 2:00. Why would you do that? Why give Cincy the free timeout? And then Harbaugh decides to call a timeout on 3rd-and-10, when it is obvious that the Bengals weren’t going to call one (for some reason). You handed them time and opportunity. Now, the defense didn’t have to crap the bed there but still, why would you give them the chance?

Every week it seems like we are talking about this with respect to Harbaugh. He said after the game that he felt they needed to be aggressive and try to get points, even facing a 3^rd and long. Yet, just before that they let 40 seconds tick off the clock after the tush push with Kolar on 4th and short from your own 23!

There is never consistency in his thoughts. Harbaugh felt they had to score a lot of points to win…and he was right.  However, you had to score nine more than you would have had to if you had an ounce of football IQ. Ravens fans are rightfully sick and tired of these simple decisions that this team keeps failing on.  It has cost them games this year and it will continue to cost them.  It’s why I think its amusing to say the Ravens are currently the best team in the NFL. The Chiefs will outsmart and outcoach them with ease. It doesn’t matter that Baltimore is more talented or bigger and stronger…it’s what is between the ears that will make the difference.

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