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THE GOOD, BAD & UGLY: A Christmas Destruction

Thursday, December 26, 2024 16:15
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A Christmas Day Destruction: Ravens 31, Texans 2

Three games in 11 days, two of which were on the road. All wins. One of the road games, the last of the three, is 1,500 miles away, on Christmas Day no less.

During this 11 day stretch the Ravens outscored their opponents by the combined score of 100 to 33. Meanwhile, their archrival has dropped three straight games, while being outscored 90 to 40.. And let’s not forget, twelve days ago the Ravens were (8-5) and two games behind the Steelers. Today, one day after Christmas, the Ravens are atop the AFC North sporting an (11-5) record and currently the conference’s No. 3 seed.

“Merry Christmas. [It was a] great win. [I’m] proud of our guys. These guys took these three games in 11 days and smashed it, obliterated it, tore it up and made into a bunch of smithereens laying around everywhere. I’m proud of the guys [and] how they did it. They did a great job.” ~ John Harbaugh

And now, the Ravens have earned a little quality time off to spend with loved ones, to recharge their weary bodies before the next task at hand, the Cleveland Browns, a team that would like nothing more than to spoil the Ravens pursuit of the AFC North crown, comes to town on January 5.

This all sets up very well for the Ravens who after this gigantic win on Christmas Day, have become the talk of the NFL and the team the talking heads are now labeling, “the team no one wants to play”. That said, one of John Harbaugh’s credos is something the team should embrace throughout the balance of the season. That credo – to go (1-0) each week.

So, before we get to the Browns, let’s reflect on the beauty of one Christmas Day in Houston.

THE BAD & THE UGLY

Let’s get this out of the way right now because there was barely any bad or ugly to take away from this Ravens’ effort on Christmas Day. I hated the way the team’s third offensive possession ended. It started with three productive runs, two by Derrick Henry of 17 and 8 yards and a third by Keaton Mitchell for 7 yards. That left them with a first-and-10 at the Houston 45. Three plays later, the Ravens sent out the punt team while facing a fourth-and-20 from their own 45. We’ll call that “bad”.

As for “the ugly”, that safety was an embarrassment. End of “Ugly”. Now, on to the mountain of Good…

CHRISTMAS DAY GOOD

Offense

Let’s start with the best football player on the planet, bar none. And yes, that includes Patrick Mahomes and the MVP wannabe Josh Allen.

Remember the greatness of Ray Lewis and Ed Reed. While it was happening before our very eyes, the consistency of their excellence became an expectation. Consequently, even though we didn’t mean to, we took it for granted. Then one day it was gone and so too was the excellence of Lewis and Reed. And when their replacements stepped in, the contrast was marked. Expectations plummeted, replaced by hope that was never realized. Instead, we longed for the things we took for granted.

One day, we’ll have those same feelings about Lamar Jackson. We are watching the prowess of an NFL unicorn unfold before us. He makes plays every single week that no one before him made. These days, when he makes the league’s 4th-ranked defense look like The Little Sisters of the Poor, we brush it off as Lamar being Lamar. But make no mistake about it, the man is a generational talent. And that, combined with his insatiable desire to get better, to win every snap as part of an unwavering determination to one day hoist The Lombardi Trophy, puts him in the realm of talented overachievers like Michael Jordan.

Both Lamar and Allen have been great this season. Allen has uncommon arm talent and can make throws that most humans not named Bert Jones or John Elway or Brett Favre or Aaron Rodgers could ever make. But Lamar has uncommon talent, PERIOD! He can beat you in so many spectacular ways and if you asked players around the league to name their MVP, it would be no contest. Lamar would get the nod in a landslide.

I don’t really care who wins the MVP! More importantly, I don’t think Lamar cares either. He’s proven his greatness. We all know what prize he covets. But until the time comes for him to attain it, plays like this, seemingly executed by a video game robot, make him one of one!

On the day, Lamar had a passer rating of 143.9, 3 total TDs, 87 yards rushing on 4 carries while breaking Michael Vick’s all-time career rushing yard total for quarterbacks. And he probably doesn’t care much about that accomplishment either. He expected it.

One more thought on these oft-script, spectacular plays in the passing game. The Ravens pass catchers deserve credit working themselves open when pass protection breaks down and Lamar escapes containment. We’ve seen Zay Flowers work himself open many times in the past. On Christmas Day, we saw Isaiah Likely and Mark Andrews do the same. When players have that next-level unspoken communication going on in key moments, explosive plays happen and that in large part is why the Ravens have the league’s highest scoring offense.

Derrick Henry ran for 147 yards on 27 carries and a TD. He’s pushed his season totals to 1,783 yards (5.8 YPC). He ran extremely well inside the tackles with great body lean and footwork to exploit moving windows of opportunity. The Texans’ focus on Henry only added to effectiveness of Lamar as a runner. When asked to keep it LJ exploited the Texans’ edge defenders who committed early to contain Henry.

Mouse meet cheese!

I mentioned Likely and Andrews and their ability to work themselves open. They are also willing and accomplished blockers. Their efforts contributed greatly to Lamar going untouched for 48-yard score. See for yourself.

When a team practically tells you they are running the football and they still manage to gain 251 yards against a defense that through 15 games had only given up 107 yards on the ground per game, there’s something going on in the trenches that is working quite well. Big time props to the Ravens offensive front.

Defense

Nick Bosa, Josh Hines-Allen and Brian Burns are the highest paid edge defenders in the NFL averaging $34M, $28.3M and $28.2M per year, respectively. Bosa and Hines-Allen have 7 sacks each while Burns has 8. Kyle Van Noy’s 2-year deal with the Ravens averages $4.5M. Against the Texans, KVN had another sack, giving him 11 ½ for the season…Odafe Oweh registered his 9th sack of 2024. Nnamdi Madubuike, Chris Board and Roquan Smith each contributed a sack as well…Smith also filled in well in run defense, attacking gaps in the line of scrimmage to minimize damage. He was instrumental in containing the Texans running backs who averaged just 3.2 YPC.

Marlon Humphrey was effective from the slot corner position, phantom DPI notwithstanding. Brandon Stephens and Nate Wiggins were solid on the perimeter. They, along with safeties Kyle Hamilton and Ar’Darius Washington formed a tight, cohesive backend of the defense, limiting the Texans to a paltry 4.1 yards per pass play. And that cohesiveness helped to confuse C.J. Stroud and pave the way to a couple coverage sacks.

Hamilton added a terrific diving pick while Washington chipped in with a momentum swinging play, taking out Joe Mixon at the Ravens’ 1 yard line on 4th down with the score at 10-2. Six plays later, the Ravens capped off a spectacular 99-yard drive in 3:40 to take a 17-2 lead. Washington’s stop with some assistance from Tre’Davious White coupled with this drive, broke the collective spirit of the Texans. They were never the same. Even Houston, Texas native Beyonce couldn’t inspire her hometown team to snap out of the Washington-induced funk.

C.J. Stroud once viewed himself as the 3rd best quarterback in the NFL. I’m serious. See for yourself below. And during his rookie season, he was undoubtedly impressive. Yesterday, “quarterback” was probably already added to the 2025 Christmas list of thousands of Texans’ fans. Stroud stunk up the joint and probably had many at NRG Stadium missing Christmas dinners and missing Matt Schaub.

Stroud seems like a humble guy and a is a man of faith. But sometimes, even such men of character lose their sense of humility, and it comes back to bite them in the ass. Take a look…

Special Teams

No matter who you are or what you do in life, challenging times will one day await you, even if you are a future first-ballot Hall of Famer. Justin Tucker since his rookie season, has been the best at his craft until 2023 when he hit a rough patch. The rough patch swelled into a rough season and the unthinkable happened. The Ravens had to at least mull over alternatives to Tucker. Instead, they stuck with Tucker and now he appears to be rewarding John Harbaugh’s faith in him. Yesterday he crushed a 52-yard field goal and each of his PAT’s were struck well. Besides Christmas, it’s beginning to feel a lot like Tuck is back!

OVERALL STATS OF NOTE

Besides the scoreboard, the Ravens dominated the Texans in some key statistical categories:

• First downs: 25 to 10
• Total Net Yards: 432 to 211
• Yards Per Play: 7.1 to 3.9
• Rushing Yards: 251 to 58
• Red Zone Efficiency: 3 for 3 to 0 for 2
• Time of Possession: 35:21 to 24:39

COACHING

John Harbaugh

I’ve been a harsh critic of John Harbaugh at times this season. And God forbid, I hope I don’t have to do it again in the future. But I call it as I see it and for now, the skipper is deserving of props. Big ones too!

I get that three other teams had to play 3 games in 11 days. Like the Ravens, the Chiefs went 3-0 during the stretch of 11 days and again like the Ravens, two games were on the road. They won by the combined score of 77-36. The Texans played two games at home and managed to win 1 of 3 by the combined score of 41-70. And then there’s the Steelers who played two on the road and lost all three by the score of 40-90.

No other team of the aforementioned four had to travel as far as the Ravens. No other team had to win all three to grab a piece of first place. No other team had to leave their families on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day for two consecutive seasons. Yet the Ravens not only prevailed, they seemingly got better and look like a force heading into the postseason.

Guiding them every step of the way has been John Harbaugh and that’s where the skipper is at his best.

Todd Monken

Admittedly, I was growing a bit perturbed with Monken during the team’s third possession. I thought he was getting a little cute. I thought he was growing incredibly transparent racing his team to the LOS only to hand the ball to Derrick Henry, something that has become as predictable as Jason La Canfora pounding his chest like Donkey Kong during the rare occasion when he’s actually right.

Jason La Canfora

I kept wondering aloud, “Is Monken being so redundant to set something else up?”

And then he did…

But Monken’s creativity didn’t stop there. The offensive line clicked with some interesting and effective combination blocks that allowed the train they call King Henry, gain four and five yards before contact. And he even used slot receivers (in the video below it was Tylan Wallace) to creatively assist with interior blocks. Maybe Diontae Johnson wasn’t interested in such shenanigans and that’s why he’s an ex-Raven? But I digress…

Zach Orr

In 2023 the Ravens had the best defense in the NFL in several statistical categories. It was expected that the defensive excellence would continue in 2024 despite the losses of Jadeveon Clowney, Patrick Queen and Geno Stone. The Ravens believed that had the talent in-waiting, to fill those holes.

But perhaps the most overlooked losses were in the coaching ranks. The defense’s brain trust was drained of excellent coaches while one got a big promotion. That one, Zach Orr, was challenged to hold it all together. In retrospect, that ambition was a hopeless prayer. Yet somehow, someway, after a few players were given new assignments and a new approach, things have slowly changed, and they’ve done so at the most wonderful time of the year – November to February football.

Over the course of the past six games, the Ravens defense has held opponents to 16 points on average. And given the team’s high-flying offense, that is an absolute recipe for success.

“I’m very pleased. The guys went to work, and we knew that it was all correctable. But you have to get to work, and you have to do it. I’ve said numerous times, it’s a week-to-week league, and it’s important to keep things in perspective. It’s a good lesson for everything else besides football too – keep things in perspective. You can improve. You can get better. I’m proud of those guys, [Defensive coordinator] Zach [Orr], obviously, spearheading it [and senior advisor] Dean Pees helping us, of course. Let’s look at all the players and all the coaches and what a great job they’ve done. But you know what? We’re just getting started. We said, ‘Alright, it’s the January season now. The December season is behind us. It’s the January season now.’” ~ John Harbaugh on the ascension of the Ravens defense

Prior to 2024, Orr has never been a play caller. He swallowed humble pie with Dean Pees’ arrival. He took the criticisms; vowed to put in the extra work to improve communication and correct what were once obvious deficiencies; and he brushed off the cries from fans to strip him of his title.

Zach was once called an undersized player without any standout athletic skills. It was said that he’d never make it in the NFL until one day he became an All Pro in just his third season. His playing career was taken away due to an abnormal spinal condition. His last game as a player was on December 25, 2016. Eight years later to the day, his defense as a coordinator for the team that gave him a chance, pitched a defensive shutout.

He fought through adversity as a player and now he’s seemingly done so as a coordinator. For the first time ever, I’m giving the “player” of the game to a coach. Zach Orr is this week’s Paige Spiranac Award.

You think that’s why he’s so excited in the video below?

[RAVENS REPORT CARD: Ravens 31, Texans 2]

ODDS & ENDS

Lamar Jackson sets record

As if you needed visual evidence of Lamar’s amazing playmaking ability, this video, narrated by Derrick Henry, is a fun watch!

Greg Olsen

Analyst Greg Olsen was demoted when FOX agreed to a 10-year, $300M deal to make Tom Brady the network’s lead analyst. Now Brady may one day be as good as Olsen, but for now, as an analyst, the three-time Pro Bowl tight end is light years ahead of the seven-time Super Bowl champ.

Staying with Barstool

David Portnoy is the founder and owner of sports and popular culture company Barstool Sports. Since 2017 he’s hosted an internet show called One Bite Pizza Reviews, traveling the country ranking Mom & Pop pizzerias. Recently he visited Tiny Brick Oven at 1036 Light Street in Federal Hill. TBO was in trouble, the business hanging by a thread.

Here’s the story, an appropriate one for this time of year, about how a random visit from Portnoy saved Tiny Brick Oven. You really need to watch this for all the feels of The Season.

Special thanks to my guy Bob Jones!

Merry Christmas everyone. And may your 2025 be healthy and deliver unprecedented joy and prosperity!

The post THE GOOD, BAD & UGLY: A Christmas Destruction appeared first on Russell Street Report.


Source: https://russellstreetreport.com/2024/12/26/gbu-paige-spiranac/christmas-day-destruction/


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