HOT TAKES: Keaton Mitchell Waits and Burns

Where’s Keaton?

Keaton Mitchell stood on the sidelines this past Sunday while his teammates thumped the Cleveland Browns by the score of 41-17. He was stone-faced. Expressionless. Perhaps even humiliated. Keaton was in street clothes for the second consecutive week, once again a healthy scratch.

Fueling Keaton’s fire and his humiliation, was the fact that a large contingent of family members was on hand for the game, even attending Jimmy’s Famous Seafood’s TAILGOAT prior to kick off, presumably to celebrate the Ravens and of course Mitchell’s 2025 debut that never happened.

You don’t buy a bunch of tickets for a game you aren’t expecting to play in, and I’m told that there was well over a dozen family members on hand to watch Keaton do his thing. Standing on the sidelines doesn’t count.

So why didn’t he dress?

This is such a narrow-minded perspective on Keaton Mitchell. #Ravens #SpeedKills pic.twitter.com/JELQoqip32

— Lombardi Party of One (@RSRLombardi) September 18, 2025

“You’re going to take Derrick [Henry] off the field, and you [would have to] take Justice [Hill] off the field to do it, and those are all going to be designer plays. That’s what Keaton does right now – he runs kind of the designer plays. So, the defense is going to be like, ‘What’s he out here for?’ on the four or five plays that he’s out there. It’s going to be a specific play that they kind of have their antennas up for.” ~ John Harbaugh

Harbaugh response is laughable. “Designer plays”?

NEWSFLASH! It’s not a procedure penalty if Keaton lines up on the field with Justice Hill or Derrick Henry. Sure, if you only dial up three plays for Keaton and those are the three times he’s on the field, well hello! Of course it might raise the defense’s suspicions. So why not use that against the defense? Harbaugh is either extremely short-sighted or he’s just spewing another meaningless word salad that insults the intelligence of the media.

With a football in his hands, Keaton Mitchell is arguably the fastest Raven. With the ball in space, Mitchell is a house call waiting to happen. But go ahead John, keep doing opponents a favor by scratching Keaton on game day. Linebackers worldwide are quite happy that you are prioritizing a practice squad fullback or a reserve linebacker who does next to nothing to impact the game.

Monday Night Football

Like me, you and probably Keaton Mitchell, we’ll all be dialed in and watching what promises to be an exciting display of offensive fireworks on Monday Night when the Ravens host the Lions at The Bank. The Ravens are currently listed as 4 ½ point favorites with an over/under line set at 53 ½, and they are (6-1) in franchise history when facing Detroit, winning all four contests at M&T Bank Stadium.

The last time these teams met, the Ravens skull-dragged Jared Goff and the Lions, 38-6. Lamar Jackson was 21 of 27 with 3 TD’s and a passer rating of 155.8. He also rushed for 36 yards on 9 carries including a touchdown.

Goff on the other hand is (0-3) in his career against the Ravens and has yet to throw a TD pass against Baltimore. The Ravens have picked Goff off 3 times and limited his passer rating to 72.7. In those three games the Ravens have sacked Jared a total of 9 times.

Despite it all, I remain concerned primarily due to the line play on both sides of the ball. Lamar will find his way and I think Goff plays better against what I believe is still a suspect Ravens defense. And that’s not due to a lack of talent. Darkness will prevail. The Ravens win a close one and the total goes well over the 53 ½. Bold Predictions will drop tomorrow.

Roquan/Ray

Judging from videos distributed by the Ravens, it seems as if Roquan Smith has a solid relationship with Ray Lewis. Yet I couldn’t help but think that Smith might find Ray to be a tad annoying in the video below.

Ray Lewis hyping up Roquan Smith before the Ravens Week 2 win vs. the Browns

It definitely worked pic.twitter.com/qG0PjbGLWG

— Kevin Oestreicher (@koestreicher34) September 15, 2025

Count me among those who thought that Roquan had already played his best football. And then Sunday happened against the Browns. Smith played like a man possessed and earned himself Defensive Player of the Week honors. Let’s hope this is a sign of things to come during the 2025 season and that Roquan’s mates follow suit. But I have my suspicions about the defensive play caller.

While watching some of the games this past weekend, I noticed how some defenses really fly to the ball, attacking in numbers. It’s as if these defenders aren’t drinking Gatorade on the sidelines but instead, a potent combination of Red Bull and Rockstar Xdurance. Off the top of my head, the Eagles, Texans, Bucs and Chargers come to mind. Maybe Jim Harbaugh can share that secret cocktail with John.

The Ravens are touted as a defense that plays fast and physical. I don’t see it. At least not compared to those aforementioned defenses. Please prove me wrong on Monday!

Pass Rush

If asked what is the single-most important ingredient for winning football, I’d have to say pass rush. When Patrick Mahomes seemed unbeatable, the Bucs and the Eagles both got after Mahomes, disrupted his timing and got him on the ground without being flagged. They did it primarily with four pass rushers and the other seven defenders in coverage.

Yet the Ravens can’t seem to find that game wrecker on the edge and they field a suspect offensive line that looks way better on the stat sheets due to Lamar Jackson’s unprecedented escapability. He is the cheat code that saves Ravens offensive line coach George Warhop.

All the first-round draft picks in the secondary will be underperforming assets if opposing quarterbacks are too comfortable. That’s just the way it is. And on offense, the many weapons that the Ravens can field, will never realize their potential if Lamar is forced to run for his life on a weekly basis.

Pass rush win rate for #Ravens EDGE rushers through 2 weeks:

Odafe Oweh – 18.3%
Tavius Robinson – 15.2%
Mike Green – 11.9%
Kyle Van Noy – 10%

Interior DL:

Nnamdi Madubuike – 20.3%
Travis Jones – 12.9%
John Jenkins – 12.5%
Aeneas Peebles – 9.1%
Broddy Washington – 6.5%

— Cole Jackson (@ColeJacksonFB) September 17, 2025

Inspired by Cole’s tweet above, I looked up via AI what constitutes a good pass rush win rate.

• Elite (20%+): Players like Myles Garrett and Micah Parsons consistently achieve win rates in this range, demonstrating dominant pass-rushing ability.
• Strong (18-20%): A strong pass rusher will often have a win rate in this bracket, showing effectiveness against blockers.
• Effective (12-18%): For some players, especially those in specific roles or less experienced, a win rate in this range can still be valuable for disrupting the offense.
• Factors Influencing a “Good” Win Rate
• Position: Interior defensive linemen often have different win rate expectations than edge rushers.
• Facing Double Teams: A pass rusher who consistently beats double teams has a higher win rate than the average pass rusher against single blockers.
• Context of the Play: For example, a player only needs to “disrupt” an opponent for a play to be considered effective in some cases.
• Reporting Methodology: Different analytical services use slightly different definitions or thresholds for what constitutes a “win”. For instance, ESPN’s metrics define a win as beating a block within 2.5 seconds, while others may have different criteria

Monday night can’t get here soon enough.

Hopefully Messrs. Oweh, Green, Ojabo and Robinson show up.

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