OTL: Ravens Need Offense to Show Up in Minny

A disappointing trade deadline has morphed into the most crucial week for the Ravens. Leaving themselves no room for error, this is another must-win, even though it’s against an NFC opponent. The Ravens’ schedule is paper-soft for a bit after this game until another gauntlet arrives weeks later; however, if they are going to make a run, they have to win this game in Minnesota.

For the first time this season, it seems like the injury luck is on their side:

Injury Report: Ravens @ Vikings (Wednesday)

Of course, this doesn’t include guys who are out for the year or on IR, but a clean injury report is the little thing that can give you an edge over an opponent. When your back is against the wall, like it is for the Ravens, these types of things can make all the difference.

When looking at this matchup, we have an obvious Boogie Man for concern, and it’s not a player, but a coach.

Four years ago, a Brian Flores defense blitzed Lamar Jackson and the Ravens offense off the field. Much has changed since, but that was a “key game in the evolution of the (Ravens) offense.”https://t.co/A2nHSfp0kO pic.twitter.com/mTvWwmN61W

— Jeff Zrebiec (@jeffzrebiec) November 6, 2025

We all remember that November night in Miami back in 2021. Flores’ Dolphins completely abused a bad O-Line and blitzed on what felt like every down, holding the Ravens offense to only ten points. Since he has left Miami, he has been a superstar DC for the Vikings. This year, however, it has felt a bit stale, until last week when he absolutely looked in and was one of the main reasons why they beat the Lions.

This is absolutely one of the primary keys to this game. I don’t think the Ravens have it in them to take on the Vikings offense and beat them in a low-scoring slugfest. They have shown themselves to be too bad all year, and against an elite offensive head coach and a top-tier receiver in Justin Jefferson, we can’t expect to win this game on the strength of the defense.

Instead, Jackson & Todd Monken are going to have to beat Flores and those exotic blitzes. Can Lamar do it? Of course, this is a different Lamar than the one who took the field back when they first faced Flores, and he has much more help now. It is also on the back of Monken to have a plan against Flores on the road in a loud environment.

This of course isn’t to say it’s ALL on that side of the ball. The defense needs to show up as well, and it is time for a bit of a rant on how the Ravens are using a young player:

Ravens DC Zach Orr said that Aeneas Peebles is just behind a few other guys right now and the team has needed to activate a few bigger bodies which is why Peebles has been a healthy scratch.

— Jeff Zrebiec (@jeffzrebiec) November 6, 2025

Now I don’t necessarily disagree with Zach Orr’s assessment of Peebles. Zach is correct that he hasn’t played the run well, and his tape wasn’t impressive at all when he did play. My issues come with how the Ravens have handled Peebles. They make him inactive in favor of Tavern Bryan, who has the same issue as Peebles. Orr cites Run Defense, but Bryan is a terrible run defender as well —so what gives here? Bryan’s pass-rushing ability isn’t even any better than Peebles’s, either, so it really just looks like the Ravens chose someone who has been in the NFL longer over developing Peebles now. The only way to actually develop Peebles is to play him. While he will probably never be a good run defender — he is just too small for that he could legitimately be a good pass rusher. We won’t know that because the Ravens won’t give him a shot, and it is frustrating. Most 6th-round picks don’t make a significant impact in year one, the way they are just not using him is frustrating.

This is another issue where I sometimes think that the coaching staff and EDC don’t always see eye to eye on certain players. I get he was a sixth-round pick, but if the staff hates his run defense that much, why did you draft him?

If they had a better pure pass-rusher, this wouldn’t be an issue, honestly, but with how bad Bryan has been, not giving Peebles more reps to get better is malpractice.

Either way, we are going to need all hands on deck to beat the Vikings, so they better show up ready to play, or their season will fall apart.

The post OTL: Ravens Need Offense to Show Up in Minny appeared first on Russell Street Report.

Source: https://russellstreetreport.com/2025/11/07/out-to-lunch/otl-ravens-need-offense-to-show-up-in-minny/