Report Card: Ravens Could Benefit from Choosing Pass-Fail Option

With arguably their two biggest stars being held together by duct tape and hopes, the Ravens managed to win their fifth consecutive game and move above .500 for the first time this season. It wasn’t pretty, particularly on the offensive side for long stretches of time, but the win is the win is the win.

And the Ravens now sit at 6-5.

Offense Overall: D

They managed 241 total yards, were 2-11 on third downs, and 2-5 in the red zone (though one of those was a kneel-down). Of their 16 first downs, three came via penalty, and they were being shut out until the final moments of the first half, by the New York Jets, minus Quinnen Williams and Sauce Gardner, mind you.

Why is this not an F? They had no turnovers, and they did just enough from the end of the first half through the third quarter, picking up two touchdowns and a field goal over the course of four possessions. It was clunky, and felt entirely too hard all game.

Quarterback: C-

Lamar Jackson is obviously banged up, and his typical explosiveness is currently absent, while his mechanics appear off, perhaps due to those same ailments. He still makes a handful of jaw-dropping escapes a game, thanks to his strength and heart, but he can’t erase defender angles with his legs, and generally appears reluctant to run when opportunities arise. Now, the Ravens had some big drops today, and that could have improved the general numbers, including one by Mark Andrews in the end zone in the third quarter. Jackson did make some big throws to Zay Flowers, and I loved the toss to DeAndre Hopkins on a third-and-three in the third quarter, but he missed Hopkins for a pretty easy touchdown pass in the fourth quarter, and was errant on first-quarter throws to both Andrews and Isaiah Likely.

Gutsy performance, but he wasn’t great today.

Running Backs: C

Derrick Henry ran hard into a pretty-disciplined Jets run defense, and did pick up two rushing touchdowns amongst his 64 yards on 21 carries. His  17-yard run from the Ravens’ 3 in the fourth quarter bought them some breathing room. He also had two catches for 24 yards, including a 19-yarder in the third quarter. Keaton Mitchell had a 35-yarder wiped out by a hold in the fourth quarter, but it was an exciting couple of seconds, wasn’t it? The grade would have been better had that counted. Pat Ricard had a great block on Henry’s second touchdown run.

Receivers: D

There were just too many drops out there. Let’s start with that. In addition, it felt like the pressure Jackson had was more due to receivers not getting open than the line getting beaten immediately in pass sets. Andrews had that aforementioned end-zone drop, and also picked up a holding flag in the second quarter. He did draw a PI call in the third quarter, and he twisted and turned his way to a first down in the fourth. Zay Flowers was probably the best Raven on offense on this day, but he also had a drop along the sideline to start the second half. Flowers did have 58 yards on five catches, and added a big 11-yard run. He basically moved the Ravens down the field on their first scoring drive. Devontez Walker maintained his big-play status with a 30-yard catch on his only target, and Hopkins had a great third-down catch on a low pass in tight coverage. Tylan Wallace dropped a ball that could have been a big gain.

Offensive Line: D

Nothing is coming easy right now in the run game, and while there’s plenty of blame to spread around, at some point the big guys need to win more of their match-ups. I didn’t think pass-blocking was a nightmare, but they don’t consistently hold the pocket for longer than a few seconds, and with the combination of receivers not getting open quickly and the line not holding longer, things are clunky. Roger Rosengarten and Tyler Linderbaum both picked up flags, but Linderbaum did have a nice block on Henry’s first touchdown, along with Andrew Vorhees. Ronnie Stanley did a nice job getting out in front of Flowers on his 11-yard run.

Defense Overall: B

There were times when Tyrod Taylor looked like an All Pro out there today, and that’s not a great sign. That being said, the Jets only generated 282 yards of offense, the Ravens had three sacks and steady pressure throughout the game, while producing two turnovers — including one inside their own 5-yard line while hanging on to a 10-point lead. Breece Hall made some electric plays, particularly in the passing game, and there were far too many missed tackles. But they were always flying around the ball, were strong against the run and held the Jets to 4-11 on third downs, and 0-2 on fourth. That is winning football.

Defensive Line: B+

Dre’Mont Jones has been a terror since coming to the Ravens, and he had his best game to date today, picking up 1.5 sacks, a tackle for loss and generally being a nuisance all game. Mike Green was impactful throughout, and forced one incompletion with a pressure and hit, before later getting a sack in garbage time. He also destroyed a run for a loss. Travis Jones was also very good in this one, with five tackles and a huge tackle-for-loss. John Jenkins continues to impress, and Taven Bryan flashes a couple times a game. David Ojabo flashed a few times, as well, and pressured an incompletion on the first play of the fourth quarter. CJ Okoye whiffed on a first-half run.

Linebackers: B-

Roquan Smith was active again, continuing his good stretch since returning from injury. He had 11 tackles, six of them solo, but did miss Taylor on a scramble in the third quarter and Taylor completed a 27-yard pass on the play. Trenton Simpson also whiffed on a sack, and Taylor scrambled away for a first down. To his credit, Simpson later forced an incompletion in the fourth quarter with pressure. Teddye Buchanan had eight tackles, but didn’t seem too impactful in this one on first watch. He got stood up on a blitz and totally flattened on a screen later. He won’t be looking forward to the film room tomorrow.

Defensive Backs: B

I thought they were mostly good, outside of a few soft spots in zones and some passes downfield when Taylor extended the play. TJ Tampa grabbed his first career interception, so let’s start out by congratulating him on that. Kyle Hamilton appeared to re-aggravate his shoulder injury, and later left with a lower-leg injury that has us biting our nails. He was tremendous again in this one when on the field, with 10 tackles, and blew up several runs. Nate Wiggins nearly had a pick on the second play of the game, but couldn’t bring it in. He got beat by John Metchie for 19 in the second quarter, but was sticky outside of that, including on a fourth-down incompletion in the third quarter. Marlon Humphrey played a strong game, and his forced fumble inside the Ravens 5-yard line was huge. Alohi Gilman missed a few tackles, including one when both he and Malakai Starks missed on Hall on a 40-yard catch-and-run in the fourth quarter. He did recover that fumble, though, and chipped in on a run stop with Humphrey in the second quarter.

Special Teams: B

Tyler Loop missed the landing zone for a league-leading fourth time, which is a problem. That being said, my bigger interest in the rookie kicker is his kicking, and he was good again in this one, connecting on all three field goals and both his extra points. Jordan Stout had a monster game, averaging more than 61 yards on four punts, including a ridiculous 67-yarder that pinned the Jets to their 5-yard line with 3:30 left. It was clutch, and it was perhaps the best kick of his best season to date. Tampa also had a nice tackle on a first-quarter punt return, to add to a game that featured his first career interception. Both Keaton Mitchell and Justice Hill had nice returns, but the Jets kick-returners had some success on their kickoffs, as well.

Coaching: C

Once again, the defense seemed to come out with a good game plan, and the pass-rush does look better each week. The problems they had on that side of the ball today came more from missed tackles than scheme, as there seemed to be several players around the ball all game.

The offense is not running smoothly, and it feels like between the interior line, the quarterback being banged up, and too many drops, the coaching is starting out with one hand tied behind their backs. Still, it is their jobs to fix this, with the weapons at their disposal. Big picture stuff, I didn’t love going for it on the first possession after the failed tush-push. Particularly when you take into account the coming time out, and the fact that the possession died right after that, anyway. On the other hand, I loved going for it on fourth-and-goal from the 2, up 10-7 in the third quarter. I just didn’t see the Jets going 98 yards on the Ravens at that time, and it made it better when Henry cashed it in for the score. But I didn’t like going for it on fourth-and-three up 10 with 45 seconds left. Daniel Faalele jumped to push it back anyway, but why not just take the original field goal and make it a two-touchdown game with 40 seconds left? Was it really just red zone practice (which they desperately need, to be fair)?

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