The Baltimore Ravens played a pretty sloppy game on a short week, beating the New York Jets 42-21 with a second-half surge. Though it’s still a blowout victory, there are a few areas the Ravens will need to address as they eye up their second consecutive trip to the playoffs.
Thanks to playing on Thursday night, Baltimore will get a little extra time to rest. But once the Ravens return, they’ll get two AFC North opponents in their final two games before walking into the postseason. Here’s what they will have learned from this game to apply to future weeks as they look to get better for a Super Bowl run.
Kings of the North:
Baltimore has been on a roll this season, winning 10 consecutive games. But knowing they have locked up the AFC North crown likely gives the team a little extra swagger as they close out the season over two more weeks.
This hasn’t been the toughest division in football by any stretch but both the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cleveland Browns are no slouches this season. With both teams still on the schedule and playoff seeding still to be determined, already having the AFC North locked up is a sigh of relief.
It also doesn’t hurt the team’s confidence either — who can go into these last two games knowing their the best in the division regardless of what else happens. And until another team can take the crown from them, they’re going to be the kings of the north.
Special teams still a problem:
Led by a former special teams coach in John Harbaugh, it’s been rare Baltimore’s special teams units have been bad. But this season we’ve seen some unexpected lapses, leading to this week where they were just downright dreadful in every facet of the game.
There was a missed extra point, blocked punt returned for a touchdown and regular great kickoff and punt returns by the Jets. It’s not a stretch to say the Ravens’ special teams groups were responsible for most of New York’s points this week, which is a problem moving forward.
You better believe every AFC playoff team is going to be copying the film of this game and studying it closely to see what went wrong. While it wasn’t the deciding factor against a bad team like the Jets, against squads like the New England Patriots, Pittsburgh Steelers or Kansas City Chiefs; it could be a killer that kicks Baltimore from the postseason earlier than they should be.
I’d expect plenty of screaming and yelling in the meeting room when the Ravens return to practice next week. And as we’ve seen previously this season, players could find themselves unemployed because of this lone performance. At this point, Baltimore has to do something to get those issues under control.
Rest:
Phew. Thursday night games are the absolute worst and I’m not even playing the game. I couldn’t imagine going from playing a tight and physical game on Sunday, and doing it again just four days later. Yet, the Ravens took care of their business this week to pick up another win and because of that, they’ll get a little extended rest and relaxation.
Harbaugh noted the team would be off until Tuesday, effectively giving the players a mini bye week at the end of the season. It might not seem like much but you better believe Baltimore will be a far healthier team for it. And if the Ravens can lock in a first or second seed to get a first-round bye in the postseason, it’ll feel even better once the games really start to matter.
Lamar Jackson cements his MVP award
Going into this week, I had no doubt Jackson would be winning the MVP award. He led all quarterbacks in touchdown passes, all while throwing less often than his award competition. When added to his impressive rushing stats, he was beginning to pull away from everyone else.
But with yet another game in which Jackson completed at least 65% of his passes and threw for another five touchdowns while adding 86 more yards on the ground and breaking Michael Vick’s rushing record . . . It’s over. Jackson could lay complete eggs in the final two weeks and I still think the MVP voters would make it a unanimous decision to hand him the award.
Jackson has three games this season in which he’s thrown five touchdown passes. And in each of those, Jackson has been benched in the fourth quarter thanks to the games being blowout wins. But what if those games remained close and Jackson was forced to play all 60 minutes in a shootout — something his MVP competitors have used to pad their stats? What would his stats look like then? How many games would Jackson have thrown for six, seven or even eight touchdowns? Could Jackson have legitimately broken that NFL record too?
The fact I’m even thinking about it and questioning it is what leads me to believe Jackson’s name is already engraved on the award but he just hasn’t been handed it yet.
