The Baltimore Ravens have extended their winning streak to seven straight with a 45-6 victory over the Los Angeles Rams in Week 12. The win secures the stranglehold the Ravens currently have over their division, as well as keeping them right behind the New England Patriots in the AFC playoff race.
But with the season ticking towards its end, it also taught us some things about the Ravens and just how good they are. Here are the four biggest takeaways from this win.
1. The Ravens are one of the most terrifying teams to play in 2019
The Ravens have won seven straight games and of those seven, you would have to go back to their Week 6 win over the Cincinnati Bengals to find the last game that they won by only one score. Every game since then has been a multi-score victory.
Lest you think that Baltimore has been beating up on cellar-dwellers, four of those wins came against the Seattle Seahawks, New England Patriots, Houston Texans and Rams — all playoff-caliber teams with proven quarterbacks in Russell Wilson, Tom Brady, and Deshaun Watson.
The Ravens overcame some early bumps and have become one of the best teams in the league and forcing opponents to pick their poison, either burning them through the air or on the ground, or with a defense that has shown that it can score as well. Sometimes the Ravens burn teams with all three of those and that should terrify the teams remaining on their schedule, as well as whatever team they have to face in the postseason.
2. Lamar Jackson is every bit the special player the Ravens traded up for
Jackson went 15-of-20 for 169 yards and five touchdowns with another 8 carries for 95 yards. He’s had three games this season with four or more touchdown passes and two games with five touchdown passes. He just became the first quarterback to throw for 3,000 yards and run for 1,500 yards in his first two seasons. After entering the season with 50-to-1 odds to win the MVP, it would now be a bigger shock if he didn’t win the award.
Jackson has turned out to be worth the picks that Baltimore traded away to get him in 2018. He’s changed the fortunes of the franchise and has been doing things that no player before him has ever done.
3. The Ravens finally have a core of talented offensive players for their franchise quarterback
One of the biggest concerns going into the Lamar Jackson era was whether the Ravens would fail to surround him with talent the way they failed to surround Joe Flacco with talent. And while it’s early, that looks like it can’t be further from the case. Jackson has a stalwart offensive line with Ronnie Stanley and Orlando Brown on the outside, Marshal Yanda at right guard, and two hidden gems in Matt Skura and Bradley Bozeman.
His skill position players aren’t anything to scoff at either, as Jackson has an impressive three-headed monster at running back with Mark Ingram, Gus Edwards, and Justice Hill. He also has a solid trio at tight end with Mark Andrews, Hayden Hurst, and Nick Boyle. At wide receiver, Willie Snead and Seth Roberts are a pair of reliable veterans, while Marquise Brown looks like a player that will be Jackson’s favorite deep threat for years to come.
4. This might be John Harbaugh’s finest work as coach of the Ravens
This is not a statement that I’m making lightly. In the 2019 offseason, the Ravens traded away Joe Flacco, allowed a long-time veteran in Terrell Suggs to leave, along with impact starters C.J. Mosley, Za’Darius Smith, Eric Weddle and John Brown. It was assumed that the first full season of the Lamar Jackson era would be a rebuild after all that veteran talent walked away. And those assumptions looked to be correct when the Ravens lost two consecutive games in Weeks 3 and 4 when their new-look defense struggled against Patrick Mahomes and Baker Mayfield.
But coach Harbaugh didn’t allow panic to seep in and as the team worked to fix the struggling defense, the new-look offense also grew more and more confident in its identity. Baltimore got back into rhythm, winning divisional match-ups against the Steelers and Bengals, before moving on to the stretch of the season that was supposedly going to be difficult. Instead, the Ravens have been blowing through that and currently stand at 9-2, on top of the AFC North and on the heels of the Patriots.
As excellent as some of the individual players on the team have been this season, Harbaugh deserves a fair bit of credit for believing in his quarterback and putting him and the rest of the team in the best position to succeed.
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