The Arizona Cardinals take on the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday in their first road game of the season. Arizona is coming off a 27-27 tie with the Lions in Week 1, a game in which they had to come back from an 18-point deficit in the second half. The Ravens have the league’s top offense and defense after a 59-10 win over the Miami Dolphins.
To preview the matchup and give us insight, Ravens Wire managing editor Matthew Stevens answered some questions about the Cardinals’ Week 2 opponent.
After their Week 1 performance, what do we really know about the Ravens? How good are they really?
Matthew Stevens: I don’t think you really know anything about any team in the league after just one game. But for Baltimore, there’s a sigh of relief about their offense. Regardless of how good or bad the Dolphins really are, they executed every time they touched the ball and got big plays from their young talent. The offensive line also shined after struggling a bit in the preseason and not naming a starter at left guard until kickoff.
On defense, they continued right off from where they were last year. This is a defense that is aggressive and can overwhelm teams through force. While that sometimes works against them, they didn’t skip a beat and they should improve as everyone gels together over the course of the season. I think they’ve overcome the loss of impact players by having their younger guys play faster and hit harder and that wears a team down over 60 minutes.
If Week 1 is their ceiling, this is a really dangerous team and one more people should be paying close attention to. The question now is if they can repeat that success after putting it all on film for everyone to see. We’ll find out this week if they can sustain that level of play or if they caught a bad team at a good time.
What does Baltimore’s CB situation look like for Sunday?
Matthew Stevens: Jimmy Smith is out with a knee sprain, but Marlon Humphrey and Brandon Carr (both were on the injury report Wednesday) are expected to start. Humphrey will stay outside, and we’ll see second-year cornerback Anthony Averett start opposite him while Carr plays the inside slot corner role. With Smith and Tavon Young out due to injuries, Baltimore’s cornerback depth is being tested early, but this is a team that has invested quite a lot of draft equity in the position over the last few years for exactly this purpose. Humphrey is a Pro Bowl-caliber cornerback, and I expect Averett to follow in his footsteps somewhat as he takes a big leap this year. But I fully expect Arizona to test Averett early and often, especially if he is tasked with covering Larry Fitzgerald.
After only three rushing attempts in Week 1, is this the start of a new trend for Lamar Jackson?
Matthew Stevens: I expect the Ravens to utilize Lamar Jackson much in the way Michael Vick was. That means he’ll take what a defense gives him. If a defense is going to sit in man coverage and give guys a cushion, Jackson can sprint for easy yards. If a defense is going to [focus on] the run and keep a spy on him, it means someone should be pretty wide-open down the field. Against Miami, they sold out trying to stop Jackson from taking the game over with his legs, forcing him to beat them with his arm. [After Jackson went] 17-of-20 for 324 yards, five touchdowns and a perfect 158.3 rating, the Dolphins probably regret that game plan now.
Who are the impact players on the team now? How is Tony Jefferson now?
Matthew Stevens: On offense, the impact players are probably Jackson, Willie Snead, Mark Andrews and Mark Ingram. Those guys are primary options in either the passing game or the rushing attack and are likely the ones defenses are game-planning against most. Marquise Brown, Gus Edwards, Justice Hill, Miles Boykin, Hayden Hurst and Seth Roberts will all contribute in their own ways, but I wouldn’t expect them to put up huge games every week.
On defense, it’s a little bit of everyone, really. Defensive coordinator Don Martindale does a great job of moving guys around to create better matchups and giving them the freedom to read and react to what they’re seeing, even if that means placing themselves in a different position to make a play. But Earl Thomas, Patrick Onwuasor, Marlon Humphrey and Brandon Williams are the big stars right now for this defense.
Jefferson has been interesting since coming to Baltimore. Previous defensive coordinator Dean Pees didn’t really use Jefferson properly, asking him to cover far more than he should have been. But with Eric Weddle gone and Thomas in at free safety, he’s going back to laying the wood, which was his strength. He’s still not great in coverage, though he has improved. But if you catch a ball around him, he’s going to knock you into next week and that’s what this secondary had been missing over the last few years.
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