Two things come to mind when talking about the Ravens: Yogi Berra’s famous saying, “Deja Vu, all over again”, and the movie Groundhog Day… with Lamar Jackson playing the role of Bill Murray, reliving the same day, over and over again.
QB
Another season that Lamar Jackson is in the MVP discussion, with an amazing regular season and a playoff run cut way too short. It’s tough to be the choke moniker on him, but he’s going to have to get to a Super Bowl soon before his window closes. Next season, he’ll be his eighth in the league. He’s firmly established as one of the best QBs in the league, and his stats this season only bolster that claim. He eclipsed 4000 passing yards and 40 touchdowns for the first time in his career. And he only threw four interceptions. With the addition of RB Derrick Henry, the thought was that Jackson wouldn’t run as much. He actually rushed for 915 yards, his most since 2020. His completion ratio is still achilles heel, only completing 66.7% of his passes this season.
RB
Let’s face it: the Ravens bread and butter is their running game. They ranked first, with 192.8 rushing yards per game. Ultimately, in this age of passing, that may be their fatal flaw. They bolstered their running game with this generation’s Jim Brown; Derrick Henry. His 1921 yards and 16 touchdowns were each his second-highest numbers in his career. It was his fourth season of over 1500 yards and his seventh consecutive with double-digit TDs.
WR
They have a bona fide number-one receiver in Zay Flowers. This season, he caught 74 passes and eclipsed 1000 receiving yards for the first time. While Flowers is their number one wide receiver, Rashod Bateman has emerged as Jackson’s main endzone target. Nine of Bateman’s 45 catches were TDs. As solid as that is, Jackson’s main threat in the passing game is to his TEs. Mark Andrews and Isiah Likely combined for 97 catches for 1150 yards. They combined for 17 TDs, with Andrews leading all receivers with 11 TDs.
DEFENSE
Baltimore’s defense led the league in rushing defense, only giving up 80.9 yards per game. But their passing defense ranked 23rd. LB Roquon Smith and S Kyle Hamilton each had over 100 tackles, and Kyle Van Noy led the team with 12.5 sacks. This is a very solid and disciplined defense. It is hard to believe they lost five games this season. Ultimately, it was the shortcomings in the regular season that contributed to the early departure from the playoffs. The 12-5 record was only good enough for the no.3 seed in the AFC. Not only did they miss out on the no.1 seed and bye, but they fell short of the no.2 seed, which took them to Buffalo instead of playing at home in the divisional round. If the Ravens need to focus on anything in the offseason, it’s in their secondary.
HEAD COACH
John Harbaugh has been doing it for a while. He’s one of the best coaches in the league and will be with the Ravens for a long time, certainly as long as Jackson is their QB. He’s been the Raven’s HC since 2008 and has a Superbowl under his belt. He’s been the coach of the year and holds the record for most road playoff wins, with eight. The problem is, he finds himself on the road too often in the playoffs. Too many regular-season hiccups force them on the road when the playoffs roll around.
