The Baltimore Ravens left Cleveland yesterday 31-15 victors, improving to 13-2 overall, and owning the AFC’s #1 overall seed.
With the win, the Ravens ran their winning streak to 11, and avenged one of their 2 losses of the year.
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Some thoughts as we reach the end of the regular season Sunday, with the Ravens hosting Pittsburgh.
What Do We Want To See Vs. The Steelers?
– The primary answer is of course health. You want to come out of that game, without any substantial injuries. Due to that, Coach Harbaugh and the players Leadership Council will come to a likely joint discussion of those you’ll want to avoid playing next week. Clearly that starts with Jackson. Ingram’s injury yesterday makes it easy to rest him. Same for Andrews. Earl Thomas has already stated he anticipates resting. We will see who else.
– I do want to see the Ravens play to win though. It’s exciting to see the Ravens as the #1 overall seed, knowing they’ll have the 1st round bye, and host a game in the Divisional Round. That’s a great formula for post-season success. Overall, you obviously want that path vs. being a Wild Card team and having the harder road. My one ‘worry’ is that sometimes the teams which have had byes, come out a little flat in the Divisional Round. If you’ve taken the game off in Week 17, then you’ve been out of routine for sometime. All-in-all though, sure, I’m excited that someone like Ingram basically has 3 weeks of rest coming.
– Eliminating the Steelers from the post-season would be an added bonus. Kind of looking forward to seeing RG3 (and maybe McSorley) get some time. Hill had his first NFL TD yesterday. With the anticipation of Ingram being out, I’m looking forward to Hill getting additional touches. I’d like to see Boykin and Hurst have good games going into the playoffs. How about a long Tucker FG or two? He only has 1 attempt over 50 yards this year, and only 3 attempts from over 40 yards since November 17th. I don’t think Tucker ever suffers from a lack of confidence, but would love to see him smash a long FG down the middle of the uprights. Also would like to see the kickoffs out of the endzone, eliminating any chance of a run out. Have nightmares about some odd return helping the Texans, Bills, or Titans staying in the Divisional game.
Overall Thoughts For The Year
– The season has been captivating. The Ravens have outscored their opposition by 231 points this year. That’s absurd. The Raven have won 11 games in a row. The league’s next two longest current winning steaks don’t equal 11 (Kansas City 5, several teams with 3). I thought the Ravens would be good, and reach the playoffs. I didn’t think they’d be elite. I was excited about watching Jackson, and believed he would be good – I didn’t expect this level of domination. The biggest thing that stands out is that this year has been fun. That’s a culmination of several things. We live in serious times, sports represent a nice diversion. This has been a difficult stretch for our home. There are often positives which get drowned out by other realities. When you take punch after punch to the chin, sometimes it’s difficult to maintain any semblance of morale. The Ravens and Jackson have served as a beacon, a tangible positive to be enjoyed that brings people together. This isn’t to over-state the importance of sports – but the year the Ravens have had, has been a welcome respite.
– There are lessons for us as individuals from this Ravens season, and Jackson. People doubt you? Work harder. You have weaknesses? Work to address them. Everyone says you can’t do x? Find another solution, and exceed expectations.
– To that last point, one of my favorite aspects of this year has been the Ravens utilizing scheme to demolish their competition. For years we’ve watched the proliferation of high-powered passing offenses, aided by changes in NFL rules. The record books are rewritten annually, and the game of 2019 looks very different vs. 1989, let alone 1958. One of the things we discussed ad nauseam on this board over the years was that if NFL defenses are going to get smaller and quicker as the counter to the additional WR’s on the field; there was opportunity to do something different. The base NFL defense has become the Nickel. If that’s the base defense you can anticipate, you could utilize a power running game and run over teams. That’s coaching. That’s adjustment and innovation. Then you add Jackson’s throwing, running, and improvisation – and you have an offense that looks vastly different vs. the rest of the league. The truth is I’ve long been lukewarm on Coach Harbaugh, and had some reservations about EVP, GM Eric DeCosta. They both deserve all the credit they get for building this roster, and being willing to go against the grain.
How Talented Is This Ravens Team?
– Baltimore just tied a record with 12 Ravens elected to the Pro Bowl. That’s a nice reward for a special season. I’ve been of the opinion that this team has good, not great talent. That it’s a good roster, that by scheme, and Jackson has played at an elite level. I look at this team, and when I’m comparing to say the 2006 Ravens, I feel the ’06 team ‘looks’ better. Overall though, I guess that is subjective. Even when you are looking at metrics which are trying to account for opposition, game scenarios, etc; it’s difficult to directly compare.
– Thinking about the ’06 team, that was a very good year, that ultimately isn’t remembered because they didn’t end with the hardware. Through Week 15, the ’19 Ravens are 5th all-time by Football Outsiders’ DvOA. If this Ravens team ends up hoisting the Lombardi Trophy; they are going to have an argument for being one of the best teams ever. Which probably means I should give the talent more credit than I have.
Owner
Chris Stoner founded Baltimore Sports and Life in 2009. He has appeared as a radio guest with 1090 WBAL, 105.7 The Fan, CBS 1300, Q1370, WOYK 1350, WKAV 1400, and WNST 1570. He has also been interviewed by The Baltimore Sun, Baltimore Business Journal, and PressBox (TV). As Owner, his responsibilities include serving as the Managing Editor, Publicist, & Sales Director.