Baltimore Ravens Only Two Players Away From Super Bowl Berth

Jan 10, 2015; Foxborough, MA, USA; Baltimore Ravens running back Justin Forsett (29) celebrates with teammates after scoring a touchdown against the New England Patriots in the third quarter during the 2014 AFC Divisional playoff football game at Gillette Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports

As fans of the “other” 30 NFL teams prepare to watch the Super Bowl this weekend with thoughts of what could have been, we often wonder just what it would take for our favorite team to make it to the promised land. For the Ravens, it might have seemed like we just needed a couple of decent cornerbacks to get the team over the top. In a game of inches, everybody likes to speculate about what could have been.

In a fascinating piece put together by Pro Football Focus and expounded on by ESPN, we are able to do just that with an assessment based on statistics. PFF analyzed the 28 teams that played in the conference championship games from 2007 to 2013 and found that around 40 percent of those team’s rosters were composed of players that fell in the good/elite category. They then applied that number to this year’s rosters to find out how many more quality players every team needed to get over the top.

For the Ravens, that number is agonizingly small. Baltimore came in second, behind only the Dallas Cowboys, with the team being only two players away from a roster fit to play in the big game. This actually seems pretty realistic considering how close the Ravens were to beating the New England Patriots, one of the two teams that did make it to the Super Bowl, in the divisional playoff round.

The breakdown of the Ravens’ roster is pretty fascinating. Here are the 33 players who played more than 250 snaps this season and how they are rated.

Elite – Marshal Yanda, Pernell McPhee

Good – Kelechi Osemele, Justin Forsett, Terrell Suggs, Daryl Smith, Elvis Dumervil, Brandon Williams, Will Hill, C.J. Mosley, Jimmy Smith, Rick Wagner

Average – Haloti Ngata, Jeromy Miles, Joe Flacco, Kyle Juszczyk, Jeremy Zuttah, Crockett Gillmore, Darian Stewart, Timmy Jernigan, Torrey Smith, Owen Daniels, Steve Smith, Marlon Brown, Kamar Aiken, Chris Canty, Courtney Upshaw, DeAngelo Tyson, Lardarius Webb, Eugene Moroe

Bad – James Hurst, Asa Jackson, Matt Elam

I must say, it’s hard to pick a bone with these ratings. Yanda indeed had one of the best seasons of any offensive lineman in the NFL this year. McPhee was a consistent force in the pass rush, but I don’t think he is elite, however. As Jamison Hensley points out, McPhee had the benefit of playing with an excellent defensive front this season.

Dumervil is also a sack master but is really a one trick pony, playing only 56% of the snaps this season. Ngata was borderline elite and his stats certainly make the case for it. The same can be said of Forsett, though his success is likely a product of the system (and great run blocking) he enjoyed in 2014. Flacco is as up and down as anybody, though he does come through when the stakes are high. We’ll take that any day over pure statistics.

Taking a look at the break down, it’s obvious that the Ravens need to upgrade at both corner and wide receiver. Torrey and Steve Smith combined for 18 dropped passes in 2014 and both caught less than 61 percent of their targets. As PFF points out, that was a lower efficiency rating than 64 other wide receivers in the league. Lack of cornerback depth is easily the reason this team didn’t make it past New England and the divisional playoff round, however.

What do you think about PFF’s ratings? Are the Ravens really only two good players away from another Super Bowl run?

Next: The Ravens are Interested in Bringing Back Justin Forsett, But Will They?

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