The Baltimore Ravens offense has come along the second half of the season and that should continue against the Indianapolis Colts.
It’s what we’ve been waiting for most of the season but the Baltimore Ravens offense finally seems to be coming along. They’ve scored 20+ points in the last five games and are 4-1 in that span. It’s put the Ravens at 8-6 and in the driver’s seat for a wild-card berth this season. With just two games left to play, we should expect to continue to see stellar offensive performances, especially against the Colts this Saturday.
On paper, the Colts defense is absolutely terrible. Through 15 weeks, they rank third worst in yards per game allowed (381.5), third worst in passing yards per game allowed (257.1), fourth worst in rushing yards per game allowed (124.4) and second to last in points per game allowed (26.3) I could go even furth into the numbers but they speak for themselves. The Colts defense is the worst unit the Ravens will face this season.
The Colts’ defensive struggles are a product of injuries but also a poor roster makeup. It doesn’t help to have first-round rookie safety Malik Hooker on injured reserve along with leading tackler John Bostic. But on the other hand, the rest of the healthy front-seven isn’t anything to be scared about and the majority of the starters on defense we’re brought in as free agents. That shows how poorly the Colts have been at drafting and developing players on the defensive side of the ball, which is exactly why they’ve struggled, even with a healthy Andrew Luck.
The truth is, you can’t sign a plethora of free agents and expect them to gel and for everything to mesh. That’s now how it works in the NFL.
Colts defense is ranked 31st. The supposedly vaunted run defense that everyone was writing puff pieces on 3 weeks ago is now ranked 29th in the NFL. Pass defense is ranked 30th. This is the group Chris Ballard brought in 8 key free agents during the offseason to "fix."
— Brad Wells (@BradWellsNFL) December 19, 2017
The Ravens had their way offensively last week and the Colts defense is much worse than the Browns. Cleveland gets their slack for all their problems but they’re a fairly talented team on that side of the ball.
There’s no reason why we shouldn’t see Joe Flacco and the offense come out and dominate. A balanced attack is going to absolutely pick apart the Colts defense. If the Denver Broncos, who are completely incompetent on offense, can put up 462 total yards with 213 on the ground, there’s no reason the Ravens can’t do the same and more. Joe Flacco is much better than Brock Osweiler and Alex Collins has been a top-10 even five running back this season. His physicality is tough against even the best defenders in the NFL.
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If I can tell you how bad the Colts’ defense is, then there’s no doubt John Harbaugh and his coaching staff are saying the same thing in Owings Mills this week. We’ll see if the Ravens can continue their stellar offensive performances because if they can’t do it against the Colts, there’s no reason to think they can do it in the playoffs.