Geoff Schwartz: Lamar Jackson fanboys are going to get a reality check

Geoff Schwartz believes that Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens will be in for a rude awakening when they host the New England Patriots on Sunday night.

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The Baltimore Ravens are at a cool 5-2 on the season. They are coming off their annual bye and won their previous game on the road against the Seattle Seahawks back in Week 7. The Ravens will host the New England Patriots on Sunday Night Football. It’s a great opportunity to prove themselves in primetime, but will Lamar Jackson and the Ravens be able to get it done this week?

On this week’s episode of Stacking the Box, FanSided‘s Matt Verderame and Mark Carman, along with former NFL offensive lineman Geoff Schwartz, look at this high-profile matchup between the Patriots and Ravens and see if New England will stay perfect or if Jackson and Baltimore have something special cooking in their upset bid (9:00).

Schwartz doesn’t believe in Jackson or the Ravens in this one. “I think we’re going to have a lot of Lamar Jackson/Ravens offense fanboys come back to earth after Sunday night because I think to your point, Matt, we’re going to see the Patriots defense, that I promise you, has been preparing for this game for five months now, knowing that they’re this hot, up-and-coming offense.”

Schwartz would point out that the passing game isn’t really there in the Ravens offense and that while they run to the right well, it has been exposed as a tendency that Patriots head coach Bill Belichick will try to exploit. Fortunately for the Ravens, it’s not like the Patriots offense has been much to write home about. They have a great defense, but that offense leaves a lot to be desired.

While we can expect a great defensive gameplan from New England this week, the Ravens have had an extra week to prepare for how to best attack this vaunted Patriots defense. The Ravens offense is unconventional, but it might be able to expose something in the New England front-seven. Keep in mind that the best part of the Patriots defense is its secondary.

Though the Patriots are 8-0, Baltimore will be the best team they will have faced up to this point. New England’s schedule has been laughably soft, though that is completely out of the Patriots’ control. The Ravens will need to play a perfect game and one New England will try to make Baltimore play left-handed. But even the best teams lose, so maybe the Ravens get it done?

Here are a few other topics discussed on this week’s episode of Stacking the Box:

• Just admit the Patriots D is good, no matter who they’ve played  – 11:00
• Lamar Jackson is the OMVP – 20:57
• Patriots-Ravens odds – 42:52
• Ravens-Patriots is the best game of the week – 46:10

All this and more!

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