Ebony Bird
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3 things Baltimore Ravens must focus on after tight win over Bills

By Chris Schisler

ORCHARD PARK, NY - DECEMBER 8: Trent Murphy #93 of the Buffalo Bills dives to try and make a tackle on Lamar Jackson #8 of the Baltimore Ravens as he throws a pass during the second half at New Era Field on December 8, 2019 in Orchard Park, New York. Baltimore beats Buffalo 24 to 17. (Photo by Timothy T Ludwig/Getty Images)
ORCHARD PARK, NY - DECEMBER 8: Trent Murphy #93 of the Buffalo Bills dives to try and make a tackle on Lamar Jackson #8 of the Baltimore Ravens as he throws a pass during the second half at New Era Field on December 8, 2019 in Orchard Park, New York. Baltimore beats Buffalo 24 to 17. (Photo by Timothy T Ludwig/Getty Images) /
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ORCHARD PARK, NY – DECEMBER 8: Trent Murphy #93 of the Buffalo Bills dives to try and make a tackle on Lamar Jackson #8 of the Baltimore Ravens as he throws a pass during the second half at New Era Field on December 8, 2019 in Orchard Park, New York. Baltimore beats Buffalo 24 to 17. (Photo by Timothy T Ludwig/Getty Images)
ORCHARD PARK, NY – DECEMBER 8: Trent Murphy #93 of the Buffalo Bills dives to try and make a tackle on Lamar Jackson #8 of the Baltimore Ravens as he throws a pass during the second half at New Era Field on December 8, 2019 in Orchard Park, New York. Baltimore beats Buffalo 24 to 17. (Photo by Timothy T Ludwig/Getty Images) /

The Baltimore Ravens won, but there is work to do. Here are three things the Ravens can focus on going into their Thursday Night football game against the New York Jets:

1. Opening up the offense:

The Baltimore Ravens beat the Buffalo Bills. That’s good, but they had one of their worst offensive performances of the season. The Ravens only had 118 yards on the ground, a number that is underwhelming for this offense. The Ravens had just 257 total yards in the game. Nothing clicked. The Bills bottled up Lamar Jackson and everything was tough sledding. The Ravens also bottled themselves up a bit. Think about it. How many receptions went to wide receivers in this game? How many throws attacked the Bills’ defensive backs down the field?

There were only seven receptions by wide receivers. Willie Snead had three catches for 13 yards. Marquise Brown had three grabs for negative three yards (yeah, that really happened to the fastest player on the field). Seth Roberts went up and got a ball that Jackson put up high for him, in traffic. The Ravens have gotten two in the box focused. They want to do too much with their running game and with Jackson making things happen with his legs. Is it easy to stop? No it’s not. It is however a plan of attack where the defense knows what to key in on.

Most teams can’t play as disciplined as the Bills and the San Francisco 49ers have the past two weeks. The New York Jets probably won’t give the purple and black so much trouble. That doesn’t mean that Greg Roman doesn’t have a problem to solve here. If Mark Andrews misses some time due to injury, the passing game has an issue. The Ravens need to get the ball to wide receivers. They need to stretch things out so that the defense has to attack the entire field and they don’t know what’s coming. Baltimore needs to pay off their great run game with passes down the field. That needs to be a basic component of the offense.

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