Why Baltimore Ravens offense must breeze past the Jets
The Baltimore Ravens offense has to get back on their frenetic pace against the New York Jets:
The Baltimore Ravens’ offense has to be able to breeze by the Jets defense on Thursday Night Football. Before the Ravens played the San Francisco 49ers and the Buffalo Bills there was absolutely nothing to worry about in Baltimore. In the past two weeks the offense has been just good enough. The Ravens have to prove that they haven’t been figured out and that on any given day they can drop 30 points and 500 yards on any given opponent.
The Jets defense is actually fairly impressive. The Jets rank seventh in the NFL in yards allowed per game and have the second best run defense in the league. They’re not dominant; they allow 23.2 points and 242 passing yards per game. Overall their defense is stingier than most five teams have and they have to be taken seriously.
Every time the Ravens slow down offensively, there seems to be this notion that there is a blueprint for stopping Lamar Jackson. One thing that helped the Ravens in this nine game winning streak is how their offense was hard to prepare for. The Ravens need to keep defenses guessing to keep this advantage alive for the playoffs. Confident defenses don’t hesitate and keeping them guessing is a big part of Greg Roman’s plans.
Trends stand out, exceptions to the rules are forgotten. If the Ravens crush the Jets, run all over the Browns in a revenge game and sweep the Steelers in convincing fashion, all will be good. The Bills and 49ers will be the only two teams that had some success against the offense during the win streak and both times weather played a factor.
We know what the Jets are going to do. We know that they are going to try to keep Lamar Jackson contained and that they are going to try to lock up offensive linemen. The Jets have to hope that what worked for the Bills can work for them. They have to believe there is a clear cut way to attack the Baltimore offense.
If the Jets bottle up the Ravens with a similar game plan, you’re looking at a trend. If the Jets can do it, there may just be a blueprint after all. If the Jets fail to even slow the Ravens down, it proves that it’s easier said than done. The Ravens have to win this game convincingly to remain the most alarmingly good team in the AFC playoff picture.