Baltimore Ravens stock report: Who’s hot, who’s not week one

Yesterday, the Baltimore Ravens welcomed the Cleveland Browns and beat them 38-6. Entering next week many players were hot, and just a few were not.

From start to finish yesterday, the Ravens controlled the game. Entering the matchup, the Browns defense was beat up and their offense is under a new coach and was in its first action together. The Ravens took advantage and had the upper hand the entire game. Scoring first, and only allowing the Browns to score once. When talking about a game you look at the box score and it does tell the story. The Browns held the ball for four seconds longer than the Ravens and only had three less first downs, but the Ravens dominated in starting field position and were plus-two in turnovers.

In all three phases of the game the Ravens were efficient and effective. The Browns tried to feed Odell Beckham Jr. and Jarvis Landry but struggled against the Raven secondary, on the other hand the Ravens spread the ball around and got a lot of big contributions from many players. To label a few players hot is near impossible, so here we’ll break down how the offense and defense was hot and single out a few players, as well as point out who was cold and will need to get jump-started next week. So lets get into it.

Who’s hot on offense:

The leagues reigning MVP Lamar Jackson took care of the ball and moved it with efficiency. For the day he was 20-25 with 275 yards and three touchdowns, and ran the ball for 45 yards at 6.4 yards per attempt. Jackson was locked in from the get go and threw to eight different receivers, not one being a running back. The offense was very similar to last year, but it’s clear there is a lot more of the playbook to reach into this year. Jackson was able to rely on a few key rookies who made huge contributions and will be focal points in the offense this year.

Second round running back J.K Dobbins introduced himself to the NFL with two touchdown runs on seven carries. He wasn’t the most efficient but he looks ready for the NFL and is bound to make a huge impact this season. Third round pick Tyree Phillips made the start at left guard over veteran D.J Fluker, was a stable force and played 56 out of 59 plays for the night. Phillips, a former tackle in college showed an ability to pass protect and run block. Fellow third round pick Devin Duvernay had one screen play that worked out well, and had two kick returns averaging 32 yards per return. James Proche, a sixth round rookie receiver didn’t make an impact on offense but had two good punt returns and looks to be a feature player on special teams.

Others who made big impacts on Sunday was tackle converted to guard converted back to tackle D.J Fluker. Fluker originally was not a starter on the offensive line filled in for Ronnie Stanley who was having a good game, when he injured his ankle. Fluker held up well as the left tackle and helped provide Jackson with ample time to throw. The biggest beneficiary of this was Mark Andrews; Andrews caught five receptions for 58 yards and two touchdowns. Andrews converted third downs, made plays in the red zone and was a game-changer.

On the outside, Marquise “Hollywood” Brown caught five passes for 101 yards in the game and that was all in the first half. For Hollywood, he is more than what he puts on the stat sheet as every defense needs to game plan for his speed. Fellow receivers Miles Boykin and Willie Snead also both had solid games and the offense as a whole has developed a nice rapport with Jackson.