The Baltimore Ravens are sitting at 7-2, and their most impressive wins of the season have come in two of the last three weeks. The Ravens are hotter than any team in the NFL, but we all know it took some ups and downs to get there. What are the biggest disappointments on the Ravens roster right now?
4. Can Lamar Jackson protect the football for the Baltimore Ravens
Lamar Jackson is going to make a strong case for the MVP once again. He is playing his best football, and we are starting to see the impact of Todd Monken on the offense. It has allowed Jackson to remain the same passer, but it has given him more layups, which help him get into a groove early as a passer.
Jackson is one of the biggest reasons the Ravens sit at 7-2, but we all know that Jackson could be the reason they go home in January when it is all said and done. Jackson has been great this year, but his inability to protect the football has to be lingering for fans right now.
Jackson is prone to fumbling here and there, and it makes sense. Still, right now, he is fumbling at an alarming rate. Jackson has ten fumbles already this year. His career-high is 12. He only played 12 games last year, but at that point, he only fumbled five times.
The Ravens have lost six of these fumbles. Even in the season, he had 12 fumbles; the team only lost four of them. In the past two years combined, they lost five of his fumbles. This could easily catch up to them, and it already has in losses to the Indianapolis Colts and Pittsburgh Steelers.
Lamar Jackson has been great, but his fumbling is one of the biggest disappointments of the season.
3. Are the Baltimore Ravens getting enough out of Odell Beckham?
When the Baltimore Ravens signed Odell Beckham Jr. in free agency, there were plenty of reasons to be concerned. Beckham missed the entire 2022 season while he recovered from a torn ACL. He is now 31 years old, and the best days are over for him.
Beckham currently has 19 catches for 218 yards. He is averaging 31.1 yards per game, which is down from the 73.6 he averaged for his career. He is also averaging 6.6 yards per target and 1.31 yards per route run. For his career, he averages 8.3 yards per target and 2.09 yards per route run. We knew he would not be better than his old days, but we thought it would not be such a depressing drop.
Injury has had to do with it, but Beckham has been healthy since week five now. Since week six, his yards per game jumped to 34, but that still features a zero-yard game in week eight.
Beckham had a season-high 56 yards against Seattle, and he had 2.24 yards per route run, a game that was like his older days. However, he also lost a fumble and had a drop. It has not come together for Beckham with the Baltimore Ravens, and that is unfortunate.
2. Will the depth of the Baltimore Ravens recent drafts improve?
The Baltimore Ravens have hit home runs in their past two drafts when you look at the first round. Kyle Hamilton fell to them and has been a home run, and they traded Hollywood Brown for Tyler Linderbaum, a move that they would do 100 times over. This year, Zay Flowers looks like a hit early into his rookie year.
However, the rest of the last two drafts have not shown much of anything. David Ojabo was always a risk when they drafted him, but this looks like a second lost season due to injuries. Travis Jones was expected to play more, and it may be because Michael Pierce has been so good, but you would think that the Ravens would want to limit the playing time of Pierce a bit with his age and injury history. At age 31, Pierce is at a career-high in snap rate, which may reflect on a lack of confidence in Jones to provide depth.
Daniel Faalele has been an issue every time he steps on the field, and Isaiah Likely has regressed in a big way this year. When you add in that Jalyn Armour-Davis and Charlie Kolar are typically inactive, and Pepe Williams is hurt, they just have the first-round picks. The same can be said for this rookie class.
Trenton Simpson has provided no value and looked bad in the preseason. He has not passed Del’Shawn Phillips yet. Tavius Robinson was a big reason the pass rush has struggled, and the Ravens phasing him out has helped in recent weeks. Kyu Blu Kelly has been cut, and Sala Aumavae-Laulu has been inactive for most weeks.
Which of these players are you still giving more time to see from, and which ones do you think are struggling to stick around?
1. Can the Baltimore Ravens offensive line stay healthy?
The health of the Baltimore Ravens has slowly turned from a minus to a plus, but the offensive line needs to stay there. Ronnie Stanley has been a disappointment in most cases. He got hurt in week one, and while his last couple of games have been better, he looks like he is rusty and not quite back to full speed after so many injuries.
Tyler Linderbaum missed some time, and Morgan Moses is the lineman currently injured. John Simpson and Kevin Zeitler are the two who have not been banged up, but they have just been the biggest issues of them all.
The Ravens have started and finished the game with these five just three times. That was weeks six, seven, and eight. They got right back out of sync in week nine and hope to get Moses back in week 10. Three out of nine weeks with full health is not very good, and you have to wonder if the Ravens offense would be more dynamic by now if that was the case.