The Baltimore Ravens continued their pursuit of the Lombardi with their ninth win of the season. The Ravens will head into a much-needed bye week, but as always, there are plenty of questions that will need to be answered after their win over the Los Angeles Chargers.
10. Did the Baltimore Ravens finally put a team away in the fourth quarter?
One of the big issues with the Baltimore Ravens this season is that if they let teams linger, they will make it tight in the fourth quarter. The Ravens led big over Houston, Cleveland, Detroit, Seattle, and Cincinnati, so they did not have to worry about putting them away.
However, games against Cincinnati the first time, Tennessee, and Arizona were much closer than expected after fourth-quarter comebacks, and losses to the Browns, Steelers, and Colts all came because of fourth-quarter collapses. The Ravens let the Chargers linger into the fourth quarter, and sitting with a 13-3 lead, it looked like the perfect time for the team to show that they can hold onto a lead.
Jadeveon Clowney had a game-changing strip sack about two minutes into the fourth quarter. The Ravens offense could not put the game away, though. The Chargers cut the lead to 13-10, and after Justin Tucker missed a field goal, the Chargers had yet another chance.
However, Arthur Maulet forced Justin Herbert into grounding, Zay Flowers ripped a run into the end zone, and the Ravens won.
So, the Ravens' offense got a first down, or rather, a touchdown, when they needed to put the game away. The defense got two turnovers in the fourth quarter. Still, the Ravens also let the Chargers into the red zone twice late; the offense stalled once, and they missed a field goal. They put a team away in the fourth, but it was not pretty.
9. Did the return of Marcus Williams lead to issues for Geno Stone?
It is hard not to notice Geno Stone playing a bit worse recently than he did at the start of the season. Going from six interceptions in an eight-week span to none in the last three weeks is noticeable. However, it is more than that. Big plays have leaked, especially in the run game due to issues with angles and tackles from Stone.
On the one hand, this is surprising after the year he has had. On the other, it is not a shock because Stone was playing above his head. However, the turn in his play happens to coincide with the return of Marcus Williams. When you think about it Stone was playing the center field, free safety role when he had all of those interceptions. Now, that is the role Williams plays. Stone is in the box more and is away from what he does best.
Do the Ravens keep playing Stone in uncomfortable, or do they shift Kyle Hamilton back to safety and Arthur Maulet into the slot? What does this mean for the future of Stone and his potential contract in free agency?
8. Did the Baltimore Ravens finally show they can shut down the good quarterbacks?
One big question from the Ravens in recent weeks is whether the defense is legitimate or just feasting on bad quarterbacks. The two times they played Joe Burrow, he was hurt, and when they played CJ Stroud, it was week one, and almost all of his offensive line was missing. Ryan Tannehill got hurt, so they had to play Malik Willis.
Then, the Ravens played Garnder Minshew, Kenny Pickett, Joshua Dobbs, Jared Goff, and Geno Smith. DeShaun Watson mounted a huge comeback, which made you wonder if the Ravens would have issues against the better playmakers at quarterback.
While Justin Herbert was without some helpers on offense, he was the best quarterback the Ravens faced. He was healthy, and the Ravens shut him down. This is a good omen because the road ahead brings more. They get Matthew Stafford, Trevor Lawrence, the 49ers, and the Dolphins over the next four games. This is when the defense will have to show whether they can win a Super Bowl.
7. What will the Baltimore Ravens do if Justin Madubuike is injured?
Justin Madubuike is in the concussion protocol. The new concussion rules have made it much harder for players to come back from entering the protocol in one week. The good news is that the Ravens have two weeks to prepare for this, and that gives Madubuike time to clear the protocol. Still, if not, this is a good time to see what the team has in Broderick Washington and Travis Jones.
These two are coming off of the best games of the season for each. Both recorded a sack. Washington was surprisingly inactive last week and came out fired up this week. Did he receive a needed message? Jones has been waiting in the wings and has shown up in moments, but finally had a big game.
The Ravens should try to work these two in more because Madubuike is banged up, and Michael Pierce is on pace for a career-high in snaps. Now that the Ravens are 9-3, they need to keep these two ready for the playoffs, and they would love to know that Washington and Jones are ready to roll behind them.
6. How much more can the Baltimore Ravens get out of Keaton Mitchell?
Keaton Mitchell has slowly but surely earned more of a role. He started at 17% of the snaps played in week nine and has climbed all the way up to 47% on Sunday. He also tied a career-high in rushing attempts with nine.
What is even more encouraging is seeing that he ran a route on 39% of the dropbacks. That is up from 24% the week prior and 8% in week nine. He has slowly earned a role in the passing game. Mitchell had two catches for 25 yards, with one catch showing excellent body control.
What is even more important was seeing him for 1-1 on assignments in pass protection. That is going to get Mitchell on the field a lot more. Justice Hill has been losing snaps to Mitchell, but now Gus Edwards is as well. The ceiling is the limit for Mitchell because the Ravens will only use him more as they integrate him during the bye week.
5. Will we be seeing more Ronald Darby for the Baltimore Ravens moving forward?
Sunday was a really strong performance for Rondald Darby. First, it was the first time since he tore his ACL that he started the game and finished it with 100% of the snaps played. More than that, he looked good doing it. Sure, he gave up a couple of catches to Keenan Allen, and he gave up seven yards to Quentin Johnston. Overall, he was shut down, and this season, he has been solid, even if that has come in a rotational role.
Now, the question is, what happens with Darby? Does Marlon Humphrey come back after the bye week, or does the team have to rely on him down the stretch run? This will be a big final five games for Darby, who will be due a contract this year and likely will be getting it on a different team.
4. Is less more for the Baltimore Ravens and Odell Beckham Jr.?
Something changed for the Ravens in week nine. After Odell Beckham had the worst game of his career in week eight, the Ravens started to limit Beckham's snaps. In week ten, the Ravens put him on what appears to be a limited snap count role.
In the last three games, he has played just 33.5% of the overall snaps, and on pass plays, he runs a route just 42% of the time. In the first nine weeks, he played 57% of the snaps and ran a route 66% of the time. That is about 21 snaps per game from 39 snaps per game.
What is fascinating is that the last three weeks have been the best we have seen from Beckham. He is averaging 63 yards per game in the last three games and 24 yards per game in the first eight. His yards per route run is 4.63, which is up from 1.31 in the first eight games.
A lot of this comes from a week 11 performance when he had 116 yards, but he also averaged 3.93 yards per route run in week 10 and 2.83 yards per route run in week 12.
Beckham is showing that he is best off doing more when he gets less, and the Ravens should stick to it.
3. What is going on with Justin Tucker?
This has not been a career year for Justin Tucker. With another missed kick, he is now at 80.8% for the season. His career low before this year was 82.5%, and his average per year is 89.9%.
A lot of this comes from 50+ yard kicks, which can be excused. Still, he is 68% for his career and is just 1-5, a lousy 20% this year. Still, the reason we are writing this is an ugly missed kick from just 44 yards. It happens, but it has Tucker at 88% for the year from 40-49 yards, which is now under his 89.6% career rate in this area.
Tucker is now worse from 50+ and 40+ than he ever has been and is on pace for the worst year of his career. This cannot be what haunts the 9-3 after a career of stability. Can it?
2. Are the Baltimore Ravens offensive tackles going to be an issue?
The Baltimore Ravens tackles look great on paper, but behind the scenes, there has to be concerned. Morgan Moses has been the better tackle of the two. However, he missed weeks nine and ten, and while he looked good in week 11, he was not quite as good in week 12. Sunday was his third-worst game in pass protection efficiency, per PFF. This is the same injury that had Moses missing week five, and you have to wonder if he is playing through it.
Ronnie Stanley is the bigger concern, though. Stanley allowed six pressures and had two penalties on Sunday. It was arguably the worst game of his season. Stanley missed weeks through four and missed week 11 with different injuries, and it is hard to expect him to ever get back to his old ways.
Can the Ravens trust Stanley going forward, and is Moses healthy enough to get them to the end of the season? One thing we can say for sure is that these two are so happy for the bye week.
1. How did Isaiah Likely starting for the Baltimore Ravens look?
Sunday was the first time we got to see a real look into Isaiah Likely as the Mark Andrews replacement. He filled in for Andrews in week one, but Andrews was a late scratch, and the Ravens hardly had time to work Likely into the gameplan. Andrews also left last week after one drive, but once again, Likely did not have the chance to be schemed in.
During his rookie year, he was the Robin to the Batman that is Mark Andrews. Now, we finally got to see what he can do. Likely essentially slotted in for Andrews as if there was no drop-off. He ran the same routes, and Charlie Kolar filled in for Likely, running about the same number of snaps that he would run as the backup.
Likely averaged 1.33 yards per route run. This was good, considering he is at 0.94 for the season. However, Andrews is at 1.96 and had just one game with a yards-per route run lower than that. So, Likely did what he could do, but the drop-off is pretty noticeable. Can this week give Likely more time to feel better in the system? Or do they feel this loss is worse against better pass defenses?