The Baltimore Ravens beat the Cincinnati Bengals 34-20 in a key division matchup that moves them into the driver's seat in the division. They have a big lead now, but the bad news is losing Mark Andrews for the season in the meantime.
Andrews was the Ravens' best offensive weapon and will cause the team to make plenty of changes. What will the team do?
4. The Baltimore Ravens will be asking more from their backup tight ends
Without Mark Andrews, one obvious change coming is an increased use in the Ravens tight ends. When Andrews left, the Ravens immediately turned to Isaiah Likely, who played a season-high 49 snaps and 74% of the overall work. Likely did not catch a pass, and early in the first half, Lamar Jackson took a sack on what appeared to be a miscommunication with Likely.
He had instructions for Likely after the play. Likely has been a disappointment this year, but a lot of that comes back to opportunity. Now that he is ready to hit the field, the Ravens are expecting bigger things.
Still, they have a backup option in Charlie Kolar. Kolar was injured last year but was drafted before Likely. He has played of the 14% snaps this season and played 11 snaps with Andrews out on Thursday.
He caught a pass for 13 yards against the Bengals. Kolar went from averaging 4.2 snaps per game in the first five weeks of the season to 12 snaps per game over the most recent five. That is a strong increase.
Look for Kolar to get even more work, as the Ravens were seeing Likey on the field for about 32% of the snaps when he was the backup tight end. It will not be the same, but the presence of Likely and Kolar does make the hurt a bit easier to swallow.
3. The Baltimore Ravens can lean into the ground game
One area where Mark Andrews did struggle was as a blocker. Still, the Baltimore Ravens had the best rushing offense in the NFL anyway. It helps when Lamar Jackson can make magic on the ground, but Gus Edwards has been a power back, and Keaton Mitchell has emerged in recent weeks as well.
The Ravens are one of the more run-heavy teams in the NFL, but they actually could lean into it a bit more. They are by far at their best rushing the football from 11-personnel. They gain 0.14 expected points per play when they run from this formation, which is third-best in the NFL behind just Buffalo and Miami.
This is three receivers and one tight end. Yes, the tight end is gone, and them being a passing threat could open up the run as much as Andrews being a blocker.
Still, the Ravens have a chance to do two things: run the ball more from this formation and use Patrick Ricard as their one in-line blocker.
First, they are already using Ricard more in this role. He has been an in-line tight on 71% of his snaps this season. He always had a role that moved around, but was at 49% last year and 46% the year prior. He is seeing this role much more expanded already.
He is a part of why the Ravens are so good at running this look. Still, the Ravens only run the ball 24.4% of the time from 11-personell. On the flip side, when they have more tight ends or fullbacks, they are closer to a 60% run rate.
The Ravens can mix this up and be less predictable without Andrews. They can spread teams out with their receivers, but add Ricard as a blocker and run from 11-personnel.
2. The Baltimore Ravens need their depth wide receivers to step
The Baltimore Ravens are starting to get the most from their depth receivers and it could not come at a better time. The addition of Odell Beckham and Nelson Aghlor, along with the health of Rashod Bateman, was supposed to make this unit less reliant on Andrews. None of these three have stepped up enough for that to happen.
In recent weeks, they have been improving, though. Odell Beckham is averaging 71 yards per game in the last three games, led by his 116 explosion against Cincinnati. That is a lot better than the 27 yards per game he was averaging before this recent run.
Interestingly enough, some of his success comes from limiting his snap counts. Over the last three games, he has played under 50% of the snaps, a drop from his first two months. However, now he is producing more while doing less.
The Ravens are asking for more from the younger Rashod Bateman. Weeks 10 and 11 are the first two games that Bateman has played over 70% of the snaps.
Lastly, the Ravens will be asking more from Nelson Agholor. Agholor caught a pass that was tipped in the air and turned it into a touchdown. As long as he can bring contributions like that the rest of the way, the team should be fine.
1. Zay Flowers has to take more control of the Baltimore Ravens offense
One of the biggest notes from recent weeks is what the Baltimore Ravens are asking Zay Flowers to do. Early in the season, they were drawing up touches for him. Everything was schemed, and he led the NFL in screen targets.
However, in the last couple of weeks, they are asking for more from him. The Browns game was his best game because he did not have a single designed target and faced man coverage, which he had initially struggled to produce. He performed well and looked like a number one wide-out would.
Flowers did have a screen against Cincinnati and would have taken it to the house if it were not for a holding penalty that was extremely questionable. Still, the rest of his work came while beating man coverage on the outside and earning his targets.
The Ravens need Zay Flowers to be their number-one guy. They can make him a gadget option when Andrews is the top threat. Now, Flowers is that guy. He has shown that he can run routes and does not need to be spoon-fed targets. Now, he has to do it consistently to open up the offense.