Fear the Flock: Ravens' offense unstoppable and getting better

It would be ridiculous to say Lamar Jackson had a bad game on Sunday. It'd be silly to say the offense struggled to put together a game plan to beat the Seahawks. All of that and more, would be very unreasonable to talk about today.

Yes, Lamar Jackson failed to score a touchdown (passing or rushing) and "only" completed 21-of-26 passes for 187 yards. Also yes: the Ravens dumped 37 points on the above-average defense of the Seahawks, moved on to a 7-2 record (tied-best in the AFC), and racked up 515 freaking total yards on offense.

The main reason for the beating, aside from the unbeatable defense of the Ravens, was an extraordinary rushing game that, like it or not, is still the foundation of Baltimore's magnificent offense.

Todd Monken has brought many things with him, but his varied playcalling is what is making the true difference, using both passing and rushing plays keeping opponents guessing, and never coming up with solutions for the Ravens vaunted O.

On Sunday, lead rusher Gus Edwards scored two touchdowns against Seattle and reached five in the past two weeks, seven over the first nine games of the season. Edwards rushed the ball just five times but racked up 52 yards.

Justice Hill wasn't impressive adding 40 yards on 13 carries, but he's shown weekly how capable he is of performing to the levels he's expected to reach on a game-by-game basis.

And now, after endless rumors about potential trades for an elite-level rusher (hello, Derrick Henry!) ended up in thin air, undrafted rookie RB Keaton Mitchell has stolen the spotlight with a one-of-a-kind performance, adding one more weapon to the Ravens rushing game.

Mitchell, in his first game enjoying some solid usage, rushed the rock for 138 yards and scored his first touchdown as a pro since he signed with Baltimore last spring. He got to that yardage on just nine carries, and two of those went for 40+ yards (one ended in the end zone, the other went for a gain of 60).

Lamar, by the way, added 60 rushing yards himself.

Are we sure Baltimore doesn't have the best backfield in the NFL? Of course, it'd be stretching things a bit to say any of Edwards/Hill/Mitchell is better than the bonafide superstar rushers plying his trade across the NFL landscape. But all of those three in combination are arguably the best running back unit in the league easily.

J.K. Dobbins, by the way, should be part of that room but he sadly went down injured for the season in Week 1. Just imagine where this offense would be with JK around...

Todd Monken is bossing and the Ravens are simply dominating teams in a way we've not seen so often in an ultra-competitive league as the NFL. The offensive strategy cannot be much better but it's very obvious that there are still miscommunications and some room for improvement.

We're barely past the halfway point of the regular season. By the it's over in early January, I don't even want to think how great this team might be looking. Just envisioning the tiniest of improvements has my brain spinning in circles. Can't wait for February, if you know what I'm saying.

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