Is Ravens Offense Still Capable of a Super Bowl Run?

Jackson’s Career Year Entering the Bye Week

As the bye week arrives, Ravens QB Lamar Jackson is on track for a career year in the passing game. Through 13 games, he is on pace for a career-high in passing touchdowns, yards, passer rating, and a career-low in interceptions. The two-time MVP has made a serious case to add a third award to his trophy case this season, despite the up-and-down play from Baltimore throughout the year.

Jackson’s play this season has been historic, as he looks to become the first player in NFL history to finish the year as the league leader in passing yards (he is currently 2nd), passing touchdowns (2nd), and rushing yards from a quarterback (1st). As Week 13 comes to an end, Jackson has thrown for three fewer interceptions, five more touchdowns, and just 388 fewer yards than his 2022 MVP campaign.

Baltimore’s ability to stretch the field has been a large contributor to the Ravens success in the passing game this season. Jackson’s 8.9 yards per attempt in 2024 is the highest of his career, utilizing arguably the best weapons he’s had during his seven-year tenure. Zay Flowers has blossomed into a true WR1, right in front of our eyes. The second-year receiver has already eclipsed his 858 yards from a year ago, despite 14 fewer targets than he received last season. Flowers is on pace for 1,129 yards this year, which would rank second all-time in receiving yards in a season (Michael Jackson 1,209).

The continuous growth from Zay and the receiver room has led to a career year thus far for Jackson.

Addressing the Recent Struggles

Following the Ravens offensive shootout win in Week 10 over the Bengals, it’s been anything but enjoyable for Baltimore. Averaging 31.8 points per game through 10 weeks, Baltimore has managed just 21.6 over their last three while leaving those games with a 1-2 record. The Ravens offense as a whole has been wildly underwhelming, seemingly unable to find any real rhythm during their slump.

Sunday’s performance against the Eagles gave Ravens fans more of the same headaches. Following points on back-to-back drives to start the contest, Baltimore’s offense was unable to get inside the Eagles 30-yard-line on all but their final drive of the game. On five of their final nine drives of the game, the Ravens found themselves unable to move the ball past the 50-yard line. The Ravens offensive line struggled throughout the game, giving up 11 QB pressures and tying a season-high three sacks allowed. While struggling to establish a clean pocket for Jackson, Baltimore was also unable to get their top-3 rushing attack going. Derrick Henry’s 4.3 yards per carry Sunday totaled his second-worst average this season, trailing only the Week 1 loss in which he averaged just 3.5 YPC. Henry’s -16 Rushing Yards Over Expected according to Next Gen Stats was also the veteran’s lowest of the season.

Baltimore’s inability to rely on their run game has been a huge contribution to their recent struggles.

A Race for the North Title

Entering the 2024 season, the Ravens and Bengals were the two teams expected to fight for the division title in the AFC North. Fast forward to Monday of Week 13 and to everyone’s surprise, it’s the Steelers slowly walking away with the division lead. The Steelers have found their rhythm offensively and appear to have found the QB they’ve desperately needed over the last few years. Russell Wilson showed flashes of his days in Seattle during the Steelers win against the Bengals, tossing for 414 yards and three touchdowns with an impressive completion percentage of 76%. Against zone coverage, Wilson was flawless, going 23/26 for 316 yards and three touchdowns, his best performance against zone since departing Seattle, according to Next Gen Stats. Pittsburgh appears to control its own destiny in regards to claiming an AFC North title.

With three divisional games as well as the Chiefs and Eagles still remaining on the schedule, Pittsburgh looks to ride its recent success and get out of their end-of-season gauntlet over .500.

Baltimore’s loss Sunday dropped them down to the sixth seed in the AFC as they prepare to enter the bye week. It’ll be a much-needed break for a talented squad still playing below their potential. Missed kicks, drives stalling out, and an inability to get a true run game established have led to Baltimore’s remaining four games being more important than ever. The Ravens will return in Week 15 to take on the Giants before a pivotal Week 16 home matchup with the Steelers. Getting healthy has got to be priority number one for the Ravens, as the team hopes to return Michael Pierce and Kyle Van Noy, as well as receive some positive news on wideout Rashod Bateman who left Sunday with a knee injury.

The North title and a home playoff game are still in play, but it’s going to take some changes during the bye week.

It’s been a bit of an underwhelming season overall entering the bye week, for a team that saw so much success a season ago, and which had high expectations leaving training camp.

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Source: https://russellstreetreport.com/2024/12/02/monday-morning-qb-talk/is-ravens-offense-still-capable-of-a-super-bowl-run/