Special Teams, Offensive Line Stocks Crash in Loss

The Ravens are limping into their bye week with an 8-5 record coming off of the loss to the Eagles yesterday. Philly is a very talented team that can dominate in the trenches and while there was a lot of good yesterday, the bad is bad enough to make you say that this is not a team that can win a Super Bowl as currently constructed.

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Stock Up

Pass Defense

They did a good job on A.J. Brown overall and held the Eagles to just 112 yards passing.  This is three weeks in a row where the pass defense showed vast improvement, after being the league’s worst for the first two and half months. The adjustment to putting Hamilton at high safety has been a game changer. Although this changes has made the rush defense a little worse, that is a trade you have to make.

Mark Andrews

Mark Andrews is all the way back and is out there making big plays. Lamar is looking for him in big spots and he’s coming down with tough catches. He is also becoming the tush push guy and that is a valuable play in short yardage situations.

Chris Board

Chris Board out-snapped Trenton Simpson and looks good in pass coverage. Simpson has actually graded out well vs the pass for much of the year but obviously there is something the Ravens see that they like with Board to give him the time out there.

Penalties

This was one of their best games all year when it came to penalties. I am not holding my breath that this is a trend (that crew is known to give home cookin’) but it’s a welcome sight late in the year and with the bye week now here, hopefully they can build off of that and continue to get better.

Bye Week/Rest

An aspect of the NFL schedule that I feel gets overlooked as the season goes on is the bye week. We are deep into the season and the Ravens are just now getting their real rest. Think of the three-game stretch they just finished. Three physical teams in Pittsburgh, LA, and Philly. They played that Philly team not only on a shorter week, but the Ravens also had to travel across the country (Philly did as well but played a less physical team and had normal rest). They did that with no bye week. Getting this rest is needed. Not only for the players to recharge but also for the coaches to deeply self-scout, which isn’t entirely possible on regular weeks.  The hope is that they can come out of the bye and go beat up on the Giants and perhaps be able to get starters out early in that game too.  That would be very nice going into that second Pittsburgh game.

Stock Down

Special Teams

Chris Horton’s unit has been a staple on my stock down list all year. We all know the struggles of Justin Tucker and there is a real decision to make there (you can’t just cut him but you should bring in competition and see what happens). He is costing us valuable points, and that just can’t happen.

But Tucker isn’t the only problem.  Jordan Stout is a mediocre punter, and while he has his moments, he is inconsistent and routinely has bad punts. Against Philly he had a shank and another low line drive that turned into a nice return. This has turned out to be a disaster of a pick by EDC and I hope they move on from Stout this offseason. They can save 1.1M on the cap by cutting him.

Tylan Wallace had a terrible day. He was lucky to recover two fumbles off of punts but he also cost the team field position multiple times but making the wrong decision to let punts drop inside the 10. This has happened way too often this year. Is it him, or is he being coached to let them go? If it’s the former, here’s hoping Deonte Harty can get back and soon.

Lamar Jackson

Ravens fans don’t like to say it or hear it but Lamar has been bad two of the last three weeks and he really cost the team on Sunday.

ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky said he had Lamar Jackson down for nine missed throws. He was routinely trying to do too much. He is taking way too many steps in his drop, isn’t looking to get out of the pocket, and still eschews the open underneath throws for riskier deep shots.

On top of that, as his mom told him, he didn’t look to run it enough. There were several plays there to be had. The Eagles were getting good up-field pressure, and he had opportunities to use his legs and he chose not to do it. I get that he wants to throw it but he continues to do a poor job of taking what the defense gives him, whether its with his legs or just dumping the ball off.

Rex Ryan discussed yesterday monring how he was surprised that the Eagles stayed in double high safety looks. They basically said “we think we can contain your run without bringing another guy down in the box.” I am sure that messed with Lamar some, but he has to adjust and so does Todd Monken.  Yards were there to be had, and Lamar missed it.

I never felt he would win MVP this year and I think Sunday’s game clinched that. He needs to get back on track and look to make the simple plays instead of the hero ones.

Offensive Line

We can’t talk about Jackson without bringing up the line. As a whole, they got worked and were a big reason why the Ravens lost. The two tackles graded out well (but they were far from perfect) by PFF but the interior of the line had a lot of issues. As PFF’s Gordon McGuiness pointed out, when the Ravens play superior defensive lines, they get pushed around inside. Against everyone else, they’re fine.

But who will they see down the stretch and particularly in the playoffs? This needs to be addressed.  Daniel Faalele isn’t it and Patrick Mekari is smaller and should go back to being the swing guy. He didn’t get called for a hold, which I believe was the first time in eight games but overall, at least one of those guys needs to be changed out.  This may not have a 2012 Bryant McKinnie impact, but the coaches need to do something and they have Andrew Voorhees and/or Ben Cleveland out there collecting dust. Use them and see what happens.

If John Harbaugh is to be believed, they have no plans to make changes.

Harbaugh said OL changes are unlikely during bye week. “I don’t think it merits any changes right now,” he said.
Said Eagles have a really good DL and Ravens OL struggled at times, but he likes the way the group has played, by and large.

— Jeff Zrebiec (@jeffzrebiec) December 2, 2024

Diontae Johnson

Despite Rashod Bateman coming out with a knee injury, Diontae Johnson did not see the field. Wasn’t Johnson acquired for that exact situation? To be insurance? Him not being out there is a bad sign.

Harbs’ comments yesterday suggest that he may not even be on the team much longer. A very strange situation indeed.

Harbaugh on Diontae Johnson: “At this time, I’m going to have to wait. There are some moving parts there that we’re going to have to figure out and explore and see where we’re at. It’s the best I can do in fairness to everybody.”

— Jeff Zrebiec (@jeffzrebiec) December 2, 2024

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Source: https://russellstreetreport.com/2024/12/03/ravens-stock-exchange/stock-report-week-13/