Bye Week Fodder: Where Do The Ravens Stand Through 10 Weeks?
Here we are 10 games through the season, and ultimately little has been decided in the AFC North. So much football left to be played. But we’ve got a real good idea of the identity of this team, which helps us to figure out where it might be headed. Before Week 1, I laid out 5 key questions for the Ravens to return to their right spot atop the NFL. Let’s see how they’re doing so far.
1. Can Joe Flacco bounce back from a pisspoor 2013 and finally surpass the 4,000 yard mark?
Joe Flacco through 10 games: 2,521 yards, 17 TD’s, 8 INT’s. That puts him on pace for a hair over 4,000 yards, 27 TD’s and 13 INT’s. You’d like to see that interception number down a bit. But overall this has been a solid season from Flacco thus far, much better than his disastrous 2013. They’re protecting him better and it’s shown. He was sacked 48 times last year, but the O-line has kept that number down to 14 so far (on pace for 22). His performance has been mediocre at best the past 4 weeks, and people are making a fuss that Kubiak is “studying him” during the bye week. Big deal. He’s an OC, that’s his job. He’s doing his job well, and there’s always room for improvement. And as a reminder, there are 12 other QB’s with cap hits higher than his in 2014. Joe will get the job done down the stretch, I’m sure of it.
Grade: B+
2. Will Gary Kubiak’s zone blocking scheme bring the running game back up to par?
ABSOLUTELY IT DID. The word “par” implies “average”. They’ve been well above par. Their 1,241 yards on the ground is good enough for 5th in the NFL, and they’re only a game away from surpassing last year’s 1,328 figure, which was bad enough to finish 30th. I said if Kubiak couldn’t fix the run game, nobody could. He’s lived up to all the hype and then some. Justin Forsett deserves a lot of praise, but it’s really the scheme that’s driven the results. I feel confident with anyone in the backfield because the guys up front have been unreal at moving the d-line and making lanes for those one-cut runs. The run game is why this offense is 11th in the league in YPG.
Grade: A+++++
3. Can the defense get to the goddamn quarterback please?
This has been a minor improvement from last year. They’re getting to the QB, mostly because Dumervil has quietly been having a monster year. He’s got 10.5 of the Ravens’ 25 sacks. But they’ve got potential to do more damage. There’s been a few games where the pass rush just hasn’t shown up, namely week 1. Terrell Suggs has been alright, but is capable of bigger things. As a unit, they’re on pace to get 40 sacks, just like last year. The concern last year was that they were awful down the stretch when they needed to step it up. Hopefully this bye week can keep them from breaking down come week 17 against Cleveland. It should be noted that pressure leads to interceptions for the secondary, and we haven’t seen the fruits of that pressure. Most of this can be blamed on our inexperienced secondary, but hopefully we can take better advantage of it in the 2nd half.
Grade: B-
4. Can the secondary stay healthy?
Lardarius didn’t get into the full swing of things until week 5, and hasn’t returned to form since. Jimmy Smith went down with a season-ending foot injury in Week 8. The rest of the corners didn’t get injured, but they’ve caused me deep emotional and mental harm. That’s why 2 of em got cut. So yeah, this has been a disaster. This is concern number one for the rest of the year. The Danny Gorrer signing and Anthony Levine plug are encouraging remedies, but this remains issue number one for the Ravens and it’s not even close. I don’t even know who’s starting at safety anymore beside Will Hill. Matt Elam only got 13 snaps last week and has been trash, but the Ravens continue to try to convince us he’s still a starter. I don’t get the charade. But I’m concerned.
Grade: F-
5. How Will The Ravens Come Out Of The Gate Versus AFC North Rivals?
They went 2-1, which was the most predictable result. It kills me that we came up 15 yards short or so in week 1, but that week 3 win against Cleveland is proving to be their biggest thus far this season. Which on the surface sounds sad. But the Browns have played great football and sit atop the AFC North because of it. And we’ve got them in our barn Week 17, potentially with the division on the line. Winning 2 out of 3 put them in position to win the division, and they’d be on top if they could’ve stolen one of the road games in Cincy or Pittsburgh. But that’s alright. I like our schedule moving forward and the biggest game remaining is at home. I like our chances.
Grade: B
The road to the playoffs starts in New Orleans next week. The Ravens have the makeup of a good football team, have just come up short a couple times so far. I know they’ve got what it takes, they’ve just got to go out and do it. Time to finish strong.