The Ravens might be on a five-game winning streak, but are they playing winning football? At least on offense, maybe not. Veteran beat writer Jeff Zrebiec raised the question this week for The Athletic, but even players acknowledge the offense’s issues. While they’ve put up at least 23 points in each game of their streak, it has been the defense holding them up.
“While winning is great, to reach our goal, we need to be better”, Ravens OT Ronnie Stanley said, via Zrebiec. QB Lamar Jackson has also admitted that the Ravens “need to execute better” on offense. “We just have to put points on the board. Our defense has played ‘lights out’ for the last few weeks. [We] started to play well in Miami, but the last few weeks, I feel like we need to put points on the board and execute drives”.
The Ravens have not produced more than two touchdowns in a game in the past three weeks. Two games ago, they barely beat the Browns, TE Mark Andrews scoring a fourth-down 35-yard touchdown late on a fake Tush Push. While they beat the Jets by 13 points, they benefited from New York’s unforced errors, Zrebiec notes.
One has to wonder how much the Ravens’ offense has been hindered by Jackson’s accumulating injuries. Since missing three games with a hamstring injury, he has been dealing with a series of minor ailments. His latest is a toe injury, but he appears set to play on Thursday. While he said he is healthy enough to do what he needs to do, he has not been sharp.
In the four games since returning from injury, Lamar Jackson is 62-for-100 for 726 yards with 5 touchdowns to 2 interceptions. He has taken nine sacks with two fumbles, one lost, and rushed for just 71 yards. He is averaging under 200 total yards per game, yet the Ravens are still winning, despite the offense.
Given how the offense has carried the Ravens in recent years, that’s quite a statement. They had major issues defensively to start the season, in the argument for one of the worst in then NFL. As they did a year ago, however, they have cleaned up some issues and shown significant improvement.
The turnover component has been significant, with Baltimore forcing nine takeaways in the past four games. Conversely, the Ravens have only turned the ball over three times on offense—all in one game. During their initial 1-5 run, they turned the ball over 10 times with just 3 takeaways. If they can continue to ride that wave, they have a chance, but it’s not easy.
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