The Ravens finished with a losing record, missed the playoffs, and fired their head coach—are they better than the Steelers? He may be biased, but former Steelers OL Willie Colon, now a media analyst, disagrees. And suffice it to say that if he thinks the Ravens are worse than the Steelers, Baltimore also isn’t elite.
Speaking about the AFC North on First Things First, Colon pushed back as Greg Jennings defended the Ravens’ elite status. He said that they “have elite paper”, but are not as a team, citing their failure to make the playoffs. He admitted the Steelers are not elite either, but “they are better than the Ravens”.
The Steelers just barely snuck into the playoffs over the Ravens when Baltimore’s rookie kicker missed a game-winning field-goal attempt. Had he made it, the Ravens would have won the AFC North and competed in the postseason. But elite teams don’t typically have to scrape and claw for a winning record in Week 18. Did they just have a “down year”? Colon doesn’t buy that excuse.
“If you don’t make the playoffs, yes, Greg! The Baltimore Ravens didn’t make the playoffs! They went 8-9 and missed the playoffs! Am I speaking Chinese?”, he said when Jennings continued to press him. “8-9 and you missed the playoffs, you are not an elite team. I think that’s a fair statement”.
The Ravens started off last season with a 1-5 record, largely coinciding with the worst of QB Lamar Jackson’s injuries. But he dealt with injuries for nearly the entire season, even when he returned, playing through a series of them. They did post a 7-4 record over the final 11 games, starting with a five-game winning streak. But they didn’t have a good enough team to catch up in the end, and that was enough for Colon.
“If you have an elite roster, an elite roster survives this season”, he insisted. While he didn’t bring up the Steelers, one could recall Pittsburgh mustering a 8-8 season without a starting quarterback in 2019. “It didn’t. you had poor offensive line play, you couldn’t stop the run, your secondary was a no-show, you had an injury-plagued quarterback, Derrick Henry had turnover issues. That doesn’t make you an elite team”.
The Ravens finished just outside the top 10 in points scored, but the defense ranked 18th. Outside of the red zone, where they ranked sixth, the defense was clearly the bigger issue. This offseason, they hired defensive-minded Jesse Minter as their new head coach. Interestingly, they turned the offense over to a first-time play-calling offensive coordinator who is barely older than Jackson.
Speaking of whom, Jackson is due for a new extension this offseason, and the Ravens want him to sign sooner rather than later. Willie Colon also pushed back on that, including the timing, believing he is not enough. They can’t win with just Jackson alone, he said, and they need to give him help. Both at the skill positions and the offensive line, because if they don’t, they’ll be right back where they are.
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