Ravens’ bye week to-do list: Fixes in all 3 phases

Four items on the Ravens to-do list during their Week 14 bye.

The Ravens have finally come to their bye week, the second-latest in the NFL. It’s desperately needed after an awful loss to the Eagles. Mistake-filled losses to the Browns and the Steelers within a month of each other felt like the season’s low point before Diontae Johnson’s suspension added insult to injury this week. Like any team, the Ravens have plenty of work to do on the field, but now they’re also dealing with another locker room issue.

Still, there’s no denying that this team has the talent to win a Super Bowl. They just need to get hot at the right time. Here’s a to-do list to make that happen.

Continue the defensive fixes

During the first half of the season, the Ravens’ historically good offense carried the franchise’s worst defense since their debut season in 1996. Baltimore’s inability to slow opposing passing offenses emerged as a massive worry for much of the year. But in Week 11, defensive coordinator Zach Orr made a change. He benched Marcus Williams in favor of two-high safety looks with Kyle Hamilton and Ar’Darius Washington. Tre’Davious White took outside cornerback snaps from Brandon Stephens, who slid inside in dime packages.

The secondary shake-up worked. In Weeks 1-10, the Ravens allowed 25.3 points and 294.9 passing yards per game. Since Week 11, that’s dropped to 19.7 points and 165 passing yards per game. While still a disappointment relative to preseason predictions and Baltimore’s historical defensive standards, it’s a defense that can allow a powerhouse offense to win games.

Zach Orr has to keep this defense trending upwards by sticking to what’s worked while making additional improvements each week. He stepped back and simplified the defense to get their feet under them. Now they can slowly get better and better while gradually adding in some of the complexity that led to spectacular results under Mike Macdonald.

Orr has two key tasks in front of him. The first is finding ways to generate more turnovers, though that still depends on the defense’s ability to catch, dive on, scoop, or otherwise secure the football. The second is reincorporating Marcus Williams into the secondary. If the Ravens can use the bye week to help the veteran safety recapture his previous form, that will free up Kyle Hamilton to return to his havoc-wreaking ways closer to the line of scrimmage.

Get Lamar Jackson and the offense back on track

Year Two of Todd Monken and Lamar Jackson together has been nothing short of excellent. The addition of Derrick Henry has transformed this offense into one of the best units the NFL has ever seen. For nearly the entire season, the Ravens have ranked somewhere inside the top 10 all-time for DVOA on offense, even reaching the top spot at one point.

But since the second shootout against the Bengals, the offense has been out of sync. They’ve underperformed in two of their last three games, which both ended in losses. (You can blame Justin Tucker, but an offense this good should score touchdowns.) They also had a slow start and looked disjointed at times in the Chargers game, but they still dropped 30 points on Jesse Minter and his league-leading defense.

The offense looked unstoppable between Weeks 3 and 10 outside of their loss to the Browns. Jackson was simply transcendent, processing and making perfect decisions on a uncanny level. The offense may not have to score 35 points every week to win anymore, but they’re still the calling card of this team. They need to get back to being the best unit in the league if they want to go on a run.

A week off should allow Monken to self-scout, dial in his play-calling, and make the necessary adjustments. Jackson needs to relax and stop pressing. For the first time in his career, the media is telling him to run more, and for the first time, they’re right. Every time Jackson breaks the pocket, he seems desperate to pass every time to the point that teams are leaving clear running lanes for him. Taking them more often should open up throwing lanes more and allow the offense to get back to elite status.

Find the special teams fixes

Despite the Diontae Johnson situation, Justin Tucker remains the biggest elephant in the locker room.

The GOAT kicker has been all but that this season. For the first time ever, he’s become liability for the Ravens. Their five losses have come by a combined 22 points. Tucker’s missed kicks in those losses add up to 22 points. While he deserves the grace to figure it out, this season and going into 2025, timing is running out. Tucker has until next Sunday at 1pm in New Jersey to make the necessary changes and start hitting his kicks. SB Nation writer Alex Katson went over some of the issues that could be hindering Tucker this season here.

Even beyond Tucker, there are other special teams issues this year.

The fixes for all of these are unclear. The Ravens may need to have a punt returner competition to open up practice after the bye week. Switching Jordan Stout to the kickoff specialist, which he did in college, may help both kickoffs and field goals. The biggest fix could be eliminating penalties in both kick coverages and returns.

Extend Ronnie Stanley

Considering the other issues facing the Ravens right now, a Ronnie Stanley extension probably isn’t on the front of general manager Eric DeCosta’s mind. The state of the current offensive line is probably a more pressing issue than preparing for the 2025 unit. But think about how bad this line would have been if Stanley hadn’t bounced back this year.

The Ravens haven’t had consistent left tackle play since Stanley’s initial injury in the middle of the 2020 season. Since then it’s been plug-and-play tackles that haven’t worked and below-average play from Stanley himself. Many fans wanted the team to move on from him.

Instead, the Ravens gave him another shot on a reworked contract that he has outplayed by far. While not perfect this season, Stanley has been an anchor for an O-line that desperately needed one with a rookie at right tackle and weaknesses at guard. He has held up in pass protection in most matchups and delivered as a focal point in the run game. The Ravens should reward that with a contract extension. The team already needs reevaluate their guard options this offseason, so having both tackles and their center in place would be massive.