Baltimore will face a gauntlet of surging contenders before a Week 14 bye.
The Baltimore Ravens are coming off of a mini-bye after playing on Thursday Night Football to kick off Week 10. However, their actual bye week won’t come for another four weeks.
Before reaching it, they will face three of the toughest remaining opponents on their schedule. All of them are beginning to peak at the right time and are riding winning streaks of three or more games.
A lot of the talk surrounding the aftermath of another epic AFC North showdown between the Ravens and their rival Cincinnati Bengals last week was about how exciting and unstoppable Baltimore’s offense was in the 35-34 thrilling victory. Unfortunately, there are concerns and lamentations regarding their poor pass defense and how it could keep them from reaching the Super Bowl.
As a leader in the secondary, Ravens three-time Pro Bowl cornerback Marlon was inclined to agree with some of their harsh but completely fair criticism coming from fans and outside media. For the second time this season, his unit got carved up through the air by Joe Burrow to the tune of over 400 passing yards and four touchdowns.
“Wins are getting harder to enjoy based off what we’re doing in the pass defense,” Humphrey said post-game. “You know, I feel like when I was a rookie, first year guy, second year guy, that’s how I looked up to the standard that was there. In the pass defense, we’ve really lost that standard.
“I feel like that falls on me. We’re going to keep chasing at it. We’re going to keep working at it because I’m not really satisfied with what I’ve built in this secondary, where it’s gone. I just don’t think playing like this, we can go far. It’s cool we’re winning. It’s great winning. But I want to go far. I want to go to the end.”
They also couldn’t stop Pro Bowl wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase from having an even more monstrously productive game than he did in the first meeting between the two teams back in Week 5 with a career-high 264 receiving yards and a pair of 60-plus-yard touchdown catches.
“I’m tired of that dude,” Humphrey said. “He’s just different. It’s not even so much about the route runs. He gets a ball in his hands [and] if you don’t tackle him soon, it can get really ugly. You never really can count the Bengals out when he’s on their team.”
The Ravens’ pass defense ranks dead last in the league, giving up an average of 294.9 passing yards per game and have given up the most explosive plays in the league by far through the first 10 games. They will now be going up against a trio of aerial attacks that have been amongst the most potent and productive over the last month with veteran Pro Bowl quarterbacks under center leading the charge in consecutive weeks before hitting their long-awaited bye.
First up this week is the first of two meetings with the Pittsburgh Steelers, whose offense and deep passing game have been unlocked and elevated since Russell Wilson replaced Justin Fields as the starting quarterback. The nine-time Pro Bowl signal-caller has led the team the three of the last four victories during their latest win streak and the offense alone is averaging 28 points and 230.3 passing yards per game with him at the helm. He has thrown for six touchdowns and just one interception over that span. His presence has also revitalized the season of third-year wide receiver George Pickens, who is a similarly dynamic weapon to Chase, albeit not to the same devastating degree. He is on pace for this second straight 1,000-plus-yard season and possibly his first career Pro Bowl.
Next on the list is a primetime edition of the Harbaugh Bowl when the Ravens travel to the West Coast to face the Los Angeles Chargers on Monday Night Football to close out Week 12. It will mark the first time head coach John Harbaugh will faceoff with his younger brother Jim Harbaugh on opposing sidelines since Super Bowl 47 when the Ravens defeated the San Francisco 49ers. The Chargers are quarterbacked by Pro Bowler Justin Herbert who also has his offense playing at its best as of late.
During Los Angeles’ three-game win streak, the offense has averaged just over 26 points per game including a season-high 27 points in each of the last two. Even though they’d like to establish the run, it wouldn’t be surprising in the slightest to see a Greg Roman passing attack heavily target the middle of the field where the Ravens’ defense has been the most susceptible to giving up big plays to opposing offenses.
The last formidable opponent the Ravens will face before their bye week will be the Philadelphia Eagles in an interconference showdown at home. Led by two-time Pro Bowl quarterback Jalen Hurts, their loaded offense that features one of the best wide receiver duos on the league and a dynamic running back in Saquon Barkley who is a dangerous factor in the passing game, they are winners of five straight since returning from their bye week. Over that span, the offense has averaged nearly 30 points a game and when AJ Brown is healthy, he possesses a game-breaking potential that elevates the play of all of those around him with his presence.
It’d be one thing if the Ravens just flat-out lacked the talent to slow down opposing offenses on a consistent basis but that couldn’t be further from the truth. They have elite and highly compensated players down the spine of every level of the defense and while Pro Bowl defensive tackle Nnamdi Madubuike is coming on strong, the inconsistent play and constant miscommunication between the second and third levels need to be addressed and have been.
“We’ve got to play our coverages better in those situations – especially the deep middle and intermediate part of the field are the areas that have been a problem for us,” Harbaugh said Monday. “Just very inconsistent back there.
“That’s the No. 1 target that we have to be better at. That aspect of our pass coverage. We worked at it through the weekend and will continue to work at it. Everybody’s determined to get better, and we have a growth mindset. With a high sense of urgency to get better.”
While the Ravens have championship aspirations and an elite offense with a two-time—soon to be three-time—league MVP under center in Lamar Jackson who is capable of getting them there, no team in NFL history has ever won the Super Bowl with the last-ranked pass defense. This upcoming stretch ahead of their bye week will be challenging, revealing and potentially defining for this struggling unit. How they perform could give a glimpse of what to expect down the final stretch and into the playoffs for better or worse.