Baltimore Beatdown
The Ravens’ disastrous start to the season reached a new point last Sunday, as they were obliterated by 34 points against the Houston Texans. They allowed 44 points while scoring just 10, tying a record-high for points allowed at home under head coach John Harbaugh. Baltimore’s injury-ravaged roster put up no resistance against the Texans and were outmatched on both sides of the ball from start to finish.
While the Ravens may return a couple of players from injury this coming week, their prospects of winning aren’t any brighter. The Los Angeles Rams are coming into town and while they’re fresh off a disappointing defeat last week, the Rams have an elite group of offensive talent and one of the league’s best head coaches.
Quarterback Matthew Stafford is having one of his best career seasons, while Puka Nucua has been the top wide receiver in the NFL through five weeks. With Davante Adams and Kyren Williams also in the fold, the Ravens will be hard-pressed to slow down the Rams offense. Baltimore has now allowed 38+ points in all but one game so far.
Offensively, the Ravens are also desperate to find some consistency and rhythm without Lamar Jackson under center. Cooper Rush struggled against the Texans and the Ravens could opt to start Tyler Huntley instead, in the likely event that Jackson is once again inactive as he recovers from his hamstring ailment. Any chance of the Ravens pulling off a huge upset in Week 6 rests on them finding run game success and forcing turnovers, the latter of which their defense has not done since last calendar year.
Fresh off their bye week, the Steelers are in the best shape of any team in the division. While not overly convincing, the Steelers are two games over .500 after back-to-back victories before Week 5. Their defense improved over the last two contests and began forcing turnovers at a much higher rate.
Pittsburgh will look to continue playing more complimentary football in a matchup against the Browns this coming Sunday, marking their first divisional game of the year. Over the past few seasons, the Browns have had some success against the Steelers, winning five of 10 matchups including a postseason victory.
While the Browns have only one win on the year, their strong defensive front and stout defense overall will give the Steelers a difficult task. An improving Pittsburgh defense in their own right should be able to hold up at home against a rookie quarterback in his second career start.
It should help that the Steelers will get starting running back Jaylen Warren back from injury. However, the Steelers had struggled to run the ball effectively with Warren leading the workload through four weeks. Last week, though, backup Kenneth Gainwell rushed for 99 yards on 13 carries with two touchdowns.
The aforementioned Browns stand on the other side of this week’s divisional showdown, seeking their second taste...
