Baltimore Beatdown
The Baltimore Ravens had a rough Thanksgiving loss to the Cincinnati Bengals last week, and unfortunately, their rookies had plenty to do with it.
Another mostly-steady game from Starks was overshadowed by the most egregious mistake of his rookie year. On the Bengals’ second touchdown of the game, he was the deep safety in the middle of the field near the red zone. Instead of staying in his zone, Starks immediately broke to the right sideline for some reason. He may have been trying to guess something he saw from watching film or got the call wrong. Either way, he left the middle open and forced Roquan Smith to cover wide receiver Andrei Iosivas, a track star who ran a 4.4-second 40-yard dash, on a deep post route. It went how you would expect.
Other than that, Starks was fine. It was his biggest rookie blunder, and it came at one of the worst times it could have in what ended up being a very embarrassing game for this team. We can only hope it’s a learning moment for the rising star and he doesn’t make the same mistake.
After finishing with the Ravens’ highest grade from Pro Football Focus, Green dropped this week to the bottom of the charts. It was a lackluster day for the entire edge group and Green actually led the room with four pressures, compared to the two combined pressures from Jones, Van Noy, Simpson, and Lawson. He ended up grading out poorly per PFF, though, with a 44.3 grade. He didn’t have a single grade over 53.0. Like Starks, Green just needs to keep learning and getting better as a rookie. You’d like to say that these rookies are simply building and preparing for the playoffs right now. Unfortunately, the Ravens have to lean on them to simply make the postseason — which is not ideal for them nor the team.
Jones took his first snaps as an NFL player on Thursday, working in rotation with Andrew Vorhees at left guard. After watching most of his snaps, it’s easy to see why the Ravens like him. Jones was active in the pass game, head on the swivel, looking for work, and doing well to try and pass things off. He looked like a great athlete and moved extremely well in the pass game. PFF gave him a 67.6 grade for pass protection. His run blocking left a lot to be desired, but it was only his first game action since college — all coming off a major shoulder injury.
Head coach John Harbaugh confirmed Jones will continue to get work at left guard and probably stick there. He won’t rotate between the guard spots, according to Harbaugh, who said it would only make the learning curve harder. You’d think taking a college right tackle and making him a left guard would be harder than right guard but so far, Jones looks good and...
