Baltimore Beatdown
After one of the most embarrassing losses in Ravens history, let’s see how the rookies performed. Several received expanded roles on either side of the ball, but none stepped up as an impact player.
Starks had the worst game of his career. He, along with Roquan Smith, played every snap against Detroit. He’s been quiet but steady so far this season, but in Week 3, he had a 51.7 PFF grade in the horrific defensive night for the Ravens. Worse yet, his tackling grade was a 34.3, second-worst on the defense Monday night, though he was tied for second on the team with eight total tackles. He was the second-highest rated run defender on the team. The whole defense was awful, so none of these rookie starters’ performances should be taken too harshly. The veterans led the rookies into an embarrassing night, but Starks is supposed to be an immediate leader. This is hopefully the worst performance of his rookie year, and many other players this season.
Mike Green had a lot of hype going into this season as a defensive rookie of the year candidate. He flashed in limited roles the first two weeks. But with Kyle Van Noy down, Green stepped in as the new starter. He played over 75% of snaps, but it’s clear the rookie of the year campaign is over. He was the worst graded outside linebacker on the team, with a 41.4 grade overall. Most disappointingly, Green had a 52.6 pass rush grade, the ability that made him a first-round talent. The Ravens are going to need more out of him with Van Noy sidelined for a couple more weeks.
Buchanan retained the starting role he earned last week and played 94% of the snaps against Detroit. Unfortunately, he also struggled, grading out at 50.2 overall and getting below-average scores in every PFF category. He wasn’t as spectacularly bad as veteran teammate Roquan Smith, but overall, it was just a game to forget for Buchanan despite his eight total tackles. It’s still impressive that he’s playing as well as he is for a fourth-round rookie playing the middle linebacker position, one of the most process-oriented positions on the field.
Loop continues to have a great year as the placekicker, but he has struggled as the kickoff specialist. He hit another field goal on Monday from 41 yards and was perfect on his three extra point attempts. He is now 5-5 on his field goal attempts and 12-13 on his extra points this year. But after Week 3, Loop leads the NFL in illegal kickoffs with four in three games. I don’t know how much of it is him actually missing kicks versus the special teams unit experimenting with different kick types and trying to limit returns. But with the defense struggling massively so far, they need to figure it out and not give opponents any more help.
Wester...
