Baltimore Beatdown
The Ravens walked out of Minnesota with a 27-19 win, but they still left plenty of plays on the field. Let’s get into why Sunday’s game was an ugly but satisfying victory.
Special Teams: This unit won game for the Ravens. Tyler Loop hit four field goals to keep scoring points when the offense couldn’t get in the end zone. Jordan Stout’s breakout season (in a contract year) continued with three pins inside the 20 and an average of just under 50 yards per punt. Keondre Jackson’s ascension into a special teams ace continued with a forced fumble on a kick return that he recovered himself. That led to the Ravens’ first touchdown. Wester had a 19-yard punt return and got to see his first action as a kickoff returner. This unit kept the team afloat and set both sides of the ball up for success throughout the game.
Malaki Starks: The rookie came right back after the mini-bye with his second interception in as many games. He was okay to start the season, but has turned it on since the bye week and been a big part of the Ravens’ defensive turnaround.
Marlon Humphrey: Humphrey caught some early slack for ‘letting up’ a big reception on the Vikings’ first drive on an excellent pick play by the offense. He made up for it later by tracking a deep ball for an interception, hauling it in despite a cast to protect the fingers on his left hand. Other times, though, Humphrey seemed to be avoiding using his left hand to tackle. He admitted after the game that he was not used to dealing with this type of injury, and he isn’t sure how much it will continue to impact him going forward.
Chidobe Awuzie: The Awuzie addition was quickly forgotten after the Ravens signed Jaire Alexander in August. But Awuzie kept the third cornerback spot despite the big names behind him. Today, he showed why he earned that spot as a key part of the Ravens’ plan to shut down Justin Jefferon. He saw 12 targets but only caught four for 37 yards.
Roquan Smith: After some fair criticism early in the season about a lack of electric play-making from the All-Pro linebacker, The captain has turned it around and kept it going multiple weeks in a row since returning from his injury. Smith has been everywhere and is one of the surest tacklers on this team since his return from injury. He had an interception stolen from him on Sunday as well after dropping one last week.
Pass rush: That’s right, I’m doing it. It’s not perfect, nor anywhere near close to fixed, but they flashed a ton today. They finished with 12 quarterback hits on J.J. McCarthy, as well as having four batted passes at the line. New addition Dre’Mont Jones rotated between the inside and the edge, winning quickly. Mike Green had multiple visible wins that impacted the play with three quarterback hits....
