Ravens need another wide receiver to step up, get offense back in sync
After a disappointing loss to the Browns, it’s time to ask if the Ravens are really playoff contenders
While Ravens coach John Harbaugh is looking for answers to solve the team’s many defensive problems, he should also start searching for a receiver to complement speedy rookie Marquise Brown.
After Brown, the team’s top draft pick out of Oklahoma in April, dazzled in his NFL debut with four catches for 147 yards and two touchdowns in the seasonopening win over the Miami Dolphins, Harbaugh said it was only a matter of time before defenses adjusted.
The time is now.
Here’s what we learned from the Ravens’ demoralizing 40-25 loss to the Cleveland Browns on Sunday.
The Ravens came in with a chance to assert themselves as the clear frontrunner in the AFC North. After a catastrophic performance by their defense — one of the worst in the team’s history at M&T Bank Stadium — it’s fair to ask whether they’re a contender at all.
This might sound like sky-is-falling hyperbole, but the Ravens looked helpless trying to stop a Cleveland offense that had been in disarray just a week earlier against the Los Angeles Rams. The Browns became the second team in a row to roll up more than 500 yards against a defense that never gave up more than 442 in 2018. The home fans booed for much of the second half, until they left in droves.
The Ravens seemed shell-shocked in the postgame locker room, acknowledging they have not chipped away at their problems despite their best efforts during the week.
“It’s disgusting,” said safety Tony Jefferson, who huddled with teammates Matthew Judon and Patrick Onwuasor for an unusually long postmortem discussion in the locker room.
“Doesn’t shake my fundamental belief, but it’s frustrating as hell,” safety Earl Thomas III said. “It’s like you take another
Up next
Despite missing two starting cornerbacks and a safety Sunday, the Cleveland Browns kept Brown under control with four catches for 22 yards in their 40-25 road win. In his past two games, Brown has six catches for 71 yards. The reason is simple.
Opposing teams are keeping a cornerback on Brown and a safety over the top so he can’t beat them deep, as well as rotating coverage toward him so he can’t turn a short reception into a long gain.
For the Ravens to beat those coverages, they have to be more creative, and that starts with having a good receiver opposite Brown. This is a great opportunity for fellow rookie Miles Boykin and veterans Chris Moore, Seth Roberts and Willie Snead IV.
Teams want to pack the line of scrimmage and make Ravens second-year quarterback Lamar Jackson beat them with his arm. Jackson played well in the first two games, but his performance has tapered off the past two weeks against better opponents.
“Contained and managed. Make him be a quarterback,” Browns cornerback T.J. Carrie said of Jackson after Sunday’s game. “We blitzed at times, flushed him from the pocket, got him in the scramble mood, get him having to use his feet more. And as you saw, he started making a couple bad decisions here and there, and we were able to capitalize on it.”
The ideal scenario would be for Boykin to start opposite Brown. He is 6 feet 4 and 220 pounds and has good speed. He has decent hands and is aggressive in attacking the ball. Because of the size, he would be a perfect target inside the red zone.
But after a strong start in training camp, Boykin hasn’t done much to separate himself from the other receivers. He had three catches for 32 yards against the Browns, including a touchdown.
While Brown and tight end Mark Andrews have been the focal points of the passing game, Boykin is aware that he could play a major part as well.
“That’s the thing about Lamar. His eyesight is great,” Boykin said. “His field vision is fantastic. You’ll be all the way on the other side of the field; he’ll throw a ball over there. So, you really can get the ball any play, regardless of what your route is or what you’re doing. You’ve just got to be ready.”
Moore, a fourth-year player, has good speed like Boykin and has made plays in the past, but he hasn’t been consistent. There are times when Moore appears to be turning the corner in his career, but then he disappears after a mistake.
Snead is a fierce, tough competitor and can block as well as any receiver on the team, but his lack of speed puts him almost exclusively inside the numbers or in the slot. Roberts, in his fifth season, has been getting more playing time the past two weeks and has made enough plays in training camp, the preseason and the regular-season to keep himself in the hunt.
Somehow, somewhere, one of these players has to emerge.
Like Brown, Andrews started off strong, but a foot injury has forced him to miss recent practice time. In the past two games, Andrews has just seven catches for 46 yards and a touchdown, even though he was targeted often Sunday, including on a long pass into double coverage in the fourthquarter that was intercepted by safety Jermaine Whitehead.
The Ravens’ coaching staff has to be more creative too. Because of injuries in the secondary, the Browns played off the Ravens receivers at the line of scrimmage because they didn’t want to give up big plays.
Why didn’t the Ravens take advantage with short routes like hitches, slants and square outs? At Oklahoma, Brown was famous for taking short catches in space, shaking defenders and sprinting for big gains.
There was none of that Sunday. The Ravens failed to challenge the Browns down the field and let Cleveland dictate their offense. Some plays didn’t make any sense, such as the jet-sweep handoff to Brown, the fastest player on either team, to the short side of the field.
Huh?
“We were supposed to. We just did that a little late,” Jackson said of taking advantage of the Browns playing off the line of scrimmage. “And when we did do it, sometimes the ball wasn’t placed right. We just have to execute, like I said. Finish my throws, keep the job going.”
Jackson knows he has to get better. The Ravens can’t afford to lose fumbles and throw interceptions.
If this team really wants to have a revolutionary offense, they need another quality receiver to go along with the weapons they already have.
That would be the next stage.