Red zone has become comfort zone
Ravens make NFL history with 12 touchdowns in first 12 trips to start the season
Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes set another record Sunday. So did New Orleans Chiefs quarterback Drew Brees. But neither team’s explosive offense has managed what the Ravens did Sunday.
With touchdowns in their three drives inside the Denver Broncos’ 20-yard line, the Ravens became the first team in NFL history to score 12 in their first 12 trips to the red zone.
That’s one touchdown better than the Chiefs, who lead the league in scoring with almost 40 points per game.
No one would confuse the Ravens offense with Kansas City’s, but coordinator Marty Mornhinweg has merged an overhauled receiving corps with a healthy Joe Flacco to produce a potent attack.
Even with their running game still searching for a breakthrough, the Ravens are fifth in the NFL in scoring (32.3 points per game), 13th in yards per game (378.7), fourth in first downs per game (24.7) and sixth in third-down-conversion percentage (.457).
“You have to give the players credit,” coach John Harbaugh said after the 27-14 win Sunday at M&T Bank Stadium. “Joe has done a great job — I think he has extended some plays. We’ve run the ball down there very well. It doesn’t always show up on the stats, but you have to be able to run the ball in the red zone. I think guys have made catches. Guys have made some really great catches. Without shortchanging the players in any way, I thought some of the plays have been really brilliant.”
All but one of the Ravens’ touchdowns this season have come in the red zone, the exception being a 21-yard pass to John Brown in their Week 2 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals.
The Ravens’ red-zone offense has been symmetrical, too, with six rushing touchdowns total by three players (Alex Collins, Buck Allen and Kenneth Dixon) and six receiving touchdowns total by five players (Brown, Allen, Michael Crabtree, Willie Snead IV and Mark Andrews).
“We’ve had a good mix,” Flacco said. “If you can do both of those things, especially when you get down tight inside the 5-yard line … that helps a lot. It takes a lot of pressure off your offense. We’ve got good playmakers, and we put a lot of pressure on the defense with the guys that we have out there.”
Harbaugh said Monday that the diversified scoring prevents opposing defenses from keying on one player.
“We do that with our own defense,” he said. “We say, ‘Hey, this is the must-stop guy in the red zone. This is the must-stop two or three guys.’ I don’t know who our must-stop guy would be? Certainly Crabtree. I guarantee that they’re talking about Crab in the red zone, and he hasn’t even scored that much down there yet. The fact that he’s still going to be a threat down there, teams know that. They’re going to have to cover him or if they don’t, he’s going to score. I think that’s a big part of it. Plus, I think Marty and [senior offensive assistant] Craig Ver Steeg and all of the coaches have done a great job scheming the red zone.” in traffic, Andrews seemed overmatched by the speed of NFL defenders and unsure of the hands that had marked him as a star at Oklahoma.
Given the Ravens’ spotty track record at drafting tight ends in recent years, it was easy to be skeptical.
Andrews seemed on track for game-day inactive lists, until Hurst’s fractured foot created an opening. Whether the urgency of actual games agreed with him or he finally banked enough practice repetitions to feel comfortable, he blossomed.
The Ravens would have a more dangerous receiving corps this season even if they got nothing from their tight ends. But opponents will have to account for Andrews and eventually, Hurst. This win was crucial to the Ravens’ ultimate ambitions for the season.
There’s probably no such thing as a must-win in Week 3, but this was an important game for the Ravens to bank with four of their next five coming on the road.
If they lost to fall to 1-2 with a trip to inhospitable Pittsburgh looming next weekend, a greater unraveling would not have seemed far-fetched.
Instead, the Ravens outplayed Denver on both sides of the ball and asserted their home-field advantage with another doubledigit victory at M&T Bank Stadium.
We don’t know the Ravens are a playoff team based on this performance. But they let us know they might be.