Nevermore, said the Raven.
The Baltimore Ravens, the blue-collar crew of the NFL. I don’t know how it happened but the AFC North somehow adopted the Big 10 mindset of football which is ground and pound/never throw the fucking ball. Normally that outdated style is quite boring to watch but thankfully Baltimore weaponizes star running back Lamar Jackson to his full potential on the ground. Kidding of course, Lamar is an elite QB who has been completely unstoppable during the regular season and already proved he’s the best running QB in NFL history. Unfortunately, he’s come up short in a few playoff games and been unreliable from a health standpoint for a couple years now. Will 2023 be the year he returns to his 2019 MVP form? Let’s find out.
The Ravens made some necessary adjustments to the offensive coaching staff this offseason by getting rid of long-time OC Greg Roman. He was essentially the man responsible for installing the power-run scheme we’ve gotten used to seeing in Baltimore by now. His style definitely fit the franchise and what they want to be, but I think they’ve officially hit the point where they can recognize it’s limitations and flaws. The fact is teams built around their running game just won’t be able to make deep playoff runs in 2023. One-dimmensional offenses are simply easier to stop in the post-season. Sure you could point to the 2022 Eagles and argue they were a “power run” team, but I’d just direct you to their 2 elite dynamic receiving options in AJ Brown and Devonta Smith (+ Dallas Goedert), not to mention the best offensive line in the league. Outside of Mark Andrews, the Ravens haven’t had any reliable pass catchers for years, which really puts a ceiling on their potential postseason success. Of course, all the blame falls on Lamar and he becomes unfairly labeled a “playoff choker” even when their eventual demise is entirely predictable. They’ve finally made an attempt at getting some weapons with the additions of OBJ and Zay Flowers. I’m not convinced Odell will ever return to form after his injuries, but if he can even get 80% there the Ravens passing attack should noticeably improve.
I’ve been thinking about the Ravens defense and that’s pretty much all I needed to put me in the bedtime mood. I think we all know the Ravens defense will be staunch no matter what. Like I said, it’s Big 10 football in that division, so they’ll be playing plenty of limp-dick offenses that inflate the Ravens reputation. Sometimes that’s all you need in the NFL. Twitter and social media has created so many fraudulent narratives about players and teams that it’s so difficult to keep track of who is actually good. Marlon Humphrey managed to receieve a top 10 Madden rating (ahead of Trevon Diggs) even though he’s been quite terrible for two years. That’s half Madden ratings being absolute bullshit as EA continues to rob the masses with the same game every single year and half an example of reputations living on forever. I don’t think I’ll have to worry about any Monday Morning talk shows leading with Baltimore’s defensive issues. Everything will eventually fall back on Lamar and whether or not he’s living up to the $260M contract extension he signed this offseason.
Personally I will be rooting for the Ravens this year. I hope their new offensive coordinator unleases a much more modernized passing attack and explores an unseen side of Lamar Jackson. If you open up the aerial assault it’ll just make his unreal ground game that much more dynamic and unstoppable. Defensive Coordinators already have nightmares about how to slow him down, I’d like to see if they turn to night terrors when you throw an actual WR core into the mix. We know they’ll be competitive in the divison, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they were able to steal it from the Bengals. For now though, we’re going to have to stick with the recency bias on that one.
2023 Record: 11-6
2nd Place in AFC North
The Armchair Experts 
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