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.
The Good
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. Travis Jones was seemingly in McCarthy’s face all day with a sack, three hits, and two batted passes. Even guys like C.J. Okoye and John Jenkins made their presence felt inside. It wasn’t perfect, and there were definitely moments where McCarthy had too much time to throw, but it was one of the best showings we’ve seen this season. Hopefully, it will get better as Dre Jones is involved more and Carl Lawson eventually gets added.
Calm football: With the offense struggling as much as they did, this game very easily could have broken down quickly. But this team has shifted from its previously aggressive nature. There will be moments for it down the line, but against a quarterback like McCarthy, there was no need for it. The Ravens stayed calm. They didn’t turn the ball over. They didn’t commit pre-snap penalties. They didn’t go for unnecessary fourth downs and give the ball back. They leaned on their defense to harass a young quarterback and on their special teams to keep them in it. Eventually, the offense managed to put up some points to extend the league, but they let the other units win the game today. Credit to John Harbaugh for that.
The Bad
The Offense: It was ugly for nearly the entire game. The Ravens were under 50% on third-downs and in their redzone opportunities. It was nearly halfway through the third quarter before the Ravens broke through for their first touchdown, but it was mostly due to a fumbled kickoff by the Vikings. The Ravens finally got their run game going at the end of the third quarter, going into the fourth for their best drive of the day, a 67-yard drive for a touchdown. But their offense failed them again for the rest of the game as they went three-and-out once more, then couldn’t get the first down up by eight points to seal the game. The Ravens have to get better offensively with Lamar Jackson’s return and start faster. It won’t get easier next week against Myles Garrett and a Browns defense that always plays its best against Baltimore.
Todd Monken: As bad as the offense has looked at times, the coordinator can’t go unscathed. Monken has been among the best of the coaching staff since he arrived in Baltimore in 2023, along with Mike Macdonald. He was a massive reasons that Lamar Jackson won an MVP in 2023 and should have won in 2024. But this year, despite some high point totals, it’s been disjointed at times. It’s just looked slightly off, think the first half against the Browns, the entire Chiefs game, the first half against Miami, this game, the short yardage situations, red zone, goal line, there’s a lot of issues.
I don’t think Monken has found the rhythm for this unit and hasn’t learned what this team is yet. Part of the reason is how limiting the current offensive line can be. But he’s going to have to figure out how to call this offense despite the line if the Ravens want to go on a run.
That turnover celebration: Not the defense’s finest moment today. I understand what they were going for. But it didn’t land. Add in the fact that the turnover was overturned (in a baffling replay assist), and the defense had to go back out there after running sprints, and then gave up a touchdown. Keep working on those celly’s guys.
The Ugly
Offensive line: After not making a move at the deadline, they aren’t much improved from last week’s Miami game. This is going to be the unit that sinks this team. While nobody is free from criticism on this line, including fullback Patrick Ricard, who gave up a sack acting as an extra lineman, the biggest culprits are clearly the guards. I don’t know how long it’s going to take for them to realize a change is needed, but it is. Everybody outside of the organization sees it. I don’t know if rookie Emory Jones can be an answer. I don’t know if Ben Cleveland can be an answer. But Daniel Faalele is going to get Lamar Jackson hurt whiffing on a block multiple times a game, and Andrew Vorhees hasn’t been much better. This unit will be the reason this team fails, whether it’s in the regular season or playoffs.
