The Week 4 Thursday night win over the Pittsburgh Steelers gave Ravens fans a glimmer of hope that their favorite team's season could yet be salvaged. Baltimore, after all, was able to go into a hostile road environment and squeak out a typical Ravens-Steelers style 3 point win and end their early season drought. The Ravens gashed the Steelers on the ground for over 170 yards, and the Ravens pass rush was able to come up with timely sacks on a highly elusive quarterback. The most promising aspect of the game, however, was the fact that the Ravens pass defense was finally able to hold an elite group of receivers to a mediocre receiving yardage total and come up with 4 stops on 4th down to help seal the fate of a Steelers team starting its backup quarterback for the first time this season.
How much does this win truly mean to the Ravens though? They weren't facing Ben Roethlisberger after all, and he's the absolute MVP of that Steelers offense, right? Yes, he is. The Ravens, on the other hand, had to deal with some crushing losses of their own including Steve Smith Sr., Michael Campanaro, Crockett Gilmore and the continued absence of both Eugene Monroe and of first round pick, Breshad Perriman. The Ravens, in fact, played the second half almost exclusively with receivers who would be backups on any team in the NFL at the wide receiver position.
The lack of starting-caliber targets forced the Ravens to engineer a resurgence in their rushing attack and rely upon pass-catching abilities of Darren Waller, Maxx Williams, and Kamar Aiken. If Baltimore can move the football in do-or-die situations using only those targets and the legs of Justin Forsett, then there is yet hope for the rest of their season as every receiving weapon currently missing in action will return sooner rather than later. Eugene Monroe is slated to play against the Browns this weekend, and the Ravens also will test out the athleticism and hands of newly acquired deep threat, Chris Givens.
Givens ran an official 4.35 second combine 40 yard dash in 2012 (not 4.41 as some have reported), and he has made plays on the field nearly any time he has been called upon and targeted in his relatively short career. His playing time fell by the wayside when the Ravens drafted Tavon Austin, but that in no way suggests a decline in his skill level; he simply lost his spot to an elite young talent with a similar skill set. The Rams have also lacked the consistent quarterback play during Givens' time in St. Louis, and Joe Flacco has the best arm to take advantage of a receiver with the sheer speed and burst Givens possesses. In the absence of Steve Smith, hopefully Givens' ability to stretch opposing defenses with help to open up the field for Aiken, Waller, Brown, Williams, Boyle, and the Ravens' running game.
Joe Flacco and company certainly have a favorable matchup this week against the Browns who happen to currently possess the league's worst defense. To add to their poor defensive ranking, the Browns also posses the league's second worst run defense, and that's a weakness the Ravens will look to exploit in order to move the chains, control the clock, and set up Flacco's patented deep bombs of of play-action fakes. This game, however, won't be easy. Despite an incredibly dominant 13-1 record over the Cleveland, Joe Flacco and John Harbaugh have won many games against the Browns by the skin of their teeth including two rather narrow wins last season. Josh McCown led the Browns to score 27 points against the Chargers last week, and he has beaten the Ravens before. This is a week where we'll get a better idea of whether or not last week's dominant performance by the Ravens secondary was just a product of a team playing its backup quarterback. The addition of Will Davis as the third cornerback certainly appeared to help solidify the pass defense, but it's possible that had a lot to do with the declining skills of Michael Vick. We'll know more by about 4:30 on Sunday. Speaking of Sunday, let's take a look at this week's picks!
WEEK 5 NFL PICKS
BEARS AT CHIEFS- The Bears may have just beat a solid Raiders team last week, but I'm not ready to suggest they're improved enough to beat the Chiefs in Aaronhead Stadium. CHIEFS 23-20
SEAHAWKS AT BENGALS- The Seahawks once again got the benefit of horrible officiating in a game they absolutely should have lost under the rules of the NFL. Seattle should be 1-3 right now, and the Bengals should be able to do just enough to beat them this week. This will be close though. BENGALS 28-24
REDSKINS AT FALCONS- The Redskins aren't a terrible team right now, but the Falcons have once again reached a state of dominance they haven't enjoyed since the retirement of Tony Gonzales. There's really not much too this one; Matt Ryan is ridiculously successful at home. FALCONS 30-17
JAGUARS AT BUCCANEERS- This game wins the award for least relevant matchup of the week. The Buccaneers are the better team. BUCCANEERS 35-21
SAINTS AT EAGLES- The Saints enjoyed an exciting win over the Cowboys in Week 4, but this should be a rare enjoyable matchup for Eagles fans. Drew Brees doesn't have the protection or the targets to match the Eagles touchdown for touchdown. Make no mistake: the Eagles still suck. This might give their fans a little hope though. EAGLES 38-28
BROWNS AT RAVENS- This should be the first truly dominant, balanced offensive day for the Ravens this season. Justin Forsett will set Joe Flacco up for nice passing opportunities, and Joe will likely hit Chris Givens for one or two deep strikes downfield. Josh McCown will find his rhythm at times, but the Ravens pass rush will give him a hard enough time at key moments. RAVENS 31-24
RAMS AT PACKERS- I...uhhh...do I really need to write this? PACKERS 38-20
BILLS AT TITANS- I thought the Bills would be much better than they are. Their elite defense of last season is essentially nowhere to be found. At 2-2, they're doing about as well as most teams in the league, but I like Marcus Mariota this week to out-duel Tyrod Taylor. TITANS 28-14
CARDINALS AT LIONS- The Lions should have won last week by all accounts, but they've still looked weak this season. Expect the Cardinals to bounce back after a shocking loss last week at the hands of the Rams. CARDINALS 28-20
PATRIOTS AT COWBOYS- The Boys will put up a points this weekend, but the Patriots will simply out score them. PATRIOTS 35-28
BRONCOS AT RAIDERS- This will be the prediction I'm most likely to regret making, but Derek Carr will outscore Peyton Manning. He has the talent, he has the home crowd, and Peyton has a weaker arm than in his youth. This will be a quarterback duel, but the pass rush of Von Miller and DeMarcus Ware won't mean much with Carr's mobility and the athleticism of his young targets. RAIDERS 27-24
49ERS AT GIANTS- The Giants are shaping up to be a solid team, and the 49ers have dropped off the face of the earth. Kaepernick is useless now that teams know how to contain him and force him to throw the football from the pocket. Poor Torrey. I know the Ravens aren't doing any better in the record department, but at least the Ravens losses have been close and to good teams. I'm sure old number 82 imagines his presence could have turned at least two of the Ravens' losses into wins....sigh. Back to the 49ers. The Giants knew very well how to beat the 49ers when the 49ers were an elite team--now San Fran is offensively worthless. GIANTS 42-10
STEELERS AT CHARGERS- I think it's funny that people believe that 10 days of preparation means that Michael Vick will suddenly look like a winner. He is horribly inaccurate at this point in his career, and his speed has diminished enough to take away what it was that once made him a serious weapon. Philip Rivers will tear that Steelers secondary apart. CHARGERS 33-17
THIS COULD VERY WELL BE THE BEGINNING OF A SERIOUS HOT STREAK FOR THE RAVENS CONSIDERING THE COMPARATIVE WEAKNESS OF THEIR SCHEDULE OVER THE NEXT TWO MONTHS. IF THE RAVENS RECEIVING CORPS BECOMES HEALTHY OVER THE COURSE OF THE NEXT TWO WEEKS, WE COULD SEE THE RAVENS WIN 7 OF THEIR NEXT 8 GAMES, WHICH WOULD MEAN THEY'D ONLY LIKELY NEED TO WIN 2 OF THEIR FINAL 4 GAMES TO GO 10-6 AND SECURE A WILDCARD BERTH. THIS IS A WELL-COACHED TEAM. IT'S MUCH BETTER THIS TEAMS GOES THROUGH GROWING PAINS AT THE BEGINNING OF THE SEASON THAN AT THE END. KEEP THE FAITH BALTIMORE
AS ALWAYS
GO RAVENS!!!
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