I resisted the temptation to write predictions for the first week of the 2020 NFL season because the total lack of a preseason not only deprived us of a look at all of the teams, but also because each organization was unable to go through the usual process to prepare in the month leading up to their respective regular season openers. It is, after all, wise to avoid crowning a team as champion based solely on big name play-makers on its roster. Football is a sport wherein preparation, chemistry, and schematic fine tuning can absolutely outweigh pure athletic talent. In most cases, one cannot simply emulate Lebron James and recruit several superstars to immediately dominate the league. There are cases where a big name free agent can fill a major hole in an otherwise strong team and elevate the organization to new heights the way Randy Moss did with the Patriots in 2007. There are even rarer occasions where a transcendent leader can arrive at a new team and bestow his experience and maybe even his own system upon his new squad to bring unparalleled success the way Peyton Manning did with the Broncos in 2012 and his offensive record-setting 2013 season.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers may have thought they were getting just such a transcendent leader in Tom Brady, and I am sure they thought surrounding him with weapons such as Rob Gronkowski, Mike Evans, and Leonard Fournette would give him everything he needed to immediately catapult the Bucs into contender status, but Brady looked uncharacteristically out of sync with his targets yesterday. I refuse to count him out purely based on his performance in Week 1 as Brady often struggled through the first 3 to 4 weeks of many seasons with the Patriots before making adjustments and dominating the rest of the way, but anyone looking to crown the Buccaneers as Super Bowl champs prior to the season must temper their expectations.
The Cleveland Browns are quite familiar with the temptation to prematurely celebrate their success because of major free agent acquisitions. After a strong 2018 rookie campaign, many thought Baker Mayfield would run the league with the additions of Jarvis Landry and Odell Beckham Jr. Reality shattered their hopes, however, as the Browns' 2019 season was a disaster, and yesterday's blowout loss to the Ravens offered even more evidence that one simply cannot underscore the importance of quality coaching and consistently strong drafting. One announcer remarked yesterday that 45 of the 53 players on the Ravens roster were, in fact, drafted by the Ravens. It did not matter that the Browns have two formerly elite wide receivers who should both still be in their athletic primes. The Ravens got far better production out of a receiving corps that consisted of 3 wide receivers and a tight end on their rookie contracts. Even the Ravens rookie running back J.K. Dobbins found his way into the end zone twice on Sunday.
With all of that said, one must resist the temptation to crown the Ravens Super Bowl champs after a big first win. The first 4 weeks of a season are not typically indicative of how strong a team will be late in a season for a few major reasons. The first reason is that no one has seen the team on film in Week 1, and teams later in the season have far more film to utilize in preparation to thwart anything particularly gimmicky that may have caught other teams off guard early on. The second reason is that no team returns all its players and staff from one year to the next, and even WITH a preseason it can still take several games for players to develop chemistry and for a system to be executed smoothly. The third reason is that injuries can totally change a team--especially with a running quarterback. I must admit that I was worried the Ravens would trot out the same run-heavy offense yesterday that would ultimately lead to a violent injury to Lamar Jackson at some point. The Ravens rushing attack, instead, looked uncharacteristically weak. Lamar was often bottled up when he tried to find room to run, and Mark Ingram seldom broke off a run for more than just 2-4 yards. If you had told me that would be the case before the game, I would have predicted a Ravens loss, but just the opposite took place.
Lamar Jackson took control of his offense through the air and absolutely shredded the Browns defense to the tune of 275 passing yards and 3 passing touchdowns with no interceptions, and he did so without even just 30 rushing yards from any running back on his team. Jackson, actually led the team himself with 45 rushing yards, but his ungodly completion percentage of 80% was the statistic that proved particularly impressive. The touch on Jackson's passes was consistently superb despite often having to throw on the run. Suffice it to say, this is the big step up we all wanted to see from the young superstar to allow him to grow into a complete quarterback capable of aggressively attacking a defense even when the Ravens rushing attack sputters.
The Ravens rush defense performed equally poorly to the rush offense on Sunday. Forget the fact that the Browns only scored 6 points; they still managed to amass just shy of 140 rushing yards. That stat is totally unacceptable and presumably correctable, but it was baffling to see a team gash Baltimore on the ground after the disappointing first round home playoff loss from last season to the Titans came in large part because Derrick Henry rumbled for 195 yards and embarrassed a team that has long prided itself on being stout against the run. I assumed the much of the Ravens' off season would have been devoted to making sure nothing like that would happen again in the foreseeable future. That is not to say the Browns do not have two elite power running backs in Kareem Hunt and Nick Chubb, but elite running backs have seldom found success running the football against the Ravens in the past. The Ravens once again appear particularly vulnerable to outside runs. The 49ers first exposed that apparent weakness last season in what turned out to be a hard-fought win for Lamar and company, but San Fran provided a blueprint for how to attack an otherwise statistically elite Ravens defense.
It should not come as any surprise that the Ravens struggled against the run, particularly early. Baltimore is young and relatively in experienced at the linebacker position. Patrick Queen performed well for his first ever NFL game, but it will take time for the game to slow down for him to the point where he can truly utilize his outrageous speed and athleticism to carry out the tradition of the great run-stuffing middle backers that came before him in Ray Lewis and more recently C.J. Mosley. The Ravens outside linebackers were particularly disappointing. Matthew Judon and Jaylon Ferguson combined for 5 total tackles, zero sacks, and little in the way of pressure despite the Browns starting a backup offensive tackle. I would be shocked if Baltimore's personnel department was not currently looking to sign a veteran pass rushing outside backer who also knows how to set the edge. Things have not quite been the same in that department since Suggs became old and ultimately departed. The acquisitions of Derek Wolfe and Calais Campbell proved immediately impact with multiple passes defensed between the two, but their presence must be complimented by consistent pressure off the edge as the Ravens face far more impressive quarterbacks than Baker Mayfield as the season presses onward.
Regardless of the host of issues on display last Sunday, the Ravens still absolutely obliterated a divisional rival with two elite wide receivers and two explosive top 10 caliber running backs. The Ravens young receiving corps looked up to the task despite the absence of a wily veteran the likes of whom the Ravens have typically relied upon in the past with such names as Derrick Mason, Anquan Boldin, Steve Smith Sr., and Mike Wallace. Hollywood Brown caught for more than 100 yards, Mark Andrews and Willy Snead combined for 3 touchdowns, and both Miles Boykin and Devin Duvernay occasionally got in on the action. The fact that the Ravens were that dominant despite their glaring issues only means their ceiling on the season should be quite lofty. Harbaugh's squad will have a great chance to correct many of the major issues against a Texans team that should not scare anyone without DeAndre Hopkins next Sunday before the Chiefs come to Baltimore the following week for a matchup that will undoubtedly establish conference supremacy in the minds of many fans and sports analysts. Stay tuned later this week for Week 2 predictions!
GET PUMPED BALTIMORE
RAVENS FOOTBALL IS BACK!!
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