Every NFL Team, Ranked From Smartest To Dumbest: Ravens

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  • By Jared Russo

    Mostly lucky but somewhat wise/savvy:

    #4 Baltimore Ravens: insert your “The Wire” jokes here

    All they had to do was just run the ball! That’s it. A team built on running, who ran all year, got the #1 seed, and established themselves on power running and smash-mouth football. They then summarily decided to rush exactly 16 times in the AFC Championship Game, with half of those being Lamar runs or scrambles. If you run the ball, you eat clock up and keep Mahomes off the field. Duh. Everyone knew that, even the Chiefs did. That’s all you had to do, the one thing you’re good at, but you just couldn’t do it. What are they going to do, stop you? Stop throwing the ball every time, it’s so obvious. Appalling, if I’m a Ravens fan. Should have just ran it! Morons.

    But since I’m not a Ravens fan, I can say definitively that they deserved to lose that game. Don’t get me started on the Jackson contract negotiations, nor the teams who refused to sign him/trade for him, even if it was just calling Baltimore’s bluff. Just a series of dumb decisions down the stretch, for a very stupid season overall, and they blew it big time. 3rd-round tight end Mark Andrews getting hurt was not a part of the plan, but then again, what injury is?

    Thank you!!!!!! There isn’t reverse psychology involved here, you tell them ahead of time “We are cramming it down your throats” and then you do it and see if they can stop you. Why the fuck did I not get paid ten million dollars to tell the team “The run sets up the pass, play action, don’t trust a rookie wideout in big moments, blah blah blah” and then I could be celebrated and labeled as a genius. If only my last name was Harbaugh maybe I could have the red carpet rolled out for me despite fumbling the bag with an MVP. The season was right there for you, you could have moonwalked into the Super Bowl! But no. No thanks, let’s chuck it around the yard to no one reliable for the sixth year in a row. Morons.

    Okay, with that off of my chest, it’s frightening that this organization hasn’t won more than it already has. Steve Bisciotti is a hell of an owner, Eric DeCosta is an excellent GM, and John Harbaugh used to be the best coach in the league. But he’s sort of fallen off recently, mainly because they didn’t run the ball on the Chiefs (sorry I will stop bringing it up, it’s just so stupid I can’t help it). The team makes the right moves constantly and gets to the edge of success consistently, only for something out of their hands to happen. Or in the case of earlier this year, it was in their hands and they refused to rush more than 20 times. Or in the case of Zay Flowers, in his hands and then out of his hands. Tough break, O’s fans.

    They were the only ones willing to go out on a limb and take the obviously talented Lamar Jackson, who won a Heisman, and on top of that maintain a high-quality roster, holding players accountable. They’re such a smart team, have been for years, and I love the players they draft year in and year out: current Jets captain CJ Mosley, Za’Darius Smith, Ronnie Stanley, Matt Judon, Marlon Humphrey, Hayden Hurst, Orlando Brown, Justice Hill, Patrick Queen, JK Dobbins, Kyle Hamilton, David Ojabo, Isaiah Likely, Keaton Mitchell, Zay Flowers, Roquan Smith, Kyle Van Noy, and the GOAT of kicking Justin Tucker. This team hits their picks and I can only stan the Ravens until Lamar gets hurt or Dobbins gets hurt or Mark Andrews gets hurt, or…

    Paired with new signee Derrick Henry, they still look just as good as last year if not better. The only problem is some OL who left and as always, the receivers. The WRs have always been the issue, there has never been anyone for Lamar to throw the ball to, which to me seems silly because Pittsburgh has the exact opposite problem. Let’s take a trip down memory lane, shall we? Breshad Perriman in the 1st, Darren Waller in the 6th (not that one, the other one), Chris Moore in the 4th, Marquise Hollywood Brown in the 1st, Rashod Bateman in the 1st, Nelson Agholor in the 1st, and way past his prime Odell Beckham Jr. have not gotten it done. Not even close. Why they kept throwing against Snead, I’ll never understand. That’s not enough weaponry for a QB, and although Zay Flowers was a rookie sensation for my fantasy team, his mistakes in that AFC Championship game were costly. You can’t keep throwing it to tight ends expecting that to work unless your name is Travis Kelce and Patrick Mahomes, AKA the better version of Lamar and Mark Andrews.

    Is this graph too simplistic? Because that’s honestly how I feel, having bet against Mahomes both times. Not doing that again, I’ll tell you that right now. They took a 7th round running back and beat everybody’s brains in at the very last second they had to, so what other takeaway can I have? What am I supposed to think, happy thoughts??? “Oh, you can do it, just power through next time” nah not happening. You have to step on Kansas City’s neck to beat them. Really rough Mahomes up, give him as little time to breathe and as little time of possession as possible, and probably you’d have to run up the score on them so much they wilt. This will not happen. You didn’t force their hand, you didn’t set the pace or tempo, you played their game and into their plan, and lost. So build a team to beat Mahomes, or tell your staff to drill into your players’ heads to not get hurt and to not fumble. Can you do that? Probably not, since you can’t really control injuries, but you should try! That’s my only advice.

    Brock Purdy has won more playoff games already than Lamar has. Lamar has two MVP trophies and seems more like Steve Nash than Malone or Barkley, because they at least went to the Finals.

    Read more here!
    Smartest teams with recent rings to show for it:
    1 – Chiefs
    2 – Rams
    3 – Eagles
    July 27, 2024, 5:00 pm