Victory on bills sends Ravens escalating

Victory on bills sends Ravens escalating

With the first week of the NFL regular season in the books, many publications published their rankings in Week 2. After defeating the Bills in a dominating way, 47-3, the Ravens are part of those teams that have quickly climbed the ladder. and in some cases in the Top 10.

"Joe Flacco loves his new receiver body, and it's easy for a QB when he does not face any defensive resistance," said Vinnie Iyer of Sporting News. "Do not sleep on the re-emergence of the Ravens."

Iyer blew the Ravens from 21st to 9th. Baltimore's victory made it clear to Iyer that he changed his music last week.

"Flacco seems rejuvenated thanks to the discreet trajectory of rookie Lamar Jackson behind him," Iyer wrote. "The defensive mojo continues, but the loss of cornerback Jimmy Smith for almost the fourth of the season hurts. Coach John Harbaugh still has another team up and down.

Iyer was certainly right about the defense by keeping his mojo, but the high school did his first test without Smith. This group will have a tougher test Thursday night against Andy Dalton, AJ Green and the Bengals.

Although Iyer made a big jump from the Ravens, nobody saw his stock increase more than Chris Roling from Bleacher Report. Roling saw the Ravens win 13 incredible places from last week's 24th to 11th this week.

SB Nation also had the Ravens moving, placing them in 8th place after seeing them in 17th place the week before.

ESPN also made a big jump with the Ravens, bringing Team # 21 back to Week # 12 this week. In fact, the nine-point improvement is the biggest jump the team has had in the ESPN standings.

"Michael Crabtree, Willie Snead IV and John Brown all signed with the Ravens and, on Sunday, all three had a touchdown pass in their first game with the team," said ESPN's Vincent Johnson. "They are the first line to have a touchdown in their first game with a team since three players made it with the Patriots in 2002."

Although some experts thought that the Ravens' massive victory over the Bills justified a big jump, others did not.

Maurice Moton of the Bleacher Report had the Ravens in 9th place, but placed Baltimore in 13th place last week. FanSided's Matt Verderame also put the Ravens in 13th place in the first day, but ranked them 10th before the second week.

"Do not minimize that. The Ravens won by 44 points and absolutely buried the Bills outclassed, "wrote Verderame. "Thursday night becomes intriguing."

Indeed, it seems that many experts will push Baltimore higher in their rankings if the team is able to have another solid match. It seems that some analysts think that the dominant character of the Ravens' victory could have as much to do with the Buffalo struggles.

"They have the # 1 markers D and # 3," wrote USA Today. "But the effort came against Buffalo."

USA Today brought the Ravens up from 17 to 15, but they also have the Bills in 32nd overall. Although Mark Maske of the Washington Post blew up the Ravens from number 15 to number 10, he thought in the same way as USA Today.

"Are the Ravens good or the Bills so bad? It's probably a little bit of everyone, "wrote Maske.

Yahoo Sports 'team, Frank Schwab, did not make the Ravens' big jump, from 13th to 12th, but like Johnson, she tackles the team's attack, which is real threat.

"How about looking at the new targets the Ravens had with Flacco – Michael Crabtree, John Brown, Willie Snead – who all touched touchdowns on Sunday," Schwab wrote. "Maybe getting real catchers from Flacco helps."

Finally, John Breech of CBS Sports does not rank power for every NFL team, but gives everyone a rating based on how they did it this week.

It may not be as visually impressive as a list of rankings, but the Ravens came out very favorably from Breech's analysis, being the only group to get an A +.

"The only thing better than Flacco's performance was the Baltimore defense game," Breech wrote. "The Ravens have limited Buffalo to just 153 yards, scoring the second time since 2012 that the Ravens have a team under 155 yards."

Dissect how the defense smothered bills

The defense received a lot of congratulations for its game against the Bills, but what did the Ravens do on the field to succeed?

Defensive coordinator Wink Martindale, Baltimore's linebacker coach before this year, brought a mix of aggression and disappointment that Buffalo could not solve.

"If the iceberg that the Bills could see was the Ravens' pre-season defensive band, they crashed into the deeper system that Martindale dumped in his first match as Ravens DC," said Ken McKusick. Russell Street Report.

Indeed, it was an almost perfect start for Martindale, which Chris Schisler, of Ebony Bird, wrote: "He absolutely brought it.

Such an alignment was an unorthodox ride, a jumbo nickel package that involved the use of three doublers, two external linebackers and an internal linebacker. Nickel bundles usually do not involve three linemen and three linebackers, and McKusick believes that Baltimore has never been very effective, if at all. Against the Bills, the Ravens used it for nine shots.

"The Bills earned just 15 yards on those nine games (1.7 yards per game)," McKusick said. "These included both McCoy's 12-yard run to start the second half and Tavon Young's second bag."

Martindale was not afraid to ask players to do things they had not done before with former defensive coordinator Dean Pees. One such player is safety Tony Jefferson, whom Martindale put using Jason Croom on the outside of the field.

"Jefferson stayed with Croom's stride for the stride and the ball was knocked down," McKusick wrote. "It plays on a force that Tony showed during his stay in Arizona, but Pees rarely used that advantage last season."

It should also be noted that Martindale did not completely review the game plan of what Pees was doing with the Ravens before.

"Martindale was the coach of the Ravens linebackers for over half a decade before being promoted to defensive coordinator this season," said Aaron Kasinitz of PennLive. "So he knows his players and he uses many patterns that his predecessor, Dean Pees, used; Martindale has just tweaked the system to give its players more options in particular situations. "

Such a tweak involved a wild look that the Ravens used for three games in which they lined up without defensive lineup. Instead, Baltimore had his five outside linebackers on the field, with linebacker C.J. Mosley and five defensive backs.

The players actually used a package similar to the one used in passing situations, but instead had a defensive line player on the field with five linebackers and a defender. McKusick called the version of the Martindale configuration "more extreme version" of what Pees did.

"The results of these games were a 3-yard sack from Tavon Young, Jefferson's interception and Smith's 4-yard bag," McKusick said. "I'm going to go ahead and say we're going to see more of this package."

The Ravens also did more bombing than they did before, especially at the high school level. Young, a corner cornerback, led Baltimore into bags with two. Although this trend is unlikely to continue, it seems that Martindale wants to use the speed and physics of his high school to tackle the quarter.

"High school members have used the freedom that first-year defensive coordinator Don Martindale offers his players," said Weddle, "Kasinitz wrote. "They worked together to choose their places to bomb and disturb the Nathan Peterman Bills quarter."

By doing this, he adds a layer of deception that the Ravens hope to continue to deconcentrate.

"I've scored the Ravens for 10 misleading assists in 39 assists," McKusick wrote. "He called 24 individual blitzes outside the line of scrimmage. In comparison, Dean Pees averaged 7.6 blitzers per game in 2017 and Rex Ryan averaged 19.5 per game in 2006. "

Focus on professional football showcases several crows

PFF rated a lot of Ravens players this week, including cornerback Marlon Humphrey.

The sophomore alabama was the highest rated Ravens defenseman this week with a score of 89.9, earning him a spot on the Gordon McGuinness NFL week 1 team. He was the only Raven to be selected.

"Humphrey was exceptional, allowing only two receptions for six yards at six targets, and left with two breakouts," said McGuinness.

Humphrey ended his day with two tackles, both solos. As noted by WNST's Luke Jones, "It will have bigger challenges over the next few weeks, but the choice of the first round of 2017 has been excellent against the Bills".

Humphrey was not the only Ravens member to get high marks from PFF. Cornerback Brandon Carr was also recognized in the "20 PFF stats of Cam Mellor to be known after Week 1 in the NFL"

"Carr has been targeted seven times against the Bills, allowing only two receptions for 24 yards including only two yards after the allowed catch-up," Mellor wrote. "He added an interception and allowed only 0.13 yards per game on the cover."

A couple of offensive members are also well behaved according to PFF, with quarterback Joe Flacco being part of it.

"Flacco's adjusted completion percentage of 90.6 is the league's highest score among the signalers as he completed 25 out of 34 attempts with a throw, another hit at the scrimmage line and four balls." lost, "wrote Mellor.

The right-hand guard, Field Marshal Yanda, has distinguished himself in his first match since he's fractured his ankle during the second week of the 2017 season, especially in situations of blocking passes.

"On 36 pass protections, Yanda did not allow a single push and recorded a solid 87.9 blocking score," wrote Mellor.

Buck Allen excels under the radar

Much of the focus during the off-season surrounding the Baltimore defeats has centered on the emergence of Alex Collins as a true leader. There was even some discussion about the third lap, Kenneth Dixon, and what he could offer on offense if he was healthy (he missed the tests yesterday with a knee injury suffered in Sunday's match).

Buck Allen, the Ravens' second favorite, did not get much attention during the off-season, but he was among those who played well against the Bills.

"Buck Allen has become a versatile player who seems to do everything to help his team win," said Tony Lombardi of Russell Street Report.

Allen finished with just 17 rushing yards, but averaged 4.3 yards per run and scored a touchdown. He also drew five catches for 15 yards.

As Dixon is not training, it is possible that Allen can see his role extend against the Bengals if the Ravens choose not to perform a third round. If this happens, Ravens should always be in good shape, especially in short-lived situations.

"At 218 pounds, Buck Allen does not have a short back, but he has the gift of reaching the desired mark," said Luke Jones of WNST. "He lined up at the back of his 1-yard touchdown in the third quarter and presented a respectable dance by Ray Lewis."

Quick shots

• NFL.com's Gregg Rosenthal named Baltimore's broad receivers as one of those who had a good sneaky week. Not sure that the three new scoring touchdowns are sneaky, but the receivers have certainly had a good week.