Week 6 is starting to loom large for the Ravens’ passing game, and the reason is simple: Baltimore badly needs Ja’Kobi Lane back.
The third-round wideout was supposed to bring a different dimension to Lamar Jackson’s offense right away. At 6-foot-4 and 205 pounds, Lane offered a size Baltimore has not had on the perimeter, and the hope was that he could help the Ravens finally win more of those contested downfield throws that have been missing from the attack for years.
Instead, Lane fractured his wrist in Week 1, and the wait has only made the need more obvious. Baltimore still has not found a reliable answer on those 50/50 balls, and Week 6, when Lane is scheduled to come off IR, cannot arrive soon enough.
That need is magnified by the way Jackson has carried the offense through September. He has been sharp and decisive, and through three games he is completing a personal-best 69.7 percent of his passes. He has thrown four touchdown passes against one interception and sits fourth in QBR.
All of that has come with a patchwork group of targets around him. Zay Flowers has already missed one game and big chunks of the other two.
Elijah Sarratt has yet to appear in a regular-season snap. Chris Moore, back with the team just before the season started, has suddenly become the No. 2 option on the outside behind Rashod Bateman.
Among the receivers, LaJohntay Wester has drawn more looks than Devontez Walker. And at tight end, rookies Matthew Hibner and Josh Cuevas have combined for only four catches.
The biggest issue in the passing game has been the lack of explosive plays. Walker has only one catch this season, bringing his career total to eight in a little more than two years with the team. He also left a deep ball on the field against the Cowboys by waiting to body-catch it, which gave the defender time to break it up, though he did draw a solid DPI on another play.
Moore has averaged one catch per game over the first three weeks and missed on a crucial deep throw in Week 2 on a controversial third-and-1 late against the Saints. Bateman, who has played the most snaps among the wideouts, was held catchless in Week 1 and finished Sunday in Rio with just two receptions. Wester, meanwhile, did not get a target against the Cowboys.
With the state of the offense still unsettled and the offensive line carrying its own questions, Lane is going to face plenty of pressure when he returns. But if he can deliver on the promise he showed in training camp and preseason, this passing game could finally start reaching a level Baltimore has not seen before.
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Baltimore also saw other linemen and front-seven pieces make their case. Zion Young showed up in the run game and as a pass-rush presence, flashing the kind of quickness and physicality that suggest there is more to come. Calais Campbell, meanwhile, kept doing what he has done for years, turning in another effective performance in his 19th NFL season and reinforcing the idea that the Ravens still have dependable veteran production in the mix. [Read more 🡒]
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Jackson revisited the subject in a later press conference, stressing why the message was important to him and to the room. For Ravens fans, the bigger question is whether the shift in leadership can finally translate into cleaner finishes when the margin gets tight in the fourth quarter. The words were encouraging, but Baltimore still has to prove the habit has changed. [Read more 🡒]
Ravens 2-1 Start Is Hiding Pressure They Cant Ignore
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The schedule is about to tell a lot more of the story. Tennessee and Atlanta are next, followed by a stretch that includes Cleveland, Cincinnati, Buffalo and Jacksonville, and those games should quickly show whether Baltimore can turn a modest opening into real momentum or keep living with the same questions that have already followed them through the first month. [Read more 🡒]