The Ravens head into Week 4 back at M&T Bank Stadium with a simple goal: beat the Titans, move to 3-1, and stay right in the thick of the AFC North race. But the game may come down to a few individual swings - the kind that decide whether Baltimore controls the afternoon or lets it drift.
That’s where the X-factors come in for first-year head coach Jesse Minter. With Trey Hendrickson out after minor surgery on his injured finger, Baltimore’s edge rush has to find production somewhere else, and Green is the next man up opposite Tavius Robinson.
The second-year pro spent the summer drawing buzz as a player expected to make a real leap after a rookie year that fell short of the hype. Through three weeks, he has one sack and two quarterback hits, all of it coming in the Week 2 home opener.
The bigger issue now is volume. Green has played fewer than 50% of the team’s defensive snaps in each game so far, but that number is expected to climb to a little over 60%, the kind of workload Hendrickson had been handling. Baltimore needs Green to make that extra run count if it wants to bother second-year quarterback Cam Ward and keep some life in the pass rush while Hendrickson is sidelined.
Up front, the Ravens are also dealing with a major shuffle at center. Both of their top two centers are on injured reserve, and that pushes first-round rookie Olaivavega Ioane into the starting center job for the first time in his pro career. He opened the first three games at right guard, and while he has some background at center from his Penn State days - plus a little work there last week when he snapped to Lamar Jackson - doing it for four quarters in a new role is a different challenge altogether.
Veteran guard Simpson becomes a key piece next to him. His experience should help with identifying blitzers and handling protection adjustments, which matters a lot for a line that has already struggled for quite some time.
Madubuike is another name Baltimore needs to deliver in Hendrickson’s absence. The two-time Pro Bowler just made his 2026 debut last week in Brazil, and the Ravens are counting on him to be the interior disruptor who forces offenses to pay extra attention. When he’s right, he can wreck a game from the inside and create better chances for everyone around him.
Against the Cowboys, he put together a strong outing with three total tackles, two pressures, and the highest Pro Football Focus grade on the Ravens defense at 90.1. Baltimore needs that version again against a Titans pass-protection unit that does a good job of keeping its quarterback clean.
Then there’s the rookie receiving threat. The fourth-round pick posted the first multi-catch game of his career last week, hauling in both targets for 23 yards and his first touchdown. He’s already been used more as a blocker than many expected, but his role as a receiver could keep growing.
What stands out is how he creates yards after the catch and finds space in zone coverage between the hashes. That showed up in last week’s win, and it could show up again against Tennessee.
In Other News...
Cowboys Coach Just Handed Ravens Fans A Fresh Reason To Smile
Brian Schottenheimer did not try to dodge the final sequence from the Cowboys loss to the Ravens, instead saying he made a late-game mistake by limiting Dak Prescotts reads on the offenses last snap. He also addressed the team directly in a meeting and apologized, a small but telling sign that the head coach knew the call mattered in a game that was still there to be won.
For Baltimore, the admission only reinforces how close the finish was to swinging the other way before the Ravens got enough time to set up the game-winning field goal. It also adds a little more texture to a win that already felt like a clutch finish, with one sideline owning up to a decision that helped the other side leave with the result it wanted. [Read more 🡒]
Lamar Jackson's Status Suddenly Became Baltimore's Biggest Week 4 Concern
A third-quarter sideline switch changed the feel of Sunday in a hurry, with Lamar Jackson listed as questionable to return after sustaining an ankle injury on a sack by Titans edge rusher Jermaine Johnson III. Jackson was seen limping and did not come out with Baltimore to start the second half, opening the door for Tyler Huntley to step in at quarterback while the Ravens had to adjust on the fly.
Jackson remained involved from the sideline and had put on his earpiece by mid-afternoon, a sign he was still plugged into the game even as his availability hung over the rest of the afternoon. For Baltimore, the immediate focus shifted from the scoreboard to the quarterbacks ankle, with Week 4 suddenly carrying a much different kind of tension. [Read more 🡒]
Lamar Jackson Injury Just Put Baltimore's Biggest Concern Back In Focus
Lamar Jacksons exit late in the first half put a familiar worry right back at the center of Baltimores night. After taking a sack and leaving with an ankle injury, Jackson was officially listed as questionable to return, but he did not appear to be preparing to re-enter as the game moved on. For a Ravens team built around Jacksons ability to change everything, any injury involving the quarterback immediately changes the feel of the sideline and the larger picture.
Baltimore was already dealing with more than one hit to its depth chart, too, as cornerback Marlon Humphrey and tight end Durham Smythe both went down during the game. Injuries are part of the grind in any season, but when they start landing on cornerstone players, the margin for error gets thin fast. The bigger question now is how the Ravens absorb the latest scare if Jacksons ankle keeps him from being ready on the next snap, or the one after that. [Read more 🡒]