The NFL’s one game a week schedule means teams have a week or so to make adjustments, move on from wins and losses, etc.
On Sunday Washington will face a Ravens team that was embarrassed on Monday Night by the Kansas City Chiefs. Yes, the Chiefs are the Super Bowl champions but Baltimore was favored and had circled the game on their calendar.
Kansas City’s defense was ready for the challenges of Lamar Jackson and, frankly, the Eric Bieniemy and the Chiefs offense embarrassed John Harbaugh’s crew.
So when the Ravens make the bus ride from Baltimore to Landover, they will be ready to get that sour taste out of their mouth.
This is the difference between Baltimore and Washington. Sure, you can make the same arguments for WFT. They had a winnable game in Cleveland. Even with all the mistakes Dwayne Haskins made, Washington was still in it until the last interception. But, they don’t have the luxury of looking at this as a bounce-back game. The organization is still in rebuild mode. Washington can’t measure progress via wins and losses. They aren’t there yet.
Washington will measure Sunday’s game by how much progress Haskins and the offense makes. The defense will be facing a dynamic quarterback armed with a powerful running game and a game changing wide receiver (Marquise Brown). Washington has neither a punishing running game or game changing wide receiver on their offense.
Keys to Sunday
Contain Lamar Jackson
The most important weapon on the Ravens offense continues to be Jackson. With that being said, Washington would be better served by making Jackson keep the ball on RPOs than giving it to Mark Ingram. Getting hits on Jackson is important and if the defense can avoid field-flipping plays via Jackson’s legs, they can be successful against the offense
Blanket tight end Mark Andrews
Brown is Jackson’s big play option but Mark Andrews is his safety blanket. Andrews has nine receptions and two touchdowns on the season. Along with Ingram, Andrews provides the Ravens offense with its most effective way to control the middle of the field. It’s real estate Washington can’t afford to give up.
Offense must be better
So much gets put on Haskins and some is fair and some is unfair. He has missed open receivers but he also doesn’t get the luxury of having a true threat at wide receiver or running back. Terry McLaurin looks like he can develop into that player but he’s not there yet. The most disappointing thing is the running game. Washington has an inexperienced quarterback operating with the 25th ranked rushing game in the NFL. Is the running game suffering because of the lack of threat in the passing game or is the passing game suffering because the running game has been ineffective? Either way, Washington will need to find a way to control the clock and keep Jackson and the Ravens off the field.
