Ravens offense struggled against the AFC South

Marc Trestman's defense is similar to Gary Kubiak's but with small differences. Hopefully, one of those small differences leads to better performances against out-of-division teams.

Four of the Ravens worst offensive outputs came against the AFC South. A game against the Colts, where the Ravens couldn't convert on fourth down after getting the ball to the Colts' 3-yard line, were only able to come up with a field goal after the Colts fumbled a punt on their own 15, and a three out of 13 third down conversion rate. They also had less than 100 yards rushing coming against a bad rushing defense and allowed the Colts' no-name pass rushers to have a big day.

Against the Titans, the Ravens didn't do bad, as Justin Forsett had over 100 yards rushing and two touchdown and he won the AFC Offensive Player of the Week. Joe Flacco threw a touchdown pass to Torrey Smith, but the Ravens offense was still stagnant versus a defense that was mediocre against the pass and awful against the run.

Against the Jaguars the Ravens couldn't get anything going on the ground and the Ravens only offensive score came off of a Joe Flacco to Owen Daniels touchdown pass. Again this was against a mediocre passing defense and a poor rushing defense.

The Texans were a complete debacle for the Ravens as Joe Flacco was pressured all day, the run game went nowhere, and Flacco could hardly complete a pass. While the Texans had a quality rushing defense, their passing defense ranked 26th outside of J.J. Watt.

Perhaps the fact that Kubiak spent eight seasons in the AFC South and that gave them enough time to study his offense is the cause of the Ravens struggles versus the South. Whatever the cause is, the Ravens don't have to immediately figure that out, as the Ravens only have to play the Jacksonville Jaguars at M&T Bank Stadium next season.

Trestman won't face the NFC North next season either, so perhaps the Ravens' offense won't have teams too familiar with what they'll try to do each week.