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Ravens News 10/18: Officiating issues, MVP caliber combatants and more

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Cincinnati Bengals v Baltimore Ravens Photo by Dan Kubus/Getty Images

NFL Week 7 Preview: Players to watch, fantasy football advice and betting projections - PFF

Players to Watch

The Lamar Jackson show in Baltimore is off to a fiery start this season. He and Mark Ingram have been a stellar dynamic duo and currently lead an offense that ranks third in the NFL in EPA per play. The Ravens’ defense, however, has stumbled out of the gate. The unit ranks just 26th in EPA per play allowed.

Russell Wilson very well could roast the Ravens’ defense and improve what is already an NFL-high 90.1 passing grade considering just how bad it’s been for Baltimore. Wilson is well on his way to taking home league MVP honors with his play this season, and we dont’ see that changing anytime soon.

Dual-Threat MVP Candidates, Lamar Jackson and Russell Wilson Draw Comparisons - Ryan Mink

“I think [Wilson is] the only guy that I’ve seen do it pretty effortlessly, like Lamar does,” cornerback Marlon Humphrey said this week. “We always say we don’t want to play Lamar, so I guess we’re kind of playing a polished-up, couple-years-down-the-line Lamar. We better get ready, because he definitely can do it all.”

“I love everything about [Wilson’s] game. He’s a great quarterback. He makes guys miss. He breaks the pocket, and there will be guys chasing him everywhere. He knows what to do with the ball – dish it out, go to a checkdown. He makes plays. He’s a playmaker, and that’s what you need in a guy and at the quarterback position.”

News & Notes: Jimmy Smith Talks About His Injury, Loves Marcus Peters Addition - Clifton Brown

Smith believes no other team will have a four-corner rotation as talented. He views it as a huge advantage that Defensive Coordinator Wink Martindale will be able to exploit.

“I’d be happy to be a D-coordinator right now, to deploy us on any receiver, to figure out schemes,” Smith said. “When you have a guy who gets turnovers the way he (Peters) does … it’s kind of like – do what you want to do. You can play man, you can play zone. You can match up anybody. It makes our defense faster, more dangerous. Anything can happen at any point, then having a safety back there like Earl (Thomas III)? It could be a very, very dangerous thing.”

NFL Week 7 odds, picks: Ravens outrun Seahawks, Eagles rebound in Dallas, Patriots stay perfect - Cody Benjamin

Baltimore Ravens at Seattle Seahawks

Seattle is a tough place to play, Russell Wilson is in the lead for MVP and Seattle is off to a tremendous start. Lamar Jackson headlines a rushing attack that could keep the ball out of Wilson’s hands, however, and reignite Baltimore’s confidence.

Prediction: Ravens 34, Seahawks 31

How NFL’s Officiating Issues, on Display in Packers-Lions, Drove Discussion at the Fall League Meeting - Albert Breer

“The idea of 16 or 17 different standards being applied is always one [concern], it’s one of the reasons we’ve ultimately moved replay back to New York, it was the idea you’d have a common set of eyes,” one high-ranking NFL executive said at the fall meeting this week. “That would always need to be worked through. And then what is the authority of that individual, that needs to be worked through.”

The league would need to install an efficient way to govern and institute a sky judge. But there is already actual person is place already up in the booth—the changes that the coaches want include empowering this official.