Ravens vs. Eagles Week 6 rookie report: they can’t all be hits

This weeks game between the Eagles and Ravens was hotly contested down the stretch. The seemingly unending penalties on Baltimore in this game certainly assisted Philadelphia in getting back in it after all seemed lost. However, even without the penalties, the Ravens defense didn’t do itself many favors, and the rookies on the team definitely didn’t help as much as we’ve become accustomed to.

Rookies in the NFL are bound to have up-and-down games, that’s just the nature of being such a young player in a professional sports league. Even so, it’s important to take stock of what we have here and dive into these players one by one.

Patrick Queen

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Patrick had, by far, his worst game of the season on Sunday. Two tackles, two pressures, one pass defended, that’s his entire stat line. He also unfortunately missed two tackles. I’m not one to unfairly criticize, at least not often, so I will say that, in this game it seemed he had a better handle on his coverage assignments, and stepped it up in that area just a tad. PFF currently has Queen rated as one of the worst coverage linebackers in the NFL, which seems a bit harsh, but is probably fair. Still, after having an off game, and going into a bye week this week, Queen can get all the rest he needs for Week 8 is ever important game against the Steelers.

J.K. Dobbins

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Dobbins also had a relatively quiet game on Sunday with only nine rushes for 28 yards. However he did have the most rushing yards on team by anyone not named Lamar Jackson, so he was not at all “bad” on Sunday. Still, Dobbins has been used primarily as the receiving back on the team so far this season, but his receiving in this game was pretty much non existent, only catching two of four targets for one total yard.

Devin Duvernay

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Duvernay seems to thrive in chaos. After his wonderful kick return in the Chiefs game, most people seemed to expect him to stick cleanly in that role, although there may be much more here. Duvernay was targeted three times, caught all three and ended up with 31 yards, 17 of which came off a big third-down reception. Duvernay showed up in this game to play and to win, and did so by being a reliable receiver for Jackson, who truly desperately needs one. He also returned his single kick return for 37 yards.