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The Baltimore Ravens came up with a resounding win over the Houston Texans on Sunday. Subsequently, they moved up in several power rankings this week, including picking up their second number one spot.
ESPN kept the Ravens at number two, while highlighting Gus Edwards and their hard-to-predict fantasy running back situation.
All of the fantasy focus on the Ravens’ backfield has centered on Mark Ingram II and J.K. Dobbins. But Edwards has outgained them in the first two games, producing 90 yards rushing and averaging 6.4 yards per carry. What limits Edwards as a consistent fantasy option is his lack of touches in the red zone. — Jamison Hensley
CBS Sports moved them up two spots to number three and looked ahead to their Monday night matchup with the Chiefs.
They rolled over the Texans, dominating on both sides of the ball. Now they get that chance they didn’t get in the playoffs last year to take on the Chiefs. Too bad it won’t mean as much.
Sports Illustrated ranked the Ravens third overall behind the Chiefs and Seahawks.
We’re seeing Lamar Jackson develop a pocket presence that is so far beyond his age. He has completed more than 75 percent of his passes and his bad throw percentage is down to six—six!—through two games this season. Oh and his time spent in the pocket was cut in half from last year, down from an already formidable 2.6 seconds per snap in 2019.
The Ravens maintained the number one spot in Yahoo’s rankings again this week.
The Chiefs-Ravens game next Monday night is going to be a beauty. No football fan should miss it.
Finally, NFL.com referred to the Ravens as “the best, most complete team in the NFL” and moved them ahead of the Chiefs for the top spot.
The Ravens are unfair right now. The running game returned to its dominant ways against the Texans, piling up 230 yards, including the game-icing 30-yard direct-snap Mark Ingram touchdown on fourth-and-1. The design and execution — in that spot of the game — tells you everything you need to know about this team and the confidence it’s playing with. The passing game was deadly, as well, as Lamar Jackson connected on 75 percent of his passes to nine different targets. Did I mention the defense smothered Deshaun Watson and had a score of its own? That January playoff loss to the Titans is ancient history. This is the best, most complete team in the NFL right now.
As for the rest of the AFC North, the Steelers landed three top-five rankings this week (CBS Sports, Yahoo, NFL.com). However, CBS Sports moved them behind the Ravens citing Pittsburgh’s lack of dominance against Jeff Driskel and the Broncos.
They didn’t quite dominate the way I expected against the Broncos - especially with a backup quarterback playing for Denver.
ESPN kept the Steelers outside of the top ten at number 11.
The Browns moved up across the board due to their Thursday night win over the Bengals. After failing to crack the top 20 in any rankings last week, Sports Illustrated and NFL.com both ranked them 17th overall, and CBS Sports and Yahoo both ranked them 19th overall. Finally, the Bengals stayed stationary overall. Their average ranking moved from 28.6 to 28.0 this week.