Ravens News 9/28: Team of the Week and more

The Winners and Losers of NFL Week 3 - Rodger Sherman

Winner: The GKOAT

To make this kick, Tucker changed his mechanics up. Before the kick, he takes two big, unusual steps back. In the end, he’s lined up behind nobody—all the way outside the farthest lineman in the formation. That allowed for a long, unusual run-up: He does a little crow hop, then takes three longer steps before kicking. Sometimes, you see a quarterback throw a pass left-handed or in mid-air, and wonder how they managed to maintain enough of their skill to succeed despite changing everything. That’s what Tucker did Sunday. Consistent mechanics are everything to kickers, and he threw them out the window and still made the kick of his life.

Tucker already held the all-time career record for field goal accuracy; now he holds the record for the longest kick ever. He’s power and precision. There was a case for Adam Vinatieri as the NFL’s greatest kicker, primarily based on his longevity and his clutchness. But Tucker is significantly more accurate than Vinatieri (now the 26th-most accurate kicker of all time), and after changing up his form to make the longest kick in the history of the sport to win a game, it’s pretty hard to argue he isn’t clutch. He’s the kicking GOAT, and until he gets to kick a Super Bowl game-winner, Sunday is the moment we’ll remember him for.

NFL Week 3 Team of the Week & Awards - Anthony Treash

PFF TEAM OF THE WEEK

Offense

QB: Lamar Jackson, Baltimore Ravens

Defense

S: Chuck Clark, Baltimore Ravens

PLAY OF THE WEEK: JUSTIN TUCKER’S GAME-WINNING, 66-YARD FIELD GOAL TO BREAK THE NFL RECORD

Tucker now has 10 made field goals of 55 or more yards since the start of the 2016 season, twice as many as anyone else in the NFL outside of Greg Zuerlein, Jason Myers and Matt Prater. Tucker has hit an astounding 26-of-32 kicks from 50-plus yards in that span en route to a 97.2 field goal grade on such plays (highest in the NFL by nearly four grading points).

Twelve Ravens thoughts following Week 3 win at Detroit - Luke Jones

Going a combined 2-for-11 on third and fourth downs isn’t going to cut it most weeks, but those conversions came on the touchdown pass to Devin Duvernay on third-and-18 and the game-saving 36-yard completion to Sammy Watkins on fourth-and-19. Jackson showed outstanding composure on those plays.

Chuck Clark had an excellent day with a team-high 12 tackles and a sack. He was also part of the collaborative effort to limit Lions tight end T.J. Hockenson to just two catches for 10 yards. Clark becomes even more important with DeShon Elliott now dealing with a quad issue.

Defensive Notes Week 3 Ravens @ Lions - Ken McKusick

PATRICK QUEEN

On Sunday:

He was 2nd on the team with 6 tackles, but missed, took a bad angle, or was outmaneuvered on 6 others (Q1, 5:51; Q2, 0:25; Q2, 0:19; Q3, 10:21; Q3, 6:07; Q4, 14:55).

He consistently failed to use his arms while tackling. Despite spending a fair portion of the Summer embracing a tackling donut, he’s not wrapping up every time, particularly if there is another player in the area.

He was stuck on blocks, caught in the wash, and tentative in his downhill play.

He did not make an impact in coverage. I used to be most concerned about his ability to react to throws between level 2 and level 3, but recognition remains a big issue on the plays in front of him. He needs to take the YAC piled up by an opposing running back as a personal affront.

He was the lone off-ball blitzer on 3 plays and was stonewalled each time (Q1, 4:34; Q2, 14:18, Q2, 8:48) on plays that became ATS opportunities.

So where do the Ravens go from here?

As I see it, they have at least the following options:

Continue with Queen as the mike and hope his play improves

Carve out a limited role where he can focus on a smaller set of improvements to contribute and graduate to a 3-down role in the future

Bench him and hope positional coaching and a rigorous offseason (which will require his personal commitment) can get him turned around

Trade him

Harbaugh Shows Support for Marquise Brown After Drops - Todd Karpovich

After his third drop of the game, Ravens wide receiver Marquise Brown was met on the sideline by coach John Harbaugh, who offered some words of encouragement.

‘You’re writing the rest of this story, nobody else is,” Harbaugh told him. “When you’re looking back on your career and you’ve had the great career that you’re going to have, this is going to be part of the story. This is going to be part of your testimony. You’re going to be able to talk to people about what you went through and what you overcame here. So, let’s go to work on that starting Wednesday.”

Quarterback Lamar Jackson has complete confidence in Brown.

“Hollywood’ is going to have the same demeanor,” Jackson said. “He wants to win. He’s a winner. He’s a baller. He’s going to come to me and tell me, ‘Give me the ball,’ because he wants to make something happen. He’s hungry. He’s always hungry.”

NFL Week 4 best bets: Intriguing lines for Ravens vs. Broncos and other big games - Adam Burke

Baltimore Ravens (+1.5, 44.5) at Denver Broncos

The Broncos are off to an impressive 3-0 start, but their body of work features wins against only bottom-feeders. The Jaguars, Jets and Giants are a combined 0-9 and have looked every bit the part of winless teams.

Denver deserves a ton of credit for this start and Teddy Bridgewater has been great, but the Ravens are a playoff team. The three teams Denver has played will all be vying for the first pick in the 2022 NFL draft. This is a huge step up in class for the short home favorite and one that they might not be ready for by Sunday.