Ravens News 9/27: MVP Frontrunner and more

Ravens receive spark from players-only meeting that leads to win over Patriots - Jeff Zrebiec

A day before the coaches held meetings and film study sessions to go over the gory details of the loss to Miami, a game in which the Ravens blew a three-touchdown fourth-quarter lead, the team gathered at the Under Armour Performance Center for a players-only meeting.

These kinds of meetings happen periodically during a season. They aren’t unique. However, calling one the day after a Week 2 loss is quite telling, particularly for a veteran-laden team like the Ravens.

“Just make sure we took accountability and ownership,” said Ravens middle linebacker Josh Bynes. “We wanted to knock it out of the way. We had to move forward. For us to knock it out altogether and then to come in Tuesday with coaches, there was a greater understanding.”

“Guys were (angry),” said defensive end Calais Campbell. “We’re competitors. There was a little edge that we had all week to try and get back in the win column. But that’s football. This team has a lot of fighters.”

“All game, there were things that were kind of up and down,” said tight end Mark Andrews, who had eight catches for 89 yards and two touchdowns. “Offense, defense, there were things that we need to get better at, and we will, but the best thing that we saw from today was just being able to fight through and finish. That’s what we did today.”

“I feel like we build more off adversity, and we play better off adversity,” Jackson said. “We’ve just got to keep going, though, because we have a long season ahead of us.”

Five things we learned from the Ravens’ 37-26 win over the New England Patriots - Childs Walker

Duvernay has emerged as an essential playmaker.

Duvernay made All-Pro as a returner last season to build on his excellent work there in his rookie season. If anything, he has upped his return game in 2022. He ran back the opening kickoff 103 yards for a touchdown in Week 2 against Miami and danced along the sideline for a 43-yard return to jump-start a touchdown drive against the Patriots. Most teams would kill for one such play in the course of a season. Duvernay and Justin Tucker are the main reasons why the Ravens soar above the rest of the league on special teams.

So he would be a valuable player even if he never caught a pass. Here’s the thing though: Duvernay has hauled in all eight balls thrown his way through the first three games. Against the Patriots, he caught a 21-yarder over the middle and leaped in the corner of the end zone to catch a 4-yard lob from Jackson, tapping his toes inbounds to complete the play.

At times in Duvernay’s first two years, the Ravens seemed more interested in using him as a jet-sweep threat than a downfield target. He always said he would take advantage if given a greater opportunity. Now, he’s doing just that.

You take the best returner and make him a sturdy, sure-handed target over the middle and in the red zone; you have quite a player. That’s 2022 Devin Duvernay.

Twelve Ravens thoughts following Week 3 win at New England - Luke Jones

I’ll gladly take a defense bending a little from a yardage standpoint to force more turnovers, but Baltimore finished Sunday ranked last in total yards, last in passing yards, 28th in passing yards per attempt, and 27th in yards per carry allowed. Much work remains to find that happy medium.

Mike Macdonald is still searching for a No. 3 cornerback with the Patriots picking on whoever was out there with both Jalyn Armour-Davis and Brandon Stephens having their struggles. While Stephens was returning from a quadriceps strain, Damarion Williams also saw snaps, making this a position battle to watch.

Between Houston and Michael Pierce leaving with injuries, Calais Campbell played a whopping 59 defensive snaps. That’s a workload the Ravens would clearly like to avoid for the 36-year-old, but they did what they had to do under the circumstances.

Nick Boyle playing only four offensive snaps was telling even with Baltimore needing to turn to Daniel Faalele to play left tackle. Patrick Ricard had an outstanding day as a blocker and others helped out the rookie, but that scenario would have screamed for Boyle a few years ago.

Daniel Faalele, Travis Jones Impress in First Extensive Action - Ryan Mink

That left Faalele grinding it out in a tough environment against Matthew Judon and a strong Patriots pass rush. Faalele had some tough reps early on and was credited with two sacks allowed, but finished with a very respectable grade of 59.8 from Pro Football Focus.

“As the game went on, he really settled in,” Head Coach John Harbaugh said. “The two rushers they had, obviously coming off the edges, were both very good football players. It just seemed to me that once we kind of got settled down … A loud stadium, silent count – [he] really hadn’t been practicing the silent count all week with the ones.

“Once he kind of got the timing of that down and got a feel for the speed of the game, he seemed to get his confidence into the second half where I think he felt like he belonged out there, and started playing really well. So, that was a big plus for us. The whole offensive line played extremely well, and he’s a good example of that.”

NFL fact or fiction: Eagles NFC’s best team? Dolphins AFC’s best team? Serious concerns for Bucs, Chiefs? - Adam Schein

Lamar Jackson is the runaway MVP favorite

I’m not there yet. Even though Josh Allen lost, he still posted some more prolific numbers. And Jalen Hurts is making quite the statement to open this season. So it’s fiction. But still: We must, as always, stress the genius of Jackson.

Sunday against Bill Belichick’s Patriots defense, Lamar threw four touchdown passes while rushing for 107 yards and another score in a 37-26 win. This was his 12th career 100-yard rushing game — two more than any other quarterback in NFL history. He’s the first quarterback to have back-to-back 100-yard rushing games TWICE in his career. And in the first three weeks of the season, Jackson has put up better numbers than he posted during his unanimous MVP campaign:

First three weeks of 2019: 63.0 completion percentage, 1,035 passing + rushing yards, 8 passing + rushing touchdowns, 113.9 passer rating.

First three weeks of 2022: 63.6 completion percentage, 992 passing + rushing yards, 12 passing + rushing touchdowns, 119.0 passer rating.

Jackson is undoubtedly right in the thick of the MVP race. He’s a sensational star for the 2-1 Ravens. Guiding Sunday’s bounceback after the collapse against Miami — which certainly wasn’t Lamar’s fault — was inspiring. He’s special. And SO worthy of a megabucks extension.