Baltimore Ravens tight end Mark Andrews earns our ‘Player of the Game’ award this week for his performance in the overtime loss against the Tennessee Titans. Andrews caught 5 of 7 targets, totaling 96 yards and a 31-yard touchdown pass by quarterback Lamar Jackson.
Since last season, Jackson has shown a tendency to spread the football around. Though guys like Andrews and Marquise Brown have typically led the team in targets, Baltimore has seen a lot of players get the ball thrown their way as a part of their “pick your poison” style of offense. Yet, this season, Andrews has been the clear favorite target of Jackson. He now has six touchdown catches on the season, which leads the team.
Andrews’ effectiveness in this game can’t be overstated considering 96 of Jackson’s 186 passing yards went to him, which is over half of the workload. Had Jackson put a little more on one first-half pass to Andrews in the end zone, the Ravens’ tight end would have been over 100 receiving yards with two touchdown receptions.
Considering Baltimore did not come up victorious in a game that had heavy playoff implications, coach John Harbaugh will be forced to look over the production difference for Andrews compared to the rest of Jackson’s targets. While Andrews and Snead had the same amount of targets, Andrews caught two more passes and recorded 73 more yards than Snead, not to mention a touchdown. In fact, no other player in the Ravens offense tallied more than 30 yards through the air.
If the Ravens hope to string together some wins to put themselves back in the playoff contention, they must consider leaning on the weapons which are finding success. Andrews came into this season widely regarded as a top-five tight end in football, which he proved Sunday. Giving him a few more targets may have been the difference in winning and losing this overtime thriller.
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