It was only the season’s first game, and it came against the most formidable opponent of all, the reigning world champion Kansas City Chiefs, but there was plenty of cause for concern for Baltimore Ravens fans.
A lot, if not most, of the criticism has focused on the offensive line. They were a huge question mark heading into the season, and they didn’t really provide many answers Thursday night.
Head Coach John Harbaugh attempted to alleviate concerns over the OL when he spoke to the media after practice on Monday.
“I’m not too worried about the offensive line … I watch all the other offensive lines in the National Football League, and I think if you applied the same standard to the other offensive lines out there, you’d be like, ‘Oh boy, that’s a tough position to play against these guys,” Harbaugh said.
“Our offensive line is going to be really good this year. I believe that. And we’re working really hard towards that. … I think by the end of the season, you’re going to feel real good about our offensive line.”
While it’s great to be so optimistic and the right approach, Harbaugh’s comments are a little strange. He’s not going to win over many fans when he says, “by the end of the season…” as all 17 games count, and we’re already on to the second one.
Also, his remark about “the other offensive lines out there” shouldn’t reassure anybody. When he says that most of the NFL’s OL units don’t perform well, it doesn’t make his guys better.
It just lowers the bar for them. The good news is that despite suffering the loss, Baltimore won the total yardage battle by 98 on Thursday night. Typically, this stat indicates who was winning at the line of scrimmage.
The battle for the line of scrimmage occurs on both sides of the ball, but it does show that the Ravens o-line was doing some things right. Plus, you have the controversy of all the illegal formation calls. This opening weekend saw the number of illegal formation calls in the league reach more than double the amount in week one last season.
Once they figure this out, the group could improve rapidly. It will be very interesting to see Mark Andrews’s role this week and as the season rolls on.
He had a very quiet night as the Ravens just didn’t target him enough. Meanwhile, Isaiah Likely was dominant, so that’s where many of his pass-catching opportunities went.
However, playing tight end is just as much about blocking as it is about pass-catching, so Andrew can make a significant impact in ways that don’t show up in the stat sheet on Sunday.