Christmas wishes for the Ravens miraculous 2021 season
Ravens host the Indianapolis Colts on Monday Night Football. October 11, 2021 | © Andrew Sgroi. All Rights Reserved.
Season’s greetings from the home stretch of the Ravens’ 2021 regular season.
A year which, in July, was filled with so much promise for this perennial-contending franchise. But now, just five months later, it appears fixed on a downward trajectory with no hope in sight.
That’s, at least, what many of Ravens Flock would have you believe. And yes, it’s hard to argue with what we all can see at face value.
Injuries, by far, have been the most damaging factor to the team’s lofty preseason expectations, with several of the replacements for those key missing pieces having not adequately filled the gap.
What’s more, the Ravens star quarterback—lying in wait for an otherworldly contract extension—has seemingly regressed as a passer.
And the team’s two key coordinators, too, seem helplessly paralyzed in their own acumen.
Indeed, Edgar Allan Poe himself could not have penned a more macabre setting for this 26th edition in franchise history.
Thankfully, the final chapter on this season has yet to be written.
Even with all the doomsday fate that has befallen this proud squad, it has been emphatically buoyed by its collective resilience.
Heart-racing victories have been clutched from the jaws of defeat against the Chiefs, Lions, Colts, Vikings and Bears.
And still, three more outcomes—at Las Vegas, at Pittsburgh, and at Cleveland—were just a play or two removed from miraculous finishes.
It’s that never-quit attitude from the team itself which should serve as the blueprint for its fans.
Truly, no other example would suffice for this season.
Consider the past as prologue to what is left in this season’s story.
During the John Harbaugh era, the Ravens have performed quite admirably in the season’s final full month—notching a 35-21 record in December through 2020, good for a .625 win percentage.
In only two of those seasons did the team fail to win more December games than they lost, and one of those was their last Super Bowl championship season (1-4 in 2012).
Conversely, they swept a five-Sunday December in 2019, when a scintillating 14-2 mark in the regular season was immediately overshadowed by a Wild Card Round defeat in the postseason.
So the takeaway is that, despite what may seem like an obvious outcome for the team’s fortunes during the final few weeks, the Ravens are well-versed in giving themselves something special to achieve.
Certainly, In this year’s AFC, anything is possible.
So with that, here is my wish list for the Ravens this Christmas and in early 2022…
Reset Lamar Jackson: Take the time to let Lamar heal. A potential deep postseason run will need a healthy, focused, and hungry Lamar. Don’t rush him back just because he’s the most talented player on the roster. There are other pieces—yes, Huntley is one of them—who are perfectly capable of keeping this team competitive.
Devin Duvernay is Cordarrelle Patterson in Purple and Black: We’ve seen #13 take his fair share of jet sweeps this season with decent results. But how about integrating him more into backfield sets? Devonta Freeman has shown he has the heart of a Raven, with his physicality most apparent when he runs north-south out of running formations. But he clearly lacks the burst to clear the edge anymore. Why not line up Duvernay in two-back sets and give opposing defenses something else to think about? Whether he’s tabbed for a counter run play or merely serves as a screen pass option, his speed to the outside will open up this offense.
Rashod Bateman as Rudolph: “Batman with your routes so tight, won’t you guide this team tonight?” After his coming-out party last week in Cleveland, it’s clear that there is absolutely no reason in the world why he should not be the first or second option going forward. Hollywood is gonna Hollywood—and that’s a nice bonus to have. But the passing game is best handled with Andrews and Bateman as the focal points now (see below).
Beat Cover Zero with slant routes: Why isn’t the best route runner on the team being used to beat this suddenly popular defensive scheme against the Ravens? Every time Cover Zero presents itself, Bateman should be the hot route. When Sammy Watkins is healthy and lined up as the Y, he’s the hot route. Sprinkle in Andrews, too. But every single recognized Cover Zero must have an appropriate, corresponding move for the Ravens. They have the personnel to beat this overly simplistic concept. Let’s see it.
Tony Jefferson, please tell me you now tackle: I was mildly impressed with the recent decision to reacquire T-Jeff if, for no other reason, than to serve as a veteran mentor for guys like Brandon Stephens. He’ll add nice depth to a severely depleted defensive backfield, to be sure. But I worry about him poaching snaps from Geno Stone at safety. That’s because Stone knows how to hit—just ask Kareem Hunt, who never returned to last week’s contest after Stone dropped him. Back in 2019—when Cleveland came to Baltimore and won 40-25—Jefferson infamously tried to bring down Jarvis Landry by throwing a shoulder. Landry would merely bounce off and rumble downfield for 65 yards. Yes, Jefferson was eventually credited with the “tackle,” in part because he didn’t give up on the play but also because Landry finally stumbled to the ground. A real tackle at the outset would have negated the mess that followed.
Oweh and Bowser continue to dominate: Simply put, there can be no rookie wall for ‘Dafe.
Greg Roman and Wink Martindale will game plan better: This would be the biggest Christmas miracle of them all. Ask any Ravens fan, and they’ll tell you that these slow starts have become infuriating. Credit to both coordinators for making in-game adjustments as necessary, such as using a more up-tempo offense when getting behind or being more judicious with the blitz. But the game scripts have become frustratingly predictable.
There’s a lot of season left here. And for so many of those who wish to tank and “play for next year,” I respectfully disagree. Success from one year to the next is never preordained.
This season alone is evidence of that.