The competition stiffens with a visit to Cincinnati next Sunday afternoon.
Sunday, September 10, 2023, M&T BANK STADIUM, BALTIMORE — The NFL offseason is often filled with questions for every team. For the Baltimore Ravens, the overriding issue was straightforward: Could the new Todd Monken-coordinated offense lead to an uptick in fortunes for a team trying to break out of a loaded AFC pack? As things turned out, they did just enough… for now. Monken’s offense, which helped produce a two-time-defending national collegiate champion at Georgia, produced only 265 yards on 58 snaps, a rather average of 4.6 yards per play.
It was a perfect spot for the Ravens to prosper, playing Houston to start the season. But an offense designed to make defenses cover every inch of the field sputtered with inconsistency against the visiting Houston Texans in Sunday’s 25-9 Ravens win before 70,136 anxious fans.
The good news is that the Ravens are now 7-0 at home against Houston, one of two teams that have never beaten the team in Baltimore, the New York Jets being the other. Plus, under head coach John Harbaugh, the Ravens are now 12-4 in Week One games and have won seven of their last eight in that situation. Before Harbaugh arrived in 2008, the team had lost eight of 12 season openers.
The fans were not only celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Ravens’ stadium — not to mention the opening of the team’s 28th campaign — but the first game of what they hope will be many years of the kind of prolific offensive football they were looking for, but rarely saw, on Sunday. If that vision comes true, the Ravens are sure to be part of the NFL postseason for a fifth time in six seasons since newly-re-signed quarterback Lamar Jackson was drafted in 2018.
Individually, the Ravens — working without stellar tight end Mark Andrews (quad) — plodded against last year’s third-worst defense (and worst at stopping the run) by getting uneven performances from running backs J.K. Dobbins and Gus Edwards, who combined for a paltry 16 carries and 54 yards. What also didn’t help was two turnovers and 13 penalties for 106 yards for the usually smooth-operating team.
But the Ravens were able to showcase first-round pick Zay Flowers, who gained 78 yards on nine catches and ran two jet sweeps as well. Defensively, Mike MacDonald’s charges effectively stifled a Houston offense led by second-overall draft pick CJ Stroud, who was playing in his first NFL game.
Rookie quarterbacks have won only three times in Baltimore during the Ravens’ Charm City tenure. While the most recent of those came just last year when Kenny Pickett led Pittsburgh to a win, there seemed to be little to no chance Stroud would do the same. Stroud was sacked five times (by five players) and a mere 3.7 yards per play. However, Houston gained 268 total yards, three more than the Ravens. Stroud completed 28 of 44 passes for 242 yards, while Jackson was sacked three times while hitting on 17 of 22 throws for 169 yards and an interception.
Still, it had to be doubly troubling for Houston to have rookies at both quarterback and head coach, as ex-Texans linebacker DeMeco Ryans led the visitors in his first game on the job. He was the one who had to game-plan against the traditionally stout Baltimore defense, a unit that, on Sunday, even without cornerback Marlon Humphrey (foot), kept Houston out of the end zone all day.
It was evident early that the defense had to carry the Ravens, as Houston’s pass-pocket pressure bothered Jackson numerous times. However, punter Jordan Stout enabled the Ravens to win the field-position battle early and often. The defense made the game’s first big play. Linebacker Patrick Queen knocked down a pass on Houston’s first possession and sacked Stroud on a fourth-and-1 gamble near midfield to set up the Ravens in Texans territory at the 36. Texans corner Steven Nelson ended the ensuing drive with an interception. Still, after a poor punt, the Ravens would again drive into the Houston end of the field before Dobbins dove into the end zone from four yards out for a 7-0 Ravens lead late in the first quarter.
Right out of the gate, despite nine first-half penalties, the Ravens showed their defensive dominance, outgaining Houston in the first quarter, 85-9, and holding the Texans to no first downs and only four minutes of possession. The rattled Texans burned all three timeouts within the game’s first 22 minutes. They soon adjusted to a quicker-tempo offense, getting Stroud out in space to buy time against an injury-riddled Ravens secondary to get into Baltimore territory finally. Kaimi Fairbairn’s subsequent 35-yard field goal put the visitors on the board.
Stroud was taking advantage of Humphrey’s absence, and the Ravens would also lose safety Marcus Williams to a shoulder injury in the first half. Fairbairn would again connect, this time from 38 yards, to bring Houston to within one point at halftime. At that point, the Ravens took over the game.
Defensive tackle Justin Madabuike, overcoming a tough day (three penalties), sacked Stroud on the first play of the third quarter, giving the ball back to an offense that drove 71 yards on eight plays, thanks again to two electrifying plays from Flowers. Justice Hill powered in from two yards out, and Gus Edwards bulled over for two more points to stretch the lead to 15-6 at the 9:55 mark.
The Texans again made a foolish fourth-down gamble in their own territory, a run play that the newly healthy Michael Pierce stuffed.
From there, Odell Beckham, Jr. — playing his first NFL game in 18 months — drew a pass-interference call that set up the offense at the doorstep, and Hill dove in from two yards out for his second touchdown, giving the home side its biggest lead of the day. Hill’s contributions were important, as Dobbins had to leave the game with an ankle injury.
As the fourth quarter began, the Texans used a Madabuike penalty to get inside the Ravens’ 10, but a Roquan Smith sack made the visitors settle for Fairbairn’s 36-yard field goal. But the defense made up for that with a David Ojabo strip-sack of Stroud, leading to Michael Pierce’s recovery at the Texans’ 43. Beckham hauled in a 29-yard Jackson pass to put the Ravens into the red zone before Justin Tucker’s 39-yard field goal made it 25-9.
The second-half show had to be a relief to Ravens fans who, despite knowing they wouldn’t see any parts of the new offense during the preseason, were impatient to see how it would look once the games started to count. Indeed, some booing could be heard late in the fourth quarter.
The opposition cranks up immediately next week when the Ravens open AFC North Division play on the road against the two-time defending division champion Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday, September 17, at 1 p.m. The unit may not include three key parts: Dobbins and offensive linemen Ronnie Stanley and Tyler Linderbaum.
