Ravens vs. Raiders: 5 keys to victory

The Ravens will host the Las Vegas Raider in Week 2 for their regular season home opener on Sunday afternoon in search of their first victory. Doing so would improve their overall record to 1-1 and would be a nice bounce-back result after coming up short of completing a comeback against the two-time defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs to open the 2024 season.

Here are five keys integral to the Ravens’ coming out on top.

1.) Don’t let Maxx Crosby and Christian Wilkins wreck shop

After watching a whole game’s worth of tape of five-time Pro Bowl defensive lineman Chris Jones of the Kansas City Chiefs being a highly disruptive force rushing both from inside and on the edge in Week 1, the Raiders will most certainly be looking to do the same with their not one but two elite pass rushers. To give themselves the best chance of pulling off an upset on Sunday, both Crosby and Wilkins will be out to exploit the same perceived weakness on the Ravens offensive line both of which are on the right side.

At right guard, third-year pro Daniel Faalele will be matched up with Wilkins early and often but will likely get some assistance from Pro Bowl center Tyler Linderbaum on obvious passing downs. The combination of veteran Patrick Mekari and second-round rookie Roger Rosengarten who rotated at right tackle in the season opener will face the toughest test with Crosby and his relentless motor coming off the edge. To assist them in this daunting task, expect the Ravens to attach four-time Pro Bowl fullback Patrick Ricard as an extra blocker on the end of the line, have tight ends and running backs chip on their way to a route or dial-up more quick passes than ones that require deep drop backs.

2.) Unleash King Henry and let him reign supreme

One way to effectively neutralize or at least severely limit the impact of an opposing team’s pass rush is to avoid a lot of obvious passing situations by establishing a potent and efficient rushing attack. After watching the Los Angeles Chargers deploy several of their former offensive players in the same run concepts and schemes they still use rack up 176 yards on the ground on the Raiders’ defense including a whopping 135 yards and a touchdown on just 10 carries from former featured running back J.K. Dobbins alone, the Ravens could achieve even greater results with four-time Pro Bowler Derrick Henry leading their backfield.

Against the Chiefs in Week 1, the two-time league rushing champion carried the ball five times on the opening drive of the game and only received eight more carries the rest of the way, finishing with 46 yards and a touchdown. While head coach John Harbaugh told reporters earlier this week that the Ravens didn’t bring Henry in to “be the guy that gets the ball 30 times a game,” a heavier dose of him this week in particular given the matchup and advantage it could create will most likely lead greater success for the offense as a whole. It would also decrease the likelihood of his quarterback leading the team in carries and rushing yards for the second week in a row.

3.) Attack the middle of the field with play-action

A huge benefit of being able to establish a potent rushing attack is all the space over the middle of the field that will be more vulnerable to attack because linebackers and safeties will drawn closer to the line of scrimmage to try to stop the bleeding in the ground game defense. This would allow the connection between reigning league MVP quarterback Lamar Jackson and three-time Pro Bowl tight end Mark Andrews to shine much better than in Week 1 when they connected just two times for 14 yards.

Jackson is one of the best and most accurate passers throwing between the numbers at the intermediate levels as well as down the seam so the more accessible that area of the field is, the more balanced and explosive the offense can be within structure and not have to rely on him pulling a rabbit out of his hat to elude pressure and extend every other play.

4.) No lapses in coverage as a result of miscommunication

One of the easiest ways to let an inferior opponent hang around or evenly matched foe gain the upper hand in football is to give up easy uncontested plays through the air that extend drives or even result in touchdowns because of a blown coverage left a target wide open down the field.

That was the case in the season opener after the Ravens’ offense cut the Chiefs’ lead to just a field goal. Still, a miscommunication between Pro Bowl defensive backs Marlon Humphrey and Kyle Hamilton resulted in rookie wide receiver streaking wide-open down the right sideline. While Twitter blamed Humphrey mercilessly, Hamilton admitted that the fault was his in a recent press conference.

“That was on me 100%,” Hamilton said. “I was supposed to go back to the half; I played the wrong call. It wasn’t on [defensive coordinator] Zach Orr, it wasn’t on Marlon [Humphrey] or anybody else – it was on me. If you watch the play, you can probably tell that we’re missing a half safety. I got kind of mixed up and was supposed to go back to the half, and I take the blame for that.”

With some of the explosive weapons on the Raiders offense at the disposal of veteran journeyman quarterback Gardner Minshew, the Ravens can’t afford to let themselves be susceptible to similar issues in this matchup. Doing so could let them hang around long enough to make them believe they can pull off an upset.

Last season the Ravens allowed a frisky Minshew-led Indianapolis Colts team to come into Baltimore on a rain-soaked afternoon and hand them the first loss of the year in an overtime thriller. To significantly reduce the chances of having history repeat itself, the second and third levels of the Ravens’ defense need to be in one accord in the passing game from start to finish to limit the impact of veteran wideouts Jakobi Meyers and Davante Adams as well as first-round rookie tight end Brock Bowers.

5.) Turn the heat up on Minshew with pass rush

Minshew has a reputation for being a streaky gunslinger capable of getting hot and performing at a high level if protected and given enough time to deliver the ball in rhythm to his playmakers. However, he isn’t exactly a dual-threat quarterback although he can elude pressure and is willing to scamper for a first down if he needs to and a pathway is clear.

Preventing him from getting in rhythm from the very start with a potent pass rush that applies constant pressure will go a long way in ensuring that the Ravens come out on top in this game. After matching wits with a future Hall of Famer generational offensive mind in Andy Reid in his regular-season debut as the Ravens’ defensive coordinator, Zach Orr won’t have nearly as much work cut out for him this time around as Raiders offensive coordinator Luke Getsy’s unit only managed to muster up 296 yards of total offense and score just 10 points against the Chargers last week.

Los Angeles runs a similar system to the Ravens under Jesse Minter so Orr essentially got to see his scheme go up against this offense already. Even though he doesn’t have a Pro Bowl tandem such as Khalil Mack and Joey Bosa at his disposal, he does possess a stable of young edge defenders who are explosive and hungry in fourth-year pro Odafe Oweh, third-year pro David Ojabo and third-round rookie Adisa Isaac.

Veteran outside linebacker Kyle Van Noy returned to practice on Friday and could be back after suffering an eye injury in the opener. The most important and potentially impactful pass rush Orr’s unit can generate will come from the interior where he has Pro Bowler Nnamdi Madubuike, veteran Michael Pierce and rising star Travis Jones collapsing the pocket up the middle.