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ExtremeRavens: The Sanctuary

ExtremeRavens

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Posts posted by ExtremeRavens

  1. Here’s how The Baltimore Sun sports staff views the outcome of Super Bowl 58 between the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers on Sunday at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas:

    Brian Wacker, reporter

    Chiefs 23, 49ers 20: Kansas City has won five of its past six against San Francisco and quarterback Patrick Mahomes has been tidy throughout the playoffs with three touchdowns, no turnovers and a completion rate of 75.8% against the Buffalo Bills and Ravens, two defenses that ranked in the top seven against the pass this season. The 49ers aren’t as strong against the pass, though both teams feature stellar defenses, which should keep this game perhaps lower scoring than even this prediction. Mahomes, coach Andy Reid and defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo know how to win these games.

    Mike Preston, columnist

    Chiefs 28, 49ers 24: Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes remind me of Bill Belichick and Tom Brady. It’s always hard beating those combinations. This will be a different Kansas City team than the one that beat the Ravens in the AFC championship game. In that contest, Mahomes struck early and often and the Chiefs forced the Ravens to beat them with the passing game, which they couldn’t do because Kansas City’s defense was deep in the head of quarterback Lamar Jackson. Mahomes was a game manager in the second half that day, but the Chiefs will be in more of an attack mode against San Francisco.

    Unlike the Ravens, look for the 49ers to pound the ball with Christian McCaffrey, one of the best running backs in the NFL. They will stay with the running game, which will keep Mahomes off the field, but in the end he will make several big plays that will prove to be the difference in the game.

    I still can remember the blank look on San Francisco quarterback Brock Purdy’s face when the Ravens pounded the 49ers into submission, 33-19, on Christmas night. That could happen again in the Super Bowl because the Chiefs have a great pass rush and they can get after the quarterback if they get a substantial lead.

    Childs Walker, reporter

    49ers 27, Chiefs 23: It’s tough to pick against the Chiefs because they have the more trustworthy quarterback in Patrick Mahomes, the more trustworthy defense and deeper postseason bona fides. But logic says Kansas City can’t keep beating teams that were clearly superior in the regular season. The 49ers will do what the Ravens could not and play to their offensive identity, with Brock Purdy distributing the ball to the league’s best set of playmakers in Kyle Shanahan’s well-defined system.

    C.J. Doon, editor

    Chiefs 23, 49ers 20: The Chiefs have the better quarterback and the better defense, but the 49ers have a potent ground attack led by Christian McCaffrey that can take advantage of Kansas City’s weak spots and keep Patrick Mahomes off the field. The question is, will 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan stick with the running game, especially if Mahomes and tight end Travis Kelce come out as hot as they did against the Ravens? Whoever takes the early lead will have a big advantage in dictating the pace of the game and making the opponent uncomfortable, and I’m more confident in the experienced Chiefs dealing with the pressure in what will be their fourth Super Bowl appearance in five years. Maybe I’m wrong, but I can’t see Brock Purdy lifting the Lombardi Trophy just yet.

    Tim Schwartz, editor

    Chiefs 30, 49ers 24: Kansas City has Patrick Mahomes. San Francisco does not. That, to me, decides it. The 49ers are favored and have essentially been Super Bowl favorites from the start of the season but do you really trust Brock Purdy with the game on the line? He’s shown he can win big games, but not by himself. Maybe coach Kyle Shanahan will lean heavily on Christian McCaffrey and the running game to limit the Chiefs’ time of possession, but we’ve seen how good Kansas City’s defense is — and how good Mahomes is when it matters. Give me Travis Kelce, Andy Reid and Mahomes in a big game.

    View the full article

  2. One of the most lovable things about sports are the debates. For better or worse, there are plenty of shows built around that idea.

    Public ballots are often a lightning rod for those arguments, and the 2023 NFL Most Valuable Player Award is no exception.

    In finishing with 49 of 50 first-place votes, Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson narrowly missed becoming the first two-time unanimous winner of the annual Associated Press award. It’s perhaps nothing more than a footnote in NFL history and Jackson’s career at large, but a vote away from history nonetheless.

    Aaron Schatz, a longtime NFL analyst and stats expert who is now the Chief Analytics Officer at FTN Fantasy, was revealed to be the lone dissenter among the MVP voting, placing Jackson third behind Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen and Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott. It’s not an unreasonable opinion, as Schatz laid out in a long, detailed article explaining his decision to leave Jackson off his All-Pro team.

    “TL;DR: I trusted my numbers and my gut over going with the crowd just to avoid controversy,” he wrote.

    Without completely rehashing Schatz’s argument — which is important to read in its full context — he noted that Jackson ranked behind Allen and Prescott in several advanced metrics such as Defense-adjusted Yards Above Replacement (DYAR), Defense-adjusted Value Over Average (DVOA), expected points added (EPA), win probability added (WPA), ESPN QBR and Sports Info Solutions Total Points.

    Schatz also pointed out that, while Jackson’s rushing ability “is one reason why the Ravens had the No. 1 run offense DVOA, even on plays where he hands the ball off,” Allen was more impressive as a runner and scrambler.

    And while acknowledging that Jackson performed at his best in nationally televised games against difficult opponents late in the season, including wins over the Los Angeles Rams, Jacksonville Jaguars, San Francisco 49ers and Miami Dolphins, Schatz said that Jackson had “more mediocre games than Prescott or Allen.” (We all remember those early struggles against the Indianapolis Colts and Pittsburgh Steelers.)

    Leaving those stats aside, Schatz said Jackson passes the “eye test.”

    “There’s no question, Jackson’s season was impressive,” he said. “I trust the film study people who believe he has never been better as a passer, even if his numbers were better in 2019. He’s processing better. He’s throwing the ball better. He’s hitting those tough throws outside the numbers better.”

    On that, we agree. Here’s where we don’t.

    “I looked at all this data. I tried to make the case for Lamar Jackson. I tried very hard to convince myself that I felt he was the guy. And I just could not do it,” Schatz wrote. “He had a great season. He’s a very good quarterback. I simply do not believe he was the best quarterback in the NFL this year, even though he led the best team.”

    There is plenty of nuance to this discussion, and perhaps those who gave second-place votes to Prescott, Allen, San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey, 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy and Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill should have had more conviction and ranked those players above Jackson. Schatz deserves credit for being brave enough to give a controversial opinion.

    Here’s where it gets tricky: Those 49 other voters put Jackson first on their ballots for a reason, and it’s hard to say exactly how much public pressure factors in. The criticism Schatz is receiving on social media is perhaps what those voters wanted to avoid.

    But maybe the vote was just that simple. Jackson was the best player on the best team, and for much of the history of the subjective award (it’s Most Valuable Player, not Most Outstanding), that’s been enough.

    The context is important, too. Jackson entered the season with a new offensive coordinator in Todd Monken and a largely new group of receivers, including a first-round rookie. He had to learn a new playbook and get comfortable with more control at the line of scrimmage.

    In Week 1, starting running back J.K. Dobbins was lost for the season with a torn Achilles tendon. In Week 12, his favorite target and longtime security blanket Mark Andrews went down with an ankle injury. In Week 15, rookie running back Keaton Mitchell — who emerged as perhaps the most explosive playmaker on the team behind Jackson — suffered a season-ending knee injury.

    Jackson still threw for a career-high 3,678 yards, and although his 24 touchdown passes rank among the lowest ever for an MVP-winning quarterback, he also rushed for 821 yards and five scores. The Ravens rolled to a 13-4 record, the best in the NFL, and clinched home-field advantage in the AFC playoffs with a week to spare.

    And while Allen rallied the Bills to five straight wins to clinch an improbable AFC East title, Jackson won his final six starts and 10 of his last 11 to end the regular season.

    When you tell the story of the 2023 NFL season and think back on its most memorable moments, how many involve Jackson and the Ravens?

    On Dec. 10, do you remember Allen’s 20-17 win over the Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes, or Jackson’s 37-31 overtime win over Matthew Stafford and the Los Angeles Rams on Tylan Wallace’s walk-off punt return for a touchdown?

    On Dec. 17, do you remember Allen completing seven passes in a 31-10 win over the Cowboys and Prescott or Jackson rushing for 97 yards in a 23-7 win over the Jaguars and Trevor Lawrence?

    What about the holiday weekend, when Allen narrowly beat the lowly Chargers and backup quarterback Easton Stick, 24-22, on Dec. 23 before Jackson threw for 252 yards and two scores in a 33-19 over the NFC-leading 49ers on Christmas night?

    On New Year’s Eve, do you remember Allen rushing for two touchdowns in a 27-21 win over the Patriots, or Jackson throwing five touchdown passes and posting a perfect passer rating in a 56-19 beatdown over the Dolphins that clinched the AFC’s top seed?

    Do you remember as Jackson watched comfortably from the sideline as the Ravens rested their starters in a Week 18 loss to the Steelers while Allen threw two interceptions and lost a fumble in a 21-14 win over Miami on “Sunday Night Football”?

    That’s the problem when we start looking at stats and data as a way to evaluate everything we see on a football field. Jackson was the star of the season, the leader of the team that Schatz himself argued is one of the best regular-season teams in NFL history. The 2023 Ravens would not be in the same conversation with legendary teams such as the 2007 New England Patriots and 1985 Chicago Bears without Jackson under center.

    “I’m a stat guy. I’m going to look at stats,” Schatz wrote. “There’s no question that by nearly every advanced metric you could look at, Josh Allen and Dak Prescott had better seasons than Lamar Jackson.”

    Here are Jackson’s top 10 plays of the 2023 season, here are Allen’s, and here are Prescott’s, as compiled by NFL.com. Decide for yourself which player should be MVP. I know who I’d vote for.

    View the full article

  3. LAS VEGAS — Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson was named NFL Most Valuable Player for the second time in his career Thursday night during the annual NFL Honors show highlighting the league’s best.

    San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey ran away with the Associated Press Offensive Player of the Year award. Cleveland Browns edge rusher Myles Garrett beat out T.J. Watt for AP Defensive Player of the Year. Houston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud won the AP Offensive Rookie of the Year award in a landslide. Defensive end Will Anderson Jr., Stroud’s teammate, won the AP Defensive Rookie of the Year award, outgaining both Jalen Carter and Kobie Turner by two first-place votes.

    The Browns took home four awards. Quarterback Joe Flacco, the former Ravens star who came off the couch to lead Cleveland to the playoffs, won the AP Comeback Player of the Year. Kevin Stefanski edged Houston coach DeMeco Ryans for AP Coach of the Year honors by one first-place vote. Defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz won the AP Assistant Coach of the Year award after guiding the league’s No. 1 ranked unit.

    McCaffrey, San Francisco’s All-Pro running back, received 39 of 50 first-place votes for OPOY and earned 222 points, outpacing Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill.

    Garrett, Cleveland’s All-Pro edge rusher, received 23 first-place votes and 165 points to Watt’s 19 first-place votes and 140 points for DPOY.

    Stroud received 48 of 50 first-place votes for OROY with Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua getting the other two.

    Anderson and Stroud are the fourth teammates to win the offensive and defensive rookie awards in the same season. Garrett Wilson and Sauce Gardner swept the awards last year for the New York Jets.

    Flacco beat out Bills safety Damar Hamlin and Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield for the comeback award. He received 13 first-place votes, 26 second-place votes and eight thirds to finish with 151 points.

    Hamlin returned to the NFL this season after collapsing on the field and needing to be resuscitated following a cardiac arrest on Jan. 2, 2023. He played in five regular-season games. Hamlin received 21 first-place votes but appeared on 42 of 50 ballots while Flacco was on 47. He got seven second-place votes and 14 thirds for 140 points.

    Cleveland Browns' Myles Garrett, AP defensive player of the year speaks during the NFL Honors award show ahead of the Super Bowl 58 football game Thursday, Feb. 8, 2024, in Las Vegas. The San Francisco 49ers face the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl 58 on Sunday. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
    Browns defensive end Myles Garrett was named AP Defensive Player of the Year. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

    Mayfield, who bounced around from the Browns to the Panthers to the Rams last season, started every game for Tampa Bay and led them to the second round of the playoffs. He got 10 first-place votes and finished with 93 points.

    Flacco, the 39-year-old former Super Bowl MVP, was home in New Jersey with his family when Cleveland called him in November. He went 4-1 in five starts and passed for over 300 yards in four straight games with 13 touchdowns.

    Others receiving first-place votes were: Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa (4), Rams QB Matthew Stafford (1) and 49ers QB Brock Purdy (1).

    Stefanski led the Browns to their third playoff appearance since 1999 despite losing quarterback Deshaun Watson, star running back Nick Chubb and right tackle Jack Conklin to season-ending injuries and starting five QBs.

    Ryans helped the Houston Texans go from worst to first in the AFC South. The Texans routed the Browns 41-14 in a wild-card playoff game, but voting was completed before the postseason.

    Stefanski and Ryans both earned 165 points in a weighted point system. But Stefanski had 21 first-place votes to Ryans’ 20. Stefanski had 18 second-place votes and six third-place votes. Ryans got 21 second-place votes and two thirds. Detroit’s Dan Campbell finished third. He got three first-place votes. San Francisco’s Kyle Shanahan (3), Baltimore’s John Harbaugh (2) and the Rams’ Sean McVay (1) also got first-place votes.

    Schwartz received 25 first-place votes and finished with 160 points, easily outpacing Ravens defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald.

    Hill received seven first-place votes and finished with 139 points. Cowboys wide receiver CeeDee Lamb came in third with 45 points, including one first-place vote. Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson got three first-place votes, finishing fourth.

    McCaffrey, a unanimous choice for All-Pro, led the NFL with 1,459 yards rushing and had 14 rushing TDs for the NFC champion 49ers. He also had 564 yards receiving for seven scores.

    Cowboys edge rusher Micah Parsons finished third for DPOY with 89 points, including seven first-place votes. Cornerback DaRon Bland, Parson’s teammate, got the other first-place vote and came in fifth behind Raiders edge Maxx Crosby.

    Watt, who won the award in 2021, led the NFL with 19 sacks. But Garrett had the better all-around season for the NFL’s top-ranked defense.

    Despite constant double-teams, Garrett had 14 sacks, 30 quarterback hits, 17 tackles for loss, four forced fumbles and forced offensive coordinators to avoid his side of the field.

    Bland set an NFL record with five interception returns for a touchdown but was named on only six ballots. He got two second-place votes and three for third to go with the one first.

    Stroud, the No. 2 overall pick, threw for 4,108 yards, 23 touchdowns, five interceptions and had a passer rating of 100.8, third-best by a rookie. He helped the Texans go from worst to first place in the AFC South and led them to a playoff win in the wild-card round.

    Stroud led the league in passing yards per game (273.9) and had the best touchdown-interception ratio at 4.6, becoming just the third player in NFL history to finish first in both categories, joining Joe Montana (1989) and Tom Brady (2007).

    Nacua set a rookie record with 105 receptions and 1,486 yards receiving yards. Lions tight end Sam LaPorta finished third.

    This was the second year of AP’s weight point system. For MVP, first-place votes are worth 10 points, second-place votes are five points, third-place votes are three, fourth-place votes are two and fifth-place votes are one.

    For all other awards, first-place votes are worth five points, second-place votes are three and third-place votes are one.

    View the full article

  4. The Ravens were trailing the Miami Dolphins by a field goal midway through the second quarter on New Year’s Eve at M&T Bank Stadium. All that was at stake was the top seed in the AFC and home-field advantage through the conference title game.

    As Lamar Jackson dropped back a few steps, Dolphins linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel and defensive tackle Christian Wilkins closed in. But before anyone could get to Jackson, the quarterback shuffled forward two steps and, with his left leg still in the air and body off balance, flung a deep pass down the right sideline to a streaking Odell Beckham Jr., who, with cornerback Kader Kohou blanketed on him, twisted and caught the perfectly placed ball with both hands and both feet in bounds before crashing to the ground at the 1-yard line.

    The catch was a vintage Beckham moment, but it was just one of many spectacular plays by Jackson in 2023 and demonstrative of his greatness throughout the season. That’s why, for the second time in his six-year career, he was named the NFL’s Most Valuable Player during NFL Honors on Thursday night.

    “It’s like watching a video game, bro,” Ravens cornerback Arthur Maulet said after the Ravens’ win over Miami, a 56-19 pounding in which Jackson completed 18 of 21 passes for 325 yards and five touchdowns for a perfect passer rating (158.3) to all but cement his grip on the award in the Week 17 blowout.

    It was plenty “quarterback-y”, too, then and all year. After career highs in passing yards (3,682), completions (307) and completion percentage (.672), along with 24 touchdown passes and 821 rushing yards and five more scores, Jackson is just the 11th player to receive the honor more than once.

    The last time he did was in 2019, when he set the single-season record for quarterback rushing yards (1,206), led the league in touchdown passes (36) and won the award unanimously, joining Brady as the only players to do so.

    He beat out San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey, 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy, Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen and Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dan Prescott.

    Jackson was also a finalist for NFL Offensive Player of the Year with McCaffrey, Prescott, Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill and Cowboys wide receiver CeeDee Lamb. McCaffrey won for the first time in his career.

    That Jackson was voted MVP by the Associated Press for the second time was not a surprise. As he went this season, so went the Ravens.

    • Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson talks with the media after...

      Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson talks with the media after practice at the Under Armour Performance Center in Owings Mills, Md. (Kevin Richardson/Staff)

    • .Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson celebrates after running for a touchdown...

      .Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson celebrates after running for a touchdown against the Texans in the fourth quarter. Ravens defeated the Texans 34-10 in Divisional Round of the 2024 NFL Playoffs at M&T Bank Stadium. (Kenneth K. Lam/Staff photo)

    • Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson gestures after completing a pass against...

      Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson gestures after completing a pass against the Texans in the fourth quarter Sunday. (Kenneth K. Lam/Staff)

    • Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, #8 celebrates his rushing touchdown...

      Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, #8 celebrates his rushing touchdown against the Houston Texans with wide receiver Zay Flowers during the fourth quarter of the Divisional Round of the 2024 NFL Playoffs in Baltimore. The Ravens defeated Houston 34-10, to advance to the AFC championship...(Karl Merton Ferron/Staff Photo)

    • Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson breaks from the pocket for a gain against the Houston Texans in the fourth quarter. (Jerry Jackson/Staff photo)

      Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson breaks from the pocket for a gain against the Houston Texans in the fourth quarter. (Jerry Jackson/Staff photo)

    • Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, #8 beats Houston Texans defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins to the end zone with his second rushing touchdown during the fourth quarter of the Divisional Round of the 2024 NFL Playoffs in Baltimore. The Ravens defeated Houston 34-10, to advance to the AFC championship. (Karl Merton Ferron/Staff Photo)

      Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson beats Texans defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins to the end zone during the fourth quarter Saturday. (Karl Merton Ferron/Staff)

    • Baltimore Ravens' Ronnie Stanley, left, and Lamar Jackson celebrate after Jackson ran in for a touchdown in the fourth quarter against the Houston Texans in the Divisional Round of the playoffs at M&T Bank Stadium.(Kenneth K. Lam/Staff photo)

      Baltimore Ravens' Ronnie Stanley, left, and Lamar Jackson celebrate after Jackson ran in for a touchdown in the fourth quarter against the Houston Texans in the Divisional Round of the playoffs at M&T Bank Stadium.(Kenneth K. Lam/Staff photo)

    • Ravens' Lamar Jackson runs for a 4th quarter touchdown to...

      Ravens' Lamar Jackson runs for a 4th quarter touchdown to give the Ravens a 30-10 lead. Houston Texans vs. the Baltimore Ravens in NFL Divisional Round playoff game at M&T Bank Stadium. (Kenneth K. Lam/Staff photo)

    • Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson heads out to practice for the Divisional Round of the 2024 NFL Playoffs in Baltimore. (Karl Merton Ferron/Staff Photo)

      Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson heads out to practice for the Divisional Round of the 2024 NFL Playoffs in Baltimore. (Karl Merton Ferron/Staff Photo)

    • Baltimore graphic artist Brian Bomster-Jabs, left, gives an original digital...

      Baltimore graphic artist Brian Bomster-Jabs, left, gives an original digital painting depicting career highlights of Lamar Jackson to the Ravens quarterback before Steelers game at M&T Bank Stadium..(Kenneth K. Lam/Staff photo)

    • Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson twirls a football pregame as...

      Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson twirls a football pregame as the Baltimore Ravens prepare to host the Miami Dolphins at M&T Bank Stadium.(Jerry Jackson/Staff photo)

    • DON'T USE. FOR LAMAR PROFILE. TALK TO LEEANN. Baltimore Ravens...

      DON'T USE. FOR LAMAR PROFILE. TALK TO LEEANN. Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson takes the field as the Baltimore Ravens host the Miami Dolphins at M&T Bank Stadium.(Jerry Jackson/Staff photo)

    • Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson walks to the locker room after...

      Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson walks to the locker room after beating the Dolphins on Dec. 31 at M&T Bank Stadium. (Kenneth K. Lam/Staff)

    • Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson congratulates Charlie Kolar on the...

      Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson congratulates Charlie Kolar on the sidelines after he scored in the 4th quarter. The Baltimore Ravens defeated the Miami Dolphins 56-19 at M&T Bank Stadium.(Jerry Jackson/Staff photo)

    • Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar is congratulated by Miami Dolphins quarterback...

      Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar is congratulated by Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa after Baltimore Ravens defeated the Miami Dolphins 56-19 at M&T Bank Stadium.(Jerry Jackson/Staff photo)

    • Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson (8), taking the rest of...

      Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson (8), taking the rest of the game off with wide receiver Zay Flowers (4), celebrates with backup quarterback Tyler Huntley (2) who connected with tight end Charlie Kolar for a touchdown during the fourth quarter of an AFC matchup of NFL football in Baltimore. The Ravens became the AFC North champions, securing home field advantage throughout the playoffs with their 56-19 drubbing of Miami. (Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun Staff)

    • With a successful afternoon of scoring under his belt, Baltimore...

      With a successful afternoon of scoring under his belt, Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson leaps for joy as backup quarterback Tyler Huntley connects with rookie tight end Charlie Kolar for his first professional touchdown during the fourth quarter of an AFC matchup of NFL football in Baltimore. The Ravens became the AFC North champions, securing home field advantage throughout the playoffs with their 56-19 drubbing of Miami. (Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun Staff)

    • Baltimore Ravens Patrick Ricard and quarterback Lamar Jackson celebrate a...

      Baltimore Ravens Patrick Ricard and quarterback Lamar Jackson celebrate a 4th quarter touchdown as the Baltimore Ravens defeat the Miami Dolphins 56-19 on New Yearxe2x80x99s Eve at M&T Bank Stadium. (Jerry Jackson/Staff photo)

    • Baltimore Ravens fans chanted "MVP" while one held a sign...

      Baltimore Ravens fans chanted "MVP" while one held a sign calling for Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson to win most valuable player during the fourth quarter of an AFC matchup of NFL football in Baltimore. The Ravens became the AFC North champions, securing home field advantage throughout the playoffs with their 56-19 drubbing of Miami. (Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun Staff)

    • Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, left, celebrates back up quarterback Tyler...

      Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, left, celebrates back up quarterback Tyler Huntley’s touchdown pass against the Seahawks in the fourth quarter. The Ravens defeated the Seahawks 37-3 at M&T Bank Stadium. Nov. 5, 2023

    • BALTIMORE, MARYLAND - NOVEMBER 16: Lamar Jackson #8 of the...

      BALTIMORE, MARYLAND - NOVEMBER 16: Lamar Jackson #8 of the Baltimore Ravens takes the field prior to the game against the Cincinnati Bengals at M&T Bank Stadium on November 16, 2023 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images) ** OUTS - ELSENT, FPG, CM - OUTS * NM, PH, VA if sourced by CT, LA or MoD **

    • Baltimore Ravens quarterback, Lamar Jackson hands off a turkey at...

      Doug Kapustin/for Carroll County Times

      Baltimore Ravens quarterback, Lamar Jackson hands off a turkey at the first annual Community Fun Day 'Catch-a-Turkey' event at Blaze Pizza in Westminster on Saturday. Frozen turkeys and Thanksgiving fare are distributed by volunteers and made possible through the collaborative efforts of Westminster Rescue Mission, Carroll County Food Sunday, and generous sponsors.

    • Baltimore Ravens quarterback, Lamar Jackson greets restaurant staff during the...

      Doug Kapustin/for Carroll County Times

      Baltimore Ravens quarterback, Lamar Jackson greets restaurant staff during the first annual Community Fun Day 'Catch-a-Turkey' event at Blaze Pizza in Westminster on Saturday. Frozen turkeys and Thanksgiving fare are distributed by volunteers and made possible through the collaborative efforts of Westminster Rescue Mission, Carroll County Food Sunday, and generous sponsors.

    • Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, left, celebrates a touchdown against the...

      Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun

      Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, left, celebrates a touchdown against the Bengals scored by running back Gus Edwards, right, during the fourth quarter Thursday night.

    • Baltimore Ravens' Lamar Jackson enters field as fans cheer during...

      Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun

      Baltimore Ravens' Lamar Jackson enters field as fans cheer during warmups before a Thursday night football game against the Cincinnati Bengals at M&T Bank Stadium.

    • Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, left, tries to put move on...

      Kenneth K. Lam/Baltimore Sun

      Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, left, tries to put move on Browns' Anthony Walker Jr., right, in the fourth quarter.

    • Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson arrives before an NFL football...

      Ron Schwane/AP

      Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson arrives before an NFL football game against the Cleveland Browns, Sunday, Oct. 1, 2023, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Ron Schwane)

    • With the game well in hand, Baltimore Ravens running back...

      Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun

      With the game well in hand, Baltimore Ravens running back Keaton Mitchell sprints past quarterback Lamar Jackson (8) who cheers as he thwarts the Seattle Seahawks defense, sprinting and cutting to the Seattle 18 yard line, setting up a touchdown during the fourth quarter of a battle between NFL division leaders in Baltimore Sunday Nov. 5, 2023. Baltimore routed the Seahawks, 37-3. (Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun Staff)

    • Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson meets with Lions counterpart Jared Goff,...

      Kenneth K. Lam/Baltimore Sun

      Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson meets with Lions counterpart Jared Goff, left, after he Ravens defeated the Lions 38-6 at M&T Bank Stadium.

    • Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson runs for a touchdown in...

      Kenneth K. Lam/Baltimore Sun

      Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson runs for a touchdown in the first quarter.

    • Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson (8) celebrates a touchdown by...

      Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun

      Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson (8) celebrates a touchdown by tight end Mark Andrews (left) during the second quarter of NFL football game.

    • The Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson runs in for a...

      Kenneth K. Lam/Baltimore Sun

      The Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson runs in for a touchdown as Colts linebacker Shaquille Leonard reacts in the first quarter at M&T Bank Stadium on September 24, 2023.

    • Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson (8) celebrates his touchdown run with...

      Terrance Williams/AP

      Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson (8) celebrates his touchdown run with wide receiver Zay Flowers against the Colts.

    • Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson takes the field for warmups...

      Jerry Jackson/Baltimore Sun

      Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson takes the field for warmups as the Baltimore Ravens prepare to host the Houston Texans in the season opener at M&T Bank Stadium.

    • Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson runs away from Texans' Will Anderson...

      Kenneth K. Lam/Baltimore Sun

      Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson runs away from Texans' Will Anderson Jr., left, in the second quarter. The Ravens defeated the Texans 25-9 at M&T Bank Stadium.

    • Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson looks for a receiver in...

      Jerry Jackson/Baltimore Sun

      Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson looks for a receiver in the first quarter as the Baltimore Ravens host the Houston Texans in the season opener at M&T Bank Stadium.

    • "I feel like there's another stepping stone, that I'm stepping...

      Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun

      "I feel like there's another stepping stone, that I'm stepping into my prime right now," Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson told The Baltimore Sun. "I got a great group of guys around me and right now I feel like is the time [for us] to elevate."

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    Just as he did four years ago, he led the Ravens (13-4) to the best record in the NFL. Along the way, he played his best in the team’s biggest games, with standout performances in victories over the 49ers, Jacksonville Jaguars, Seattle Seahawks and Detroit Lions.

    The Ravens won 10 of 11 games at one point, with Jackson topping the 300-yard passing mark three times and leading the team in rushing on four occasions in that span.

    And though Jackson’s career postseason record fell to 2-4 with a loss at home to the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC championship game, in which he completed just 54.1% of his passes with a touchdown, an interception and a fumble, the award is based off the regular season.

    Jackson’s numbers weren’t as eye-popping as they were in 2019 — his 24 touchdown passes are tied with Steve McNair for the fewest by an MVP — but his brilliance was in his balance, both as the focal point of a new offense under coordinator Todd Monken and statistically. Jackson ranked eighth in the NFL in total touchdowns and completion percentage, led the league in yards per attempt (8) and had the fourth-highest passer rating (102.7).

    His 821 rushing yards also led the team, ranked 22nd in the NFL and were 164 more than the next closest quarterback, the Chicago Bears’ Justin Fields. His 5.5 yards per carry also led all players, and he was named an All-Pro for the second time and selected to his third Pro Bowl.

    “Lamar Jackson is a phenomenal success,” Ravens coach John Harbaugh said at the team’s season-ending news conference. “He’s a phenomenal success as a football player. He’s phenomenal success as a person, as a leader, as a family man, but you’re asking about the football player. In my opinion, there’s nobody better in this league, especially nobody better for the Baltimore Ravens and for this organization and for this city and just from a historical perspective.”

    All of it came after an offseason of tumult and uncertainty in which Jackson requested to be traded after he said he felt the team wasn’t meeting his value in contract negotiations. Eventually, the two sides came to an agreement, with Jackson signing a five-year, $260 million extension in April that, at the time, made him the highest-paid player in the league in terms of annual salary.

    It turned out to be a worthy investment.

    After a somewhat sluggish start to the season in a new offense, Jackson and the Ravens took flight. At home against the Lions in Week 7, he completed 21 of 27 passes for 357 yards and three touchdowns to lead Baltimore to a 38-6 blowout of the future NFC runner-up. The performance earned him AFC Offensive Player of the Week honors, and he was just getting started.

    Two weeks later, against the Seahawks, he completed 21 of 26 passes for 187 yards and rushed for 60 yards on 10 carries to help lead a 37-3 rout. A little over a month later, in a “Sunday Night Football” showdown against Trevor Lawrence and the Jaguars, he threw for 171 yards and a touchdown and rushed for 97 yards on 12 carries in a convincing 23-7 road victory.

    Then came a Christmas night showdown against the 49ers on the road and their MVP candidates, McCaffrey and Purdy. Jackson outplayed them both, completing 23 of 35 passes for 252 yards and two touchdowns while rushing for a team-high 45 yards on seven carries in a resounding 33-19 victory.

    Still, it wasn’t enough for one Fox Sports Radio host, who was critical of Jackson when it came to the MVP conversation, calling him not “quarterback-y” enough and saying that McCaffrey was more valuable.

    A week later, against the Dolphins, Jackson shrugged off the commentary and posted the third perfect passer rating of his career. His performance clinched the AFC North title for Baltimore for the first time since 2019 as well as the top seed in the conference as he was again named AFC Offensive Player of the Week.

    He put together an MVP season when all the attention was on him. In addition to Jackson being at the axis of everything the Ravens did on offense, they lost their top running back, J.K. Dobbins, in Week 1 to a season-ending torn Achilles tendon, tight end and security blanket Mark Andrews to an ankle injury in Week 11 and explosive rookie running back Keaton Mitchell to a knee injury in Week 15.

    There was no stopping Jackson, though. After missing 11 games the previous two seasons because of injury, he played every meaningful snap this season, only sitting out a Week 18 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers because there was nothing left to play for or to prove.

    He was, simply, the best player on the best team.

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  5. Baltimore County Police have confirmed they are investigating an alleged assault involving Baltimore Ravens player Zay Flowers.

    Flowers has not been charged with a crime.

    Asked specifically whether it was investigating any domestic violence allegations involving Flowers, police department spokesman Trae Corbin said in an email last month that it was investigating an alleged assault in Owings Mills but that “a suspect has not been named at this time.”

    Corbin also said the “contributing factors surrounding this case are still being determined.”

    Baltimore County Police did not clarify how Flowers may be involved or respond to a request for an update Thursday.

    The investigation appears to involve a police agency in Massachusetts. The Acton Police Department confirmed in January that it had one report involving Flowers but said it could not release it, citing a state law that bars the release of records in certain cases. The Baltimore Sun had requested any police report made Jan. 16 to Jan. 21 involving Flowers.

    In a subsequent email this week, Acton Police spokesperson John Guilfoil said the agency could not respond to an inquiry about whether the agency was investigating a report of assault by Flowers.

    “Under the Domestic Violence Act of 2014, Massachusetts Police Departments may not comment on, release records regarding, answer questions regarding, issue press releases regarding or include in their logs any mention of any case involving domestic violence,” Guilfoil wrote. “The department is not attempting to be uncooperative with you in any way, shape or form, but [is] bound by law.”

    A request for comment left with Flowers’ agent was not returned Thursday.

    Ravens spokesperson Chad Steele said the team is aware of the report regarding Flowers.

    “We take these matters seriously and will have no further comment at this time,” the team spokesperson said.

    Asked to clarify whether “the report” meant a police report or the initial news report, Steele did not respond.

    The NFL declined to comment, with a spokesperson saying in a text message: “We are aware of the report but will decline further comment at this time.”

    Flowers, a South Florida native who went on to excel at Boston College, was selected by the Ravens in the first round of the 2023 NFL draft. The 5-foot-9 rookie was the Ravens’ top wide receiver this season, catching 77 passes for 858 yards.

    Flowers missed some practices in early January with a calf injury, but regularly attended practice as the Ravens prepared for postseason play. In the AFC championship game against the Kansas City Chiefs on Jan. 28, he scored Baltimore’s only touchdown and totaled a season-best 115 receiving yards in the Ravens’ 17-10 loss, but made a couple of costly errors, receiving a penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct after taunting an opponent and later fumbling at the goal line.

    Asked the following day when he would turn the page and focus on next season, Flowers said, “I already did.”

    At an end-of-season news conference Feb. 2, the Ravens’ general manager, Eric DeCosta, cited Flowers as a player he’s excited to see return next season.

    “We have a lot of guys that can make plays and, watching Zay this year and just picturing Zay and ‘Bate’ [Rashod Bateman] out there next year is very exciting, and we’ll see where that leads,” he said.

    Baltimore Sun reporter Brian Wacker contributed to this article.

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  6. Jim Harbaugh is bringing in another familiar face to direct the Los Angeles Chargers’ offense.

    The Chargers announced Thursday that Greg Roman has been hired as offensive coordinator. Roman was Harbaugh’s coordinator during his four-year tenure with the San Francisco 49ers and was associate head coach under Harbaugh at Stanford in 2009 and 2010.

    Los Angeles also announced that Marcus Brady will be the passing game coordinator.

    Roman was the Ravens’ offensive coordinator under Jim’s older brother, John, from 2019 to 2022, a run in which he designed the most productive ground game in NFL history but frustrated fans by failing to build a commensurate passing attack. The Ravens hired Todd Monken as his replacement and finished with the NFL’s best regular-season record before losing to the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC championship game. Roman did not coach in 2023.

    While the Chargers have one of the league’s best quarterbacks in Justin Herbert, Roman’s calling card has been strong rushing offenses. The 49ers averaged 139.3 rushing yards per game in the four seasons under Roman and Harbaugh, which ranked second in the league during that period.

    Roman was honored as NFL Assistant Coach of the Year for the 2019 season after the Ravens led the league in scoring (33.2 points per game) and rushing (206.0 yards) while ranking second in total offense (407.6 yards). Lamar Jackson was named Most Valuable Player that season; he was the favorite to win that award for a second time Thursday night.

    Roman was Buffalo’s offensive coordinator in 2015 and 2016.

    Harbaugh said during his introductory news conference last week that protecting Herbert, beefing up the running game and honing the play-action pass game would be early priorities.

    “I think that we can be extraordinary there with the receivers we have and the quarterback. Also, the running game, work just as hard at that and get to be a balanced type of a football team. Always protect the football. That’s where it starts,” Harbaugh said.

    Brady comes to the Bolts after spending the this past season as a senior offensive assistant with the Philadelphia Eagles. Before that, Brady had a five-year stint in Indianapolis, including the 2021 and ’22 seasons as offensive coordinator.

    Roman and Brady join defensive coordinator Jesse Minter and strength and conditioning coach Ben Hebert on Harbaugh’s staff.

    Baltimore Sun staff contributed to this article.

    View the full article

  7. It’s not a club anyone wants to join.

    “Every day and every night, it still pisses me off,” Minnesota Vikings quarterback Fran Tarkenton once told the St. Paul Pioneer Press of playing for perhaps the finest team in NFL history not to win a Super Bowl.

    At least Tarkenton played in the biggest game three times. Plenty of great teams never got that far, and the 2023 Ravens now reside prominently on that list.

    Aaron Schatz created defense-adjusted value over average — DVOA — as a means of measuring team efficiency relative to competition, and by his reckoning, the Ravens are the second best team since 1981 not to make the Super Bowl, behind only the 2010 New England Patriots.

    “The best indicator of a championship team is big, dominating wins, and the Ravens had a series of big, dominating wins, but not against bad teams, against good teams,” Schatz explained. “Also, they were tremendously well-balanced — good at passing and running, good against the pass and the run and good on special teams. There are not a lot of teams in history that have been top eight in all five.”

    These teams come in many varieties. Some fell short for one year in the middle of glorious runs. Others were slightly lesser editions of previous champions. Still others never did reach the summit.

    The Ravens hope they don’t fall into the last category, but as Schatz noted, there’s no guarantee. Many of the best teams not to reach the Super Bowl did not bounce back to do better the following season.

    “There’s just a lot of randomness in a sport where you play only one game [to avoid elimination] in the playoffs instead of seven,” he said.

    As fans continue to process their disappointment with the Ravens’ ending, here’s a countdown of the list they joined — the 10 best teams that did not make it:

    INDIANAPOLIS - JANUARY 15: Clark Haggans #53 and Joey Porter #55 of the Pittsburgh Steelers sack Peyton Manning #18 of the Inidanapolis Colts during the AFC Divisional Playoffs January 15, 2006 at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Clark Haggans;Joey Porter;Peyton Manning
    The Steelers’ Clark Haggans and Joey Porter sack Colts quarterback Peyton Manning during an AFC divisional round playoff game Jan. 15, 2006, at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis. (Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

    10. 2005 Indianapolis Colts

    Record: 14-2

    Point differential: +192, best in the league by 11

    Eliminated: 21-18 in AFC divisional round by Pittsburgh Steelers

    Next year: 12-4, won the Super Bowl

    Here’s a hopeful tale for Ravens fans wondering if quarterback Lamar Jackson will ever break through. Peyton Manning was in his eighth season in 2005, with two NFL Most Valuable Player Awards on his shelf. His Colts, featuring an elite offense and an opportunistic defense masterminded by coach Tony Dungy, won their first 13 games. But they fell behind 21-3 to the Steelers in the AFC divisional round, and Manning, who took five sacks, could not rally them. To that point in his career, he had made one AFC championship game in six postseason appearances. Why, critics wondered, could he never win the big one? Well, the next year, Manning took a lesser team to Super Bowl glory.

    9. 2006 San Diego Chargers

    Record: 14-2

    Point differential: +189, best in the league by 17

    Eliminated: 24-21 in AFC divisional round by New England Patriots

    Next year: 11-5, lost in AFC championship game

    Ravens fans suffered their own bitter playoff disappointment as they watched a 13-3 team fall at home to the hated Indianapolis Colts, but the Chargers were even better and crashed just as hard. The defense featured All-Pros Shawne Merriman and Jamal Williams. Quarterback Philip Rivers forged a beautiful connection with tight end Antonio Gates. But this season belonged to running back LaDainian Tomlinson, who rushed for 1,815 yards and 28 touchdowns and caught 56 passes for 508 yards and another three scores. Not even the Patriots could bottle up Tomlinson in the playoffs, but they befuddled Rivers to pull the upset. The Chargers were so distraught that they fired coach Marty Schottenheimer coming off his greatest season.

    8. 1973 Los Angeles Rams

    Record: 12-2

    Point differential: +210, best in the league by 17

    Eliminated: 27-16 in NFC divisional round by Dallas Cowboys

    Next year: 10-4, lost in NFC championship game

    The Rams were cousins to the Vikings of the same era, making 10 playoff appearances and reaching double-digit wins 10 times over 14 years from 1967 to 1980 but never breaking through to win the Super Bowl. Their 1967 team, which kept one of Johnny Unitas’ best Colts teams out of the playoffs, could have made this list just as easily. Coach Chuck Knox’s 1973 bunch was beautifully balanced, with All-Pro quarterback John Hadl steering the league’s best offense and Hall of Fame linemen Merlin Olsen and Jack Youngblood — with a big hand from All-Pro linebacker Isiah Robertson — anchoring its top defense. The Rams won their last six regular-season games, all by at least 11 points, but Hadl fell victim to a fearsome Cowboys pass rush after Dallas built a 17-0 lead in the NFC divisional round.

    FILE - In this Nov. 24, 2008 file phot, New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees, left, talks with Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers (12) at the end of the game in their NFL football game in New Orleans. The Saints and the Packers open the 2011 NFL football season on Thursday, Sept. 8, 2011 in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
    Saints quarterback Drew Brees, right, talks with Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers at the end of a game Nov. 24, 2008. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

    7. 2011 Green Bay Packers/New Orleans Saints

    Record: Packers 15-1, Saints 13-3

    Point differential: Saints +208, Packers +201

    Eliminated: Packers 37-20 by New York Giants, Saints 36-32 by San Francisco 49ers, both in NFC divisional round

    Next year: Packers 11-5, lost in divisional round; Saints 7-9, missed playoffs

    This is a cheat, but it’s remarkable that one conference featured two all-time great offenses, and neither team made it past the divisional round. In fact, they set a tone when they met in the season opener, a 42-34 shootout won by Green Bay. Aaron Rodgers won MVP honors that year, throwing 45 touchdown passes against just six interceptions. Drew Brees matched him, throwing for 5,476 yards and 46 touchdowns as the Saints actually topped the Packers in DVOA. Neither team balanced its offense with a top-10 defense, and it showed in the playoffs.

    6. 1998 Minnesota Vikings

    Record: 15-1

    Point differential: +260, best in the league by 68

    Eliminated: 30-27 in NFC championship game by Atlanta Falcons

    Next year: 10-6, lost in NFC divisional round

    This was the team that put Brian Billick in position to coach the Ravens, because his offense, with Randall Cunningham throwing bombs to a rookie Randy Moss, set a new record for points scored (34.8 per game). The Vikings were not a DVOA juggernaut. Schatz’s method nicks them for so-so competition and for rolling up their huge offensive totals in a dome. But there was no doubting their big-play majesty, which they never quite recaptured despite Moss’ ongoing brilliance. Coach Dennis Green’s team simply ran into a very good version of the Falcons with a Super Bowl trip on the line.

    Ravens Michael Pierce is dejected on the bench as the Chiefs defeated the Ravens 17-10 in the AFC Championship game. (Kenneth K. Lam/Staff)
    Ravens defensive tackle Michael Pierce looks on from the sideline during the AFC championship game. (Kenneth K. Lam/Staff)

    5. 2023 Baltimore Ravens

    Record: 13-4

    Point differential: +203, best in the league by nine

    Eliminated: 17-10 in AFC championship game by Kansas City Chiefs

    Next year: TBD

    It’s a difficult choice between this team and the 2019 edition that rolled up a greater scoring margin with the league’s best offense. But the 2023 Ravens hit higher peaks against better competition, were more balanced and advanced deeper in the playoffs. Jackson was statistically superior in his 2019 MVP year, but he’s expected to win the award again this year, and the 2023 defense was better, leading the league in sacks and takeaways while allowing the fewest points. The Ravens are in mighty company on this list, but their missed opportunity will sting for a long while.

    4. 1970 Minnesota Vikings

    Record: 12-2

    Point differential: +192, best in the league by 47

    Eliminated: 17-14 in NFC divisional round by San Francisco 49ers

    Next year: 11-3, lost in divisional round

    Coach Bud Grant’s Vikings fielded several candidates for this list, not to mention some of the best teams to lose in the Super Bowl. Minnesota won 10 division titles in a span of 11 seasons and won at least 10 games (when the NFL played a 14-game schedule) seven times in eight years. Younger fans remember the Buffalo Bills of the early 1990s as an also-ran dynasty, but the Vikings were better. This pre-Tarkenton edition featured a middling offense but dominated anyway because of the “Purple People Eaters” defense, which allowed just 10 points a game thanks to Hall of Fame defensive linemen Alan Page and Carl Eller. The Colts brought Baltimore its first Super Bowl win at the end of this season, but they were lucky not to face Grant’s crew. The team they did beat, the Cowboys, lost to the Vikings 54-13 in October.

    3. 1987 San Francisco 49ers

    Record: 13-2

    Point differential: +206, best in the league by 55

    Eliminated: 36-24 in NFC divisional round by Minnesota Vikings

    Next year: 10-6, won Super Bowl

    The 1981-1998 49ers were the Patriots of the previous generation, winning so frequently for so long that their success obscured several great teams that fell short in the postseason. The 1992 team that went 14-2 and the 1995 team that featured perhaps the best offense and best defense in the league were candidates for this list, but we’re going with the 1987 edition led by coach Bill Walsh, quarterback Joe Montana and wide receiver Jerry Rice at his young apex (22 touchdown catches in 12 games). The 49ers led the league in total offense and total defense and won their last three regular-season games by an average score of 41-2. But they fell behind early and never recovered in an inexplicable flameout against the 8-7 Vikings.

    2. 1976 Pittsburgh Steelers

    Record: 10-4

    Point differential: +204, best in the league by 33

    Eliminated: 24-7 in AFC championship game by Oakland Raiders

    Next year: 9-5, lost in divisional round

    Coach Chuck Noll’s Steelers were going for a Super Bowl three-peat and crushed the Colts, perhaps the league’s second best team behind MVP Bert Jones, 40-14 in the divisional round. The roster featured all the stars — from “Mean” Joe Greene to Franco Harris to Jack Lambert to Terry Bradshaw — we associate with the “Steel Curtain” dynasty. By scoring margin, it was Noll’s second best team behind only the 1975 edition. But coach John Madden’s Oakland Raiders had Pittsburgh’s number in 1976, beating the Steelers in the season opener and finishing them off the day after Christmas. This great team was not done, of course, picking up two more Super Bowl wins in 1978 and 1979.

    FOXBORO, MA - JANUARY 16: Tom Brady #12 of the New England Patriots is sacked by Drew Coleman #30 of the New York Jets during their 2011 AFC divisional playoff game at Gillette Stadium on January 16, 2011 in Foxboro, Massachusetts. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)
    Patriots quarterback Tom Brady is sacked by the Jets’ Drew Coleman during an AFC divisional round playoff game at Gillette Stadium on Jan. 16, 2011 in Foxboro, Massachusetts. (Al Bello/Getty Images)

    1. 2010 New England Patriots

    Record: 14-2

    Point differential: +205, best in league by 57

    Eliminated: 28-21 in AFC divisional round by New York Jets

    Next year: 13-3, lost in Super Bowl

    We tend to think of the Patriots’ run with coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady as one of unremitting good fortune and big-game excellence. But we forget that Belichick and Brady went nine straight years without a Super Bowl win in the middle of their run, and perhaps their most dominant teams were among those that fell. The 2007 team that lost in the Super Bowl finished with the highest regular-season DVOA ever, but the 2010 version that bowed out two rounds earlier was nearly as good. Brady threw 36 touchdown passes against just four interceptions, and the Patriots closed with a fury, winning their last eight regular-season games by an average score of 37-16. That string included a 45-3 thrashing of the Jets, who would eliminate them on the same field six weeks later. The Patriots returned to the Super Bowl a year later (as Ravens fans remember all too well) but did not win it all again until 2014.

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  8. Former Jets coach Rex Ryan is making moves toward a possible return to the NFL.

    Ryan interviewed with the Dallas Cowboys about their defensive coordinator vacancy, CBS Sports reported Wednesday.

    The 61-year-old Ryan last coached in 2016, when the Buffalo Bills fired him as their head coach before the season finale. He has served as a football analyst for ESPN over the seven years since.

    But Ryan’s name continues to surface in coaching rumors. He was linked to the Broncos’ defensive coordinator role last October, shortly after Denver surrendered 70 points in a Week 3 loss to Miami. Vance Joseph remains in place as the Broncos’ defensive coordinator.

    The outspoken Ryan made a name for himself from 2005-08 as the charismatic coordinator of a Baltimore Ravens defense led by Hall of Famers Ray Lewis and Ed Reed.

    Ryan became the Jets’ head coach in 2009 and led them to the AFC Championship Game in both of his first two seasons there. He went 46-50 over six seasons with the Jets, who fired him after a 4-12 campaign in 2014.

    Ryan then spent two years as head coach of the Bills, compiling a 15-16 record. Ryan’s defenses finished top 10 in terms of yards allowed in all but three of his 12 seasons as a head coach or coordinator.

    The Cowboys are looking to fill the defensive coordinator role that was vacated last week by Dan Quinn, who became head coach of the NFC East rival Washington Commanders. Dallas is also considering Ron Rivera, whom the Commanders fired as their head last month, and Mike Zimmer, who went 72-56-1 in eight seasons as the Minnesota Vikings’ head coach from 2014-21.

    The upcoming season is a pivotal one for Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy, who led Dallas to 12 wins in three consecutive seasons but won only one playoff game in that stretch.

    The upcoming season is a pivotal one for Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy, who led Dallas to 12 wins in three consecutive seasons but won only one playoff game in that stretch. Cowboys owner Jerry Jones opted to bring back McCarthy in 2024 despite Dallas’ lackluster performance in a 48-32 loss to the seventh-seeded Green Bay Packers in the opening round of the playoffs last month – a game that was largely decided by halftime.

    Ryan has been critical of McCarthy on ESPN, including when the Cowboys hired the former Packers coach in 2019.

    “It’s not a sexy hire by any stretch to me because you didn’t win,” Ryan said on “First Take” at the time. “You were like the rest of us when you never had Aaron Rodgers.”

    ©2024 New York Daily News. Visit nydailynews.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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  9. When Todd Monken became the Ravens’ offensive coordinator last winter, he said his unit would be a work in progress. That’s the description of the defense for the 2024 season.

    Zach Orr, 31, was introduced to the media for the first time Tuesday as the team’s defensive coordinator, a job previously held by Mike Macdonald for two years until he was named coach of the Seattle Seahawks nearly a week ago.

    Everybody within the Ravens organization likes Orr, from coach John Harbaugh to Poe, the team mascot. But the former linebacker has a huge task in front of him in trying to rebuild a defense that led the league in sacks (60), takeaways (31) and points allowed per game (16.1) last season and is losing three defensive assistants.

    On Tuesday, he sounded like someone still playing.

    “I want our defense to play together, first and foremost — 11 people playing as one, let’s start there,” he said. “The next thing is, I want it to be violent — very violent, physical. That’s just the standard here. Everything we’re going to do is going to be with physicality and violence. Then, just execution — executing at a high level, executing in certain situations, executing all the time.

    “Then the last thing I would say, ‘organized chaos.’ Present a lot of problems to the offense. Never give the answer to the offense before the snap, but that’s what I would say. Identify first things first, hit everything that moves.”

    Orr has charisma, which allows him to relate to not only the star players he has coached — such as former Ravens outside linebacker Terell Suggs and Jacksonville Jaguars defensive end Josh Allen — but the classic overachievers. He was signed by the Ravens as an undrafted free agent from North Texas in 2014 and played in 46 career games over three seasons, recording 163 tackles. He was named second team All-Pro in 2016 before being forced to retire the following year because of a congenital neck/spine condition.

    But this upcoming season will be different than anything he’s ever experienced. Orr has to devise and implement a game plan and call plays for the first time. That’s another step in the progression from assistant to coordinator.

    “I have to be on the field,” Orr said. “I have to look players in their eyes and see what’s going on and get a feel for how guys are feeling out there. So, people have their different ways, I have to be on the field. I’m more into it and getting the feel of emotion and how guys are really feeling out there.”

    It goes beyond calling plays. The Ravens have to replace several assistants. First, there is Macdonald, and then there is defensive line coach Anthony Weaver, who structured the front seven. He was named the Miami Dolphins’ defensive coordinator last week.

    The Ravens also need to find a replacement for defensive backs coach Dennard Wilson, who became the Tennessee Titans’ defensive coordinator after helping the Ravens to a No. 6 ranking in pass defense, and an inside linebackers coach to step in for Orr, who had one of the most productive tandems in the NFL last season in Roquan Smith and Patrick Queen.

    All had great relationships with their players, and that’s hard to build in the modern era of pro football in which everything is centered around image and ego.

    When it comes to filling out the defensive staff, Harbaugh will have the final say on hiring his assistants, though Orr might have some input. But you can bank on Harbaugh having more say during practices and games, especially with Orr being so young and this being his first coordinator position.

    “The final decision is Coach Harbaugh’s and [executive vice president and general manager] Eric DeCosta’s, but I’m very much involved with it,” Orr said of the staff. “They do a great job of letting me be in on the interviews, run the interviews and communicating back and forth. It’s an open line of communication.

    “Every year, when you’re building a team, building a staff, you have to build that trust, build that camaraderie, that teamwork. You have to build that every single year. Every year, you have to build it up, but I’m confident in the people we have. Once we get the staff filled out, we’ll be able to build that trust, we’ll be able to build that teamwork and be the best staff we can possibly be for our players.”

    Orr and the Ravens will also have to wrestle with the salary cap. They have more than 20 pending free agents, including several defensive players who will command top dollar in tackle/end Justin Madubuike, Queen and possibly safety Geno Stone.

    Madubuike had 13 sacks to lead the team, which is rare for an interior lineman. Queen was second on the team in tackles with 133. Stone ranked second in the NFL with seven interceptions. Even outside linebacker Jadeveon Clowney played with a rejuvenated spirit at age 30 with 9 1/2 sacks.

    The Ravens have already locked in long-term contracts with their two top players. They signed Smith to a five-year, $100 million extension last January and then agreed to a five-year, $260 million deal with quarterback Lamar Jackson in late April. Those deals increase in salary every season, which decreases the amount of cap room.

    Baltimore might be able to bring back one or two of its top defensive players, but not four or five. Unfortunately, there are some top offensive free agents on the list, too, such as right guard Kevin Zeitler, running back Gus Edwards and wide receivers Odell Beckham Jr. and Nelson Agholor.

    The Ravens might have to start the 2024 season in a similar fashion to 2023, when they had to count on young pass rushers such as outside linebackers Odafe Oweh and David Ojabo. So far, neither has shown they are worthy of their draft status. Oweh, a first-round pick out of Penn State in 2021, played in only 13 games during the regular season, starting five. Ojabo, a second-round pick from Michigan in 2022, has been bothered by leg injuries the past two seasons and has played very little. Both are still labeled as projects.

    There is also a sense of urgency for players such as safety Marcus Williams and cornerback Marlon Humphrey to return to top form after missing substantial playing time this past season.

    It’s an uphill fight for Orr, but he has already spoken to several players.

    “He brings passion on the field, off the field and in the meeting rooms as well as his football IQ and the ability to relate to players,” Smith said. “He’s very young and has been in the game recently, so I think overall, it’s a really good fit for our defense. Everybody around the building respects him.”

    The Ravens have a proud tradition of putting together physical and intimidating defenses. That dates to 2000, with the record-setting unit led by linebackers Ray Lewis, Jamie Sharper and Peter Boulware and defensive linemen Sam Adams, Rob Burnett, Tony Siragusa and Sam Adams.

    They have also had some good defensive coordinators, such as Rex Ryan, Chuck Pagano, Dean Pees, Don “Wink” Martindale and Macdonald. But maybe none of them faced such a daunting rebuild in terms of coaches and players as Orr does.

    It might take some time. This appears to be another work in progress.

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  10. When Zach Orr played inside linebacker for the Ravens, his speed, quick instincts and enthusiasm for crunching and dragging ball carriers to the ground helped propel him to second-team All-Pro honors in what was a breakout third season.

    It also turned out to be his last as a player, with a congenital neck/spine condition bringing his career to a sudden end in 2017.

    Now he’ll bring many of those same traits to Baltimore’s sideline as their defensive coordinator.

    “First thing first, is hit everything that moves,” Orr said Tuesday at his introductory news conference in Owings Mills. “We’re gonna play violent, we’re gonna play together and we’re gonna execute.”

    He also said that he “definitely” wants to build on his predecessor Mike Macdonald’s scheme that created chaos and confusion for opposing offenses, and that effort will be a collaborative one.

    That Orr was tapped for the job in the first place was mildly surprising.

    At 31, he is the second youngest defensive coordinator in the NFL behind the Arizona Cardinals’ 30-year-old Nick Rallis, and it will be his first time calling defensive plays. He is also the first former Ravens player to be hired as a coordinator.

    But with Macdonald having left to become the Seattle Seahawks’ head coach, defense backs coach Dennard Wilson bolting for the Tennessee Titans’ defensive coordinator opening and assistant head coach/defensive line coach Anthony Weaver getting passed over for a second time and leaving for the Miami Dolphins, Orr became the obvious choice. The process also moved quickly.

    Orr met with Ravens coach John Harbaugh on Monday and Tuesday last week — as well as with the Green Bay Packers for their defensive coordinator opening a day later. There was also interest from Macdonald and the Seahawks.

    Baltimore couldn’t risk losing Orr, and Harbaugh loved what he saw in the former undrafted linebacker out of North Texas as a player and a sharp, detailed-oriented coach who could relate to the men he coached.

    Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator Zach Orr talking at a news conference at the Under Armour Performance Center. (Karl Merton Ferron/Staff)
    Zach Orr said Tuesday that he bleeds purple and black because of the support the Ravens organization showed him once he retired. (Karl Merton Ferron/Staff)

    Orr’s ascent was also a product of diligence, ability and a deep love for the organization. He said Tuesday that he bleeds purple and black because of the support the organization showed him once he retired.

    After his playing days ended prematurely in 2017 and he expressed an interest in coaching, he got a call from Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti that both lifted his spirits and let him know they’d love to have him. He spent the next four years as a defensive analyst with Baltimore before leaving in 2021 to become the outside linebackers coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars, where former Ravens defensive line coach Joe Cullen was the defensive coordinator under coach Urban Meyer.

    When Meyer’s brief and disastrous stint ended the following year, Orr returned to the Ravens as their inside linebackers coach.

    In his time in that role, Baltimore’s defense ranked in the top 10 in yards allowed per game (312.8), rushing yards allowed per game (100.8), passing yards allowed per game (212.1), points allowed per game (17.5), opponent third-down conversion rate (35.7%), opponent red zone efficiency (43.8%) and takeaways (56). Inside linebackers Roquan Smith and Patrick Queen also thrived, with Smith having been selected as an All-Pro each of the past two seasons and both selected to this year’s Pro Bowl.

    Orr garnered the respect of players as well.

    “He brings passion on the field, off the field and in the meeting room, as well as his football IQ and the ability to relate to players,” Smith said in a statement. “Overall, it’s a really good fit for our defense. Everyone around the building respects him; it’s not just because of what he says, but because of his actions and the way he goes about things.

    “I know his mentality is very similar to mine, so I’m stoked.”

    Added outside linebacker Odafe Oweh: “One thing I notice about Zach is his voice is always loud. It’s always the highest pitch, and you have to respect it because it never wavers. He’s always bringing that action.”

    Orr also has his work cut for him.

    Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator Zach Orr talking at a news conference at the Under Armour Performance Center. (Karl Merton Ferron/Staff)
    At 31, Zach Orr is the second youngest defensive coordinator in the NFL behind the Arizona Cardinals’ 30-year-old Nick Rallis, and it will be his first time calling defensive plays. (Karl Merton Ferron/Staff)

    He follows a defensive coordinator in Macdonald who helmed a historically great unit that became the first in league history to lead the NFL in sacks (60), takeaways (31) and points allowed per game (16.1). The Ravens also have more than 20 free agents, many of whom were key contributors on defense, including outside linebackers Jadeveon Clowney and Kyle Van Noy.

    But he does not appear to be overwhelmed by the challenge ahead.

    “One thing that I’ve always lived by is, ‘You never stay the same. You either get better, or you get worse,’” Orr said. “You want to be cutting edge, always want to evolve and always want to be ready for the next thing the offense may present. So, we’re going to get in the lab this offseason. We’re going to look at ourselves, look at things we did well, look at how can make it even better, look at things we need to improve on and get better at that, and look at some new ideas that we could possibly present and get ready to roll out there by the time we kick off the ball the first week of the season.”

    His first priority, though, he said will be to fill out the defensive coaching staff.

    At least one job has reportedly already been filled, with the Ravens hiring Doug Mallory, a former Michigan defensive analyst, as defensive backs coach, according to 247 Sports. There’s also the NFL scouting combine later this month.

    For Orr, it’s all part of the process and one he’s been around most of his life.

    A native of DeSoto, Texas, his father, Terry, was a tight end for Washington from 1986 to 1993, while his younger brother, Chris, is a former linebacker who played for the Carolina Panthers in 2020. His older brother, Terrance, is the offensive coordinator at Hebron High School in Carrollton, Texas, and his younger brother, Nick, played college football at TCU and spent time with the Chicago Bears in 2018.

    As for being named the Ravens’ defensive coordinator, Orr follows a long list of successful in-house hires.

    After Harbaugh retained Rex Ryan from coach Brian Billick’s staff as his first defensive coordinator, five of his next six hires all came from inside the building, with Greg Mattison, Chuck Pagano, Dean Pees, Don “Wink” Martindale and now Orr. Macdonald was the exception but only briefly — he was with the Ravens for six years before spending one season as Michigan’s defensive coordinator in 2021.

    “Zach is a homegrown Raven in every way,” Harbaugh said in a statement last week. “His energy, intelligence, work ethic and strong communication skills have been on display since the day he joined our organization as a player in 2014.”

    Orr said he wasn’t terribly surprised to get the job.

    Given the departure of other coaches, he knew he was in the running. He’s also excited to get going, which was obvious from the enthusiasm in his voice Tuesday.

    “Wednesday, [Harbaugh] called me into his office, and in my mind, I’m like, ‘Man, what do you want to talk about?’ I was like, ‘I’ve been talking to this dude [on] Monday, Tuesday. Like, what’s up?’” he said. “I’m like, ‘I thought I answered every question you had.’ So, we’re still talking [on] Wednesday, and then he asked me again; he said, ‘Are you ready to call it?’ And I was like, ‘Yes, I’m ready.’ And he was like, ‘All right, well, I’m offering you the position,’ and that’s how it went.

    “I heard those words, made him smile, I was grinning from ear to ear. I’m just thankful that he has that belief in me. And like I said, I’m going to work my butt off and do everything I can to make it right.”

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  11. New Los Angeles Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh has already poached a couple of coaches and front office staff from the Ravens. Now it’s apparently his brother John’s turn.

    Former Michigan defensive analyst Doug Mallory will join the elder Harbaugh brother in Baltimore as the team’s defensive backs coach, according to 247Sports

    Mallory, 59, worked for three seasons with Jim Harbaugh at Michigan. He replaces Dennard Wilson, who left to become the Tennessee Titans’ defensive coordinator.

    A veteran coach with more than 30 years of experience mostly at the college level, including as defensive backs coach at Maryland from 1997 to 2000, Mallory spent six seasons with the Atlanta Falcons from 2015 to 2020 under coach Dan Quinn, first as a defensive assistant then as defensive backs coach and a senior defensive assistant.

    Like the Harbaugh brothers, Mallory comes from a coaching family. His father, Bill, was a longtime coach at Indiana, among other stops, and his brother Mike was a veteran NFL assistant who most recently spent time on Jim Harbaugh’s Michigan staff as a special teams analyst. His other brother Curt is the football coach at Indiana State.

    Mallory, who played defensive back for Michigan from 1984 through 1987 under coach Bo Schembechler but was undrafted and never played in the NFL, returned to Ann Arbor in 2021 as a defensive analyst under the younger Harbaugh. This past season, the Wolverines had college football’s top defense, allowing 10.4 points and 247 yards per game en route to the school’s first national championship since 1997.

    This story might be updated.

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  12. Jerry Rosburg is not returning to the Ravens after all.

    The team’s former longtime special teams coach will not be back in Baltimore as talks between the two sides did not result in a deal, a source with direct knowledge confirmed to The Baltimore Sun on Tuesday. NFL Network had reported Monday that Rosburg would have a role focused on game management.

    Rosburg, 68, most recently served as an assistant for the Denver Broncos under coach Nathaniel Hackett in 2022 and then as the Broncos’ interim coach for two games after Hackett was fired in December of that season.

    Before that, Rosburg was the Ravens’ special teams coordinator from 2008 to 2018 before retiring.

    Rosburg was also the special teams coordinator for the Cleveland Browns from 2001 to 2006 and for the Atlanta Falcons in 2007. He is close with Ravens coach John Harbaugh — Rosburg’s daughter is Harbaugh’s assistant — as well and attended some of the team’s practices this past season.

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  13. It’s been just over a week since the Ravens’ season came to a stunning end in the AFC championship.

    The Kansas City Chiefs will play in their fourth Super Bowl in five years, while Baltimore, which produced the NFL’s best record and was the AFC’s top seed, is left asking what went wrong as it again failed to advance to the sport’s biggest game for the 11th straight season. The Ravens are just 3-6 in six postseason appearances since their 2012 title season, and they haven’t won more than one playoff game in the same postseason during that span.

    What do they need to do to break that streak? Baltimore Sun reporters Brian Wacker and Childs Walker weigh in on this year’s playoffs, Lamar Jackson and the future.

    Coach John Harbaugh said it’s a fair criticism that the Ravens’ postseason performance didn’t match its regular-season output, much the way it hasn’t in recent playoff failures, yet was firm in his belief that their process works. What’s your take?

    Wacker: It works in that there’s a level of consistency the Ravens enjoy that many other teams in the NFL do not. Consider: Baltimore has the eighth-best record in the league since 2013, behind only the Chiefs, Patriots, Seahawks, Steelers, Packers, Cowboys and Saints. Still, something isn’t entirely translating when it comes to the postseason. Their 2019 failures can perhaps be pinned on a young quarterback in the spotlight for the first time, 2020 to a windy game on the road with a quarterback who was pressing and this season a quarterback who looked to be playing tight as the favorite against the league’s best at the position. Notice a trend? But for all the fans’ exasperation, the Ravens did take a step forward and got within a game of the Super Bowl. Now there’s only one thing left to do.

    Walker: What else was he going to say, really? The Ravens did about everything their fans could have asked right up to the moment they took the field for the AFC championship game, and they’ve made it clear they’re not about judging their season through the lens of one disappointing performance. Their destiny is inextricably bound to Jackson’s progress toward becoming a championship-level quarterback, and as Harbaugh noted, Jackson will only have a greater hand in shaping their attack in year two under Todd Monken. They don’t really have a choice other than to steam forward and hope Jackson takes the final step in 2024, as Joe Flacco and company did after their massive championship game disappointment at the end of the 2011 season.

    Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, #8 beats Houston Texans defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins to the end zone with his second rushing touchdown during the fourth quarter of the Divisional Round of the 2024 NFL Playoffs in Baltimore. The Ravens defeated Houston 34-10, to advance to the AFC championship. (Karl Merton Ferron/Staff Photo)
    Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson beats Texans defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins to the end zone during a playoff game last month. (Karl Merton Ferron/Staff)

    What does Lamar Jackson need to do to get the Ravens to a Super Bowl?

    Wacker: Play like Lamar Jackson. What’s always made him so dangerous is his ability to run, by design or off script. That doesn’t make him any less “quarterback-y.” Though the next few years feel like his best window to get to/win a Super Bowl, this was also Jackson’s slowest season in terms of top speed (19.62 mph, per Next Gen Stats) and that number figures to only decline with each passing year, thus diminishing his threat to defenses. Jackson said earlier this season that he doesn’t like to run, and there seems to be a desire to win by passing. It’s a fine line between running less and throwing more, but while Jackson is plenty good as a passer it’s his ability to run that makes him impossible to stop, and he can’t forget that.

    Walker: He did it right up until the Chiefs game, playing with exceptional confidence and command of Monken’s offense in key late-season wins over the San Francisco 49ers and Miami Dolphins and again in the second half of the team’s divisional round trouncing of the Houston Texans. That was a quarterback more than capable of leading his team to a Super Bowl win. So where did that Jackson go after Kansas City jumped on the Ravens early? He was off-rhythm, off-target and visibly angry at himself as the Ravens’ chances slipped away in the second half. It’s difficult to say how Jackson might jump this last hurdle in a career that will soon feature two Most Valuable Player Awards. Is the necessary work more technical or psychological? Will simple experience serve him as it did previous greats Peyton Manning and John Elway, who did not win Super Bowls until deep in their careers? If the answer was simple, Jackson would have already found it. Harbaugh and his teammates have expressed absolute confidence that he’s thinking the right way to get there.

    The Ravens will have more than 20 unrestricted free agents come March 13. Who are the biggest priorities?

    Wacker: Keeping Justin Madubuike, who led all interior defensive linemen with 13 sacks, is easily the highest priority. Expect the Ravens to use a franchise tag on him, which allows general manager Eric DeCosta time to perhaps work out a long-term extension. Doing so also gives them an All-Pro at each level of the defense, along with inside linebacker Roquan Smith and safety Kyle Hamilton. Re-signing right guard Kevin Zeitler would also provide some stability on the offensive line, while bringing back wide receiver Nelson Agholor, cornerback Ronald Darby and running back Gus Edwards would affordably fill some holes.

    Walker: Madubuike, Madubuike and Madubuike. Elite interior pass rushers are among the rarest gems in the league, and that’s what he became in his fourth season. Madubuike also has a chance to be the best pass rusher of any type the Ravens have developed since Terrell Suggs. They cannot let him reach the open market, even if that means using the franchise tag to extend their negotiating window. A shorter-term reunion with Zeitler, who’s still as dependable as any lineman on the team and wants to be back, would also make sense. In a perfect world, the Ravens would line up Patrick Queen and Roquan Smith side by side for the next four years, but Queen right now feels like the top free agent the Ravens cannot afford.

    The Ravens have the 30th pick of the NFL draft plus six other picks. What’s their biggest need(s)?

    Wacker: With the exception of tight end and quarterback, the Ravens need help just about everywhere, most notably along the offensive line with two aging, injury-prone tackles and two starting guards who are free agents and little in the pipeline behind them. After that, outside linebacker is a big need with uncertainty about how David Ojabo will fare coming back from a torn ACL after suffering a torn Achilles tendon the year before and Odafe Oweh’s performance having flattened out as the season went on (though his ankle injury could’ve played a part). Jadeveon Clowney and Kyle Van Noy, meanwhile, are both free agents and coming off career years, likely making them unaffordable. Cornerback, wide receiver and running back are also areas that will need to be addressed.

    Walker: They need at least one young offensive lineman who could start in 2024 and preferably another to compete for a starting job by 2025. They could go a win-now route in 2024 and bring back most of their line, save penalty-prone left guard John Simpson, but major change will be in order the following season, with center Tyler Linderbaum the only long-term building block on the current roster. They also need a cornerback given that Brandon Stephens is headed for free agency after next season and Marlon Humphrey missed eight games with a variety of injuries in 2023. A plug-and-play running back would help given that Keaton Mitchell will be coming back from knee surgery.

    Baltimore’s 2024 schedule includes eight teams that made the playoffs this season, down one from this past season. What’s your way-too-early prediction on how the Ravens will fare next season?

    Wacker: Given all the turnover on the roster and among the coaching staff, it’s hard to imagine the Ravens matching what they did in the regular season. Plus, division foes the Bengals and Steelers should both be better next year, along with other teams like the Chargers. But maybe that’s not the worst thing. Perhaps Jackson plays better as the underdog than a Super Bowl favorite. Maybe the Ravens are better off having to go on the road and can somehow avoid the Chiefs. Still, based on Baltimore’s opponents I see a 10-7 record at best and another season without a Super Bowl appearance.

    Walker: It’s worth remembering that for all our hand-wringing over his postseason performance, Jackson is 58-19 as a regular-season starter. This was the NFL’s best team, with a string of resounding victories over elite opponents. They’ll still have a top defense led by All-Pros Smith and Hamilton and coordinated by Mike Macdonald’s sharp, charismatic young protege, Zach Orr. Even if the Ravens take a step back, they’ll be plenty good, with 11 wins as a reasonable baseline. And their fans won’t be convinced by any of it until the Ravens show up with a great performance in late January.

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  14. A Pennsylvania man faces up to four years in federal prison for flying a drone over M&T Bank Stadium during the first quarter of the AFC championship game.

    NFL security temporarily suspended the game, and Maryland State Police tracked the movement of the drone from directly over the stadium to a landing spot about half a mile away in the 500 block of South Sharp Street, where FBI agents and state police located 44-year-old Matthew Hebert, according to a news release.

    “Temporary flight restrictions are always in place during large sporting events,” United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Erek L. Barron said in a news release.

    A temporary flight restriction issued by the Federal Aviation Administration outlawed drones operating within a three nautical mile radius of the stadium starting an hour before kickoff and lasting until an hour after the final whistle, according to the news release.

    The drone was not registered, and Herbert did not have a remote pilot certification to operate it, according to the news release. Herbert told officers that in the past, the application he uses to operate the drone warned him of flight restrictions but offered no such warning during the game, according to an affidavit. Hebert allegedly flew the drone approximately 100 meters or higher for around two minutes, taking six photos and possibly a video.

    If convicted, Hebert faces a maximum sentence of three years in federal prison for knowingly operating an unregistered drone and for knowingly serving as an airman without an airman’s certificate and a maximum of one year in federal prison for willfully violating United States National Defense Airspace, according to the news release, which also notes actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties.

    An initial appearance and arraignment will be scheduled later this month.

    “Operating a drone requires users to act responsibly and educate themselves on when and how to use them safely,” said FBI agent R. Joseph Rothrock of the Baltimore Field Office said in the news release.. “The FBI would like to remind the public of the potential dangers of operating a drone in violation of federal laws and regulations.”

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  15. Jerry Rosburg is set to return to the Ravens.

    The team’s former longtime special teams coach will be back in Baltimore, according to a source with direct knowledge of the situation. NFL Network reported that he will have a role focused on game management. Rosburg, 68, was most recently with the Denver Broncos, where he served as an assistant under coach Nathaniel Hackett in 2022 and then as interim coach for two games after Hackett was fired in December of that season.

    Before that, Rosburg was Baltimore’s special teams coordinator from 2008 to 2018 before retiring.

    Rosburg was also the special teams coordinator for the Atlanta Falcons in 2007 and the Cleveland Browns from 2001 to 2006. He is close with Ravens coach John Harbaugh as well and attended some of the team’s practices this past season.

    “He’s been the best associate head coach and the best friend that a head coach can have,” Harbaugh said of Rosburg in 2019. “Without Jerry Rosburg here, there’s no way we would have had the success that we’ve had.”

    Rosburg’s relationship with Harbaugh extends back a ways. He coached with Harbaugh at the University of Cincinnati from 1992 to 1995, then joined the Ravens when Baltimore hired Harbaugh as head coach in 2008.

    While in Baltimore, Rosburg helped turn the team’s special teams into one of the best in the NFL, with the Ravens’ unit ranking in the top five in each of his final seven seasons.

    This story might be updated.

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  16. Just one day after the Ravens’ 17-10 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC championship game, general manager Eric DeCosta arrived in Mobile, Alabama, for the annual Senior Bowl to observe some of the nation’s top draft prospects. As quickly as the Ravens’ dominant season ended, DeCosta and his staff turned their attention toward rebuilding the roster.

    “I don’t have the luxury of really dwelling on a season,” DeCosta said Friday at the team’s end-of-season news conference. “We’ve moved on. I know I’ve moved on. I think the scouts have moved on, and now we’re excited about the future.”

    That future will be shaped in large part by the NFL draft, which begins April 25 in Detroit. There’s still a Super Bowl to be played between the Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday, but it’s never too early to start thinking about next year’s rookie class.

    With the draft order one game away from being officially set, here are The Baltimore Sun’s projections for the first two rounds:

    1. Chicago Bears (via Carolina Panthers): Caleb Williams, QB, USC

    The Bears still have a decision to make with Justin Fields, but it makes the most sense to trade him and bring in a cost-controlled rookie. The 6-foot-1, 215-pound Williams has the creativity and scrambling ability to be a star, though he’ll have to find the right balance between playing on schedule and hunting for big plays.

    2. Washington Commanders: Jayden Daniels, QB, LSU

    There’s a lot of Lamar Jackson to Daniels’ game, and that should be exciting for a franchise that has lacked star power since the early years of Robert Griffin III. The 6-4, 210-pound Daniels is lean and doesn’t always protect himself in the open field, but he’s a smooth passer with electric feet who could become an elite dual-threat player.

    3. New England Patriots: Drake Maye, QB, North Carolina

    Maybe the Patriots are confident enough in their evaluations to trade down and pass on a quarterback here, but it would be quite the gamble. The 6-4, 230-pound Maye might be the third player off the board here, but he has the athletic traits and competitiveness to be the best from this class when it’s all said and done.

    4. Arizona Cardinals: Marvin Harrison Jr., WR, Ohio State

    This might be the most popular mock draft pairing, and for good reason. The Cardinals have a glaring need at wide receiver, and the 6-4, 205-pound Harrison is perhaps the best one to enter the draft since Ja’Marr Chase. Quarterback Kyler Murray should be happy.

    FILE -Georgia tight end Brock Bowers (19) runs the ball after a catch against Vanderbilt in the first half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Oct. 14, 2023, in Nashville, Tenn. Junior tight end Brock Bowers, who led No. 6 Georgia in receiving despite missing four games, confirmed his plans to enter the NFL draft on Tuesday night, Jan. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/George Walker IV, File)
    Georgia tight end Brock Bowers could be the Chargers’ first draft pick of the Jim Harbaugh era. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

    5. Los Angeles Chargers: Brock Bowers, TE, Georgia

    With Keenan Allen and Mike Williams both entering the final years of their contracts and Quentin Johnston coming off a disappointing rookie season, wide receiver should be at the top of the Chargers’ wish list. But new coach Jim Harbaugh made tight ends a big part of his passing game at Michigan and should fall in love with the 6-4, 240-pound Bowers, who looked ready for the NFL as a freshman.

    6. New York Giants: Rome Odunze, WR, Washington

    It would not be shocking to see the Giants reach for a quarterback here and look to move on from Daniel Jones in 2025. But if they do give Jones another chance, adding a stud receiver like the 6-3, 215-pound Odunze, a versatile and polished prospect coming off a dominant season, would give the offense a fighting chance.

    7. Tennessee Titans: Malik Nabers, WR, LSU

    New coach Brian Callahan comes from Cincinnati, which enjoyed an embarrassment of riches at wide receiver during his time there. The Titans need more talent at the position to help quarterback Will Levis grow, and the 6-foot, 200-pound Nabers is an electric playmaker who would immediately give opposing defensive coordinators someone to worry about.

    8. Atlanta Falcons: Dallas Turner, EDGE, Alabama

    The Falcons have selected just one defensive player (cornerback AJ Terrell) in the first round in their past six drafts. That changes with new coach Raheem Morris, who takes over after serving as the Rams’ defensive coordinator. The 6-4, 245-pound Turner should help provide the pass-rushing punch this team has lacked for years.

    9. Chicago Bears: Terrion Arnold, CB, Alabama

    With the top receivers off the board, this feels like an easy decision. The NFC North is loaded with receiving talent, and star cornerback Jaylon Johnson could be headed elsewhere. The 6-foot, 196-pound Arnold is a fast-rising prospect who has earned the label of the top corner in this class.

    10. New York Jets: Joe Alt, OT, Notre Dame

    Didn’t this work out nicely for the Jets? The offensive line needs an upgrade at left tackle, even if Aaron Rodgers’ old friend David Bakhtiari makes his way to New York. The 6-8, 322-pound Alt was dominant in college and can help keep Rodgers clean as the 40-year-old quarterback returns from a torn Achilles tendon.

    11. Minnesota Vikings: Jared Verse, EDGE, Florida State

    The Vikings need to rebuild their defensive line this offseason, especially if they lose Danielle Hunter in free agency. The 6-4, 248-pound Verse plays with an edge and would be a great fit for defensive coordinator Brian Flores.

    Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy (9) reacts after running back Blake Corum scored a touchdown during overtime at the Rose Bowl CFP NCAA semifinal college football game against Alabama Monday, Jan. 1, 2024, in Pasadena, Calif. (AP Photo/Kyusung Gong)
    Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy could be the replacement for Russell Wilson in Denver. (AP Photo/Kyusung Gong)

    12. Denver Broncos: J.J. McCarthy, QB, Michigan

    The Broncos made Russell Wilson the scapegoat for their failed 2023 season, so it seems likely they’ll go in a new direction at quarterback. The 6-3, 202-pound McCarthy did not always look the part of a first-round pick in college, but he’s young, athletic and went 27-1 as the starter for the reigning national champions. Coach Sean Payton might see a ball of clay he can mold into a star.

    13. Las Vegas Raiders: Olumuyiwa Fashanu, OT, Penn State

    The Raiders have three starting offensive linemen headed for free agency, including right tackle Jermaine Eluemunor. The 6-6, 317-pound Fashanu did not become the top-five lock many expected him to be after a breakout 2022 season, but he’s still an elite prospect.

    14. New Orleans Saints: Taliese Fuaga, OT, Oregon State

    The Saints, who whiffed on Trevor Penning and are facing an uncertain future with Ryan Ramczyk, need to get better up front. The 6-6, 325-pound Fuaga, a dominant run blocker, could play tackle or kick inside to guard.

    15. Indianapolis Colts: Quinyon Mitchell, CB, Toledo

    Even if the Colts bring back pending free agent Kenny Moore II, cornerback should be an area of focus this offseason. The 6-1, 200-pound Mitchell cemented his status as a first-round pick with his standout performance at the Senior Bowl.

    16. Seattle Seahawks: Troy Fautanu, OT/G, Washington

    New coach Mike Macdonald might want to go defense here to recapture some of the magic of his Ravens units, but the offensive line needs improvement. The 6-4, 317-pound Fautanu played left tackle at Washington but can also step in at guard.

    17. Jacksonville Jaguars: Brian Thomas Jr., WR, LSU

    There are plenty of areas for the Jaguars to improve after their late-season collapse, and wide receiver jumps near the top of the list if Calvin Ridley doesn’t return. With his size and speed, the 6-4, 205-pound Thomas would give quarterback Trevor Lawrence a big-play threat.

    18. Cincinnati Bengals: JC Latham, OT, Alabama

    The Bengals can’t mess around when it comes to improving their offensive line. The 6-6, 335-pound Latham is a bowling ball in the running game and can anchor the right side of the line to protect quarterback Joe Burrow.

    19. Los Angeles Rams: Laiatu Latu, EDGE, UCLA

    Maybe the Rams see an opportunity to draft and develop a young quarterback behind Matthew Stafford, but that doesn’t seem like something coach Sean McVay and general manager Les Snead have the patience for. The 6-4, 265-pound Latu isn’t the quickest or strongest athlete, but he’s a relentless, skilled pass rusher who piled up 23 1/2 sacks over the past two seasons.

    Iowa defensive back Cooper DeJean (3) returns a punt during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Western Michigan, Sept. 16, 2023, in Iowa City, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, file)
    Iowa defensive back Cooper DeJean might be a fit in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, file)

    20. Pittsburgh Steelers: Cooper DeJean, CB/S, Iowa

    Rookie cornerback Joey Porter Jr. breathed some new life into an aging secondary, but the Steelers shouldn’t stop there. The 6-1, 209-pound DeJean is an outstanding athlete who can line up all over the defense and wreak havoc.

    21. Miami Dolphins: Jackson Powers-Johnson, G/C, Oregon

    Perhaps the biggest winner of the Senior Bowl, Powers-Johnson is gaining steam as a potential top-20 pick. The Dolphins might lose both their starting center and right guard, opening a spot for the 6-3, 320-pound lineman to step in immediately.

    22. Philadelphia Eagles: Amarius Mims, OT, Georgia

    The Georgia-to-Philadelphia pipeline continues, this time on offense. The Eagles love to draft linemen early, and the 6-7, 330-pound Mims offers an extremely high ceiling despite making just eight college starts. This feels like a natural succession plan for right tackle Lane Johnson.

    23. Houston Texans (via Cleveland Browns): Byron Murphy II, DT, Texas

    For the Texans to return to the playoffs, the defense needs to be retooled quickly. The 6-1, 308-pound Murphy is an explosive athlete who can make an impact as both a run defender and a pass rusher for defensive-minded coach DeMeco Ryans.

    24. Dallas Cowboys: Tyler Guyton, OT, Oklahoma

    Star left tackle Tyron Smith is a pending free agent at 33 years old and Terence Steele was one of the league’s worst right tackles last season. The 6-7, 327-pound Guyton, who stood out during Senior Bowl practices, has room to grow for a franchise that has always valued the offensive line.

    25. Green Bay Packers: Nate Wiggins, CB, Clemson

    The Packers covet athleticism and physical traits, and the 6-2, 185-pound Wiggins checks all the boxes in that regard. Offensive line could be in play here too, but the secondary is a more pressing need.

    Florida State wide receiver Keon Coleman (4) runs on a punt return during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Syracuse, Saturday, Oct. 14, 2023, in Tallahassee, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)
    Florida State wide receiver Keon Coleman would be a worthy successor to Mike Evans in Tampa Bay. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)

    26. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Keon Coleman, WR, Florida State

    It would be strange to see Mike Evans playing in anything other than a Buccaneers uniform, but there’s no guarantee the pending free agent returns for an 11th season in Tampa Bay. The 6-4, 215-pound Coleman would be a worthy successor with his size and ability to make contested catches.

    27. Arizona Cardinals (via Houston): Jer’Zhan Newton, DT, Illinois

    Coach Jonathan Gannon simply needs more playmakers for his league-worst defense. The 6-2, 295-pound Newton doesn’t have ideal size or length, but he’s disruptive and tough to block.

    28. Buffalo Bills: Adonai Mitchell, WR, Texas

    Even if you think the lack of production from Stefon Diggs down the stretch was overblown, the Bills could stand to add another receiver, especially a cheap one. The 6-4, 196-pound Mitchell could be the steal of the first round after flashing some highlight-reel plays in college.

    29. Detroit Lions: Ennis Rakestraw Jr., CB, Missouri

    The Lions’ secondary struggled to overcome injuries this past season, particularly at outside corner. The 6-foot, 188-pound Rakestraw is tough and physical and a perfect fit for what Detroit wants to build on defense.

    30. Ravens: Darius Robinson, DL/EDGE, Missouri

    With several pending free agents on defense, including Justin Madubuike, Jadeveon Clowney and Kyle Van Noy, the Ravens need plenty of help to reach the heights of their league-best unit under Macdonald. The Athletic’s draft guru Dane Brugler labeled Robinson a player the Ravens would love because of his size, skill set and versatility. At 6-5 and 295 pounds, he’s an imposing presence who can hold the edge against the run and also rush the passer from the interior. A standout week at the Senior Bowl has pushed him into the first-round conversation.

    31. San Francisco 49ers: Graham Barton, OT/G, Duke

    With experience at both left tackle and center, where he’s projected to play at the next level, the 6-5, 314-pound Barton provides valuable depth at perhaps the only weak spot on the 49ers’ roster.

    32. Kansas City Chiefs: Jordan Morgan, OT, Arizona

    Everyone wants to give the Chiefs a wide receiver in the first round, but there are more important positions to address with several starters entering free agency. The 6-6, 320-pound Morgan could be the long-term answer at left tackle.

    Second round

    33. Carolina Panthers: Devontez Walker, WR, North Carolina

    34. New England Patriots: Bralen Trice, EDGE, Washington

    35. Arizona Cardinals: Kool-Aid McKinstry, CB, Alabama

    36. Washington Commanders: Chop Robinson, EDGE, Penn State

    37. Los Angeles Chargers: Junior Colson, LB, Michigan

    38. Tennessee Titans: T’Vondre Sweat, DT, Texas

    39. New York Giants: Bo Nix, QB, Oregon

    40. Washington Commanders (via Chicago): Zach Frazier, G/C, West Virginia

    41. Green Bay Packers (via N.Y. Jets): Kingsley Suamataia, OT, BYU

    42. Minnesota Vikings: Kamari Lassiter, CB, Georgia

    43. Atlanta Falcons: Troy Franklin, WR, Oregon

    44. Las Vegas Raiders: Michael Penix Jr., QB, Washington

    45. New Orleans Saints (via Denver): Kris Jenkins, DT, Michigan

    46. Indianapolis Colts: Ja’Lynn Polk, WR, Washington

    47. New York Giants (via Seattle): Chris Braswell, EDGE, Alabama

    48. Jacksonville Jaguars: Tyler Nubin, S, Minnesota

    49. Cincinnati Bengals: Ladd McConkey, WR, Georgia

    50. Philadelphia Eagles (via New Orleans): T.J. Tampa, CB, Iowa State

    51. Pittsburgh Steelers: Patrick Paul, OT, Houston

    52. Los Angeles Rams: Calen Bullock, S, USC

    53. Philadelphia Eagles: Edgerrin Cooper, LB, Texas A&M

    54. Cleveland Browns: Xavier Worthy, WR, Texas

    55. Miami Dolphins: Ja’Tavion Sanders, TE, Texas

    56. Dallas Cowboys: Kamren Kinchens, S, Miami

    57. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Payton Wilson, LB, NC State

    58. Green Bay Packers: Javon Bullard, S, Georgia

    59. Houston Texans: Dominick Puni, OT/G, Kansas

    60. Buffalo Bills: Jonah Elliss, EDGE, Utah

    61. Detroit Lions: Marshawn Kneeland, EDGE, Western Michigan

    62. Ravens: Kiran Amegadjie, OT, Yale

    63. San Francisco 49ers: Adisa Isaac, EDGE, Penn State

    64. Kansas City Chiefs: Malachi Corley, WR, Western Kentucky

    View the full article

  17. The Ravens are losing another assistant from their defensive staff.

    Baltimore defensive line coach and assistant head coach Anthony Weaver has agreed to become the Miami Dolphins’ defensive coordinator, according to a source with direct knowledge of the deal. He’s the third defensive assistant to leave the Ravens this offseason after defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald was named head coach of the Seattle Seahawks and defensive backs coach Dennard Wilson was hired as the Tennessee Titans’ defensive coordinator.

    Weaver, 43, had head coaching interviews with the Atlanta Falcons, Washington Commanders and Carolina Panthers. He has ties to Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel, whom he previously worked with in Cleveland.

    In Friday’s end-of-season news conference, Ravens coach John Harbaugh said he was unsure whether Weaver would stay but predicted he would become “a great head coach” one day.

    “He didn’t get hired this cycle, and great coaches got hired, but someday, some people are going to look back, and they’re going to say, ‘We had a chance to hire Anthony Weaver.’ I guarantee you that,” Harbaugh said. “They’re going to see that they missed their chance. The next time around, somebody’s not going to miss their chance. That’s how I feel about Anthony.”

    The Ravens on Thursday promoted 31-year-old inside linebackers coach Zach Orr to defensive coordinator over Weaver, who was also a candidate for the job before Macdonald was hired in 2022. Harbaugh said Friday he’s confident in his remaining staff to rebuild a defense that became the first team to lead the NFL in sacks, takeaways and points allowed this past season.

    “The guys that we have on defense and some of the younger coaches that are already here including [outside linebackers coach] Chuck Smith — those guys are going to build another great defense, and I’m going to be in the middle of it, just like I’m in the middle of the offense and special teams,” he said. “I’m going to lean on those guys and trust those guys and empower those guys to build a great defense.”

    Weaver joined the Ravens in 2021 as the run game coordinator and defensive line coach after spending four seasons with the Houston Texans, where he became defensive coordinator in 2020.

    In Houston, his defense ranked 30th in yards (416.8) and 27th in points (29) allowed per game, but the unit had very little talent outside of then-31-year-old defensive lineman J.J. Watt. Four of the team’s top five players in total tackles that season are either out of the league or playing reserve roles elsewhere.

    During Weaver’s time in Baltimore, the Ravens’ defensive line has consistently been among the league’s best, particularly against the run.

    A 2002 second-round draft pick by the Ravens out of Notre Dame, Weaver played seven seasons in the NFL with Baltimore and Houston before joining the coaching ranks in 2010 as a graduate assistant at Florida under coach Urban Meyer. He’s also spent time on staff with the New York Jets (2012), Buffalo Bills (2013) and Browns (2014-15).

    In Miami, Weaver takes over for Vic Fangio, who left after one season to become the Philadelphia Eagles’ defensive coordinator. The Dolphins ranked 22nd in points (23) and 10th in yards (318.3) allowed per game in 2023 while dealing with a slew of injuries to cornerbacks Jalen Ramsey and Xavien Howard and pass rushers Jaelan Phillips and Bradley Chubb. Miami, once a contender to secure the AFC’s top seed before suffering a 56-19 loss to the Ravens in Week 17, finished the regular season 11-6 and lost to the Kansas City Chiefs, 26-7, in the wild-card round.

    This story might be updated.

    View the full article

  18. Ravens fans are still processing their intense disappointment with the team’s letdown performance against the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC championship game. In their season-ending news conference, coach John Harbaugh and general manager Eric DeCosta said the loss hurt them too, but they see a team that’s still on a winning course as they begin an offseason filled with difficult roster decisions.

    Here are three takeaways from Harbaugh and DeCosta’s 42-minute question-and-answer session.

    The Ravens brain trust does not see a failed process behind the team’s playoff disappointments

    If exasperated fans were hoping to hear Harbaugh and DeCosta speak in terms of crisis management, Friday’s news conference was not for them.

    Harbaugh conceded that the Ravens did not run as much as planned against the Chiefs after falling behind early and said he sees validity in fan frustrations with the Ravens’ execution in recent elimination games, going back to their divisional round loss against the Tennessee Titans four years ago.

    But he did not betray any dissatisfaction with the preparations that led to those defeats or any feeling that his team lost its identity with a trip to the Super Bowl on the line.

    “It was the same team. It was the same guys. It’s the game plan that was devised against that particular team that day,” he said. “But we didn’t play better than the team we played. They had the better game plan. They executed their game plan better. They made some great throws, some great catches, a few great runs. … We didn’t come up with those great plays. In that sense, it’s not the same team. But in the sense of the effort, the preparation, what we bring to the table schematically, it was exactly the same team. It was just a different result.

    “Every single team is going to have that feeling after losing in the playoffs. I feel the same way. I’m telling you, I’m heartbroken that we didn’t win that game at home.”

    That answer won’t be entirely satisfying for fans who might have accepted the loss more calmly if the Ravens had at least put their best foot forward. Plenty of skeptics believe the Ravens will win a bunch of games again next year only to run into the same wall come January.

    Harbaugh and DeCosta painted a very different picture and said owner Steve Bisciotti is equally optimistic about the path forward.

    “I think Steve was extremely happy that we could bring an AFC championship game to Baltimore, and I think he was just really happy with the season in general,” DeCosta said. “He’s a huge draftnik, so I think he’s starting to look at that. It’s always hard for all of us. We all love what we do, and we want to see this thing finish in a great way, but it didn’t. That’s a challenge for everybody, but we move on, and we get excited.”

    • Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh, left, and general manager,...

      Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh, left, and general manager, Eric DeCosta hold an end of season press conference in Owings Mills, Md. (Kevin Richardson/Staff)

    • Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh, left, and general manager,...

      Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh, left, and general manager, Eric DeCosta hold an end of season press conference in Owings Mills, Md. (Kevin Richardson/Staff)

    • Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh, left, and general manager,...

      Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh, left, and general manager, Eric DeCosta hold an end of season press conference in Owings Mills, Md. (Kevin Richardson/Staff)

    • Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh, left, and general manager,...

      Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh, left, and general manager, Eric DeCosta, not shown, hold an end of season press conference in Owings Mills, Md. (Kevin Richardson/Staff)

    • Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh, left, and general manager,...

      Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh, left, and general manager, Eric DeCosta hold an end of season press conference in Owings Mills, Md. (Kevin Richardson/Staff)

    • Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh, left, and general manager,...

      Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh, left, and general manager, Eric DeCosta hold an end of season press conference in Owings Mills, Md. (Kevin Richardson/Staff)

    • Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh, left, and general manager,...

      Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh, left, and general manager, Eric DeCosta hold an end of season press conference in Owings Mills, Md. (Kevin Richardson/Staff)

    • Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh, left, and general manager,...

      Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh, left, and general manager, Eric DeCosta hold an end of season press conference in Owings Mills, Md. (Kevin Richardson/Staff)

    • Ravens coach John Harbaugh, left, and general manager Eric DeCosta,...

      Ravens coach John Harbaugh, left, and general manager Eric DeCosta, right, see a team that's still on a winning course as they begin an offseason filled with difficult roster decisions. (Kevin Richardson/Staff)

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    Their affirming words extended to quarterback Lamar Jackson, whose record in playoff starts dropped to 2-4 with his subpar performance against the Chiefs.

    “I had a great conversation with Lamar yesterday,” Harbaugh said. “We were both in lockstep, already thinking the same way.”

    He noted that the franchise quarterback is just coming off his first season in coordinator Todd Monken’s offense and will have an even greater role in crafting the attack going forward.

    “Lamar Jackson is a phenomenal success,” Harbaugh said. “There’s nobody better in this league, especially nobody better for the Baltimore Ravens, for this organization, for this city. I’m excited about taking this offense to the next level next year, an opportunity to pick up where we are and dig deeper with what we can give him. It’s like setting up a car; we’ve got to build a car. Lamar’s the driver, and he’s got to be involved in the set-up of the car, even more.”

    Nowhere in his words did he evince any concern that Jackson will never break his pattern of underwhelming playoff performances. No one could have expected different from Harbaugh. Jackson did deliver a terrific season that will almost certainly earn him his second NFL Most Valuable Player Award. And the Ravens have already built everything around him, both financially and schematically, so there’s really nowhere to go but forward.

    Eric DeCosta offered only the slightest hints to his plans for the team’s free agents

    DeCosta was asked about most of the key players approaching free agency — more than 20 Ravens in all — but set the tone for his responses early, nodding back to his protracted extension negotiations with Jackson last year.

    “I learned a lesson,” he said. “It’s beneficial to just not talk about things. There is a value sometimes in not eally showing your cards.”

    So he didn’t say much, whether the subject was defensive tackle Justin Madubuike, linebacker Patrick Queen or right guard Kevin Zeitler.

    Asked about the possibility of using the franchise tag to keep Madubuike off the market, he said, “Justin had a great year, as did Patrick Queen. … We’ll have a good plan in place for those guys.”

    A few minutes later, he said Queen has “put himself in a great position,” the type of comment he’d typically make about a player who will be too expensive to re-sign, much as guard Ben Powers was after last season.

    Meanwhile, he said he spoke to Zeitler last week, seeming to indicate that re-signing the dependable veteran might be a priority, if we’re reading between the lines.

    He gave no indication of whether he plans to pick up fifth-year options on the team’s 2021 first-round draft picks, wide receiver Rashod Bateman and outside linebacker Odafe Oweh. He and Harbaugh did push back on the notion that Bateman lacks chemistry with Jackson, with both predicting a 2024 breakout from the talented pass catcher after he banked a season’s worth of healthy reps this year.

    In sum, good luck guessing how the 2024 Ravens will look different from the 2023 edition based on anything DeCosta said Friday.

    The Ravens have great faith in their coaching and front office succession plan

    Harbaugh took a risk promoting 31-year old Zach Orr to fill Mike Macdonald’s boat-sized shoes at defensive coordinator. He had more experienced in-house options in Anthony Weaver, Chris Hewitt and Dennard Wilson, who left to take over the Titans’ defense. But he stuck to the same approach that led him to hire Macdonald two years ago, betting on a sharp, charismatic young linebackers coach who grew up in the Ravens’ system.

    “There’s no reason not to put Zach in that position in my mind, right now,” Harbaugh said. “I think he’ll do a great job, and I also think he’ll do a great job because of the support he’s going to get from two veteran coaches who are great coaches, Chris Hewitt and Anthony Weaver.”

    Harbaugh acknowledged Orr will have to “work through” becoming the team’s defensive play caller. Macdonald had done it at Michigan the year before he returned to the Ravens as the league’s youngest defensive coordinator in 2022. But Orr comes with the credibility of having played linebacker for the Ravens until 2016 and of having learned the art of coaching from Macdonald with some of the same players he’ll coordinate next season.

    Harbaugh’s choices at defensive coordinator have generally worked out, and he had no reason not to trust his judgment on Orr. If the Ravens hold on to Weaver, who’s still a candidate to take over the Miami Dolphins’ defense, all the better.

    “Those guys are going to build another great defense, and I’m going to be in the middle of it,” Harbaugh said. “But I’m going to lean on those guys and trust those guys and empower those guys to build a great defense. Zach is super-talented, super-enthusiastic, he’s very smart, he’s prepared for that job. He’s in the middle of the defense; I think when you’re a linebackers coach, that’s an advantage, because you understand the whole defense.”

    Joe Hortiz’s departure to become general manager of the Los Angeles Chargers did not create as much angst as the loss of Macdonald, but DeCosta said he’ll miss the man who has been his closest lieutenant in draft preparations for more than a decade. It’s a bittersweet parting, because Hortiz had deserved a chance to run his own team for years.

    At the same time, DeCosta expressed absolute confidence that the executives coming up behind Hortiz — assistant director of player personnel Mark Azevedo, director of college scouting David Blackburn — will thrive along with veteran director of pro personnel George Kokinas.

    “I really valued Joe as an evaluator and as a person, as a friend, but I think we have the people to take care of the process for us,” he said.

    When it comes to home growing coaches and future general managers, the Ravens have not lost their aura, as we saw from the rest of the league’s interest in poaching their people over the last few weeks.

    View the full article

  19. There was a lot to digest from the Ravens’ season-ending news conference with general manager Eric DeCosta and coach John Harbaugh on Friday in Owings Mills, which lasted just over 40 minutes. But for a fan base looking for answers five days after Baltimore was embarrassed by the Kansas City Chiefs, 17-10, in the AFC championship game at M&T Bank Stadium, there was little to ease the pain.

    One number that continued to stick out like a sore thumb less than a week after the Ravens’ season came to a stunning yet familiar end: six.

    That was the number of carries Baltimore running backs had in the game, with half of those coming in the first quarter alone. Incredibly, the Ravens ran the ball just 16 times compared with 37 passes, a stunningly disproportionate ratio for a team that, with a dynamic and explosive quarterback and strong ground game, had bullied its way to the NFL’s best record, the top seed in the AFC and home-field advantage.

    “That’s not the number you want to have,” Harbaugh said. “When you look back at it, that’s not going to win us an AFC championship.”

    It was also inexplicable for a team that led the league in rushing yards and indefensible against a Chiefs team that ranked 25th in the NFL in yards per carry allowed and had just surrendered 182 yards on 39 attempts against the Buffalo Bills the week before.

    Harbaugh said that running the ball, including several run-pass option plays, was a big part of the Ravens’ game plan but that the Chiefs took it away by lining up to stop the run and by putting Baltimore in a hole, dominating time of possession and scoring on each of their first two possessions.

    “It’s not an excuse,” he said. “Sometimes you want to run the ball more. Sometimes you gotta be willing to get big and run the ball that way. We just didn’t want to do it that way in the game.

    “You want to run the ball against the Chiefs.”

    And yet, the Ravens did not.

    Justice Hill had just three carries, two of them coming in the first quarter. Gus Edwards also had three, including one he popped for 15 yards in the first quarter on the Ravens’ second possession of the game.

    Ravens running back Gus Edwards, left, runs against Chiefs Justin Reid in the first quarter. The Chiefs defeated the Ravens 17-10 in the AFC Championship game. (Kenneth K. Lam/Staff)
    Ravens running back Gus Edwards, left, tries to get past Chiefs safety Justin Reid during the AFC championship game. Edwards had just three carries in the loss. (Kenneth K. Lam/Staff)

    Then there’s Jackson.

    Four years ago, he led the league in touchdown passes and set a single-season record for rushing yards by a quarterback on his way to being the unanimous choice for NFL Most Valuable Player. The Ravens went 14-2 in the regular season but fell on their face in a divisional round loss at home to the Tennessee Titans in which Jackson had three turnovers.

    Sunday, after another presumptive MVP season, he was on the precipice of his first Super Bowl and armed with the best collection of talent he’s had in his six years in Baltimore. Jackson ran the ball eight times for 54 yards, though there were plenty of opportunities in which he chose not to, instead opting to stay in the pocket. He also had two turnovers, with a fumble on a strip-sack after holding the ball too long and an interception after throwing into triple coverage in the fourth quarter.

    Harbaugh said he spoke with Jackson by phone Thursday and the two were in “lock step” on their plan of attack moving forward.

    But the stench of this loss will likely linger in Baltimore for months. Instead of playing in his first Super Bowl, Jackson and the Ravens were again bounced out of the playoffs in remarkably similar fashion to the way they were in 2019 and 2020, when the Ravens lost to the Bills, 17-3, in the divisional round.

    “Definitely a fair criticism because that’s what you see,” Harbaugh said. “You look at it, and it’s not the same. It wasn’t a 30-point win over a division leader, obviously, and that’s the result of it. It was the same team, it’s the same guys. It was the game plan that was devised against that particular team that day, but we didn’t play better than the team we played. They played better than us. They had a better game plan. They executed their game plan better. They made plays. They made some great throws, [and] great catches [and] a few great runs in the first half, especially, and they scored those points. Their defense came up and made plays. They tackled well. They kept us bottled up. They covered us well.

    “We didn’t come up with those great plays. That’s really the difference. So, in that sense, it’s not the same team, but the sense of the effort, the preparation, what we were bringing to the table, schematically, was exactly the same team, it was just a different result. Every single team in the league is going to have that feeling after losing in the playoffs. I get it, I feel the same way. I’m telling you, I’m heartbroken. I’m heartbroken. The fact that we didn’t win that game at home in front of our crowd for the first time in all these years and get a chance to play in the Super Bowl.”

    Instead, the Ravens now turn their focus to the offseason sooner than they hoped yet again.

    That started with replacing defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald, who earlier this week was named head coach of the Seattle Seahawks. As has often been the case, they promoted from within, with Harbaugh naming 31-year-old inside linebackers coach and former Ravens player Zach Orr to the position Thursday.

    “What made Zach so good as a player was [that] he had a great instinct for the game,” DeCosta said. “He was very, very quick to key and diagnose, and he played with a passion, and he was just relentless to the football. Those qualities make a great coach, so I have no doubt that Zach is going to be a great defensive coordinator and probably, if I had a crystal ball, a head coach someday.”

    What that means for associate head coach/defensive line coach Anthony Weaver remains to be seen.

    Weaver, 43, has been passed over for the job twice. He also interviewed for the Washington Commanders’ head coach opening before they hired Dan Quinn, and he remains in the mix for the Miami Dolphins’ defensive coordinator job.

    “If he gets that job, I’ll be happy for him, if he takes the job,” Harbaugh said. “But he’ll be a great head coach.”

    Meanwhile, DeCosta, who was at the Senior Bowl all week scouting college prospects, has already moved on and turned his attention to the Ravens’ more than 20 free agents and preparing for April’s draft.

    Most notable among Ravens players set to hit the open market is defensive tackle Justin Madbubuike, who led all interior linemen with 13 sacks this season. If the team uses a franchise tag on him, it would cost about $20 million.

    Baltimore Ravens defensive tackle Justin Madubuike sacks Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes during the AFC championship game against the Chiefs in Baltimore. (Jerry Jackson/Staff)
    Ravens defensive tackle Justin Madubuike sacks Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes during the AFC championship game. Madubuike is a pending free agent after a standout season. (Jerry Jackson/Staff)

    But DeCosta said he learned a lesson when handling Jackson’s contract negotiations last year and was mum on what his plans are for the 26-year-old rising defensive star and others, such as inside linebacker Patrick Queen. The Ravens didn’t pick up the 2020 first-round draft pick’s fifth-year option last year, meaning Queen will be an expensive free agent after posting a career high in tackles and being selected to his first Pro Bowl.

    “You never know,” DeCosta said when asked if he regretted that decision. “If you pick up an option, that’s less money you can spend on somebody else, so how do those dominos fall? Really hard to say. I can say that Patrick … he had an excellent season, a Pro Bowl season. His future is extremely bright.”

    What the Ravens’ immediate future looks like, however, is a bit more murky, given staff departures, free agency and their history in big moments in recent years.

    Harbaugh is optimistic, of course. He has no other choice.

    “Unless you don’t make the playoffs, your last game is not a success unless you win the Super Bowl,” Harbaugh said. “When you don’t win the last game, especially at home, AFC championship game, which is so rare and so hard to get to … is it success [or] is it a failure?

    “Lamar Jackson is a phenomenal success. … There’s nobody better in this league, especially nobody better for the Baltimore Ravens and for this organization and for this city and just from a historical perspective. I’m excited about the future. I’m excited about taking this offense to the next level next year.”

    View the full article

  20. The Ravens were the best team in football, right up until the last Sunday of their season, when they failed to muster a representative performance against the Kansas City Chiefs with a Super Bowl trip on the line. How do we weigh that final failure against the many successes from their previous 18 games? Where do they go from here?

    Here are five things we learned from the 2023 season.

    Lamar Jackson still has a hump to get over

    We start with the Ravens’ most important player, the man who will almost certainly receive his second NFL Most Valuable Player Award a few days before the Super Bowl he planned to play in.

    Jackson seemed to hit a new level of preparedness in the days leading up to his showdown with the Chiefs and the gold standard at his position, Patrick Mahomes. He was eager and intently focused on the task at hand but also loose. Teammates expressed complete faith in his command of an offense that first-year coordinator Todd Monken placed in his hands. He had steered it impeccably in late-season blowouts of the San Francisco 49ers and Miami Dolphins and again in the Ravens’ divisional round win over the Houston Texans. He had put to rest old narratives about how you could beat him with relentless blitzes or by forcing him to throw from the pocket.

    Which made his flustered performance against the Chiefs all the more puzzling. Yes, Monken could have called a better game, could have attacked a suspect run defense with Jackson’s legs and those of Gus Edwards and Justice Hill, who combined for six carries. Even so, if Jackson had played a normal game, reflective of his 2023 season, the Ravens probably would have won. Instead, we saw him hold the ball too long on some plays, rush throws with sloppy mechanics on others. His downfield radar was off, and with victory still very much in reach in the fourth quarter, he threw a crushing interception into triple coverage. Jackson is an emotive player even when things are going well, but his anger was apparent when he spiked his helmet after that last turnover.

    So how do we reconcile that performance with the player who could not have done any more to lift the Ravens to a No. 1 seed? How do we account for the discrepancy between his 58-19 career record and 98 passer rating in the regular season and his 2-4 record and 75.7 rating in the postseason? Will experience help him make that last step, the way great players such as Peyton Manning and John Elway did before him?

    If there are demons gnawing at Jackson in relation to his playoff disappointments, he never lets on. He’s always calm in the aftermath — angry about what happened in the game but resolute that he’ll work harder and do better the next time.

    It’s fascinating to ponder how the Ravens can help him from here. They built last offseason around Jackson, signing and drafting wide receivers and replacing Greg Roman with Monken, who seemed to click with the quarterback. It all worked right up until the AFC championship game, when it didn’t.

    Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson heads out to practice for the Divisional Round of the 2024 NFL Playoffs in Baltimore. (Karl Merton Ferron/Staff Photo)
    Lamar Jackson will be back at the center of an unpleasantly familiar narrative in 2024. (Karl Merton Ferron/Staff)

    There will be changes going into next season. Wide receivers Odell Beckham Jr. and Nelson Agholor are free agents. Rashod Bateman, the team’s 2021 first-round draft pick, did a great job getting open and staying on the field this year, but he and Jackson have yet to find real chemistry. Tight ends Mark Andrews and Isaiah Likely are terrific, but can they both thrive in the same game?

    Monken will still call the plays but will face an extra layer of skepticism from fans because of the Chiefs stinker.

    And Jackson will be back at the center of an unpleasantly familiar narrative, celebrated for all he does but with a hint of doubt until he does it on the grandest stage.

    That final loss sent Ravens fans spiraling, but the team can’t overreact to it

    Steve Bisciotti, on the rare occasions he speaks publicly, will tell you he reacts to bad losses with fierce dismay, much like any fan of the team he owns. He’ll add that he does not make major decisions in those hours and days when his emotions are spiking.

    His tempered style, which he brought to the franchise and was reinforced by longtime general manager Ozzie Newsome, is by now the official mood of the Ravens. They don’t rush. They don’t reset based on small samples. They aspire to be urgent but never drastic.

    And that was the last thing fervent fans wanted to hear in the days after they sat numbly through the Ravens’ tepid performance against the Chiefs. It was the fourth time in the past six seasons the team came up conspicuously small in an elimination game with Jackson as quarterback and Harbaugh as coach. Meanwhile, the one guy who clearly figured it out against the Chiefs, defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald, is now the Seahawks’ head coach.

    A loud contingent of fans online jumped to an aggressive conclusion: Harbaugh, who had just coached the Ravens to the league’s best record in his 16th season, should be dumped (or “elevated” to a front office job) to clear space for his protege, Macdonald, who might be the next Bill Belichick for all we know. At the very least, they hoped Bisciotti would pony up a hefty salary to keep Macdonald in place as a coach in waiting, much as he had in creating a plan for Eric DeCosta to succeed Newsome.

    The following is not meant as a slight on Macdonald, who at age 36 is incredibly impressive in preparation, player relations and game management, but such a move would have violated everything we’ve learned about the way Bisciotti’s Ravens do business.

    Harbaugh has made the playoffs 11 times in 16 seasons and has won at least one playoff game in eight of those postseasons. The team he just coached was his best by many analytical measures and came within seven points of reaching the Super Bowl, even on an off day against the best quarterback of our time. Players still respond to him over the six-month grind of a season. Beckham, for example, said Harbaugh would be on his “Mt. Rushmore of coaches” because of the genuine connections he forges. For his part, Harbaugh said during a recent conversation that he still feels “like a young coach” at age 61. He helped build the culture in which Macdonald learned to excel at his craft.

    That’s not to dismiss the flaws highlighted by the Kansas City loss. Whatever arrangement Harbaugh maintains with Monken, he was unable to help shock the Ravens’ offense back into rhythm, to bring the team’s powerful ground game to bear against a vulnerable Chiefs defensive front. As good as he is at managing the Ravens’ big picture, Harbaugh’s best teams of the past five years, this one and 2019, proved curiously unable to assert their style in playoff losses.

    It’s hard to know what grand lesson to draw from this, especially for a coach whose teams perhaps overperformed in the playoffs early in his career. These disappointments cannot be ignored, but they should not prompt Bisciotti to burn his sturdy castle to the ground. That’s not the owner’s style, and there’s simply not much evidence that a Ravens roster talented enough to make another deep push in 2024 has tuned Harbaugh out.

    And, oh by the way, the move to replace Macdonald with Zach Orr — a young, sharp, personable coach who might have gone to work for his old boss in Seattle if Harbaugh had not promoted him — was pure Ravens. They applaud when head coaching chances arise for their assistants and often have a promising in-house candidate primed to step up. It’s a healthy ecosystem.

    Baltimore Ravens' Justin Madubuike takes the field as the Ravens prepare to host the Houston Texans in the divisional playoff at M&T Bank Stadium. (Jerry Jackson/Staff photo)
    Justin Madubuike, a free agent to be, could easily command a -0 million deal on the open market. (Jerry Jackson/Staff)

    Justin Madubuike is the player who must be kept

    DeCosta is in for a busy few months, with more than 20 players — including 2023 standouts Patrick Queen, Jadeveon Clowney, Kevin Zeitler, Kyle Van Noy and Geno Stone — headed for unrestricted free agency.

    How painful would it be for the Ravens to wave goodbye to Zeitler, still the team’s most dependable offensive lineman at age 33 and a deeply respected citizen of the locker room, or Queen, who made the Pro Bowl in his fourth season while wincing and limping through injuries? Very.

    But one impending free agent nudged ahead of the others on the indispensability power rankings, and that’s Madubuike, who just put together the best interior pass rushing season we’ve seen from a Raven.

    This franchise has lined up some magnificent behemoths on the interior, from Sam Adams and Tony Siragusa on the 2000 Super Bowl team to two-time All-Pro Haloti Ngata on Harbaugh’s early teams. None of them got to quarterbacks as persistently as Madubuike did in 2023, when he put himself in a rare class of interior linemen topped by the likes of Aaron Donald and Chris Jones. These guys are so rare that Madubuike could easily command a $100 million deal on the open market.

    No one has to tell the Ravens their fourth-year defensive tackle is special. They watched his incremental, dogged improvement over three seasons, even as he achieved big-time results only in flashes. They celebrated with him as all the pieces came together, as he produced multiple pressures in all but two games this season, with seven in the divisional round win over the Texans and six in the loss to the Chiefs. At age 26, Madubuike is just now entering his prime.

    Which is why DeCosta cannot let him walk, even if that means using the franchise tag while extension negotiations continue. We’ve watched the Ravens use this tool with foundational talents. They have not developed and kept a great pass rusher since Terrell Suggs, but Madubuike is that guy.

    2023 NFL: Seattle Seahawks at Baltimore Ravens
    Baltimore Ravens guard Kevin Zeitler stretches before the start of NFL football against the Seattle Seahawks in Baltimore Sunday Nov. 5, 2023.(Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun Staff)
    Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun
    Ravens right guard Kevin Zeitler is set to become a free agent. (Karl Merton Ferron/Staff)

    It’s time for the Ravens to build their offensive line of the future

    DeCosta and Harbaugh have said repeatedly that no offensive tweaks amount to more than a hill of beans without a top offensive line as the foundation.

    The Ravens’ line held up its end of the bargain in 2023, even as the coaching staff had to help tackles Ronnie Stanley and Morgan Moses play through lingering injuries by rotating in Patrick Mekari and Daniel Faalele. But this was a veteran group. Stanley will be 30 and Moses 33 at the start of next season. Zeitler, whom the Ravens would have to re-sign, will be 34.

    The Ravens could go the experienced route again in 2024, figuring the short-term play is a smart one for a contender, but the odds of any of these guys being around in 2025 are probably 50-50 at best.

    DeCosta could also go the other way and move on from Moses and Zeitler, though they have given the Ravens very good work at a modest cost. Though the Ravens would eat almost $18 million in dead money if they cut Stanley before June 1, he’s also not the foundational piece he was four years ago.

    Center Tyler Linderbaum made the Pro Bowl in his second season and is the one guaranteed building block. His locker room sparring buddy, Mekari, is a capable tackle, even if the Ravens prefer him in a super-utility role. Faalele made strides in his second season, but it’s not clear he’s nimble enough as a pass blocker or powerful enough as a run blocker to start. John Simpson performed competently at left guard, but he’s still penalty-prone and headed for free agency regardless.

    DeCosta used a 2023 seventh-round pick on Andrew Vorhees and stashed him as an injury redshirt, but it would be a big ask to plug the powerful former USC star in as a day-one starter at guard. Sixth-round pick Malaesala Aumavae-Laulu gave little indication he was ready to help this season after he briefly appeared in line to start ahead of Simpson early in training camp.

    Though the stories are different for each player, the collective message is apparent: The Ravens don’t have all the linemen they will need to protect Jackson in 2024, much less 2025 and 2026. DeCosta has to draft blockers who are ready to play right away. There’s no clearer priority for this year’s draft.

    Ravens vs. Browns
    Ravens safety Kyle Hamilton (14) celebrates his interception return for a touchdown against the Browns with linebacker Roquan Smith on Nov. 12 at M&T Bank Stadium.
    Kenneth K. Lam/Baltimore Sun
    Roquan Smith, left, and Kyle Hamilton will keep the Ravens’ defense humming in 2024. (Kenneth K. Lam/Staff)

    Roquan Smith and Kyle Hamilton will keep the defense humming

    In the final tally, we can’t put the Ravens’ 2023 defense ahead of the 2000 edition that carried the franchise to its first Super Bowl with Ray Lewis at his absolute zenith. But it belongs in that next tier with the 2006 crew, which allowed the fewest points and yards in the league while ranking second in sacks and takeaways and sending five players to the Pro Bowl. Like this year’s defense, that one did its part in an agonizing playoff defeat (the infamous divisional round game that Peyton Manning’s Indianapolis Colts won without scoring a touchdown).

    Anyhow, the Ravens came at opponents in so many ways, from Madubuike’s relentless inside pressure to Clowney’s still formidable power off the edge to a disciplined secondary that was rarely beaten over the top. Macdonald delighted in mixing and matching all the pieces at his disposal, blitzing cornerbacks while nose tackles dropped into coverage and looping defensive tackles behind oncoming inside linebackers at the line of scrimmage. They had an answer for everyone, even the great Mahomes after he carved them up on the first two drives of the AFC championship game.

    For all this group’s versatility and unselfishness, its breakout stars were clear. It’s blasphemy in Baltimore to compare a middle linebacker and a safety with Lewis and Ed Reed, but it’s difficult not to think in those terms with Smith and Hamilton.

    Smith has overtly taken up Lewis’ shield with his fiery pregame speeches — he “brought the Ray Lewis juice” back to Baltimore, in Jackson’s words — and sideline-to-sideline hunting of ball carriers. His play slipped a bit at the end of the year as he nursed a significant pectoral injury, but there’s no denying the Ravens’ defense took off when he arrived midway through the 2022 season and has never looked back. Even other star players defer to him as the alpha. Beckham said he’s never had a better teammate. Cornerback Marlon Humphrey said Smith kept his spirits up when he was trying to come back from a calf injury. Smith doesn’t mind a cliche or two about protecting his home when he’s hyping a matchup, but there’s an authenticity to his personal interactions that keeps any of it from feeling hokey.

    If Smith is the voice and soul of the defense, Hamilton is its most unique talent. He doesn’t much resemble Reed, who could change a game at any moment by out-thinking the quarterback. But his 6-foot-4, 220-pound frame makes him such an unusual weapon around the line of scrimmage, where he blitzes, dives in to drop ball carriers and glides laterally to defend screens with equal facility. All that and he can still cover Travis Kelce step for step. Hamilton was the best Raven on the field against the Chiefs, much as he had been in the team’s playoff loss to the Cincinnati Bengals a year earlier. It was not uncommon to hear smart evaluators call him the best safety in the sport in recent weeks. He’s whip-smart — remember, secondary coach Chris Hewitt said he never made the same mistake twice, even when he was a struggling rookie — and professional off the field. It will be an upset if Hamilton does not end up in the Ravens’ Ring of Honor.

    Orr won’t have all the same players in his first season as defensive coordinator, but he’ll be off to quite a start with this pair of All-Pros.

    View the full article

  21. Ravens coach John Harbaugh is taking a gamble by naming Zach Orr his new defensive coordinator, but at least his record is more proven on that side of the ball than on offense.

    Orr, 31, was named the successor to Mike Macdonald, who reportedly signed a six-year contract to become head coach of the Seattle Seahawks. The decision to hire Orr was not surprising, especially since he became an in-house favorite once he rejoined the franchise as a coaching analyst in 2017.

    A former Ravens linebacker who retired because of a congenital spinal condition, Orr has spent the past two seasons as the team’s inside linebackers coach, where he has worked with Roquan Smith in the middle and Patrick Queen on the outside. They were the only teammates in the NFL to each have more than 130 tackles this season.

    Orr has a history of working well with players, and he was also well-liked by Kansas City Chiefs defensive line coach Joe Cullen, who named Orr the Jaguars’ outside linebackers coach when he was Jacksonville’s defensive coordinator in 2021.

    Cullen, 56, along with former Buffalo Bills defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier, 64, are both more proven than Orr, who has to rebuild the league’s top defense. It’s a risk, especially with a coordinator so young and inexperienced, but Harbaugh has more credibility on defense.

    His list of former offensive coordinators is like a Who’s Who? The Ravens have had Cam Cameron (2008-12), Jim Caldwell (2013), Gary Kubiak (2014), Marc Trestman (2015-16), Marty Mornhinweg (2017-18), Greg Roman (2019-22) and currently Todd Monken.

    With the exceptions of Caldwell, Kubiak and the yet unproven Monken, all have been disappointments.

    Harbaugh’s slate is cleaner on the other side of the ball, having had Rex Ryan (2008), Greg Mattison (2009-10), Chuck Pagano (2011), Dean Pees (2012-17), Don “Wink” Martindale (2018-21) and Macdonald (2022-23) as defensive coordinators.

    All, except Mattison, were successful. Ryan, Pagano and Macdonald went on to become head coaches. Ryan had stints with the New York Jets and Bills, while Pagano led the Indianapolis Colts from 2012 to 2017.

    That’s a pretty good pedigree.

    Playing tough, physical defense has been the trademark of the franchise since the record-setting 2000 unit led the team to the Super Bowl title. Macdonald kept the tradition going in 2023 as the Ravens became the first team to lead the league in sacks (60), takeaways (31) and points allowed per game (16.5).

    The Ravens had seven Pro Bowl selections this past season, including Smith, Queen, safety Kyle Hamilton and defensive tackle Justin Madubuike. A major key for Macdonald-led defenses were the in-game adjustments he made, including in the first half in San Francisco and the second half against Jacksonville.

    Harbaugh’s background has probably been a major part of having defensive success. He spent eight seasons as Philadelphia’s special teams coach from 1998 to 2006 and one year as the Eagles’ defensive backs coach in 2007 before the Ravens hired him.

    He spent a lot of time learning the game under former Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Johnson, who died in 2009. Harbaugh knows about blitz packages, stunts and other schemes and philosophies.

    Orr has a tough act to follow. The Ravens have several top players who are set to become free agents in March, including Madubuike, Queen, outside linebackers Kyle Van Noy, Jadeveon Clowney and Malik Harrison, cornerbacks Arthur Maulet and Daryl Worley and defensive end Brent Urban.

    Just a few years removed from his playing career, Orr is part of the youth movement among NFL coaches. Owners want them young. These coaches can identify and communicate with the players. They can interact with them because they are in the same peer group.

    Orr is unique because he originally signed with the Ravens in 2014 as an undrafted rookie free agent from North Texas. He played in 46 career games over three seasons (2014-16), posting 163 tackles, one sack, eight tackles for loss, six passes defended, three interceptions, one forced fumble and two fumble recoveries. He was named second-team All-Pro in 2016.

    He knows about the struggles of getting into the NFL but has also coached Pro Bowl players such as Queen and Smith and assisted with outside linebackers such as former Ravens star Terrell Suggs and Jacksonville’s Josh Allen.

    Does that translate into victories?

    We’ll find out, but at least the Ravens have history on their side.

    View the full article

  22. RENTON, Wash. — There wasn’t anything personal with John Schneider’s heavy rooting interest for the AFC championship game last weekend and wanting to see Kansas City, and not Baltimore, in the Super Bowl.

    The Seattle Seahawks general manager was simply thinking about the future of his organization and the desire to finally get an interview with Mike Macdonald.

    It was quite a first meeting.

    “I don’t know how to describe it other than it was a feeling, it’s a connection, there’s clarity, and then everything everybody said about his great reputation came to life very quickly,” Schneider said. “It was very evident.”

    Barely 48 hours after having that first interview on the East Coast, the duo sat together on a stage inside the Seahawks’ headquarters on Thursday after Macdonald was introduced as the ninth head coach in team history.

    He becomes the youngest head coach in the NFL at age 36, taking over a franchise that was led for the past 14 seasons by Pete Carroll — the oldest coach in the league when he was let go following the season.

    “When we started talking about vision and how we wanted to play and the direction that I felt like how I’d like to take the team and how that paralleled what they saw, it just became very clear that was the thing that you’re looking for,” Macdonald said.

    The decision to go with Macdonald is a decided departure from the Carroll regime — from being half of Carroll’s age to the casual hoodie under a sportscoat that Macdonald wore for his introduction.

    Although in Macdonald’s defense, he said he brought limited clothing options when he flew from the East Coast to Seattle late Tuesday night.

    RENTON, WASHINGTON - FEBRUARY 01: John Schneider, general manager of the Seattle Seahawks, poses with Mike Macdonald as Macdonald is announced as the new Seattle Seahawks head coach at Virginia Mason Athletic Center on February 01, 2024 in Renton, Washington. (Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images)
    Seahawks general manager John Schneider, left, poses with new coach Mike Macdonald on Thursday in Renton, Washington. (Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images)

    Schneider described his new coach as a “disruptor,” and said one of the guiding principles through the interview process was, “who is going to change the marketplace?”

    “I have a different personality and you’ll get to know me, but my plan is to be myself every day. And you’re just going to get me. It’s not a facade. There’s no alter agendas or anything like that,” Macdonald said. “But it’s all about what’s the best interest for the team, what’s the best interest for the players and how we can be successful.”

    Seattle’s search was extensive, partly because it was the first run by Schneider. Seattle did a second round of interviews with six candidates and while there was familiarity with some — most notably Dan Quinn — Schneider was intent the search wouldn’t be complete without final visits with Detroit offensive coordinator Ben Johnson and Macdonald.

    Hence his desire to see a Kansas City-San Francisco matchup in Las Vegas so there wouldn’t be any need to wait until after the Super Bowl to move ahead with the coaching search.

    Macdonald called the decision to take the Seahawks job a “leap of faith,” leaving behind all he’s previously known living on the East Coast for the chance to be an NFL coach.

    There’s an amount of faith involved too on the Seahawks side of the equation. When Carroll took the job in January 2010, he was a known commodity coming off a major run of success in college as a head coach and had NFL head coaching experience previously.

    With Macdonald, there’s no such background like that. He impressively worked his way up through the Ravens organization, but has been a defensive coordinator in the NFL for only two years.

    And while those two years were overwhelmingly dominant — along with his one year as the defensive coordinator in college at Michigan — there’s still situations and experiences he has yet to face that he will as a head coach.

    Schneider and his staff seemed undeterred by the inexperience.

    “I talked to several people that interviewed him already and they’re like, ‘wait until you look in this guy’s eyes. He’s there. He’s present. He’s on it,’” Schneider said. “He was and everybody in that room felt it.”

    Macdonald wouldn’t commit to much on the second day of his employment with the Seahawks, other than he intends on calling the defense to start. Schemes and system, and the best use of players will all be determined over the coming weeks and months.

    “The spirit of how we play and the principles of how we play, what you’ve seen on the tape in Baltimore will be the same,” Macdonald said. “But I can’t guarantee you the schematics will be the same here because we’re not sure what we’re good at yet.”

    That statement shows Macdonald has research still to do in trying to find areas where Seattle can go from being a team hovering around .500 to one that is again contending for division titles and deep playoff runs.

    “It’s a young core and so we got a great opportunity to build these guys and build a really competitive team sooner than later,” Macdonald said.

    View the full article

  23. Ravens tight end Mark Andrews was on his way from Baltimore to Phoenix on Thursday when he sprung into action.

    A woman on a Southwest Airlines flight bound for Andrews’ hometown was experiencing a medical emergency mid-flight when the Ravens star helped come to her rescue. According to Andrew Springs, a passenger on the flight, the doctor and nurse tending to the woman couldn’t find a strong pulse. Her blood pressure was extremely low, and she required oxygen to breathe.

    That’s when Andrews intervened.

    Andrews, 28, popped up from his aisle seat, Springs wrote on X (formerly Twitter), and asked if it could be her blood sugar, informing the doctor and nurse that he had a diabetic testing kit in his possession. Diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at age 9, Andrews monitors his blood sugar regularly.

    He then instructed the doctor and nurse on how to use the kit, the woman’s heart rate was stabilized and paramedics met the plane when it landed, according to Springs, a Maryland native who lives in Scottsdale, Arizona, and attended Sunday’s AFC championship game at M&T Bank Stadium.

    “Watching complete strangers spring into action to help save someone’s life is truly amazing,” wrote Springs, who also described the ordeal as “genuinely scary.”

    Andrews, a three-time Pro Bowl selection who’d just wrapped up his sixth season with the Ravens after the Kansas City Chiefs defeated Baltimore, 17-10, on Sunday, took little in the way of credit, however.

    “In addition to the fast-acting flight attendants, the real heroes are the nurse and doctor who also happened to be on the plane,” he said in a statement issued through the Ravens. “Thankfully they were able to provide thee woman the quick assistance she needed.”

    Andrews, who missed more than two months because of an ankle injury suffered during a Nov. 16 game against the Cincinnati Bengals, had 45 catches for 544 yards and six touchdowns this season.

    View the full article

  24. The Ravens didn’t wait long to find their replacement for Mike Macdonald.

    Baltimore announced Thursday that Zach Orr will take over as defensive coordinator. The 31-year-old spent the past two seasons as the team’s inside linebackers coach after serving as the Jacksonville Jaguars’ outside linebackers coach in 2021.

    The news comes a day after the Seattle Seahawks announced that Macdonald would be its new head coach.

    Orr, meanwhile, is a familiar face, and like Macdonald, has been on the fast track in his coaching career.

    After spending three seasons as a Ravens linebacker, Orr retired in 2016 because of a congenital neck/spine condition. He moved into coaching in 2017 and began with Baltimore as a defensive coaching analyst and was promoted to coaching and personnel assistant before leaving for the Jaguars in 2021.

    “Zach is a homegrown Raven in every way,” Ravens coach John Harbaugh said in a statement. “His energy, intelligence, work ethic and strong communication skills have been on display since the day he joined our organization as a player in 2014.

    “From making our team as an undrafted rookie, to becoming an All-Pro linebacker, then later transitioning to an assistant coach who helped mentor multiple Pro Bowl defenders, Zach has excelled at every level of his football journey.

    “He knows our players and understands our standard as well as anyone. I’m confident that he is prepared to take on the challenge of continuing to develop our players and scheme as our next defensive coordinator.”

    This season under Orr, inside linebackers Patrick Queen and Roquan Smith had career years and became the only duo to post at least 130 tackles this season for a defense that led the league in sacks (60), takeaways (31) and points allowed per game (16.5). Smith was selected as an All-Pro for the second straight year as well as to the Pro Bowl, while Queen was selected to his first Pro Bowl this year.

    Over the past two seasons, the Ravens’ defense ranked in the top 10 in yards allowed per game (312.8), rushing yards allowed per game (100.8), passing yards allowed per game (212.1), points allowed per game (17.5), opponent third-down conversion percentage (35.7%), opponent red zone efficiency (43.8%) and takeaways (56).

    As a player, Orr signed with the Ravens as a 2014 undrafted rookie free agent from North Texas and played in 46 games over three seasons, racking up 163 tackles, one sack, eight tackles for loss, six passes defensed, three interceptions, one forced fumble and two fumble recoveries.

    A native of DeSoto, Texas, Orr’s father, Terry, was a tight end for the now-Washington Commanders (from 1986 to 1993), while his younger brother, Chris, is a former linebacker who played for the Carolina Panthers in 2020. His older brother, Terrance, is the offensive coordinator at Hebron High School in Carrollton, Texas, and his younger brother, Nick, played college football at TCU and spent time with the Chicago Bears in 2018.

    This story might be updated.

    View the full article

  25. For Mount St. Mary’s University students spending a Sunday afternoon at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore as the Ravens take on an NFL opponent is all in a day’s work.

    Those studying sport management can take advantage of a behind-the-scenes look at how events come together at the stadium by volunteering to take on jobs like ticket scanning, ushering or checking visitor credentials, said Professor Sarah Zipp, director for the sport management, undergraduate and master’s programs at Mount St. Mary’s.

    The gig often starts in the morning — the college is in Emmitsburg, so students have to leave before 7 a.m. on a Sunday so they can make it to Baltimore before kick-off. Then they stand on their feet all day before returning home often hours after the game ends.

    It’s not exactly glamorous. Well, not until Taylor Swift shows up and asks to take a picture with you. Then it’s an “extraordinary” and “once-in-a-lifetime” experience, according to four Mount St. Mary’s students who met the pop icon on Sunday.

    “We were all just starstruck,’ said Patrick Rankin, 21, a rising senior and president of the sport management club at Mount St. Mary’s, who volunteered to help at the game along with about a dozen other students, including his friends Lyla Kline, Katie Farrell and Andrea Cabrera Vargas.

    Rankin was working an NFL football game at the stadium for the third time this season, he said. And while he and his friends were aware it was likely that Swift would attend the AFC championship game pitting the Ravens against the Kansas City Chiefs, their expectations of actually seeing the superstar were pretty low.

    “I thought that we would have a chance to possibly see Taylor on the big screen,” he said, referring to the jumbotrons at either end of the stadium.

    Farrell, 21 and a longtime Swift fan, said she thought it would be cool to “be in the same vicinity as Taylor Swift.”

    At the beginning of the fourth quarter, the students had finished scanning tickets at Gate A and were waiting for instructions on their next task. One of the security managers came over and told them they would be escorting family members of the Kansas City Chiefs down onto the field so that if the Chiefs won, the loved ones could celebrate with the players.

    The students checked family members’ credentials and then escorted them to an entrance to the field, where they all waited. Swift was not part of the group, at first. But a few minutes later, she came down on an elevator with her security team and the family of her boyfriend, Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.

    “So the elevator opens and Taylor Swift is in the back,” said Cabrera Vargas, who was stationed with Kline near the elevators. “It felt like a movie scene. … She was very tall so we could see her directly. She had her red lipstick on and her bangs.”

    “I’m not a die hard fan,” Cabrera Vargas, 22, said. “But at that moment I was.”

    While Swift joined family and friends on the field for the celebration, the students stayed back in the basement area, waiting and watching.

    ‘We were all excited,” said Farrell, a senior majoring in human services. “I was tearing up because, you know, it’s like my dream to meet her. She’s the biggest pop star on the planet.”

    The students said they were told not to take any pictures and they followed that rule strictly. That is until Swift, on her way back up to the suite, noticed the students standing there — barely hanging onto their composure and some making the universal Swift fan heart symbol.

    Farrell said Swift “started waving to us! ‘Hi guys, how are you?'” before coming over to her group.

    “I think she could also tell that, like, we were big fans,” said Kline, 22, a senior fine arts major who missed out on seeing the sold-out Eras Tour in the U.S. last year and instead is headed to Europe to see the show. “I got tickets to see Swift’s concert in France this summer. … and I got a chance to tell her that. She was extremely excited … she like couldn’t believe it when I told her.”

    Swift then asked the four students if they wanted to take a picture with her.

    With shaking hands, Cabrera Vargas grabbed her phone and snapped a single picture of the group.

    “The angle of that picture — I always take pictures like that,” said Cabrera Vargas. “So my friends have told me that it was destined to happen since I was preparing for this moment. Because everyone said that the picture turned out great.”

    Still, Cabrera Vargas wasn’t certain she actually got the shot. So she checked her phone.

    “By the time I looked down and looked up she was already walking into the elevator,” said the senior business marketing major from Silver Spring. “It was very, very quick.”

    Even so, Cabrera Vargas is grateful she and her friends got to meet Swift. “It made me think that things that seem impossible are definitely possible.”

    While Zipp organizes the volunteer groups for game days and other events like the Preakness Stakes, she doesn’t always attend with her students. A lifelong Chiefs fan who hails from Kansas City, Zipp decided to watch Sunday’s game from home.

    “I am, yes, indeed, kicking myself a little bit for that.”

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