• Lamar Jackson delivers one of the best performances of his career: The quarterback is now almost certain to win his second NFL MVP award.
• Opponents should look to attack the Ravens on the ground: For all of the Ravens' success defensively, teams are finding success in the ground game against them.
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Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes
The Baltimore Ravens moved to 13-3 with a dominant win over the Miami Dolphins at home in Week 17.
They sealed the AFC’s No. 1 seed with the victory and can now rest starters ahead of the playoffs.
Here are the five things we learned from the Ravens' 56-19 win over the Dolphins in Week 17.
Lamar Jackson is your 2023 NFL MVP
Jackson was already among the MVP favorites heading into Week 17, and he left the weekend as a near lock to win it for the second time. After beating the NFC's No. 1 seed, the San Francisco 49ers, in Week 16, the Ravens and Jackson made another statement against one of the AFC's top squads. Jackson was nearly perfect, going 18-of-21 for 321 yards with five touchdowns and a pair of big-time throws.
Assuming Jackson's regular season is over, with the Ravens able to sit starters in Week 18, he will finish 2023 with a 90.3 PFF overall grade and an 85.1 PFF passing grade. Those would both be the second-highest marks in his career, with the top figures coming when he was the league’s unanimous MVP in 2019.
Zay Flowers is the Ravens' top target since Mark Andrews’ injury
The first-round pick set a team record for receiving yards by a rookie this past week, something that shouldn’t come as a surprise, given how often the Ravens have targeted him since tight end Mark Andrews went down with a serious ankle injury in Week 11.
Over the past five games, Flowers has seen 34 targets — 10 more than any other Ravens player. Tight end Isaiah Likely is tied for second in that span with 24 targets, and he leads the team with 291 receiving yards and is tied with Flowers with four touchdowns in the past five games.
The Ravens have still shared the passing game work, with Rashod Bateman tied with Likely in targets (24) and Odell Beckham not far behind (21). Baltimore at this time in 2022 lacked receiving talent and healthy players, so the fact that they head into this year's playoffs with a diverse and talented group is one of the main reasons they are a Super Bowl contender.
Opposing teams can run the ball on the Ravens
The Ravens ensured their win over the Dolphins wasn’t close thanks to a dominant first half from their offense and key turnovers on defense. Had the contest been closer, their struggles against the run would have been more of a concern, with the Dolphins averaging 6.5 yards per carry and ripping off three runs of 15 or more yards.
This has been a theme for much of Baltimore's season, and for as much has been made about their elite defense, it's a weakness heading into the playoffs. The Ravens are allowing 4.5 yards per carry — tied for the sixth-worst mark in the league through 17 weeks — and have a 4.26-yard average tackle depth that ranks seventh worst. It won’t matter if the Ravens can keep building big leads, but it’s something to watch for in close games.
Arthur Maulet, Ronald Darby and Rock Ya-Sin step up in starters’ absences
Ravens fans were likely thinking the worst when inactives were announced and it was confirmed that neither Kyle Hamilton nor Brandon Stephens would suit up. Trying to slow down the NFL’s best passing offense minus two secondary starters is no easy task. It got even worse early in the game when starting cornerback Marlon Humphrey was ruled out with an injury of his own. But Baltimore got it done on defense thanks to cornerbacks Arthur Maulet, Ronald Darby and Rock Ya-Sin stepping up.
Maulet earned a 76.6 PFF coverage grade, the best of any Ravens defender on the day, allowing just three receptions for 17 yards on six targets and recording a pass breakup. The Dolphins went after Darby, targeting him 10 times in the game, but he held up well and allowed five receptions for 42 yards with a pass breakup. Ya-Sin’s 60.1 PFF coverage grade was the lowest of the three, but he limited the Dolphins to two receptions for 29 yards on three targets.
Time to rest up
The thought of resting starters in the final week of the season will have Ravens fans thinking about the 2019 season, when the team did just that, only to fall flat against the Tennessee Titans in the divisional round of the playoffs. However, the Ravens head into the playoffs with some key players who need to heal up.
Defensive backs Kyle Hamilton and Brandon Stephens missed the game against the Dolphins due to injuries, and Marlon Humphrey left the contest early and didn’t return. Letting those three get two weeks of rest before the team's first playoff game should be a priority, especially with Hamilton being the most valuable safety by PFF WAR in the NFL this season.
On offense, Zay Flowers has been limited by injuries in recent weeks and the offensive line continues to pick up knocks. We’ll never know if not resting starters in the final week of the 2019 season would have helped the Ravens, but it's clear in 2023 that getting healthy is the top priority.
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