The Ravens found their first back-to-back win of the season and are rewarded with just being 1.5 games out of the division and a 10-day mini bye week. Lamar Jackson’s return was a beacon of hope for all, but it wasn’t perfect. Let’s dig into it.
The Good
Lamar Jackson: He got off to a slow start, but it’s hard to complain any day Lamar Jackson plays football. Jackson ended up finding his rhythm after an early miss to Bateman had him rattled. Jackson finished with four touchdowns and a 143.2 rating to finish the day, the fourth time he’s finished 140 or higher against the Dolphins in five career games. He might have an ownership stake in that Miami team at this point,
Derrick Henry: In Jackson’s return to the lineup, Henry’s performance was similar to how the season started. It was very boom or bust – he averaged 6.3 yards per carry, but was stuffed quite a few times in the first half as the Ravens struggled to find first downs and extend drives. Henry still looks like a world-class talent once he gets a little bit of room. He’s more frequently finding that by bouncing runs to the outside due to poor interior O-line play, and it’s working.
Zay Flowers: Flowers continues to be the top target in this offense, even if he isn’t finding the endzone often. He led the team in receiving yards again (for the seventh time in eight games), with 64 yards, catching all five of his targets. The big one was another shot down the right sideline like in 2023 against Miami, this one for 39 yards.
Tight Ends: Isaiah Likely finished with 60 yards on three catches. Mark Andrews had two touchdowns on two catches. Charlie Kolar had a touchdown for the second week in a row and a massive third-down catch with five minutes left in the fourth to keep the offense on the field and drain the clock to zeros instead of giving it back to Miami. TheRavens have the best tight end room in the NFL. Enough said.
Roquan Smith: Smith followed his solid performance last week with another good game this week. He isn’t making the flashiest plays like he did early in his career, but his impact has been massive the last two weeks. He once again led the team in tackles and made multiple third-down tackles to get them off the field. On one of them, he was the only defender around on a screen but still fought through his blocker and brought Achane down short of the sticks. Say what you want about positional value or Smith falling off a little recently, but somebody has to make the tackles to get the team off the field. Smith is leading the defense with that right now.
Kyle Hamilton: You can’t say enough about Kyle Hamilton. This defense would literally crumble without him. He’s the best safety in the NFL, and right now, he might also be one of the best outside linebackers in the NFL. He continues to change the way this defense operates by staying around the line of scrimmage, filling in as a defensive end, linebacker, slot, nickel, and every conceivable role they can find for him. He creates pressures, takes running backs down behind the line of scrimmage, he covers wide receivers, and he makes Mike McDaniel look absolutely ridiculous for asking a running back to win a jump ball against him on fourth down.
Malaki Starks: In last week’s rookie report, I asked fans to be patient with Malaki Starks, who’s taken a lot of heat this season. Starks has been filling in the center field role well, but because of his lack of impact plays, fans have started to grumble a little. What makes it worse is that often, Starks is making touchdown-saving plays on massive gains by opposing teams and taking the blame, when he’s often covering for someone else. Starks finally got rewarded for his work, nabbing his first interception of the season on a spectacular play. It’s a highlight that showcases his fluidity, athleticism, and ball skills in one clip that should hopefully get fans to step away from the ledge a little bit more.
Alohi Gilman: That’s right, we’re talking about all three safeties today. Gilman certainly isn’t the flashiest player and doesn’t fill the stat book. But tonight, he gave an excuse for us to talk about him with an early fumble, setting the Ravens up for their first score of the night. Gilman has quietly come in and fundamentally shifted this defense, allowing Hamilton to move down to wreak havoc at the line of scrimmage. Gilman has been steady back deep, not making mistakes and simply doing his job. Sometimes that gets forgotten. Other times, we get to celebrate those guys.
Jordan Stout: It’s a classic Ravens contract year, punter edition. Stout has gone from a punter who was noticeably hurting the Ravens with his kicks more often than a punter should be, to being a punter who’s being noticed for constantly giving the defense great positioning. Stout’s turnaround has been going on since the beginning of the season, but for the second week in a row, he’s made a game-changing punt. Just like last week, Stout managed to pin the opposing offense inside the five. And just like last week, the Ravens defense took advantage of that and created a turnover, leading to field position and eventually a touchdown for the offense. Stout might be the most improved Raven in 2025.
Keondre Jackson: I just wanted to shout out a practice squad call-up who’s been balling multiple weeks in a row. With the questions around personnel decisions going on with guys like Tez Walker and Jaire Alexander getting scratched, it’s nice to see the roster space isn’t being wasted. Special teams often gets overlooked, and I’m not one to oversell it compared to the impact an offensive or defensive playmaker can have. But Jackson has made notable plays in multiple games on special teams, setting up a defense that needs all the help it can get for success. This was his third practice squad call-up, and I won’t be shocked if we see a roster move to get Jackson on the 53-man roster.
Buying at the deadline: With this win, the Ravens are officially 1.5 games back from first place in the AFC North all of a sudden, with the first-place Pittsburgh Steelers playing the 7-1 Indianapolis Colts on Sunday. With a 10-day break and five days until the trade deadline, it’s time for Eric DeCosta to stay glued to as many phones as he can get in his office at once. With some reinforcements at edge, defensive line, and/or guard, this team could start rounding into Super Bowl contender shape once more.
The Bad
First half play: The Ravens started well, only allowing 26 yards on the Dolphins’ first drive of the day to force a field goal. Then the offense went three-and-out following a bad miss from Lamar Jackson that seemingly stuck with him for a while. A great punt and then a Miami fumble allowed the Ravens to score, but they needed four tries to convert from seven yards out. Then the Ravens’ defense allowed the Miami offense to march down the field. They were only saved by a false start on fourth and on,e which forced a Dolphin field goal attempt, which they missed. This was the theme for the rest of the half, the Ravens’ defense barely getting by due to mistakes from Miami, penalties, and questionable play calling at times. The offense felt similar. They had one more touchdown drive for the half, but nearly half the yards came off a broken play. The rest of the half was dysfunctional, with the worst of it coming from the offensive line, which got zero push and barely held up any time Jackson dropped back.
Luckily, things shifted in the second half, and both units played better and more consistently, without requiring help from broken plays or penalties to succeed. I don’t know it was just a symptom of Thursday Night Football and Lamar Jackson’s rust after returning, but the inconsistencies can’t continue to happen. Hopefully the 10 day rest period and some trades will help.
The Ugly
Run Defense: No other way to put it, they got gashed. De’Von Achane had 12 carries for 67 yards in the first half and was putting the defense on skates. They simply couldn’t handle the speed and had no answers for him. Luckily, the Ravens got to a 21-6 lead in the second half, and Miami did them a favor, practically abandoning the run, a tactic Baltimore fans are familiar with. Achane only had two more carries the rest of the game. But teams are going to continue to try to run the ball down Baltimore’s throat and they have got to fix it. They can’t depend on missed field goals and Lamar Jackson making the other team chase to neutralize opponents’ run games every week. Trades might be the only fix for this one.
Offensive line: I hate to say it about a Baltimore Ravens football team, but this offensive line is soft. Like 10-ply toilet paper soft. I don’t know how else to say it. They just get knocked back off the ball too often. It’s why Derrick Henry gets stuffed so many times a game. It’s why they have issues sustaining drives because they can’t convert on third-and-short. It’s why they have goal-line conversion issues, and it took them four tries to go seven yards into the endzone in this game. I don’t know if it’s a talent issue, if it’s a coaching issue, or just a physicality issue, but they don’t play tough football far too often.
They are capable of it. They did it last year, with most of the same pieces. They were lacking talent but they at least played hard football and let Derrick Henry work. They just aren’t doing it this year. Maybe somehow, someway, a rookie in Emory Jones can come in and add some toughness to the line. More than likely, if they want improvement, they need to make a trade. Kevin Zeitler in Tennessee or Cesar Ruiz in New Orleans comes to mind.
