Lamar Jackson on opening with Chiefs: I really didn’t care
Josh Alper, NBC Sports
Jackson isn’t equating the opening week of the regular season with a game that decided who advances to the Super Bowl, however. At a press conference last week, Jackson said that the loss to the Chiefs motivated the Ravens all offseason but added that getting an immediate chance to face them wasn’t a big deal to him.
“I really don’t care who we play; it really didn’t matter,” Jackson said, via a transcript from the team. “At the end of the day, our goal is to make it to the Super Bowl. We lost to them in the playoffs. Just us beating them in the regular season doesn’t really do anything; it just helps us keep stacking up wins to hopefully make it to the playoffs if anything to try to get in that same position again and hopefully be successful. It really doesn’t matter who we play [in the] first game; obviously it’s the Chiefs, but I really didn’t care.”
The Chiefs opened last season with a loss to the Lions, so Week One’s results don’t offer much of a prediction about who will be the last team standing in February. Winning always beats the alternative, though, and the Ravens would get an early leg up in the conference if they can find a way to get a victory in Kansas City.
How do AFC wide receiver groups stack up heading into the 2024 season?
Larry Holder, The Athletic
What’s not to like about the catchable pass and reception percentages for Zay Flowers and Nelson Agholor? Those numbers display what I’ve highlighted throughout Lamar Jackson’s 2023 MVP season: He’s become a more accurate passer than maybe ever before.
Now, would you like those EPA-per-reception rates to be higher, given how well they catch the ball? No question. Part of that comes with tight ends Mark Andrews and Isaiah Likely combining for 11 touchdowns. Gus Edwards also tallied 13 rushing TDs to go along with Jackson’s 821 rushing yards and five scores. As for Flowers, can he be molded into a legitimate No. 1 receiver threat despite standing only 5-foot-9?
The Ravens are getting to the point where they’d consider Rashod Bateman a bust, three years after being the team’s first-round pick. Thirty-two catches for 367 yards and one TD in 16 games isn’t what Baltimore signed up for there.
PFF Running Back Rankings: Top 32 ahead of the 2024 NFL season
Thomas Valentine, PFF
2. DERRICK HENRY, BALTIMORE RAVENS
Like Barkley, Derrick Henry will be plying his trade on a new team for the first time in his NFL career, after eight wildly successful seasons with the Tennessee Titans. Henry rushed for 1,167 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns on a 4.2 yards per carry clip in 2023, earning a 90.1 grade — the third highest among NFL running backs.
Age and a lack of production in the passing game hold Henry back, but he’s staved off Father Time longer than most running backs could only dream of. The Henry-Lamar Jackson pairing in 2024 should keep defenses awake at night.
Assessing the Chances of Each NFL Division Winner to Fall From First to Worst
Kyle Wood, Athlon Sports
2023 Record: 13–4
Though the AFC North crown trades hands often, the Ravens are the defending champions of the NFL’s toughest division. Baltimore has three first-place finishes in the last six seasons and just one fourth-place finish in 16 years under coach John Harbaugh.
Top to bottom, the Ravens have one of the most complete rosters in the league, headlined by two-time MVP quarterback Lamar Jackson. The addition of running back Derrick Henry rounds out a dynamic rushing attack and the passing game should be even better in receiver Zay Flowers’ second season and with tight end Mark Andrews back from injury. Baltimore’s defense has All-Pros at every level from defensive tackle Justin Madubuike to linebacker Roquan Smith to safety Kyle Hamilton.
The Ravens did lose defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald, linebacker Patrick Queen and three starters on the offensive line this offseason, but even those significant departures aren’t enough to send this team tumbling down the standings after earning the No. 1 seed in the AFC last season.
Ranking NFL’s most vulnerable division winners for 2024, from sturdy Chiefs to shaky Cowboys
Cody Benjamin, CBS Sports
4. Baltimore Ravens (AFC North)
2023 record: 13-4 | Division title streak: 1 season
There’s a case to be made the Ravens are one of maybe five teams with the total package of elite offense and defense to challenge for a Lombardi in 2024: Reigning MVP Lamar Jackson now has Derrick Henry as a workhorse complement in the backfield, and the stingy defense still has physical studs at every level. But like the NFC North, this division is chock-full of potential wire-to-wire competition. The Cincinnati Bengals should be right back in the title conversation provided Joe Burrow stays upright behind a bolstered offensive line. The Pittsburgh Steelers, who refuse to bottom out, at least have multiple options at quarterback to go with the trademark tough “D” deployed by Mike Tomlin. And the Cleveland Browns may hinge on Deshaun Watson’s revival, but they have an upgraded insurance plan and scrappy defense.
Every NFL team’s highest-graded rookie since 2006
Ryan Smith, PFF
BALTIMORE RAVENS: S DAWAN LANDRY, 2006 (89.9)
Landry was a Day 1 starter on the best defense in football as a fifth-round pick out of Georgia Tech. He was elite defending the run and in coverage, where he intercepted five passes, broke up four others and did not allow a touchdown all season.