By Brandon Simmons
Have the Ravens Escaped the Panic Room
The Baltimore Ravens first win of the year this past Sunday but things don’t appear to be as cheerful. The Ravens beat the Dallas Cowboys 28-25 in a game that was largely a blowout until around the 4th quarter. It was then, that decided to leverage their garbage time to overcome a 28-6 deficit. Ravens QB Lamar Jackson threw 12/15 for 182 yards and a touchdown then ran 14 times for 87 yards. Ravens running back Derrick Henry had 25 rushes for 151 yards.
This ended up becoming a bitter sweet victory for the Ravens. While they did dominate early and ended up winning, they almost let the game slip away.
Losing teams that are blown out are going to rack up free yards and points in game, but it shouldn’t be to the point where the losing team is making a thinly veiled comeback attempt. The Ravens 4th quarter included a missed field goal and a lost onside kick. Those events probably prompted Jackson to voice his frustration about how everything went in the end despite the Ravens collecting the win. The NFL season is short and it’s early in the season, so this is a big win but it doesn’t seem to calm the nerves of Ravens fans that much with the 4th quarter performance. This was the same issue that happened last week in their loss against the Las Vegas Raiders, in which they collapsed in the 4th quarter. If the Ravens want to return to the AFC title game – much less the postseason – then they have to close out games and finish them all the way through.
Have the Cowboys Entered the Panic Room
The irony of the Baltimore Ravens seemingly leaving the panic room is that the Dallas Cowboys could be taking their place. While Dallas did attempt a strong comeback in the 4th quarter, they still were on the short end of the 28-25 loss, including being down 28-6 most of the game. Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott threw 28/51 for 379 yards and 2 touchdowns with 0 picks, with Cowboys tight end Jake Ferguson having 6 catches for 95 yards. However, just as the Ravens were going through their issues, the Cowboys seemed to have started their own problems a week later. Last week, Dallas got throttled by the New Orleans Saints 44-19, another game where a team built a big lead and they let it get away from them.
Drama is part of the Dallas Cowboys culture so entering the proverbial panic room might be beneficial for them until it’s not. With back-to-back embarrassing losses, you could see the frustration on their faces and see it play out on the sideline. There used to be a silver lining for the Cowboys in the fact that they played in a NFC East division that usually weakened out by a certain point of the season. Well, aside from the Philadelphia Eagles winning, the New York Giants and Washington Commanders have jumped off to some strong starts to their own seasons. However, under head coach Mike McCartthy, Dallas has only missed the playoffs once and that was when Prescott suffered the horrific ankle injury. On top of that, they’ve had bad losses and blowouts before, especially last season when they got beat odnw by the San Franisco 49ers. Regardless of that, there are many frustrations that can point out to now. One of those being the fact that Prescott, who signed a huge deal in the offseason, has not been able to connect with the other offseason signing, Cowboys wide receiver CeeDee Lamb. Lamb has yet to crack the 1oo yard mark and show off his playmaking ability. If the Cowboys can make that happen, then maybe plenty of other problems will go away.
Is This Justin Fields’ Job
The Pittsburgh Steelers are 3-0 thanks to a former franchise quarterback who was sent away from the team that drafted him, and that QB is not Russell Wilson. Steelers acquired Justin Fields in the offseason in a trade with the Chicago Bears. It was belives he would compete with Wilson – whonsigned with the team this past offseason – for the starting jon. Russ was named the starter during the preseason but a calf injury has kept him sidellined. Enter Fields, who has led this team to a 3-0 start and playing some of the best football in his young career.
Even though it appears Fields is just holding a spot until Wilson gets back, he’s showing a lot of potential to become the starter moving forward. So far he is not becoming a liability to the defense – a unit that is having their own tremendous start – but making better decisions on the field, particularly in the passing game. This is evident in his completion percentage this season while his lone interception this year comes from a tipped pass. Right now the consensus is that Fields has looked as great as he’s ever been, thanks in large part to a coaching staff that believes in him, which includes Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin and offensive coordinator Arthur Smith. Wilson played a little bit in the preseason, but his last 2 seasons in Denver have left little to be desired from him, despite the cloudy nature of the circumstances when he was there. With Fields being the younger of the two, his ceiling is perceived as higher, thus the team will benefit more from his improvements. The future is now for Justin Fields and it’s his job to lose at this point.
Shoutouts/Shutouts
Shout out to Washington Commanders rookie QB Jayden Daniels for his debut Monday Night Football performance. Daniels threw 21 of 23 for 254 yards, 2 touchdowns and 0 picks. His completion percentage of 91.3% was the highest ever by a rookie QB.
Shut out to Mel Kiper, Jr. for trying to abolish the Cover 2. The ESPN draft analyst went on ESPN Get Up, and it was brought up why are NFL offenses not scoring as much. Kiper suggested getting rid of 2 high safety coverage. Analyst, offline and online tore him, as they should. The defense is already going through it with rule changes so they don’t need it to be made worse.
Week 4 is here and many teams are getting ready to lock in for the rest of the year. Earlier on Sunday, the Philadelphia Eagles are visiting the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the same place where Philly was bounced out of last season’s Wild Card round. Later that night, the Baltimore Ravens will host the Buffalo Bills. Ravens got their first win last week while the Bills are unbeaten; however, the playmaking skills of Buffalo QB Josh Allen and Baltimore QB Lamar Jackson will be on display. But until then…I’ll holla.
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