The Ravens lost to the Bengals, 27-16, in the regular season finale in which Baltimore played with its third-string quarterback and rested other key starters.
That gave Baltimore a chance to get some of its rookies more experience, and they took advantage.
Here are the grades from Pro Football Focus (PFF) and takeaways from the snap counts:
- First-round safety Kyle Hamilton got the team's highest grade with a 91.2, and fellow first-rounder, center Tyler Linderbaum, had the offense's best mark (79.5). Hamilton was targeted five times and gave up three catches for just 22 yards.
- Rookie outside linebacker David Ojabo had the defense's third-highest grade of a 83.2. Ojabo had his first career sack and forced fumble when he tracked Joe Burrow down from behind. After playing just one defensive snap previously (at Cleveland), Ojabo played 20 snaps (30%) in the finale.
- Rookie tight end Charlie Kolar had the offense's second-highest grade after hauling in four of six targets for 49 yards. Kolar played just two offensive snaps the week before against Pittsburgh, but got 34 snaps (44%) this week. It was the same number of snaps that Josh Oliver had.
- Surprisingly, rookie tight end Isaiah Likely only received a PFF grade of 65.3 (ninth-best on the offense) despite catching eight passes for 103 yards. Likely stepped into the Mark Andrews role, as he played 88% of the offensive snaps.
- Another surprise is that Roquan Smith, who was all over the field with a season-high 16 tackles, only got a 74.4 grade from PFF. That's his fourth-highest grade in his nine games as a Raven. He played all but one snap, even after taking a hit from his own teammate during one tackle. PFF credited Smith with being targeted eight times and yielding seven catches for 55 yards.
- Veteran cornerback Daryl Worley played 88% of the defensive snaps with Marcus Peters and Brandon Stephens sidelined. Rookie Pepe Williams played six snaps.
- Running back Gus Edwards had just five snaps before exiting with a head injury. Kenyan Drake stepped into the void, taking 51 snaps and rushing for 60 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries.
- Veteran outside linebacker Justin Houston had the defense's second-best grade of 89.9. He got his first sack (shared with Odafe Oweh) in seven games.
