Mink: Outside of Lamar Jackson's return, the Ravens' offensive turnaround will center on the offensive line. It all starts up front, as the football adage goes, and right tackle Roger Rosengarten made it clear this week that it's the mindset the Ravens are doubling down on coming out of their bye.
According to Pro Football Focus' grades, the Ravens’ offensive line ranks 24th in the league through the first seven weeks. Baltimore's 79.5 PFF pass-blocking efficiency rating is tied with the Browns for the worst mark in the NFL.
The Ravens need to come out of the bye giving (hopefully) Jackson more comfort in the pocket. They also need to continue to run the ball effectively, as they did against the Los Angeles Rams, to give the offense more rhythm.
Much of the outside attention has gone on starting guards Daniel Faalele and Andrew Vorhees. While they can improve and continue to grow, Faalele has the league's 11th-best pass-blocking PFF grade among starting guards. Vorhees is coming off his best game, in which he had the Ravens' highest offensive grades. That's not the only area for improvement.
Ronnie Stanley's ankle injury, which has forced him to the sideline in each of the past three games, has been a major hindrance. Hopefully, he's back to being fully healthy after the bye.
The Ravens' tight ends could also be a key to getting the offense going. The Ravens still use two tight ends at one of the highest clips in the league. Per Next Gen Stats, they've deployed "12" personnel on 44.9% of their snaps, despite Isaiah Likely missing the first three games. Yet Likely has just three catches for 18 yards in three games since coming back from his broken foot. For such a dynamic playmaker with the ball in his hands, it wouldn't be surprising to see Likely be more involved moving forward.
Mark Andrews has been efficient, making 21 catches on 27 targets for 174 yards and two touchdowns, but even he can do more. Andrews caught a touchdown in 10 of the Ravens' final 12 regular-season games last season and he could be key to getting their red-zone offense cooking again. Pro Bowl fullback Patrick Ricard, who could return soon from his calf injury, is also part of this equation and could help reset the tone with his physicality.
Brown: That's a good question and you've picked a great time to ask it.
The Chicago Bears visit Baltimore on Sunday, and they thrive on forcing turnovers. They lead the NFL with 16 takeaways – a major reason they've won four straight games. Meanwhile, the Ravens are tied for the second fewest takeaways with just three. That's a huge reason why Baltimore is 1-5.
Baltimore's pass rush isn't generating enough pressure on opposing quarterbacks. The Ravens are tied for last in the NFL with eight sacks. To create strip sacks, you must get to the passer. To create errant throws, you need to collapse the pocket. The Ravens have faced some great quarterbacks this season, such as Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, and Matthew Stafford, who rarely throw interceptions unless they are under duress.
The Ravens' overall defensive struggles (31st vs. the pass, 26th vs. the run) have led to a unit that rarely forces turnovers. There has not been enough gang tackling, a defensive trait that often leads to forced fumbles and better opportunities to strip the football. Too often, opposing receivers are wide open instead of tightly covered. That decreases the chance for clean interceptions or deflected passes that lead to a pick.
Forcing more takeaways is something Ravens coaches and players have talked about since training camp. It has yet to materialize, but they haven't stopped looking for answers. Perhaps moving safety Kyle Hamilton closer to the line of scrimmage, coupled with the addition of safety Alohi Gilman, will help create more turnovers moving forward. Improving the run defense would also give Baltimore more opportunities to blitz in obvious passing situations, which could lead to more quarterback pressure and takeaways.
The Ravens fully realize how important it will be to force more turnovers. Losing the turnover battle almost every week has made it difficult to win.
Mink: To my earlier point, the Ravens need to establish more rhythm and physicality with their offense. Leaning on Derrick Henry is obviously a huge part of that.
The Ravens are currently tied for the fourth-fewest rushing attempts in the league, though part of that is they've only played six games, Jackson has been sidelined for 2 ½ games, and you're not going to run as much when facing heavy deficits as the Ravens have the past three games. Still, they can run it more and I expect they will.
Henry piled up 122 rushing yards on 24 carries against the Rams before the bye. That may have gotten the ball rolling for the running game, which relied more heavily on outsize zone runs.
"There's a commitment to running the ball, for sure, and that's the Ravens. We don't want to get away from that. We believe in running the ball," Head Coach John Harbaugh said Monday. "You'll hear a lot of metric people, analytics people, say that's not important, but it's our DNA. We believe in it. We want to be able to do it, and so, that hasn't really changed throughout the course of the season. We haven't done it as well as we want to do it, but we did it better against the Rams, for sure. That was encouraging. We have to find a way to keep building on that."
It's not about running more trick plays, but it is about keeping defenses more off-balance. The Ravens' wrinkles worked last year. This season, they haven't had enough consistency to set up some of what they want to get to.
Brown: I agree with you and Mink that it's critical to get Likely more involved and productive. I think you'll begin to see that on Sunday.
The bye has given Likely more time to recover from foot surgery. Remember that Andrews didn't have a touchdown through his first five games in 2024, yet ended up with 11 touchdowns for the season. I think Likely could enjoy a similar outburst.
Rashod Bateman was the Ravens' second most-targeted player last season and responded with a career year (45 catches, 756 yards, nine touchdowns). But so far in 2025, Bateman is running fourth in targets (22) behind Zay Flowers (46), Andrews (27), and Justice Hill (23). Over the last three games, Bateman has just two catches for 32 yards on six targets.
The Ravens have a lot of weapons and just one football, so there will always be some games when Bateman may not be a focal point. However, he hasn't lost his ability to create separation and make explosive plays. I think getting Bateman more touches is one of many things that the Ravens discussed during their bye.
