Through two weeks there were valid questions about the Baltimore Ravens and all the offseason changes they underwent ahead of 2024. Six weeks in, the only question is if there's another team in the NFL as good as them. And I'm fairly confident the answer is a firm no.
The Ravens have morphed into exactly what we thought they'd be after their offseason addition of Derrick Henry and the growth of the passing weapons around Lamar Jackson: A versatile offense that can pummel you in the ground game and will snuff you out if you give them a semblance of a lead.
According to NFL Research, the Ravens -- who are averaging 205.3 rushing yards and allowing just 59 rush yards per game on the season -- are outrushing their opponents by an absurd 146.3 yards per game. It would be the largest rush yard differential in NFL history if it holds.
Maybe it won't, but we have a pretty lengthy history of Baltimore being strong in the ground game, even before adding Henry. Through the first two weeks, the Big Dog wasn't as effective as everyone hoped. But over the last four weeks, the offensive line's gelled for Baltimore and Henry's been an absolute monster.
Henry is averaging 143.5 yards on 22 carries per game over the last four weeks, good for an eye-popping 6.5 yards per rush. He's found the end zone seven total times in that span as well, including one receiving touchdown. His only "bad" game was the overtime win against the Bengals, in which he punished Zac Taylor's conservative play-calling with a 51-yard rumble to set up a Justin Tucker walk-off, game-winning field goal. Henry has 704 rushing yards on the season, which is more than 19 NFL teams. His eight rushing touchdowns are more than 26 NFL teams.
Combining Henry's ability to break a defense in half with his power runs with the threat of "Skinny" Lamar Jackson ripping off his signature runs is making it almost impossible for opponents to prepare. It's an unpleasant choice for defenses. The duo has 1,107 rush yards on the season, the most ever by a QB/RB duo through six games.
The passing weapons are also all elevating their game as well. Zay Flowers went off for 132 yards on nine catches (on nine targets), Rashod Bateman's been a very nice complementary weapon (four catches for 71 yards on Sunday) and even Mark Andrews got very involved. The tight end's been largely invisible this season, but emerged Sunday for 66 yards on three catches with a touchdown Sunday.
The idea Andrews was complete dust never really held up. If he's starting to round into full health, it's just another arrow in Lamar's quiver to go along with Isaiah Likely and Charlie Kolar at a stacked tight end spot.
Every time Washington managed to try and close the gap on Sunday, it felt like the Ravens had an answer on offense from either Henry or Andrews.
The Ravens had a fairly uncharacteristic meltdown against the Raiders in Week 2, giving up a fourth-quarter, double-digit lead. That game feels like an anomaly after watching them close out what looks like a strong Washington team in Week 6.
But make no mistake, they're the ultimate front-running team. They have been for a few years now and with Henry looking like the 2,000-yard rusher we saw in Tennessee and Lamar's continued ascension as an elite passing threat, plus a defense that's making offenses one-dimensional, this team is going to be a big problem the rest of the way, and particularly in the playoffs.
The Ravens were the best team in football for much of last year and just got Mahomes'd in the postseason. That threat will always exist. But the Ravens look a lot like last year's squad, only beefed up and built for really snuffing teams out, thanks to the presence of prime Derrick Henry running through defenses like a bulldozer through butter.
Not-So-Happy Birthday
Jerry Jones turned 82 on Sunday, and the Cowboys celebrated their owner's birthday by trying to give up that many points. They let the Lions get more than halfway there, getting their brakes beat off 47-9 in a loss that tied for the most humiliating of Jones' tenure as owner.
Dallas has now allowed the most points at home in a four-game stretch (167) since 1972-73. Th Cowboys are just the second team in NFL history -- along with the 2013 Raiders -- to trail by 15+ points AT HALFTIME in four straight home games. They are the first team in NFL history to allow 12+ yards per pass attempt in four straight home games. Dallas won 16 straight home games prior to this swan dive into defensive mediocrity. Not great, Bob!
The Cowboys owner looked preeeeeeeetty miffed during the game, with Fox cameras consistently cutting to his luxury box and catching his frustration as Detroit piled up the points.
Happy Birthday Jerry Jones
— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) October 13, 2024
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Jones came out fiery after the game when asked about a coaching change as well.
"I haven't even considered that. I'm not considering that. Just so you're clear, I'm not considering that," Jones said.
"That would be a hypothetical. In that matter, do you think I'm an idiot? Do you?" he continued. "Well, I'm not going to hypothetical with you about would I consider a coaching change in light of the timing we're sitting here with. I'm not. At all."
The Cowboys are 3-3 and heading into their bye and there will be a plenty of chatter about Mike McCarthy's job status over the next two weeks.
My gut sense is he'll definitely mull over the idea of making a move, but may simply be content to let McCarthy play out his lame duck contract year and see if he can flip this thing around. Jerry went "all in" on 2024, but that may have been more a statement about letting McCarthy try and earn a new deal than actually going all out to make the team better.
After all, this defense simply isn't good. Losing DeMarcus Lawrence and Micah Parsons obviously hurts, but I'm not entirely sure their presence fixes this defense. And it doesn't help to see Dan Quinn and Washington at the top of the standings in the NFC East.
Remember, this team was flat-out terrible on defense before Quinn came to town. McCarthy nearly lost his job thanks to Mike Nolan's defenses and now Mike Zimmer's squad could be putting him on the hot seat, especially with the offense floundering against multiple teams so far this year.
The last -- and only -- time Jerry Jones fired a coach midseason was when he canned Wade Phillips after Wade got blown out by 38 points at home early in the season against the Packers. The coach of those Packers? Mike McCarthy. Ironic, don't you think?
More Hot Seat News
To my knowledge, a coach has never been fired halfway through a two-game London road trip. Mostly because there haven't been many and almost all of them involve the Jaguars. Doug Pederson probably won't be fired this week ahead of a second international matchup -- this one against the Patriots in Week 7 -- but he didn't do himself any favors by getting blown out 35-16 by the Bears on Sunday.
Caleb Williams was masterful in this game, going 23 for 29 for 226 yards and four touchdown passes, completely shredding the Jaguars defense. Trevor Lawrence was ... not. He rallied for a pair of touchdown passes to Gabe Davis for a decent statline (23 for 35, 234 yards and the pair of scores), but it was all in the second half and all essentially in garbage time. The Jags trailed 21-3 at the break and never cut the lead to less than 11 points, with the Bears doing whatever they wanted on offense.
Give credit to Chicago: Shane Waldron's done a 180 in terms of his play-calling and Williams has really poured it on over the last month or so.
But the story here is the Jags' sorry 1-5 record and a must-win matchup in early morning prime time against the Patriots looming. There's been buzz about Pederson's job security since early in the season, especially after last year's complete meltdown and Jacksonville missing the playoffs. Owner Shad Khan called this "the most talented team" Jacksonville's ever had, but six weeks into the year they're sitting dead last in the AFC South.
Lawrence's ceiling should still be just as high as any quarterback in the NFL given his pedigree. But Pederson hasn't gotten the most out of him this year, with the exception being Lawrence's birthday blowup spot in Week 5. If the Jags lose on Sunday against New England, it really feels like a coaching change could be near, especially considering how coveted this job could be.
Kings of the North
We mentioned the Lions above, but it warrants discussing just how incredibly good the entire NFC North looks right now. Detroit's 4-1 after blasting Dallas out of its bye ... and the Lions are not even in first place! The North is 17-5 as a whole on the season after Week 6 saw three teams win, giving it the best record by any division since the 1970 merger. It's the first division to have all four teams with four-plus wins since realignment in 2002. The NFC North has the four best teams by point differential in the NFL. The NFC North's point differential is +211 and the next closest division is the NFC South at +20.
The Vikings remain undefeated coming off their Week 6 bye and have looked like a very complete team, with Sam Darnold playing great football under Kevin O'Connell's tutelage, Justin Jefferson doing Justin Jefferson things, Aaron Jones providing a massive boost in both the run and pass game as an offseason addition and Brian Flores' defense flummoxing even the best offenses with wizard-level blitz and pressure packages. Minnesota very much does not look like a fluke.
Detroit has Jared Goff operating at elite-level quarterback play right now -- Goff's 157.5 passer rating over his last two games is the highest in NFL history. The Lions scored 40-plus points in back-to-back games for the first time since 1962. The Lions likely lost Aidan Hutchinson for the year on Sunday, a brutal blow for an elite pass rusher who was tracking for DPOY candidacy and was actually on pace to break the single-season sack record before his injury. The Lions rebuilt their team through the draft, loading up in the trenches and it's paid off handsomely, with one of the best rosters in football. David Montgomery (two touchdowns Sunday) and Jahmyr Gibbs are a lethal combination and Amon-Ra St. Brown/Jameson Williams/Sam LaPorta are arguably the best trio of pass-catching weapons in football and wonderfully complementary in terms of their skillset. You never know who's going to beat you week to week.
Green Bay lost Jordan Love for multiple weeks and didn't skip a beat with Malik Willis under center. The Packers have 17 takeaways on the season after turning over the Cardinals three times Sunday in their 34-13 cruise control win. It's tied for the most by any team through six games over the last 10 seasons, along with the 2015 Broncos and 2018 Bears. Love has lived up to the offseason hype when he's been on the field and tossed four passing touchdowns Sunday, including two to Romeo Dobbs, despite the receiver coming off a suspension in Week 5. Jayden Reed is just a PROBLEM. Christian Watson back in the fold gives Green Bay an elite field stretcher. This offense has weapons for days and bringing in Jeff Hafley as defensive coordinator this offseason has paid massive dividends.
The Bears have maybe the toughest schedule moving forward, and it's a real dagger for Chicago fans to have this division so beefy right as they finally get a franchise quarterback in Caleb Williams. But I don't think the Bears will fade easily. Matt Eberflus catches a lot of heat, but he's built up a really good defense in Chicago, which shouldn't be surprising given how good his units were in previous stops. As mentioned above, Waldron moved past some early season issues with the play-calling. D'Andre Swift looked like a free-agency bust early on, but he's been one of the best running backs in football over the last month. Cole Kmet and Keenan Allen both caught a pair of scores on Sunday, a week after D.J. Moore extracted revenge on Carolina with 100 yards and two touchdowns. The skill-position situation for Williams is panning out the way we suggested it might this offseason.
No division has ever had all four teams make the playoffs and while having to play each other a bunch down the stretch plus increasingly harder schedules for some teams (made harder by those division games), the NFC North at least has a decent shot after its hot start.
