2024 Week 6: Commanders 23, Ravens 30
Despite losing the Commanders (4-2) played a really good game… they were trading punches with a lot of people's Super Bowl favorite. This game signals to me that the Commies are legit and will be for years to come. As long as Jayden Daniels doesn’t follow the RG3 arc Washington might break the decades-long record of the NFC East not having a back-to-back winner.
The Ravens (4-2) are the hottest/best team in the league right now and they have the AFC North on lock. They have a relatively easy schedule going forward which might help them to win the AFC outright.
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QB Report:
- Jayden Daniels (24/35 for 269 yards, 2TDs; 6 rushes for 22 yards) I think, is a better version of Lamar Jackson (20/26 for 323 yards, 1TD/1INT; 11 rushes for 40 yards). Both are great at what they do but Daniels I think throws a better pass than Lamar. Jayden is doing what he’s doing without the threat of Derrick Henry, we need to keep that in mind when comparing the two top dual-threat QBs.
RB Report:
- I don’t know how anyone can see what is happening in Baltimore and not give all the credit to Derrick Henry (24-132-2). He’s going to win OPOY if he stays healthy and should be the league MVP… but it will go to Lamar because he’s a QB. Remember, this Ravens team was winless before they started playing Henry for real.
- Austin Ekeler (9-21-0; 4 catches for 47 yards) was so close to having a great day at the office with Brian Robinson out, but the Ravens defense bowed up and stopped him on the goal line. Ekeler is still great in the passing game so even when Robinson returns his production won’t slow down too much.
WR/TE Report:
- Zay Flowers (9-132-0/9) has been killing it in the screen game, and it’s mostly thanks to Derrick Henry. Teams are so afraid of him that Zay gets a lot of 1-on-1 coverage and he just runs away from everyone else. He’s had back-to-back games over 100 yards.
The other main benefactor in the passing game is Rashod Bateman (4-71-0/4). He’s not doing anything different than he has in the past, it’s just the Derrick Henry effect. Mark Andrews (3-66-1/4) has scored in back-to-back weeks now, there’s no change in his snaps or targeting he just happens to be the tight end in Baltimore that’s scoring. It could just as easily be Likely or Kolar.
- Terry McLaurin (6-53-2/7) is having his own breakout year thanks to Jayden Daniels. This is the first time Terry has worked with a real starting-caliber NFL QB. The years prior to this season he had scored 7 TDs as a rookie, then 4-5-5-4 the next 4 seasons… he’s already at 4 six weeks into the 2024 campaign.
D/ST Report:
- The Ravens defense is on a hot streak right now, but they definitely are a flawed unit. They’re bottom two against the pass but number one against the run. The reason for the low rushing numbers is two-fold, 1) The offense is so fast teams need to throw to keep pace, and 2) their pass defense is already weaker than normal so teams gameplan in that direction anyway.
image source: (AP Photo/Nick Wass)