Opponent Scouting Report: Baltimore Ravens
By Andrew Ites
The Ravens are extremely well-coached and disciplined, which makes them a tough matchup week in and week out.
Baltimore’s 8-8 record was fairly indicative of where this organization is at right now.
They have a decent level of talent on their roster, but they don’t have enough explosive playmakers to be a dominant team.
The Ravens look like they’ll hover around that 8-8 mark again this season hoping to catch a couple of breaks to sneak into the playoffs.
Strengths
Eric Weddle played like possibly the league’s best safety last season. He was all over the field with 4 interceptions and 13 passes defended, which is an impressive number for a deep free safety.
Baltimore picked up the perfect safety to pair with Weddle in the back of this secondary this offseason in Tony Jefferson.
Jefferson was an absolute wrecking ball against the run racking up a ridiculous 13 tackles for loss, which led all safeties by a wide margin.
Weddle and Jefferson could form the NFL’s best safety tandem in 2017.
Weaknesses
Joe Flacco has seen a sharp downturn in production since his remarkable Super Bowl run in 2012, but he hasn’t had many weapons to throw to during that time.
Baltimore still lacks a true number one receiver, and they just lost one of Flacco’s favorite targets in the retiring Steve Smith.
Jeremy Maclin and Mike Wallace are solid secondary weapons, but opposing secondaries will be able to develop gameplans to stop them if they’re the go-to guys.
The Ravens need to see a huge leap from former first round pick Breshad Perriman if they plan to improve the league’s 26th-ranked passing offense from last season according to Football Outsiders.
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The Ravens’ offense won’t be much of a threat for the Colts’ defense this season, but Baltimore’s defense is still strong after ranking as the league’s 6th-best unit in 2016, and Weddle’s coverage ability on the back end could slow down the deep passing game.
The Colts’ last three games will be against teams with playoff hopes, and their Week 16 trip to Baltimore could be a season-defining game.
In case you missed it, here are the scouting reports for the rest of the teams on Indianapolis’ 2017 schedule: