Ravens Win Their 5th Straight And Now Sit Atop The AFC North

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5 in a row baby!!! Another ugly one but consider business taken care of.

We all knew this stretch of games against lackluster opposition presented an opportunity to get themselves back into the race heading into big time divisional games against Cincy, Pittsburgh, then Cincy again. With the way they were playing and the way they've had a tendency of dropping duds to terrible teams the past couple years, 4-1 was the hope and 5-0 was the pipe dream. So mission… very much accomplished.

Yet… I'd be lying if I said I feel great about the Ravens at this point. The offense looks completely and broken and Lamar does not look like himself whatsoever. The defense has absolutely turned it around and the boys are playing clean football, but this does not look like a team capable of going on a run.

Back to back weeks they've struggled to get into a groove offensively and have gone into the half with a deficit. The offensive line has been the achilles heel of this team all year and they do seem to be improving little by little, but they still have a long way to go. 

Lamar doesn't look comfortable at all. He clearly isn't right, whether it's the hamstring, knee, or ankle… or all of the above. He lacks the burst and shiftiness he usually possesses and doesn't look comfortable standing in the pocket either. He's missing throws he usually makes, like that ball to Hopkins that would've gone for a game-icing touchdown. To some degree it's exciting to know we may have a lot more in the tank than what we've shown, but the offense simply hasn't had it since Week 1. At some point you are what you are.

The question becomes… is the style of football they're playing sustainable and one that can get it done against the big boys? It's probably enough to take care of the likes of the Bengals and Steelers, but I have my doubts against others. We can play tight and physical D and live off takeaways (that Marlon strip today was MASSIVE), but nobody knows better than we do that those takeaways can vanish in a heartbeat at the worst possible time. We need more from the offense. Period.

Credit where credit is due though. The boys could've packed it in and called it a year, and they've shown a tremendous amount of fight and resiliency. We're in the drivers seat of the AFC North now with a golden opportunity to put a final nail in the Bengals coffin on Thanksgiving night. 

Keep the train rolling, get some rest after that one, and go from there. Go vens.