NFL: Insights into the Kansas City Chiefs’ victory over the Baltimore Ravens

Chiefs vs. Ravens insights: Ravens O-Line still has work to do

With the two guards John Simpson and Kevin Zeitler as well as right tackle, Baltimore lost three starters from the O-line in the offseason. The line is younger now, but also less experienced and not well-coordinated. “We may still have a few stumbles here and there, but I think that we will be in a very good position in a year,” said General Manager Eric DeCosta optimistically before the season opener.

He was right about the “stumbles”. The line had a particularly hard time against star tackle Chris Jones, who got through several times and forced the sack fumble against Jackson. The quintet also had big problems with the new focus on correctly positioning the lineman at the line of scrimmage: the refs whistled four times in the first half for an “illegal formation”.

At least the O-Line improved as the game progressed and bought their quarterback some time in the pocket, especially in the final phase. In the end, they only managed one sack. “That was impressive, especially against this defense,” praised head coach John Harbaugh afterwards.

Of course, it helps when you have a genuine “Houdini” as QB: Jackson himself ran forward 16 times and gained 122 yards in the process, and he was most dangerous not on planned runs but on improvised ones. Derrick Henry couldn’t really get going: the superstar RB managed 46 yards in 13 attempts, with his best being a run of nine yards.