Baltimore Ravens guards vs. Jurrell Casey matchup to watch
The Baltimore Ravens have been dealt a huge blow with star cornerback Jimmy Smith now on the injured reserve after requiring season-ending foot surgery, but they should be fine without him tomorrow against the Tennessee Titans. It’s the type of game that the Ravens should feel will be a guaranteed victory, and the Titans are the type of opponent that the Ravens must be able to blow out. The AFC North is incredibly competitive at this stage, and the 5-4 Ravens can’t afford to make any mistakes with the Cleveland Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers rolling, and the Cincinnati Bengals owning a season sweep of the Ravens.
More from Baltimore Ravens
- Baltimore Ravens boast bizarre, fun, meaningless preseason stat
- Three 2023 free agents who won’t live up to their contract
- 2023 NFL Season: 3 major in-season trades that could go down
- 5 Baltimore Ravens players who could break out in 2023
- Ravens will rely on first round WRs to revive dismal passing attack
There isn’t an awful lot for the Ravens to watch out for tomorrow, but there is one matchup that fans who would like to tune into this game will find interesting. Tennessee Titans defensive end/tackle Jurrell Casey has taken well to Ray Horton‘s new hybrid 3-4 scheme, and he’s still one of the most dangerous pass rushers in the game despite the schematic switch. With 12 quarterback hits, Casey is one of the league leaders, and he is also making plenty of plays in run defense with plenty of meaningful tackles to his credit.
Casey has been effective rushing the passer on either side of the line, so both Ravens guards will have to plan on facing off against the former USC standout at some point this week. Thankfully for the Ravens, the two best players on their much-improved offensive line are their guards, and they have the league’s second-best guard in Marshal Yanda, who is also the team’s best player on offense if you don’t adjust for position.
Yanda and breakout star Kelechi Osemele, whose season-ending injury last season was a bigger blow than we expected, have been more than assured in pass protection this season with just one sack allowed each, per the Pro Football Focus, but they truly dominate when asked to pave the way for the running game. Both players are extremely strong, and they know how to lock onto blockers and display solid open-field awareness. While Casey is certainly no slouch when asked to defend the run, like the Ravens guards, he has a speciality, but his speciality is terrorizing quarterbacks.
Even in games that seem like they could end up in a blowout, tomorrow’s battle between the Baltimore Ravens and Titans will pit one of the NFL’s most disruptive defensive linemen against two guards who have arguably been the best two players at the position this season. Joe Flacco has been accurate under pressure this season, but the type of quick interior pressure that the explosive, strong, and savvy Casey can provide is especially debilitating for an offense. I don’t think Casey will be able to take over tomorrow’s game, because Yanda and Osemele are simply too good to let that happen. That said, I do expect Casey to notch a hurry or two on Flacco, because the Titans can also move him around the formation in order to avoid Yanda and Osemele. The rest of the line is still very good, though, as the offensive tackle duo of Eugene Monroe and Ricky Wagner could emerge as an elite duo next season with Wagner enjoying a surprising breakout campaign here in 2014.