Cincinnati Bengals: Keys to victory, players to watch vs. Ravens in Week 2
By Kenn Korb
Will Baltimore’s WRs Show Up Again?
The Ravens had perhaps one of the worst receiving corps in the league last season, which likely played a key role in why their quarterback (and offense as a whole) struggled so much in 2017. Only three teams had less passing yards than Baltimore last year (3,030) while the Ravens ranked No. 21 in Football Outsiders’ Offensive DVOA, including 26th in Pass Offense DVOA.
In the offseason, Baltimore overhauled their wide receiving group; now, their top three receivers are guys who were brought in as free agents this offseason: Michael Crabtree, John Brown, and Willie Snead. Against Buffalo, all three of those guys left an impact during their new team’s 47-3 season-opening blowout. All three had at least three catches, all created a play of 20+ yards and they each caught a touchdown pass.
That is all well and good, but can the they keep it up? After two seasons of 80+ catches and 900+ yards with Okaland from 2015-2016, Crabtree fell off a cliff to have just 58 receptions and 618 yards for the Raiders in 2017 as he showed a propensity for drops.
Brown is coming off a year where he had under 300 receiving yards (299) and has just six games with 50+ receiving yards in the past two seasons. Snead was active for 11 games for New Orleans last year but only managed 8 catches and 92 receiving yards.
Their Week 1 outputs are nice, but will they prove to be a blip or a trend?
Cincinnati will hope it’s the latter — and they have a secondary which would seem to in theory able to match up with them. William Jackson III proved himself elite last season and could match up on any of them. Dre Kirkpatrick hasn’t necessarily proved worth the large free agent deal he signed a few years ago, but had a strong game against the Colts and at least in theory can handle the rough-and-tumble battle someone like Crabtree or Snead will provide.
Dennard finally started showing his first-round promise last year and has the skills to keep up with whoever is placed in the slot against him. Add in rookie safety Jessie Bates and there will be enough quality coverage ability out there to give Cincinnati a path to winning this matchup.