Last week was horrible. There were, of course, a couple of bright spots. Quinshon Judkins looked true to form after only two practices, and Andre Szmyt didn’t miss any of the three attempts that we asked him to kick. Dillon Gabriel looked good in the one drive he got at the end of the game and our defense backed up everything that they said about Derrick Henry. Other than that, though, good football was very hard to come by. Our line has already started falling apart, with Conklin missing the game entirely (and in line to miss our next one as well), and it showed: we allowed the Baltimore defense to hit Joe Flacco nine times. He kept getting chased and was too slow to escape – at one point, it just looked like elder abuse. Jerry Jeudy dropped another pass, and while most of our defense looked very solid for most of the game, Cameron Mitchell had no idea where his help was half the time. I didn’t expect us to win that game, but again, last week was horrible.
Looking ahead to this weekend against the Packers, though, it’s easy to stay disheartened. We’re coming off a blowout loss, while they’ve started the year strong. Their defense is arguably better than the Ravens’ is, and their offense has looked pretty good as well (27 points scored in each of their games this season). I don’t expect us to win this one either, but there are still some things that I will be looking forward to watching on Sunday.
Cameron Mitchell: Like I said, he had no idea where his help was all game. He was consistently lined up on the outside, and yet kept getting beaten to the outside instead of forcing the Ravens’ receivers inwards. I don’t know whether it’s something he has to improve on or if we should give someone else a shot as a starter, but watching him get burned time and time again made me that much more upset that we never even attempted to sign Asante Samuel Jr. in the offseason. Mitchell is clearly the weak link on our defense, and teams will continue to exploit him until we either improve him or replace him. Either way, he can’t perform that poorly again.
Carson Schwesinger and Devin Bush: Carson Schwesinger, our green-dot linebacker, has led this defense to two impressive outings so far this season. He has stepped into his starting role in a massive way, with 13 tackles already in his first two career games – and with JOK possibly alluding to an eventual return earlier this week, we might very well have the best linebacker duo in the league by this time next season. That being said, Devin Bush has also been playing his part so far – at a much higher level than I expected, if I’m being honest, with a team-high 15 tackles on the year. Our LB room is in good hands.
Defensive Line: Myles Garrett is the best football player in the league, but he needs to stop jumping offsides. Other than that, though, just keep everything exactly the same. Mason Graham started getting involved a lot more in Week 2 with five total tackles (three solo, one TFL), and with his help, we were able to take the Ravens’ running game away entirely. Josh Jacobs, who’s been limited so far this week with an ankle injury, is another productive workhorse back but with a different playstyle to Derrick Henry – it will be interesting to see how we’re able to minimize his effect on the game. If we can, and we force Jordan Love to beat us with the ball in his own hands, I’ll immediately be less worried. He’s a worse quarterback and a worse runner than Lamar Jackson, with his top receiver (Jayden Reed) out. If we can take away the run again, we’ll have a chance to stay in this one.
Rest of Defense: Someone needs to force a turnover. I know that they’ve been standing on their heads and that it’s not fair to ask the offense for even more help, but it’s clear that they need it.
Jerry Jeudy: In my last article, I mentioned that drops weren’t a consistent problem for anyone on our team. I was wrong. Jerry Jeudy dropped 13 passes last year, and he already picked up his third of this season in Week 2 against the Ravens. I know he’s our WR1, and he’s essentially the veteran in our receivers’ room, but someone has to take him to the side and force him to spend an entire week of practice on the JUGS machines. How are you an NFL wide receiver with a $60 million contract and you can’t catch the ball? A touchdown would be nice, a hundred-yard game would be nice, but all I want to see from Jeudy against the Packers is a zero-drop performance.
Offensive Line: If Jack Conklin plays, then great – but it seems like that won’t be the case. If not, Cornelius Lucas will once again be in line to start at right tackle – and he and Dawand Jones aren’t exactly a duo that invites confidence when it comes to stopping Micah Parsons. Neither of our tackles are quick enough to keep up with Parsons, so their best bet is simply to delay him as much as possible. They don’t have to win every rep, and I don’t expect them to – they just have to slow him down long enough for Joe to throw the ball.
Joe Flacco: Get the ball out quickly. If he doesn’t, Micah might genuinely kill him. Flacco can take a hit extremely well, especially for a 40-year-old, but he can’t be running for his life as much as he was last week. He has to recognize that his offensive line is not an amazing one, and he has to help them out by getting the ball out of his hands as quickly as possible. Too much time, and Micah will get through.
Quinshon Judkins and Dylan Sampson: The Packers allowed Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery just 44 yards on 20 combined carries in their season opener, and then 51 total yards of rushing to the Commanders a week ago. Less than 100 total rushing yards allowed to what had been two of the most explosive offenses in the league in 2024. On paper, it is not shaping up to be a good day for our rookie running backs. With Quinshon Judkins officially named RB1 against Green Bay, we’ll at least be getting a preview of each RB’s true role for the rest of the year – but it seems likely that Judkins will be our bellcow back while Dylan Sampson will come in for passing downs. If that’s accurate, Quinshon probably won’t be able to get much going on the ground. Dylan, however, has a shot at a very productive day through the air: Jahmyr Gibbs caught 10 passes in Week 1 against Green Bay, so if Flacco is able to get the ball to him early and often, then Sampson has a very good chance to be our top receiver in Week 3.
Rest of Offense: Find a way to stay on the field. As much as our offense relies on the defense to keep us in games, our defense relies on our offense to keep the drive alive long enough for them to catch their breath. It happened all of last year and it happened against the Ravens last weekend: our opponents force a few quick stops, they tire our defense out, and they never look back. We cannot let that keep happening. We have to stay on the field.
Andre Szmyt: Just because he didn’t miss last week doesn’t mean I’m forgetting Week 1. We should be 1-1 right now. He’s still on thin ice and he better not miss any kicks on Sunday.
Game as a Whole: I would love to see no drops from our offense, or some forced turnovers from our defense. A win would be amazing right about now. That being said, I could settle for improvement. It all sounds great – but I just want to watch a good game. If we look better than we did against the Ravens, it’s a win in my book – even with a loss, our 11-6 season is still right on schedule.
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