Despite Familiarity and Three Games, Ravens a Wildcard

So early into the season, it's difficult to know what's real and what isn't. There isn't a team where that's more true than the Baltimore Ravens, the week four opponent for the Cleveland Browns.

Between installing a new offense, injuries and their first three opponents, the Baltimore Ravens are a bit of a mystery heading into week four against the Cleveland Browns. Even with all of the familiarity that comes with being a divisional opponent, it's not entirely clear who the Ravens are at this point.

The Ravens hired Todd Monken to install an offense that wants to create and exploit space around quarterback Lamar Jackson. More receivers and more speed that should create more explosive play opportunities, but it also provides some easy running lanes for when Jackson scrambles. It's not surprising there would be an adjustment period, so there's a foreboding sense that they could go off at any moment when it starts clicking.

One of the issues that's holding Ravens offense back from realizing that potential is injuries. They lost J.K. Dobbins for the season among other injuries to their running backs, they've been without multiple offensive linemen in games and their receiving threats including tight end Mark Andrews have been either out or limited by injuries.

That has made it difficult for Jackson to find consistency. The result has been an offense that ends up resembling the one run by Greg Roman. No, the team isn't trotting out a bunch of condensed formations, but when they aren't clicking on offense, it boils down to Jackson trying to make the offense function with his legs, either on designed runs, scrambles or extending plays so he can find open receivers.

The good news for the Ravens is their offensive line has held up in pass protection reasonably well despite the absence of both left tackle Ronnie Stanley and Tyler Linderbaum. It may allow those players the necessary time to fully heal rather than coming back early out of desperation, but their running game is hurting. That's exacerbated by the injury problems at running back.

Those injuries will bear watching over the course of the week. Getting players back healthy and gaining confidence in the offense could put the Ravens closer to having a breakout performance, but they have struggled to create explosive plays and will have to do it against one of the best defenses in the league three weeks into this season.

On the defensive side of the ball, the Ravens have performed well. They have one of the more highly thought of coordinators in the league in Mike McDaniel, who has been great at scheming up pressures on opposing quarterback and putting his players in position to succeed.

The Ravens are stout up the middle between the defensive tackles, linebackers and safeties. They have questions on the perimeter, though their edge rushers have played well to start this season.

Much in the same way the Ravens might question the Browns defense since they played the Cincinnati Bengals in miserable weather followed by two less than stellar offenses in the Pittsburgh Steelers and Tennessee Titans, it's fair to wonder if the efficiency for the Ravens due to their schedule.

The Ravens played the opener against the Houston Texans. Not only was that C.J. Stroud's first career start but their offensive line was in shambles. They then followed that up with a win over the Cincinnati Bengals and even though they lost to the Indianapolis Colts, the defense was hardly the problem.

Former Browns malcontent Jadeveon Clowney is off to a strong start this season. There's every reason to believe he's motivated for this game and the Browns are vulnerable at the tackle positions.

The Ravens corners are another question mark and that will likely continue until Marlon Humphrey comes back from his injury.

The Ravens may have some of the same questions about the Browns, how good they truly are on defense as well as not being sure what to expect from the offense. The difference is the injuries. If the Ravens are healthy, the team they would roll out on Sunday would be unrecognizable from the team they've had out there the past two games, which is what makes them such a wildcard.