What if I told you that my team has a two-time and reigning league MVP at quarterback, added a two-time rushing champion to the top rushing offense in football, and boasts a top 5 defense year after year?

Sounds like the kind of team that is built to win a Super Bowl. So, what’s the holdup in Baltimore? For as long as footballs have had laces, the story has been to run the ball and play great defense. Being a tough, hard-nosed squad that fights for every yard and defends every blade of grass was the gospel in every locker room across the nation. Another age-old key to success traditionally has been to keep the opponent’s offense off the field. 

The Ravens routinely dominated the ball in 2023, finishing ninth in time of possession and converting over forty percent of their third downs. As far as the fundamental core of a great football team and culture, the Baltimore Ravens have it all. So again, what is holding this team back from making the trip in February to add another Lombardi Trophy to their legacy?

Lamar Jackson is undoubtedly the most electric signal caller in the game today. The problem is that his electricity has to *run* through a lot of conduit to deliver powerful jolts in points. Today’s game is about scoring as much as possible by finding mismatches and being innovative in the passing game to exploit those mismatches. The Ravens have struggled to roster the pass catchers who would present a ton of mismatches across the board, and Lamar Jackson has not shown the consistent performance in a pure passing attack that would mirror what is widely viewed as the way to go on offense.

Of course, Jackson has had his moments picking apart defenses, and his statistical output can’t be denied—but neither can the final scores at the end of his playoff appearances. Jackson and his offense made a shocking exit in the conference championship round by managing to score only ten points against the eventual champion Kansas City Chiefs. Missed opportunities in the passing game, along with uncharacteristic turnovers, derailed an offensive unit that finished the year ranked as a top-five offense. The good news is that the Ravens’ defense continues to show up in the regular season and playoffs, allowing only seventeen points in the aforementioned playoff exit. So now, the next step is clearly for the offense to be dominant and explosive when it matters most.

The Ravens bring back all of their weapons from last season, as well as a couple of new birds to fly with Lamar Jackson—second-year talent Zay Flowers, Rashod Bateman, and one of the more dominant tight ends in the game when healthy, Mark Andrews. The draft selection of Devontez Walker, a six-foot-one, two hundred-pound wideout with 4.3 speed, adds just what the team needs in its nest of pass catchers. Walker can attack any secondary defender due to his combination of size and speed. This is the kind of mismatch that can help push Lamar and his passing attack over the edge into championship glory. All this while not even getting to the best part.

The Ravens’ offense is, and will always be, predicated on a back-breaking rushing attack triggered by Jackson. But now, he has a new running mate who is equally terrifying to NFL defenders when he possesses the ball. Derrick Henry joins the backfield, and it almost seems like the kind of pairing you only see in a video game. How can a rushing offense that topped the league in yards get better? Well, maybe by adding arguably the best running back of the last decade to the backfield. Like I said before, it seems almost unfair or video game-like, but once the ball is kicked off in January, the concept of fairness becomes primal. It’s only what happens between the white lines that will determine who is victorious. 

Watching the impact of Henry will be fun, but the key will be maintaining his health for the playoff run. With all due respect, though, the Ravens cannot get ahead of themselves as they will face the annual gauntlet that is the AFC North. Their division plays a very physical brand of football, and every team got better in the offseason. The Ravens can count themselves among the rosters that got better as well, and that is, in fact, scary for the rest of the league.

The time is now. The direction is clear as we all look toward New Orleans for Super Bowl LIX. The only question left is: Will this finally be the year that Lamar Jackson and his Ravens fly into the history books and land as champions?