If you want the inside scoop on the Baltimore Ravens, you’ve come to the right place. This week the Pittsburgh Steelers are taking on the Ravens so we reached out to our friend Matt Stevens at Ravens Wire to give us his perspective on this week’s game.

If you had to defend Lamar Jackson, how would you do it?

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It’s a multi-prong attack really that includes both sides of the ball to truly negate Jackson and Baltimore’s offense. The top thing is to get your own offense rolling and putting points on the board. When the Ravens feel like they need to play catch up or win a shootout, they completely abandon the run and lose their identity while Jackson tends to get flustered and regresses a bit. Defensively, it’s all about hitting Jackson as often as possible, including to the echo of the whistle. He’s undoubtedly going to make some plays but the more you can get him staring at his own offensive line and the incoming pass rush, the more you’ll limit his ability to read a defense and accuracy on deep throws, making the offense far more one dimensional. Then, you have to lock up TE Mark Andrews and WR Marquise Brown. Those two players are Jackson’s favorite targets and while no one else is consistently getting it done, he’s been far too laser-focused on them regardless of how well covered they’ve been. Taking away those targets will only add to his frustration and get him to force balls into bad situations.

Are the Ravens as good as their record?

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As much as this is a cop-out answer, it’s both yes and no. As we saw last year when this team was 4-2 at this point, they’re more than capable of suddenly going on a tear. But as of right now, they’re being propped up by a defense that has bailed out an inconsistent offense. While Jackson and company have managed to find the end zone often enough, a lot of that is thanks to short fields provided by the defense. And once out to a good lead against bad teams, it’s usually over by halftime if we’re all being honest with ourselves. However, the Ravens haven’t really proven they can beat an above-average team this season and with how they’ve played against inferior opponents, there’s legitimate concern about how they’d fare against a good team like the Steelers. If Jackson and this offense can get anywhere close to what they were in the second half of last season, they’d be nearly unstoppable. But there are a lot of question marks and “if” statements being made about Baltimore right now based on how they performed last year as compared to using their play in 2020 to define them as a team.

Who is a player on the Ravens we need to know?

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Pittsburgh fans know all the familiar faces already. Cornerbacks Marcus Peters and Marlon Humphrey are big-time assets. Defensive ends Yannick Ngakoue and Calais Campbell are newcomers to the rivalry but seem more than up for the physical nature of it. Lamar Jackson is arguably the most electric player in the NFL. While we could talk about all those guys all day long, we’re likely going to see some new faces begin emerging this week. Rookie wide receiver Devin Duvernay and running back J.K. Dobbins are likely going to see a jump in their snap counts this week following Baltimore’s Week 7 bye. Both have performed very well when given a chance prior to the bye but have been limited because of the veterans in front of them. However, with those elder statesmen not exactly performing up to par, the Ravens have to do something to get the offense back on track and that should be to give their young playmakers more time on the field. Duvernay is ridiculously fast. Like, I’d love to see a foot race between him and Marquise Brown to determine which one is the fastest type of fast. And with that little bit of Steve Smith-like personality and swagger to him, he’s not afraid to play bigger than his size. He can be used both in the slot and on the outside depending on which matchup is best and if given more playing time, I’d expect him to draw a lot of targets immediately. Steeler fans were upset with Baltimore grabbing Dobbins and for good reason. He’s shown a bit of power but I believe he could really be used a lot like how the Ravens used Ray Rice — as both a quick, one-cut rusher inside, speed option outside, and safety valve in the passing game. If Baltimore decides to give him a heavier share of the workload, he’s a guy Pittsburgh has to watch in every facet of the game or he’ll break off a big play in the blink of an eye.

What unit on the Ravens are you most concerned with this week?

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The offensive line is a major concern for the Ravens this season. While the loss of Marshal Yanda really hurt Baltimore with rookie Tyre Phillips not playing great football, the Ravens have also failed to put anyone else in there which could either be them taking a long-term approach to his development or the backups being even worse. But it’s not just Phillips who has struggled; the entire interior of the offensive line has been inconsistent at best, getting pushed around far too frequently for a team that dominated the line of scrimmage a year ago with four of these five offensive linemen. Against a Steelers defense that has consistently gotten pressure on quarterbacks and stuffed the run because of an impressive defensive line and some heavy blitzing, the Ravens will desperately need the offensive line to play their best game this week. But there’s also legitimate concern with Jackson as well and he’s the biggest factor. He hasn’t played very well so far this season, struggling to read defenses and make the right decisions mixed with some regressed mechanics and a desire to throw deep even when it’s clearly not anywhere close to working. If he settles down a bit, gets back to what he does best (run when there are open lanes and target the middle of the field), he’s capable of taking over this game. If he’s what he has been the last four games, he’s going to have a very rough day and the offense will struggle along with him.

What is your prediction?

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Like I’ve mentioned above, the outcome of this game really relies on which version of Lamar Jackson we see. But I’m going to base my prediction on how the Ravens have played through six games this season and not on what could improve over the bye. Because of that, I have to pick Pittsburgh in a very close game, 23-30. Baltimore’s defense keeps it close but Roethlisberger pulls off one of his patented fourth-quarter comeback drives to barely edge the Ravens out in this game and make that Thanksgiving matchup an even important game for both squads.