NFL Power Rankings Week 11: Ravens are behind Lions, Chiefs, and sometimes the Bills?
Most national pundits are much higher on the Baltimore Ravens being one of the best teams in the league after they notched a resounding 41-10 bounce-back win over the Denver Broncos this past Sunday. Now, it’s time to see where the team lands in the NFL landscape of power rankings heading into Week 10.
The Ringer: 2 (Last week: 3)
When Lamar Jackson won his first MVP for the 2019 season, he was the most effective runner in the league, averaging almost seven yards per rush. At that point, his prowess as a passer wasn’t actualized—you saw a generally effective quarterback down-to-down, but he wasn’t quite raising Baltimore’s offensive ceiling with his work from the pocket yet. When he won MVP for the 2023 season, we saw a player that was in total control of his game within the structure of Baltimore’s offense. His total numbers weren’t as eye-popping as in 2019 and he took a lot of sacks, but he was efficient as a passer on early downs and got it done against a stacked schedule of opponents in the regular season.
Right now, Jackson is blowing those past iterations of himself out of the water. He’s bending defenses to his will with his arm like he did with his legs five years ago, and defenses have struggled to find answers against Jackson’s team because running back Derrick Henry always looms as a secondary option when teams commit to stopping the pass. Baltimore can do whatever it wants on offense.
The Athletic: 3 (Last week: 3)
The only reason this isn’t a 10 is Lamar Jackson’s 2-4 career record in the playoffs. Jackson is the frontrunner for NFL MVP, which would be his third. Only Jim Brown, Johnny Unitas, Brett Favre, Peyton Manning, Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers have done that, and Jackson is only 27 years old. He leads the league in EPA per dropback by a wide margin (.37). Rodgers is the only player since 2010 to top that number in a season. His .40 in 2011 earned him the MVP trophy.
NFL.com: 4 (Last week: 4)
This much we know: Lamar Jackson is somehow playing better than he did during his 2023 MVP season. The defense, however, is nowhere close to the stellar unit Baltimore fielded a year ago. Last Thursday’s shootout thriller required a defensive stop on the two-point play, but before that, the Ravens’ D did everything it could to keep the Bengals in the game. In fact, both of Baltimore’s units struggled early; when was the last time you heard the Ravens’ offense being booed at home? But Jackson plugged in, and everyone else followed. Ultimately, it was the perfect display of the Ravens at their most dangerous. But the defense gave just as much counterargument for Baltimore as a superpower, with the Raiders and Browns losses ever toiling in the back of my mind. Last season, before losing to the Chiefs in the AFC Championship Game, the Ravens felt like a team that could afford a tough day at the office on either side of the ball and still win. This season, the margin feels much smaller, even with the Jackson factor.
ESPN: 3 (Last week: 4)
Henry is the top non-QB MVP in the NFL, producing a remarkable year that has been overshadowed by quarterback Lamar Jackson’s playmaking ability. In his first season in Baltimore, Henry leads the league with 1,120 rushing yards and is the fifth player since 1970 to score a touchdown in each of the first 10 games of a season, joining O.J. Simpson (1975), John Riggins (1983), Jerry Rice (1987) and Todd Gurley (2018). When Henry rushes for over 90 yards, Baltimore is 6-0. When he is held to under 90, the Ravens are 1-3.
USA Today: 3 (Last week: 3)
How badly are things going? A kneel-down in Thursday’s victory dropped them to 99 rushing yards and ended a streak of 42 consecutive games surpassing the century mark – one shy of the league record. It’ll be fine, fellas.
Yahoo Sports: 3 (Last week 4)
Ravens vs. Steelers is always good, but it’s really important on Sunday. The Ravens play at Pittsburgh and if Baltimore loses, they’ll be two losses behind in the AFC North. One of those two teams is going to be a very good wild-card team, having to win three road playoff games to make a Super Bowl.
CBS Sports: 4 (Last Week 5)
The offense is dynamic, but it has to be. That defense is a mess, especially the pass defense. They can’t win a Super Bowl if it stays that way, and it has to change this week against the Steelers.
Sports Illustrated: 4 (Last week 2)
This is absolutely stunning. And, as much as we want to talk about the fact that the Ravens are a toenail from beating the Chiefs and being 8-2, they could very well be 6-4.
There have been 2 instances in NFL history where a QB had:
30+ completions
300+ passing yards
4+ TD passes
multiple 40+ yard TD passes
no more than 1 INT…and yet still lost. Those 2 instances were Joe Burrow vs. the Ravens in Week 5 & Joe Burrow vs. the Ravens again tonight. pic.twitter.com/vfRaLghMC9
— OptaSTATS (@OptaSTATS) November 8, 2024
Sporting News: 6 (Last week 10)
Lamar Jackson posted a perfect passer rating to keep reminding everyone why’s a strong candidate to win his third MVP. He is running the offense so well that he’s also helped Derrick Henry get into the MVP conversation.
New York Post: 3 (Last Week 3)
At the end of a miserable game for the defense, the Ravens forced an incompletion on a two-point conversion and hung on for a 35-34 victory against the Bengals. Lamar Jackson threw three of his touchdown passes in the fourth quarter to wipe out a 21-7 deficit. The Ravens had not trailed by 14 points with Jackson on the field in three years.
Pro Football Talk: 5 (Last week: 8)
At this rate, they’ll name the MVP award after Lamar Jackson.
The 33rd Team: 4 (Last week: 6)
The Baltimore Ravens’ defense is a real problem, and it might be the reason they don’t make it far in the playoffs. However, Lamar Jackson is playing the best football of his career, and he finally has the right weapons around him.
The Ravens have the NFL’s best offense, and they are going to need Jackson to keep it up if they want to steal the division away from the Steelers.