Ravens vs. Panthers final: MVP, 7 winners and 6 losers

In a mighty slugfest, one sooner forgotten than remembered, the Ravens came out on top over the Panthers in Week 11 to move to 7-3 — and they are still competing for the top spot in the AFC.

Let’s check in on notable performances from today’s action.

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MVP: The Defense

The Ravens chose to double down on the defensive side of the ball instead of reinforcing their offense when Rashod Bateman went out for the season. This put a lot of pressure on the unit to perform and they’ve done just that since acquiring Roquan Smith, putting together some back-to-back shutdown performances.

The Ravens’ defense shined in this one against a struggling Panthers team. They ended with three turnovers, four sacks, and 205 total yards allowed. They only allowed a single field goal, coming off a possession starting just shy of midfield — Carolina’s best starting spot of the game.

This defense has a true championship-caliber level of play. If they can clean things up on the other side of the ball, this is a scary team to deal with.

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Winners

Marlon Humphrey — Another shutdown performance by a Top-5 cornerback. He ended the game with an interception, a fumble recovery, and a deflected pass. It’s clear to see teams are avoiding him whenever possible.

Patrick Queen — Queen continues to level up every week. He simply gets better and more consistent as the season goes on. He added another tackle for loss, half a sack and led the team with 12 combined tackles. It’s hard to think he doesn’t get a Pro Bowl mention if not for his running mate who has more name recognition.

Roquan Smith — Speaking of Queen’s running mate, the impact of Smith can’t be understated. He was second on the team with seven tackles and his own sack plus a tackle for loss. He is the tide that raises all boats and just brings another level to this team.

Jason Pierre-Paul — After a loud debut for “JPP”, he missed some time with injury and was quiet. Today he reintroduced himself to the flock, notching a sack, two tackles for losses and a wicked interception.

Kyle Hamilton — A recent riser, Hamilton started this game out of his mind, making play after play. He left the game early in the second half but still managed to get a huge tackle for loss and fly all around the field. Hopefully, he’s ok and can continue his great rookie season.

Demarcus Robinson — While the offense was anemic for most of the game, Robinson had a career game. With nine catches on nine targets for 128 yards, he moved the chains constantly and was the best player on offense. With Bateman out and Duvernay not getting looks, somebody needs to step up and Robinson has been playing great the last couple of games.

Jordan Stout — While his stats weren’t great, Stout had to punt the ball an astounding seven times. He very could have messed one or two of those up and given the Panthers great field position to score, but he kept the on the other side of midfield and pinned with four of his seven landing inside the 20.

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Losers*

*This title does not mean these players are losers. They played a poor game. It happens to the best players and should be taken lightly.

The offense — This was an embarrassing effort. Luckily the defense played lights out, but 13 points won’t cut it in most NFL games. For a team that has Lamar Jackson, the best tight end in football, an electric playmaker in Devin Duvernay, a supposedly great run game and a highly-rated offensive line, this is unacceptable. Things need to improve if they want any chance of making noise in the playoffs.

Greg Roman — After putting together some performances during the second half of the Bucs game and during the Saints game, the bye week was not helpful for Roman. Boring was the only way to describe the Ravens’ offense for the majority of the game. His run game didn’t work today and outside of Robinson, there was no passing game to get out of your seat for. The creativity seems to be lost with Duvernay getting two targets in the last two games.

Chuck Clark — Second bad showing in two games for Chuck Clark. Two big penalties today and not much else to speak off. In a game where the defensive unit played so well, the bad moments are gonna stick out.

Isaiah Likely and James Proche — Part of the group of pass catchers who were supposed to step up, they didn’t get off to a great start today. Five targets with one catch for one yard between the two? It’s not a good performance and it won’t cut it. The Ravens need more from both of these guys.

Odafe Oweh — Enough is enough. Where is this guy? All we heard all preseason is how great he looks and how much he was wrecking the tackles and he could get double-digit sacks. After getting five sacks in 15 games last year, he’s only got one in nine games so far and we barely hear his name uttered each game. I’m not ready to call him a bust yet cause he’s still young — but something has to change for him soon.