Unsung heroes from the Ravens’ Week 7 win over the Buccaneers

The Ravens received impressive performances from several unheralded players in their fifth win of the 2024 season.

In Week 7, the Baltimore Ravens came out on top of a primetime bout with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with a 41-31 victory on Monday Football. It improved their record to 5-2, leaving them tied for first place in the AFC North standings with the Pittsburgh Steelers who also won under a national spotlight this past weekend on Sunday Night Football

In a game where they were favored to win by a narrow margin, the Ravens overcame an early deficit on the scoreboard and took firm control. They secured the victory thanks to some underrated yet impactful performances from a handful of well-known starters and several of their less-heralded players making plays on both sides of the ball.

This article highlights the players whose performances flew under the radar but were still clutch — the unsung heroes.

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Offensive line

Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images

The Ravens put up their second-highest total yards of offense for the second week in a row and topped the 500 mark for the second time in the last three weeks with 508 including outrushing their opponent by more than 100 yards for the seventh straight game to open the season—extending a league record. This group of blockers that began the season much-maligned bounced back from an ugly finish to the opening drive in which they gave back-to-back sacks to force a punt and continued to show how much they’ve improved with each passing week they get to gel together with another game of experience they get under their collective belts.

“Well I think it’s just the belief in one another,” running back Derrick Henry said. “They took all the heat and went back to work, and that’s just grown men locked in wanting to get better and making each other better. All our respect goes to them. I’m thankful for those guys – very, very thankful. They’ve been playing lights out, so give them all the credit. Don’t give me none. Give them all the credit. It makes my job a lot easier.”

The first sack was a result of rookie right tackle Roger Rosengarten getting beat inside on a stunt and the next play, the entire pass-protecting unit failed collectively including the running back who whiffed on a blitz pickup. After that, they were lights out in pass protection and asserted their wills in the ground game as they paved the way for the offense’s third game producing 200-plus rushing yards.

One lineman who was especially dominant in this game was left tackle Ronnie Stanley who continues to have a resurgent season in which he has recaptured his previous First Team All Pro and Pro Bowl form. According to Next Gen Stats, the nine-year veteran leader of the unit did not allow a single pressure on 26 pass-blocking snaps against an aggressive Buccaneers defense that blitzed on 61.5% of Lamar Jackson’s dropbacks. Stanley has also yet to allow a sack this season across 224 pass-blocking snaps, making him the only left tackle with 50-plus pass-blocking snaps with a clean ledger when it comes to that impressive metric.

ILB Roquan Smith

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It seems like half of football Twitter is calling for the two-time First Team All Pro selection to be suspended for the second to last tackle he made of the game that resulted in Buccaneers star receiver Chris Godwin being carted off the field with a season-ending injury. The other half blames him for several of the coverage busts that led to Tampa’s top two running backs get loose in or left wide open for chuck gains including a late touchdown. However, of Smith season-high 18 total tackles, the two that flew under the radar but played a huge role in a pair of stops came on scramble attempts by Baker Mayfield that proved pivotal in the Ravens offense getting more opportunities to rack more points while they scored 34 unanswered.

One was proceeded the missed 55-yard field goal attempt in the third quarter when Smith and defensive tackle Nnamdi Madubuike joined forces to bring down Mayfield just one yard past the line of scrimmage on third down from the Baltimore 37-yard line and on the next play, Buccaneers kicker Chase McLaughlin doinked the long try off the right goal post. The second occurred later in the quarter when Mayfield tried scrambling to his left and while fight for yards, was called for a facemask penalty on failed stiff-arm attempt against Smith. After the 15 yards made it a third down and 17, veteran outside linebacker slammed the door on the drive by recording a sack that set the Buccaneers’ offense back by five more yards deep in their own territory, forcing a punt.

RB Justice Hill

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While Henry was the star of the show in the backfield with his team-leading rushing totals, he wasn’t the only player at the position for the Ravens who had a profound impact in this game and found themselves on the receiving end of one of Jackson’s five touchdown passes. While the sixth-year veteran was bottled up on the ground with just four yards on five carries, he continues to be a weapon in the passing game and a stud in pass protection outside of one early whiff that contributed to the second sack of the game.

Hill caught all three of his targets for 44 yards with each either aiding or capping off a scoring drive. The first of his two 18-yard catches and runs came on a screen where he followed a convoy of blockers into the end zone for a great ‘Ball don’t lie’ touchdown after a phantom holding penalty negated a 10-yard rushing score by Jackson.

Hill’s second 18-yarder recouped the necessary yardage to get back into field goal range following an aborted snap off the shoulder of a wide receiver made it third and 25 from the Baltimore 48-yard line. He had an eight-yard reception on the Ravens’ last drive of the first half that helped the offense recover from a barrage of holding penalties that resulted in a second and goal from the Tampa 38-yard line.

OLB Odafe Oweh

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The fourth-year pro was disruptive as a pass rusher both when he could and couldn’t get to Mayfield in the backfield. He finished with four total tackles including two solos and one for a loss, a quarterback hit and his first sack in the last three games. While his takedown of Mayfield behind the line of scrimmage came on a third and long and forced the Buccaneers to punt when the Ravens were already up by three scores in the third quarter, the holding penalty he drew going up against three-time Pro Bowl left tackle Tristan Wirfs late in the first quarter might have been just as, if not more impactful. It nullified a touchdown pass to Godwin that would’ve put Tampa up 14-0 but their offense had to settle for a short field goal two plays later instead.

Young TEs and FB Patrick Ricard

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Three-time Pro Bowl tight end Mark Andrews continued to stay hot as a pass catcher in this game and made history in the process after hauling in all four of his targets for 41 receiving yards and a pair of touchdowns to break a franchise record for scoring receptions. However, he was far from the only player from his position group who made impressive and clutch plays in a multitude of ways. Third-year pros Isaiah Likely and Charlie Kolar combined for 31 receiving yards on three receptions, all of which resulted in first downs on eventual scoring drives and had Ricard not dropped his lone target of the game, he would’ve likely been able to pick up a chunk gain too after not being accounted for coming out of the backfield.

Kolar and Ricard made their biggest contributions as a blocker in the run game where both played key roles in springing Henry for his 81-yard back-breaking run in the third quarter that took all the wind out of the Buccaneers’ sails and set up another touchdown drive.

Likely had one of the most heads-up plays of the game that prevented a defensive touchdown after the first big blunder by the Ravens offense in this game since the opening drive got derailed in the first quarter. After Jackson threw an errant backward pass to Zay Flowers in the backfield, Tampa cornerback Zyon McCollum fell on the ball and then got up to rumble for what looked like a rugged 30-yard touchdown but after replay assist, it was deemed that Likely had touched him down by contact before he could arise to his feet.

Even though the Buccaneers still went on to score on the ensuing short field drive, Likely’s heads-up actions made them burn precious time off the clock and didn’t just yield instantaneous points to the opposition off of a mistake.