2022 Week 16 Recap: Ravens 17, Falcons 9 (By Ross Jacobs)
What an absolutely dreadful game to sit through. Neither of these teams is very good, but Baltimore has the better defense and was able to just grab a decent lead and sit on it. Atlanta did their usual act of sleepwalking through the first half and waking up in the 4th to mount a comeback that ultimately falls short. With about 6 minutes to go they put together a good drive and got stuffed on 4th down at the 1 yard line. That let Baltimore kill a little clock and Atlanta was only able to get one more field goal on their ensuing drive. They had their chances, like they have all year, but came up short yet again.
Baltimore is so lucky that their late season schedule has been so soft. If they weren't playing terrible teams every week they wouldn't even have a chance at this division, but I don't see how they pull it off regardless as Cincy is as hot as any team in the league and the division likely comes down to their week 18 game. Cincy is a game up and could win it this week if they can beat Buffalo and Baltimore loses to Pitt, but that's probably not the most likely scenario. If it does come down to the final game though Cincy is going to crush the Ravens, with or without Lamar. They are simply on another level.
Baltimore is probably going to let Lamar sit out until the playoffs to get healthy. They know they have no chance without him, and they are going to the playoffs whether they win the division or not. Better to take a wildcard with Lamar than get the 3 or 4 seed without him.
For Atlanta it's time to start looking to 2023. The fans are growing impatient with Arthur Smith, but I still want to caution everyone to give him a little breathing room. Let's not forget this roster was torn to bare bones after the last front office left, and Smith and Fontenot are rebuilding it from the ground up. It's going to take a few years before they have the base talent level to really compete, but despite fielding a bunch of players that belong on practice squads, Smith has still kept this team mostly competitive all year. In a weird kind of way he is actually being punished for his success because all anyone sees is a bunch of close losses, when in reality it's a mild miracle that this team is even coming close to winning. Unfortunately when it comes to these things we all know how it's going to go. There's no such thing as perspective or patience in the NFL so Smith will likely be run off next year when the team finishes 8-9 and one game out of the playoffs after starting 6-2...something like that.
Fantasy Player Notes:
– Well Desmond Ridder wasn't a total disaster here, but he's still not very good. As we've said all along, he can run the scripted plays, lots of predetermined throws and half-field reads, but nothing more complicated. His accuracy is good when he's playing in rhythm but the second his mechanics break down he's in trouble. He's every decent, capable-ish backup QB out there...like a young Heinicke maybe. He is not now nor will he ever be the future franchise QB of Atlanta and only the mainstream media doesn't realize it at this point. The Atlanta front office knows what he is. If they truly thought he was better than that they would have taken him before the 3rd round and/or played him over Mariota the first chance they got if he was obviously better in training camp. He's just not that guy though and they know it. There is a 100% chance there's a new starter here next year, probably a veteran (Carr, Lamar...) but possibly a rookie if things fall right.
– Tyler Allgeier is finally starting to really show how good he can be. We've seen the patience and the vision for weeks now, but this was the first game where I saw a little of his speed and explosiveness. He'll never be mistaken for a speedster but up until this game I thought he was running a little tentatively and it was slowing him down just a tick. He looked much more decisive and confident against Baltimore. Unfortunately, tempted though as I am to declare him the future of this running game, there is a very real chance that this team drafts Bijan Robinson in the top 10 of the 2023 draft and that will kill Allgeier's chances. Be excited for now, be hopeful, but also be wary because this situation could go to crap in a hurry.
– Drake London is such a stud. Every time I watch him play I think back to our description of him as a Keenan Allen/Mike Evans hybrid because that is simply the perfect description of his game. He's a bigger, more athletic Allen really. This game was a perfect example of what he could be with better QB play and Ridder really isn't very good. Imagine what London could do with a Derek Carr here instead. PPR monster incoming.
– Gus Edwards looks totally healthy again and was trucking the Atlanta defense all day. He's slightly more effective than Dobbins right now because Dobbins is clearly still not 100%. His left leg looked totally dead and stiff here. He was basically running on one leg and still looked pretty good. It's just a reminder that when Dobbins is fully healthy he is an absolute sportscar. 2023 is a big year for him.
– Mark Andrews finally looks healthy too. He's been marginally effective since his injury but looked normal here burning AJ Terrell in single coverage for a big game. Huntley is holding him back at the moment but he'll be back putting up his normal huge games just as soon as Lamar is back.
Snap Counts of Interest
65 = Zaccheaus
55 = London
31 = Byrd
44 = Hesse
36 = Pruitt
42 = Allgeier
26 = Patterson
42 = Andrews
42 = Oliver
28 = Robinson
17 = Watkins
22 = Dobbins
21 = Edwards
