The Baltimore Ravens are in the final stages of completely overhauling their offensive strategy and the rest of the league should be on notice.  

Through the first 5 seasons of the cycle, the Ravens regular season record of 66-14 outpaces the rest of the AFC by a long shot. The Jets, Bills, and Steelers have overall wins of 59, 54, and 53 respectively and the gap widens after that.  The Ravens are averaging over 13 wins/season for the cycle. Let that sink in. 

Here are the pass/run percentages by year for the ravens.

2017: 58.7% Pass

2018: 63.4% Pass

2019: 62.5% Pass

2020: 58.2% Pass

2021: 50.3% Pass

The data shows that the Ravens have been steadily shifting towards a more balanced attack since the start of the cycle. I've played the Ravens many times and have had a lot of success. I've had, on numerous occasions, the thought that if Astin ran the ball more he would be a much tougher opponent. He seemd to give up on the run game too often and look for big chunk plays.  This weakness has been adressed. The Ravens are 5-0 to start 2022 and have already beaten 3 AFC playoff teams.

Through these first 5 games of season 41, the Ravens have passed the ball on only 43% of their offensive plays.  That's down over 7% from last season and over 15% since they won the superbowl in 2020. 

Rookie HB Pappas Hubbard has been carrying the load in season 41.  Pappas is leading the league in carries (87) and yards (577) and is on pace to crush this cycles season rushing-record. Why would Astin change his gameplan so much? Is he trying to slow the game down and have more efficient possessions? Is he finding himself to be more skilled at running and PA passes than just chucking it deep? Is he trying to spam a rookie HB into ROTY/MVP territory for XP cheese? 

The motives simply do not matter. The rest of the league is on notice; stop the run or get run over. 

After winning the superbowl, the Jets had a quite off season.  Besides one big trade to acquire CB Marcus Peters, not many moves were made. Marcus Peters cost the team their 1st, 3rd, and 4th round draft picks and the Jets will rely on him heavily to maintain their defensive identity. 

The New York Jets have been over achieving with a solid core of young players, but that core is growing older.  Fans worry that their window is closing with Henry Bech, Jamal Adams, Chase Hillman, and Jordan Howard becoming seasoned veterans.  

The Jets opened with an AFC Championship rematch against the Ravens that they lost 31-24 in dramatic fashion. They had previously been 4-0 against the Ravens under HC Cedric Nix. Their week 2 matchup faired better against another playoff opponent, the Buffalo Bills, from last season. They beat the Bills 26-23 on a late FG without their star HB Jordan Howard who was suspended by the team for undisclosed reasons. Second year HB Marquise Rouse played great in Jordan's absense gaining  132 yards and a TD on 15 carries. The Jets gave up an average of 27 points in their first two games after averaging in the low teens for the past few seasons. They look to rebound defensively against the Titans in week 3. 

The New York Jets had a perfect 2nd quarter going 4-0 against Chicago, Buffalo, CIncinnati, and Detroit.  The defense has proved to by stingy and opportunistic giving up the 3rd fewest points per game and intercepting the second most passes with 13.  Though they’ve given up a lot of yards, they seem to get the big stops and splash plays they need to win.  Jamal Adams has been following up his pro-bowl rookie season with a tremendous year 2. He’s 2nd on the team in tackles and has 4 INTs and a FF.  Veteran FS Eric Weddle has played at a pro-bowl level next to Adams, with a FF and 3 picks of his own.  They are playing like the best safety duo in the league and really give the Jets a defensive identity.  

The offense has been putting up big yards behind rookie QB Chase Hillman and HB Mark Ingram, but they haven’t been finishing drives with touchdowns. Although Ingram is 4th in the league in rushing yards, they rank near the bottom of the league with only 20 points per game. The strength of the offense has been their ability to sustain drives and not turn the ball over.  Hillman threw 4 interceptions in his week 1 debut, but has only thrown 2 more in the last 7 games. Consequently, the Jets lead the league in turnover differential.

Through the first quarter of the season, the Jets are sitting at a respectable 2-2.  The offense is lagging behind where they were at this time last year, but the defense has been much improved. FA signings of  NT Roy Miller III, LOLB Gerald Hodges Jr, ROLB Trent Murphy, CB Aaron Colvin have combined with a strong young defensive nucleus of SS Jamal Adams, LE Leonard Williams, RE Sheldon Richardson, and MLB Derron Lee to create a top-10 defense in points allowed through 4 games.  They have been giving up some yards to good offenses, but they are taking the ball away and being stingy in the red zone.  Throw in a trade for veteran FS Eric Weddle and the synergy of the defense has helped the rookie #4 pick QB Chase Hillman.  Chase hasn't been perfect through 4 games, but he's shown flashes of why he was so highly touted out of Stanford. Game 4 vs the Miami Dolphins was the biggest evidence of his talent, as he led the Jets to a 34-22 win throwing 3 TDs and more importantly zero interceptions.  Chase has been able to lean on a much improved rushing attack thanks to FA signing Mark Ingram and rookie center Chance Nielsen. Hillman and Nielsen have shown the potential to be the QB/C combo for the foreseeable future in New York.  2-2 isn't perfect, but it's an improvement on last seasons 1-3 start and gives Jets fans hope for the future.