The Baltimore Ravens have come on strong to assert themselves as one of the most dominant teams in the NFL.
Now standing with an 11-2 record, they are atop the AFC at the moment. In fact, they are one of just two teams in the entire NFL with that record, the San Francisco 49ers being the other.
Can Baltimore keep up the domination and create a path to the Super Bowl? It's getting harder and harder to bet against them each week.
Here are four reasons the Ravens will win the Super Bowl this season.
Lamar Jackson
How good has Lamar Jackson been this year? Is it even possible to oversell that answer?
The quarterback entered his second season with a lot of doubters. He silenced them about as quickly as you possibly could. And he has not given them any reason to return.
Jackson has completed 66.3% of his passes for 2,677 yards and 28 touchdowns (compared to six interceptions) this year. It's not just the incredible passing numbers that have people buzzing though.
The quarterback also has 151 rushing attempts. In those attempts, he has 1,017 yards and another seven touchdowns.
Simply put, Jackson has been literally unstoppable this season. Seriously, no team has been able to stop him so far.
It has made him the obvious MVP to this point. There really isn't a great argument for putting anyone ahead of him either.
As long as the Ravens have Jackson, it's really hard to see them losing very often. He has played at such a high level this season that the thought of him pushing Baltimore through the playoffs has run through everyone's mind at this point.
Balanced Offensive Attack
Jackson has also brought incredible balance to the offense. Seriously, just the quarterback alone is averaging 78.2 rushing yards and 205.9 passing yards per game.
That is counting no one else.
All-in-all, Baltimore is averaging 408.2 total yards per game. That's 207.2 passing yards (this now equates sacks and Robert Griffin III, who has come in during blowouts). and 200.9 rushing yards per game.
The thing with this offense is, Jackson is such a star he can make anyone dangerous. So the fact that he has Mark Ingram at running back seems unfair.
Mark Andrews has taken a massive step forward and become a great tight end, and Marquise Brown is a constant big-play threat at receiver.
The Ravens really have everything on offense. This is not a team you will be able to stop by focusing on one certain aspect.
Oh, you want to zero in on stopping Jackson from taking off? He'll throw all day on you. Or he'll hand the ball off to Ingram and let him go to work. Now you're focused on the pass? Jackson will break off a pair of 20-plus yard runs and the Ravens will score so fast you won't know what hit you.
No one has figured out this offense yet. That includes the New England Patriots and the 49ers, the two best defenses in the NFL. What makes anyone think someone will stop the Ravens in time to halt a Super Bowl run?
Defense
On paper, this defense was one of the best in the NFL heading in to the season. They simply didn't play like it to start though. They had their big moments, but also benefitted from playing bad teams early on.
Still, the numbers were not nearly as good as they were expected to be. That's all changed in recent weeks though.
Suddenly, this Baltimore defense is one of the best in the NFL. They are locking down opposing offenses and making plays with great regularity.
Suddenly, the Ravens are sixth in total yards allowed per game (314.6) and fifth in points allowed per game (18.2). They are in top 10 of both passing yards and rushing yards allowed per game as well, showing they can defend both very well.
Baltimore is middle-of-the-pack with 33 sacks and tied for sixth with 20 takeaways as well. And remember, this is a defense that was not playing all that wonderful to start the campaign.
They are also tied for the NFL lead with the New York Jets with five defensive touchdowns. That's strictly defensive touchdowns by the way, not counting special teams.
So this is a defense that is showing they can stop any offense, and make game-changing plays while doing so. Hard to bet against them.
Proving Themselves
For a while, you might have been able to argue that the Ravens were winning games against bad teams.
That's one of those conundrums where obviously it's good that they are winning the games they should win, and you can't knock them for that. However, you could also point out that it's not that impressive to beat bad teams.
Now the Ravens have done both though. After starting the year 2-2, Baltimore is on a nine game winning streak. In that streak, they've beaten the Pittsburgh Steelers (8-5), Houston Texans (8-5), Los Angeles Rams (8-5), Buffalo Bills (9-4), Seattle Seahawks (10-3), Patriots (10-3) and 49ers (11-2).
That's a lot of impressive wins right there. Is there really any question about competition anymore? The Ravens have proven they can beat any team in the NFL. In fact, they've beaten the only other 11-2 team, two of the three 10-3 teams in the league and one of the two 9-4 teams in the NFL.
Can anyone stop this team? So far, the answer has been no. The Ravens are on a warpath, and that could very well end in a Super Bowl victory.
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