The Baltimore Ravens' offense is incredibly fun to watch. Quarterback Lamar Jackson is lightning in a bottle, and the run game is dynamic. But the fun is set to end on Sunday, when the Ravens show down with the New England Patriots and their generational defense. A date with a top defense means that every offensive weapon needs to make an impact. That includes rookie receiver Marquise Brown, who has missed a significant amount of time to this point. Despite his injuries, he's set to play against the Pats, and the Ravens will need him desperately.
Brown has missed the last two games, and both have been strong Baltimore victories. This may give the impression that Brown is somehow expendable, but that's simply not true. Brown's two absences came against the Cincinnati Bengals and the Seattle Seahawks, two mediocre-to-bad secondaries. The Patriots are elite on the back end, unlike those aforementioned teams. The other Baltimore receivers are nowhere near good enough to challenge those defensive backs in man coverage. If the Ravens need to rely on the backup pass-catchers to win one-on-one, the game is over.
This is where Brown comes in to play a huge role. Because of his blazing speed, the Oklahoma product demands double coverage. New England's Stephon Gilmore is the best corner in the NFL, but he's just not as fast as Marquise Brown. Without a safety helping him (or any other Pats corner) Gilmore is liable to get burnt on any play, based solely off of speed.
While the Ravens did win their last two games without Brown, the stats for Lamar Jackson were underwhelming. He combined for a total of 379 yards passing with no scores in those two contests. Numbers like that simply won't cut it against New England. The Ravens will help Jackson out by leaning on the ground game. This will keep the pressure off of the young quarterback and keep the New England offense on the sideline. Even if Brown's stats aren't gaudy, he can still prove his worth.
If Marquise Brown can just draw coverage to himself and take safeties out of the tackle box, he's made a hefty contribution. If Brown is unable to force safeties to play high, the run game slows down. When the run game slows down, Jackson is forced to pass. Normally that's not a bad thing, but it is against New England. The key to winning this football game for the Ravens is efficiently running the football well, and controlling the clock.
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