The Ravens' uneven performance in their season-opening win over the Houston Texans was reflected by their movement in this week's power rankings.
In the 10 sets of rankings we looked at, the Ravens (1-0) moved up in four, down in four, and stayed the same in two.
The Ravens remain a consensus top 10 team, ranked as high as No. 6 and no lower than No. 10.
Several of the power rankings pundits noted the new-look offense's sluggish debut, but chalked it up to growing pains.
| Source | Ranking | Last Week's Ranking | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| NFL.com | No. 10 | No. 7 | “Even without Mark Andrews in Week 1, expectations for the new offense were higher than what the Ravens produced against the Texans. It wasn’t bad, mind you, but it's clear Baltimore is still adjusting to new Offensive Coordinator Todd Monken’s system. What was bad: losing three offensive players to injury in the game. We already know RB J.K. Dobbins is done for the year with an Achilles tear, while OLs Ronnie Stanley (knee) and Tyler Linderbaum (ankle) are considered week to week, per Head Coach John Harbaugh. Even if the latter two are ultimately not long-term worries, the setbacks compounded an underwhelming opening offensive performance. The pieces are there for Baltimore to be dangerous on that side of the ball, as first-round pick Zay Flowers had a strong debut and Lamar Jackson flashed occasional magic. But the room for improvement is obvious.” — Eric Edholm |
| Bleacher Report | No. 8 | No. 9 | “The Ravens handling the Houston Texans with relative ease isn't surprising. Baltimore is considered a Super Bowl contender by some. Houston, um, isn't. But the Ravens didn't play especially well in this game. While Head Coach John Harbaugh was proud of his team's effort level, he told reporters there's also a lot to work on ahead of next week's date with the rival Bengals.” — NFL staff |
| ESPN | No. 6 | No. 8 | N/A |
| Sports Illustrated | No. 9 | No. 11 | “Silly that we still even have to mention this but, what do you know? Lamar Jackson looks pretty good in a receiver-heavy Ravens offense. The snap counts from Sunday don’t lie: Baltimore’s third and fourth wide receivers out-snapped its second tight end. Will this continue when Mark Andrews comes back? We don’t know. What we do know is that Jackson looked great establishing a quick game and then working defenders high and low. Zay Flowers is going to be a star.”— Conor Orr |
| CBS Sports | No. 6 | No. 8 | “The new-look offense wasn't quite as dominant in the first game against the Texans as some expected, but it did some good things. Losing running back J.K. Dobbins with a torn Achilles tendon is a big blow.”— Pete Prisco |
| The Athletic | No. 8 | No. 6 | “Enjoy the top 10, Ravens, because at this rate you may not be able to finish the season. With tight end Mark Andrews out with a quad injury, Baltimore watched as running back J.K. Dobbins tore his Achilles to end his season, safety Marcus Williams left with what The Athletic’s Dianna Russini reported is believed to be a torn pectoral muscle, and offensive linemen Ronnie Stanley (knee) and Tyler Linderbaum (ankle) left the game and didn’t return because of injury.” — Josh Kendall |
| The Ringer | No. 8 | No. 7 | “The Ravens’ defensive and special teams units will, of course, factor into the team’s overall success this year, but it feels like the performance of the offense will be the most important factor.” — Austin Gayle |
| Sporting News | No. 9 | No. 7 | “The Ravens unleashed their new pass-happy offense but still ran well despite not involving Lamar Jackson as much and losing J.K. Dobbins again for another season. They still need to worry about their defense being a liability against better offenses.” — Vinnie Iyer |
| Fox Sports | No. 6 | No. 6 | “Nothing about the 25-9 win against Houston was particularly impressive, but maybe that’s the point. It was the first game in a new offensive scheme, and Houston’s pass rush made Lamar Jackson look very uncomfortable. Despite that, the Ravens get the win and the cover. How much does the loss of J.K. Dobbins affect things moving forward?” — David Helman |
| Yahoo! Sports | No. 10 | No. 10 | “Injuries are already hitting the Ravens. J.K. Dobbins is out for the season, and they're going to have to look at veteran options to replace him. Safety Marcus Williams and offensive linemen Ronnie Stanley and Tyler Linderbaum left Sunday's game with injuries. Tight end Mark Andrews missed Sunday's game. It's not great to have injuries piling up this early.” — Frank Schwab |
