By Joe Schiller
The Baltimore Ravens head into Monday night having won six straight games, and are favorites on the road against the Los Angeles Rams. Here are three matchups you should be watching.
There's not another defender like Aaron Donald and he's practically unhuman on the football field. The two-time Defensive Player of the Year has recorded at least one sack in the last five games and is one of the most fundamentally sound defensive lineman in the NFL. Donald has extremely quick hands and will pose a challenge for Bradley Bozeman and Matt Skura on the interior offensive line.
I'm interested to see how the Ravens scheme their offense against Donald. They had a plan to neutralize Jadaveon Clowney against the Seattle Seahawks and it worked. It also helps Jackson is as mobile as he is, but Donald can get past blockers in a split-second. It's going to be a fun battle to watch throughout the night and for the Ravens' offense to have success, they'll have to slow down Donald in the trenches.
It's been consistent that Marlon Humphrey has matched up against the opposing team's No. 1 wide receiver and I expect that to continue against the Rams. That means he would get Cooper Kupp, an elusive wideout who leads Los Angeles in receiving yards (845) and touchdowns (5) this season. Kupp has been boom or bust this season. He's had games where he totaled 220 receiving yards, but he's combined for just 53 yards in the last two weeks, including a shutout against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Humphrey has fared well against the likes of Odell Beckham Jr., DeAndre Hopkins, and other No. 1's but Kupp presents a different challenge. Julian Edelman had 10 catches for 89 yards against Humphrey and the Ravens in Week 10. There's no doubting Humphrey's size and physicality, but his speed will be put to the test keeping up with Kupp throughout four quarters.
The Ravens recorded a season-high seven sacks against the Texans last week and Matt Judon played out of his mind. He totaled seven tackles, four quarterback hits, and two sacks against a poor Houston offensive line, and he'll have another opportunity to continue his strong play. The Rams' O-line is beat up. They lost center Brian Allen for the season, tackle Andrew Whitworth continues to get older and tackle Rob Havenstein isn't expected to play on Monday.
This provides not only a big opportunity for Judon, but for Jaylon Ferguson and Tyus Bowser. The Ravens have been one of the highest-blizting teams under Defensive Coordinator Wink Martindale, and this is a matchup the outside linebackers need to take advantage of. Putting pressure on Jared Goff will force a quarterback who has already thrown 10 interceptions this season make even more mistakes.