The suddenly surging Baltimore Ravens know they need to start stacking wins if they have any hope of digging themselves out of the early season hole they dug themselves.
Losers of five of their first six games, the Ravens have won their last three games after getting star quarterback Lamar Jackson back from a hamstring injury that kept him out for nearly the full month of October.
Jackson’s return has been a big boost to a Baltimore team that, without the two-time MVP, scored just 14.3 points and averaged 286 yards of total offense per game — well below the 32.7 points and 338 yards per game the team averaged in Jackson’s four starts.
With a win over the Cleveland Browns on Sunday, the Ravens will not only get back to .500, but they could also move into a first-place tie for the AFC North lead if the Pittsburgh Steelers lose to the Cincinnati Bengals.
A victory over Cleveland will boost Baltimore’s chances of making the playoffs to 75%, according to NFL.com, and with so much riding on the game, it’s understandable why the team is preparing for seemingly anything that could give it an edge, including the remote possibility of seeing Browns rookie QB Shedeur Sanders.
“Yes, definitely — we always look at that,” Ravens defensive coordinator Zach Orr said about prepping to see Sanders on Sunday, via the team’s official website.
“Our scouts do a great job of preparing us [for] who could possibly be coming into the game, and we always do that with backup quarterbacks, because you want to know what you could potentially be facing. So, we’ve definitely done some work on [Shedeur Sanders both] last game and getting ready for this game.”
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Sanders has yet to take a regular-season snap, but many feel he could be close to finally seeing NFL action if fellow rookie Dillon Gabriel continues to struggle.
The Browns also fueled that speculation when they promoted wide receiver Kaden Davis to the active roster ahead of Week 11.
Davis had been relegated to the practice squad, but his main-roster elevation is notable because of the chemistry he built with Sanders during the preseason (he caught two touchdowns from the Colorado alum in Cleveland’s preseason opener).
In Gabriel’s five starts since taking over as QB1 in Week 5, the team is 1-4 and averaging just 18 points and a meager 253.4 yards of total offense per game. If the Browns struggle to move the chains or put points on the board on Sunday, it’s possible that Sanders might get his opportunity.
