What We Saw: Week 16

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Giants @ Ravens

The Baltimore Ravens kept their playoff hopes alive on Sunday, defeating the New York Giants 27-13 in a game that saw Daniel Jones return again to the Giants’ lineup. The Ravens continued their usual ground and pound attack to which the Giants had no answer for and were unable to keep up with those scoring drives.

New York Giants

Quarterback

Daniel Jones: 24/41, 252 yards, 1 TD, 6 sacks| 1 carry, 3 yards

In his first game once again coming back from an injury, Daniel Jones struggled to get much going against one of the top defenses in the league (when healthy). The Ravens’ defensive line put an immense amount of pressure on Jones, sacking him 6 times and forcing him to consistently throw under pressure. While a positive sign for him is that he did not commit any turnovers under this pressure, unfortunately, the offense was just not able to get going in this game. Jones did get his first touchdown pass since Week 9, a short toss to Sterling Shepard from the goal line.

Running Backs

Wayne Gallman: 6 carries, 27 yards | 2 targets, 2 receptions, 26 yards

Dion Lewis: 1 carry, 15 yards

Alfred Morris: 3 carries, 4 yards | 1 target, 1 reception, 9 yards

With the early deficit the Giants found themselves in, the run game was quickly abandoned. When they did run the ball it was Wayne Gallman who continued as the lead back, looking effective in his limited opportunities. Though the run game had some limited success, the game script called for the Giants’ to pass in order to catch up and completely move away from these backs to do so.

Wide Receivers/Tight Ends

Sterling Shepard: 12 targets, 9 receptions, 77 yards, 1 TD

Evan Engram: 10 targets, 7 receptions, 65 yards

Darius Slayton: 8 targets, 2 receptions, 26 yards

With the heavy pass attack, we saw a really great game from Sterling Shepard as Jones leaned heavily on him in shorter opportunities for conversions, including a strong third and 15 push late in the game. He did find his way into the endzone down at the goal-line on a two-yard pass to the outside.

The strong connection between Daniel Jones and Evan Engram was also on display on Sunday. On the other hand, the same cannot be said for Darius Slayton, though Jones looked his way almost as much on Sunday. The connection with Slayton on most of these targets were just off, with Slayton only catching two of those eight targets.

Baltimore Ravens

Quarterback

Lamar Jackson: 17/26, 183 yards, 2 TDs | 13 carries, 80 yards

Lamar Jackson continued his hot play of late on Sunday, getting it done both in the air but mainly on the ground, moving around in the backfield before taking off and completing passes on the run. When he did get to pass though, he was efficient with those passes including on his two touchdown passes to Dez Bryant and Marquise Brown. With the success the Ravens had on the ground, there was no need to lean on his passing game, and allowed him to do work with his legs.

Running Backs

Gus Edwards: 15 carries, 85 yards | 2 targets, 2 receptions, 37 yards

J.K. Dobbins: 11 carries, 77 yards, 1 TD

Whether it was Gus Edwards or J.K. Dobbins, the Ravens’ run game was extremely successful on Sunday, finding the open gaps and taking advantage of nearly every opportunity they were given. J.K. Dobbins was forced to miss some time with an injury, however, he did return and did not seem to be very affected by said injury. It was Dobbins this week who took the ball into the endzone, but both took every advantage they were given, even seeing Edwards be more involved in the passion attack during Dobbins’ absence.

J. K. Dobbins with his 7th rushing TD of the year.

That's a rookie single season franchise record. #FantasyFootball | #RavensFlock pic.twitter.com/Vw3F1VDl6M

— QB List (@TheQBlist) December 27, 2020

Wide Receivers/Tight Ends

Mark Andrews: 11 targets, 6 receptions, 76 yards

Marquise Brown: 4 targets, 4 receptions, 25 yards, 1 TD

Willie Snead IV: 2 targets, 2 receptions, 24 yards

Myles Boykin: 2 targets, 1 reception, 13 yards

Dez Bryant: 1 target, 1 reception, 8 yards, 1 TD

Mark Andrews remained the clear top option for the Ravens in terms of the passing attack, with Jackson looking his way in many key situations and down at the goal line. However, Marquise Brown was efficient with his shorter targets than usual on Sunday, among those being the goalline strike to get the Ravens on the board in their first drive of the game.

Ravens get ball first and strike first.
13 plays for 82 yards.
Lamar Jackson to Marquise Brown for six.#FantasyFootball | #RavensFlock pic.twitter.com/dapv7zw21n

— QB List (@TheQBlist) December 27, 2020

It is also pretty fun to see Dez Bryant cash in for a touchdown straight week, in a goal to go opportunity, a target that may be growing in Jackson’s eyes in that spot.