Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta said ahead of the season the team expected some hiccups from its young, inexperienced offensive line. After the Ravens’ 26-23 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders, coach John Harbaugh said Monday that while the team’s two new starting guards have shown improvements, they’ve also experienced “growing pains.”
“I think that’s a fair evaluation, is inconsistent,” Harbaugh said. “It’s almost randomly inconsistent, so that’s something we’ve got to work through.”
Harbaugh wasn’t surprised. He said young players are expected to have a learning curve. But at what point do the Ravens run out of time to get these players up to speed? They’ve already fallen behind 0-2, and only two of the 21 NFL teams that started out 0-2 in the last three years have made playoffs.
The Ravens are evaluating their starting lineup, but not because of the circumstances, Harbaugh said. That’s something they do consistently, no matter the situation.
“We’ll look at every possibility as the week goes on,” Harbaugh said. “I think we’re always going to be searching for ways to make our team better. ... We look at everything all the time. I mean, you’re always going to do what you can do with the players that you have, the schemes that you have, to try to get better.”
The starters, from left to right, are currently tackle Ronnie Stanley, guard Andrew Vorhees, center Tyler Linderbaum, guard Daniel Faalele and tackle Patrick Mekari.
Stanley was a Pro Bowler in 2019, the last time he had a fully healthy season, and Linderbaum was a Pro Bowler last year. They’ve also played solid in the team’s two games and have the most experience, so they will stay settled in their roles.
Mekari is also a veteran, although he’s spent the bulk of his career as the versatile sixth-man rather than an everyday starter. Already, he is rotating with rookie Roger Rosengarten.
Rosengarten, a second-round pick, had a rough start to his NFL career when he allowed a strip-sack on his very first snap. But his coaches assured him it was bound to happen at some point and encouraged him to put it behind him. He rebounded in a big way in Week 2, and Harbaugh spoke highly of the rookie after watching the film. Rosengarten was also commended for making steady improvement through training camp, working his way up from third-team reps to first-team reps.
“Obviously, he’s only played two games, but that was a major improvement from the week before,” Harbaugh said. “Let’s hope he keeps on that track.”
Harbaugh said they’ll keep up the rotation at right tackle, but he didn’t rule out the possibility of making Rosengarten the consistent starter once he reaches a level the coaches are comfortable with. If Rosengarten takes over, Mekari could either move back into his sixth-man role or compete for one of the guard jobs.
On the left side, Vorhees has had his position at guard locked down through most of camp, consistently lining up with the first-team. But in the first two games of the season, Vorhees did not grade out well in either run or pass blocking, according to Pro Football Focus. The Ravens have also struggled to push up the middle with their inside runs.
Meanwhile, Faalele started out at right tackle before moving inside. He’s playing a new position, so on top of a lack of reps in the NFL, he has little experience at guard. His PFF scores show it. Like Vorhees, he has graded out below average in both run and pass blocking. Both he and Vorhees are tied with Rosengarten for the most blown blocks on the team (two), but they’ve each played 55 more snaps than Rosengarten, according to Sports Info Solutions.
Faalele won the job over Ben Cleveland, a more veteran lineman who spent time at both guard and backup center this preseason. Cleveland had his share of ups and downs last season, although he graded out better in pass blocking over the course of the season than Vorhees and Faalele have in their first two games.
“If Ben had earned the job at right guard, he’d be the starting right guard,” Harbaugh said. “You look at the tape, he didn’t beat out Daniel or anybody. I think Ben’s a good player. ... Ben knows what he needs to do. If he wants playing time, he knows how he needs to play and he knows how he needs to practice when he wants that chance. So our evaluation right now is that Daniel outplayed Ben, just facts, straight up.”
Another player who took snaps at guard in training camp, Tashawn Manning, was picked up by the Cincinnati Bengals when he didn’t make Baltimore’s 53-man roster. That leaves the Ravens with Josh Jones and Sala Aumavae-Laulu, both of whom struggled in preseason, as the other options at guard.
After trading away right tackle Morgan Moses and losing guards Kevin Zeitler and John Simpson in free agency, the Ravens knew they’d be young along the offensive line and expected an adjustment period. But they’re also gunning for a Super Bowl.
It’s not all on the offensive line, but the random inconsistencies have led to a two-loss start that makes the rest of the Ravens’ already formidable schedule that much harder.
