These Ravens could make Week 9 a living hell for the Saints
The New Orleans Saints get an extra day to prepare for their Week 9 opponent, as they'll host the Baltimore Ravens on Monday Night Football. The Ravens are 5-3 on the year and leading their division for a reason and they're going to make things tricky for the 3-5 Saints who are still in the running to win their division as well.
When the Ravens come to town for Monday Night Football, who should the black and gold be keeping a major eye on?
Lamar Jackson
This is an obvious one, as Jackson is a former MVP winner and can make something out of nothing while making it look easy. On the year, Jackson has 1,638 yards passing, 15 touchdowns, and six picks but we all know he's the most dangerous when he's on the run. He has 553 yards on the ground and has danced into the end zone twice with his legs.
The Saints had issues containing Marcus Mariota and Kyler Murray who are also running quarterbacks and stopping Jackson will be their toughest task yet. He's the best in the league at eluding tacklers and we've seen how bad the tackling can be for the Saints defense.
Fans need to hope that the Week 8 version of the Saints defense shows up because otherwise, Jackson is going to carve them up both through the air and on the ground.
Mark Andrews
While he got dinged up last week in the Ravens' win over the Buccaneers, Andrews reportedly "avoided a major injury". If he does play this week in New Orleans, he's going to be a hell of a weapon to stop because he's Jackson's go-to weapon and even when teams know that who the ball is going to, it's still difficult to slow the big tight end down.
Andrews has 488 yards and five touchdowns on the year. Tyrann Mathieu could be the one who is assigned to cover Andrews so we'll see how the Honey Badger does in that role on Monday night.
Justin Houston
Houston has been in the NFL since 2011 but he's shown zero signs of slowing down. He leads the Ravens in sacks with six and continues to put fear into the opposing quarterback.
Fortunately, the Saints offensive line has played well in recent weeks, only allowing Andy Dalton to get sacked four times since he took over as the starter. Furthermore, they haven't surrendered a sack in each of the last two games.
Marlon Humphrey
Last but most certainly not least is Humphrey, who is the best player in the Ravens secondary. He has four pass breakups and two interceptions in the first half of the season and for those who consistently watch the Ravens play, it's hard not to see how good Humphrey is in coverage.
If Chris Olave is matched up against Humphrey, yards could be hard to come by for the rookie wide receiver. Hopefully, Olave gets several big catches against the Ravens cornerback.
All-Time Leaders in Passing Yards. dark. Next
The Ravens are going to be a tough team but if the Saints can win their matchups against these four players, a win is entirely possible.