{"id":13014,"date":"2024-10-16T02:07:56","date_gmt":"2024-10-16T02:07:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.drinkfood.info\/?p=13014"},"modified":"2024-10-16T02:07:56","modified_gmt":"2024-10-16T02:07:56","slug":"breaking-forgotten-ravens-wr-leads-nfl-as-a-tough-matchup-in-1-category-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.drinkfood.info\/?p=13014","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING: Forgotten Ravens WR Leads NFL as a \u2018Tough Matchup\u2019 in 1 Category"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/GettyImages-1948127705-e1728768151358.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\" alt=\"Rashod Bateman\" \/><\/p>\n<div id=\"post-featured-container-id\">\n<div id=\"post-featured\" class=\"wp-caption\">\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Baltimore Ravens have the NFL&#8217;s best wide receiver in one category.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>It isn\u2019t just\u00a0Lamar Jackson\u00a0and\u00a0Derrick Henry\u00a0powering an explosive offense for the\u00a0Baltimore Ravens. Not when forgotten wide receiver\u00a0Rashod Bateman\u00a0is leading the NFL in one particular category.<\/p>\n<p>Bateman is proving a problem against press coverage. The oft-injured former first-round pick \u201chas created separation on a league-high 72.73% of snaps against press coverage. The next-closest receiver is at 61.54% after five weeks,\u201d\u00a0according to Pro Football Focus.<\/p>\n<p>Those numbers are the main reason why\u00a0Jeff Zrebiec of The Athletic\u00a0believes \u201cBateman, in particular, has been a tough matchup for teams.\u201d Zrebiec made the point after Bateman and\u00a0Zay Flowers\u00a0combined to help Jackson shred the\u00a0Cincinnati Bengals\u00a0in Week 5.<\/p>\n<div id=\"AdThrive_Content_1_desktop\" class=\"adthrive-ad adthrive-content adthrive-content-1 adthrive-ad-cls\" data-google-query-id=\"\">\n<div id=\"google_ads_iframe_\/18190176,25816858\/AdThrive_Content_1\/5ad7479721520f50ab7da88e_0__container__\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"google-ad-manager-fallback-container\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Flowers quickly cemented himself as Jackson\u2019s go-to wideout last season precisely because Bateman struggled to get onto the field. That\u2019s changing this year, with Bateman giving Jackson another potent threat on the outside.<\/p>\n<h2>Rashod Bateman Finally Showing First-Round Skills for Ravens<\/h2>\n<p>Bateman\u2019s turned\u00a013 receptions into 202 yards\u00a0and a pair of touchdowns through five games. His 15.5-yard average per reception and 40.4 yards after catch show Bateman is putting his impressive play speed to good use.<\/p>\n<p>A nice example of his improvement came during the 41-38 win over the Bengals. When Jackson\u00a0rolled out to find a wide-open Bateman on the run for six points.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s been a long wait for the Ravens to see Bateman put it all together like he did on this play. The hope for more plays like this was behind the decision to select Bateman with the 27th pick in the 2021 NFL draft.<\/p>\n<div id=\"AdThrive_Content_3_desktop\" class=\"adthrive-ad adthrive-content adthrive-content-3 adthrive-ad-cls\" data-google-query-id=\"\">\n<div id=\"google_ads_iframe_\/18190176,25816858\/AdThrive_Content_3\/5ad7479721520f50ab7da88e_0__container__\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"google-ad-manager-fallback-container\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Injuries and inconsistency have kept the 24-year-old from making the grade for too long. A litany of problems, including\u00a0groin, foot and hamstring\u00a0issues, have kept Bateman out of 17 games since he entered the pros.<\/p>\n<p>Staying healthy hasn\u2019t been the only obstacle preventing Bateman from becoming a consistent force. He\u2019s also had trouble hanging onto the ball, being guilty of 10 drops during his his first three campaigns, per\u00a0Pro Football Reference.<\/p>\n<p>Bateman is starting to make the tough catches. Like when he\u00a0snagged this off-platform deep throw\u00a0from Jackson against the\u00a0Kansas City Chiefs\u00a0in Week 1.<\/p>\n<div class=\"c-content entry-content\">\n<p>It\u2019s another sign of Bateman\u2019s obvious improvement. His upward trajectory is contributing to the increasingly new look and greater playmaking potential of the Ravens\u2019 passing game.<\/p>\n<h2>Ravens Getting Younger, More Dynamic in Passing Game<\/h2>\n<p>There\u2019s a changing of the guard in the way the Ravens attack defenses through the air. It\u2019s most clear at tight end, where All-Pro veteran\u00a0Mark Andrews\u00a0is\u00a0struggling for targets, but third-year playmaker\u00a0Isaiah Likely\u00a0is\u00a0getting more attention\u00a0from Jackson in clutch moments.<\/p>\n<p>Similar changes are afoot at wide receiver, even though Flowers is managing to build on a 77-catch rookie campaign. Bateman\u2019s the one making the difference, and not just because he\u2019s overtaking veteran\u00a0Nelson Agholor\u00a0as Jackson\u2019s preferred other wideout.<\/p>\n<p>This shift means the Ravens are more dynamic when throwing the ball. They can stretch the field more often and more effectively, creating a deadly vertical complement to the\u00a0brute-force running of Henry.<\/p>\n<p>Provided Bateman stays healthy, that combination could finally give the Ravens the offensive firepower they need to complete a long overdue Super Bowl push.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Baltimore Ravens have the NFL&#8217;s best wide receiver in one category. It isn\u2019t just\u00a0Lamar Jackson\u00a0and\u00a0Derrick Henry\u00a0powering an explosive offense for the\u00a0Baltimore Ravens. Not when forgotten wide&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":13016,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>BREAKING: Forgotten Ravens WR Leads NFL as a \u2018Tough Matchup\u2019 in 1 Category - Sport News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportnews.drinkfood.info\/?p=13014\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BREAKING: Forgotten Ravens WR Leads NFL as a \u2018Tough Matchup\u2019 in 1 Category - Sport News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Baltimore Ravens have the NFL&#8217;s best wide receiver in one category. 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