Baltimore Ravens: No Potential MVP on This Roster
By Joe Serpico
The Baltimore Ravens have several good players, but do they have someone that is capable of being named Most Valuable Player at the end of the 2016 season?
There are several franchises in the National Football League that as soon as you mention the name, a player from that team comes to mind. Do the Ravens have a player like that?
Ray Lewis and Ed Reed were household names in their prime. Terrell Suggs was the 2011 Defensive Player of the Year. Joe Flacco has a Super Bowl MVP to go along with his championship ring.
The aforementioned names will go down as some of the greatest in Ravens history. But let’s face it, the two active players are far from being the best at their positions. They are still in the upper echelon at this point of their careers, but capable of winning the MVP trophy? Extremely unlikely.
The Ravens do not have that guy that can take over a game. They have players that will play extremely well at certain points of the season, but not a guy who will be a factor week in and week out.
What do I mean by a game-changing player? Last year’s winners of the NFL honors went to Cam Newton and J.J. Watt. When teams are game planning for the Carolina Panthers or Houston Texans, the top objective is to stop these guys.
Not every team has a player of that caliber and most happen to be teams with the elite quarterback. When you think of the New England Patriots, Green Bay Packers and New Orleans Saints, the first players that come to mind are Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers and Drew Brees.
Some teams are better known for their defensive stars, with the Watt and the Texans being a perfect example. The Seahawks have the Legion of Boom, and Richard Sherman or Earl Thomas could easily win Defensive Player of the year. Now that Peyton Manning is no longer with the Denver Broncos, Von Miller becomes the top threat for the defending champs.
In the Ravens own division, the AFC North, there are teams with these types of players. The Pittsburgh Steelers Triple B’s of Ben Roethlisberger, Le’Veon Bell and Antonio Brown are all capable of winning the MVP award. The Cincinnati Bengals do not have that elite quarterback, but A.J. Green is unstoppable.
Think having a player of this quality is not necessary to win a Super Bowl? Think again. Here are the past 12 Super Bowl winners:
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2004: Patriots
2005: Steelers
2006: Indianapolis Colts
2007: New York Giants
2008: Steelers
2009: Saints
2010: Packers
2011: Giants
2012: Ravens
2013: Seahawks
2014: Patriots
2015: Broncos
Now let’s repeat some of the names above: Brady. Roethlisberger. Brees. Sherman. Manning and his brother Eli Manning twice each. Lewis, Reed and Suggs. The best players of those respective years got their championships.
The Ravens do not have the best of anything. They have some very good players that will make plays. They have talent on both sides of the ball that as a team will be competitive in every game. What they do not have is the guy opposing teams lose sleep over.
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Unless teams throw fits over a right guard. Marshal Yanda is a brick wall on the offensive line and the best at his position in the NFL, but offensive lineman do not get the glory.
The current Raven that could MAYBE morph into a MVP-caliber player is inside linebacker C.J. Mosley. He has the skills to be special for a long time in the NFL and if he continues to develop, he will be a force for years to come in the Ravens defense.
With that said, I have said repeatedly that Mosley is not the best player on the Ravens defense. That title belongs to Brandon Williams. As dominant as he is at times, nose tackles are not going to garner the recognition to win an award. That is just the nature of the business.
This franchise is in a stage in which their identity is unknown. The days of being a dominant defense have passed with the departure of Reed and Lewis. You can make a case that the only time the Ravens had a true dominant offensive player was Jamal Lewis‘ historical 2003 season.
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This is not to say that the Ravens are not capable of making the turnaround to playing .500 or better this season. They have the talent to do that. What they do not have is the 2016 – and most likely 2017 and beyond – Most Valuable Player on their roster. That means a run at another championship is not coming this season.