After waiting months, the Baltimore Ravens returned to M&T Bank Stadium, celebrating 25 years as the team hosted the Houston Texans.
Lamar Jackson was somewhat rusty in his first game action since suffering an injury against the Broncos, and both teams struggled to find any rhythm as Baltimore exited the half with a 7-6.
Buy Ravens TicketsJohn Harbaugh’s group scored 18 points in the second half, holding Houston to just three points as the Ravens recorded a 25-9 season-opening win.
With the game now over, here are takeaways and observations.
David Ojabo showed up
The former Michigan pass rusher had 3 tackles, one sack and one quarterback hit.
People were ready to give up on David Ojabo
He shut them up real quick pic.twitter.com/Cqkpx0B8wQ
— The Ravens Realm (@RealmRavens) September 10, 2023
Roquan Smith
Smith’s 15 tackles are the most in a season opener in Ravens franchise history, per ESPNStatsInfo.
Ray Lewis had 14 tackles in three different openers.
ROQUAN SMITH 💪
📺: #HOUvsBAL on CBS
⁰📱: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/G4uoYVOqQn pic.twitter.com/XtjltbFYuM— NFL (@NFL) September 10, 2023
C.J. Stroud strong debut
The Texans rookie got valuable experience against one of the NFL’s top defensive units.
#Texans rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud has been solid overall, making some good throws. He has completed 20 of 31 passes for 164 yards, no scores, no interceptions while being sacked three times and hit seven times overall. Six of 8 on throws to Robert Woods for 57 yards @KPRC2
— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) September 10, 2023
Stroud finished the game 28-44 pasing, for 242-yards, while avoiding any costly interceptions or turnovers.
Ravens have a ton of money in the blue injury tent
Several injured Ravens will be receiving MRI’s on Monday.
The Ravens are now down four of their six highest-paid players:
Ronnie Stanley ($23.7M cap hit in 2023)
Mark Andrews ($13.7M)
Marlon Humphrey ($12.5M)
Marcus Williams ($7.3M)— Jonas Shaffer (@jonas_shaffer) September 10, 2023
Ar'Darius Washington
The talented defensive back had 6 tackles, 1 sack, 1 tackle for loss, 1 pass defended, and 1 quarterback hit in the opener.
Todd Monken 11 personnel
We talked about Baltimore potentially going away from the physical two tight end looks of the past, and on Sunday, Monken had the Ravenslined up in 11 personnel on 43.8% of its snaps per PFF.
