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“Oh man, I’m so honored to have won the squid award,” Andrews told Goldich. “I didn’t know it was a thing, but it’s pretty cool.”
Andrews is now third on the all-time octopus leaderboard in a 25-way tie, behind only Randy Moss (3) and Todd Gurley (4), but he’s hungry for the record.
“I’m all about the octopus,” Andrews said to Goldich. “Now that I know about it and I’ve already had two of these, I want more. I want more of it.”
Andrews will certainly have more opportunities as Ravens head coach John Harbaugh demonstrated an aggressive scoring philosophy last season and racked up eight two-point conversions.
Andrews gave a speech for the Squid Awards at Goldich’s request.
“First of all, I want to thank God. I want to be grateful to our head coach, going for two, grateful to Lamar, grateful that my teammates have the confidence in me to go out there and do the games and score an octopus. said Andrews to Goldich. “And of course two octopuses in that one game. I’m just extremely grateful. Grateful for you, Mitch, for lending this to me. And my parents and everyone else, man.
Lamar Jackson: Fantasy Football Star
This offseason, the Ravens have rebuilt their offense with Lamar Jackson in mind, and fantasy football lovers should celebrate.
In 2019, Jackson had the second-best season by a quarterback in fantasy history (415.68 points), just less than two points behind Patrick Mahomes’ 2018 season (417.1 points). Jackson won football games and seasons from fantasy owners, and The Athletic’s Jeff Zrebiec believes the Ravens’ offseason moves portend a return, starting with the offensive line.
“In 2019, the Ravens had one of the best offensive lines in football, including three Pro Bowl selections in Ronnie Stanley, Orlando Brown Jr. and Guard Marshal Yanda. Jackson was only sacked 23 times in 15 games,” Zrebiec wrote. “Last season Jackson was sacked 38 times in 12 games. Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta said that whenever the quarterback asks Jackson about his needs, he usually mentions improving the offensive line. On paper, the Ravens have done so with two new starters in Moses and Linderbaum, joining guard Kevin Zeitler and Stanley, who the team believes will be ready for Week 1 after missing all but one game last season .
A big part of Jackson’s historic fantasy season has been on defense, which hasn’t been able to focus on Jackson as the Ravens’ biggest ongoing threat. Zrebiec sees the healthy return of two ball carriers helping to relieve the signal caller.
“The return of Dobbins and Edwards should open things up for Jackson, and Mike Davis and Tyler Badie should diversify the backfield,” Zrebiec wrote.
The final element of Jackson’s resurgence appears to be tight end unity after the Ravens opted to bring more talent to the position rather than a wide receiver.
“Instead of this [of signing or drafting a wide receiver,] The Ravens doubled on the tight end, drafting Charlie Kolar and Isaiah Likely, accomplished pass catchers in college,” Zrebiec wrote.
“The lack of moves at the receiver appeared to be a nod to 2019, when three of the Ravens’ top five passers were tight ends as Jackson worked down the field and distributed the ball,” Zrebiec wrote. “However, the Ravens seem to have gotten better up front, in the backfield and at the tight end. These elements have brought Jackson the best out before.”
The biggest takeaways from Warren Sharp’s 2022 football preview
In anticipation of the 2022 season, NBC Sports’ Warren Sharp released a 14-page chapter summarizing the Ravens’ 2021 season and previewing the 2022 season. Here are some of the highlights.
If Jackson wins, the Ravens win.
“As Jackson played the entire game, the Ravens went 8-4 with two of the four losses coming either in overtime (Week 1 vs. the Raiders) or seconds before overtime, trying to avoid overtime due to a depleted roster on miss Two-point conversion,” Sharp wrote. “When Jackson played the whole game, the Ravens were the No. 1 team in the AFC in…DEPITE all the insane injuries. But when Jackson was injured, the Ravens went 1-5.”
