The Baltimore Ravens limped into the bye week with a 3 and 4 record, two games behind the division-leading Cincinnati Bengals, and a game behind the last wild-card team. Any optimism that surrounded the team’s new direction after the Super Bowl (a younger and faster defense, stout run defense, power run game, and deep shot-play offense) has been resoundingly replaced with the questions that surrounded the team after the Super Bowl (the lack of leadership, disconnected defense, and unproven air attack).

The Ravens are at a crossroads. The rest of the season will be interesting to watch as we will find out what shape this team will take. Many predicated, myself included, that it would take the beginning of the season for this team to gel. Well, we are about at the mid-point of the season and this team is still struggling to find itself.

This week’s game between the Green Bay Packers and the Baltimore Ravens pits two of the last Super Bowl winners, and two of the last Super Bowl MVP’s, Aaron Rodgers and Joe Flacco. This, for all intents and purposes, is a marquee match-up. However, both teams have had some bumps in the road while navigating this young 2013 season.

This will be another test for the Baltimore Ravens. If the Ravens can find some consistency in all three phases of the game, they will have a good chance of winning today. Consistency, nevertheless, has been the 2013 Baltimore Ravens’ kryptonite.

Here are this week’s two major plotlines.

Re-assessment Time for the Ravens' Defense
After getting shredded for 445 passing yards in week one against the Denver Broncos, the Ravens face a very similar offense in the Green Bay Packers. Like the Broncos, the Packers employ two outstanding receivers on the outside, a shifty and slashing slot receiver, and a unique tight end. Below is a chart comparing the statistics of the skill positions of the Packers and the Broncos.

The thing that strikes me is while Peyton Manning and the Broncos have more overall yards and touchdowns, Rodgers and the Packers do very well in two areas: yards per reception and yards after the catch.

According to Pro Football Focus, Rodgers takes more shots down the field than Manning. Rodgers has 200 more yards than Manning of total passing yards coming from passes 20 or more yards downfield (Rodgers has 505 yards in one less game than Manning, who has 306). What this means is that the Packers have gained more yards on plays that take a longer time to develop.

On the other side of the coin, each of the receivers of the Packers average a high amount of yards after the catch (YAC). Rodgers is known for his quick release which gets the ball to his receivers in space and allows them to make plays.

In many ways, it is a pick your poison situation for the Ravens. If the Ravens can contain Rodgers keeping him in the pocket, while putting pressure on him, while holding the coverage in the secondary just a hair longer through disruption of the receivers’ routes, they may have a chance. Um, that’s a long list.

After writing off the defense after the Denver debacle, then declaring their greatness against the Houston Texans, then putting the brakes on their development after the Buffalo Bill bungle, I think we need to see more consistency (there’s that word again) from the defense. You are not going to shutdown Rodgers, but you hope to contain him a bit more than they “contained” Manning.

It is a huge task this week. Will the front seven work in one accord with the secondary? It is imperative this week.

A Healing Offense Takes On a Injury-Riddled Defense
Might this be the week that we see all of the patchwork pieces of the Ravens offense together since the preseason? With Brandon Stokley on the inactive list, the Ravens will have Torrey Smith, Deonte Thompson, Jacoby Jones, Tandon Doss, and Marlon Brown. Include tight ends Dallas Clark and Ed Dickson and this is the most attractive set of offensive weapons Flacco has had to utilize this season. Moreover, we get the Raven debut of Eugene Monroe at left tackle (Bryant McKinnie is inactive today).

This convergence of offensive health comes at a time when the Packers are dealing with injuries to their defense. They will be without disruptive pass rusher and playmaker Clay Matthews, and stout inside linebacker Brad Jones—two key players from their front seven.

Has the inconsistent (a variation of the word of the day) Ravens’ offense caught a break? I think they have caught a break, and I think we witness a big uptick in their production today.

Unsung Player to Watch, aka the “Corey Graham 2012 Postseason Award”
In lieu of a prediction of the score of the game, I will pick a Raven player each week that I think will have an impact on the game. I won’t pick an obvious player (like Joe Flacco, Ray Rice, Terrell Suggs, etc.), but a player that flies a bit under the radar. Think of this as the “Corey Graham 2012 Postseason Award.” Who would have predicted that Graham would have been last year’s postseason-player-of-the-game in Denver? 

I have struck out every week while making this prediction, but I still like trying to predict if there is a player we didn’t expect would make a difference, all of a sudden makes a difference. I like the underdog quality of this prediction.  

This week I am going with Jimmy Smith. He has been the personification of inconsistency, but within that inconsistency I have seen a steady increase in his confidence and technique (he is turning for the ball with more regularity). His physicality and speed will be utilized to help disrupt the timing of the Packer offense.

According to ESPN, 50 percent of the teams that have opened the season with a 3-2 record have made the playoffs. History has shown that it is much more difficult to make the playoffs when beginning the season with a 2-3 record. Only 23 percent of those teams have made it to the playoffs.

This week’s game against the Miami Dolphins kicks off a difficult stretch of games for the Ravens before the bye week: Green Bay Packers at home next week, and then a rivalry game against the current winless Steelers in Pittsburgh. 

It sure would bode well for the 2-2-Ravens to win today’s game.

Here are this week’s plotlines.

According to multiple reports, the Ravens are set to acquire Jacksonville Jaguars' offensive tackle Eugene Monroe for multiple draft picks (day three draft picks). Monroe was the 8th overall selection by the Jaguars in the 2009 NFL draft. He is signed through this season only. 

While this is an immediate upgrade to the offensive line, I am not sure it is because Monroe is a stellar player, or the Ravens situation is so completely dire. 

Monroe has been an average to above average left tackle since he has entered the league. Monroe had decent seasons in 2011 and 2012. According to Pro Football Focus, Monroe was the the 10th best left tackle in the league in 2012. So, he was in the top third of the league—not exactly top echelon. Plus, there is a reason the Jaguars selected Luke Joeckel with the 2nd overall pick in this year's draft. 

Current Raven left tackle Bryant McKinnie must see the writing on the wall with this trade. Pro Football Focus has him rated as the 61st "best" tackle and anybody watching the Ravens' games can see he has greatly struggled in all aspects of the game. Add in the fact that there are now reports of how McKinnie's approach and motivation is less that stellar. He appears to regressing to his 2012 off-season self.

But let's temper this conversation a bit. Monroe is not off to a stellar start to the 2013 season either. He has struggled with run blocking, almost as badly as McKinnie. On the other hand, Monroe is pass blocking at a high level than McKinnie. On some level, at the moment, this is only a bit more than a lateral move for the Ravens.  

But in the long run for this season, I think this move serves the Ravens well-especially if Monroe can tap into the success he had in 2012. If so, this is a major upgrade. At 26, Monroe is younger, more athletic, and he has to be more motivated than McKinnie is at this stage in his career. Moving from the worst team in the league, the Jaguars, to a team that has high expectations could be something that re-energizes Monroe. The overall talent on the Ravens and its winning culture could positively help his transition.

The Ravens just may have solved their left tackle problem in the short-run. And, if they re-sign Monroe to a long-term contract, they may solved this issue in the long-run.

I hate the phrase, “I told you so.”

I mean it’s just a pompous, self-serving, “Look at me! Look at me!” kind of thing to say.  Usually, the person who is uttering this phrase finds some strange, cynical amount of joy in directing that oh-so-slight-personal-dig to the intended target. 

The person might as well say. “Uh, obviously, I’m better AND smarter than you. Couldn’t you see (insert observation) coming?”

There are so many other ways to convey one’s opinion when one knows that he/she was correct in one’s assessment. There are many other tactful, graceful, empathetic means of communication.

One example that comes to mind is one of the iconic, yet tongue-in-cheek, lines from the Star Wars franchise (those that know me are probably surprised it has taken me 2 ½ months to work in a Star Wars reference). This phrase was first spoken in the original movie, and it later found its way in each of the other episodes.

Those of you fellow Star Wars nerds know the line. Those of you not as familiar with the series, the line I am referring to is, “I have a bad feeling about this.”

Has Solo, one of the more prominent characters in the entire franchise, has uttered this line. Yes, the same swashbuckling, bull-in-a-china-shop, loud mouth who was once was called a “stuck up, half-witted, scruffly-looking Nerf herder,” has refrained from saying, “I told you so.” He has, on occasion, chosen a more humble approach—“I have a bad feeling about this.”

Well, since the middle of August—after about the third preseason game when the run game continued to struggle—my take on the Ravens’ has been optimistic caution.

Leading up to the Buffalo game, my outlook was even more reserved. My Plotlines: Buffalo post was etched with the underlying sentiment of, “I have a bad feeling about this.”

Without further ado, here is this week’s Reality Assessment.