Folks, we are 8 weeks through the 2024 NFL season and our favorite teams here at the DMV Sports Network are doing great with the Ravens at 5-3 and the Commanders at 6-2. We’ve seen many strengths and weaknesses from these teams throughout the first 8 weeks. And we’ll give you some midseason NFL award predictions at the end. Let’s get into it!
The Ravens have been very good this season with great statement wins against teams like the Bills who they were able to play great defense against and hold Josh Allen to 10 points while scoring 35 and a great offensive performance from the Ravens with the key being to start fast as Derrick Henry had the longest run in Ravens history for an 87 yard touchdown on the first drive which gave the Ravens huge momentum as part of their 5 game win streak. And let’s not dismiss the battle of the beltway game as the Ravens beat the Commanders in a very competitive game. And then the week after Lamar showed off an MVP performance with another Jackson 5 Touchdown game.
We will now head over to the weaknesses on the Ravens side which many people will argue and say it's all the pass rush or it's all the secondary. I believe they work hand in hand if the pass rush can’t pressure the QB the corners can’t cover everywhere for a long time. We are coming up on the trade deadline where we could see a move made as we saw true issues in the secondary and the wide receiver corps in the Ravens loss vs the Browns as the Ravens dropped pick after pick and catch after catch. The Ravens added to the wide receiver corps with a trade for Panthers WR1 Diontae Johnson. Johnson has had 30 catches, 357 yards and 3 touchdowns on the season with not so great Panthers qb play and he will be added into a Ravens offense that has already been top 5 in the NFL this year and the Ravens will soon be getting elusive running back Keaton Mitchell back into this offense as they’re going to have the three headed monster of Henry, Mitchell and Justice Hill. But we still would look to see the Ravens try to make a move for a pass rusher and a cornerback/ defensive back before this year's trade deadline.
We will now head over to the Commander's side of things and talk about the incredible season they are having. The Commanders second overall pick Jayden Daniels has taken the league by storm and has given Commanders fans hope for the future for the first time in a long time. Jayden Daniels has taken this Commanders team to a 6-2 record with his only losses being to the Ravens and Buccaneers who are two great teams. After the loss to the Buccaneers the Commanders won 4 games straight with a divisional win over the Giants and a great win over the Bengals on MNF in Cincinnati. And last but certainly not least the most influential and biggest win on the season for the Commanders is their week 8 win over Chicago. We saw Bears cornerback Tyrique Stevenson mock the Commanders fans in the crowd just to come back and be the man who tips the ball back into the hands of Commanders WR Noah Brown as the Commander get the win on a last second Hail Mary as the Bears took a TD on the drive before leaving Daniels and the Commanders about 30 seconds and they made the improbable happen.
There are certainly some weaknesses that the Commanders do have on their team though as the first thing that comes to my mind being the WR and Cornerback rooms as the Commanders could use some more depth at WR as their current top 3 is Terry Mclaurin, Noah Brown and Dyami Brown and the cornerback room could use some depth as they have had a few issues there namely with Benjamin St. Juste. The Commanders will look at the trade deadline for improvements, but I do believe they will stand pat and work with what they have.
Now we will give you the DMV Sports Networks midseason NFL awards as we will start with rookie of the year. The obvious choice for Offensive Rookie of the year is Commanders qb Jayden Daniels who has done the most to improve his team as a rookie and we will give him the OROY in 2024. We have not seen many defensive rookies that have made cases as easy a choice as Jayden Daniels but I’m going to give Defensive Rookie of the year to Rams defensive end Jared Verse. Verse has 2.5 sacks this season and 29 total tackles plus a forced fumble and is the odds-on favorite to win DROY this year. We will now go to the OPOY and DPOY awards this year as the OPOY for me is going to have to be Derrick Henry as Derrick Henry hasn’t gone a week without a TD and has been putting on an MVP level season, but the MVP is more of a quarterback award and Derrick Henry deserves the respect and recognition for the season he is currently having. The current odds-on favorite for DPOY is TJ Watt but I’m going with a bit of a lower odds guy here with Dexter “Sexy Dexy” Lawrence. Lawrence only has 29 total tackles this year but leads the league in sacks with 9 which is my I’m giving him DPOY. For Comeback player of the year I’m giving it to Aaron Rodgers who came back from a torn achilles and is playing great football and I’m going to give Coach of the Year to Commanders head coach Dan Quinn who came and in his first year has this team at 6-2 through 8 weeks. And the most monumental award your DMV Sports Network midseason NFL MVP is Lamar Jackson who has 17 passing touchdowns is 2nd in the league only to Baker Mayfield after Mayfield threw multiple garbage time TDS against Baltimore and Lamar is only 2nd to Josh Allen in QBR and this doesn’t even include the fact Lamar only has two interceptions and one was tipped by his own wr. This also doesn’t include Jackson’s rushing stats which include 501 rushing yards and 2 rushing tds which is why he is our midseason MVP.
Thanks for reading this article. I hope you enjoyed it!
Let's Flock Up and Raise Hail!
Noah Hamilton
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