Ravens Reality Check: Worst to first? TV talking heads suddenly believe in Baltimore.

Welcome to Ravens Reality Check, where we examine the national media’s Monday morning hot takes about the Ravens and take a sip of water between each one to make sure we stay hydrated.

We are a day away from entering the trance of home playoff baseball, but Monday morning buzz belongs to the Ravens, who thrashed the 3-0 Buffalo Bills on “Sunday Night Football” in their blackout jerseys. The victory led just about every big talking head show, with takes as outsized as the 25-point margin of victory.

1. The Ravens are the best team in the NFL!

On TV talk shows, it seems necessary to gravitate toward the extremes. One week, the Ravens are the biggest disappointment in the NFL. Two weeks later, they’re suddenly the best team.

Maybe it’s true. Maybe it’s not. But I’m not sure how much we need a round of Rex Ryan going on “Get Up!” and “First Take” to parade his winning take from Sunday that the Ravens are the NFL’s best team. His reasoning: They were the best team last year, and they added Derrick Henry. Now they’ve won two in a row.

OK then.

At one point as Ryan and Shannon Sharpe trumpeted this take — largely on the strength of an idea I wrote about Sunday night, that the Ravens have found their offensive identity with Derrick Henry running the ball — Stephen A. Smith felt compelled to end the lovefest by citing Ryan’s previous coaching stint with the Ravens and Sharpe’s Super Bowl run as a player: “I have to apologize for America for these two individuals that are on the show this morning with me. No objectivity whatsoever.”

Are the Ravens the best team in NFL? I don’t think we’ve seen enough from Baltimore to say that, frankly. A lot of analysts pointed out the Henry piece, and I can’t disagree with my own take. But I’m not sure it totals up to NFL’s “best,” especially when 4-0 Minnesota is out there. The league does feel a little more wide open than usual, particularly after the news that Kansas City lost receiver Rashee Rice for the rest of the season.

Even though taking down previously undefeated Buffalo was definitely a statement for Baltimore, I tend to agree more with Pat McAfee’s take (gulp): “The Baltimore Ravens are back. … Everybody’s at the point where we’re back to the high hopes of before the season started.”

2. The Ravens defense is legit!

Naturally, on McAfee’s show, the shorthand for talking about the Ravens defensive performance was to tout Kyle Van Noy, a frequent guest, for his two sacks. The Banner’s Giana Han wrote about Van Noy’s leadership along the defensive front on Sunday night, but the key to the pass rush might have been the secondary.

Allen had the fourth highest time to throw (3.14 second average) of the week. With Marlon Humphrey playing nickel and Nate Wiggins shining (though not coming up with interceptions) on the outside, the Ravens were able to keep Allen and an uber-efficient passing game in check. Allen was hit eight times by the defense.

The Ringer’s Steven Ruiz noted how long it took Allen to get rid of the ball: “It makes you believe that receivers weren’t getting open. And that had been the problem with the Ravens defense. … The pass coverage, especially in man coverage, wasn’t sticking tight to routes. But if you watched the film you were like, ‘All right, they’re gonna clear this up. It’s just a matter of time.’”

I’m admittedly not a film junkie — that’s why we have Jonas Shaffer. But talking to the Ravens in the locker room the last two weeks for a story on Zach Orr, there seemed to be a widespread confidence that their issues in pass coverage were fixable and not systemic.

We’ve known that the Ravens, who brought back nearly all of their secondary except for Geno Stone and the injured Arthur Maulet, have the talent back there. It was reassuring to see them execute their coverage against one of the most steady passing attacks in the NFL.

3. Josh Allen is still better than Lamar Jackson!

Nothing quite hammers in the power of highlight bias like scanning the Monday morning takes. Two things can be true of last night’s game: 1. Josh Allen had the best play of either quarterback on his 52-yard pass to Khalil Shakir. 2. Lamar Jackson outplayed him.

Jackson was not asked to do a lot throwing the ball on Sunday night, but when he did, he was incredibly efficient. He was 13 for 18 for 156 yards and two touchdowns, including a beautifully threaded pass to Justice Hill to start opening up the lead. Allen had just 24 more yards on 11 more attempts, was sacked three times, and finished with fewer rushing yards (54 to 21).

That didn’t stop Clinton Yates on the ESPN Daily podcast from saying, “You’re not gonna tell me that Josh Allen wasn’t the best quarterback on the field.” The conversation was similar on FS1′s “Breakfast Ball,” where hosts Craig Carton and Danny Parkins agreed, “Josh Allen played a good game.”

In reality, Josh Allen played a good play.

His heave to Shakir was stunning, so much so that on the next drive, everyone in the M&T Bank Stadium press box watched Allen closely on a rollout to the sideline because he wasn’t going to catch us sleeping again.

But that highlight doesn’t change the fact that Jackson was more on target, more on time and more dynamic as a two-way threat. Allen had chunk plays at the end, but also completed just 8 of his 19 final passing attempts (and got a huge break on one of them when Keon Coleman tapped his toes along the sideline).

The Ravens defense is better than the Bills defense, but Allen’s play didn’t particularly help Buffalo rise above, which is one reason why his team was spanked by 25 points. If you think Josh Allen is better than Lamar Jackson, sure, I accept that school of thought exists and has a case. But the game tape from this one doesn’t really count as legitimate evidence that Allen is superior.