The Ravens’ regular season is 33% over, and what a first third it was.

There were memorable wins and epic quarterback duels. Fourth-quarter collapses and dramatic moments in overtime. Elite run defense and porous pass defense. A lot of Derrick Henry and even more Lamar Jackson.

With the 4-2 Ravens headed into another prime-time game Monday night against the 4-2 Tampa Bay Buccaneers, where does the team stand, exactly? We asked reporters Jonas Shaffer and Giana Han, columnist Kyle Goon and “Banner Ravens Podcast” co-host Paul Mancano to look back and ahead.

Which player or position has been the most pleasant surprise?

Shaffer: Who could’ve predicted Kyle Van Noy ranking fourth in the NFL in sacks through Week 6? Certainly not me. But the 33-year-old outside linebacker, along with a handful of older teammates, keeps turning back the clock. Van Noy has six sacks and ranks ninth among edge rushers in ESPN’s pass rush win rate, which measures how often a defender is able to beat his block within 2.5 seconds, ahead of more established stars like Nick Bosa, T.J. Watt and Matthew Judon. The Ravens will need to keep Van Noy fresh for the season’s second half and a potential playoff run, and they should have the depth at outside linebacker to do it.

Han: Daniel Faalele needs a shoutout. I was very uncertain about the right guard’s upside after what I saw in training camp and the preseason. He just couldn’t seem to move his feet, and relying on his length wasn’t enough. Certainly, there have been times this season when his lack of mobility has been a problem, but it hasn’t been nearly the liability I feared it would be. His teammates make sure to shout him out, and his improvements have earned their praise. I’m not sure how high his ceiling is, but he’s been better than expected. While there are certainly guys who have been playing at a higher level (left tackle Ronnie Stanley, defensive tackle Travis Jones, wide receiver Rashod Bateman), Faalele’s improvement has been critical. This offensive line no longer has an incredibly weak link.

Goon: “Surprise” might not be the applicable term, exactly, since many Ravens told us before the season that they thought defensive tackle Travis Jones would have a breakout year. But the direct translation of Jones’ strength to an improved Ravens run defense is still striking. An offensive lineman might have better luck pulling a fire hydrant out of the sidewalk than pushing Jones off his pursuit of a ball carrier.

Mancano: Running back Justice Hill deserves a nod, as his contributions to the passing game have earned him a two-year extension and the trust of the Ravens’ coaching staff. But I’ll go with another veteran: left tackle Ronnie Stanley, who has returned to Pro Bowl form on an offensive line that desperately needed another steadying presence. Stanley has played almost every offensive snap through six games and has allowed just nine pressures, with no sacks, according to Pro Football Focus.

Which player or position has been the biggest disappointment?

Shaffer: The Ravens’ safeties have to step up. Kyle Hamilton has started to look more and more like his All-Pro self after an up-and-down September, but the position has otherwise fallen well short of expectations. Marcus Williams has been a half-step slow in coverage all season. Eddie Jackson hasn’t filled the Geno Stone-sized hole in the secondary. Ar’Darius Washington has played only sparingly. The Ravens’ big-play woes can’t be blamed entirely on the team’s safeties, but they are the team’s last line of defense. With a run defense as stout as the Ravens’, the pass defense should never feel as insecure as it has.

Han: Going with the obvious here, because it’s so atrocious that it deserves to be mentioned multiple times. What the heck is up with the pass defense? The Ravens wanted it to be the best unit in the NFL, and there was no reason to believe they were just talking the talk. They have Pro Bowlers and big-time players and first-round draft picks. And yet their pass defense was ranked so low after Week 5 that coach John Harbaugh tried to spin it into a challenge to the unit: Prove the statistics wrong. They went out in Week 6 and allowed Commanders rookie Jayden Daniels to throw for 269 yards and two touchdowns.

Goon: The secondary has clearly been beleaguered, but it would help if the Ravens could find their pass rushing chops outside of Kyle Van Noy’s six sacks. While the Ravens’ 19 sacks are tied for fifth in the league, their sack rate (20.1%) is middle of the pack, and they’ve registered only 10 QB hurries this season. This is in part due to a relatively conservative approach to blitzing, but Nnamdi Madubuike hasn’t been as devastating a pass rusher as he was last season (two sacks). The other edge rushers, including Odafe Oweh (3.5) and David Ojabo (one), need to pressure more and finish better. It feels telling that Yannick Ngakoue rose so quickly to the active roster after being signed to the practice squad late last month. The Ravens are searching for more juice up front, from anywhere they can get it.

Mancano: This version of Marcus Williams is virtually unrecognizable from the safety to whom the Ravens handed a $70 million contract ($37 million guaranteed) in 2022. Last year, Williams played through a torn pectoral (though he’ll never discuss it). This year, he seems to be healthy, having played 98% of the team’s defensive snaps, but his quality of play is significantly worse. The 28-year-old ranks 79th among the 84 qualified players at his position, according to PFF. Williams is under contract through the 2026 season, so Baltimore will have to hope this down year isn’t a sign of things to come.

The Ravens have the NFL’s No. 1 offense. How sustainable is it?

Shaffer: The Ravens do all the little things well to stay on script. They run the ball efficiently, avoid taking sacks, convert on third and fourth down and attack favorable matchups. Even more impressive, they get the most out of their heavy personnel groupings, creating running lanes for Derrick Henry and explosive passing plays for Lamar Jackson. With tight end Mark Andrews rounding into form and right tackle Roger Rosengarten learning on the job, offensive coordinator Todd Monken should keep finding new buttons to push. Injuries are always a concern — would Jackson be as fearless if Ronnie Stanley were no longer protecting his blind side? — but that could be said for every offense.

Han: Barring injuries, it feels like there’s nothing stopping the offense from not only sustaining but also improving on its performances. It’s crazy how Lamar Jackson can have an outstanding game and still leave me wanting more. I know he can do better. For example, he looked hesitant at the start of Sunday’s game against the Washington Commanders. Imagine how much better his final statistics would have looked if he’d come out more decisively. Between Jackson and the offense’s other weapons, some of whom he’s barely used, the Ravens have all the potential in the world.

Goon: I will be shocked if the Ravens don’t have a top-three offense by season’s end. Offense is, in part, a math problem that the Ravens are winning: You can’t stop Derrick Henry’s runs with six (or sometimes even seven) men in the box. But if you present Lamar Jackson with man coverage, he’s capable of picking you apart. The offensive line has improved from early hiccups, and even rookie Roger Rosengarten is mauling in the run game. The tight ends are now so versatile as pass catchers and blockers, defenses have a hard time knowing what the Ravens will run out of heavy sets. My biggest question is whether the wideouts are good enough to win at the highest level, but other areas are so efficient that they help compensate for one of the weaker areas of the roster.

Mancano: We now have a 25-game sample size of Todd Monken’s offense in Baltimore, and the results are outstanding. He helped Jackson return to Most Valuable Player form in 2023, and the star quarterback is taking Monken’s scheme to new heights this season. Derrick Henry continues to stave off Father Time, and for as bad as the offensive line looked in that Week 1 loss in Kansas City, this patchwork group seems to have righted the ship. The truest test of this offense might not come until Week 12, when the Ravens head to Los Angeles to take on the other Harbaugh’s Chargers defense. Until then, it’s hard to see this group hitting many speed bumps.

How would you grade the new defense under Zach Orr?

Shaffer: It’s tough to judge anyone just six weeks into a season — unless you’re New York Jets owner Woody Johnson, in which case you fire the head coach after five weeks. But even the most charitable Ravens fan would concede that Orr’s start in Baltimore has been rough. If he’d submitted it as a midterm paper, he’d probably get a note back from Harbaugh in red ink: “Incomplete. Needs improvement.” Orr hasn’t conjured the play-calling magic or defensive cohesion that his predecessor, Mike Macdonald, was supposed to pass on to him. Some of that could be bad luck; the Ravens have faced a lot of good quarterbacks so far, and they haven’t had much success stopping tight-window throws. But there’s too much talent on this defense for the Ravens to white-knuckle one fourth quarter after another.

Han: I would assign him a very average grade, C. His run defense is phenomenal. His passing defense is a disaster, and players look confused out there. I also think he deserves some grace, because he’d never called plays before this season. Mike Macdonald struggled in his first year as well, but he had a whole year of college ball to draw on. Orr is young and inexperienced, which means there’s room for growth.

Goon: It’s impossible to evaluate Orr without looking back to Mike Macdonald, who kept opposing quarterbacks looking over their shoulder or second-guessing the coverage they were facing. What we haven’t really seen, aside from the Week 4 performance against Josh Allen’s Bills, is that fear factor. Orr’s calls seem rooted in fundamental football, as well as inherent trust that a very talented roster will make plays as needed. But the missing ingredient is putting the quarterback on his back, or making him tentative enough to not pull the trigger on his throw. Joe Burrow, Jared Goff, Geno Smith, Tua Tagovailoa, C.J. Stroud and Brock Purdy all felt that heat last season from Macdonald’s torture chamber. Orr must find ways to intimidate passers similarly.

Mancano: Have you ever seen such a stark contrast between a team’s pass defense and run defense? Baltimore is 31st in passing yards per game allowed and first in rushing yards per game allowed. As Jonas has pointed out several times on The Banner Ravens Podcast, it starts with the pass rush. Until the Ravens can consistently generate pressure on opposing quarterbacks, their defensive backs will be hung out to dry.

Make a bold prediction for the middle third of the season.

Shaffer: The Ravens do nothing at the trade deadline. General manager Eric DeCosta has until Nov. 5 to gauge the market, but what moves could even be in play? The Ravens should get slot cornerback Arthur Maulet back soon, and outside corner Jalyn Armour-Davis, who’s eligible to come off injured reserve before Week 8, could help, too. Running back Keaton Mitchell, who’s still completing his knee rehabilitation, hasn’t been cleared to practice, but he could be another weapon for the offense. The Ravens could always look into adding a proven wide receiver (Mike Williams?) or edge rusher (Haason Reddick?), but the cost for big-name rentals can be prohibitive.

Han: The secondary sees a shakeup. Almost every player out there is a name you wouldn’t expect to see sidelined, but something’s got to change. Talent is important, but so is chemistry, and whatever they’ve got out there isn’t working. Maybe it’s Arthur Maulet returning. Maybe it’s Ar’Darius Washington earning more time, which I think he deserves based on the big plays he’s made in his few snaps out there. Whatever it is, the Ravens can’t really do worse.

Goon: The Ravens’ winning streak will continue at least until the Harbaugh Bowl. I’m still smarting a bit from the disastrous prediction that the Ravens would easily beat Las Vegas (they should have), but in their past four weeks they have shown a lot more resilience than in their bumpy start. Of the next five games, the hardest matchup on paper is Tampa Bay, which could be a shootout. But if the Ravens manage to beat the Bucs on Monday night, they have a clear path to go to L.A. at 9-2 with the division all but locked up. My biggest concern in that stretch is the Steelers, given the weird psychic hold that Pittsburgh coach Mike Tomlin seems to have over John Harbaugh in recent seasons. But I’m predicting a streak of W’s into the Chargers game, which will only add to the juice of the brothers’ latest meeting across NFL sidelines.

Mancano: Derrick Henry will surpass his 2023 rushing total during the team’s Week 9 game against the Denver Broncos. Henry posted rushing 1,167 yards on a career-worst 4.2 yards per carry with the Tennessee Titans last season, more an indictment of the offensive infrastructure around him than his own ability. Through six games this season, the 30-year-old has 704 rushing yards to go along with nine total touchdowns. Henry reaching 2,000 rushing yards for the second time in his career feels like a long shot, but getting to 1,800 isn’t out of the question.