No matter how awful the Ravens’ 1-3 start looks and feels, the season is far from over.
Three full months and 13 games remain.
But it’s getting harder and harder to give John Harbaugh’s team that benefit of the doubt a quarter of the way into the season. It doesn’t matter how much the oddsmakers, football analytics community, and pundits fawned over this team’s talent and potential entering the 2025 season. There was nothing fluky about these last two defeats to Kansas City and Detroit in the way one might describe that fourth-quarter meltdown in Buffalo a few weeks ago or some other losses suffered by Baltimore in recent years.
No, this isn’t about the Ravens beating the Ravens, which is mostly code for not wanting to give your opponent any credit. In the recent era, this team typically hasn’t lost its aura to this degree until January, which obviously doesn’t afford an opportunity to bounce back until the following season. That’s why all playoff talk should be tabled until further notice, regardless of what you might think about the rest of the AFC North. The biggest concern might be what’s going on between the ears for this entire football team at this point.
Sunday’s 37-20 loss to the Chiefs was an awful all-around showing and was trending that way even before the injuries began piling up to make a lopsided outcome elementary. As Harbaugh said, Kansas City coached better and played better a week after the Lions did the same to the Ravens the previous week. Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes continue to own this franchise.
“I believe we’re going to be a good football team; we’re just not a good enough football team yet,” said Harbaugh, whose team is off to its worst start since 2015. “All the things that go with that are the challenges that you face in the National Football League when you get the circumstances that we’ve had, so that’s what we’ll go to work on.”
Those “circumstances” are the number of injuries Baltimore has sustained over these last couple weeks. It’s quite a change from last year when the Ravens were the NFL’s healthiest team, but attrition is a cruel part of the sport that can strike at any point. That’s what made not taking better advantage of last season’s injury luck even more disappointing.
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Two-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle Nnamdi Madubuike’s neck injury remains the biggest long-term concern after he was placed on injured reserve over the weekend, but two-time MVP quarterback Lamar Jackson will be this week’s story after exiting late in the third quarter with a hamstring injury. Even if we’re talking about a minor strain, the Ravens don’t want to find themselves in a deeper hole ahead of the Week 7 bye. However, with so much season to go, you can’t be reckless risking a setback that could sideline Jackson even longer.
If it comes down to your star quarterback needing to miss a game or two to get healthy for the remainder of the season, this is the exact scenario why you signed veteran backup Cooper Rush early in free agency.
Unfortunately, the injuries don’t stop there as Baltimore entered Sunday’s game without its entire starting defensive line and 2024 sacks leader Kyle Van Noy, which made an already-struggling pass rush even worse. The Ravens then proceeded to lose left tackle Ronnie Stanley (ankle), inside linebacker Roquan Smith (hamstring), and cornerbacks Marlon Humphrey (calf) and Nate Wiggins (elbow) over the course of Sunday’s action. At a certain threshold, “Next Man Up” becomes no more than a cute T-shirt slogan when you’re losing that many top players.
But this spat of injuries only does so much to mask the truth that these Ravens have barely been recognizable since those opening three quarters in Buffalo a few weeks ago.
Other than the Cleveland game, the defense has been a disaster with 133 points allowed being the most through a season’s first four games in franchise history. Problems were evident before the health concerns mounted, but fixing them becomes that much more difficult when you’re missing $20 million players and turning to your practice squad and street free agents just to fill out a defensive line rotation. For the second straight year, confidence in defensive coordinator Zach Orr is plummeting with the issues going beyond the pass defense this time around.
The Ravens rank third in the league in scoring, but a high-variance offense has been poor at the most critical moments and has misplaced its running game since gashing Buffalo for 238 rushing yards in the opener. The offensive line has been inconsistent at best and becomes worse if concerns about Stanley’s ankle linger. Offensive coordinator Todd Monken and the coaching staff have shied away from using Pro Bowl running back Derrick Henry in short-yardage situations, which included Baltimore’s critical first drive of the second half after the Chiefs had taken a 27-10 lead. After a promising start to the possession that included three Henry runs, a third-and-short — officially three yards, but closer to two — at the Kansas City 12 screamed to be physical to pick up the first down over the next two plays. Instead, the Ravens called Henry to the sideline and went with finesse as Jackson was sacked trying to pass, leading to a short field goal on fourth down.
Where have the physical and tough Ravens gone?
8What exactly is their identity even supposed to be right now?
In what was an “under the hood” showdown between 1-2 teams desperate for a win, the Chiefs showed their championship mettle while Baltimore continued sliding in the wrong direction. It was painfully evident which team was healthier, smarter, and tougher on Sunday afternoon.
Sure, Kansas City, Detroit, and Buffalo are among the best teams in football, but that’s the standard by which this team was supposed to be judged. The Ravens are 0-3 against contenders with their lone victory coming at home against a perennial NFL bottom feeder.
For now, there’s no choice but to focus on the week ahead and nothing more. Coaches have to put together the best game plan that’s appropriate for healthy and available personnel, and players must find a way to beat another playoff-hopeful team off to a 1-3 start. Houston certainly isn’t going to feel sorry for the Ravens and will be licking its chops upon reviewing Baltimore’s Week 4 performance and infirmary report headlined by Jackson.
“We have to think about the Texans this week and focus on getting that win, getting to 2-3,” safety Kyle Hamilton said. “You can’t get to 3-3 without getting to 2-3. Focus on them. We don’t even want to worry about who we play after that. Don’t even worry about when our bye week is. Just focus on the Houston Texans coming to [Baltimore] and us beating them.”
There’s a very long way to go, but it can get late early if the Ravens don’t begin turning the tide immediately.
