Make no mistake about it, this was an unthinkable loss from a team with Super Bowl-or-bust aspirations. I’ll let others provide the grim single-digit mathematical probabilities, historic perspective and realities of the Baltimore Ravens’ thud of a 0-2 start.
Right now, it’s the overall talent and lackluster body of work and the gauntlet of the next three games – facing teams that also believe they are playoff worthy, if not championship caliber – that stand in the way of something even more disastrous.
Dak Prescott. Josh Allen. Joe Burrow.
And the Ravens somehow lost at home to Gardner Minshew throwing the football?
Sunday’s slog with the Las Vegas Raiders was an-all-too-modern NFL theater overlap of good defense and bad offense.
The Baltimore Ravens have a $50 million quarterback and a fifty-cent offensive line. And other than one real drive on Sunday against the Raiders, the King Henry Regime and “new” Lamar Jackson offense has looked quite beleaguered, too often buried under 3rd and too many.
Head coach John Harbaugh looked similarly stunned in the examination room after his squad squandered another double-digit lead in the fourth quarter. According to Josh Dubow of the Associated Press, that makes an NFL-leading nine blown double-digit fourth quarter leads, which surpassed his mentor Andy Reid, who suffered plenty of Philly meltdowns ‘wit the Eagles before all of that tasty Kansas City BBQ, confetti and Patrick Mahomes.
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Those “WTF?” and “How did that just happen?” looks from John Harbaugh in bewildered post-game press conferences are also stacking up over time.
It feels like the Ravens don’t lose much but when they do it’s usually involved some creative decisions, big botches and failed plays. And Harbaugh lords over it all.
It’s been since 2015 for such a lousy, oh-fer start to a season but this stings more with the lofty promise that only comes when you lose an AFC Championship Game at home and have the reigning MVP coming back healthier, wiser and – allegedly – with a Hall of Fame running beast who was going to own defenses and bury any opponent with a 10-point lead at home in the fourth quarter.
The King Henry Show looked the part for a drive or two later in day Sunday but in the end, it’s the offensive line that just isn’t good enough right now. For long parts of these initial two hours of football, it feels like Derrick Henry’s best run has been a pass reception to (finally) get him into space with the ball.
We’ve debated the merits of the pistol vs. Lamar under center and the comfort level of the reigning NFL MVP and Henry’s ability to find a hole and hit it. Of course, there are more holes in the Orioles’ offense than the Ravens’ running game right now and offensive coordinator Todd Monken needs to find a way to make something work in regard to protection and insuring Lamar isn’t having to be Superman late in every game.
That’s a recipe for disaster.
And on Sunday against an inferior foe, this one felt like it was scripted as a textbook “It wasn’t pretty but it was us” Ravens victory with 12 minutes left. A cozy 10-point lead on a day when the Ravens had no answers for Maxx Crosby and very few for Davante Adams, despite the scoreboard. In the end, they both made one play too many in the fourth quarter to steal a game on the road.
8But the Ravens can’t live in 2nd and long and 3rd and longish all day. At some point, the early runs need to work to create chances for Lamar in the passing game. And that’s clearly about the offensive line winning individual battles up front and that feels very distant at 0-2 with very little tape of dominance to boast or build any true confidence.
The numerous penalties, of course, are what they’ll talk about cleaning up before the trip to see the similarly stunned Dallas Cowboys at 4:25 p.m. on Sunday – but really, it’s the one-on-one matchup issues that abound for any premier defensive player the Ravens will see in a front seven. Starting with Micah Parsons at Jerry’s World in Arlington.
The offensive line isn’t good enough for the offense to even think about being great right now. And Kevin Zeitler and Morgan Moses aren’t coming back into the huddle.
Of course, at every turn you’re asking Lamar to do even more as the downs get long and the distances get even longer. And while he runs for his life on 3rd and double digits with cruddy protection and no time to make the throws he’s capable of making as a two-time MVP.
In the end, the best players on the Las Vegas Raiders got off the bus and balled out on the road. And their kicker is better than our kicker – and it’s been a long time since anyone in Baltimore could believe that with the legitimate Hall of Fame career of Justin Tucker spanning back to Super Bowl XLVII. Harbaugh and this offense can’t ask or expect him to hit three 50-plus field goals every week to earn bonus points for the touchdowns they’re not scoring. And that hideous punt by Jordan Stout only made me wonder if Sam Koch is still limber.
So many things piled up late in the game in a horrible home loss but none more glaring than the lack of timeouts brought on by the bravado-without-evidence challenges of John Harbaugh.
I write a lot about their silly “kayfabe” mandates and one – dating back to Brian Billick – is to never show “bad news” on the home video boards. So, instead of giving the crowd (and the head coach) a real look at what the rest of the television world is seeing, their default is to pretend the home team is getting screwed to ignite the voices of the Baltimore faithful from the video monitors. Meanwhile, everyone else in the NFL saw the ball was on the ground and Harbaugh was throwing a measurably dumb red flag.
8Meanwhile the referees were tossing yellow flags – plenty of ‘em – against the sloppy, undisciplined Ravens. Eleven penalties for 109 yards usually means you lost.
On a day when Kyle Van Noy won the James McCann Award for valor and pain management and created havoc for Minshew a few times, it remains the team’s biggest stars as mysteries and problems for a sinking 0-2 team with three weeks of heavy hitters ahead.
Marlon Humphrey getting beat. Justin Tucker missing kicks. Lamar Jackson throwing into double coverage and Rashod Bateman not fighting for the ball. Derrick Henry with as many yards at halftime as the Orioles have hits this week.
Maxx Crosby and Davante Adams were the best players on the field Sunday and that showed in the fourth quarter when they raided the home of Baltimore Ravens on an emotional day honoring Joe D’Alessandris and Jacoby Jones, and took the Raiders back on the plane to Sin City with an unlikely victory.
The winless Baltimore Ravens have a lot of work to do over the next month.
Lamar Jackson said in the postgame: “That’s not us.”
Well, yes. Yes, it is Lamar. At least for now.
Last year is a long time ago.
