This one in Jacksonville certainly had all the thrills and chills that keeps the NFL in big business. A run-of-the-mill, B-list game that came down to the home team’s Super Bowl-winning NFL head coach going for two points in a winner-take-all over another Super Bowl-winning head coach whose team blew another two-score lead late.
And then the greatest kicker in the history of the sport trying to win it at the buzzer with a blast that would’ve been the greatest kick in the history of the NFL? And damn if Justin Tucker didn’t launch that thing as straight as a tee shot on 17 at Sawgrass, only to plop a few yards short and into the drink of the end zone.
“We shouldn’t have lost,” quarterback Lamar Jackson said as he exited the podium after the crushing 28-27 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars that ended a four-game winning streak and opened a bunch of old wounds about the offense not being good enough and the defense not being able to hold a fourth quarter lead.
And mistakes. Lots and lots of costly little mistakes. All over the field.
Ravens coach John Harbaugh spoke of his battle scars in Jacksonville but this cut slices the deepest in the team’s purple-paved road full of sub-.500 patsies because once again they held a two-score lead on the road in the final quarter and somehow lost. For the fourth time in 10 weeks.
In the land of the 3-7 Jaguars’ half-empty upper deck and scantily clad mascots, this will be a seminal win. It’ll be the big stones of Doug Pederson that they’ll remember and the college-like grit of Trevor Lawrence, who created miracles at Clemson and still throws the ball so well that you see at least a little shadow of Peyton Manning emerging in that slick, black, sweet ‘16’ jersey. Lawrence looked like the part of an emerging No. 1 overall draft pick on Sunday in Jacksonville. He was certainly in command and regularly hit his targets to beat a team that most pundits would’ve told you featured an emerging, if not on-the-verge-of-dominant NFL defense.
Meanwhile, Lamar Jackson had to answer for another strange Ravens loss in a season full of them. He also had some things on his mind about his detractors in the aftermath. Maturity is not his strong suit.
The offense had trouble moving the ball when it mattered against a 3-7 team on a postcard 78-degree day on decent grass. Dropped passes. Missed passes. Bad third down execution when points were on the line.
The goats (lower case, for you old-schoolers) wore horns all over the offensive purple garden of unfulfilled offense. The drops were odious on Sunday. And the Lamar overthrows are making defenses respect his passing game less, enough to stack eight guys at the line to neutralize the run. Jackson wants $250 million guaranteed. His passing has regressed back to being suspect enough of the time to be considered dubious or less than reliable. And the errant passes are certainly bad enough, enough of the time to get the Ravens beaten by a point in lowly Jacksonville.
Once again, the offense reverted back to its comfy binkie – Lamar ran the ball. A lot. He is still their best offensive option. Five years into this grand offensive experiment, his wheels are still their best play, every play. Jackson ran 14 times for 89 yards and in many cases with enough effectiveness to move the sticks and keep drives alive. Well, at least until the Ravens’ offense arrived at the red zone in time to stall and wave on Tucker for a(nother) trey.
Sure, DeSean Jackson made a vintage DeSean Jackson play and that was almost enough to deodorize the lack of the long ball. And there were a few first-down completions but the totality is just not good enough right now. And the drops when Lamar is perfect are not going to get any of these youngsters where they want to go.
The red zone problems speak to the lack of playmakers and a lack of execution. Moving the ball, mostly with Lamar’s remarkable athleticism, and then dying at the 20 has become more than a trend.
Every. Yard. Inside. The 20. Is like. Running. In. Quicksand.
Since Week 4, it’s been a hot mess and a whole lot of Justin Tucker in the red zone. Too much Tucker, really, because three is still less than seven.
There’s an obvious imbalance of the Ravens on offense and defense. And the inefficiency of the offense in the passing game has become a weekly problem. Other than Mark Andrews, when he catches the ball, who does an opposing defensive coordinator need to prepare for in a game plan? With the exit of Hollywood Brown and the injury to Rashod Bateman, there are no vertical threats in the passing game. And when teams blitz Lamar, how can he make them pay for it? Defenses are coming hard for the run and daring Jackson to pass. This Bateman for Hollywood Brown as a WR1 thing has been a major downgrade thus far.
Who are the real threats on offense? Who are the playmakers? Who can even run the ball consistently – and safely – besides Lamar? And it goes without saying that this is a supremely diminished offense when Ronnie Stanley isn’t in the game on every down at left tackle.
And how is this current group going to stack the four wins necessary to win a winter tournament on the road in Buffalo and Kansas City or maybe Miami? And maybe even Cincinnati if the Ravens don’t win the games they’re supposed to win in the coming weeks.
I’ll buy all of the tired tropes about defense winning championships. I was all ready to write about that when the Ravens were leading 19-10 on Sunday and the defense smelled better. That Roquan Smith tackle had me all warm and fuzzy with old-guy thoughts of No. 52. And that Tyus Bowser hit on Lawrence brought some 2001-style purple violence.
This defense, when fully assembled and utilized with the right snap counts, impresses me as Super Bowl-worthy. One that might be capable of making big plays against Patrick Mahomes or Josh Allen on a cold winter’s night.
But this offense can’t even get plays installed, in the huddle and up to the line in time to allow Lamar to read a defense. The inefficiency in calling plays is consistently amateur hour from Greg Roman to the field. And it’s less-than-ideal if not intolerable to have Lamar Jackson rushing against the clock. The offense is not operating and functioning appropriately. It’s always rushed and hasty.
Speaking of Hasty, once the Jaguars lost running back Travis Etienne, it was a common belief that Pederson’s offense didn’t have much beyond really sharp uniforms and a quarterback with a great haircut and some endorsements. Hasty did a decent job, found seams when Lawrence threw him the ball. And Zay Jones is gonna go in the Jimmy Smith Hall of Fame for giving the Ravens nightmares. He embarrassed the secondary all day for the Jaguars and eventually ended their day – just like he did in Las Vegas 14 months ago as a member of the Raiders.
And Justin Tucker was just a few feet short of what would’ve been the greatest kick in the history of the NFL, one that would’ve bailed all of them out and we’d be talking about a five-game winning streak and sole possession of first place in the AFC North. And a new record field goal and whether his bust in Canton will be staring to the right or left or whether his lips will be open to sing arias.
Instead, 7-4 sure feels a whole lot different than 8-3. And it feels a lot like the Ravens waved buh-bye to any thoughts of that January bye week with the clunker at The Gator Bowl on Sunday.
