With the Ravens needing to avoid a three-game losing streak and stabilize their season against Houston on Sunday afternoon, I’ve offered a dozen thoughts, each in 50 words or less:
1. John Harbaugh has done some of his finest coaching when his teams have been counted out. With reports also casting doubt about Lamar Jackson’s Week 6 status, Baltimore can’t afford to enter the bye at a nightmarish 1-5. This team simply must find a way against another one-win team.
2. The Ravens believed they upgraded from Josh Johnson by signing Cooper Rush to a two-year, $6.25 million deal including $4 million guaranteed. Squeaking out a win or two during a short-term Jackson absence is why you sign him. Rush didn’t impress this summer, but that’s forgotten with a win Sunday.
3. This is also another reason why you signed Derrick Henry last year since no shortage of running backs have found much success playing with Jackson. The ex-Tennessee Titan has averaged 5.6 yards per carry and 105.2 rushing yards per game in 15 contests against Houston. Feed him early and often.
4. Todd Monken acknowledged needing to call more runs. “We’re either getting to the point where we’re scoring pretty fast or we’re getting off the field fast, and that’s not a great recipe.” The Ravens haven’t sustained drives or gotten off the field on defense, ranking 31st in time of possession.
5. The NFL’s worst scoring defense wasn’t playing well before these injuries and will now be without Roquan Smith, Marlon Humphrey, Chidobe Awuzie, and possibly Kyle Hamilton. The lack of depth at inside linebacker and safety is apparent when you’re not sure who’d wear the green dot without Smith or Hamilton.
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6. Considering the big-play ability of Texans wide receiver Nico Collins, Nate Wiggins being set to play despite last week’s injury scare is an encouraging development. The bar is very low on defense right now, but Wiggins has mostly played at a high level on the outside.
7. After roughly a month of practice under his belt since his extended summer absence, Jaire Alexander must show he can be a dependable contributor with Humphrey and Awuzie out. If you can’t count on him now amid such dire defensive circumstances, what’s really going to change moving forward?
8. Ronnie Stanley remained limited in practices with an ankle injury and is questionable to play against Houston’s tough defensive front. You’d feel better about Rush’s chances of making just enough plays with Stanley protecting his blindside, but the latter really struggled in limited snaps before exiting last week’s game.
9. Though Henry and Justice Hill will continue leading the way, bringing Keaton Mitchell out of the garage makes sense for a team that needs to run the ball and control the clock to try to keep an injury-ravaged defense off the field. Maybe Mitchell gives this offense a change-of-pace spark.
10. Houston is coming off a shutout win and ranks first in scoring defense, but its offense is 31st in success rate. If Baltimore’s coaching staff and roster depth want to calm the critics and steady a spiraling season, finding ways to make a few stops shouldn’t be an unreasonable ask.
11. The Texans have never won in Baltimore and were humiliated in a 31-2 final last Christmas. Of course, it’s not ideal when you can count with two hands the Ravens starters from that game who are fully healthy and still on the roster while having fingers left over.
“Art was truly a remarkable person. A dedicated teammate, a relentless worker, and someone any coach would be proud to lead.” pic.twitter.com/2j4pgHaBHS8
12. My heart hurt to learn of the sudden passing of former Ravens defensive lineman Arthur Jones at age 39. He was a smiling sweetheart of a guy in my experiences covering him, a beloved teammate, and a rock-solid contributor for the Super Bowl XLVII champions.
Prediction: If last week was an “under the hood” test the Ravens failed in such startling fashion, Sunday could be as close as a team comes to a must-win game in early October if it still wants to consider itself a real contender. The list of injuries is impossible to dismiss, but concerns between the ears are just as serious for Harbaugh’s team after back-to-back losses in which Baltimore has largely looked unrecognizable. Should Jackson also sit out next week, securing at least a 2-4 record at the bye is a must to remain in a salvageable position and not feel like the Orioles after a 16-34 start that wrecked their 2025 season by Memorial Day. Of these next two games, beating the Texans looks like the easier task on paper since the 3-2 Los Angeles Rams will be coming off extra rest and feeling ticked off about their upset loss to San Francisco on Thursday.
Of course, you never know what will happen in this week-to-week league with so much season left to play, so the Ravens just need to stop the bleeding — no matter how ugly or unconventional this one could look. But the Texans can’t afford to fall to 1-4 either as the preseason favorites in the AFC South. Unlike last week when Kansas City had the distinct advantage in intangibles, the Texans have no such reputation despite their current edge in the injury department. I’m not confident about much pertaining to the Ravens at this point, but I’ll say they get the ground game going with Henry to slow Houston’s edge rushers and set up some high-percentage play-action chances for Rush. I’ll pick a 23-20 win for Baltimore, but what little conviction I have in that depends largely on the status of Hamilton, who is questionable after missing the final two practices of the week with a groin injury. Without Hamilton — or Nnamdi Madubuike, Smith, and Humphrey — on Sunday, this defense looks closer to something you’d see playing in a preseason game and may not be able to slow down even an underwhelming Texans offense.
