With the Ravens falling 1 1/2 games back in the AFC North after an 18-16 loss in Pittsburgh on Sunday afternoon, I’ve offered a dozen thoughts, each in 50 words or less:
1. Lamar Jackson was due for a bad game after producing 100-plus passer ratings for eight straight weeks, but it reinforces how difficult it is for Baltimore to win without him playing high-level football, especially acknowledging the season-long state of the pass defense and special teams. His accuracy was really off.
2. While I agree with John Harbaugh’s assessment that the best option — for now — is getting Justin Tucker back on track rather than adding competition, that doesn’t mean the Ravens shouldn’t be seriously updating their kicker Rolodex in the meantime. He’s missed a field goal in each of their four losses.
3. Headlining an encouraging defensive performance was Ar’Darius Washington replacing Marcus Williams as a starting safety with the latter playing only one snap. Harbaugh confirmed this will “definitely be a formula going forward” after Washington played very well on the back end aside from a couple missed tackles.
4. Part of the new safety alignment was Kyle Hamilton playing 42 snaps as a deep safety, per PFF. That was easily a season high as he didn’t play at the line of scrimmage as frequently. That’s not optimal for Hamilton himself, but the state of the position forced Baltimore’s hand.
5. The other potential change to monitor was Tre’Davious White replacing Brandon Stephens as the right outside corner in the fourth quarter after the veteran newcomer received his first Ravens action as part of the dime package to open the game. White played quite well, registering a pair of pass breakups.
6. Derrick Henry should have been on the field for the 2-point try, but criticism about his workload is based more on the box score than game situation. He had four touches negated by penalties and gained 31 of his 65 yards on one run. The run blocking was mostly poor.
8
7. Roquan Smith hurt his hamstring in what was his best game of 2024 as he registered two tackles for loss — his first ones since Week 1 — and 13 tackles. His pass coverage hasn’t been good this season, but Trenton Simpson’s inexperience and the safety play are other variables to consider.
8. Odafe Oweh lamented that his two best games of the season — 2 1/2 sacks each against Pittsburgh and Las Vegas — have come in defeats. Oweh has a career-high seven sacks, but his pressure rate was better over his first three seasons, per Next Gen Stats. Pass-rush evaluation is tricky.
9. Asked about persistent penalty problems, Harbaugh cited Harry Truman in saying the buck “stops with me.” The penalties on special teams are especially annoying considering how little that phase is helping Baltimore win games this season. Leading the league in penalties is a terrible look for both players and coaches.
10. Credit Patrick Queen for backing up his talk with his best game of 2024 as his forced fumble and recovery led to a cheap Pittsburgh field goal to finish the first half. It’s very difficult to overcome three turnovers, which was half of the Ravens’ season total entering Sunday.
11. Asked Monday about Eddie Jackson not making the trip to Pittsburgh, Harbaugh declined to get into “in-house conversations.” Between this and Williams’ previous benching in Cleveland, it’d be naive not to wonder what’s going on behind the scenes in that secondary room. Will such veterans no longer playing cause problems?
12. Beating Pittsburgh isn’t a Super Bowl prerequisite, but losing eight of nine to the Steelers is unacceptable, regardless of the circumstances of some recent meetings. There’s plenty of blame to go around, but the head coach and quarterback always own it most prominently. The Dec. 21 rematch is enormous.
