With the Ravens committing five turnovers to have their five-game winning streak snapped in a 32-14 upset loss to Cincinnati on Thanksgiving night, I’ve offered a dozen thoughts, each in 50 words or less:
1. Lamar Jackson was inaccurate, indecisive, and sloppy with the football against a terrible defense, continuing his worst stretch in at least a few years. Jackson moving around better was an encouraging development that shouldn’t be overlooked, but Baltimore needs better from its two-time MVP quarterback. Of course, Jackson knows that.
2. This offense seemingly had the pre-snap answers for everything in Todd Monken’s system over his first two seasons in Baltimore, which helped Jackson become as efficient as ever. Regardless of how one wants to divide the blame, man blitzes becoming so problematic again won’t bode well for December and January.
3. Jackson scrambling for 11 yards and Derrick Henry rushing for a 28-yard touchdown on back-to-back plays on the Ravens’ opening drive offered a glimpse of what you’d like to believe this offense can become again, especially with a healthier Jackson. Of course, that proved to be fleeting.
4. A team can always run more, but Baltimore is sixth in early-down run rate with a percentage very comparable to 2024. The problem is ranking only 24th in rushing success rate. While waiting for a Henry run to pop, there are way too many rushes creating second- and third-and-long situations.
5. John Harbaugh said the left foot injury to Nate Wiggins is “not serious in terms of a long-term injury” while remaining noncommittal about his Week 14 status after the game. Considering how well Wiggins has played in his second season, you hope this doesn’t linger when he does return.
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6. The pass rush was looking better with seven sacks and pressure rates north of 35% from Weeks 10-12, but that rate dipped to 27.1% Thursday, per Next Gen Stats. That included just one sack and seven quarterback hits. Joe Burrow clearly isn’t J.J. McCarthy, Shedeur Sanders, or Tyrod Taylor.
7. Isaiah Likely having his best yardage game of 2025 was positive, but fumbling away the ball at the goal line is inexcusable and being pushed back into Jackson on the interception wasn’t his finest moment either. The clock is ticking on Likely still being able to salvage his contract year.
8. Cincinnati’s touchdowns illustrated the Bengals simply executing better than Baltimore on two third-and-9 situations. Tanner Hudson made a highlight one-handed catch against Kyle Hamilton, and Samaje Perine getting a piece of the blitzing Alohi Gilman allowed Burrow to deliver the strike to Andrei Iosivas between Roquan Smith and Malaki Starks.
9. The subtle nudge Ja’Marr Chase gave Marlon Humphrey on a 43-yard catch and Zay Flowers being flagged for pass inference to eliminate a touchdown illustrated a contrast in executing their craft. Flowers really didn’t need to extend his arm, which looked worse in real time than it actually was.
10. Devontez Walker had two chances to make a highlight play, but he slowed down on a Jackson deep ball sailing just over his head in the second quarter and couldn’t hold on to make a contested catch in the fourth quarter. Either one of those could have altered the script.
11. Baltimore lost three fumbles in a first half for the first time since the 2007 Monday night debacle in Pittsburgh, per NBC’s telecast. At least this wasn’t as bad as that nightmare, but that’s not the kind of company you want to keep when it comes to making franchise history.
12. Days later, the Thanksgiving performance remains all too concerning for a team that has little room for error or complacency after coming back from a 1-5 start. However, Pittsburgh all but had its manhood ripped away by Buffalo on Sunday to reiterate how mediocre the AFC North is. We’ll see.
