Looking Back, Looking Ahead

The 2025 Baltimore Ravens left quite a bit of wreckage to comb through in the wake of an unprecedented and historic collapse in the Week 1 loss to the Buffalo Bills.

As an aficionado of 90’s alternative and grunge music, it was Gavin Rossdale of Bush that told me, it’s the little things that kill. For as many big things that went the wrong for Baltimore in the latter part of the 4th quarter, it was the sum total of all the little things that hurt the Ravens last Sunday night.

Let’s review:

• Even though the drive ended in a 49 yard field goal, Justice Hill’s fumble and subsequent 15 yard loss was a back breaker. Not only did it kill a drive where the Ravens were in 1st and 10 at the Bills 17 and potentially take 4 points off the board, it pretty much directly led to Buffalo getting an additional possession to close the half and tack on 3 points of their own.
• Regarding that chain of events, on the Bills final possession of the 1st half, allowing a 22 yard pass to the sideline with just 7 seconds left to set up a Matt Prater field goal to end the half is simply mind boggling. I don’t know if Zach Orr thought a Hail Mary was coming but allowing the Bills to get out of bounds with 1 second left was inexcusable.
• The play of Jaire Alexander was pretty much bad across the board but the DPI on the 4th and 5 prayer that Allen tossed with 8:35 left in the 3rd quarter was his most egregious mistake of the night. That play took a turnover on downs and turned it into a James Cook TD 2 plays later. Instead of a 2 touchdown lead and possession at our 31, we were back to a 1 score game.
• The Ravens got the ball back with 9:18 to go in the game and a 15 point lead. A rather uninspiring 3 and out, which included 2 penalties (1 accepted, 1 declined). On came punter Jordan Stout, who artfully dropped a punt that died inside the 5 yard line. Inexplicably, Trenton Simpson goes into a dive onto the football and he grazed the goal line, which resulted in a 19 yard swing in field position. If Simpson is going to be a contributor, he has to have better awareness.

Certainly, you can point to the Henry fumble, along with the collective poor play from the defense in the 4th quarter as the big things that contributed to the gut-wrenching defeat but is indeed the little things that kill.

To end the look back in a glass half full kind of way, I would be remiss in not giving the offense their due. Despite faltering towards the end, 40 points, 238 yards rushing, 432 total yards and 144.4 QB rating for Lamar Jackson. And this was without key contributors, Isaiah Likely and Patrick Ricard; so there’s room to grow.

I understand the difficulty in finding positives in an 0-1 start but seeing the offense come out of the gate firing is a good sign.

Looking Ahead

The home opener is on tap for Week 2. On the opposing sideline, the Cleveland Browns and our old friend Joe Flacco. The Ravens are an early 10.5 point favorite. Unfortunately for Baltimore, there isn’t much to gain in the Week 2 contest but a heck of a lot to lose.

A big win? Nothing special, that’s what the Ravens should do to the Browns.

A nail biter type win? I can hear the collective groans from fans and media now.

A loss? I don’t want to ponder the aftermath of an 0-2 start.

With that said, the Ravens cannot try to change any narratives in Week 2. Nor can they afford to look past Cleveland because the gauntlet of Detroit, Kansas City, Houston and the Rams await them. It’s tough to say that Week 2 is ever a must win game but Sunday’s game against Cleveland is about as close as a regular season game gets to a must win situation.

If I was at The Castle this week, my message would be simple: There’s no solace in a loss (especially the manner in which it occurred) but at the end of the day, it’s just one loss.

The challenge in front of the entire organization is not letting the sting of the Week 1 defeat linger or snowball into something bigger.

While this was just one regular season loss, the similarities to all of the postseason disappointments over the last 6 years are difficult to ignore. The team cannot afford to collapse under the collective weight of those disappointments.

Come Sunday, we’re going to find out a great deal about the character and the mettle of the 2025 Baltimore Ravens.

 

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