The Baltimore Ravens should be finished licking their wounds from the last second loss in Jacksonville this past Sunday and the coaches should be moving on to Denver this coming Sunday at M and T Bank Stadium. The optimist in me says the glass is half full at the moment, as the Ravens are currently 7-4, atop the AFC North and the number 4 seed in the AFC playoff picture. However, the pragmatist in me can’t escape the feeling that something is missing from the 2022 Ravens. What that something is, I can’t quite put my finger on at the moment but the lack of consistency has dogged this team throughout the season.
As we look forward to another very winnable game in Week 13, here’s some food for thought:
- The tendency to assign blame is something that most of us do in the wake of a loss. However, more often than not, this a fruitless exercise as there is rarely one player, one side of the ball, one decision, that is solely responsible for a loss. When you look at this past Sunday, you will find this shared responsibility to be quite true.
- Offensively, you had Lamar Jackson miss DeMarcus Robinson on a would-be touchdown on the opening drive. Before anyone says it, yes, I know that all quarterbacks miss throws and I’m not trying to unfairly scapegoat Jackson but when the scope of your passing game is limited and opportunities to make big plays are few and far between, the missing said opportunities gets magnified. All in all, the offense was only 2 for 5 in red zone chances; including the opening drive and 2 other drives that featured drops/missed connections by Robinson and Josh Oliver, respectively.
- Defensively, there was yet another 4th quarter breakdown that saw the Jaguars tally 155 yards on 3 drives, good for a field goal, 2 touchdowns and the go ahead 2 point conversion. Understanding that the other team gets paid, too and the Jags deserve credit, you can’t help but wonder why this propensity to surrender a late lead reared its ugly head yet again. As much as you’d like to see someone on the defense step up and make a play (with respect to Calais Campbell as he did deliver the sack-strip that could’ve ended the game), you have to wonder what the defensive strategy was on Jacksonville’s go ahead drive. This is where you have to look at the coaching staff.
- As Jacksonville sat in 3rd and 21 at their own 14 yard line, if you look at the Ravens defense before the snap, you see 4 down lineman and Marlon Humphrey in the frame but no one else. That leaves the other 6 defenders at least 10 yards or more off the ball. The Jaguars receivers were allowed off the line of scrimmage without issue and Christian Kirk was able to catch the ball with ease at the 26 yard line and get to the 30; thus setting up a very manageable 4th and 5. This begs the question, why on Earth would Mike Macdonald have the defense play this far off the ball on 3rd down? I can understand that kind of play call on 4th and 21 but to do so on 3rd down is mind boggling. Especially considering the same defense only allowed 17 total yards and forced a turnover on three drives in the 3rd quarter. Why not play straight up and see if Lawrence can make plays as opposed to giving him an easy pitch and catch when he still has a down to go? While we’re at it, at the culmination of Jacksonville’s final drive, with the defense clearly gassed and barely able to get lined up, why not call a time out on 1st and goal from the 10, sub out and allow the defense to get set? The Ravens had all 3 time outs and, even if the worst case scenario of a TD/2 point conversion comes to fruition and you get the ball back, you’re not going to be able to use all your time outs on offense. I don’t know if the coaches were asleep at the wheel or if they assumed that Lawrence was going to clock the football but either way, it was a bad look.
- Speaking of coaching, at what point are the Ravens going to stop running the play clock down to the nub? This issue has been a persistent one this season and showed up again on Sunday with another delay of game penalty in the red zone, along with several instances of Lamar Jackson frantically clapping his hands to get the ball snapped before the play clock hit zero. It should come as no surprise that so far this season, the Ravens lead the NFL in rate of plays snapped with 3 or less seconds remaining on the play clock. This has occurred on about 35% of the Ravens’ snaps. Bottom line, the Ravens offensive operation is too slow and it needs to rectified.
- Another tidbit on the offense, after beginning the year by scoring touchdowns on 8 out of 10 red zone opportunities in their first 3 games, the Ravens have gone 14 for 33 in red zone chances since then. There’s more than enough blame to go around from play calling, to penalties, to poor execution by the players; it’s been equal opportunity futility from the offense since Week 3. In fact, from Week 4 onward, the offensive downturn has been palpable. Lamar Jackson’s TD to INT ratio sits at 7 to 5, his yards per game are at 185 and his yards per attempt are at 6.33. For some perspective, that yards per attempt number would put Jackson just below Baker Mayfield’s average for the season. Not to assign all blame for the passing game to Jackson but his statistical downturn just highlights the struggles of the entire unit over the last 8 weeks.
To reiterate what I stated earlier, the Ravens sit at 7-4 and are still in 1st place in the AFC North, so all is not lost by any stretch of the imagination. Also, there are the potential returns of impact players like Marcus Williams, JK Dobbins, Ronnie Stanley and Kyle Hamilton that could solidify things on both sides of the ball. With that said, the 2022 Ravens have yet to put together 4 good quarters of football.
This is not to say that the Ravens are not capable of going to playoffs. In fact, it’s highly likely that they make it to the post season. However, what can you point to about their performance to date that suggests they could put together 4 straight wins in January and February against the league’s best? Whether it’s the offense sleepwalking at various points or the defense turning into a sieve at any given moment, Baltimore has collectively fallen short of looking the part of Super Bowl contender so far this season. Until they prove otherwise, the Ravens are a clear notch below the AFC’s best. In order for the Ravens to get past the likes of Kansas City, Miami and/or Buffalo in the playoffs, they’re going to have find more consistent play on both sides of the ball.
Jamie has been a Baltimore sports fan since he can remember. He grew up in Gwynn Oak and currently resides in Hampstead with his wife and 2 kids. He graduated from UMBC with a Bachelor of Arts in History. He’s currently employed at Verizon Communications in Hunt Valley.