The Ravens opening their 2024 season with a competitive loss at the 2x defending Super Bowl Champion Kanas City Chiefs was not concerning.
Coming home to Baltimore after the mini-bye, and losing to Vegas? That raises the alarm bells.
You can overcome an 0-2 start.
Three teams (’93 Dallas, ’01 New England, ’07 New York Giants) have previously have started 0-2, and gone on to win a Super Bowl.
But those are outliers.
Historically only 11.5% teams have made the playoffs after starting 0-2.
If the Ravens were 2-0 right now, I’d be saying you really can’t think about the postseason right now.
That there are 15 games left in this regular season, and each week is about earning an opportunity to get back to the playoffs.
I’ll certainly say the same thing at 0-2.
There’s no point in thinking about the playoffs right now.
The Ravens have to quickly shake off this loss, and turn their attention to the Cowboys.
The ’24 season has just begun, but it’s going to get late very early if the Ravens leave Dallas 0-3.
The Bottomline From Today
There will be a lot of talk elsewhere about the Ravens penalties (11 for 109 yards), and I get it. It factors, and many of the calls feel eye of the beholder vs. definitive. CBS Sports Rules Analysts Gene Steratore voiced his disagreement with the calls of the Official crew today.
I personally can’t get fixated on the officiating.
My take is you need to be good enough to overcome any missed calls.
What stands out to me, is that the Ravens had a 23-13 lead after Derrick Henry’s TD run with 12:11 left, and they couldn’t make the lead hold up.
CBS flashed a graphic in the 4th Quarter that the Ravens have blown more 4th Quarter TD+ leads than any other team over the past 5 years.
That’s crushing.
This isn’t college.
You have a two score 4th Quarter lead in the NFL, that needs to hold up vs anyone.
Letting Gardner Minshew come back to beat you at home? Ouch.
So, What Happened?
Again, it’s the NFL.
The difference between the best and worst isn’t overwhelming.
It’s not Georgia vs. University of Directional Tech State.
Each week is about individual matchups, and who is and who is not available.
The Raiders had 2x All-Pro Maxx Crosby available, and the Ravens allowed the Vegas DE to get going early.
It took way too long for the Ravens to adjust to the havoc Crosby was causing.
The Ravens were burned by both Davante Adams (9 catches, 110 yards, 1 TD), and Brock Bowers (9 catches, 98 yards).
It wouldn’t have been realistic to ask the Ravens to shut-down both, but it’s disappointing that they were able to combine for 18 grabs.
I think Kyle Hamilton should have been tasked with blanketing Bowers.
Offensively, the Ravens were a mess early on.
Crosby was owning Patrick Mekari.
I thought Roger Rosengarten did better.
Overall Crosby wasn’t slowed until they gave the right side help, and were doing more chipping, etc.
While Jackson was only sacked twice, there was regular pressure.
And more than the Raiders pressure, the Ravens were struggling to open up running lanes.
Daniel Faalele is huge, but doesn’t move particularly well laterally.
Henry finished with 84 yards over 18 carries (including a long of 29).
His end game yards per carry was good, but the 18 carries included a lot of minimal / no gains to start the game.
Those early empty carries, coupled with the penalties – often had the Ravens playing behind the chain.
To be clear, I’m not pinning those empty carries on Henry.
There just wasn’t enough push in-front of him early on.
Mark Andrews, Rashod Bateman, and Isaiah Likely combined for 9 catches on 12 targets.
They were there, they each made a play or two, but none of them were impacting the game.
12 combined targets for the three of them vs. 11 targets alone for Zay Flowers.
Flowers is going to be the primary target, but one of the Andrews / Bateman / Likely trio has to factor each week opposite of Flowers.
Now to be fair to each of them; the limitations with the O-Line was not giving the passing attack an ability to get comfortable.
Justin Tucker missed another 50+ yard attempt, and there has to be real questions there going forward.
I think you have to limit his 50+ attempts to only when absolutely necessary.
Meaning unless game situation demands it, if you are outside of the 32 yard line, you should be thinking 4 down territory.
And if you are thinking that on 3rd down, it should impact your play calling there.
With the game tied at 23, Jordan Stout managed a 24 yard punt, allowing the Raiders to start their winning drive in Ravens territory.
Did Anything Go Right?
The Ravens sacked Minshew 5 times. Odafe Oweh had 2.5 sacks. Kyle Van Noy had 2.
Flowers had 91 yards on 7 catches. He wasn’t just making grabs at the line of scrimmage.
Marlon Humphrey had a pick.
Deonte Harty had nice 15 yard Punt Return.
The Ravens held Zamir White to 24 yards on 9 carries.
Thought Travis Jones had a good day.
Ramifications Of Today’s Loss?
We said at the top, only 11.5% of teams have started 0-2 and made the playoffs.
Cleveland beat Jacksonville today.
Pittsburgh is leading Denver in the 4th.
Cincinnati is leading KC in the 4th.
If the Steelers put away the Broncos, Pittsburgh will have a 2 game lead over the Ravens in the AFC North.
For me, I’m going to spend less time thinking about the larger ramifications and more about what exactly do the Ravens have?
Positives:
– In Jackson, the Ravens have an MVP caliber QB. One of the true difference makers in the game.
– The Ravens have quality offensive weapons in Henry, Flowers, Andrews, Likely, and Bateman.
– With Nnamdi Madubuike, Roquan Smith, and Hamilton, the Ravens have an elite defensive player at each level of the defense.
– The Secondary has a chance to be very good.
– You’d think that generally, if you have leads, you’d be able to ride Henry and close out games, with opposing defenses getting tired of tackling the big rb.
Negatives and Questions:
– An average offensive line is probably the ceiling for this group.
– It feels like for this O-Line to become average, that’s going to require lots of help from the TE’s and Patrick Ricard.
– Is Rosengarten ready to be average ish at RT? Will Mekari take over for Faalele?
– The Ravens feel slow with in-game adjustments. Coach Harbaugh’s in-game management raises questions weekly.
– Tucker has been an advantage each week for years. If that’s no longer the case, that’s a dramatic change for the organization.
– Jackson putting on the cape and doing things on his own, is the Ravens at their best, but there’s a real desire to limit how many times you ask him to do that.
– Why have the Ravens struggled for sometime with closing out games?
You are never as good as you look when you win, nor as bad as you look when you lose.
If you felt like this was a good and capable team entering the season, you should still fell that way today.
Given the 0-2 start though, it’s understandable to have questions.
Heading To Dallas In Need Of A Win
The Cowboys have been outstanding at home the last few years, but were blown out today (44-19) vs. New Orleans in Dallas.
The Saints had beat Carolina 47-10 in Week 1, but that was largely dismissed by everyone because the Panthers are a trainwreck.
The Saints putting up another 44 points today will catch everyone’s attention. Maybe they’re good.
Focusing on the Cowboys, the Saints put 432 yards of Total Offense. New Orleans rushed for 190 yards.
Dallas was held to just 68 yards on the ground on 21 carries.
Ceedee Lamb had 90 yards (65 on 1 play) over 4 catches and 7 targets.
He’s obviously the Cowboys primary weapon.
Dax Prescott and Lamb are going to excited when they watch the tape and see what Adams accomplished today vs. the Ravens.
Just 1 sack (Chauncey Golston) for the Cowboys today.
Donovan Wilson had a pick.
Dallas has lots of returning All-Pros.
Lamb and Prescott.
Offensive Guards Zack Martin and Tyler Smith.
LB Micah Parsons, and CB DaRon Bland.
K Brandon Aubrey, and P Bryan Anger
Bland has started the year on IR.
CB Trevon Diggs (MD native) was an All-Pro in ’21, and is a 2x Pro Bowler.
DE DeMarcus Lawrence is a 4x Pro Bowler.
TE Jake Ferguson was a Pro Bowler last year. He was inactive today with a knee.
Zeke Elliott returned to Dallas this year, and is again starting at RB.
6 carries for 16 yards today.
WR Brandin Cooks has over 9,300 career receiving yards, but just 4 receptions the first two weeks.
Today he had 2 catches for 19 yards.
Dallas’ 1st Round pick this year was OT Tyler Guyton.
Owner
Chris Stoner founded Baltimore Sports and Life in 2009. He has appeared as a radio guest with 1090 WBAL, 105.7 The Fan, CBS 1300, Q1370, WOYK 1350, WKAV 1400, and WNST 1570. He has also been interviewed by The Baltimore Sun, Baltimore Business Journal, and PressBox (TV). As Owner, his responsibilities include serving as the Managing Editor, Publicist, & Sales Director.